KG's Hideaway

3-25-06

Well today has been rather interesting. I got up and went shopping first thing this morning, planning on getting Kyra her new glasses and some new summer clothes (and oodles of new things for myself, of course!!!) Well, right off the bat Kyra pissed me off, so I left her here and Craig ended up meeting me at the mall after the the guys installing the new oven left. He brought Kyra with him but she was well into round two by this point, and he was nearing the boiling point. She isn't even making an effort to follow any rules around here. In fact, when asked why she did something this morning, her answer was "Because I wanted to." KNOWING that it would get her in trouble. My god, I'm ready to rip out my hair.

Ryan took third in the high jump today, having missed at 5'4 when she SNEEZED as she crossed the bar. I can't even believe she did that. I don't believe I've ever heard of that, but it sounds like something my kid would do.
She's at a basketball game now and I skipped it because I'm so mad at Kyra and Austin. I won't even get into what Austin is up to. I'm gonna have to hurt that boy.

Anyway, I'm going to lay down and read. Later!

Posted by at 4:57 PM | Permalink

3-19-06 12:19pm

This week has been hell. On Monday night, just after dinner, a pipe busted outside but also shot water into our master bedroom so we had to go stay in a hotel for 2 days. Insurance covers everything but its still a pain in the ass. It created problems in our master bath that aren't fixed yet (we're putting in a new shower and toilet, vanity and sink while they're doing all the other work- but that's something that's at our cost because we were doing that anyway) and it wasn't TOO much of a problem that our shower was still inoperable (because they were still working on the leak) until a pipe broke in the front bathroom last night... less than one week from the other pipe breaking!!! It partially flooded the floor of Ryan's closet in her bedroom, but that wasn't too bad because Craig had ripped the carpet out of her bedroom last weekend while we were in Oklahoma (and wasn't going to take it out of Kyra's room, Austin's room and their hallway this weekend so that we could put the wood floors down... so it was really just a matter of sopping up the water, and even that wasn't very much, thankfully. So the FIRST plumber came out and finished my bathroom today and the OTHER plumber will be out tomorrow to fix the other bathroom. The new kitchen appliances SHOULD be put in by the end of the week (we were in the middle of that when this whole mess started!!!!) and I think I'll be happy then. Of course, then we start on the yard.

For now, this is the madness of my life. Gotta run... got a billion places to be today and won't be home til late tonight! ciao

Posted by at 12:50 PM | Permalink

03-12-06

I got home from HELL, I mean Oklahoma, around 10:30 last night so I'm tired, bitchy and in a foul mood but that's nothing new so basically it's same ol, same ol.

I'm absolutely certain, as I live and breathe, that God hates Oklahoma. He has to. A trip that should have been relatively easy took 7.75hrs... and I was ready to throw myself out of a MOVING VEHICLE... but the problem with that was I WASN"T MOVING!!!!! I was sitting in traffic and it wasn't because it was spring damn break. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, evidently, spring break went to hell there, too, because NO ONE CAN FIND IT!!! EVERY single free way that I came across, in every single direction, in every single town, reservation, farm, brick shithouse... you name it... EVERY LAST one of them was UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Only two lanes open in each direction. Top that off with a daughter who doesn't travel well under the BEST circumstances (and was already so excited she was ready to gnaw through the dash board) and I pretty much decided that I was ready to go to hell with the rest of Oklahoma. That was 20 miles after crossing INTO Oklahoma. I won't even go into the rest of the TRAVEL part of the story.

The great part of the story was how excited DeMarcus was. As we pulled on to the campus of ORU I pointed out the enormous praying hands to Ryan. I don't know how tall they are, but I'd guess at least 5 or 6 stories (I'm horrible at judging height) Anyway, we drove around to where the dorms are and Ryan got out because she could see DeMarcus walking to the car. Watching her walk towards him, I tried really hard not to cry, but I'm never very successful in that endeavor and he just looked so sweet standing there hugging Ryan... and somehow it rattled some memories loose of being that age... anyway. After a sufficient amount of tears flowed I convinced him to let me take us to dinner so we could talk. It's hard for him to let people "DO" for him, but he's learning.

We just sat at Bennigan's talking and laughing. I wanted to hear everything about what was going on with him and he wanted to hear all about what was going on at home. He told us about a girl he is dating, but she was leaving on a mission trip to Tijuana so we didn’t get to meet her. He says that there appears to be a problem with girls on campus who meet guys, fall in love and are ready to be married and it all happens in the first week or two.(his words, not mine) so though he may come to care quite deeply, right now they are simply “friends.” He cared a lot about what was going on in Ryan’s life and how she’s handling the pressure of the universities wanting a piece of her.

