Be careful what you say...

I was taking a hot bath and relaxing while I can when I was informed of a bad deed someone had done in the waaaay past---"but don't worry....there's nothing we can do about it now...just had to share that..."

First off, while I don't mind people wanting to pour out their hearts to me (I'm a great listener, really...I do care what people have to say/share, and I'm always there for you guys...)---just be VERY careful with how you accuse someone of wrong deeds.

However, I do understand where this person is coming from...and I'm very sorry it happened. I right now don't have the right words to say or use...so please do forgive me. I try...sometimes I just need some time to digest/think it over these kind of news and not to judge. But I cannot tolerate wrong behavior/attitude/actions.

Onto other news...my niece had a meltdown this morning. I could tell when I pulled up in the driveway to give Sister #5 a ride to work, I see her sitting in the rocking chair rocking Boo (niece's nickname) and I knew they were having a very bad morning. But it actually started last night. Having SID (Sensory Integration Disorder (or Dysfunction...take your pick)) is ...oh, hard for me to find the right words to explain but ...I think it really sucks!

At least my family and I are very supportive and I am Boo's personal cheerleader. I cheer her on, I cheer my sister and her husband on...and if they ever need me at the drop of the hat, I will drop whatever I'm doing and be there for them.

If you're just reading about SID for the first time, and wonder what that is all about, check it out on my sister's new blog site, raising sid, as she chronicles her daily thoughts raising 2 children with SID.

raising sid

Sister #5 has 2 beautiful children. I love them to death, and they live only a few blocks from us.

My sister set up a new blog, raising sid, to share her story about her kids and SID---Sensory Integration Dysfunction.

I do have to admit, I admire her spunk. I know she may have her moments but she is actually a very good mother.

After all, I practically raised her myself.

(hee hee).

But go check her out, learn something new...educate!

In fact, it was really wonderful that one of our aunts in Yuma, AZ being an elementary school teacher understands exactly what #5 is dealing with.

So it is good to know we have relatives that can give her support she needs.

Go on, check her out.

Weather Tips

"When it rains, it means God is watering earth..."

"When there's lightning, God is taking pictures..."

"When there are tornadoes, it's because God is mad..."

"When there's earthquakes, it's because God is stomping around..."

"When it's sunny...it's because God is smiling..."



*these tips are from a very smart 8 year old boy....

Mind's ramblings...

I am pretty much 3/4th recovered from my very bad, horrific day on Saturday.

Now I'm into writing up scripts.

My husband moved my very top secret important notes I took last Thurs...and I really, really need 'em.

I guess I'll just wait for him to come home and reveal the location of my top secret notes.

He's gone out to gas up the van and get some groceries.

So I wait.

I asked my daughter for another hug like she gave me Saturday night. She just loosely hugged me while texting someone....

*sigh*

Some hug but hey, at least her arms were around me! Kind of.

Alright well, I guess I better get going. I need to write up at least the first draft. And try to catch up on news. Ever since I started working in my new position, I've not had time to read the news or even want to bother watching news when I get home.

Swine Flu. Oh. I need to read up on that...what's that all about?

Recovering

I had a horrific, bad day on Saturday.

However, I am truly blessed to know that there are friends who truly care and supported me as much as I have supported and fought for something I believe in.

Of course this triggered my migraines.

My husband and I got home fine, but had him write to my good friend to let her know we were home safe (she fed us a delicious dinner...thanks!), and I was ready to pop my med and crawl in bed and cry.

My daughter is very sensitive to my moods and knows I'm having a bad moment so out of a rare moment, she gave me genuine loving hug...it just felt so good. I have forgotten what it was like to hug that girl! That made me feel better.

Much better.

So...yesterday Sister #5 and I drove down 2 1/2 hours to meet our dad to pick up some of our grandmother's things. I got some lovely things, and so did my sister. We were trying to be very fair with dividing things up and making sure Sister #4 had her fair share. We know our dad honestly did forget something of importance but we should meet him again in a few months.

