Update on 'Cry wolf...'

This morning, I cornered one of the maintenance men here and asked him about the tape. (There's a camera located in the pool area where alleged rape occured. I'd already learned about what was on the tape but wanted clarification.) He at first said they weren't allowed to comment on it. I told him what I'd heard and that I had a right to know whether I was taking my kids to a crime scene if I took them to the pool. I told him that I already had the opinion that the 'crime' was actually consensual. He finally said, "You didn't hear this from me. But yes it was consensual." I said, "That's all I need to know. Thank you." I would never do anything to get him or the other maintenance guy who'd already blabbed in trouble since both of them go above and beyond their duties.

So I called my girlfriend who this happened to and left a message for her to call me. She called me back and said, "There's more to the story than I told you last." I said, "That it was consensual?" She admitted it was but didn't know until later, which I figured. I knew the niece had freaked out and said she'd been raped and that's all my friend had to go on until they saw the survelience tape from the pool area. The girl eventually recanted the story, but the guy is still in jail because he is 20 and the girl is 15. I never once blamed my friend. All she had was what her niece told her. There were already rumors and gossip among the teenagers around here before I learned the truth.

Part of me is glad it wasn't a rape, because now I can take my kids to the pool without feeling like I was stepping in to some crime scene. The other part of me is so pissed that this girl cried wolf. As a rape survivor, I never told anyone at the time what happened. But with this girl, if she really is raped later on in life, no one is going to believe her. And that hurts me, even though I don't know her.

Stuffed mushrooms

I happen to love eating this fungus...as my girlfriend Jodi calls them. LOL

Our neighbors upstairs...the same one who saved my life, are moving. Not too far away...bout 10 minutes. They have to be out by Monday. So today, knowing they were in the middle of moving, we cooked extra burgers and whatnot so they could join us then leave their kids with us to move as much as they could without kids underfoot.

I decided I wanted some stuffed mushrooms. I got the recipe from my sister-in-law. The first time I made them with feta cheese and they were alright. The second time I made them, I used bleu cheese (which is what my SIL uses) and they were disgusting. Tonight, my third time, I decided to use romano cheese. They finally turned out DELICIOUS!

So our neighbors took a break to eat with us and tried the stuffed mushrooms. I cannot tell you how much my head grew when they were in ecstacy over these stuffed mushrooms. Darryl begged me for the recipe but then said, "No you won't give it to us because that'll be a good excuse for us to come visit." LOL They'll visit anyway, this I know. But how many times have you cooked something and hoped that others really enjoyed it and weren't faking it?

I have to admit, they were delicious. I did write the recipe down for them as best I could since I tend to variate from recipes and do my own thing. LOL Either way, they really were delicious!

HOW CUTE!!!!!

Taken 5 minutes ago. They're looking at some stupid car magazine. LOL They were so oblivious they didn't even notice me until they saw the flash. LOL

Cry wolf...

or rather rape. There is few I hate more than someone who cries rape when no rape occured!

The other day, my girlfriend calls and tells me that a girl was raped at the pool the night before. She says it was her niece. That her niece and her daughter (who's 11) snuck out. The cops showed up and hunted down the boy. I haven't been able to talk to my friend much since to find out anything more. She was very upset when I talked to her on the phone. I did remind her that there's a camera at the pool so whatever happened was caught on tape.

Tonight I find out via a neighbor who was told by a maintenance man that it wasn't rape. The maintenance man viewed the tape from the camera. It showed the two girls going to the pool between 3:30-4:oo am. They were drinking and smoking. The older girl and the boy were making out and all over each other. After about 5 minutes or so it showed the boy getting out of the pool and sitting on a lounge chair. It showed the girl trying to make out again and him trying to get her off him. Apparently this girl had been a virgin and was freaking out about the blood.

So rather than face the music, she cries wolf. Now I've been trying to get in touch with my girlfriend to find out what's going on. I have no doubt that she believed her niece was raped. However if what the maintenance man says is true, there was no rape. Unless the boy was over 18, then they can get him for statutory rape.

It really pisses me off when people lie about something so serious. I do plan on asking the maintenance guy myself what he saw. Because since my girlfriend called me, I've refused to take my kids to the pool. Like I was in a crime scene or something. Granted, my kids do NOT go to the pool without me or the Homework Club. Jay is 10. A year younger than one of the girls who snuck out. But I have a habit of hearing them at night whether they're coughing, going to the bathroom, or even getting out of bed. Gotta love baby monitors that are sensitive. LOL

It's still scary that I have to start worrying about Jay sneaking out. Right now, his maturity level hasn't reached that point.