We spent two days together just talking and having a great time. We spent Saturday afternoon at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa before dropping him back off and heading home. I don’t want to go into the “goodbyes.” He cried. I cried. Ryan cried. Let’s leave it at that. I cried for a while after the drive started, but then the traffic made me angry and that’s all she wrote.

I’m very proud of my boy, and all my children. I plan on posting pics from all weekend!!!

Posted by at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

3-9-06 10:51pm

Almost got everything ready to go for tomorrow's trip to Tulsa. I'm very excited and DeMarcus sounds like he is, too! I guess we'll end up getting there around 3 or 4... not too bad.

Laura ended up calling and sounding utterly amazed that there were any problems at ALL... ??? Um, HELLO? Anyway, they are coming over here on Sunday to discuss whatever it is that seems to be the problems. Gee, I can't imagine what that might be!!!

But I'm here to brag... as usual. Here are my kiddos... and my hubby. Now these are the pics that Dony took, but Craig shrunk them down and downgraded the quality a little so that it wouldn't take up so much of our webmistresses space, as she has been ever so gracious with her skills, help and everything else under the sun and nothing here would be possible without her. So THANK YOU!!!

This is my hubby and I. I happen to love this man. I complain about him alot, but without him I am nothing... he is the rhythm to my heartbeat,

This is my Prissy Girl. I actually just took a picture of the picture while it was already in the frame because this is one of the pics that didn't get "shrunk". There are actually two of these. The photographer wants to use a couple of these in their presentation to CVS. He actually wants Ryan and Austin to get back into modeling, but we're way too busy for that, so nuh uh!

Here is all three kids together. I love this picture. I just love it!

Posted by at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

3-9-06 3:30pm

I've been running around this afternoon trying to get all my stuff done so Ryan and I can leave after her track meet tomorrow (to go and see DeMarcus) but I'm lagging behind. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and my head sort of feels like I'm under water. Kyra has been fighting the same symptons for almost a week so I guess it's just my turn. At least she finally seems to be feeling better. (remind me to write about what's going on with her and her mother.... and I THOUGHT we'd stopped all the crap between them!!!)

I snapped some quick ones of Kyra today in the front yard because she looked so cute today. I love the little outfit she had on! Now, for the backstory on her and her mom. Back in January, we sort of pushed Kyra to make amends with her mom, thinking that since her mom had gotten remarried in November- things might be a little better and will be easier to handle with someone else around (thinking that Kyra might feel a little less pressure on to be THE person in her mother's life) Well, as usual it didn't last long. Kyra started having "issues" and I'll pretty much leave it at that. I talked to Laura and told her that Kyra has become a "master manipulator." Imagine my surprise when Laura told me that Paul (her new husband) agreed! Now, I like Paul. He's young (only 27!!!!) but he's a good guy and I think his heart is in the right place. He's never been married and he doesn't have any kids but he's jumped in and is doing his best... BUT... he's known Kyra a VERY short time, so for him to make comments like that, bother me. But it seems stupid for it to bother me in this instance because he's right. I think it's bothering me because he believes that Laura never did ANYthing wrong and that we did everything wrong and attacked her and blah blah blah... you know the drill. And those and my feelings, not necessarily his words. Like I said, I like the guy. He seems to have a really good head on his shoulders but he's young and he just has no clue about the true history of this group. He might know what he's been TOLD, but we've already heard his version of what he's been told and we told him IN FRONT OF LAURA that it was a crock of shit and we had the court papers that he was more than welcome to read to prove it!

So, I get my new dishwasher, stovetop and double oven on Monday and Tuesday and I CAN'T WAIT!!! kdgr

Posted by at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

3-5-06

Well, DeMarcus called me about 3:45 yesterday and he didn't clear 7'4 so he didn't make it, but he sounded fine. His faith continuously amazes me. He's off for spring break this week but he has to train for outdoor National track meet so he can't come home, but I'm going up on Wednesday and coming home on Thursday, I think. That way Ryan can go, too and still not miss this weekend's track meet.

My house will be absolutely SPOTLESS after I scrub my kitchen floors here in a few minutes. It has been terribly messy for a while and I never thought I'd dig out from the mess that built up from the month I was in the hospital plus the sick time before and after. Finally, the end is in sight.

Ryan and I both have doctor appointments tomorrow but I'm worried about mine. My hands are now numb almost all the way to my elbows. My neurolgist said the peripheral neruopathy is caused from a vitamin C deficiency and that once you begin getting enough again it reverses itself, but mine is only getting worse. I knew this was a possibility when I had my stomach surgery but this is way worse than it should be. I also have to have a couple more surgeries here pretty quick that I don't want to have but will definitely make me feel better... so I guess I ought to just do it and get it over with.

