FUF .... With Angel and Christy

Well, it's been a good while since I have jumped on the band wagon. But now is certainly the time.

So, I'm joining Christy and Angel in letting off some steam. It's Friday. So that means it's..




Fawk you Walmart Online Shopping! I love you, but right now I don't like you very much. Why? Because when I had placed my order, it said that BOTH the comforter and the bed sheet set were in for me to pick up TODAY. Because it was IN STOCK. Only when I got it this morning (Friday), all I was able to get was the sheets. Your BOH (Balance on Hand) was all fucked up. It should have read ZERO. If it did, I would NEVER have placed the order. Instead, the dipshit that didn't do their job had it as 4 or 5. Were they invisible comforters?

Fawk you, cataract! You are screwing with me too much these days. I have a hard time reading small print and my night vision in that eye is TERRIBLE. But when it counts, like oh.. getting some READING glasses, your ass gives me 20/30 vision. So, now I have to wait three..count them, THREE more months before the doctor would consider giving me glasses. I so cannot wait to have us part ways and get my implant.

Fawk you, Pokemon! Get your shit together and put more merchandising of your brand out on store shelves. I looked, and looked, and looked, and... You get the idea. Not even Ebay, Amazon or Walmart had your bedding. Not in ANY form. My boy is nuts (yes, legally, but also in the (overly) excited sense, too) about your show and most of it's characters. With Dad home early in the mornings now, that is their pre-bus-boarding ritual to watch your show after the kids dress for school. Instead, I had to give him Transformers, which he likes, but I don't think he will almost pee himself from excitement from opening that gift of Christmas morning.

Fawk you, Blogger! Your not letting me see ALL of the blogs that I care to have in my Reader List is really pissing me off. I shouldn't have to constantly refresh, or even retry the entire link just to (hopefully) have the blog(s) I'd love to see in my Blog Roll.

Japan, the Bible, and the Apocalypse.. Oh my!

What a ride this past weekend has been. Between dealing with a death in the family, Japan being rocked (literally) to its knees and everything else in between, you would honestly think that Armageddon has finally started to rear its head.

First the initial earthquake, then the earthquake-provided tsunami, then aftershocks that are as big almost as the initial quake, now TWO Nuclear Power Plant explosions.

Thanks for a FaceBook friend posting the following, I can now (clearly) see the signs of impeding warning that is upon us globally.

"Sept 11 (NY), Jan 11 (Haiti), March 11 (Japan)...Luke 21:10-11 : "Nation will rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from Heaven.". Jesus says, For behold I come quickly, (so...ask yourself are we ready?)."

Until now, I didn't really pay much attention. But look at this pattern...Three sets of "11" on the day's dates. Plus one of them was 2001, another also was in 2011. Too many ones for my head to wrap around.

Makes what I had posted in my ParanorMel blog about the Horseman of the Apocalypse video seem more real than "shopped or cropped".

To read about the video from MSNBC that *supposedly* caught the ghostly figure of one of the Bible's Four Horsemen during a nighttime riot in Cairo, Egypt, CLICK HERE.

Pretty eerie stuff if you ask me. Sure I'm still on the proverbial fence as to the validity of the piece. If I wasn't in the technologically advanced age, then I say that that is some cause for worry.

On the flip side of the argument though, if indeed someone did in fact catch the horseman REALLY riding through, fulfilling Biblical Prophesy for our generation's time, then my friends, some of us are in some deep shit. And some of us are about to be called home.

One of my favorite novel series to read is the Left Behind books. It's a series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The books speak about topics of Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world.

Pretty fascinating and capturing stuff, if you ask me.

Just too much is happening within the world on a global scale to NOT really take a deeper look in to why all of these "natural disasters" are taking place as well as other life-taking matters (terrorist attacks, wars, severe famine and pestilence). When you think about it all, and put one and one together, it honestly makes you see things in a much bigger picture being interwoven like a spider's web of destruction.

