Tonya's Space: Blog

Busy Times

Sat, 24 May 2008 14:05:35 GMT

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't been on here to check in and write a bit. It has been a solace for me while it was cold and nasty out, but the past month has been crazy around here. And that's putting it mildly!!! LOL

Between all the birthdays (5 so far) Meo's giant science fair project (a model of the sun that was a little over 4 feet around) trying to get some work done outside between the all rain (flower beds, garden, weeding the walk and patio, power washing the house, getting the porch sanded and painted and finally - setting up the pool) then all the never ending housework. Whew. As if that wasn't enough Aidan has been teething like crazy, my back went out for over a week - still healing and the rain has totally screwed everything up. Ugh.

The Good News 1. Meo got 2nd place in the science fair and got to talk with a guy at NASA. He graduated 8th grade with honors on Tuesday and is now on summer break. YAHOO 2. With plenty of fruit popsicles and ice cream Aidan's gums are feeling much better and he's his usual chipper self. 3. The flowers are starting to bloom and I think the hummingbirds are finally coming back. 4. It might be too muddy to get into most of my beds, but hopefully I can take that time to work on the house and front porch while it dries up. If it ever stops raining long enough!

Ok, I'm done rambling.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

Take care and God Bless.

Tonya

MARINES AND TAMPONS (A GREAT STORY)

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:15:32 GMT

I just came in for a break and to check my e-mail. An old Navy buddy sent this to us and I just had to share it. If you haven't seen this one before, please feel free to pass it along and say a prayer for all our brave soldiers. God Bless.

Tampons to the rescue in Iraq!! Don't worry, it's a good story, and worth reading. It's even humorous in parts. It's from the mother of a Marine in Iraq.
My son told me how wonderful the care packages we had sent them were and wanted me to tell everyone thank you. He said that one guy we'll call Marine X, got a girl care package and everyone was giving him a hard time. My son said, 'Marine X got some really nice smelling lotion and everyone really likes it, so every time he goes to sleep they steal it from him.' I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake, and if he wanted I would send Marine X another package. He told me not to worry about Marine X because every time I send something to him, Marine X thinks it's for him too.

He said when my husband and I sent the last care package; Marine X came over to his cot picked up the box, started fishing through it, and said, 'What'd we get this time?'
My son said they had the most fun with Marine X's package. He said he wasn't sure who we were sending the pack to, but the panties were size 20, and he said one of the guys got on top of the Humvee and jumped off with the panties over his head and yelled, 'Look at me, I'm an Airborne Ranger!!!!' One of the guys attached the panties to an antenna and it blew in the wind like a windsock. He said it entertained them for quite awhile. Then of course.......they had those tampons.
When he brought this up, my imagination just went running, but he continued. My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the Chap-Stick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the items from his care package and got in the Humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed the tampons too, and my son said everyone was teasing him about 'not forgetting his feminine hygiene products.'
He said things went well for a while, then the convoy was ambushed and a Marine was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first aid but couldn't get the bleeding to slow down, and someone said, 'Hey! Use Marine X's tampons!' My son said they put the tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told me, 'Mom, did you know that tampons expand?' ('Well....yeah!')
They successfully slowed the bleeding until the guy got better medical attention. When they went to check on him later the surgeon told them, 'You guys saved his life. If you hadn't stopped that bleeding he would have bled to death.' My Son said, 'Mom, the tampons sent by the Marine Moms by mistake saved a Marine's life.'

At this point I asked him, 'Well, what did you do with the rest of the tampons?'
He said, 'Oh, we divided them up and we all have them in our flak jackets, and I kept two for our first aid kit.'
I am absolutely amazed by the ingenuity of our Marines. I can't believe that something that started out as a mistake then turned into a joke, ended up saving someone's life. My sister said she doesn't believe in mistakes. She believes God had a plan all along. She believes that 'female care package' was sent to Marine X to save our Marine.
Either way, our efforts have boosted the morale of many Marines, provided much needed items for our troops, AND saved the life of a Marine! God bless every one of you for your efforts and hard work, and God bless our Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and all our military service personnel.
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND KEEP IT SAFE!

Please send this on after a short prayer. Prayer:
'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'
Prayer Request: When you read this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world.
There is nothing attached Just send this to people in your address book. Do not let it stop with you Of all the gifts you could give a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, & others deployed in harm's way, prayer is the very best one.

