When I watch TV during the day, I watch the various the judge shows, movies on Lifetime or Hallmark channel. I don’t like anything scary (living with mom is enough) once in a while I’m drawn to Dr. Oz. his show always has something that scares the hell out of me, whether it’s the Truth Tube, the germs in my purse, signs of diseases, he never fails to deliver.

Well, near the end of September I needed something to shake me up so Dr. Oz it was. His guest was Susanne Eman.

Susanne Eman, if I remember correctly weighs over 700lbs. her goal is to become the fattest woman in the world and her target weight is 1800 lbs. She walked out onto the stage without any assistance, no walker or cane. She was nice looking, cheery and agile.

She stated she had no health issues, her sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol are all were within normal limits. She stated she walks at least three to four times a week and when she gets the chance, enjoys swimming.

Okay, I’m thinking this lady has got to be stuck on stupid. There’s no way I’m buying she’s in perfect health, I found myself yelling at Dr. Oz to push her big behind to the “The Truth Tube.”

She’s not married, has two kids, I’m thinking her food bill must be the same as for Home Town Buffet. In fact they said she could sit at a buffet for over six hours yikes! Where’s her income coming from.

Apparently there are sickos out there I’ll call them chubby chasers that pay to watch obese people eat over the internet. Apparently she has a growing group of followers, she said since she’s going to eat anyway she might as well get paid. Two of her fans, nice looking young to middle aged men were in the audience, they were of normal weight. I’m confused what does seeing a fat women eating doing for them?

According to Dr. Oz watching obese people eat is the second biggest fetish in the country behind pornography. Where in the hell have I been?

Susanne went on to say she models clothes for larger women. Okay being plus size I applaud retailers who use plus size women as models as this allows us to see how clothes look since, one size does not necessarily fit all. But come on, how many women out there buying clothes are 700lbs. It would be like putting a car cover for a Smart car on a Hummer, let’s get real.

Dr. Oz showed some of her modeling tapes she appeared to be wearing a nightgown; she sat on a couch and swings her legs under her body, she moved as if she was size six. However, once she stopped moving and posed, her legs and arms were still jiggling. For a brief moment I thought I was watching an advertisement for Jell-O.

Her deal is she wants to teach people not to judge a book by its cover. When you see a fat person out in the street don’t assume their lazy and not contributing to society. Well, I for one don’t think people judge the contents of a book by its cover; however I do feel people will not pick up the book if the cover is big.

I don’t think eating until you’re the largest woman in the world is contributing to society. There has been many large people who have contributed to society; Santa Claus, Pavarotti, Oprah, Winston Churchill and Alfred Hitchcock they all contributed in their own way, they didn’t have to eat their way into the Guinness book of World Records and they didn’t have to diet to fit in.

In the end, her doctor said she’s playing Russian roulette with her life, but that she showed no problems yet. However, Dr. Oz put her numbers into the Truth Tube and told her she was a ticking time bomb.

Well this program scared me for a couple of reasons, for this young girl who is eating herself to death, for her kids who will lose their mother and for all us big girls because we don’t know who’s watching us.

But, on the plus side I did learn how to make extra cash for Christmas. As soon as my brownies have cooled and my roast is done, I’m getting into my nightgown and putting on the web cam.

For the last five years I have been living my life constantly yelling. My mother tells everyone; “I’ve never liked to eat, my mother would sit next to me and yell to get me to eat.”

My mother lives constantly on the verge of malnutrition and dehydration. In the last four years she has gone by ambulance to the hospital four times, one time last year she was so dehydrated she almost didn’t make it. So I constantly yell at her to drink.

Last August I knew my mother either had a bladder infection or was becoming dehydrated she had a horrible body odor. Every time I would try to get her to drink it would end like this;

“Mom, you need to drink more.” “I’m not thirsty.” “I know you’re not thirsty, but you need to drink.” “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.” “Mom, your diapers have a strong ammonia smell.” “I don’t smell anything. You must be smelling your own dirty butt”

I took her to the doctor’s and sure enough she had a bladder infection. She also lost 7 pounds in the last for months. When they told us she had an infection I look at my mom and said,” I knew you were sick just from the odor” without skipping a beat my mom looked at the nurse and said;

“My daughter knew I was sick because she’s a witch.” “What did you say?” “You’re a witch.” “Oh witch, I thought you said something else.”