Anyway, that's it for me. I'm off to scrubb my tile then treat myself to a shopping trip. Later! kdgr

Posted by at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

03-04-06

DeMarcus is having to be in a jump off today. I think it totally sucks. It appears that there weren't enough people in the conferences to clear 7'2, so they are at Iowa state today for the jump off and he needs to clear 7'4 now to go to the National meet... if I understood him correctly. It really sucks for him because he cleared 7'2 last year as a high school senior to win the Texas State 4A High Jump Championship, but because he wasn't really challenged this year since the first couple of meets he has to do this. Anyway, the National Meet will be at Arkansas State and I'm gonna go, but if he doesn't get to go for some reason, we're going to go to Oklahoma and see him next week. I need to see my boy!!!

He sounded fine last night when I talked to him, but at the same time I think he felt pressure that he hadn't felt before. He knows what he is capable of, but when someone comes out of the blue and tells you that plans have changed and you have three days (including travel time) to do something, it can mess with your head.

When we talked last night, we talked about "his story" and I asked him if he was going to be ready to share it with other kids soon. I told him that there were kids out there who had lost hope, and maybe even some who haven't even realized that they've given up, and if they knew even a fraction of his life and what he'd gone through... trust me when I tell you, think of life on the streets... he's been there. HE didn't do anything bad, he was just a small child, but his mother... lets just say she's still out there. They need to know there's hope. One day, I'm going to have him log on to my blog and just type whatever he wants. I know alot but I'm willing to bet there are billions of things I can't even guess about.

Anyway, I'm about to chew through my desk waiting to hear the results. On the other hand... Ryan called and she took the bronze in her track meet. She won her meet two weeks ago, and all of her meets last year. But the difference this time is that she got a personal best of 5'2 today. She ALMOST cleared 5'4 but nicked the bar with her heel, and she said she was really tired by the time she got to 5'4. She's been battling shin splints the last week so she hasn't been working out to hard and I guess it's showing, but that's just how it's gonna be. It wouldn't have mattered too much anyway because she said the girl that won it jumped 5'6 and she's only a FRESHMAN!!!! Ryan's a sophomore and she said this girl was just really pretty to watch, her form was just great. I think Ryan's showing some maturity there by complimenting the girl who beat her instead of putting her down. I am glad to see that.

Tomorrow it's back to the basketball workouts. Her regular summer team will start working out in the next week or so. The coach and his daughters are with their highschool (Waxahachie) in the Texas High School State Championship game today, so we couldn't start working out until they were done. But Ryan has been asked to go to play with the Adidas National Champs in North Carolina in April and a couple of other tournaments. They are trying to convince us to come play with them for good, but we've given our word to Vance and I won't go back on that. Plus, Vance is one of the VERY FEW select coaches who allow his players to play with other teams during our inactive weekends, and his daughters even play with this same team alot so I don't want to do that. BUT... this team DID sign 10 out of 10 players on both their junior and senior teams to colleges the past two years that they've been in business, and the owner of team's daughter is a VERY well known two time All American player at the University of Texas. Very tempting, but no dice.

All right. I gotta go back to waiting. I'm gonna go for a drive and wait for my call! Later!

Posted by at 4:21 AM | Permalink

3-1-06 12:00pm

Today is my parents' 44th wedding anniversary. I haven't talked to them since around the first part of September except the three times I've run into my dad at the local gas station around the corner from both of our houses. He's always said hello, but he and I both know he'd never have done it if my mother would have been standing there. Not that he's afraid of her or anything... I can't explain it the way he means it, but somehow when he has explained it before, it makes sense, no matter how much it hurts or how angry it makes me. Oh well, happy anniversary.

I got off the phone with Craig just a minute ago and he's talking about getting me a ticket to go see DeMarcus jump in the National Indoor Track and Field meet. I don't think he knows what that would mean to me. Not for me, though God knows I miss him so much, but because DeMarcus won't have any other family there. My heart hurts for him so much but it only reminds me of what an amazing person he is.

I try to send him a package every couple of weeks and I always put money in it for him. He used to try and send it back until I told him that it would hurt my feelings if he did. Well, of course it wouldn't hurt my feelings but how else to you explain to someone that you WANT them to have it? It's not alot of money; it amounts to no more than a tank of gas a week in my truck, but that's not the point. As a college athlete he doesn't have the time to work. His family can't really help much, and it really does make me feel better to give something back. When I was going through my divorce, I had to ask for help one year at Christmas. It amounted to only about $100, but I made a promise to God that if I could get the help I needed that year I would repay it when the chance arose. I'm not sure that this is where I'm suppose to repay it... that may still be in my future... but this is still a place I WANT to start.

The links I posted in my previous post were a complete mess so I thought I'd just post his pic here instead of making you click both links. But you can still go HERE to see the article about all the stuff he won (and the other athletes from ORU).

Posted by at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)