My 5 songs

Taking a cue from Mike, here are my 5 songs.

• Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams - Age 4, sitting on my Papa's lap or dancing on his feet.
• Leader of the Pack by The Shangri Las - Before age 10, singing with my mother at the top of my lungs.
• I can Never Go Home Anymore by The Shangri Las - Age 13, when said mother sent me away to live with relatives.
• You're Still the One by Shania Twain - My song to Jimmy
• Broken by Seether - My song to my Girls in Heaven

Who's next???

Paintballing!

And....Jay's off! The Homework Club is taking the kids ages 10 and up paintballing today. Thankfully, I wasn't asked to chaperone 'cause I did not want to get shot at with paint. LOL I've heard it hurts. Though I'd love to be there to see Jay getting nailed with paint. I've warned him it will hurt. I can't wait til he comes home and tells me about it. He's so excited!

Update:

Jay had a great time! He said it stung a little bit but wasn't too bad. He has welts from where he was hit. There wasn't any paint on his clothes, so I'm not understanding what happened there. He said they just kinda hit him then rolled off. Who knows? The important thing is, he had a lot of fun! I'm so glad for that. He hasn't stopped talking about it all night. LOL

Near death experience

Yup, I actually had one today.

It was a beautiful (hot as hell day) so we decided to invite our upstairs neighbors down for a cook out. They have 4 children that play with mine but this was the first time we'd all gotten together. The adults had steaks, the children hamburgers. I'm sitting at the table conversing and eating my food when a piece of steak gets lodged in my throat. I tried drinking some water, to no avail. I jumped up and grabbed my throat. At this point, I'm freaking out, my life is flashing before my eyes and all I could think was, "I'm going to die and my children will be motherless." Lucky for me, Cheryl used to be a nurse. Once she realized what was going on she grabbed me and did the heimlich maneuver. I had to leave the room while I cried tears of relief. I don't think I've ever been so scared for myself in my entire life! Do you know what she said afterwards? "I was more concerned that I was going to hurt you." I thought, "I'm choking to death here, hurt me all you want so long as I'm still alive!" There is nothing I could ever do to repay that. No thanks in the world covers her literally saving my life.

I think the next time I eat steak, I will be cutting the pieces very tiny. I honestly think had our neighbors not been there, I'd have choked to death. I don't doubt Jimmy would have done all he could to help, But I don't think he would have known how to do it. I thanked Cheryl over and over for saving my life. I was shaking so hard afterwards, I couldn't even finish eating.

Wait Over!!!!!!!

YES! YES! YES! I won that round. Justin finally cracked and cleaned his room today. He even cleaned under the bed and dresser. He did so much better than Jay, whose job is to clean the room. LOL I won! I won! Oh the joys of being a parent. LOL

Damn women drivers!

Yeah I know. Ironic, since I'm a woman. LOL

I decided I didn't feel like cooking today so we were having a 'Whatever Wednesday.' When Jimmy came home I asked if he wanted Chinese. So I get in his car Tempo) and drive around the corner to the Chinese place. I get my food, get back in the car and head home. I'm stopped at a stop sign waiting to turn left (still in the shopping center) when I hear a crunch. So I put the car in park, jump out and see my bumper cracked. Granted, the side of the bumper had already been damaged so I wasn't all that concerned that it was now cracked from the edge to about 2/3 down the back. I call Jimmy at home to see whether he wants me to even bother with the police or let it go. While I'm talking to him, the girl that was driving is going off, "Oh hell no I didn't do that. Blah blah blah!" Jimmy's on the phone and says, "No, F that. You hang up and call the police. I was going to let it go since the bumper was already damaged but if she wants to be a little bitch, then forget it." So I call the police. I'm shaking the whole time...as I always do when I'm in an accident. The girl is still going off and I finally snap it and say, "Look Bitch, I was going to let it go, which is why I called my husband first. But you're standing there running your mouth and making it worse!" I call Jimmy back, because I'm sitting there by myself while she over there bitching to her boyfriend. So Jimmy decides he wants to talk to her boyfriend. So I hand him my phone. Basically Jimmy told him that he needed to calm his girlfriend down. If she had just gotten out and apologized we would have let it go. Jimmy told him, that blond over there is stuck home with 4 kids all day and if your girl keeps it up she's going to lose her temper. And you do NOT want me to load up my kids and drive up there. The whole time Jimmy's talking to this guy, he's very polite and says he understands. Jimmy told him we didn't really want a police report and didn't want to file an insurance claim. So if he got her calmed down and talk to me, we'd let it go. Which I was totally fine with. To be honest the only reason my bumper looks so bad is because it was already damaged on the side. So when she tapped it, it cracked even more.