So now I’m getting to what I want to write about, the last six days.

Okay, Saturday October 15th and Sunday the 16th, mom’s diapers again had the odor of straight ammonia, she was refusing to drink more fluids. I’m thinking dehydration. When I would say something to her it would go back to the same song and dance. I made a decision to take her to the doctors on Monday or Tuesday if she was still refusing to drink.

Monday the 17th, mom got up around 9:30.

“Mom, take a bath before it gets too late.” “Why I’m not going anywhere.” “That’s not the point you’ve been in the same diaper all night and if it gets any later you’ll be getting lunch instead of breakfast.” “I’ll take a bath and eat when I’m ready just worry about your own fat butt.”

Now, she knows it bothers me when she talks about my being heavy. Heck I know I’m big but everyday for whatever reason she brings it up. She must truly have dementia because a sane person wouldn’t be making those kinds of comments to the person who makes their food.

By the time she’s ready for breakfast its lunch time so I make her a half of turkey sandwich with swiss cheese, a bowl of soup and a few pieces of cantaloupe and watermelon. She sits down and starts to complain that it was too much food. I let her know if she kept complaining I would give her the other half of the sandwich. I walked into the den to finish my crossword puzzle.

It was about two maybe three minutes and I heard my mother snoring. “Mom wake up, mom are you sleeping, wake up” Nothing so me and my fat butt get up, I touched her shoulder nothing then I notice she had thrown up and had passed out. She was breathing but making a sound between gurgling and snoring.

“911, is this a medical emergency?” “Yes my mother was eating and passed out, I need help.” “Is she breathing? How old is she? The address and number you’re calling from?”

Finally after all the questions were answered, I called my husband and kids everyone showed up the same time as the paramedics. My husband and son stayed to clean the mess and close up the house, Dana drove ahead to the hospital and I went in the ambulance with my mom.

First before I go any further let me tell you about the ambulance. Why are all emergency vehicles so high off the ground? This was my fourth time having to call for paramedics and an ambulance to my mom’s house, I now feel like I have a close enough relationship with the dispatcher that when they see my mom’s address pop up to send a truck with a bucket to help lift my big behind into the cab of the ambulance. It’s embarrassing I felt like a Weeble (you know the roly-poly characters).

We arrive at the hospital the paramedics had already cut open my mom’s favorite dress. The nurses take her torn dress and sweater all the way off and were going to hand them to me. Hell no! I wasn’t even going to touch the bag. The look on my face let them know it was trash time.

Dana came to sit with me, lab work, x-rays, a CT scan all showed how healthy my mom was, the diagnosis was dehydration. They plumped her up with fluids and we ignored her requests for a Babe Ruth bar. The hospital would have released her but her insurance Kaiser has a policy if a patients loses consciousness they stay overnight for observation.

When the ambulance came to transport my mom to Kaiser, Dana drove me home so I could pick up my car. Now I haven’t eaten anything all day. I down a banana and three cookies and then Paul drove me to the hospital.

When I walked into the room my mom was stuffing her face with Fig Newton’s, she feeling good and wanted to know who came with me to see her and who I called. I let her know everyone knew she was in the hospital and no one came because she wasn’t ill, she was there because she was to stubborn to drink water. I told her I’ve had it. I explained the paramedics, the ambulance, doctors and nurses had more seriously ill patients that they needed to tend to, also her taking space in the hospital is one less bed available for someone else more seriously ill. I was so upset and exhausted I left.

Late that night and early the next morning I received a call from the attending doctor at Kaiser, he wanted to let me know my mom was doing well and would be released around noon.

I got there at twelve thirty. When I walked into her room my mom immediately started asking me if anyone came with me to see her in the hospital. I said no because she wasn’t sick just too lazy to drink fluids. I started to get her ready to go when the nurse came in. She was letting me know my mom didn’t want to eat breakfast but she managed to get her to eat some cereal. Lunch was delivered and she needed to try and eat something. My mom flatly refused saying she would eat at home. Knowing that I would have to continue the battle at home I let my mom know if she didn’t eat she wouldn’t be going home. She began eating.