Tomorrow's Bible Q&A (be sure to read if you partic.)

READERS...

Please know that there is a good chance that I will not be able to get to doing the next installment for my new series, 'Bible Q&A Day'.

For one thing, the upcoming verse "in question" has an extremely long answer attached to it. And seeing as I type out word for word from the book that this series is being made possible, it may just be too much for me at the moment.

There's seemingly a problem arising with one of my kids. And I can't say from one minute to the next, let alone at this point, from second to second, what's going to happen.

To get a better understanding of the "ordeal", I urge you to READ THIS POST.

Thanks to everyone for your support with the new series, and for your hopeful understanding in my having to already "break" when we've just gotten started.

Some People Make Me Want To Bang My Head On The Desk...(Blog Hop Stuff)

What part(s) of the following do people apparently NOT get when I post this??...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all. I hope you understand. Thanks.."

You will find this one my posts that I add my Linky Tools link up button to. And that is only maybe (now) twice a week to run in time with For The Love Of Blogs as to give them more exposure and to further help out my fellow bloggers from that community and other places within the blogosphere.

I don't "have to" add the tool to any of my blogs. I do it because I want to and I like helping others to gain more readers. Not just myself.

Thanks to "link and run" types of "users and abusers" of the link up ability to my page, I removed it. Then decided to bring it back here and there. Then, I felt that I wanted to help Vic and Ashley at FLOB by also doing a link up capability on the posts I run to show case them and two of their blog hops I'm involved with.

So now, I will say it this way from now on in ALL FUTURE blog hop posts that I provide a link up tool for others to add to...

"The *ONLY* stipulation I have is to please LEAVE A *GENUINE* COMMENT here on my page to show that you have read it. Not a copy/paste thing or a "I followed you/follow me back" comment... I am okay with people stating if they came from another blog hop and found me. But I don't play the "followed you/follow me back" game.

**If you cannot abide by that one simple rule for linking on my page, I wish for you to NOT link it at all, nor even leave a COMMENT on my page.

If *anyone* is caught breaking the rules for MY BLOG PAGE and the way I wish to run MY blog hop/link up, then the comment and/or blog link and button will be DELETED.

I hope you understand. Thanks.."...

Now, do you all think that THIS will make it clear? Especially if you have actually READ FTLOB's "rules" about blog hopping and leaving comments on other's blogs. They also *DO NOT CONDONE* copy/paste comments or the "followed you/follow me back" comments and also feel it is TACKY as well as RUDE.

If these things keep happening on my blog, then I will put an END TO PROVIDING a link up/blog hop on my blog page.

Judging A Book By Its Cover...In This Case, Blog Posts.

Judgment. We all do it at some point in our lives. We may judge a person just by their looks or behavior. We might judge a place, just by secondhand "word of mouth" and decide to NOT go and look for ourselves. Or we judge a book, article or post by it's title, and refuse to read it because we automatically assume it's viewpoints are of a disgusting nature. And in turn, we once again base our opinion of not only the subject within the post, but we tend to judge the author as well.

This very thing happened with the previous post here on Homemaker Diary. Because someone had misread and in turn, misinterpreted the title to the post, taking it that I TRULY do believe in the nature as what the title "sounded like", I was made out to be a racist, controversy-seeking moron. When in fact, I am FAR from that "truth". And the post was named what I chose as to drive home a point. NOT to state what I truly felt.

If I honestly believed in the fashion that I had chosen for the title of my previous blog entry, then the "..." would not have surrounded the title's name. Hence I would have stated that I did indeed think/feel in that manner. But, I used the "..." to show the audacity of such a statement and show what I was about to write about.

Sadly, someone misconstrued the title with the ".." around it to mean that it was the title to the blog it's self and the statement that I really do think in the fashion of the title. And this person was only half right. And being that they flat out decided to not read the post in it's entirety, they missed out on the TRUE meaning and reflection of the post at hand. If anything, my post was speaking AGAINST such a statement. Towards ANY race/color.

