Home at last!!

I love going on a trip anywhere, but i'm always so happy to get back home!!! Donna, Elijah, and I went to visit JP again this morning and had a nice visit with him. It was a little quieter today, so that was nice. I told him about the trial being rescheduled and he said he was expecting that and had even written "reset" on his calendar every day this week because the last trial date was reset 3 weeks prior to the date too. I will get back to visit him as soon as I can. Here are some pictures Donna & I took with Elijah. The county jail that JP is in is in the background of the picture of Donna & Elijah. There are about 4 jails that size in downtown Houston right by each other.

Elijah is dodging my butterfly kisses in the picture above!!

I left Houston around 11 and met my friends, Kimi & Shayne and their kids Kayli & Dylan in Lake Charles at the Olive Garden for lunch. We had a long visit and it was great to see them!!

I got home around 5:45 to find out that Cathy & Brent wanted Walter & I to go to dinner at Kevin's Restaurant, so we went when I got in. It's not my favorite place, but they were all ready for a change from our "usual" Hilltop. I have been having trouble with my temporary crown/tooth and wasn't feeling so great, so we came home afterwards and I am headed to soak in my tub and go to bed before long.

I did great with my Atkins diet eating again today and am excited to weigh tomorrow morning. I had cheese omelets and sausage for breakfast, a grilled chicken ceasar salad for lunch, and a ribeye with sauteed mushrooms and broccoli for dinner. A diet that allows you to eat steak is just right with me!

Saturday

I got up early this morning, ate breakfast, and went to visit with JP around 8:30. There were a lot of other people there, so it wasn't as quiet as I would have liked, but you take what you get! I did ask about extended visits since I'm from out of state, but no such luck. JP looks really good and his attitude is great. He talked some about what the state prison system will be like if he is sentenced and at least we think the visits will be a lot better (2 hours instead of 20 minutes) and he thinks most of them allow family to visit at a table together instead of behind plastic walls. I hope the jury feels that he has already served enough time and doesn't sentence him, but if not, I am glad that JP is being realistic about what could happen. If he does get a "not guilty" or probation somehow, then we have already talked about his options for getting out. If he isn't sent somewhere for drug abuse rehabilitation or something through the court, then he has agreed to go to Cenikor, which is a program for drug addiction as well as re-learning how to be self-sufficient. It is an 18 month - 2 year program and there is a Cenikor program in Baton Rouge and 3 in Texas, so in the case that he is on probation and couldn't leave Texas, then he could go to one there. JP also said the psychologist for his defense team came to do some testing with him recently and she didn't have his IQ scores yet, but told him he scored in the top 3%. I have always worried about the damage he's done to his brain with drug use, so that was very encouraging to hear. After I got back to the hotel, I had an email from JP's defense team saying that the trial has been postponed by the DA due to another case having priority. We do not know the new date yet, but history shows that it will likely be 6 months from now, so I will have to break that news to JP in the morning. I'm sure he will be disappointed, but not shocked. He's learned a lot of patience being in this situation.

My sister, Donna, is queen of the dingy people and realized this morning AFTER driving 45 minutes to take the GMAT exam that she scheduled the wrong time for the exam! It was not at 7:45am as she thought, but at 11:45am! She already committed to keeping Elijah today, so she went and picked him up and my brother-in-law, Kevin, kept him and I went over there and helped him until she got home. Elijah is a really easy baby to watch - nothing like running after Mack!! Elijah reminds me of Landen when he was little. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a sandwich shop and then Kevin kept Elijah while Donna & I went to get pedicures. I came back to the hotel after lunch and there was a terrible storm. The electricity was out for 30 minutes and it was a little spooky! I was waiting for the storm to pass because Donna, Kevin, & Elijah were going to come pick me up at the hotel for dinner and Donna called to say that Elijah was very tired and crying, so I convinced them NOT to come! That wouldn't be fun for anyone!! Especially ME!! So, I ate some boiled eggs that I brought with me and some microwaved bacon, took a bath, and climbed in bed with my laptop.

Good eating today! My hotel has a breakfast buffet that was perfect for me and my crazy diet! I had 2 boiled eggs, 2 scrambled eggs, and a piece of sausage! For lunch I had a Philly cheese chicken salad and for dinner I had boiled eggs and bacon. I can't wait to get home and weigh myself Monday morning. I feel very confident that I have lost 2 or 3 lbs. since THURSDAY. I know that sounds crazy, but i've done this diet before and if you do it without cheating AT ALL, the weight just starts dropping off in those first 2 weeks.

Here is a funny video that my mom forwarded to me. It was too funny not to share!