My dad (not my stepdad, but my natural dad) surprised me in some ways but I'm still cautious. I listened to him gripe about the will, etc and how the family behaved and all that. I really didn't care but just glad he was with her when she passed away.

Sister #5 and I came home safely, and I had another migraine. So I took my med again and went back to bed.

I'm up early. This week I give Sister #5 a ride to work...and I focus on writing up scripts. I am putting the other ministry on hold for the time being.

Recovering from my very bad day on Saturday, I am just going to step away from that for a couple days then regroup. And fight back...in the right way.

Off to work I go...gotta grab my sister....have a good Monday, y'all.

Crisis averted...

Okay, yesterday was little bit of a minor...crisis...but I was able to convert those files into 2003 format so I was able to use those.

YAY!

Now another one arises BUT...I know I can depend on another ministry to back me up in my time of need.

So...I've just read Stretch Mark Mama's blog (Best Hikes with Kids) about the waterfalls in Oregon. Oh my goodness. It's just so gorgeous out there...I do miss Oregon very much.

I wrote to her and we were just emailing each other about the Indian names they get, and how to correctly spell 'em. But when she had the opportunity to go, she mentioned it was a rare 80 degree sunshiny day for them...lucky girl.

Well, I'm about to have a meeting on the VideoPhone with my fellow Deaf Cafe Stage team---let's pray for inspiration and for me to write up great outlines for scripts!

Yeah.

This Writer has a Writer's Block...or Thinker's Block...

Okay, I'm dealing with 2 different things for 2 different ministries this week.

I FINALLY got the flash drive stick from the secretary of one of the 2 ministries ....and only...ONLY...to find out....that a couple meeting notes I *desperately need so badly I'll die if I don't get it now*...is on Office 2007, not on my old crusty 2003.

*sigh*

SO...that means I have to sneak it to work, and perhaps during break time, stick it in my computer there and pull up those 2 very top priority meeting notes and print 'em off, convert them into 2003 and send it on home....

.............home safe.....

*sipping a glass of coca-cola*

THENNNNNNNNNNN...... I need to write up a draft of a series of scripts for Deaf Cafe. Oh boy. Why did the week have to fly by so fast? Hm?

Normally I can come up with great ideas. Actually, I'm full of 'em but it's hard for me to get them all out on paper (or...monitor, really)...my mind just overflows to the point it becomes so jumbled up, and I can't remember some of the bright ideas I had to begin with!

So......Wizard of Oz theme. C'mon, inspire me! We certainly do not want to put the movie length kind of show into our cutesy wutesy 2 hour program. Oh lordy Lord...

What do you think---I plan to break it up in 4 or 6 parts---find something important from the book/movie and turn it into Deaf Cafe style.

At least we have a list of songs we want to check out---so that's one good thing.

And time is running out. So much to do in such so little time.

Gather around, y'all

Come on...pull up your chair closer.

Make sure you don't have garlic breath or something. I mean, don't want to cause anyone to complain....

Are you ready?

Scoot closer. C'mon.

I'd like to introduce you to....Andrew Wolfgang!

My Weekend....

I know, I know...."why isn't Kirstan blogging lately??"

Sorry, my dear fans, but boy, talk about.....BUSY!

I did go up to Bambi Lake up in Roscommon over the weekend. I really had a fun blast there. It was just so fun to meet so many interpreters and to meet some deaf too. Even though the workshop was really for the interpreters, deaf were invited. And of course, I didn't know any of those deaf. Which was fine....because I made new friends!

The speaker for the workshop was really cool. I really liked her a lot. And so funny! And...she's a bit technically challenged. When she brought her laptop and the workshop organizer brought the projector, those two things did not want to cooperate. THANKFULLY, my friend had borrowed Deaf Cafe's projector for her laptop, and we were able to get that set up very quickly and going. The speaker was very grateful. She does, however, prefer the old fashioned way---overhead...and transparencies. I can understand that.