May God Bless you and be the center of your being,
And remember, God Loves You.

Good News; Bad News

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:38:27 GMT

Geez, in my last post I was flying high with garden happiness. This week, I'm just now feeling good enough to sit down and write a little. I only had 2 1/2 days to play in one of my flower beds when the rain/wind storms and cold came back. Then I discovered my weeping cherry tree is on it's last leg since one whole side is now gone and I'm going to have to dig it up. I've had that tree for ten years and it's the 1st tree that we planted here :>(

If that wasn't enough, I ended up with one hell of a head cold to boot!! Of course it didn't help that I snuck out between storms and took a few pics of my trees and shrubs (April Showers Album) Duh, not too smart I know, but I didn't want to miss getting some shots and I really need to practice with this new camera. Now I'm paying for it. Yeah, yeah I deserved it and I know it, but I can't say that I wouldn't do it again. I did get a few shots I'm happy with. LOL

Well, the good news is that I've decided to say the heck with it and am going to completely redo that flower bed since I'm gonna have to dig up the tree anyway. I've got my creative juices flowing and have been drawing out new plans for that side of the house. Now if I can only figure out exactly what I want and get Romeo to agree with it!

Next I'm also going to plan for a big yard sale (skipping Ebay - no time) and make enough to get the good macro lens for my new camera. This Nikon doesn't have it with either lens that I have so far and it's really starting to tick me off. I've been tempted to get my Minolta Diamage back out and it doesn't come close to the clarity of my new one, but I miss those great close ups dang it! I'm going to have to make myself sit down and read that manual front to back and get better acquainted with my new one.

Now, if I can just get my head to quit throbbing I've got 2 whole days to play outside before the rain is supposed to come back again! Happy Gardening everyone!!!!

I'm finally playing in the dirt!!!

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:28:48 GMT

YEE HAAW

The sun is finally out and the ground is drying up from all the flooding rain we've had and I got to spend all day outside weeding the house flower bed. I had Aidan in his playpen shaded on the front porch and just dug in. It's been almost 2 years since I've been able to do that. I even got a sunburn on my arms and it was pure heaven :>) We will be back out there today as well. I've got a lot of work to catch up on. Isn't it great? LOL

We even had some guests from the lake all day to keep us company.

Meo's Birthday

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:00:24 GMT

Wow, where has the time gone? Meo is now officially 15 as of Friday!!! My little boy is growing up so fast. It seems just like yesterday that he was Aidan's age. He was happy with all his presents and is now anxious for summer to finally get here so we can get to work restoring his old Chevy pickup. Oh and of course, real driving lessons on the road - not at the farm and on the old tractor!!! HELP ;>)

Look Mom, I can do it myself!

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:31:45 GMT

Today I had more new food for Aidan to try - Mac&Cheese, carrots with peas and a hotdog. He has been wanting only fruit lately and does NOT like to try new things! We started out pretty well and then of course he decided he didn't like it, or so I thought. Somehow I had dropped a piece and he snatched it up and ate it! Ok, thinking mess or not what the heck and put some more down. TA DA he ate it all and a half an hour later here are the results ;>)

I am so proud of myself Mommy!!

UH OH!!

What? I'm innocent.

Recent Movies

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:51 GMT

We always try to watch a movie or 2 every weekend. This time we watched two that I've been dying to see. I Am Legend and Stephen King's The Mist.

Will Smith in Legend was awesome, I definitely recommend it. Ofcourse I've loved just about every movie he's been in so you might think me a little biased. It's a little scary to think that something like that could actually happen to all of us when some scientist are out there playing God and companies are rash to put new drugs out in the market without really knowing the consequences. Makes ya think a bit.

Now I have always been a loyal fan to Stephen, so I hate to say that I was disappointed in this movie. I'm glad I finally got to see it, but I'm also glad that I just rented it instead of shelling out $20 bucks to buy it. It definitely makes you think about what strange and dangerous things the government can be up to ( just not saying they could do that! ). If you like his work, you know that he thinks up some doozies :>) I mean that in a great way. The movie definitely shows how terror can change people to become easily lead and truly ugly and how the normal everyday heroes will fight to the end - to a point. I can't really figure out how to say much more without giving away the movie. I thought it was somewhat cheaply made and disconcerting. If you read the story, I'd say to just stick with his original work and skip this movie.