If this person had swallowed their pride and not gone off half cocked, then maybe, just MAYBE they would have in the end agreed with me. Even after posting the main points from the blog its self, they still refused to read it. All because they decided blindly on the title's name.

If you wish to check out the post in reference, CLICK HERE.

This is what is wrong with the world today, in my opinion. And no, I am not innocent. Not by any means. To say otherwise would be stating an all out lie. ALL OF US are too quick to judge in this world. From skin color, to people with disabilities, to literally judging books (or in this case, blog posts) by their covers.

I lived my life with judgment all around me. Because of something I could not help. I looked different from my peers. I was not mentally challenged in any form of the word. But because I slightly looked different, with a trache in my throat, it left me open to automatic judging. Even by adults!

This is why I cannot stand ANY KIND of intolerance of any kind.Be it racial, ethnic, physically or mentally challenged, and a host of others. When you automatically "ASS"ume (which makes an ass out of U & ME) about a person, place or even an article BEFORE getting to know them or read the material, it doesn't make the offended look bad. It makes the offender look closed-minded and depending on the case, looking like a bigot and a hypocrite.

Personally, I would much rather read the article/post or get to know the person or place for MYSELF, **BEFORE** passing judgment upon it/them or making my opinion known. To do so leaves you looking less like a jackass.

This is for ANYONE, not just my "regular readers" for future reference...If you have nothing nice to say, being you are too closed-minded and/or scared to read something, be it here or on any other blogs, then here is a suggestion for you (and you the guilty, know who you are)...DO NOT SAY A WORD. Being you wish to predict what the post/article is about BEFORE reading it (if you choose to do so at all), and in turn closing yourself off to other's points of view, only to stay within your comfort zone I call Fantasy Island and not possibly gain a different perspective about the world around you.

ADHD...

As a mother, it is hard to watch your child struggle. What are ordinary, everyday tasks and expectations to us, is a ball of confusion and frustration for our kids.

Sitting still. Focusing. Being organized. Paying attention to the instructor. Following multiple directions at a rapid pace.

Sounds like a lot, and even a bit confusing to you? I'm sure that it does. But to my son, and to millions of other children in the United States alone, it is a hardship for them every single day to keep up with those tasks while in the classroom, and even at home.

Constantly, I have to remind my hyper, active, not-very-attentive son to complete this task first, so he can move on to the next. Then, after that, I have to remind him to let me check his work against his Agenda, to ensure that he completed the assignments. Then, and only then, may he have his computer or his TV time.

The same goes for his household chores. And the teachers have to stay on top of Bryce as well, being he can fall off of the track pretty quick, and pretty often.

Case in point.. Bryce was found to be sitting in the hall, by his Science and Social Studies Teacher's room. Apparently, he was disrupting the class and "poking at" one girl constantly. After being told to finally move himself to an area where he could be alone, he started to bawl and be belligerent. So, the teacher sent him to the hall.

Then, at snack time, when the Mixed Berries were passed out, he couldn't have any, being that the kitchen never made him a separate bowl without the Blackberries, being he is allergic to them. He went buck wild, pitching a fit, not concentrating on the teacher's explanation, and saying he was being abused because she was "starving" him.

It's not ALL stemming from his ADHD. The lashing out is from another disorder he is inflicted with. But the "poking" of the child, his fidgeting, his lack of concentration, and organization skills, as well as his hyperness, even in his talking to others is a part of the ADHD that he has. Bryce has the more severe form of the disorder.

And yes, he is on medication therapy for it. He takes Vyvanse in the morning, before school. His Intuniv is taken before bedtime. It also serves as a sleep aide, being that his brain stays in "overdrive". The Intuniv relaxes the centers in the brain to control his sleep pattern. And it helps him focus on going to sleep, along with his bedtime routine rituals.