When I pulled the car up to the hospital patient loading zone, the young man who was helping my mom into the car said; “Have a wonderful day” my mom replied “I’m on the way out.” The young man didn’t know what to say, my mom made it seem like she was going home to die.

I stepped on the gas and looked at her and said;

“So where are we going? Dancing? Lunch? On a trip? Where?” “Aren’t we were going home?” “I thought we were until you told that young man you were on the way out. You’re not dying I know this because the doctors in two hospitals just examined you, the only thing wrong with you is your need for attention.”

When we got home;

“Mom, you need to take a shower you had thrown up and haven’t had a shower in two days.” “Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.” “Mom take a shower.” “Shut up fat ass!”

Okay this time I picked up the phone, should I call the county morgue or my brother? I ended up calling my brother because I knew his number. I put the call on speaker and asked my mother to repeat what she called me and she did. Well, my brother let her know he wasn’t happy and was coming over.

Intervention (this entry is so long maybe it should be an Intermission).

Since I have tried in the past with the Scared Straight approach having only two bad cops wasn’t working. But now were doing Beyond Scared Straight, oh yeah everyone is on board.

The next day my brother came over, he had my back; even without a script he was remarkable. (Now remember in my last entry I had placed my mom in a really nice assisted living facility for a week, so I had to change it up).

I started to explain that I could not afford to put mom into the nice facility. The cost was $150.00 a day when I placed her in for a week of respite care. Placement for long term would be a little more as she needs assistance bathing, medications and walking to and from the dining room. Now keep in mind this conversation is in front of my mom. Without a dress rehearsal this is how it went down between my brother and me in front of my mom.

“I’m going to be honest with you I can’t ask my husband to do any more than what we’ve done its going to cost two thousand more a month to put mom into a home. Can you pay it?” “Two thousand no way, I’m retired.” “Well, if I can come up with half and I don’t think I can would you be able to pitch in one thousand?” “No, right now it would be tough.” “I know that’s how it is with everyone, I do know that there’s facilities that take only SSI and pensions that don’t have the extra frills but it’s doable.” “Sounds good.”

I told my mom I could no longer take care of her, I was done until I sold the house she was going to the cheaper home, the one where she would have to share a room with one to four other woman, the one where the meals would be simple, like bologna or ham sandwiches for lunch and casserole’s for dinner. Her eyes were bigger now, she understood.

My brother also confronted my mom with his disappointment with the way she talks to me. Surprise!

What a good day this was becoming. My aunt even showed up unexpectedly, without clueing her in about us taking a firm stance in Spanish she asked;

“Eva, how are you doing?” “Not good.” “No, Eva say you’re doing fine” “Fine.”

She even let my mom know she needed to do better so she could remain home. Yes today is a good day, I feel like the troops are with me.

Now on the fourth day, Kaiser sent a very nice young girl to evaluate my mother for Palliative Care. The only ailments my mother has is dementia and RA, since she was not in the final stages of life she did not qualify for assistance.

The only thing my mom understood is that this woman was from Kaiser, she asked me what she wanted. I explained she came to see if she could help, but since she didn’t have a medical condition and it was just that she’s too stubborn to eat and drink a facility might be the answer.

Well, that night no problems, this morning I woke her, gave her breakfast, she showered no problems. My brother just called, he remarked I sounded better, and I’m actually feeling better. Mom’s not sleeping she’s watching TV quietly in her room, when she heard the phone she came out to see who called; I said my brother and he asked if I found a home for you yet.

If I can keep it fresh in her mind, I do believe it will be a good day. Peace.

This time however my depression was different, it lasted longer.

Taking care of my aunt for the last two years had started to take a toll on me. I could no longer do the 150 miles round trip two to three times a week to deal with her issues. Every day she was either upset, arguing with someone, dying or depressed. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I now recognize I had become codependent. I found myself adapting or ignoring her behaviors which allowed me to be involved in fewer of her conflicts.

Then you toss in my mom. I felt like there was a contract out on me and they were the hit men.

I started experiencing anxiety and a rapid heartbeat. I was stressed and on the verge of tears all the time. My family was in protect mode.

But, like I said this time was different, I realized I needed to change. I started to prioritize everything that I was dealing with. I needed to make a decision what I could deal with. Changes had to be made.

