From the White Picket Fence

Devil Beside You - Taiwanese

2010-05-10T18:40:00.006-04:00

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Total Episodes: 20
Cast: Ivy Fan Xiao Fan, Kingone, Mike He, Rainie Yang, Tsai Pei Lin

Qi Yue has finally worked up the courage to confess to Yuan Yi. She has had a crush on him since she first met him. Due to a stroke of bad luck and timing, Yuan yi does not see her and walks on by. Walking right behind him, however, is Jiang Meng, the school trouble maker, he not only sees her, but believes her confession to be for him. He decides then and there that he will make Qi Yue his. Not even learning that her confession was intended for someone else will deter him. Now Qi Yue has to try to be true to her feelings for Yuan Yi even though Jiang Meng has decided to make her his. Will Jiang Meng's one sided love be a continuous torment to Qi Yue. Or will she be able to see past his crude personality to tho the kind and caring heart that is buried within? Bigger Problems arise when their parents start to become involved and begin talking marriage. Will they become "dangerous siblings" or will they go their separate ways?

Has it really been that long??!! - Liar Game

2010-05-10T17:51:00.007-04:00

Well I have watched quite a lot of drama since I wrote about the first one. I'm just not very good at keeping up with the whole blog thing. Anyway here is the next attempt to try to keep running tab on what I am and have been watching.

Liar Game - Japanese Drama

Genre: Psychological
Total Episodes: 11
Cast: Kitamura Soichiro, Matsuda Shota, Toda Erika, Watanabe Ikkei

Nao Kanzaki is an honest girl. Honest to a flaw. Because of this she is very trusting and is very easily tricked. An easy target if anyone wanted to take advantage of her. One day she comes home to find a package on her frount door. Reading just enough of the note to know that the package is for her she happily opens it. Only after does she discover that by opening the box she has accepted a part in the terrible game called "the Liar Game" to win you must lie and manipulate; both things that she has never done. The goal of the game? Keep the 1 million yen your are given and steal your opponents. Whatever your take you keep. Whatever you lose you must pay back. On the day that Kanzaki finds out who her opponent is he is able to trick her out of her 1 million. Now in order to get her money back and to win the game she must enlist the help of a con-man. But will he help her, or does he have ideas of his own for the money?

Mei-chan no Shitsuji or Mei's Buttler

2009-04-06T13:11:00.009-04:00

So, I recently changed my genre from anime to Asian drama. ( OK, I didn't completely change. I still like to watch anime.) At first it was due to a drama that I found called "Mei-chan no Shitsuji" or Mei's Butler. I was amazed and humored at how much like an anime this drama was. From the story line all the way down to the character interactions. This was highly amusing. And Yes, it was differently sho-jo. Wait, is there a different term for that with dramas? any way, here is the popular picture used for the drama.
This is a story of a young girl who, after her family's death, discovers that she is not only an heir to a huge family corporation, but that they will only recognize if she attends a school for the super wealthy and learns how to become a proper lady. At this school each of the young ladies has her own butler. It just so happens that Mei's butler is a "S" level butler, the best there is. Up until now Mei has never lived with money or privilege. This is apparent to all the other girls around her and they do not like it. Mei must find a way to win their respect, learn to have confidence in herself, and put her trust in her butler.
This is a fun drama. I definitely would recommend it for someone who likes sho-jo and also for the humor of seeing live action anime. I would rate it PG/PG-13 due to some mild language and some mild violence.

Two good sites to find links to watch this drama from are:

www.mysoju.com and www.dramacrazy.net

Night Head Genesis

2008-12-04T14:39:00.004-05:00

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural

From the day they were born Naoto and his younger brother Naoya were different. They could do things with their mind. One touch and Naoya could tell what the people around him were thinking most often these are bad thoughts. This proved to be very hard on Naoya and often caused Naoto to have to come to his protection. He was able to cause people around him to get hurt. They have never been able to fit en anywhere, and are not accepted by anyone. By the time the boys are young elementary school students their parents can no longer handle them and send them away to a research facility out in the middle of nowhere. On their first day there the boys try to escape only to discover that the forest surrounding the facility has been somehow guarded from escape. Several times the boys attempt to breach the invisible barrier, without success. Years have passed and now they see their chance to get away.