One thing that I have noted the last few years, as the parent of an ADHD child that is medicated, is that most (not all, mind you) teachers think that the medication is the "magic cure-all" for the ADHD while the child is in their classroom. That cannot be further from the truth.

While the medications DO help the child stay focused, attentive, and with less likelihood to blurt out or talk out of turn (or even go way off the topic at hand), the medicines can only control those points to a certain extent.

The remainder of the ADHD child's success relies upon both the child's willingness to gain SELF-control and SELF-discipline, as well as the teacher's willingness to work with the child to achieve those same goals that ADHD students need to be successful students.

This may mean giving the ADHD child a separate desk area, where fellow students will not be a distraction. Or even asking the child if the student is understanding and able to follow the lesson. The teacher can't be "all mouth". They must be about action as well. This means walking around, using hand gestures. Anything to keep the ADHD child engaged in the lesson.

On average, the typical ADHD child can give you no more than fifteen minutes of their attention. For the ones with severe ADHD, you are lucky, and I mean LUCKY, to get ten minutes of their attention, being most severe cases have an attention span of only five minutes.

Too many teachers rely on medication therapy. And anti-medicating advocates talk about us parents? MOST of us parents tried EVERYTHING else under the sun for our children BEFORE going the "pill route".

Our child's first line of defense of course, are the parents. Then, the doctors and therapeutic team. Teachers though, as well as the other school staff round out the team for these kids. We ALL have to work together to help these children with ADHD be successful . Within the classroom setting, as well as out in the community and within the world.

So, remember that while ADHD medications DO help, it's far from being the "cure-all" route of having a successful child. One-on-one working with your child (or student, if that is the case), providing the appropriate tools for success, and helping them to build their SELF-esteem and SELF-control are the REAL keys for having an ADHD child that is well-rounded, adjusted, organized and an overall good student in the classroom and beyond.

Walgreens Drugs should have been named "Failgreens".

At this point in time, I have nothing good to say about this company. At least not where my local store is concerned. While the staff IS friendly, they have a major problem with CORRECTLY filling drug prescriptions for ONE client.

No one should have to (after this evening) make THREE trips to the pharmacy to pick up my child's medications. Why? Because I got only ONE of three to be filled (along with his sister's one).

Then, I had to go get the ones left behind (that are NORMALLY bagged together), only to get 5 freaking pills from a 30-day supply refill. Because apparently (without my knowledge) they were running low.

Even this evening when I pick up, I can only have a total of 20 from the 30 I'm supposed to have.

The person(s) filling my son's medications 'accidentally' placed the ones I was missing in the WRONG pick-up bin as well. I found this out yesterday evening when I noticed the 'mistake' and called them about it.

I'm glad that what he takes are not drugs he needs to live (like Insulin or Anti-Rejection meds)..He missed a dose last night. If he was on the latter that I mentioned, that COULD POTENTIALLY kill or seriously injure someone because they were not able to have access to their medication!

The employees also need to only have ONE person filling for ONE client when there are multiple scrips for that one person. I mainly blame THAT as the reason for this whole entire debacle even taking place.

Yes, they are human. Yes, people make mistakes. But when you work in ANY area of the health care system, being it as a CNA, a Medical Doctor, or a Pharmacist, there really isn't much, or even any period, room for error. Especially when it comes to the health, well-being and overall LIVES that you are taking care of.

I've learned a VALUABLE lesson, especially after today. BEFORE you even pull out of the parking lot, pull the medications OUT of the bag(s), read them and make sure you have all the pills accounted for on the label(s) and ensure that you have ALL of your medicines you were to have filled that day in your hands.

WIMTS (What I Meant To Say) Wednesday with Angel..Hearing Aide, Anyone?

Have you had to vigorously bite your tongue this past week (Thursday-Tuesday)? Did you say what you HAD to say, but didn't say what you WANTED to say to someone? Then, here's your chance!