And check this out! It is unbelievable! A large group of high school girls in Massachussetts PLANNED to all get pregnant at the same time! And 17 of them succeeded! I was a pregnant teenager and I know the fear and anxiety that goes into finding out you are pregnant at that age. I can't imagine doing it on purpose! One of them even claims to have gotten pregnant by a homeless guy! http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369103,00.html

Well, I'm off to play Word Twist and Scrabbulous on Facebook!! Woohoo! Have a nice Saturday night!

Houston

I left for Houston this morning around 10 and had a nice, uneventful trip. It rained some and traffic was pretty heavy for most of the trip, but it was ok. I went to Walmart before I left looking for some carbless snacks and found a couple of Atkins shakes and bars that are ok and brought along some cucumber slices and ranch dip for emergencies!! I got in around 3 and checked into my hotel, then went to hang out at my sister's house. We went to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant with my great-nephew, Elijah, who just turned 1, then took him home so my sister can take the GMAT exam in the morning. We will pick him up after we both finish what we have planned in the morning. Here is a picture of him. He is so cute!!

I managed to eat good again all day today. I had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, a taco salad (without the shell/bowl) for lunch, and a chicken salad for dinner. So far, so good!

Freaky Friday

Let me just say that I try to keep my blog upbeat, fun, and positive and don't want to turn it into a place to complain or have a negative tone to it, but with that said, I just have to say that next door (at the bad cat house) there is a freak on the roof! The neighbors have had their son (or some sort of relative) re-roofing their house ALONE for the last couple of months. He shows up when they go get him, because he can't drive due to his DWI offenses, and is doing the work because he owes the people so much money (they have a talkative granddaughter who tells me things she shouldn't) and generally starts banging on the roof outside of my bedroom window at 6:30 am. If that isn't enough to really make me mad, he sings really loudly and gets on his cell phone and talks so loud that I can hear every word he says. Well, this morning at 6:30 am, I wake up to find that there is a freak on the roof again! And i'm sure he's here for the whole weekend. Lovely!

I had to make an executive decision about the Houston trip. I haven't heard back from JP for sure if he can have visitors this weekend, Cameron isn't feeling good, I have 5 kittens that I don't want to have to ask Walter to take care of all weekend and they need to be handled a lot, and I'm feeling stressed about going under these circumstances, so I think I will postpone the trip until June 20th. If I don't go, my friend, Kelley's going away party is tonight and my friend, Jessica's baby shower is Saturday, so depending on how Cameron is feeling, I might be able to make those events.

Today is my nephew, Tyrone's, 25th birthday! He is the one on the far right in the picture, the African American young man. My sister, Donna, raised Ty since he was about 13 years old. He was a friend of her kids and from what I understand, was the child of a mother who was 12 when he was born. He was put in special education for a disability check, he says, and was never taught anything at all. When we first met him, he was living alone in an abandoned house, was in legal trouble, and could not read or write at all. Donna took him in and he lived with her until a couple of years ago, including moving from Baton Rouge to Houston with her. He lives near her with his girlfriend now. This young man is so inspiring to me. He really had nothing and should have just ended up living his life in and out of jail. Donna spent a lot of time and money teaching him and getting tutors for him. He reads and writes now, probably on a 5th or 6th grade level, but it is enough to be able to function in the world. He is currently a boxer trying to go pro. Cameron & Ty are very close and Cameron told me when he was young that Ty was the nicest person he knows. That means a lot coming from a child. The other boys in the picture are: my great-nephew, Elijah, my nephew, Colin, my nephew, Justin, and my son, Cameron during our visit to Houston for Easter. I'm posting below something Ty wrote on myspace and I love to read it, even in his mispelled words, because he wrote it and can read and write well enough to write it, and it shows the lessons he has learned in his life.

i have a drem to be come one of the best boxer. my life has not been one of the best but i made the best of it. to have a dream is to have hope. ther are time i wont to give up but you cant give up on your dream. i been at this boxing for a long time like about 6 to 7 yeas. im 24 yeas old a man that will not give up for noting. coming up in the hood ant no fun or game at all but you have to be on top of ypur game at all time.you have to work hard for what you wont. ant no one going to give to you. you get to get out ther and get it. i dont have it now like i wont it but one day i wil. some one sad to me if you dont work hard it dont work out. so i cant sleep on noting at all. i have to be the king of the ring and fill like i'm just like ali on top of the world as one of the best. so if you have a dream don't give up on it are sleep on it. if you don't try you don't know if you can mack it. so keep hope ,keep working hard and don't give up on noting...... p.s keep god alway in your life . be you if they like you are not but be frindy.

So anyway, Happy birthday to Ty! Donna & I are chipping in to get him a piece of boxing equipment that he wants for his birthday. He is truly a remarkable young man and an inspiration to me.