Unfortuantely, I was suffering severe allergies and well, you know how it can develop into a sinus infection---painful, right?

Yeah. And it hurts like heck!

The weekend there was just beautiful.

We came home Saturday night and I went to church in the Flint area. I figured I would go see Andrew after church so why not stick around instead of doing so much long distance driving??

I drove out to see my newest nephew. Oh such a sweetie. So beautiful. Has his mom's hair and feet but oh he is very much Daddy. Or Papa. I don't know what he'll call his dad but...yeah.

It was just so wonderful and I was so overwhelmed with emotion---the love and the joy and the beauty, I was just bawling my eyes out. I know my sister was little startled but she was very understanding....

"I don't know if it's because I hurt so much (sinus infection build-up) or I'm just feeling hormonal or I'm just overwhelmed with falling in love with Andrew!" *snifffffffffff*

It wasn't a pretty sight to see me blubber away but, my German Bro-In-Law took some great pictures.

I'll post them at a later time. At the moment, I've been unwell and not spent much time on the computers so hopefully tonight I can post 'em.

Stay tuned.............

Kids galore....

Okay, let's see.....

*counting my fingers.....and a toe....*

Wow.

You all know I have 4 sisters. 2 sisters and 2 step-sisters.

So....

All of us now have a kid or two or three.

Let's begin with Sister #1....she has 2... a girl and a boy.

Sister #2 (aka me) has had 3. I have had 2 girls and one boy. Now with my first child deceased, she still counts as a niece or grandchild to my family.

Sister #3 has 3 girls! Woo...what a handful! You're doing a great job!

Sister #4 .....JUST HAD HER BABY BOY! Andrew Wolfgang came into this world at 12:20 AM today, weighing in at 9 lbs and 1 ounce...and 21 inches long. All my friends and I could say was....

OUCH! OUCH OUCH! That's a big boy there!

Sister #5 has 2 kids, a girl and a boy....

And none of us have gone out to visit the newest kid yet. When Sister #4 is ready, she'll let us know. And I'll get permission from her to post any pictures.

yeah...

awwww.....*big silly goofy grin....*

I just love all babies....as long as I don't have to take 'em home. Hee.

So that makes Opa a very busy Opa. Yes.

Now, my kids have a cousin on their dad's side so I do consider him as my nephew. He still calls me "Aunt Kissie" (oh gosh, how cute...and he's 17!)....

My husband's got 2 nephews and 2 nieces and I've only met 2 of 'em in Yuma, AZ. I haven't met the other 2 in California yet...hopefully someday ... but who knows.

So let's tally up........

Nieces: 7
Nephews: 5

(combined...from both sides of families)

But hey, don't worry. I don't spend money on every one of them. Around Christmas, my sisters and I draw 2 names of the kids and we buy gifts for those 2 kids. That saves a ton of money, especially with the economy.

Anyway...so it'll be lovely and I'm very happy all sisters have a wonderful family. I feel...very content.

dear printer...

dear printer...what's wrong?

you were working just moments earlier....

doing a great job...

now you're just ... pouting.

or thinking....

or just having a temper....

i really do not ask for much, my dear printer...

but please print?

pleeeeaaaase?

The mystery of the missing spinach, garlic and panty hose

Man, what a weekend! That was just really a great, awesome weekend! Oh man....and I'm tired!

We stuck around in Flint to have a wonderful Easter ...dinner...supper...meal...with our wonderful friends and...

....I had gone shopping with a friend Saturday morning. I figured, I could leave some things in the car overnight as it'd be cold....and when I met up with my wonderful friends, they could take the ingredients home for me, stow it in their fridge.

So we're at Meijers, I go through the self check-out. That was really cool!

Last things my friend bagged up for me and put in the cart was spinach, garlic and panty hose.