Other movies I've seen lately and recommend -

August Rush - Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Bee Movie - pretty cute kids movie and kept my 1 year old entertained for the whole show.

Next - Loved it and it had Nicholas Cage which was a bonus. Ghost Rider too, which also had Sam Elliot, who I loved seeing again.

Beowulf - Not quite what I expected and it's pretty bloody, but I liked it.

Great Book

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:23:42 GMT

I just finished an old (1992) book from an author that I've never even heard of before and I hated to put it down. If you like a real dirty and explicit thriller, then this is a must read! I hardly ever read a book that disturbs my dreams, but this one really got to me. I just looked him up on the net and he has a few more books out there.

His site is http://www.enessmith.com/index

He followed her from the airport. He held her captive. Then he set her free.

Ellie Hartley knew she was lucky to be alive. She alone witnessed a killer's private world of madness and murder. She alone escaped a fate too terrible to imagine...

But why?

Why would he let her tell the police every horrible thing she saw? Why would he taunt her, torment her, then let her go?

Because he's not finished with her yet. Or her baby daughter.

He's sending flowers to prove it.

Easter Weekend

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:20:09 GMT

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend spent with loved ones. I thought I'd share a few pics of our time. It was very busy here at home with 2 days full of birthday presents and cake for Aidan as well as a visit from the Easter Bunny and lots of cooking. Needless to say I'm exhausted;>)

A Little Country Humor

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:02:22 GMT

Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, we're planning to do our
own show entitled "Survivor: West Virginia Style."

The contestants will start in Wheeling; travel down to New Martinsville and
on to Parkersburg. >From there they will head over to Ripley and Odessa and
Summersville. They will then proceed south to Fayetteville, Beckley then west & go through Pineville, Williamson, Logan, Charleston and back to Wheeling.
Each will be driving a pink Volvo with New Jersey license plates and large bumper stickers that read:

"I'm Gay"
"NASCAR Sucks"
"Go Pitt"
"Copenhagen is for Idiots"
"Hillary in 2008"
"Deer Hunting is Murder"
"Say No to Budweiser" and
"I'm Here to Confiscate Your Guns."

Go Michigan"

The first one to make it back to Wheeling alive wins.

Gas prices

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:32:52 GMT

"If $4 gas is only short term," predicts Bob Schnorbus, chief economist at J. D. Power and Associates, "people will do what they've been doing the last five years: complain but keep on buying." Do We Have A Choice???

"People are using the cars they own more efficiently," says Art Spinella of CNW. "People are very, very capable of absorbing $3 gas into the family budget. If it's a spike, they can do it at $4. But if it lasts for six months or more, it will be very difficult to absorb into household income." Hmm, check again, it's difficult for most now.

Consumers will spend less on other stuff. If $4 gas persists, the extra money will have to come from somewhere. My colleague Marianne Lavelle has calculated that if gas rises to $4 a gallon over the next two months, and stays there, the average U.S. family will pay nearly $400 more for gas in 2008 than in 2007. In many cases, the extra gas expenses will outstrip the free money consumers will get through the stimulus checks the government is sending out this spring. How convenient for them don't ya think?

It's stuff like this that really gets my goat!! If they are going to talk gas prices and how they are affecting people, then they should damn well do better research. Not just the rich and upper middle class - how about all the people that don't fit into that category huh?

Well I'll tell you how they're doing. Plain speaking, they aren't. They're not just having to skip dinner out and the movies for the weekend. No, they are having to pawn off almost everything they own just to pay for gas to get to work!!! Pawn shops in the surrounding Ohio Valley have been full of 4 wheelers and lawn mowers to heirloom jewelry and kids playstations ever since the gas prices first started climbing. It breaks my heart every time they show these people on the local news trying to figure out how to stay afloat.

