Its a Deaf Mom World

2007-08-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

No words can explain this...

Yesterday, Sonny had to work late so he got the morning off. We decided to grab advantage of the morning off to boot Ashton in preschool and go looking for computer armiores. We need one that can shut and lock so the kidlets can't get in. We drove off towards Pinellas Park in search of the perfect computer armiore.

We drove to Wood You and found out it doesn't open till 10 so we decided to drive looking for another furniture supplier for the time being and we drove past Ashley Homestore. We looked at eachother and YEAH! Lets go in. We drove, parked and went in. We found the PERFECT computer armiore. Get this, I found the exact same one online but I just found out that the shipping cost was a whopping $375 and I couldn't justify the cost. It was absolute FATE that we found the exact same one and the delivery is only $80. Nope, I'm not gonna tell you how much the cabinet itself costs. Lets just say that I'd have to give up my bi-weekly (or quad-weekly) iced lattes from Starbucks and Dunkin' Doughnuts.

I went out to the car to nurse Ella while Sonny does the transcation. He joins me some time later and we gloat over our amazing find. Suddenly, Sonny spies something odd... and my heart goes up in my throat.

Now I should explain something, it was a nasty thunderstorm outside, it was POURING. Streets were flooding, etc. It was so wet, we get drenched the minute we step out of the car. It was a small shiny black wet 'moving' thing couple of feets down the parking lot. It was moving forward. I told him, oh it's a giant slug.

Sonny HAD to drive up and take a look. He opens the door and turns to me. "It's a catfish?"

Catfish?

Sho nuf, it's a catfish. It was propelling itself forward with its little flippers. It was like seeing evolution at its' worst.

Today, I was checking out one aquarium website to find the location so we can go there tomorrow and I clicked on one link "Invaders" Apparently, that particular catfish was brought here and it really belongs in Asia. It is called a 'walking catfish' and it uses it's little fins to walk to the next pond if their pond dries up.

Here's a wikipedia link - it's not a hoax from yours truly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_catfish

Ok, now I feel a lot better. I was starting to think that there's something nasty going on in Florida what with the cat-sized rat in Lowes and now a walking catfish.

2007-07-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

What's with those H2 Mamas?

Ash goes to a preschool in a very upscale neighborhood right next to the ocean. The preschool is at a Espolician chuch and the district is the Harbor Oaks district. Its gorgeous and I'd love to live there. It is also close to where Hulk Hogan and his family used to live. Yeah, we drove past his house! It's selling for 25 million! They moved to Miami and are currently selling the house. If only I had the money, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, it is gorgeous!

Anyways, the mamas who sends their kids there doesn't drive minivans, they drive hummers! Some have custom designs on the hummer like flowers and so forth. I have to admit that I don't like vans, they're too big and clunky but they have benefits to offer compared to smaller sedans. I feel a bit imitiated. They come rolling up in those big shiny hummers with shiny grille and wheels and hustle their kids in. They're very tanned, wear big dark sun-glasses and have their cell permanently attached to their heads. Oh yeah, those mamas. Their kids are adorable anyway. Ash seems to have a new friend already. Now I didn't approve of this but I thought it was cute.

The preschool has a small parking lot where we come in, park the cars and pick up or drop off the kids. When I was picking up Ash and starting to strap him in, the lil' guy came running up and started talking to ash, It was so cute but where's his mom? His mom is talking down the parking lot with another mother and a little 2 year old boy is running around the parking lot. Their car was parked next to mine but my point is, what if I didn't see the little boy and backed over him? I couldn't leave him standing by the car. His mom saw me and waved that she'd be over soon but she didn't run over right away. I guess she thought that since I'm there, I'd keep an eye out for her boy.

Well , yeah, of course I'd keep an eye out for her boy but that's only because I don't want to accidentally run over the little boy if I just decide to leave him and drive off or even worse, another car runs him over. I stay by the car letting the little boy talk to Ash. She finally runs over and thanks me but still... keep a grip on your kids. Seriously. In a parking lot? *shakes head*

2007-07-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

Path to Enlightment!

Guess what! I've registered for a marathon on January 13, 2008 at Disney World Orlando! I decided to take a huge step and just start training for the marathon. I've always wanted to begin exercising and get back in shape. I decided that now is the perfect time to begin because we're in Florida, we decided not to have any more kids, and we've already set on our trek to the path of enlightment two years ago.

Path to Enlightment - what the ever am I speaking of?

Sonny and I wanted to better our lives so we took small steps just to improve the way we live our lives. It has been a very rocky and hilly path the past two years but it has been worth it all the way. We begun with:

1. Improve the way we eat. Our shame was portioning. On 'According to Jim' comedy T.V. show, Jim's brother in law admitted a secret. He has a 'shame stick'. It's NOT what you think! His 'Shame Stick' was a stick of butter on popsicle stick and rolled in sugar and he would eat it like icecream or a corndog! Our 'shame stick' was the amount of food we were eating years ago. One of our favorite meals are fried potatoes with sliced hotdogs.d We used to throw in 4-6 sliced hotdogs with about 5 chopped potatoes. TODAY, we only fry with canola oil (heart-healthy) with only 2 chopped potato with 3-4 sliced hotdogs. We also add less salt and more tasty spices. Well, we've admitted our 'shame stick' story, what's yours?

My most major success is quitting Mountain Dew over three years ago! I quit it cold turkey one day and never looked back. My kids are NOT going to touch soda at all until they are old enough to make the concious decision to choose milk or water over soda. Sonny is 'working' on quitting coca cola. Pop and candy is just as addictive as cigarettes.

2. Improving finances! We wanted to pay off our credit card debt and improve our daily household budget. We wanted to end this year with ONLY school loans to pay and pay for everything in cash plus have savings for retirement and emergencies. We are very soon well on our way to acheiving that goal.

3. Saving the Environment (and save money) - We decided to reduce electricity usage throughout the house. We replaced light bulbs with energy saving flourscent bulbs. We bought an energy efficient washer and dryer. We've also begun to RECYCLE!!!! I'd encourage you guys to recycle. It is so much more statisfying! We consider it a continious goal to preserve energy and save the environment.

4. Finally, improving our health by exercising and setting a committment to encourage our kids to exercise. Amercia is considered one of the highest population of obese people and we didn't want to be part of that statistics plus heart disease and cancer runs in my family. I wasn't really encouraged to excercise growing up, I was encouraged to read more books to improve english skills plus improve speech skills by attending speech therapy. It was all education but no extracircular activities until I attended SDSD in high school and joined basketball. By then it was too late. There has to be a balance somewhere!

NOW... my running goal:
I joined a marathon to motiviate myself plus lose weight. I have begun to run in the mornings before Sonny and the kids wake up. Sonny is going to begin biking again. We are looking around for a road bike for him plus new gear. I've bought new running gear for myself and today I gave myself the day off from running after 1 full week and I have never felt that bad before. I usually run at 6 a.m. and I woke up at 8 a.m. and wanted to sleep more and my ears were ringing so bad and I was just feeling blah. I perked up after I walked around and made french toast. It is hard to exercise around kids because we don't have the gear to take the kids along but hope to buy them SOON. By 8am it was already too late to go running but I made it up by taking the kids to a nearby park after lunch. I am avoiding running in direct sunlight until I can get used to running long distances and getting used to the heat and sun. In September, I'll begin serious training by running more than 13 miles in 1 day with my buddies. The marathon is about 26.6 miles.

I've hemmed and hawed about posting my running plans on this blog because I consider myself a 'quitter' in the areas of exercising. I've tried to exercise before but always gave up after a few days. 1 full week of running is the longest I've ever had and the benefits of running is tremendous. After I go running, I'm awake and ready for the day! That was surprising to me. I hope to keep it up and suceed with the marathon. Before I die, I'd like to be able to say that I actually completed a marathon to add to my very short list of acheivements.

We have more goals to complete but will begin later once we've established our active lifestyle pattern. One of the goals is to save up some $$$ and go to Europe when the kids are older and can stay with grandparents. Anyone want to help us go to Europe? *winks* Sonny's dream is to backpack or bike throughout Europe. Not a bad idea but I gotta have a few hotel stays along the way. :)

Ciao!

2007-07-11T19:32:00.001-07:00

Note to Self:

Do not leave potatoes in plastic container in a dark cabinet for 3 weeks. *retches*

2007-07-11T05:18:00.000-07:00

Saying Goodbye...

Jo is an inspiring woman. I know her from when she interpreted for me at various appointments and I've always had a blast with her. She is easy to talk to and she has a lot of enthuasim for her job as an interpreter. Actually, she has a contagious enthuasim for everything - her family, her job, and life in general. Her memory continues in all of us that have known her. She has kept her faith and joy in her battle against cancer when most would've lost. It really isn't fair that good and inspiring people like her get sick and pass away when we have so many bad people out there. She is a wonderful example to others, she kept her fighters gloves on and a upbeat attitude. She found out she had cancer in the spring, I believe, and she quietly passed away on June 10th at the hospice in Sioux Falls. The cancer advanced quickly and when they found out, it was probably too late. She has a wonderful husband and has two sons which she had late in life and loves dearly. She has a great enthuasim for life that she has passed on to her boys. Her youngest has downs syndrome and is adorable. He's much like his mama with the infectious personality. She is truly a wonderful person and whereever she is now, they are lucky.

2007-07-10T17:09:00.001-07:00

my little monkeys!

2007-07-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Becoming a Floridian!

Well, as of 11:30 a.m. today, we're now officially a Florida resident! We got our drivers license from SD converted to FL and I have to tell you, our photos look a lot better than SD license. :) Interesting thing about the DL place, they do appointments! We can go online and fill out the application and schedule an appointment thus saving ourselves a long wait. Why don't SD do that?

Anyhoo, we went in and was served by a nice older lady. She's awesome but tries to talk to us before writing notes. Let me tell ya, it would save all of us a LOT of time if you just write it down instead of 'trying' to talk. It's just not worth it. Funnily enough, I asked her if I could keep my SD drivers license for memory's sake and she said this "You could but in Florida, it is a FELONY (with a big emphasis) and it is FIVE (with all 5 fingers emphasis) years in jail and FIVE (another 5 fingers emphasis) thousand dollar fine. She said it pretty good. Ooookayyyy, thankyouverymuch, you can keep the SD license!