So while we're waiting for the police, she calms down and says, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten out and started running my mouth. I've had a bad day and it just keeps getting worse." I said, "I understand. I have four kids, so I know about bad days." So I basically told her the same thing Jimmy had told her boyfriend. That I'd called Jimmy first to see what he wanted me to do since the turd is his vehicle for back and forth to work. I told her I didn't want to file a claim or even have an accident report. The truth is, we could have fought and had her insurance company replace the bumper. But there had already been damage and I felt that would be wrong. So we sat there talking while waiting for the cop to show up.

The cop finally shows up and I tell him what happened, including that I'd called Jimmy first and we were going to let it go until she starting cussing and running her mouth. I told the cop she'd since calmed down and apologized. I told him I didn't really want an accident report or file a claim since she'd calmed down and talked to me like a reasonable person. The cop asked her how old she was after I said she'd been running her mouth. 21. Well the cop looked at her and said, "She's being awfully nice about this after you ran your mouth." So we didn't have to get an accident report and I don't have to deal with going to my insurance company to get it signed. The cop was really cool to me about it. He said he understood and that this was the easiest accident he dealt with. LOL

I know most people would have insisted on an accident report. But like I said, the bumper was already damaged on one side. No one was hurt. And I honestly wouldn't have known she hit me if I hadn't HEARD the crunch...over my stereo. LOL My car didn't move. Had she not calmed down and talked to me, yeah we'd have an accident report that we'd both have to get our insurance companies to sign. I still wouldn't have filed a claim against her insurance though. Not for something that was already damaged. I was shaking so bad on my way home. And all I wanted was some damn rice and eggrolls! LOL

I'm waiting...

I'm waiting for Justin to crack. Since he's been grounded, he's been confined to his room (see previous post on why). I can tell he's starting to be bored with the contents of his room. The conditions are when he cleans the room, he can go outside to play. He and Jay share a room. Normally it's Jay's "job" to clean their room since Justin cleans the living room every day. Jay only has to clean their bedroom once a week. However, this time, Jay hasn't even been playing in their room. Justin has since he's been confined. So this time, I feel it's Justin's responsibility to clean their room. I foresee in the next few days, Justin will crack, clean their room and want to go outside. However, he will NOT be allowed to go to Kobe's house, or anyone else's house. He will ONLY be allowed to go to the playground...Which is literally in my "backyard." I can send my kids to the playground and watch them from my living room window. Being a mom is so much fun, sometimes. LOL

Doing the right thing.

There's this little boy, about 4 years old, that Justin plays with. His name is Kobe, his mom is black, his grandmother is white. Nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that both women are the types that make excuses for the child. This is what I'm talking about. Yesterday morning, Justin and Kobe were outside playing. A resident here had this small trailer he uses to carry a motorcycle. It's a wooden trailer and the kids around here seem to like playing on it. We've told Justin over and over to NOT play on other people's property. However, yesterday, he and his friend Kobe decided to play on this trailer. The trailer managed to roll down the small hill and strike another person's vehicle, denting it and cracking it where it had already been repaired. When the owner of the vehicle found out about it, he knocked on our door. He was very nice about it, didn't bitch and yell and demand retribution. He just calmly told us what his neighbor had witnessed. (His neighbor had ran outside to stop the boys, but they took off running.) He said, "I know they're just kids. But playing on the trailer can get them hurt." Well I got Jimmy and we both went out there to talk to him. Because Jimmy works on cars...and "it's the right thing to do" Jimmy offered to fix the damage. Yeah the guy's car was banged up just about all over. BUT...our son damaged his vehicle, it's our responsibility to fix that damage. The guy told Jimmy it was okay and he didn't have to do that. But Jimmy insisted, saying, "No, he's my son, I'm responsible for him until he turns 18. When he does something like this, it reflects on me." the guy kept saying, "I just appreciate that you're out here talking to me about it and not making excuses for your son." Apparently when the guy went to talk to Kobe's mom, she started making excuses. We made Justin apologize to the guy. And he's grounded. All his tiny allowance he gets will go towards this guy's damage.

