Tag: Family

The Things We Do for Those We Love

I had quite the adventure yesterday.  My high school sweetheart and mother of my eldest daughter, asked me if I wanted to go out-of-town with her.  She and I are on really good terms and due to my situation I’m always looking for a reason to escape.  So I agreed.

Her niece, who will always be a niece to me was in some trouble.  She was practically being held captive in her baby daddy’s parents’ home.  They took her car keys, shut off her cell phone and even made it so she couldn’t access wireless internet from within the home.  She was made a prisoner from within the home she’s lived in for the past year.

She has a daughter and is pregnant with their son’s child.  Her relationship with him has been on the rocks, and they gave her an eviction notice, effective November 1st.  I can’t even comprehend this fully.  Is this how you treat the mother of your grandchildren?

When my ex and I were together, it was a tradition of sorts for her and I to watch her (she was under 10 at the time) every NYE.  It was weird to be a teenager and feel at ease to play family for a night, but they are fond memories that I genuinely cherish.

She lives almost 4 hours away, so we left my house at 8am and started on the journey.  We had lots of talks and connection between the 2 of us.  We’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve smoothed them out over the years and are really good friends and co-parents.  We still struggle with some things our daughter does (or doesn’t do), but we are proud of the person she has become on the inside.  If she would only bring those amazing qualities out for the world to see.

So we get there, and get a uhaul truck and drive to the location where K is staying.  I’ll keep her name is as that.  We pull into the driveway and one of the homeowners tell us to get off the property, so we oblige.  My ex and the homeowner then get into a somewhat heated shouting match.  I’m not there to do anything but move stuff, but it’s even stressful on me.

My ex calls the police, and they show up.  The guy is from Bloomington and graduated from BHS (when Bloomington only had 1 high school).  He then tells us that he knows the homeowners.  K comes out, and they lock the door behind her, at first they refuse to let her get any of her things.

Again, I don’t understand.

After a standoff of sorts, things start to come.  At first I wasn’t sure how little or how much we would get.  We eventually filled an entire uhaul truck.  I was kinda shocked at the amount of stuff she had.

We then quickly unloaded most of it into a storage unit K had purchased and then went to dinner with K and the on again off again boyfriend and her daughter.  My ex had them do a birthday thing for me (which embarrasses the hell out of me) but it was quick, and she’s fun.  She bought me dinner too, I’m appreciative.

By this time it was 6:30pm and the ex and I were on our last bits of energy.  We were tired and still had almost a 4 hour drive home.  We got to the place where K was going, and had to unload the rest of the truck up 3 flights of stairs.  She and I were ruined by that.  We dropped the truck back off at uhaul.

I made a big mistake when we dropped the truck off.  I had found an 80’s station and this infectious tune came on.  I cranked it up and it took all the pain and frustration from the day away for me.  I had turned the cab and cargo area lights on so my ex could clean it out, locked the doors and forgot to turn them off.  She put the keys in the drop off and we had no way to turn them back off.

We then finally made the journey home.  I made it home right around 11:30pm, and took a shower and went to bed.

The lesson here?  I had a full day, and I accomplished something.  It was selfless, it was for someone I love.  I’m starting to really feel like an adult (weird to finally think that at 35, I know).  Don’t worry, be happy.  It’s a new way to look at life.

Amelia

Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 8:30am.  An angel was sent to us via mommy’s tummy.  Her name:  Amelia Josephine!

After Rachel’s last OB appointment, it was decided that she was rather large and it would be best for her to come here via C-section.  Weighing 9 pounds, 9.8 ounces, she was rather large.  It seems that isn’t a bad thing as I haven’t heard anything otherwise from either the OB or her pediatrician, Dr. Laughlin.

There were minimal issues with her birth, she had some extra fluids in her lungs due to not being “squeezed” out of the birth canal.  Rachel was sutured, but a slight mishap occured with them and it created a small hole where one spot did not fuse together.  I have been treating it with Neosporin and it is healing greatly.