She did offer to cut out the photo for me but I told her no. I just want the SD logo and all that but really honestly, if you think about it, what can I do with it really, put in a photo book? After I die, what will my heirs do with a measly drivers license?

Oh! Another thing, I decided to be an organ donor. They have three donor options and I decided to donate my body to science! I thought it would be fun and educational for future doctors. Afterall, I'm dead, it's not like I'm going to stick around with my body watching the doctors mess around with my corspe. I don't really want to know what they'll do with the corpse, I've seen too many movies. Why not?

Here's a photo of our licenses!

2007-07-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

I was going to post a blog after I took a picture of Ash in his t-shirt he made in preschool but he was such a BEAR and I've been waiting few days to post. I promise, when he gets into a better mood, I'll take a picture of him in his adorable outfit. :) I'm not telling you what and you'll have to wait! LOL I just want him smiling in the picture. He looks better that way. ;)

Anyhoo, things has improved. There are less roaches however, the past two nights, I SWEAR I felt a bug crawl across my arm and face. I can't sleep anymore. Roaches gives me the shivers. I have a spraying scheduled for July 9th. Die Roaches Dieeeee!

Remember the stove fiasco? We couldn't cook a hot meal since Wednesday so we've been eating sandwiches and eating out. We tried several new restaurants especially Boston Market. Boston Market rocks! George stopped by yesterday with a contractor and they ripped out the old stove and put in the new stove. The new stove is verrryy nice. It's some sort of a convection stove where it has two baking option - normal way and convection way. I have to research what's the difference but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I'm just happy I have an honest to goodness stove in my kitchen that I actually can cook. I baked chocolate chip cookies last night and I'm tellin' ya. Those cookies were damn good!

I enrolled Ashton in a preschool environment at a church. It is very nice and fun environment and I'm totally wanting to live in that neighborhood. The Oak Garden district is a better version of the Mckennan Historic district in Sioux Falls. I'm betting ya, those houses there are probably half a million or more than a million in value each. It's that nice! The preschool is cute, they have those classrooms that open to an outdoor courtyard. Ash is in a class full of little kids, all 2 year olds. Today was his second day and he loves it there. He went in his classroom without a backward glance. Ashton spends a lot of time in the sun in South Dakota but it's funny, he's the palest kid in class. All other kids are tanned. You can really tell who's from South Dakota!

Things here are so different from SD! We drive on Lakeview Rd. to drop Sonny off at CSDVRS and there are several places along the way that strikes me funny. Most common names for family businesses are 'Rasmussen & Son" or 'Ellman & Son". This particular business is "Bob & Daughter' - you really don't see that in SD! I should take a photo but we drive too fast, it'd be a blur.

Another place had me taking a double take. I had to look twice to read the sign. There is a trailer park with a sign that says "Adult Park'. Ahem... you get my drift? Don't ya? Actually the sign says "Adult Park +55" for senior citizens to live there. It's true, the young is discriminated in Florida! I called many rentals and about half of those is only for 55 and up.

Perhaps I should send the photos to Jay Leno? :)

Ella is doing great, she is a happy and easy baby. She actually slept from 11am to 6:30 this morning. She probably would've slept longer if I didn't wake her up. She likes to be held all the time so we've been using slings a lot. Ashton is a regular 2 year old. He's definetely into his terrible two's. He likes to make messes and likes to challenge his parents' authority. I keep telling Sonny, he's two and manipulative. He's so smart that I don't realize I'm being manipulated until Sonny tells me and same to Sonny. By that time, it's too late. :) He's a great kid and likes to ride his little bike. He also really likes trains right now. I'm considering buying him a wooden train set but first I need to buy Ella some toys. She has no toys but she has tons of clothes though, really adorable ones. Ash also likes to help out on his own terms. He'll help unload the dishwasher but wont' pick up his toys.

Well, I better go boot Ash to nap-time. Hope he sleeps away his grumpiness and I get a good photo of his cute outfit, stove, and washing/drying machines. (Yeah, I got new machines and they rock! It's in my favorite color - RED!)

Toodles!

2007-06-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

National Lampoon's Move from Hell

Well, what to say? So much $**t has happened the past week! My friend calls it freak occurences but I call it a definete snub from Florida!

To begin with: The plane ride went VERY well! Once we landed and picked up our car, thats when it went downhill. The GPS system (Global Positioning System) went wonky and led us in wrong directions twice and we ended up stopping at a gas station for a map. Luckily we were in the right direction but we were lost! I fiddled with the GPS and finally got it working.

The hotel we stayed in had two fights and police cars, fire truck, and ambulance with sirens going. My in-laws were like - leave the adjoining door open so they can hear if something happens in my room. Plus - the hotel was crappy.

We left the next day and arrived to our house in Clearwater. The landscaping were in progress but the landlord, George, did not mow the backyard so everything was overgrown! The house was filthy and he proceeded to tell us that the house is infested with cockroaches! What? Roaches?!?!? He told us the house was sprayed already and will have more sprayings to reduce or eliminate the roach problem. I was so angry, I cried. He said, that's Florida. Roaches are common in the south. Right... but not in MY house!

We hadn't seen the inside of the house because the tenants were still living there and they were going to be evicted but we saw photos of inside the house. The house is beautiful, yes, but everything was old and the tenants broke a lot of things. They didn't maintain the house and lawn. They left junk in the backyard and parked multiple cars in their driveway and didn't clean up after themselves - hence the roaches. George tells me that supposedly, roaches are clean. I told him off. Internet shows that roaches cause allergies and athsma.

Everything in the house is really old, even the stove. If I calcuated right, the stove was manufactured in 1959 and is 48 years old. They have a really old intercom system which I don't even know if it works. The orginial central vaccum canister, hose and parts are still there with the original box! All light switches are orginial which means the electrical system is old too. The bathrooms are old, with pink toliet, tiles and everything.

Anyways, back to my move. The night we were getting ready for bed and I was in the living room with Ella, Sonny comes and screams at me where's the plunger. I said that the plunger is in the bathroom where I put it there. He says it's not there and I'm like - if it's not there then I don't know where it is. He's screaming at me to find the plunger and I'm wondering what's going on. Apparently the toliet backed up and was overflowing and would not stop overflowing. Bob and Dale is trying to get the toliet stopped and vaccuming up the water. Sonny is trying to stop Ash from splashing in the water - ew! Ash succeeds and we have to get his clothes off and diaper changed and I have to hold Ash back in the living room while they clean up. I tell Sonny to check our bathroom in the master bedroom and he says no. A while later, we find out that the toliet in the master bedroom is also overflowing. Sonny, remember that your wife is always right!

Oh by the way, the afmetioned plunger was in the bathroom the whole time like I said it would be.

Both toliet and bathtub was backed up and Kim makes an emergency call to our landlord. He gets a plumber out and sends us to the hotel. The guys did not get to the hotel until 2am! I choose a good hotel, that's how mad I am! I was also ready to rip up the lease and move to another house. Sonny wants to stay. The main line was clogged and the plumber had to snake it out. We return the next day and continue to kill more roaches.

We finally stay in the house through the night on Friday night and saturday morning, Sonny goes to the bathroom and he runs back and says that the toliet is backed up again. Ends up the master bedroom toliet is backed up too. We've been avoiding using our toliet because it drains incredibly slowly and always look like its gonna overflow. It's about 8am and again Kim makes the call to George.

Kim and Bob leaves for the airport and we battle more roaches. I'm even more upset and fed-up. I'm ready to yell at George and get my deposit back and find a new place. George shows up with a septic tank drain company when they proceed to drain the tank. First, they had to dig up the new landscaping that George worked so hard on to open the cement lid to the tank. Sonny tells me that the tank is FULL. No wonder the toliets and tub backed up! They finish in a hour or so and they said that the main line is still clogged so George still has to call a plumber over to clear the line. So far, we hadn't showered or went to the bathroom. Eventually the plumber shows up and start working in the hot florida sun and it's about 90 degrees or more outside. The plumber has this cool machine where he can send a camera down and see what's in the tank or the line. It looks like a baby bottle. George proceeds to accuse us of flushing the bottle down the toliet.

Whoa, George! We told him a emphatic NO! I breastfeed and the sippy cups that Ashton uses will no way in the world fit down the potty. Must be the previous tenants. George forgets that he told me that they have two small children. Well, duh, children do flush things down the toliet but comeon! Don't accuse us! When I told him that I felt bad his hard work on landscaping is ruined, he walks away waving his hands and muttering. He's gay and also very mad. That's not a good combination but funny to watch. He's a interior designer and teaches design at a college in California. He specializes in retro design, hence the 1950's house.

Get this, the plumber finds THREE baby bottles clogging the main line. He clears it up and checks both toliets to make sure they're running. George and his sister explains to us about RID-X and needing to use it i the toliet and no harsh chemicals. I've already researched on it before we moved because I knew the house is on a septic system. The septic is a tank underground where everything that goes in the drain goes in the tank. There's bacteria in the tank that 'eats' everything in the tank where it naturally seeps out in the yard, I think. Occassionally, you'd have to drain the tank every 1 to 5 years depending on the size, etc. I think the previous tenants treated the septic tank as 'garbage' and tried to flush anything down including harsh chemicals that killed off the bacteria and causing the tank to fill up with water and waste. There wasn't enough bacteria to process the waste. Now we have to flush those little packets of enzymes to feed the bacteria and grow. Think of it as baking bread vs. septic tank. Weird thought yeah but erriely similar!

We don't go to the bathroom or shower until 3pm! That night we go out to dinner with friends at a greek restaurant. Their food is so good and authenic! Thursday night ,we went out to eat with friends at an organic mexican restaurant that's to die for. Florida does have great restaurants!

We continue to battle roaches.