We go to MY car, Betty, and unload into the trunk of Betty.

I go through the bags to make sure to keep hers separate from mine. And I did see my garlic, spinach and panty hose (I bought 2....)

Arrived at my friend's house, open Betty's trunk, and my friend takes out her stuff. I check to make sure all is there. Yup. Nothing needs going in except for a couple frozen pizza I was gonna bake for lunch.

We eat that, we get ready for Deaf Cafe-Flint, and then we go out there, do our thing....Jerusalem style...and then after the program was over, I tell my daughter to hold on and let me get her pantyhose out of the trunk.

I open it up. It's not there.

Wha...????

I go through EVERYTHING. Nothing. It's freezing outside and the wind was bitin' a little.

Brrr.

I ask my other friend if she can loan my daughter a pair of panty hose.

Sunday morning, I go through the trunk, even checking the Spare Tire Compartment to see if it fell in there.

Nope.

My friend checked all her bags ....her fridge...nothing.

Strange.

We go to church---and the room's full (we visited a church in the Flint area)....and I was sharing how there must be a ghost or something that stole my spinach, garlic and panty hose.

Mr. Magic (a visitor as well, and performs magic tricks) said, "what would anybody want to do with those things? Stuff the spinach and garlic inside the hose, and swing it around to make something with it??"

AHA! IT WAS YOU! He denied it. But I caught him blushing....

Then how were you able to come up with that?

He shrugged...

I just looked at him....I'm watching you....

Really, all in good fun. I am not sure what happened but it's a mystery. My friend and I will continue to investigate the mystery of the missing spinach, garlic and panty hose. And yes, Mr. Magic and his wife joined my family for the wonderful Easter Feast at our friends' house. We see a great, wonderful friendship developing there.

Can your car do this?

Wow, I am amazed what Betty lets me pack into her!

3 duffel bags
One suitcase (the hard one...you remember those? yeah...)
A wicker basket (can be used as laundry basket or for toys, take your pick)
A huge wooden salad bowl I got for my wedding 4 years ago...
My husband's bipak bag
5 costumes
Ham
Ashley's Pillow
My yellow soft bag...

And nothing needs to spill over into the back seat!

So two 13 year old girls and a 8 year old boy will sit in the back seat....comfortably. I pray...
(psst...please pray for me for travel mercies...for the kids to get along.... for 90 minutes...)

Whoa!

I'm so thrilled. I think my husband was skeptical but hey, I know what Betty can do.

mmmmmmmmmmmwah...I love my car.

See y'all in Flint then....and Happy Good Friday!

End of the work week....!

WOOO!

YEEEEEEE---HAW!

Giddyup! I'm so glad the work week is over. While I actually do enjoy my job, and the busy-ness it gives me....I'm just glad the work week ......

........is

over....

yeah.

Hm...I am in great preparation for a great upcoming Deaf Cafe program this Saturday. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Easter weekend.

But hey...we have a wonderful program planned. Oh yeah.

We're gonna be like those bible characters...and we got 7 guys out of 12 to play disciples (hey, we were very fortunate to find that many guys to even be our guest actors!)....(it's really hard to find more male actors these days....)....(and yes, sometimes even someone like me have to change my gender for certain roles!)....

We're gonna be decorating like the bible times...Jerusalem style....

We're gonna wear costumes...

We're gonna EAT what they ate in Jesus' time. Yeah...it'll be interesting!

So....it'll be a fun-filled program and several people are already excited about it.


In other news...let's see...Andrew's not here yet but wait, I have not heard from Sister #4 all day so I hope she's OK. I will probably call her later.

Um....well, have a wonderful Good Friday and a wonderful Easter. I'll try to get some posting done over the weekend---we'll see.

Babies!!!

Big shout-out to one of my BFF's --- she has a brand new granddaughter! Congratulations, Grandma!