I give this a rating of R due to Language, Violence, Nudity and Adult Situations
There are 24 episodes in this series

Shuffle!

2008-12-04T12:49:00.005-05:00

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Psychological, Romance, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Shojo

Rin Tsuchimi has been living together in the house of his childhood friend, Kaede Fuyou, for eight years now. His parents and her mother died together in the same accident. Since that time Kaede has done everything for him, almost to the point where she forgets about herself. Rin feels bad about this and knows that he should do more to help out, he is the one living for free in the house after all, but Kaede insists on doing it all. In fact she has made it perfectly clear that she loves Rin. Kaede’s father is a businessman and is often gone for several months at a time. He is not at all afraid that a romance will occur between the two of them, in fact he has already given Rin his approval. This would all be fine if Rin knew what it was he wanted with his life, or if the gates to the god and demon world had not been opened ten years earlier. Now the Lord of the Gods and the Lord of the Demons have shown up with their daughters and have enrolled them as new students at Rin and Kaede’s school. According to them, Rin is not only a marriage candidate for either of their daughters but their perfect candidate. Now Rin is supposed to choose whether to become a god or a demon. Oh and did I mention they moved in to the houses on either side of Kaede’s. No pressure.

I give this a rating of R due to Language and Nudity
There are 24 episodes in this series

Blood+

2008-09-23T17:10:00.002-04:00

Genres: Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural
Otinashi Saya is a high-school girl who lives a peaceful life with her adoptive parents, or at least has been for the last year. She has no recollection of her life before. But that is about to change as her destiny is about to be forced into place.
There are monsters in the world Chiropterans to be exact, they feed on the blood of humans. They have the ability to look like humans, but can become a grotesque killing machines when needed. Normal means of destruction seem to have no effect on them. Normal knives, bullets, even explosives, have little effect on them, maybe just slow them down a bit as they heal impeding their healing only slightly. But Saya has the ability to make that different. Her Sword + Her Blood kills them. And her blood is the only blood that can do it.
I give this a rating of R due to violence, language, and adult situations
There are 50 episodes in this series

Angelic Layer

2008-09-23T17:01:00.003-04:00

Genres: School life, Romance, Game
High schooler Misaki Suzuhara has not seen her mother since kindergarten. At that time her mother told her she was leaving home due to work and did not know how long she would be gone. Truth was there was a problem with her leg and she wanted it to be fixed before she saw her daughter again. Now seven years have passed and Misaki is in junior high, old enough (12?) to go to Tokyo on her own to stay with her aunt and to visit her mother. On her way there she discovers that many people are "fans of” Angelic Layer, a battling game where electronic dolls called angles are used on special tables to fight out dules. This is also where she sees her first dule with the angle Athena, and becomes very interested in Angelic Layer. With the help and encouragement of an eccentric man, wearing a white lab coat and glasses, Misaki purchases her own angel and names her Hikaru. Though Misaki is new to Angelic Layer she is sure she can create an angle that is small and strong just like the angle she saw when she first arrived in Tokyo. Misaki starts school at the Eriol Academy and makes a few friends there. One of which is a Kindergartener, Hatiko Kobayashi, she is a Deus, a person that contols an angle , and an expert at Angelic Layer, and has an angle that is well know for being incredibly fast. Misaki also befriends Hatiko’s brother Kotaro Kobayashi and his friend Tamayo Kizaki, a girl fascinated by martial arts (both are in her class). Misaki knows that with all of her friends around her supporting her she can become a great Angelic Layer Deus and that Hikaru can become a great angle just like Athena, the Angle she first saw when she came to Tokyo. Misaki hopes that by doing this she will be able to show her mother just how strong she is and how much she loves her.
I give this a rating of PG-13 but only due to occasional language.
There are 26 episodes in this series

Myself; Yourself

2008-09-02T10:38:00.003-04:00

Genres: Drama, Psychological, Romance, Slice of Life, Shojo

5 years have passed since Sana Hidaka left his hometown and moved with his family to Toyko. Now he is a high school student and has returned to take his classes there. Though many things are the same, a lot has changed since he left. While some old friendships remain strong, others will need to be worked on. This is the story of 6 friends, self-realization and discovery.

I give this anime a PG-13 rating due to language and subject matter.