Today is Friday and we've battled roaches the entire week. We have a sprayer coming on July 9th to spray again and I've been working hard of depriving roaches of food and water and researching of ways to repel roaches. Apparently catnip is one of them! Many websites suggest buying a few geckoes (lizards) to let loose in the house and let them eat the cockroaches. They say that you won't see the geckos until they've eaten them all and you'll have to put them in a cage and feed them crickets. Fascinating!

Anyways, the problems hasn't ended. You would've thought the problems would be done now but it has not. The house almost got on fire this morning. That 1950's stove I mentioned earlier, has electricial problems or something like that. We had not used the stove since Wednesday night and this morning, it started smoking between the counter and side of the stove. I opened the cooktop and found that the burners are still cold. We weren't sure if it was still on or something and when I closed the cook-top, sparks happened! Sonny immediately went to turn off the electric going to the stove and called George. George can't have anyone come out till Monday and he proceeds to accuse us of not using the stove right. Yes, we have an angry gay landlord. I explaine to him exactly what happened. More likely they'll just replace the stove and put a new stove there. Last night we were talking about replacing the stove because some of the burners weren't working and he said that he's getting a glass cooktop stove but NO PROMISES. The thing with the old stove - it sits on cabinets, it's weird looking but to put a new modern stove, he'd have to tear out cabinets. Smoke has certain smells and this one smells like a electricial fire. It makes me nervous because we haven't bought a strobe system for deaf people because it's expensive. I've already gone online to research on those equipment. Living in a old house with apparent electricial issues, not easy.

Well, that concludes the hellish week we've had. Sewage problems, Roaches, and Kitchen. *shivers* Yes, we're still battling roaches but haven't seen that many today. They're nocturnal and comes out at night. Die Roaches Die!

I'll send you more photos later of the house and the stove plus kids. I'll also post an update with better stuff hopefully including our territorial lizards and our neighborhood gray squirrel.

Oh by the way... we saw a huge RAT the size of a cat or a small dog climbing the rafters at Lowes last Friday. What a nice welcome to Clearwater!

Here's a few photos to hold you off. :)

Ashton's train! He actually built this himself and tells me it's a train. It looks like a train and I'm so proud of my little boy. :)

2007-03-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

RIP

Paul Koster
10/31/1978 - 3/9/2007
Wonderful friend to many and incredible father to Isabelle (Izzy) Koster.

Wow, we're at a loss what to say. We've just found out 3 hours ago of his death. Paul and Sonny grew up together at SDSD and have remained fast friends along with several other friends. He was in our wedding as one of the groomsmen. He has a lovely daughter, Isabella (3 in May). he has a wonderful family that we all feel part of. We love his parents and his sisters plus their family. We've joined them occasionally for dinner and they're fabulous. We're praying for them through this incredibly difficult time and hope you all will too. They need all the support they can get, especially Izzy.

Here is a link to an article about the incident. http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_069235939.html

Here's some photos of our beloved friend.

Sonny and Paul at our wedding, July 28, 2001

Paul & his wife and us at Mt. Rushmore during Sturgis bikers week August 2006.

Paul having a blast riding a little motorized cooler at a booth at Sturgis.

2007-02-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

This 'n' That

RIP
TIGER
10-01-1999
02-05-2007

This is Tiger when he was a kitten, wasn't he a cutie?

Tiger liked to do weird things like this one, I was bathing Ash and he decided that my back would be a comfortable spot for him to settle.

Tiger liked Ashton and was good with him. When we took walks, Tiger would walk with us outside. Even when we were walking the dog, Tiger would go with us. He was a cool cat.

I took a photo of him mid-leap.

We saw Tiger being born on October 1, 1999. it was a cold and snowy night and Sonny decided to let his mom in the house he was staying at temporarily. HIs mom decided to give birth so we witnessed the event. The first few weeks was touch and go because the kittens seemed to be sickly. Maybe two died, Tiger came down with some kind of respiratory infection and he was about to die and we took him to the vet. The vet saved him. We brought him back to the farm. He still carries some type of illness from almost dying as a kitten. The first year or two, he kept sneezing all the time and you wouldn't believe how much came out of his nose. Eventually that went away but he retained a cloudy eye.

Tiger decided to hitch a ride with our former teacher to SDSD. LaDonna lived on a farm near Brookings which is almost a hour drive from Sioux Falls. It was incredibly cold that morning and Tiger climed inside the engine. He ended up sitting in the engine for 1 hour in subzero weather. A teacher walking in the parking lot heard the kitten and brought him in the building to laDonna. LaDonna would not believe that it was one of her farm cat until I saw Tiger and I recognized him right away. Sonny and I decided to take him home with us that day. He kept appearing in our life and eventually in our hearts. He does have some side effects from the death-defying ride in the truck. His right leg would shake as he sits. He was in the same position without moving for a hour.

He has long since have done many things to run out of his 9 lives. He is declawed and hunts baby rabbits. Yes, he does hunt... clawless. He has come home with live animals, sometimes dead animals as a present to us. He has come home with injuries and multiude of other problems. We found out he's allergic to almost everything and we figured out, he just may be allergic to other animals. Unfortuately, we had him put to sleep due to many reasons but in our hearts, it was the right thing to do. He's in his cat heaven with his claws back and tons of things to hunt. He was happiest outside but also happy inside with us. His home is with us and never ran away, no matter how many time we moved.

Unfortunate Events

Sonny agreed to pet-sit his friend's hamster and hermit crab for about 3 weeks. We put the cages in the empty bedroom to keep them away from two menaces: Tiger and Ashton. Tiger sat outside the bedroom door for a full day, hulking...

I have to admit, both animals aren't my favorite pet on the list. Hamsters - ugh. I have many things to say about hamsters but I know some of my friends love hamsters and have history with their own hamsters. Hermit crab is a totally another story, they remind me of spiders. In fact, off New Jersey shores, a particular kind of crabs come up at tide and mate or something like that. The name escapes me but those crabs are either direct descendants of spiders or are actually spiders. That just gives me the creeps.

Anyhoo, one bright Sunday morning, Sonny got up for the morning and went to Ashton's bedroom. He found a empty crib. He started to panic. Checked under the crib, in closet, etc - no Ash. He ran through the house, still no Ash. He decided to check the bedrooms. No Ash in basement bedroom or bathroom. Sonny thought Ash was kidnapped right from under our noses. He ran upstairs, dreading the worst, checked the 3rd bedroom and he found this:

He shook me awake and I got up all dizzy and confused. My eyes were blurry because I was wearing contacts. I kept asking him what happened and he babbled. I'm like, I gotta fix my eyes and you calm down and tell me the whole story. Once my eyes were clear, he explained this:

He found Ashton in the 3rd bedroom in the middle of a huge mess. He climed out of his crib and either opened the door himself or the door was already open and he went in the 3rd bedroom where we kept the animals. He proceeded to rip apart the cages so he can play with the animals. There was no hamster and crab to be found. Tiger was sitting in the corner looking very self-satisfied. Tiger and Ash was shut in the bedroom with the two animals for who knows how long and anything could have happened. We imagined the worst. I wondered if I would find a little bloody hamster body with it's head ripped off. That's Tiger's trademark.

We asked Ash, "where's the mouse', he pointed to the closet and we had to tear out the entire closet and found the little hamster alive and well shivering in the corner.

We asked Ash, 'where's the crab.' He pointed to the closet again, there was no crab at all. The crab was in a bright yellow shell that isn't that hard to miss. We thought maybe Ash put the crab in one of the boxes so we had to go through the boxes. Still no crab. We asked Ash again and again, where's the crab. Sonny says that he ran through the house and saw no yellow shell at all. Ash eventually pointed to the bathroom. We looked at eachother and thought the same thing, 'The toliet?" - we looked, still no crab but it could have been flushed.

I ran downstairs to get cleaning supplies and out of corner of my eye, I spied a yellow shell. I got the shell and checked, the crab is still there alive and well. I'm guessing that the crab was probably under the couch hiding out from the two menaces and realized that we were out and about and decided to come out and make himself visible.

We assembled the cages back together, cleaned up everything and put the animals back to their respective cages. We put child-proof handles on the doorknobs the same day. Whew.

Here's a photo of Ash all conked out. He was THAT tired and just laid there like a dead body. I even went over to check if he was actually breathing.

Previously, Ash figured out how to get out of his crib, we thought it was time to try a regular bed for him. He did successfully so we went to the store and ordered rails to convert his crib into a bed. Ash is our little handyman and likes to help his dad do stuff like this.

Here's the finished result!

I know that was really long and I have lots more to say but I'll let you guys go and hope you enjoyed my stories. :)

2007-02-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Slinking back to Blogger...

Yes, I'm back at Blogger. it's easier than uploading via iWeb. The benefits to iWeb, I can upload a lot more photos but takes longer. Whatever.

Well, I know you all want to see whats up with Ashton so here it is!

Again, I'm so sorry for not updating my website. I don't know what's wrong with me! To make up for this, here's a couple of my favorites from the past few months. :) Ash is doing wonderfully and he's talking a lot. He also signs a lot so that helps make communication a lot better. He is constantly on the go and is everywhere. I'm considering signing him up for gymnastics for tumbling class just so he can climb. We've been house-bound for a while and that has been a bit difficult since he wants to go outside and play. It's hard if the weather is really cold and he can't be out for more than 15 minutes.

This is at Halloween, we carved two pumpkins. Ash enjoyed spooning out the pumpkins.

Sonny & Ash showing off their creation!

This is my favorite. I have it set as a desktop on my computer. When I can, I'll have it printed out on canvas. I love this in black/white with his surfer hair and Tiger.

Sonny & Ash hamming it up for the camera. :)

This is another of my favorite. This is still when we haven't cut his hair.

Ash and his uncle. He likes to pick on Alex to play with his cell phone. We're at our grandparents for a nice visit.

Ash and his great-grandma, Evelyn. He likes playing with her cane. He thinks it's a fascinating toy!

Ash and his great-grandpa, Danny at christmastime.

We bought new sheets and blanket for our bed. Ash really likes it, hence, he's sleeping there! Right now he's sleeping in a mattress on the floor. He's finally out of his crib! A huge milestone to celebrate!

Ash and his mom on a quiet morning.