The baby girl was born yesterday afternoon---and mom & baby doing great. Baby has 2 big brothers---2 and 4 (I think...right, V?)...so the family is very thrilled. I'm very happy for her!

A student assistant of my department finally delivered her son last night!!! She was like a couple weeks overdue...whoa. So, mom and baby are doing fine! Congratulations to her!

But...let's pick up our pom-poms, and start shakin' away for my nephew Andrew who is still not here yet with us. My sister....is so anxious and so tired and so...well, you all who have experienced this know what I'm talking about, right ladies?! When the baby decides to be born....whenever....!

So let's shake our pom-poms and send out a cheer and encouragement and coax Andrew to come on out and join us! Aunty K want to meet you! This weekend would be good, too! C'mon on out, Andreeeeeeeeeeew! *shaking pom poms*

Ahh...babies.

Let's see...my first born was about a week early. Breech too...Rachel was born butt-first. No wonder she had the perfect head. If she was still with us today, she'd be turning 19 this summer. Oy!

Ashley was ...a few days early----I kind of expected her and remember telling my work on a Friday that I don't' think I'll be in on Monday. I'll be having my baby. Sure enough, I called in "not coming in cuz I'm having a baby" ... Today she is 13 going on 16....what a teen diva!

Joshua....a month early. And for the longest time, no clue who I was having. Until he was placed on my belly, I asked the doc who delivered him, "Well, is it a girl or boy???" Of course the doc had to lift the leg to check. "Boy!" He'll be 9 this summer...wow. Where did the time go?

Whoa.

I'm happy with my 3 kids. I mean, of course Rachel's absence is strongly felt, but she is always with us, in spirit. Ashley and Josh are healthy and normal (when they want to be) and...again, healthy.

So, Andrew...come on out. I wanna meet you. Please???? Give your mom a break...she's getting tired. Come on out...Aunty K doesn't bite. She does give lots of love....

*doing a thinking pose...

What shall I talk about today? Hmm?

Well, first off, we had a very windy weekend, and you heard about the dating game in the parking lot between my van and a saucy, sporty red car.

And the weather was very windy...all weekend.

Yesterday was sorta pleasant but I pretty much holed up in my room....napped, all that.

THEN...it snowed.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it snowed! I probably got between 3-5 inches of snow. This morning, I woke up and thought, HUH?

Had to use my itty bitty ice scraper to get the snow off. Was that heavy snow?! Yes...the wet, thick, packed hard kind of snow.

Not too bad...and got to work just fine.

Today was just another day but tiring, I suppose.

A friend is expecting a new grandbaby sometime tonight/tomorrow and I'm excited for her. Then my sister, sister number 4...is still pregnant.

Her comment about that:

Stinker Baby Update

He's super low

He refuses to vacate his present domicile

He's making me miserable

Awww. I'm sure by this weekend the baby will decide to join us. But who knows.

Oooohkay...I guess I'll break out my PJ's, crawl in bed and watch Dancing with the Stars....

The Vehicles' Dating Game...

It's another blustery, windy....yeah............whoooooshy....day.

My daughter and her very BFFinthewholewideworld had gone outside.

My husband went out for a walk and to pick up pizza....deep dish Chicago style (yummmmm)....

I heard something so I thought, okay maybe husband is back.

Nope.

Then I glanced outside.

Took a double-take look.

A saucy, sporty red car is all snuggled up with our beat-up van.

Heart in my throat....I grab my coat, shoes and ran down the stairs....

and out the door, across the street to the parking lot....

The saucy, sporty, red car is too close for comfort...in my honest opinion.

Hm.

I looked around, tried the door of the car...locked. Darn.

Ran back in the house, with shaky hands, I called the wonderful Police Department of Tecumseh (they rock!)....

Non-emergency, but I'd like to coax this car to stay away from the van....please?

What? Oh, nobody's in either car/van...nobody's hurt, nobody's around and I'm staring out my window. Can you send someone out please?