So while we're out there talking to this guy, Kobe's mom and grandma finally walk up. Jimmy and Travis (the guy) are off to one side talking. Kobe's mom walks up to me and the first thing out of her mouth is, "The damn trailer shouldn't have been there in the first place." (It was parked by a tree in the yard. Well, yeah I agree, the trailer should have been parked in a parking spot. However, that doesn't change the fact that our children played on it and managed to roll it into someone else's vehicle. The grandmother asked why he didn't just call it in to his insurance company. Then says, "Because he probably doesn't have f-ing insurance!" That totally caught me off guard because she didn't strike me as the type of person that would try to place the blame on someone else. So while I'm standing there with Kobe's "parents" the whole time they're bitching and trying to blame it on someone else. They said, "Well what is he asking for?" I said, "He isn't asking for ANYTHING. My husband offered to fix it himself since he works on cars. And you can pay for half the materials." Yeah right. That'll never happen. If they're not willing to lay the blame where it belongs...on our children...then they're not willing to help pay for the damage. As I was walking away from these people, Kobe asks if Justin can come out to play. I looked at him, then his mother and grandmother and said, "No. Justin cannot come out and play. He is being punished for what the two of you did. My children get punished when they do something wrong."

Today, sure enough Kobe comes knocking on my door asking if Justin could come out to play. I shook my head in disbelief and said, No, Kobe, he cannot play with you. He is grounded because of the damage YOU and he did to someone else's vehicle. When MY kids do something bad, they get punished. They're not outside the next day playing. He cannot play with you." Jimmy doesn't want Justin playing with Kobe anymore anyway. Justin has recently been singing some damn rap song that he could NOT have heard here at home. And it's not a good song either. So Jimmy thinks he got it from Kobe's house with Kobe's wannabe thug of a mother. So Justin is NOT allowed to go to Kobe's house anymore. If they want to play together, it will be here at MY apartment or at the playground where I can see them.

Seriously though, what are we teaching our children if we make excuses for them or continuously blame others for things they've done wrong? Yes, I agree the trailer shouldn't have been in the grass. Or it should have been locked to the tree it was near (as it is now.) BUT, my son, who knows better, was playing on it. It rolled, hit another vehicle. My son is responsible for that. I'm not going to sit here and blame others or make excuses. That won't teach him anything. I want him to learn there are consequences for his actions. And I hope with him being confined to his room for a week and giving up his measly allowance for a long time, he'll learn that. I don't know what else to do since I don't spank...often. I think him being confined to his room doing nothing will leave more of a memory than a one time spanking.

That's my rant of the day. LOL

Lovely day!

Aside from the fact that Jimmy has strep throat, we had a lovely day. We grilled chicken quarters that turned out so yummy! The kids have even been getting along for the most part. LOL I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though. Means Jimmy's gotta go to work. :( Yeah yeah we need the money, but I like him being home. LOL

I so love my kids' doctor!

Jay woke up this morning crying that his ear hurt. So I called the pediatrician's office and was told to bring him in before 10. I know Dr. McCall comes in on Saturdays once or twice a month. Well my mom was here so she watched the kids. Jimmy went with me because I was going to drop him off at the Doctor's Care near Jay's doctor's office. Well I didn't drop Jimmy off because when we drove through the parking lot we saw that the office was packed. So Jimmy went with me to Jay's doctor. Turns out Jay has swimmer's ear and an infection. So he's on zithromax and ear drops. Anywho, while there, I said, "Let me ask you something. Do you know anything about vision therapy?" Dr. McCall looks at us and says, "What? That it doesn't work and is a waste of time and money? Yeah I know." I explained to him about the optometrist's office wanting Jay to do vision therapy. I didn't mention the optometrist. Dr. McCall sais he's had several patients going through the "Draisin effect of vision therapy." Now Dr. Draisin is the eye doctor I take the kids to. So I said, "Well doesn't Dr. Draisin specialize in perdiatric optometry? Dr McCall said, "Ironic isn't it?" So he gave us a referral to see a different pediatric optometrist to get a second opinion. Apparently a lot of Dr McCall's patients were being over-refracted. Meaning they'd gone to Dr. Draisin and recieved glasses when they didn't really need them. So Monday, I'll be getting a call to find out when I take Jay to this other eye doctor. I'm not kidding when I tell you that Dr. McCall basically went off about this vision therapy. He basically said it was just another way for a doctor to syphon money out of people for something that has NOT been clinically proven by ANY medical universities that it actually works. So I don't think I'll be taking Jay to vision therapy any time soon. And people wonder why I drive 30-45 minutes (depending on traffic) to take my kids to the doctor. LOL Um...cause their doctor is honest with us. That and I like the staff and how they know us all. LOL

Friends of Bob and Tom

Jimmy and I had the opportunity to see The Friends of Bob and Tom show tonight. OMG! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life...aside from when Jimmy's on a roll. We had the pleasure of seeing Chick McGee, Bob Zany, Donnie Baker, Tim Bedore, Chris Bliss, Mike Armstrong, Drew Hastings, and Greg Hahn. My favorite was Mike Armstrong. He's an ex-cop and was just so hilarious. We're home now, obviously, but damn! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. And I only had two drinks! (We could only afford two drinks each! LOL) Our friends who met up with us though, had way too much to drink and then left before the show ended. So, of course, now I'm sitting here worried about them, hoping they made it home safe.