I am no longer taking care of my aunt, I can no longer ride an emotional roller coaster and deal with someone’s problems if that person is not willing to see themselves and meet me halfway. While I miss her I realize she needs to seek help, I cannot do it for her. With just this one change in the last six months I have not had a problem with anxiety attacks or rapid heartbeat.

In May I placed my mom in respite care of eight days. EIGHT DAYS of not being responsible for meals, exercise, bathing, incontinence, EIGHT DAYS of not hearing the same questions a zillion times, and the biggie EIGHT DAYS of not being insulted. I called that one week Cinco de Mayo, because it gave this Mexican independence.

I would like to say my husband and I enjoyed those eight days catching up with friends; unfortunately it was spent redoing my mom’s bedroom. We redid her ceiling; crown molding, painting, hung new pictures, new bedspread the works. When she came home she was surprised and happy, her happiness lasted two days.

It’s still rough, she still makes me cry, but when she was gone I did miss her.

I have learned the meaning of “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” I am now being selective agreeing only to take on responsibilities that I know I can handle.

I’m back and have a lot to tell you about, my white haired stalker, my two granddaughters, my husband, kids, Christmas…

I will post soon and try to post every few days, so hold on the rides about to begin…..

Dana, Chris and Mackenzie received a called on March 23rd about a precious little girl that was born was born in Nevada, on March 5th; she weighed 6lb 2ozs and was 18 inches long.

We all were on pins and needles waiting for the birthmother to make a decision on who would become her daughter’s adoptive parents. A decision was made a few weeks later and on April 9th, Riley Renee was placed in our daughter’s arms.

My granddaughter Mackenzie is such a wonderful big sister, Riley smiles and watches her every move.

This grandma would like to say thank you to two mothers who made the hardest decision to place their child up for adoption, a decision made out of unselfish love that affected so many people.

Please know our granddaughters are cherished and greatly loved.

Your act of love, not only completed my daughter’s family, it completed the lives of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and friends.

Please know that you are both loved and in my prayers, one day our paths will cross, and our family tree will become bigger connected by two little branches.

(Visit the link “My Daughter Dana” to see one of the first pictures of the happy family)

So here it is, the final resolution was fair and agreeable by both parties.

However, while the final resolution was fair, getting there was hell. Had Landeros acted more promptly and professionally, they might have kept a customer and obtained a better rating.

Hopefully, this be a lesson learned, your customer service can make or break a business. If you want your business to do well, striving for a fair or satisfactory rating is no longer good enough. The best type of advertising is free and it comes from your customers the type of advertising you receive is controlled by you and your customer service.

They must be planning to do a sequel and my mom is practicing for the lead. For the last two days, minus a cigar hanging out of her mouth, she’s been doing her impression of Clint.

I was in the kitchen talking on speaker phone with my daughter Dana today at 11:45 when my mom came out;

“I’m not eating breakfast today”
“What do you mean your not eating breakfast?”
“I had Ensure this morning and that was my breakfast.”
“You had Ensure, before you showered, so you wouldn’t be in a hot shower with an empty stomach.”
“I’m not eating breakfast.”
“Okay, then I’ll make lunch.”
“I’m not eating.”

Now keep in mind my mother only eats a small breakfast and an even smaller lunch that’s it, only two meals a day and dessert, and now she’s telling me no breakfast.

So, I placed her breakfast on the table and said;

“Here’s your breakfast, if you don’t eat it, I’m making you lunch and then later I’ll make you dinner.”

The thought of actually eating two meals was too much for her, as I picked up the phone and slid out the dining room chair my mom yelled;

“Why did you throw the chair at me?”

Now keep in mind my mom’s dining room set is old and made of solid wood, the chairs all have arms and weigh about twenty pounds.

“What!”
“Why did you throw the chair?”
“I didn’t throw the chair I slid it out for you.”
“Well, why don’t you just hit me?”
“Why, would I hit you?”
“Just hit me.”

I started talking with Dana and said this is what it’s been like the last two days; she keeps telling me to hit her. I don’t know what’s going in her mind. Maybe she wants me to audition for Jerry Springer.

I find myself yelling, just to get the simplest things through to her, and there she is all 110 pounds in my face saying “hit me, hit me.”