We made homemade play dough and Ash LOVES to play with it. He's always asking to play with it to the point we have to hide it! he's slowly learning his colors via playdoh and learned how to sign Tree, bird, etc from the cutters.

I have more photos coming later but I will send a e-mail update when I do get around to posting more photos!

2006-06-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I've given Blogger the boot - go on over to www.rasmussenclan.com our new and improved website.

Ciao!
Angela

2006-06-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Cat gets trial, gets off with a hand slapping from Judge!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/20/lewis.lives.ap/index.html

I think this is hilarious and ridiculous at the same time. I know one cat who lives for the pleasure of attacking people and Sam never went to court for this. I remember that Sam's owner, Jenna, told me that once, someone came in the house, I'm not sure for what and Sam jumped on his back and held on for dear life while the person jumped around trying to get him off and Jenna trying to get the deranged cat off. I loved that cat, that cat had personality!

Sam has attacked other people before, especially my dear friend, Katie. She was hicupping and holding 3 DVDs getting ready to go. We were all making fun of her to get her to stop hiccupping. I told her to watch me as I counted off to 3. At between 2 and 3, Sam jumped on her and grabbed her stomach with his claws. Katie flinged the DVDs and collasped off to the floor and Sam shot off with Megan chasing after him. We couldn't stop laughing and found that Katie stopped hicupping. Katie still has a reminder of Sam on her stomach.

Ah, the good ole' days!

2006-06-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here's some more photos. Ashton and Amber is doing fabulously. Ashton treats Amber really well, no pulling or grabbing, that kind of stuff. In fact, Ashton doesn't really acknowledge Amber. Amber on the other hand, she likes to chase Ashton and jump at him. I'll have to nip that in the bud right away. Amber is still calm as ever, exactly like I asked for! Amber has this irriating habit or not wanting to go to bathroom on the dirt outside, she prefers the grass and has resorted to going on the rock landscaping. I can't wait for sod.

They finally installed sprinklers but we can't install fence until they add sod and I don't know when they'll be able to add sod. I'm so fustrated because Amber and Ash likes to run around. Amber is really good about staying with us. I mean, REALLY good, staying with us! Sonny and I were digging holes and implanting trees, Amber did not wander off once! Now, Ashton, he's whole another thing, he has to run toward the road or toward the construction site. I can't wait for fence so I don't have to worry about him getting himself into situations that he should not be in the first place.

I'm still struggling with housebreaking Amber. With my old dog, Paris, she got 100% attention from me but Amber probably only get at least 50% attention. It's quite difficult with no fence. I can dump Amber outside and not worry about her running off but I HAVE to be there for reinforcement. Ashton must follow me outside then he runs off which makes this entire thing no-good. I also can't leave him in the house if Amber makes a piddle on the floor. I'm afraid Ash would track it around. It was so much easier in the good ole days with wood floor. I could leave it there while I work with Amber to reinforce that no peeing in the house but we have carpet, we have to be incredibly quick about it which is especially fustrating. So far, we've gotten Amber last thursday night, Amber has only gone on the carpet three times since today. She has gone on the kitchen floor several times which is ok with me because that's easy to clean up and can reinforce but NOT ON THE FREAKING CARPET.

We have a large superyard blocking the kitchen and the carpet for those situations where I absolutely can't watch Amber. See Exhibit A.

Oh, please bring the damn sod and fence! I need it SO BADLY. I'm getting really angry at Stencil Construction - don't use them, they take forever. My house isn't even painted yet. I. Need. Sod. and. Fence. Period.

What else to say? Not much really. Here's some photos for your viewing pleasure.

Here's Amber and Ashton

Amber and Ashton again, they look like they're playing together but Amber is only in it for the pleasure of chewing up his book which I'm trying to discourage.

Amber and I, I'm trying to play with her but she's more interested in chewing my jeans. Every-time I bring her outsie, she likes to chase my jeans and hold on the jeans while I drag her around. She doesn't do that with Sonny. Go figure.

here's Ashton in his favorite spot. Mind you, he doesn't actually sit and watch the TV that close! He just likes to open, go in play with toys, get out, get in, get out, get in. He doesn't sit there for more than 5 min.

Here's Ashton running to his mommy for a hug.

2006-06-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

AMBER!

That's her name! Get comfortable!

2006-06-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

We decided to change Crimson's name to something else. We haven't decided yet but don't get too comfortable with that name.

Here's one more photo:

2006-06-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Introducing...

*drumroll*

CRIMSON!!!!

*clash of cymbals*

Here's some photos of yesterday and today. She's a sweet dog, very calm, timid, and shy. She sleeps a lot.

Huh? I didn't realize Crimson looks a lot like Ashton.

Just kidding, I hadn't picked up Crimson yet. Ash was testing out the crate to make sure it's in good working order.

Too cute

As I said, Crimson sleeps a lot.

2006-06-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Two things today.....

10:30am - I have job interview with city of SF for Publication Specialist. Wish me luck! I have been running around like an maniac working on creating my portfolio. Yes, I have experience but I was stupid enough not to save everything that I created. I spent two weeks catch up and produced some work. I think the print-shop will take a chunk out of my pocketbook. I'm still not quite sure if the maniac frenzy and the $$ invested is worth it yet. I will find out at the interview. I'll give you a peek at some of my samples later.

3 to 8pm - I haven't figured out when I want to pick her up but we're getting a goldendoodle puppy. She'd be about 8 weeks old now and I bought the basic items but I forgot the most important thing - TOYS. I'll be making a stop at Petco today. Here's photos that her breeder took. The hat is silly and I'll never subject her to anything silly like that again except a harley davidson outfit.

Puppy with her sisters, she's darkest red of the bunch.

2006-06-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

My dirt monkey! What compels babies to put anything small in their mouth? This morning, I let Ash roam around as usual because it seems like everything is child-proofed.

Word of tip: Measure your child! Ash probably made himself taller so he could get this pretty red box off the table.

Now, remember, it wouldn't be a big deal if it was 'just' a pretty red box but that's where we store stray coins. Ash was crouched by the couch where I couldn't see him but could see a shadow.

Word of tip: When your child is in the same place for at least 1 min, something is up.

I decided to investigate further, it's not like I have x-ray vision! Although that would be nice, oh - so many things I could do with x-ray vision! I found my child with the pretty red box with a lot of shiny coins scattered around him. It was a big 'gasp' moment. Images of choking flashed through my mind! I pounced. Shook coins out of his little grubby paws, tried to gather all the coins. All the coins were wet and slimy, what the heck?

As i gathered up the coins, Ash promptly grabbed few and stuffed in his mouth. He knew it was one of those moments that he'll never get again until he gets an allowance. I stuffed my fingers in his mouth to dig out the coins. I thought it was few but he had a mouthful of metal and I don't mean braces! All the coins came tumbling out. The coins were wet and slimy. Yes, I decided that he wasn't going to get his hands on any coins until he's allowance-age. He loses 6 months for every naughty thing he gets himself him. I'd say he's not going to get an allowance until he's 13.

Does he have a future as a banker? I really hope I don't find any surprises in his diapers.

No, I don't have photos because, really, you want me to take at least 2 minute of choke-ability photos? Nah.

2006-05-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

Great weather tonight!

Ashton is really on the move!

He was trying to pull the wagon up the stairs but I missed the photographic opportunity!

He's pushing the ball up the stairs.

2006-05-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

A few posts ago, I mentioned a website that I liked to go to just for laughs: www.cuteoverload.com. I go there everyday to see if any new pictures and this one just made me laugh because I have one almost like this except it's one cat.

From Cuteoverload.com

My cat, Abbie:

Don't ask me why her eyes are creepy - it glows like that every time I take photos of her. Let's just say that she's a normal cat with a weird photogenic problem, nothing more than that! I no longer have Abbie but every-time I come across her photo, I giggle because that's just so 'Abbie'.

2006-05-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ashton is ONE!

Ash opening one of the presents.

Dad & Ash cooling off

Ash with Margie and Dick

Ash opening a present.

A picture of cake before destroyed

Ash opens more presents

Ashton and his uncle Alex

We're starting the birthday song!

Ash grabs and eat cake.

Don't put this hand on me!

Mom & Ash with cake on face

Ash trying out the rocker.

Ash trying out the new wagon

Ashton playing outside on the patio

2006-05-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

More photos, I was uploading photos from my camera to get ready for birthday photos and found wedding photos plus couple others!

Sonny's new grill. Ok, I admit we're lazy. We already had a perfectly nice grill (small grill) and we didn't have a truck and didn't want to dismantle and it would have put soot marks in my car and all over us. We left it curbside with a 'FREE' sign. It was gone within an hour. We bought a newer and better grill and haven't looked back! Yes, we are lazy. Wanna say anything about it? Huh? Huh?

Here we are kidnapping Jenna before her bachelorette's party.

Bride and I at her bachelorette's party.

Here's Jenna and the bridesmaids before the wedding. We're just chilling around and enjoying the quiet before the big event.

Here's June announcing the wedding party at the reception.

Sonny and I

Me! One of those rare photos where you can see color of my eyes.

Ashton at the bride/grooms house day after.

The couple and I

I'll have more photos uploaded of the birthday party soon!

2006-05-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Ashton's party is TOMORROW! He's turning 1 year old. Expect more photos by Sunday!

Party on!

2006-05-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

To surrogate or to not surrogate?

I was perusing SF ShoppingNews.com and came across this classified ad:

SURROGATE MOTHERS WANTED Fee plus expenses for carrying a couple's child. Must be 18-35 and previously had a child. STEVEN LITZ, ATTORNEY (317)996-2000

I stopped and gave it a 'thought'... Mind you, I wasn't just about to jump into that wholeheartedly but just gave it a passing thought. I mean, I would like to give a childless couple the same joy I get from my son. I have struggled with infertility before I had my son. I am not surprised that I will struggle with this again and Ashton may end up being a only child. I would love to give a childless couple their hope.

Then, I forgot about the ad.