We spent 4 days in the hospital to ensure Rachel properly healed before venturing forth and becoming an active mom.  Then the real fun began.  The safety and security of the hospital created a fear of being on our own with this little one.

Since then we have been adjusting to fill her every need.  It’s been tiring, yet satisfying at the same time.  I wasn’t as involved in this crucial stage of my first daughter’s life, so I’ve learned a lot.

Now we spend most of our day eating, sleeping or changing diapers.

Big sister Taylor just loves her new sister to death.  She bought her a Minnie Mouse, which Amelia adores.  Minnie sits on her changing table and Amelia stares at Minnie as if she’s in deep thought about what she is exactly.

The kitties are still getting adjusted to the change.  They have both noticed the lack of attention they are receiving, and sometimes force their way into receiving some by jumping on us while we’re sitting.  I’d like to think they love her, but I’ll let time be the judge on that one.

My time thus far  has been taken up significantly by her care and needs.  Mommy does need a break!  Today I started back at work full-time.  I hope Rachel is doing fine today, I really do.

Another Mish-Mosh

There have been many things going on lately.  With the holiday season and new years over, I’m reflecting on all the activities we’ve been pre-occupied with.

Christmas, as always is a very complicated time for us.  We went to 3 family events, my grandma Lawmaster’s on the 23rd, my in-law’s on the 24th and my memma’s on Christmas day.  We then had “after” Christmas get togethers for my daughter, who spent her Christmas with her mother.

Rachel and I finally stopped schmoozing off of my mother for our cell phone service and got our own plan.  We decided to switch back to AT&T, due to a 12% IU discount, and cheaper plan.  I finally got a smart-phone, a Samsung Blackjack II while Rachel decided she liked a red LG Shine.  It was very interesting to go through this process again.  We haven’t been officially on a cell phone plan for 4 years.  While researching how much this would cost us upfront, the difference in how much and where was astounding.

On the AT&T Premier website (dedicated to business & enterprise):  For the mentioned phones, we were looking at about $325.00 in up front costs.  We would receive a $50 mail in rebate in the form of a debit card.

For the same phones at Best Buy, $50!  I’m not kidding.  I was blown away.  The only difference is that we had to set up our IU discount separately, which just took a phone call.

We painted our bedroom finally, it’s a nice yellow hue.  When mentioning it to people I tell them that the color is what you would get if you mixed yellow and brown mustard.  It looks real nice, now onto the curtains.  Hopefully they will be nice.

I will be starting school next week.  I am entering the CIT (computer information technology) program at Ivy Tech.  Within a few years, I should have a degree in a field I love, which can hopefully help me attain some real employment.

Pre-Occupied

Lately I have been pre-occupied with many things, which have diverted my attention away from accomplishing a single task.  So I’m going to merely list some updates as to what’s been going on since I last posted.

Hope is in sight:  My truck is still broken.  We got a deal on a complete fuel pump assembly on eBay.  It’s brand new and OEM, so I’m not too concerned about it working.  Last Saturday I tried to install it, but this job is meant for someone who either works on vehicles all the time, or has power tools.  Since I am neither, I couldn’t do the job.  My dad called last night and my step-uncle agreed to do it for me.  My dad is having it towed to his house today and I anticipate it being completed before any bad snowfalls occur.

Family Memories:  My mother-in-law gave us some priceless family photos to scan into the computer.  Some dating back to 1906!  I’m not sure if she knew it, but many of these “old” photos were actually scanned and printed out by someone already.  Who that is I don’t know.  Some of these pictures need some help, as they have cracks on them or have pieces ripped off.  I hope to sharpen up my photoshop skillz and fix ’em. 

There are several “cards” which I find quite moving.  They are what I would call “death memorial” cards.  They were given out (by the church?) when someone died.  My wifes’ family is from Dubois county, which is rich with German heritage.  This card is written in German and Latin.  I find the artwork on the back quite moving.  What do you think?