There are 13 episodes in this series.

Air/Air T.V.

2008-09-02T10:35:00.002-04:00

Genre: Drama, Romance, Supernatural

Yukito Kunisaki is a traveler searching for a “girl with wings who files down from the sky” as told to him by his mother in a ledged passed down through generations of his family. During his journey he meets a strange girl named Misuzu. Lured to her house by hunger and the need of a place to sleep Yukito is quickly befriended Misuzu and her mother and decides to stay in their small town and look for the winged girl. A story spanning a thousand years begins to unfold around the relationships that they build.

I would give this anime a rating of PG-13 due to language.

There are 12 episodes in this series.

Games Day

2008-08-01T08:55:00.002-04:00

Well I did it, I went to Games Day with Mike. We started out at 6am thinking the drive is a 4and 1/2 hour drive and we would gain an hour since we pass into the Central time zone. We wanted to be there by 10am. What we did not count on was 1. Stops for coffee. 2. Stops for bathroom breaks (caused by coffee) 3. Traffic; once you hit the Chicago area it gets really backed up. Apparently it doesn't matter that it is the weekend. 4. Getting lost. apparently no amount of having the directions helps, if you don't stick to them. *sigh* completely my fault. We passed the street we needed I think only twice, but we still managed to get there an hour later than we had hoped for. Oh well, Best laid plans of mice and man.
I have to say it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. And WAY more NOISY. But I did get to see all of the entries for the golden daemon first hand. That was Neat! I am Amazed at the talent that is out there. I know Mike is a good painter. But there are definitely some great painters out there. There is a category called young bloods. It is open for painters age 16 or under (i think i got that right). From what I saw of them it wont be too long before there are even more amazing painters out there!
Mike entered 6 of 10 categories and made final cut in 2. One of which he won the Bronze, http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=&pIndex=6&aId=9500010&start=7 , the other he got honorable mention. Now Mike's paintings were good! It's just that some of the other entries were just that much better. Each category had anywhere from 10 to 30+ entries in it and there were very few that were poorly done. It is amazing to see these pieces right in front of you. It's also amazing to see the techniques that people use to make their mini stand out from the others. Colour pallets, highlighting, shadowing, light-sourcing, and the freehand. That in its self is a talent all its own. We must have walked around the cases looking at the entries at least 3 or4 times. I tried to take pictures, but the lighting there and plexi-glass cases do not mix.
There were all sorts of tournaments and whatnot going on everywhere. Games Workshop had some tables set up so that you could bring armies and play out some battles, there was a huge line to have a turn playing their new online game (we didn't try), some painting seminars, paint and takes, and a bunch of other things. Mike took in a seminar on new GW products, while I took in the quiet of not being in the main room and my new PSP game "The legend of Heroes". I didn't get too far into the game but it seems like I'm gonna like it. We also took some time and did a build and take that was offered. Ok, so I took some time, Mike had his done in like 5 min I think mine took like an hour or two. Which wouldn't be so bad, but it still sucked! *grin* Anyway we had a great day together.
We had also planed out this trip to be a business trip for Minis Realm. So we made t-shirts to wear for the day and business cards to pass out. I think we were successful. We not only passed out 60 business cards, but when mike got his picture taken for the bronze, he was wearing his t-shirt (not that you can really read it or anything. But we know he's wearing it!) At the end of the day we went out to Outback to splurge...I mean celebrate for dinner. It was really nice we were able to walk to the restaurant from our hotel. I think we were in bed by 9pm. It was definitely a long day! But I'm really glad I went. It was fun to watch mike grin like a kid in a candy store all day. Days like that don't seem to happen often enough.

Where to watch Anime

2008-07-15T09:35:00.004-04:00

It occurred to me that I have never posted where I watch the anime I have posted. Although you can find some of it just by searching on youtube I have found that it is so much nicer to go to sites that have lists of anime series already compiled. That way you do not have to go searching for each individual episode in a series. Some of my favorite sites that do this are:

AnimeCrunch.com

AnimeViewer.net

ZomgAnime.com

AnimeFule.com

AnimeGiant.com

All of these websites have an alphabetical list of series that give you links to each episode. Once you click on the link you can watch the chosen anime. Some of the video players allow you to enlarge the video to full screen, others don't. And occasionally the links do not work at all. In those cases, you sometimes have to dig around yourself. I have found that most of the anime can be found on one of these sites.