ThankyouverymuchIappreciateitandhaveagoodevening!

So I go back out, relax and study the incident. And try to bury myself deeper into my coat---the wind is really bitin' us tonight...

My husband has returned with the Chicago deep dish pizza (yummmy)...I wave him over, and he asked me what I did. "WHAT you mean what did I do??? Helloooo? Is that MY car???" *scoff*

He just shakes his head, laughs, and I told him to go inside and I'll deal with the police.

Officer shows up...very pleasant, and very nice man. He chuckled when I told him, "it really shows you how strong the winds are today....OR...perhaps the car got lonely...and wanted to cuddle up with my van?"

Apparently that sporty car's parking brake wasn't put on. So, I do the "report ritual dance" and give the officer all the information I have on my vehicle.

Then that was it. I trudged back across the street into my home---thankful to be out of the wind....

Few more minutes later, the owner of the car shows up....that driver's turn to do the "report ritual dance" to the officer and carefully pulls the car away from the van.

Verrrrrrrrrrrry carrrrrrrrrefullllllllllllly.

And the officer made the driver make sure the parking brake is on. And firmly in place.

The van's now all aloooooooooooone...and standing strong.

Awww.

*don't worry...no vehicles, humans or animals have been harmed in this "vehicle dating game*

How to Flash?

Okay, really, I'm not really teaching anyone something...um....*eyes shifting* ...naughty.

But really, today was so WINDY! whooosh! wheee!

I stopped at CVS in Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area (kind of like the borderline between those 2 cities...to pick up a chair on sale for my husband.

As I was struggling to push the shopping cart with the big box in front of me...a whirlydevil of a whirlwind? tornado? mini-tornado? Ummmm...whatever.

It whoosed! up my blouse and caused my shirt to lift up midway. Woo! Really, I didn't "flash" anything but my belly button....(thank goodness!).

Thankfully nobody was around to see that. I was behind the box behind the cart and pushing towards my car....and I'm not sure if anyone in the busy street saw me---they're probably struggling to stay straight driving in the wind!

So...if you don't want to have an embarrassing moment like I had this afternoon, make sure your clothes are tucked in safely in windy conditions like this. Yeah.

On another note, someone left a comment on yesterday's posting about me being inspired by Team Hoyt. And my own personal thoughts about people with disabilities.

I have been exposed to everyone with all types of disabilities and never gave it another thought. Once at work, the department I worked for was very vocal about having this man with cerebal palsy work with us. "We don't want to be babysitting him when he needs something...." whine, whine whine. I just stood up and left that meeting. I was just sick of them.

Finally one co-worker realized that what they were saying in the meeting room was not just targeting that poor man, but targeting me as well.

They all swallowed some humble pie after that....they all fell in love with that man.

Anyway, also, to respond to the comment, about her mother's blindness...I know how that is. When my mother was blinded by her brain tumor, I really did not have any issues about that. However, my mom had a great sense of humor. Her dad, my Grandpa John, is practically deaf and refused to wear a hearing aid. There's me, who's partly deaf. Then my mom, blinded by her cancer. "So there's 2 deaf and one blind...."

I did have ONE issue when prior to my mother's passing, I put in a request to take some time off to spend time with my mom for her remaining days....the person I made request with didn't think I really needed to do that. But I told this person...."I don't care what you believe in, but I am going to take the time off to be with my mother..." and it was the best decision I made.

Another example can be with someone who is totally different from you---I was standing next to someone in line at this cute little cafe inside my library and this woman was wearing her burka and she ordered some fancy coffee....I was looking at her from the corner of my eye...wondering..."how the heck is she gonna drink that? Does she lift that thing...exposing her mouth? Or take a straw and slide it under that flap? I can only see her eyes and her fingers!" I didn't stick around to find out...(should I have done that?)....

Anyway......well...I guess my mind is jumping all over the place today---and getting my belly cooled off with the WIND today.