I have to see the humor in everything she does, I have to remember she’s not all there and I have to remind myself the little old piñata yelling, hit me, hit me, doesn’t have enough candy for this Mexican to pick up a bat….

So you can call me anything, well just about anything, just don’t call me trashy.

We’ve all heard about the environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. He’s the one who is always showing up to an event riding a bicycle, his home is powered by solar energy, and he has earned numerous awards from prestigious environmental groups for his work in the environmental community. If you’ve never heard of him, Google and learn.

Now for those of you who don’t know me I’m also married to an environmental activist he like Mr. Begley tries to do his part for our environmental future, but understandably my husband’s contribution is smaller, since he has a fulltime job being married to me.

My husband has a bike, which he’s planning on riding once he gets a helmet (per me) because of drivers like me.

My house has mostly CFL lighting inside and LED lighting outside, I also have high efficiency appliances.

We have drip watering systems outside.

My husband has always recycled like everyone else, with the paper, plastic and metal bins at our curb, a couple of barrels and or bags of normal trash, or trash trash as I call it, and a barrel of green trash. No problem, until now.

Aside, from my mom’s diapers, I have no trash… Yes, you heard me I have no trash…

Every bit of trash that goes out at my house is screened twice once inside and once outside. All newspaper, paper, mail shredded or intact, paper towels or toilet rolls, every box, every plastic water bottle, milk carton, every plastic bag, bread bags, produce bags, every piece of metal, foil, pie dishes, hair pins, etc are placed for recycle. All produce leftovers, banana peels, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes etc goes to Chris for his red worm composter. Seriously the only thing you can depend on being in my trash is Depends.

Yes, he is making sure that we are doing our part for the environment. He is making sure that he is driving me nuts, second guessing what goes into the trash or gets recycled. Our kids are enjoying watching their dad drive me nuts, however on a few occasions he’s been known to pull stuff out of their trash to get it into the right barrel.

He also has gone so far, as to give other peoples trash (wayward items found in parking lots) a free ride to our bins.

I even have a tinge of jealousy when I see my husband jump up when he hears the trash truck so he can help set up the barrels and then give them a soda; it’s like watching him having a first date every Friday.

So, I have learned to live my life like the rich and famous; be aware of what goes in the barrel, because the paparazzi (my husband) is lurking somewhere on the quiet street just waiting for tiniest bit of wayward trash.

The sale was written up and paid for a of total $1,762.81. Fast forward to the delivery on Oct 2nd. At the time of delivery my aunt’s 72 year old neighbor was present. The delivery was chaotic while the delivery men were trying to remove her existing sofa through the kitchen service porch area the sofa got stuck in the doorway. Fearing that they might cause damage to her doorway, walls or washer/dryer she along with her neighbor kept an eye on them following them into the garage. The loveseat was taken out the front door which is wider with no problem, once the loveseat was in the garage they started bringing in the new furniture. While the new furniture was being brought in one of the men asked her to sign a confirmation of delivery, she was so confused she can’t even remember if she signed it. No reciept was left.

Once my aunt and her neighbor went into the living room, they were in utter shock. The furniture appears to be several years old, pre-owned or left outside for sometime, its damaged, dirty and completely unstable, in no way is the furniture new.

My aunt called me immediately regarding the condition of the furniture, since I live 77 miles away and I take care of my elderly mother, the soonest I could get there was on the 4th two days later.

OMG, this furniture is definitely not new. I immediately called Landeros, and spoke with the receptionist it was Sunday and apparently their customer service isn’t open in on weekends. I explained the situation and was basically told it was a special order and there was nothing they could do, I had to wait for customer service. I did take the time to explain that I blog and give feedback good or bad. The outcome of my review would be up to them, the time it takes to rectify the situation.

That Monday I spoke with the customer service, I explained the situation again the response was it was a special order; maybe I could take pictures and bring them to the store. I really don’t carry my camera with me, all I had was my camera phone I took pictures but decided the ones that were taken were not the quality nor could I email them so I explained they are less than ½ mile away, they needed to send customer service to her. I also explained my aunt fell while trying to sit on the rocker because it’s not stable enough when she started to sit down, I again told her I will be reviewing this on my blog, yelp, my desert.com, etc. Finally, customer service agreed to send someone to my aunt’s home and take pictures.