Later tonight, I was channel-surfing and ended up on this show 'Outer Limits'. Outer Limits is sort of a spin off from Twilight Zone but just a bit more scary. This show was about surrogacy. I was thinking, 'Oh, thats a concidence', because honestly, how often do you hear about surrogacy in the same week, much less the SAME DAY?

Anyways, this show begins with a 20-something lady who apparently signed up for the surrogacy program to get some extra money and she's already pregnant. The doctor brings her in to a room with bunch of other pregant ladies in variety of gestation stages. They talk about why they want to do this, explain about policy and procedure. They stress the importance of taking some really nasty pills. Huh?

The first night, she foregoes the pills and has a terrible nightmare about the baby inside and dreams that she's bleeding. Not too bad begining, right? I'm starting to imagine that perhaps the baby is an alien and she got stuck into a experiment and perhaps she decides to keep the alien baby and live happily ever after?

That wasn't the case, her pregnancy progresses and she befriends a lady in the same gestation stage as she is. They are about 7 months pregnant. I should mention that there is a man watching them and following them. The friend calls her one night and is freaking about the pregnancy. Theres something sinister going on. She says that a man has been bothering her. The lady calms her down and calls the doctor. That night, the guy approaches her and tells her that the babies has been disapearing and he needs to find out why. She kicks him out.

The next day, her friend has the baby but they tell her that the baby was a stillborn. She questions the friend, and the friend acts all happy and nothing has happened. Suspense ensues. She meets up with a friend and things get more dramatic. I'm not going to go on and on about the details but at the end, the lady goes into 'labor' and ask the surogate parents to take her to any hospital and she already expressed her concerns about that practice. The parents bring her to the practice and the next day, the guy who's a FBI agent goes in to talk to her. She's sitting with her friend acting all 'happy'. The friend locks the door and then the lady opens her mouth and a nasty alien 'thing' shoots out and kills the guy splattering blood on the door. The gist of the story is that the baby is not a 'cute alien baby' but instead a parasite who grows then takes over the body.

Now... do I really want to be a surrogate mother? Anybody wants to answer that question?

2006-05-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

My baby has gone psycho!

Ashton discovered his new 6 pearly-whites and now are testing those chompers! He likes to bite. That's the sad truth, he loves to bite. He bites and giggles insanely! His dad and I have agreed that he has no conscience! Meanwhile, as I type this, he has bitten me 3 times and attempted to bite me 2 times while myself is (bite 6) thinking about (Attempted bite 7) developing the world's first baby muzzler.

(Bite 8) I find that he likes to 'pretend' to bite to get a rise out of me. I can't help but scream in pain because, man! Those chompers are painful! Ash nearly falls over and giggles like a (bite 9, then attempted bite 10) deranged madman! He thinks everything out of pain (attempted bite 11) is hilarious, he has no mercy!

This saturday is his birthday party! He turns 1 this sunday! I'm so excited because I bought some special gifts and I have plans to make kabobs (or brats & burgers) and a cake just for him! (Of course, we'll get cake too! Chill!)

There's not really much going on except that I'm moving ahead and got provisional acceptance to USD. I will get full admission as long my first two class get B or better. I start classes June 26th and the month of July is incredibly busy. If you saw my calender, you would faint!

My house is going pretty great! The construction crew installed the sidewalk and the patio. We got a 16x16 patio which is HUGE. See pictures! They'll be installing dirt, sprinkers and sod very soon. We decided not to do landscaping but instead install a fence for Ashton and our newest addition to the family. We'll probably do few roses, flowers, etc but the brunt of the landscaping will be next year. I'm going to start a garden as well!

That completes my verbal diaharrea, until next time!

2006-05-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thank you Mom & Dad!

2006-05-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day!

I got my very FIRST Mother's day gift. (Yes I know, I know, I HAVE to document everything but this one is a FIRST!)

The gift from Ashton and Sonny, Cookie Boquet!

Ashton, Flowers and I

I'm really enjoying the cookie!

On a side note, here's more photos!

Tonight, he'll be having Bob the Builder dreams!

Backyard

Front Yard

I have no idea what they are doing but I hope it includes plan to lay sod and sprinklers!

Ash and I

Until next time!

2006-05-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Spitting Image!

Take a gander at this photo. Can you tell the difference between me and Ashton?

Ashton and I have the same hair style as babies.

This is nothing about MaryKaye or myself but see that painting on the wall behind us. That painting has been in the family since before I was born and it's just too creepy. It's at Dad's house above the couch. My brother always told me that if I was sleeping at night on the couch and if my feet was under that painting; he lady would tickle my feet but if my head was underneath that photo, she'll strangle me to death. Totally freaked me out at nights. I could tell you more imaginative ghost stories that Dad, my brother, and my sister have thought up but I'll save it for another time.

Until next time, I'll tell more ghost stories.

2006-05-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Pacifier Overload

Ash is obsessed with his pacifiers! He has tons of pacis everywhere, all over the house. He likes to toddle around the house holding as many pacis he can find! Just today, he's snuggled on my lap holding three pacifiers. I thought, oh that's so Ash. He starts alternating between his pacis trying to decide which one to put in his mouth. He puts one paci in the mouth then takes that out and put the other in his mouth. You can tell he's having a pacifier overload!

Perhaps it's time to wean him off.

2006-04-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

We have moved to our new house in Harrisburg! It's the 2nd day and we are still not done yet! We are enjoying the new house so far but very very windy outside! I wish the truck would fit inside the garage to prevent the wind. Ashton is being a brat but understandable with new environment. Daycare closed without letting me know and now we are stuck with a whiny, red-faced little lump on our legs. Christie was wonderful to take him off our legs and out of the house for a couple of hours.

The house is great, there's so much room! We now have internet and cable connected, all other utlities connected. The only thing missing is a mailbox.

Ciao!

2006-04-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

Exceprt from weekly DeafDigest.

'LIPREADING A TERRIBLE VOICE?
Stan Boardman, not deaf, is a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom.
He said:

My singing voice is terrible - deaf people refuse to read my lips

Huh! How can a deaf person realize that a voice is so terrible
that he would refuse to read lips? And besides, deaf people would
normally request that songs be interpreted - thus no need to try
to lipread or to try to understand a terrible voice.'

Deaf Digest is a weekly news column e-mailed to subscribers that includes short tidbits, information, news, and updates. There is only one person doing all the work and it's more like an opinion column.

My opinion on this: Deaf Digest Editor has no sense of humor. Get. A. Life. Fricking idiot!

2006-04-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Who wants PIZZA!!!!!

Wow! Our lil' Ashton has his first fundraiser and he can't even talk yet! His daycare is having a fundraiser to raise money for toys, learning computer games, playground equipment, kids table & chairs, craft items, and more! I would love to be able to support the fundraiser as Ashton and the other kids deserve the best stuff money can buy! A good daycare environment is especially important because that's where kids spend 80% of their time.

Family Daycare Fundraiser at Domino's
$10 per card, Buy a large pizza at regular menu price and receive a medium one topping pizza FREE. Each card has 30 marks so each offer is vaild up to 30 times. Expires may 31, 2007. Offer is valid at ANY Domino's Pizza.

Drop me a note if you want to purchase cards and support Ashton's FIRST fundraiser. I remember years ago in middle and high school, I sold candy bars for my class of 2004 fundraiser and I raked in a lot of moola for my class! We were able to go to Close Up in Washington D.C. with the money we raised.

2006-04-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060407/NEWS/604070323/1001

As some of you may heard, CSD had another round of layoffs. Sonny is fine, he still has his job. Unfortunately couple of people I know and am good friends with got laid off. As this is a tempoary lay-off, hopefully they'll be able to come back. CSD wants to focus on redoing the way they do things so some people will come back, some people won't. Those people that comes back may find themselves in another position. I want to return to CSD so I hope they open some positions that I can apply for.

2006-04-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

More pictures!!

Daddy and Ashton at the park

That bear was thrown by Sonny and 'somehow' floated to the fan! The blades didn't even spin from the force from the bear landing. How very eerie...

This is one of those moments that I really wish I have a Nikon D50. That picture could be so much better!

Ash in his high-chair.

Ashton being silly! He sticks out his tongue in response to ours!

Everybody - keep your dates available on weekend or around May 21! May 21 is Ashton's birthday party at our new house and we are going to have a party to celebrate his 1st! We're going to have the obligatory cake for him to smash in his face!

Mwah! XOXO

2006-04-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

My gosh, I’m all revved up! I just got back from a surprise bridal shower for Jenna. Jenna is one of my greatest friend and she’s getting married on April 29th. I’m especially honored to be a bridesmaid in her wedding party. Her wedding colors are gorgeous! Anyways, she was completely in the dark and very surprised! The party was a blast! It was so fantastic to see everybody. I brought Ashton with me because Sonny was sick and couldn’t watch him. I really have to find a list of babysitters for him because it was so incredibly hard to be involved in the party and watch Ash at the same time. It was so so wonderful to see old friends and co-workers. I miss them so much.

I am one of the party planners along with Katie and Deb. The theme is desserts galore! I made Blueberry & White chocolate bread pudding with amaretto cream sauce. MMMM fabooo! I also made cake hearts. See picture below. I’m thinking of starting catering but have to find someone who would let me cater for them.

Ashton is such a sweetheart. He’s walking around more often and just is so adorable. He walks like a chimpanzee. He crawls like a crab and now walks like a chimp… what’s next? We took him to the park. See pictures below. Since we have been having better weather, it has been exciting to finally get out of the house and take him to the park. He loves the swing and slide. I’m not especially fond of putting him in the sand for various reasons but otherwise; parks are fun!

I haven’t posted in a while because I have been especially busy and simply that I have nothing to say. I have writers block! I’ll either have writers block or verbal diarrhea. There’s no middle in between!

I had an interview last Friday with the state of SD. I hope I don’t get the job. I don’t want to move to Pierre. I’ll think up a good excuse if I do get an offer but I doubt it although. I had another interview last night with Special Olympics. I would like to think I kicked ass! I hope I get an offer!