Just click on the linky-button below, and grab a button from Angel, and start posting what YOU *meant* to say, but didn't, thanks to the little thing called 'socially acceptable behavior and language'.



BUT! Before you run off to spout off to the boss, the spouse, the kids, and the ex's dog, see what I have to say first. Especially if this is your first time.


The other day, I had called University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center's Dermatology Partners, where Skyler is scheduled to be seen on September First for her Molluscum Contagiosum (her severe wart problem), seeing as last week, I had to take her to the ER for a (still) suspicious rash she developed that was purple and almost black, with red dots.

The lady that handles scheduling picked up and asked what my needs were. From there, it just really went down hill. I said..

Hello, my name is Melissa Cowart. My daughter Skyler is to be seen on the first of September, but due to a "non-specific rash" she developed and was taken to the ERD for, I'd like to get her in sooner.

Well, the lady wanted her name and date of birth. Let's just say I didn't get to the date of birth part for a good while. Why? Because...

For one thing, whomever placed her in the system there, initially (and I *highly* suspect it is this woman I was speaking to) had spelled the girl's name wrong! My doctor made the referral appointment, not us. But when they entered her name, they used an 'a', not an 'e' in Skyl'e'r.

It got worse from there...I was asked to spell the last name (again). So I said, C-o-w-a-r-t. Not the hard, right? WRONG!

Lady said what? I said Cowar(t..as in Tom)...Lady said say it again.

By now I thought to myself this chick was effin deaf or just not paying attention. Maybe she was playing World Of Warcraft on the 'puter.

Finally, I broke it down and sad it like this... C..o...w (as in a DAIRY COW!)..a...r...t (as in a work of ART!).

Finally we got it all straight, then I was told after all the trouble, that I COULD NOT CHANGE IT!

I so very meant to say (after saying thanks and you WILL be hearing from the ped.'s office TODAY)...

WTF! I spent the last ten minutes spelling my last damn name because you have severe wax build up apparently. So for my trouble, you CANNOT change it to an earlier date. Especially being my kid developed something I DO NOT KNOW HOW SHE GOT IT??

You people are an effin joke. And as for you, missy! Lay off the damned WoW game while you are working, get the effin wax out of your ears, and go back to Comprehension and Typing School.

Did you get your Office Degree from a damned Cracker Jacks box? Or maybe from your Trix Cereal. Because whatever school you had to have gone to should NEVER have let you pass your courses.

...So, now I am on day two of waiting to hear from Skyler's regular doctor's office, as to if the UVA office will take her earlier. Even the Office Manager and the nurse got nowhere with these people.

Apparently, it's got to be a doc-to-doc convo. Nice! I *hate* dealing with Specialty Practice Doctors. Their heads are so swelled, and stuck so far up their ass, that it comes back up through their necks.

It's Test Time For Me Today (Transplanted Problems)

Today is a test of faith, of self-perseverance, self-reflection and of courage. For me anyways.

In the last three weeks, I have been having to fight off rejection from my graft. The doctor had noticed a VERY early stage of it during the last appointment.

If the eye is still trying to give my Cornea the boot, then the BEST-case scenario is that I have to keep up the tedious task of dropping Pred-Forte in my eye several times (again) during the day. From the time I wake, until I go to bed.

WORST-case scenario? Honestly, I really don't think that I am even remotely to that point. But it would be to go and have another Transplant surgery done with a new donated Cornea.

With that all said, I am going to be bringing my "Transplant posts" back to my main blog (here at 'The (Not Always) Happy Homemaker Diary'). The blog for the Transplant Community isn't really getting any hits. So, I figured that this would be the best decision.

Sure, not everyone cares to know about the ins and outs of being a Donor, Donor Family, or a Recipient. But there are also many that do. So, being that my main blog (HERE!) gets the most "action", I will just keep those that are interested and/or following my progress (or lack thereof) updated on this page.

So, please know that I will update with the latest news as soon as I can. My appointment isn't until late this afternoon. Until then....