YouTube.com

GoFish.com

MegaVideo.com

Veoh.com

Of these sites Veoh is a nice one to download for free. It will install a shortcut onto your desktop that will allow you to run searches, download, view a library of what you have downloaded, and view both downloaded and streaming video. Veoh is also nice because it looks up more than just anime. You can find T.V. shows and Movies there as well. All you need is Internet access. As for the others I just go to their websites and search on the titles and episodes I am looking for. Most of the time I can find what I want at one of these sites. Anyway, if you have decided to do some viewing of your own I hope this helps.

2008-07-01T08:32:00.002-04:00

Clannad
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Tomoya Olazaki is a third year student who has been labeled a delinquent. He hates his life and his family, if you can call it that, since it has been just him and his father ever since the accident that took his mother when he was a small boy. Since that time his father has become a drunk and a gambler. The two of them often fought until one altercation left Tomoya with an injury that made it impossible for him to play basketball. Since then Tomoya and his father have treated each other with courtesy, but like strangers. While on his way to school one day, Tomoya meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating the year due to illness. Nagisa is soft-spoken and not very self confident, because of this and because all of her friends have moved on, she is often alone. The two begin a friendship and start to hang out together. Nagisa realizes a dream of re-establishing the long abandoned drama club and with Tomoya’s encouragement begins to. Through this they build several other friendships and help others to achieve the goals that they are striving for.
This anime contains mild language and a little violence I would give it a rating of PG-13 There are 23 episodes in this series

Revolutionary Girl Utena

2008-06-09T08:32:00.003-04:00

Revolutionary Girl Utena:
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Love – Romance, Mind Games
When Untena was a young girl her parents died. On that day a Prince came to her telling her to have courge and never lose her noble heart. He gently wiped away her tears with a kiss and gave her a ring saying that one day this ring would lead her back to him. So impressed by this prince Untena decided that she will grow up to be one herself.!? Several years have passed and Untena is now attending Ohtori Academy. She has become quite popular by the students and teachers due to wearing of a boys uniform so that she can be more like her prince. After Untena witnesses the abuse of one of her classmates by a boy from student council then has her best friend is insulted by the same boy, she decides that she must fight this boy for her friends honor and to teach him a lesson. Untena challenges him to a duel, and he accepts. He tells her to meet him in the “Rose Arena” and they will duel for the “Rose Bride”. Not understanding any of that, but agreeing to the duel Untena is swept into a series of duels to “Revolutionalize the World” and to win the “Rose Bride” Untena can barely remember that day or what her prince looks like, but she is determined to find him.
This Anime contains mild language, and though the first 13 episodes are pretty mild they get a little more intense from there. There are hints of homosexuality and incest, there are a lot of mind games played on the female characters sometimes of a sexual nature. I think the box rates this a PG-13, but I would still give it an R .

There are 39 episodes in this series.

Kanon

2008-06-09T08:30:00.002-04:00

Kanon :
Genres: Drama, Love – Romance, School Life, Game
Aizawa Yuichi has been to the city a few times in the past. But something happened seven years ago to make him block out the memories of that visit. Now he is back again and after settling in meets a girl with a backpack with wings on it. Something about her is familiar to him and slowly he starts to remember the memories he had lost.
This anime contains language. I give it a rating Of “PG-13”
There are 13 episodes in this series.

Gakuen Alice

2008-06-09T08:29:00.002-04:00

Gakuen Alice :
Genres: Comedy, Drama, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural
Mikan’s best friend is Hotaru. And thought they are nothing alike. Mikan is friendly, unsure and totally dependant on Hotaru. Hotaru shows no emotion, is confidant in her skills and is a genius. They play together and they go to the same school. Or at least they did. One day Hotaru sends Mikan a letter to let her know she has left to go to a new advanced school, but will return for holidays. This leaves Mikan feeling lost and alone. When Hotaru fails to keep her promise to visit during the holidays Mikan decides to go look for her. Before she knows it, Mikan is not only looking for her, but is enrolled in the same school. Finally the two friends are reunited, but is Mikan ready for the challenges of this “Advanced” school.
This anime contains language. I give it a rating of “PG-13”
There are 26 episodes in this series.