As you noticed, our house is sold. We sold it for 139,500 to Vern Eide dealership. In a way, I feel like we signed away our soul to the devil because they’ll be moving the house to another location and razing down the nice lot. I’m hoping my sister is able to rent it out because it’ll be nice to see the house for a couple more years. We’ll miss the place dearly. I hope in a few years, we’ll be able to afford a bigger home with a bigger yard in the same area. I love houses with charm, as long there’s no wallpaper.

I got accepted in the Masters of Public Administration program at University of SD. I’m so excited to get started! I feel like I’m going off in so many directions and must pick. Obviously, the masters program is really important. With a child, I hope I’m able to stick with the commitment because USD is granting me a provisional admission, I’ll get full acceptance after two core classes I take gets a B or better.

Everything with Sonny is same old same old. He works, he comes home for lunch, back to work then comes home and chill out with Ashton and me. Tiger is himself as usual. I haven’t found any dead animals yet but the time will come – trust me. I’m wondering about the new home and what he’ll be up to!

Until later, Ciao!
Angela

2006-03-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

2006-03-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

It's an INTERVIEW!!!

If I don't get the job, no big deal. (I might be a little disappointed)

Should I wear jeans to the interview and not shower? Hmmm hmmm.

2006-03-28T07:04:00.000-08:00

We have a 'possible' buyer. The car dealership behind our place finally answered my email and said that they're prepared to purchase the property. Yesterday, the owner and a buddy of his came over to look it over. They stayed for more than a hour! Apparently, they have to check with zoning first and I'm nervous because I recently got a letter that my area has been declared a historical district. Haines or Hayes Addition.

Keep fingers crossed! I really want to move to the new house!

I have an interview in Pierre, the phonecall is so freakin' confusing. I used a videophone for calls and hows it set up is I make a video connection with a sign language interpreter and the interpreter calls for me and interprets for me. It works just like a TTY phone but I get to VIEW the interpreter and sign in my own language. It's so nifty! People can even call me too.

Back to interview, I got a phonecall from State of SD. At first they said they want an interview with me, I was like, oh great, when? The interpreter then said, ' no, it's interpreter signing mistake, they want to offer you the job.' I was momentarily shocked and didn't know what to say. Those times, I sure wish I have a TTY so I can read it with my own eyes. The interpreter repeated and still said want to offer me the job. I have never had an interview with them in the first place! In fact, I don't even remember which position I applied for with the state. I applied for about 6 in the past few months. I looked at the website and I don't find the job posting and I scheduled an interview with them on Friday 1pm in PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA. It's a big mistake to apply for the job, I only applied to add to my UI booklet register to quailify for the checks.

Dilemma:

1.) It's in Pierre, SD
2.) If I decline job, Unemployment Insurance Div. will find out about it as I listed another state of SD job on the registery that I applied for. If UI contact (which they will) State of SD's Human Resources, they'll find out and demand repayment.
3.) I want to accept the job VERY badly, it's a government job, great benefits, and boosts me up career-wise.
4.) Honesty, If I decline the job, I lose insurance money, maybe required to pay back money down the road, I don't get my SSDI until July and I can't afford to lose my UI check or re-pay back until I get SSDI.
5.) Sonny doesn't want me to accept the job and doesn't understand the ramifications if I decline the job eventhough I explain to him.
6.) Sonny doesn't want to quit his job and I don't want him to quit his job, If I accept the job, we would have to drop the house in Harrisburg, live 3 to 4 hours separately for a couple of months.

Again, I really want the job, it's best for us career-wise, I realize that we would have to live separately for a while but Sonny is admandant that I must decline the job because he wants to see his son more often but I really CAN"T afford to live without UI checks or end up paying back until July when SSDi arrives.

I am really hoping, it's in fact an INTERVIEW not a JOB OFFER because if they don't offer me the job, I'm SAFE. I want to do this the honest way and Sonny doesn't understand. It's making me freak out for a moment because I don't know what to do and I keep telling myself and Sonny not to jump ahead of ourselves and wait till we find out anything on Friday. I'm also going to try to find the phone number and call them to reclarify. Stupid me, I didn't get phone number.

I have another interview on Monday as Development Associate for Special Olympics. If I get offered the job there, I'll accept it. UI can't do anything about that as I got two job interviews same time and have to decline one as I got another job.

I guess that's it and until then!

2006-03-25T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hazards of being deaf...

Today as we are bustling around the house, Sonny says:

Have you seen Tiger?

I say: No, not lately, must be prowling outside.

Later this afternoon,

Sonny: Have you seen Tiger at all?

Angela: Nope, must still be outside.

Sonny goes outside and calls for Tiger, he doesn't make an appearance.

We shrug and go back to whatever we were doing.

We decide to go window shopping so as we are backing the car out of the driveway, Sonny mentions that he has to pick up the poor dead pidgon on the road.

Angela: I wonder if Tiger did that

Sonny: yeah, probably

Angela: do you think Tiger is ok outside?

Sonny: I dunno

As the car creeps by the dead pidgeon -

Angela: I wonder if he's stuck in one of the cabinets?

Car screeches to a stop

Sonny: I know exactly WHERE he is! He's in the closet!!

Angela: (mildly freaking out) Which closet? How the heck he get in one of the closet?

Sonny turns off the next block to return to the house.

Sonny: I opened the closet by front door so I could get something, saw Tiger creep inside and I closed, I thought Tiger would nudge it open with his paws as he usually do.

Angela: When was that?

Sonny: Ahem, 5 o'clock yesterday

Angela gasps, car rolls to a stop in driveway, runs inside the house and to the closet. Opens the right one, no tiger? She opens the left one, there's tiger!

Angela then gives Tiger fresh water and runs out to the car.

2006-03-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

I have terrible news...

I'm very saddened informing everybody that my husband, Sonny, got into a terrible accident. His face was damaged beyond recognition. The doctors couldn't do anything more. The camera was speeding and couldn't stop, there was nothing Sonny could do.

Here's a photo of the damages.

It's allright to avert your eyes, the horrors!

2006-03-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

Love love this website!

http://www.mahardrygoods.com

This site sells vintage items for children and dogs. Those are newly and homemade vintage made by creative craftspeople. I like supporting those who make those items at home. If you'll look at each item, there is a description of who makes those and how.

2006-03-20T05:28:00.000-08:00

Hearing Test today.

Today, I have to go in for the dreaded hearing test at 10a.m. I don't get it, why can't the state of south dakota accept my old records that I'm deaf. I can't just miraculously hear overnight! I have to go in because I'm applying for SSDI to get a bit of money each month since I'm disabled and unemployed. I dread the test because I have tinniutus and I'm always not sure if the sounds the machine is an 'imaginary' or a real sound and I have to raise my hands each time I 'hear' something. No worries, I know I'll not pass the hearing test and get an official records that I'm, in fact, deaf. I am deaf as a doornail. I can't hear to save my life. ha!

Ashton will only walk when we encourage him. It's so adorable, his face lights up and waves his arms in the air. I'm sure he's saying something. When he wants to go to point A to point B, he'll just crawl. Someday, he'll realize that he CAN go to point A to point B by walking and he'll do that soon!

We decided to go ahead and test giving him milk. So far, he seems to be taking it well. I'm hoping we can completely wean him off formula and that'll save us about $80 bucks a month, much needed moola! Next is potty training him! I would love to be able to save some money just not buying diapers.

Ashton's new favorite thing is opening drawers and either putting or taking things out of the drawer. He especially loves the cabinet in the bathroom, the TV cabinet drawers and the oven pots & pans.

Saw something interesting on Good Morning America. (Yes, I get up THAT early) There's a young guy in Hoboken, NJ who developed a website. His website's purpose is to dress him. The visitors on the site gets to vote of what he should wear that day. I missed the website but thought it was funny. He posts pictures of his clothes and gives free rein to the site visitors.

We took pictures of the new house, it'll be posted very soon!

Until next time!

2006-03-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

Very interesting article.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=6967

2006-03-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ashton Walks!

On St. Patrick's Day at 6:10pm, Ashton walks 6 steps to his mom! He's thrilled out of his mind that he walks! He's planning devious schemes.

Clip of his walking comes soon.

Later!

2006-03-16T18:51:00.001-08:00

Here's your lucky day! More photos of Sonny and I! Allright! It's really more of Ashton!

Sonny & I during Ashton's bedtime.

Mommy & Ashton zoned out on the couch.

This is our favorite, too hilarious!

My big boy! He has accomplished the one-handed drinking!

Who's god? Daddy!

Tiger and Ashton

Angelic Ashton

Time to start teaching Ashton to be nice!

Story-time with Elmo!

2006-03-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

Almost a heartattack moment...

Bought Powerball tickets last night in hopes to strike it big....

Our numbers: 06 11 37 45 50 PB 07
Their Numbers: 07 12 36 48 54 PB 37

Next time will be the one! Ashton needs a trust fund, college fund and all the toys he can get.

2006-03-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Deja Vu!

Looked at a blog by Yimmi - http://silencedogoodetal.blogspot.com/2006/02/prank-at-work.html

I had a eerie deja vu moment.

Yimmi's post:
Prank at Work
I was bored again at work today so I decided to play a bit of a joke on the breakroom TV crowd. Every day at noon, all the ladies gather to eat their lunch in the breakroom and watch Days of Our Lives. Even outside of lunch hours, several men come down and do nothing but watch sports updates (ESPN, Fox Sports, etc..).

I decided to turn on the Parental Controls on the television when no one was around and create a password for these channels. Shortly before lunch time I took a seat to watch the reactions.

Holy shit! I didn't realize this crowd would get so upset over not seeing an episode of Days of Our Lives! They were running around screaming obscenities I would never have imagined them using. In the end, they decided to go to a local restaurant and talk the waiters into changing the TV channel so they could watch days.

After lunch, the men streamed down to watch their sports. I was surprised by the average reaction which was largely a shrug of the shoulders and a trip back to their office. Except the one guy who kept turning the TV on and off repeatedly (I guess expecting a different result each time).

At any rate, the violent reaction by the women to not being able to watch Days prompted me to come in quietly this weekend while no one was around and turn their channel back on without parental attention.

While I wouldn't recommend getting a large group of women upset, it WAS a very interesting social experiment.