On the 6th, the care giver almost fell getting out of the chair she said this is not the quality that the salesman said it was and it is a clear misrepresentation from the representative of the store.

So, I called to see the status and the customer service representative wasn’t due in so I asked to speak with someone else, because now I want all our money back, we clearly don’t want this furniture, its dirty, broken, chipped, weather beaten or used. I explained, previously I told customer service that we would pay for the cushions since they were made in the fabric my aunt chose but now I want all the money back, due to the quality and misrepresentation. The manager came on the line and did not identify herself by name, (and who I later found out was the co-owner) her response was that it was up to the manufacturer as to what would be done and I needed to wait to give them a chance to fix the situation. I tried to explain not only is it regarding the condition but the fact that there was misrepresentation of what was purchased by The Landeros employee. She also pointed out that since I was not there, I don’t know what was said, well she’s right but the caregiver was present during the entire transaction and along with my aunt explained my aunts bad back and type of furniture needed. What was the response from Landeros management “were not doctors.” I guess you can afford to be funny when your not out $1,762.81 and have no where to sit.

Apparently Landeros and their management has the mind set that this is between the manufacturer and my aunt. Wrong, my aunt didn’t buy from the manufacturer she bought from Landeros. The manufacturer didn’t tell her it was sturdy and firm, Landeros did. My aunt didn’t give her money to the manufacturer, she gave it to Landeros.

Well the manager said she would hear from the manufacturer that day, I said well you have my number, I look forward to hearing from you. She in turn said no you can call me back, let me give you my number. Well let’s just say customer service at Landeros is off to a good start.

The results from Landeros was the manufacturer will paint the scratches, will do nothing regarding the numerous chips and where we pointed out missing screws, we were told that we just can’t see them. Now who in thier right mind would agree to pay $1,762.81 for furniture that is so damaged and agree that a coat of paint is acceptable? Even if they were to offer replacement furniture how would we know if any replacement furniture is not just covered up junk?

At first we were willing to pay for the cushions since my aunt ordered the fabric, I am no longer willing to do so. My reasoning is that the furniture is certainly not what the salesperson represented it to be and to top it off the tags on the seat cushions say 2008 and with felt pen someone altered the 08 to 11. The furniture is flimsy, the cushions are not firm and the set is not sturdy or as well constructed as the Landeros saleman assured us. I have attached pictures so you yourself could see this is not new furniture.

As far as their no refund policy, I feel my aunt held up her end of the contract she paid for “new” and “well constructed furniture” what Landeros did was give her “damaged” and “poorly constructed” junk that she probably couldn’t sell at a yard sale. Since they didn’t live up to their end of the contract by giving her what she paid for that should make the no refund policy null and void.

Enjoy the pictures as to the quality from Landeros Furniture Superstore. I will update as this drama progresses and do a complete review on various sites so others can choose where to spend their money. My question is, is there really Customer Service or lack of Customer Service at Landeros Furniture Superstore?

I will post more pictures with my follow ups. Be sure to click on the thumbnails for a closer look.

The best is that we celebrated our fortieth anniversary on August 28th. Our good friends, Roy and Norma said when we married we tied the knot tight, yes we did plus we made a double knot for added strength.

Since our daughter was going to be gone for her 15th anniversary which is also this year we started celebrating last year with a family trip to Hawaii. It was wonderful.

Paul and I went back a few months ago by ourselves for a second honeymoon. He treated me like I was a new bride, everything was perfect.

Three months ago my daughter slipped on a wet floor in a major department store since then she has been unable to work let alone travel. So since they would be home for our actual anniversary our son came up with the idea of a local family trip so both my kids surprised us with a four day mini trip to Big Bear.

It was so much fun! Big Bear Mountain Brewery, Peppercorn grill and local deli’s, nights of scrabble, movies and just having fun.

The actual day was wonderful we had so much fun. After a special dinner we came home for cake and to enjoy a movie night. Our son put in a DVD and what a surprise he had put together a DVD about our forty plus years.

I was really surprised because I had moved all our pictures to a second residence in Temple City both kids had no idea where they were. He did a great job finding pictures here and there. The last picture in Big Bear is from last year, he said the pictures weren’t the problem the music was, it took him four days to make the right selection. He started out with “I Can’t Take My Mind Off Of You” by Damien Rice then “The Lucky Ones.” By Tim Myers and finished with “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds.