What's great is...my mother, whom I'd vowed never to ask to babysit anymore, actually offered to babysit. When I was telling her about this show a couple weeks ago, she said she would request today and tomorrow off and she'd come watch the kids. I didn't believe her until she found out her schedule Wednesday. So I didn't buy the tickets until Wednesday. LOL Anyway, we get home thinking just like any other time with a sitter, our kids are still up and running around. Nope! Not a single one was awake. All 4 were snug as a bug in bed! We were shocked! But happy. So it was such a great night! We laughed, we drank, we got home safe, our kids were in bed.

I am bummed I missed the blog get together last night. I simply forgot about it. I will try to make the next one, if I have to have Heather drag me. LOL It looked like so much fun!

Some Jackson pics...

This is Jackson being on non carpeted floor for the first time since he's learned to crawl. He refused to put his knees on the floor. LOL I don't know yet if Jackson climbed up himself or if he had help from his big brother. Either way, I had to snap a pic. LOL Kinda looks like he has a guilty face, doesn't it? Or a 'deer caught in headlights' look. LOL

New Blogger

I actually convinced Jimmy to start a blog. Granted, I had to set it all up for him. ANd he admitted that he would actually write down what he wants to say, then have me type it out since he really sucks at typing. LOL I added him to my link...Jimmy. Not that it will do any good to check it out yet, since he's yet to post a blog. LOL BTW, I'm still sick. Head cold, I think. But Jimmy came home tonight from work, heated up the grill and cooked dinner...all of it...for me! While I laid on the couch reading or whatever. LOL How spoiled am I? We bought this grill on 4th of July and haven't cooked inside once...with the exception of the mac and cheese I made for Heather's get together last week.

Mack Trucks...

They're great, aren't they? They come in all different sizes. Some with a sleeper bed, some without. Some with high tech digital entertainment, some without. Painted all different colors. They are heavy enough to "tow" the containers that deliver everything we buy all across the country. So yeah I think mack Trucks are great. I just hate feeling like I'VE BEEN HIT BY ONE! Oh man does my body hurt today. I woke up with the worst sore throat and could barely beg Jimmy to get me some water. My nose can't decide whether to be runny or stuffy, or both. I just took my temp, not too bad, just a tad over 100. I am going to take a Dayquil and lay on the couch in between doing laundry. I just hope the kids actually pay attention when I say "I don't feel good and I don't want to hear any fighting." Yeah I know, fat chance on that. Is it time for bed yet? I'll even settle for nap time. UGH! I'm going to sprawl on the couch now.

Jackson update

Jackson is sooooooooo much better today. Looking at him, you can't even tell he had an allergic reaction. I was so freaked out last night. You'd think with as many kids as I have, I'd have come across something like this already. But nope...Jackson was the first who's had an allergic reaction. Whew! Glad that's over. To all concerned...I believe it was a reaction to the cheese. He's had plain noodles before with no reaction. So I believe I'll hold him off on any dairy products until his next appointment with the allergist. (He has asthma.) Thank you to those that emailed me fussing that I update. LOL

Allergic reaction :(

Yet another problem with Jackson. :( Tonight I gave him some mac and cheese. I look up two minutes later and noticed a rash beginning on his cheek. So I took the mac and cheese away from him. He did not like that, let me tell you. So I give him some diced carrots...he's had that before so I knew it was safe. When I get him out of his high chair, I noticed hives or welts, whatever on his arms. The rash has spread from his cheeks to all over his face and neck and back of the head. I called his ped's office and spoke to the nurse on call. I can give him benadryl and just watch for breathing problems or swelling on his tongue. His little eyes are all red and swollen. The hives have gone down on his arms. He looks so pitiful! I tried to get a pic, but I'm still getting used to my new digicam and either the pics were too dark or wayyyyyyyyyyy too light. Of course, my old digicam is at Jimmy's work. @@

Blue Steel (from the movie Zoolander)

I took a pic not too long ago of Jackson. He was eating this cracker and when I looked up it was stuck to his cheek. When I showed it to Jimmy, he had me change it to black and white and said it reminded him of Zoolander with his 'Blue Steel' look. Jimmy now has this pic (in balck and white) taped to his tool box at work and says "Blue Steel" underneath. LOL Here's said pic...