~Yimmi

In fact, my former employment, CSD has a breakroom where the ladies would converge to watch Days of Our Lives at noon also! They were pretty obsessive about it. If I was still working there and tested the parental control, what would be the result of the 'social experiment'? I miss that place, we played a lot of pranks on each other and it would have been fun to see everybody's reaction. Ha!

Once, I found a background 'Blue Screen of Death' that you get when your PC dies for good. I set the fake 'Blue Screen of Death' on my boss' computer and he literally went into a panic attack until he saw me laughing so hard, I was falling off my chair.

Ah, the good old days!

2006-03-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I think Ashton has a phobia. We were gallivanting around Toys'r'us admiring a variety of outdoor toys we could buy for Ashton like swing set, etc. for his 1 year birthday. Actually we were there to buy a new high chair for him and decided to walk around and dream.

Sonny found a huge stuffed Nemo (from the cartoon movie, Finding Nemo) - it's a huge orange fish with big bug eyes and white stripes. Ash freaked out when Sonny stuck the fish in his face. All out bawling. Strange thing is that Sonny played with the fish around Ashton by making it swim in the air, you get the idea, and ash was completely fascinated until the fish got too close for comfort.

Phobia of cartoon fish?

Does he have a possible phobia for real fish as Ichthyophobia. Nah! One of those moments!

Danny, Sonny's grandpa, has declared the name of my phobia: DEOP Phobia aka. Deep End of the Pool Phobia

Any challengers?

Here's more photos!

King of the Couch

Mommy & Ashton

3 Muskeeters

PTTHFFFF!!!!!!!

Later!

2006-03-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

Unnamed Phobia

I think I actually have an unnamed phobia. I challenge anybody to find a name for my phobia.

I just went swimming today at the pool. I have not gone swimming for a long time and I'm not a 'swimmer'. I do swim, thankfully, but just not interested in swimming because I have a fear of the deep end of the pool. I wanted to get into swimming to lose weight and get back in shape. I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease so I better buck up and get crackin'!

I'm get freaked out around deep water and how the pool looks VERY blue where the deep water is. Most pools has a 10 ft or deeper drop off which freaks me out. I get anxious about the idea of walking on the bottom of the pool then losing my footing then flailing in the deep blue water. I am just fine at beaches, lakes, rivers, and shallow water at the pool. 4 ft is great with me.

I found this website with a listing of phobias. It's still a work in progress because there's always a new phobia out there somewhere. The website is: www.phobialist.com

Here are several of the most interesting (and sad) phobias:

Thinking- Phronemophobia (what the heck?)
sermons - homilophobia (what about the devout christian parents of children with this phobia, will they accept that?)
phobias - phobophobia (harhar! *cackles*)
Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth - Arachibutyrophobia (huh?)
jews - judeophobia (*gasp*)
There is also phobias on Germans, Chineses, Japanese, and several other cultures
Learning - sophophobia (how the heck you can avoid learning?)
Computers or working on computers - cyberphobia

I hope Ashton never develops a phobia but it can strike at any time. Some people have terrifying fears of dogs because they were bitten by a dog when little. It's not fair to any phobia-afflicted people that they miss out wonderful experiences of life. I only venture out to deep water for a short time as long there are a lot of people there. I can't be in a pool alone.

Until next time!

2006-03-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this website: http://www.picaboo.com/

It's a photo publishing company where you can download software to put together a photo book. All you need is a PC, Picaboo software, and tons of photos.

I am seriously considering making a new wedding album. Eons ago, Sonny and I put together a very detailed instructions of what photos we wanted on each page of our 'official' Wedding Album and sent it back to Sonny's parents, Kim & Bob in Rapid City, for them to give to Samuel Studios, our wedding photographer. We also sent a note saying that we added extra pages and that we would pay the difference.

Problem:
They sent back the wedding photo book and it was opposite of what we put together. They did not follow what we want. I don't know what happened. Perhaps there was miscommunication between Sonny’s parents, Samuel Studio and us. Nobody communicated with us of what would happen. Nobody told us that they would be rearranging the pages. At that point, we perhaps would have explained in our way instead of depending on someone else to coordinate this.

Worse Problem:
They left out a photo of myself with my mom, June. I thought, no big deal, when I have time, I would order more and add it to the book.

Time got away from us and a year ago in 2004 or 2005, I decided to call Samuel Studios to find out if I could buy the negatives so I could print the photos myself and add it to the wedding photo book and plus make a couple of prints to give out to family.

Worse, worse Problem:
Samuel Studio claimed that they tried to get in touch with us and Kim & Bob and never got in touch so they threw away ALL of the negatives excluding those that was printed in the wedding book we got. They also threw away the proofs. How the heck did communication have lost there? I feel it is absolute DISRESPECT that they didn’t try harder to get in touch with us because those pictures are OURS. Those photos are a snapshot to the past.

Worse, Worse, WORSE problem:
One of the negative was the photo of my mom and me. I asked them to double-check and go through the files to make sure they didn't overlook that photo. NOTHING. I was FURIOUS. I was seeing red with rage. Somehow, between giving specific instructions of where EACH photo should go to each page, and what photos I wanted printed, those information got messed up and we did not get the wedding book that we wanted.

I still am furious about it and still think about the photo album from time to time. I supposed you could call it obsession but what bride wouldn't obsess over their wedding? Those photos are a portal to our most cherished memories and if it wasn't followed out of our desires, those cherished memories are lost.

How does Picaboo.com come in the picture?

Luckily, Danny, Sonny's grandpa, scanned all proofs before giving to us to look through and select photos and gave us two CDs. I checked it myself. Mom and my picture are there. I could have it printed professionally but most photo printing places require documentation that Samuel Studio approved the print and I didn't want to go through the hassle.

I think putting together my DREAM Wedding Photo Album via picaboo.com with absolutely NO interference from anybody would work out very well. I will be able to rearrange the photos my way and especially make sure all parents pictures are there including the photo of myself and my mom. I wish there was some way we could have avoided the problems with Samuel Studio and communication because something got lost along the lines and I'm left with the mess.

WORD OF CAUTION TO ALL BRIDES:
Keep a vigilant eye on the photographer! Check frequently about having photographer sell the negatives. Commonly, photographers wait a year before selling negatives.

2006-03-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is a nauseately cute website:

http://www.cuteoverload.com

Here's a cute photo of my own:

Doesn't look happy at all - doesn't he? Too bad, kid... I'm gonna dress you all I want until you end up demanding to run around with a towel cape and a underwear on your head. (preferably clean underwear please!)

2006-03-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

Rapid City...

Home of the in-laws. We made the pilgrimage to Rapid City, the mecca of the Black Hills. Of course, once we arrived, we ate at Piesano's Pacchia. The food was delish as usual! Kim, Sonny's mom, took us to her employment at Stampers where they make Black Hills gold jewerly. Kim sells those at the front but she gave us a tour. Her sister and our aunt, Danna works there also as the marketing assistant and cost accountant. Kim absolutely had to show Ash off to her co-workers and friends! There was not one cold heart left when we left the store!

Anyhoo, Kim showed us the workshop where the elves are busy at work creating the best black hills gold jewerly in the Hills. The process are quite interesting. They first make wax molds for a variety of peices like rings, etc. The mold are then taken to another room for casting where they melt down a variety of precious metals such as gold, white gold, platium, etc and fill up the wax molds. Those are then taken to another room for sanding down (i think). There was so many rooms, many processes so the exact process was completely lost on me. What's special about Stampers is the front store has glass windows to a certain workshop where the elves work on fine-tuning the leaves, gold, etc on the rings for everybody to watch and admire the craftmanship.

Stampers are a family owned business which the structure are kind of similar to CSD. Nepotism runs rampant at both companies but I think Stampers handle it much much better than CSD. *sigh* I love how Stampers have their own mascot! It's adorable big black lab mix that silently enters each room with wagging tail to greet everybody and just keep an eye on the place. My former boss at CSD few years ago had just moved here and didn't have a place yet and didn't want to leave his cocker spaniel alone so he brought William to work with him. What's special about William is that he's a certified hearing dog so he's allowed anywhere. CSD kicked William out after a few days. Whatever.

We visited with everybody, Danny & Nancy, Danna, Neal, and Dick & Margie. Danna showed us her house that's currently undergoing building process just like ours! Her house is almost done and is very nice. It has vaulted ceiling, arch passthrough between the kitchen and great room. Danna’s house is just a few blocks away from her sister!

Take a look at what Danna got Ashton! Too cute.

Daddy & Ashton

Nancy, Ashton, and Danny. (Great- grandparents)

Uncle Sam & Ashton

Danna, Ashton, and Grandma Kim

Sonny & I went out for a date without the kid in tow. It was so nice because we don’t get an opportunity in Sioux Falls so we decided to take advantage of that opportunity while on vacation. We ate at Fireside Inn, a very romantic restaurant with a large central fireplace. Their prime rib is so freakin’ good! Afterwards, we took a walk downtown Rapid City and ate dessert at an Italian bistro. There are no parking meters! That was surprising because most cities get a lot of money from meters and expired parking tickets. RC’s downtown is slowly undergoing improvements, which is great because I love downtown environment with the small shops and cafes.

That concludes our trip to Rapid City. Until next time!

2006-03-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hearing parents have it EASY! I think I only got a total of 3 hours of sleep and I'm running on empty fumes today... I forgot the pack'n'play for Ash to sleep in but I would not have used it in the first place because I STILL forgot the lights'n'sound monitor.

Ash ended up sleeping with me and Sonny and I keep telling myself that I would NEVER let Ash sleep with me ever again! But still, something happens like forgetting the necessary equipment for us to function properly and presto! Ash is in our bed. Oh why did we forget the damn lightsnsound monitor?

He moves so so much and I'm the world's lightest sleeper. It's especially worse since I don't have the monitor. My brain is immediately switched to 'Ash Mode' where I wake up to the slightest movement, slightest sound, and no movement at all where I wake up to make sure Ash is right by me. When I slip into a heavy sleep, I wake up immediately to check on Ash.