Now about the note at the end it was from Paul when we were dating, however, the last part was done as a joke by our son. While dating I really wanted to see a particular movie, I can’t even remember what movie it was. Paul couldn’t afford to take me so I went out on a date with someone else and when I was leaving on the date Paul pulled up and caught me. The best he could come up with was that he wanted his records back. Over the years when ever something came up I would always asked him if he wanted his records back and you guessed it I still have them.

This year has been a great year for our family. I know we all think our kids are the best I know that’s how Paul and I feel, we’ve questioned ourselves over the years and all I can say is damn we did a good job. Our kids have always known the importance of family and we have always been there for each other. Just knowing how much thought went into this gift, keeping it a secret and choosing the right songs means a lot to us and like the song says, I’m am the luckiest!

I linked the video and hope you enjoy it. Please make a mental note of how thin I was.

Now this issue has been on the ballots before and has failed. Still you have some that will keep pushing until the results are what they want, legalization.

Now I’m sure marijuana has its benefits for people who are ill, and I for one say if it can ease ones pain then they should be prescribed the drug or drugs that can help. But for the ones who want it because they want to get high I say hold on we have enough problems already.

Now I’m not naïve, I have friends and relatives who smoke the stuff, with no problems I’m not going to say I’m fine with it, but at least they are responsible enough to use it in their home and not out in public.

I’m worried about the ones (and there will be plenty) who will use it anytime and anyplace, you know the ones that already have fewer brain cells then normal people.

My husband and I bought our first home when I was twenty-one, by the time I was thirty-four we were building our dream home. It was perfect until our neighbors sold their home to such an individual.

Our neighbor is an idiot. When his first child was an infant and would cry he would place him in the car on the driveway so his crying wouldn’t disturb him in the house. That stopped when the neighbors called the police. Then he would place him in an outside lanai until again the police would show up. He would take his child out for a ride by placing him on a flat wagon tied to a bike, once he would start off the kid would fly off like cracking the whip, His wife stopped that after seeing the neighbors coming out.

He has been outside wearing leotards and a tutu, a Samurai outfit including swords and cowboy attire just to name a few of his outfits.

He barely works, his wife assumed the responsibility earning a living and raising the kids who are now in middle school and high school.

How did this happen, my guess drugs? I came to this conclusion after a few years of not getting along with him due to his odd behavior, his dog running loose his attempt of keeping a rooster, geese etc.

Years ago Chris mentioned that the neighbor was growing marijuana in the backyard. So I called the police;

“Temple City Sheriffs station.”
“Hi, I’d like to report that my neighbor is growing marijuana.”
“Can you see it form the street?”
“No.”
“Then we can’t help you, our officers need to be able to see it from the street.”
“What?”
“We can’t go onto private property to check.”
“Well, send an officer anyway; I think there’s a burglar in my backyard.”

When they arrived to check out my yard, I glanced over to my neighbors and said;

“What’s that?”
“Looks like your neighbor has a few marijuana plants.”

It was only two plants, that were huge, taller and wider then I was, the sheriff asked to borrow our shovel and dug up the plants. I don’t know what the outcome of it was. He now has hedges so I can’t see over.

Now, while these all happened years ago, its people like him that I worry about. He doesn’t drive his wife’s car because he always involved in accidents. Could it be that he drives while under the influence? I don’t know. I just know his reaction time and ability to think always seems clouded.

So I will vote NO on proposition 19, knowing good and well people will still smoke marijuana whether or not it’s legal. An example; in California the drinking age is twenty-one how’s that working out? So now let’s start treating marijuana more like alcohol.

Like drinking after using marijuana, the user will feel intoxicated; have some loss of coordination, poor sense of balance and a slower reaction time. Now let’s add a two ton car.

Some of you will not agree with me, I don’t really care. I realize people will still use the stuff, heck if it would make my mom nicer I’d bake her a brownie. It’s just that in my opinion legalizing would open up a whole bunch of new problems.

So if you’re already using it responsibly fine I don’t want to hear about it. But if pot is legalized by the State of California and you’re an idiot my next call will be to the Feds because after all the state can’t regulate a Federal Offense.