Even my own family has had to cut back on driving and fun things like the movies every weekend. But with a new baby and sky high prices it's been more than that, Geez! We've kept 3 daily vehicles for now - my Bronco, the gas hog hasn't been driven since I was 2 months pregnant (and no matter how much Romeo nags I will never sell it), Romeo's Grand Am, which gets maybe 25-27 mpg is his work car (he’s now thinking about Toyotas) and our Z71 extra cab truck, which luckily for a truck gets 23 mpg, and it's what I drive whenever I go out. I'm sorry, but I love my sports cars and big 4X4 trucks and that will never change, though I am looking around for a flex fuel avalanche - if the gas stations around here ever start carrying ethanol. But that's a rant for another day!

My Blessings

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:56:38 GMT

Staying up late the other night trying to get some of my never ending chores done I went in to check on the boys. While I watched each of them sleeping like the innocent angels they are not ;>) it hit me – Aidan will be a year old March 21^st and Meo will be 15 on April 4^th. How has the time flown by so quickly?

All the worries we had with both pregnancies and the troubled times in between those years. With all the miscarriages and Romeo’s cancer there was pain and sorrow yes, but lots and lots of joy too. Oh I just wish I’d thought to blog all my hopes, fears and reality back then to have helped keep me sane!

Before I go to bed every night I thank God for all that he’s given us and I pray that he keeps both of our miracle babies safe. That’s what they both are to me, miracles, especially Aidan since I never thought I’d be able to carry to term again. We not only made it to 8 months and 1 week, but there is a new test out there that showed I have a blood clotting condition and it had caused my miscarriages. I’ve finally been able to get some peace knowing the cause.

I had a lot more trouble carrying Aidan too. With having to give myself shots in the stomach twice a day, not sleeping well with the terrible leg cramps I had, not being able to eat very much, having to be totally housebound and having to be in a wheelchair whenever I was out of the house, as well as going out of my mind with boredom and then the little stinker dislocated 2 of my ribs to boot! Though once I saw him, I knew it was worth every single minute and was ready to do it all over again :>)

Terrifyingly he was born with GERD and we’ve had some major scares with him choking and not breathing. But with many sleepless nights, hospital visits, a CPR class, the best Mom in the whole world staying with me for the first few months and the greatest invention – a hospital apnea monitor for home use, we have gotten through it all. He had a little episode last night with his nose filling up, but he got through it fine and that was the first time in months. We slept together on the couch so I could be as close to him as possible. Or I should say he slept great while hogging the whole couch and I spent the night trying not to fall off. He definitely keeps me on my toes!

Aidan's First Snow Play

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:43:38 GMT

Aidan has always loved sitting at the bay window and watching it snow, but he's never actually gotten to touch the cold flakes. The weather yesterday was perfect with no blustery winds up here on the hill, so I knew it might be my last chance to get some good shots of him in the snow before it all melted away. Even though I am anxious for spring, he had such fun that it's already got me waiting for next winter so I can watch him go sledding.

World Of Wheels/Grave Digger

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:40:05 GMT

Pops and I have a tradition of taking Meo to this little car show in Huntington,WV every year. They always try to have a special appearance and last Friday it was Meo's all time favorite monster truck - the Grave Digger. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Meo or Aidan. This was Aidan's first car show and he had a ball. You can definitely tell that cars are in his blood as well. It makes a momma proud :>)

Boyd Coddington

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:46:52 GMT

Boyd Coddington, Hot Rod Hero, Dies at 63

That's what I woke up to and saw on my computer Saturday morning. I couldn't believe my sleepy eyes. There's no way the Hot Rod King, the one my 14 year old son idolized and even dresses like could be gone at such a young age. But, as I click on the link and read I had to admit the truth. I am deeply saddened for his family and friends and offer my condolences. He was a man truly loved.

It saddens me to see some people on the net trying to smear his good name now that he's gone. He was a wonderful man who knew how to bring out innovative and awesome rods. He wasn't truly like the hyped up hot head to be feared on his show. Yes, he had a temper, but most of all he had a big heart with a love for pranks and practical jokes.

My son was lucky enough to get to meet him at our Good Guys car show in Columbus. He couldn't believe that Boyd was standing in front of his trailer while everyone else seemed too scared to try to talk to him. So he walked up to him shyly to say hello and Boyd treated him like an old friend. They sat there and talked about cars and clothes for over 20 minutes. He couldn't wait to try and see him again this year to tell him about his ideas for his 48 5 window Chevy that we bought him. I think he even had his Hawaiian shirt picked out for the show and it's not until July!

He will be truly missed by our family.