Music, Music, Music:  I finally caved and bought an iPod.  I refuse to pay retail for one, so I went second hand on eBay.  I got a nice 30gb model, which is big enough for what I need.  I didn’t buy this iPod for personal entertainment, but to convert all of our CD’s into electronic media.  This way we can get rid of the enormous space they take up.  Once everything is done, we’re going to put them into storage.

I have imported them all into iTunes and discovered one interesting thing.  CD’s over time, with scratches and other defects can sound like old LP’s.  Some of the tracks I have imported have that “scratchy” sound made infamous by LP’s.  Now I have a monumental task of going through roughly 2500 songs and re-importing the ones whose quality doesn’t meet my standards…ugh

Once all is complete, I won’t be lugging any CD’s on trips anymore.  Just an iPod and a FM transmitter/docking station.  It’s a dream come true.

Continue reading “Pre-Occupied”

Harvest for All

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday.  They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full.  My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box.  After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach.  It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab.  I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love.  There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet.  When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier.  The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet.  They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days).  A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples,  there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B:  If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do!  I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste.  You have all been like a family to me in one way or another.  This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly:  You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

Anything for My Grandpa

While in Oklahoma visiting my aunts, I went to look at an old radio that was my grandfather’s.  My aunt Laura has it in a storage trailer of hers, and said that I could have it.  While we did not have space for it to bring it back with us, I will make a trip to pick it up soon.

The trailer was very high off the ground, about 6 feet to be exact.  They had a pallet sitting on it’s side to climb up into it, and at the time I didn’t feel sure about climbing down it, so I jumped.  BIG MISTAKE!  I just found out today that I “might” have broken my right tibia.  The x-ray was inconclusive to a doctor and the x-ray tech.  They sent it off to a radiologist so I should find out tomorrow.

But I got these beautiful, incredible pictures of an item that is worth it’s weight in gold to me.

Many people may see those pictures and just see an old radio, I see something much different.

My grandfather was a radio & TV repairman for most of his professional career.  He was the ONLY one in Adair county, Oklahoma.  While in the navy during WWII, he installed radar systems on the pacific fleet.  This radio represents what my grandpa was, and what he loved.  He was always into “new technology” just as I am.  I think I get most of my curiosity about this from him.

He was the only grandfather I really knew, and I still miss him to this day.  I was given his truck when I was 19, due to my epilepsy and age it was wrecked.  I spent every dime I had to try to fix it, but could not.  This item will not be treated with the same reckless abandon.

A Much Needed Break, I Think

Wednesday, all of us (Me, Rachel, Taylor and Dad) are embarking on a journey I have made many times in my life.  We are going to a little bump in the road where my 3 aunts and 2 cousins live in Oklahoma.  The trip is somewhat less exciting as it used to be, as there is no Speed Trap in Watts anymore.  I might get my aunt Beth to talk on camera about how that Speed Trap became history, as she was involved in it.

The total trip is roughly 700 miles, and can be done in as little as 8 hours.

All of us have never made this trip together, so it’s going to be very, very interesting.

It used to be all about how fast I could make it there, but as I’ve aged, I’ve wanted to see things along the way.

This time we are going to stop at the George Washington Carver National Monument.  He’s the guy who invented countless uses for peanuts.  It’s on our way, and I’ve never stopped before.

The reason for this trip?  My aunt Beth is having a “family reunion” of sorts for the 4th of July.  We are going to stay at her house, which could double as a B&B.

I also have a delivery to make, as my aunt Laura sent me 13 8-tracks and 2 cassette tapes that she wanted transferred to CD.  The 8-tracks were a disaster, but I hope she still loves me.

I hope that someday, they can make the trip here.  It would be great to show them around for a change.  I’m hoping that perhaps next summer one of my cousins can come out for a week or two.  I would love it.

It’s been 2 years since we’ve made the trek, and I must say I’ve missed my aunts.  Their southern hospitality is something that is not found ’round these parts.