Sonny sleeps like a log. On some inner level, the little bad sonny is relishing the fact that he gets to sleep all night and cackling at how I have to make sure Ash is breathing and not crawling around. Sonny mentioned last night that his mom, Kim, would like to watch Ash while we sleep in. I was like 'reallllyyyy'! I saw a light at the end of the tunnel and kept reminding myself that for every movement Ash makes, don't worry, Kim will watch him and I'll get to sleep in when I never get to in Sioux Falls. I still saw the light at the end of the tunnel that somebody will let us sleep in!!!!! It ended up that nobody watched Ash for us to sleep in but no big deal because I eventually made it through the 100 hour night. I thought I wouldn't!

5:00 (6:00 Sioux Falls time), Ash wakes up for good... I'm mentally screaming 'Nooooooooo! Let me sleep, you little demon!' as I'm struggling to keep Ash in bed with me. Ash wants to explore everywhere and I'm trying to remember what did we do to childproof the room? Did we leave irrestible peices of paper lying around? Did I leave my attractive noisy glasses on the floor? Will Ash destroy Kim's crinkliacious mystery hardcovers? Will Ash find anything at all to destroy with gusto and relish?

The feeling of sleep is overcoming the feeling of making sure Ash doesn't destroy anything so at 5:45am, I decide to pound Sonny awake and make him watch Ash while I can get some precious little sleep I can get. He reculantly leaves the room with Ash. I just know he wants sleep so bad but I don't freaking care. I'm the mom here, I get the sleep I deserve!

I got two or three more hours of sleep but I want more. *pouts* Right now, it's 9am and Ash is sleeping, it's his nap time and Sonny has collasped next to him sleeping. I just know I SHOULD go up and check to make sure Ash isn't destroying anything while Sonny is out like a light.

OH yes, hearing parents are lucky. ALl they have to do is sleep and then wake up to their kid actually being awake. I have to wake up every 5 minutes in the 100 hour endless night to check if the monitor isn't unplugged, making sure the button to turn on the vibrator is on and so forth. A deaf parent's work isn't done at night.

2006-03-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Piesano's Pacchia is champ!

http://www.piesanospacchia.com/

Whenever you are in the Rapid City Area, forget about Mt. Rushmore and visit that restaurant!

2006-03-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I'll be talking about political and controversal type of stuff. I want to explain that my opinion is my own personal opinion and I enjoy debating pros and cons. I am using this blog as a sounding board to express my opinion and you all are welcome to use comments below to refect your opinions. I will not tolerate any disrespect to my and others opinions and would hope everybody would use this to listen and understand everyday's happenings in the world. My only request is that you maintain being open-minded. If you feel you can't, please do not return to this blog.

I have been thinking about this ground-breaking abortion measure that was just signed in effect by Gov. Rounds a few days ago.

Article:
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/NEWS/603080302/1001/NEWS

I find this article very interesting - this article is about Bush's opinion on the new abortion measure.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS/603090303/1001

I used to fully support women's choice but when did women's choice become all about abortion? lately, womens lib has been harping on the importance of womens choice and it all has been about the right to keep or abort a baby. In good consience, I can't support womens choice anymore because it has becoming to be all about abortion not jobs, equality, equal wages, and so forth.

I'm all for the child's choice. Ever since I had Ashton, I can't imagine aborting him. He has been the light of my life. It breaks my heart when I hear about anybody's aborting a child or carrying the child to term then dumping the child in the garbage or even killing the baby. The child's heart can be HEARD and SEEN beating via ultrasound at SIX weeks in utero. It shows you that the baby is ALIVE, BREATHING, and MOVING. How can I, in good consience, kill a living thing?

I feel that womens choice should evolve more to a choice between birth control OR no birth control. This should be the woman's choice - not the choice to eliminate a living thing. It should be the choice to become pregnant or not. The woman is responsible for their own body; therefore, responsible to ensure she does not get pregnant.

Now - if the baby was a result of rape, my opinion here, the child should not be aborted but the rape victim has a CHOICE to go to the doctor and request the morning after pill to ensure she does not get pregnant resulting from rape. If the woman gets pregnant, it is not the child's fault.

I would encourage all women and men to think before they act and that they have a choice to be protected or not. You CAN choose to be a parent.

Later!

2006-03-09T10:09:00.001-08:00

Take a look at my new house! The house is almost done! The carpet is in, walls are painted, everything is in. They have already poured the cement driveway and patios. My current house is still on the market but we have dropped the price to 144,900 in hopes to sell it faster. We really want to move to the new house so badly.

The house has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, two living areas, large kitchen and dining room. The garage is a 2 car garage and the house is completely wired. The little techno geek in Sonny got extra intranet and cable wiring throughout the house. In fact, the family room has cable outlet on each wall. Can you really blame us? The 'bored housewife' in Angela likes to rearrange furntiure. Who wants to see a long black/blue cords trailing from one wall to another wall to the TV.

Here's more photos on the Build Status website with amazing photos of the interior.

To access the photos, just goto http://www.buildstatus.com/mybuild/
Enter the following in the Family Share ID field:
98-5-rasmussen
Click the 'Submit' button to view the photos.

We have requested bids for landscaping. We are hoping to get our dream landscape that is under our budget. Keep fingers crossed! We are asking for a few mature trees, flowers that bloom every season of the year, roses, a garden for veggies, and a long line of burning red bushes on the back. Later we'll install a fence.

The backyard is huge which is perfect for our future dog if the husband would agree to the wife's request to have a intelligent big dog. The wife thinks all little dogs are mindless yappers.

We are getting a central vac system installed after we move in! We are really looking forward to the convience of a central vac.

A deaf mom thought: The model home orginally has a closet in front of the front entryway. The deaf in us convinced Stencil Construction to remove the closet and make it in one open space where we can see everything! We have not regretted that decision since! The model home photo with the closet in the middle is in this link:

http://www.heysonny.com/newhouse/

The closet is either to the side of the kitchen or to the side of the living room. It's right smack dab in the middle of the room!

That's it of our little commentary of the new home. Wish us luck that our current home sells fast!

Ciao

2006-03-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I find amazing stuff on the internet which I will post:

Here's a cool website with boys and girls clothes which are just too adorable. I found this link from BloggingBaby.com today.

http://www.tuttibella.com/boys-12-24-months-clothes.html#top

I think this is my favorite clothes website so far but unfortunately it's too pricey but if I had a job or won the lottery, I definetly would buy the entire stock! The reason why I love those clothes because it makes Ash look like a little man! I'm not too fond of cartoon characters because, honestly, Ash will get into one of those 'Elmo' or "Pooh Bear" phase where he will demand ONLY Elmo clothes! I want to dress him my way while I can!

Enjoy looking and melting over those adorable outfits!

2006-03-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

I have debated starting a blog for several months but couldn't find the right moment to actually start! I wanted the 'perfect' beginning for example, beginning with my son's birth. Right now it is 10 months too late! There is no perfect beginning and 'The Perfect Beginning" has not come up yet so I decided to go ahead and start. Why put it off any longer?

One of those days, I will post the birth story but now isn't the time. I'm still reeling from the birth of Ashton, our lil' man, and I don't think it will take 10 months to recover!

I will begin with the story of us! I am a deaf mom to an adorable little boy, Ashton. He's 9 months old and will be 10 months on March 21! I'm looking forward to planning his first birthday party in May! I will go all out for Ash! I am married to an amazing AND fustrating red-head Tarus, Sonny.

Here's my adorable son, Ash.

I am a stay-at-home mom, not by choice and Sonny works at CSD as VRS Technicial Support Supervisor. Ash is a stay-at-home son, by choice. I am still looking for jobs since I got laid off by CSD in December but as a requirement to collect unemployment checks. If there was a perfect job out there that paid incredibly well and enjoyable, I would grab it in a instant!

Please be patient with me because I do my best thinkin' while driving around, trying to sleep, and showering. If I could, i would get up in an instant and type it all down but I think it might be difficult to do that so I try to remember and add it to this blog. I don't think I really have the 'best' memory but I will try to put my most witty thoughts on this blog.

Ash has developed this really irritating habit of grabbing the laptop plug and pulling the router out and try to disconnect the cable, etc. I think he has a future apitude as a computer geek. Ever since he has become more mobile, he has become more independent which I try my best to nuture. I grew up in a independent family and I want Ash to grow up independent. He absolutely loves reading books! I just know he'll grow up to be incredibly smart! I imagine he'll be the CEO of a multi-millionaire company.

A Deaf Mom thought here: From time to time I would compare two worlds of hearing and deaf...

There is this general knowledge that most moms really really can't stand their baby crying. It grates on their nerves and increases the impulse that the mom MUST go to their baby and calm them down. Most dads are more lax about that because they don't really have the bond that a mom has with her child. The dad is more likely to leave the kid alone and let the kid cry it out.

What about the deaf mom? Being deaf, I really can't hear Ash crying at all therefore it does not grate on my nerves which makes me 'different' than other moms. Yet, it doesn't make me different at all. I have a permanent crick in my neck by constantly glancing at the lights & sounds monitor. Whenever Ash cries, the monitors shows red blips that increases as the noise increases. It doesn't matter if I can't hear him at all, this incessant blip makes me want to rush to my little boy and calm him down.

We are currently working on Ash to go to sleep easier by using the CIO method. "Cry it Out' where we would have to let Ash cry it out in his crib until he falls asleep. Ash calms down when he's sleeping with us but he moves around so much. It has gotten to the point that we MUST use the CIO method just so we can get some sleep. It has not worked several times because I can't just bear to leave him crying.

This time, it has finally worked because I had to coldly ignore him every night for 4 nights. It WORKS! Ash now goes to his crib without an complaint at 8pm every night. He just flops down on his tummy and goes to sleep.

There ends my 'deaf mom thought'.

We are going to Rapid City this weekend to visit the in-laws. (No, we are only going to eat at Piesano's *winks*) I'm just kidding, yet, Piesano's are irrestible! We plan to eat there as much as we can before returning to a Piesano's-less Sioux Falls. :(

Oh yeah, the grandparents will get to dote on Ash! Ash is just too cute and has them wrapped around his finger!

Ciao!