Monday

I got a couple of comments about Cameron having a girlfriend - how that is surprising that he's growing up so fast. You'll be more surprised that I dropped my little boy off for driver's ed. this morning! That is shocking to me to think that he is almost old enough to drive. He will go 3 more days this week and then wait until he turns 15 in the fall to do the driving part of driver's ed. And yeah, Joe, I think all the Kindergartener's will love him!!!

Ok, now i'll explain that last comment for anyone who is interested, since Joe said it in his comment about Cameron. My mom lived in Georgia until a few years ago and is/was pretty out of touch with my kids. She means well, but just isn't really the grandmotherly type. For example, only once in my kids' 24 years on this earth has she invited one of them over to spend the night or really even to visit. But we love her and as my social work supervisor, who I consider my own personal therapist, says - that is the way my mom is and I can say things to make her feel bad or start an argument, but i'm really not going to ever change who she is, so it's only an issue if I make it an issue. So anyway, when Cameron started 2nd grade, I had emailed my mom that he was excited to be back in school & was enjoying it, etc. and she replied that she was happy that he was doing so well and that she was sure that all the Kindergartener's would LOVE him!!!! I had vented and laughed to my friend, Joe, about it and just told my mom that I hoped the Kindergartener's would love him, but that I was counting on the 2nd graders liking him too! It always makes me laugh when I think about it.

And I did have lunch with my mom today at the outlet mall near our house and we had a nice time. We went to Cracker Barrel, which was ok today. Sometimes I just love that place, and sometimes it is just ok.

Cameron & I will be leaving for Houston on Friday to visit JP and spend some time with my sister, Donna, and her grandson, Elijah. JP prefers the weekend/morning visits because it is much quieter and less stressful then, so that is when we are going. Cameron & I are staying in a hotel near my sister's house, mostly due to her sons and their drug issues, so we will have a chance to swim in the hotel pool, shop around in Houston, and just hang out and enjoy a mini-vacation. Ever since I was little I have LOVED to order room service, so I think we'll indulge just one night and order it!!!

JP has just turned 24 years old and has been in jail since Feb. 1, 2006 on a murder charge. I wont say much about it since obviously anyone can find these blogs online, but he has opted to have a trial by jury rather than accept a plea deal for 40 years, in which he would be eligible for parole after 75% of his sentence. From what I know of the story, I don't think he should be charged with 1st degree murder and I truly hope the evidence will show that and that the jury will be fair and open to hear what happened. I have turned this over to God and I trust that God has a plan for JP's life and is working His will with JP now. I do not think JP would still be alive today if this hadn't happened, and honestly, he could have just as easily been the one killed in this case. I have dealt with his drug addiction since he was 12 and have tried everything that I knew to do, but he couldn't make the changes necessary to change his life. Occassionally, things would be good for him for short periods of time, but he would fall back in with the wrong crowd and couldn't make the right choices. I pray that this is going to be a new beginning for him. As long as he's drug free, I am going to be here to help him. I have always hated drugs, but now I refuse to be affected by them and refuse to have anyone that I know to use or sell drugs, including my nephews, around my children at all, which makes things difficult within my extended family. My oldest nephew is going to jail for 45 days in July for a drug charge (not the first time) and my younger nephew was recently arrested for dealing drugs. My sister is a wonderful person, but she turns a blind eye to the drugs and has said that "everyone smokes pot" as if there is nothing she can do about it, but I'm having to make a stand against it. I know that Cameron will be exposed to drugs, if he hasn't been already, but that doesn't mean that i'm going to lead him to it and let him be influenced by people he's looked up to all his life. Ok, i'm getting off my soap box.
And here are some pictures of my son, JP:

I floated in the pool for about an hour this afternoon and it was so nice! I got a lot of sun, so I really need to watch how long I stay in there at a time. We are really going to enjoy the pool!

I've also been entertaining myself with my favorite game - The Sims 2 - on my laptop!! The Sims 3 is coming out soon and I am very excited! I think it fulfils my needs to play with dolls, which I never quite grew out of!!

Anyway, Walter & I were out checking chemicals in the pool, which by the way is one of my new job duties, the good neighbors (as opposed to the bad cat neighbors) had company (who are the cutest little old couple in the world) visiting and their dog started scratching at the porch where the kittens live and got everyone all stirred up about what was under there!! I had to confess to Leon, the neighbor, that I am pretty sure kittens have been under there for about 4 or 5 weeks and that I didn't tell him because I was worried that he might fix the hole where the mama cat gets in to feed them. He pulled a board up on his porch and I tried to entice anything living under there to come out with some cat food, but so far, nothing. He promised to leave the board open all night so that the mama cat can get the kittens out easily if they really are under there and she will want to move them somewhere safer. So much for my secret kittens! I just hope I can find them and help them get to the animal shelter. As for the bad cat neighbors, I noticed the lady put a plate of food out on her porch after I put food in her bowls. Maybe she felt bad? At least the cats got some food.