Tsubasa Chronicle

2008-06-09T08:27:00.001-04:00

Tsubasa Chronicle :
Genres: Fantasy, Love – Romance, Humor
This is your everyday boy (Syaoran) loves princess, princess (Sakura) loves boy, but both are to shy to tell each other. On the day the Sakura decides to tell Syaoran of her feelings she is attacked and her memories turned into feathers and strewn across the dimensions. Sakura who has been knocked unconscious will die if her memories are not returned. Syaoran desperate to help her goes to the only person who can help, Yuuko, the time-space witch. Yuuko agrees to help Sakura, Syaoran and a couple others that have gone to her for help. Kurogane, a powerful ninja searching for the true meaning of strength, and Fai a powerful mage who is on the run from a sleeping ruler named Ashura. As a payment for her help Yuuko takes the one most important thing from each person. From Kurogane it is his sword, from Fai, his tattoos from which his most powerful magic resides, from Syaoran it is his relationship with Sakura, and from Sakura, all her memories that involve Syaoran. Yuuko gives them Mokona to open the doors between universes and to communicate with them when needed, and the four are off.
This anime contains language. I give it a rating of “PG-13” I liked this ine, but it did seem to go on a bit.
There are 52 episodes in this series.

Fate Stay Night:

2008-06-09T07:53:00.004-04:00

Fate Stay Night:

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Supermatural
Emiya Shiro lost his parents in a fire as a young boy. Emiya Kiritsugu, the man that adopted Shiro, called himself a wizard. And though Shiro has tried to follow in his adopted fathers footsteps he has not done very well. That is until circumstances accidentally place him in the center of a battle between two masters and he is nearly killed. Suddenly a girl appears out of nowhere and saves his life. He is then forced to realize that not only did he summon her and is now her master and she his servant, but that they are now in a battle for the “Holy Grail” and their lives.
This anime contains violence and language. I give it a rating of “PG-13” I liked this one a lot as well.
There are 24 episodes in this series

Ayashi No Ceres :

2008-06-09T07:52:00.001-04:00

Genres: Action, Adventure, Love – Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural, Psychological, Horror
On their 16th birthday twins Mikage Aya and her brother Aki are given a “party” by their grandfather. What they think is a birthday party is really a test to see if Aya hides within her the reincarnated spirit of an angry tennyo (heavenly maiden) looking for her hagoromo (robe the tennyo needs to get back to heaven) that was stolen from her by her husband generations ago. Aya does, and later has no recollection of the havoc she wreaks during the “party” nor that her alter self has recognized her twin brother as having the spirit of the husband that stole the hagoromo so long ago. Aya runs from the family that now is hunting her.
This anime has bloody violence, nudity and language. I give it an “R” rating. I really liked the story line in this one. Although it does get a little weird at times.
There are 24 episodes in this series

Ai Yori Aoshi & Ai Yori Aoshi – Enishi :

2008-02-14T10:33:00.004-05:00

Ai Yori Aoshi :
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Love-Romance, Slice of Life
Hanabishi Kaoru’s father died when Kaoru was 5 and the Hanabishi Zaibatsu family (his father’s family) take Kaoru and his mother in. Kaoru is harshly taken under his grandfather’s wing, and educated for his eventual succession. Meanwhile his mother, who never married his father, is treated poorly and eventually is made to leave. Kaoru finally decides to leave when his mother dies and he is beaten for crying over her death. Now, Kaoru is a second year collage student living on his own. He is has no girlfriend and feels very alone. That all changes one day when he meets a distressed young woman in a kimono, searching for a “certain person”, and decides to help her.This anime contains language, nudity, adult situations. It gets a “R” rating. It’s cute, but you really need to be in the Shoujo kind of mood to watch this one!! There are 24 episodes.

Ai Yori Aoshi – Enishi :
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Love-Romance, Slice of Life
This is season two of Ai Yori Aoshi. Two years after Aoi and Koaru have met back up Koaru is in grad school and the whole gang is still together. Will Koaru’s and Aoi’s love continue to stand the test of time…and friends?
This anime contains language, nudity, adult situations. It gets a “R” rating. There are 12 episodes to this sequel.

Started watching Anime

2008-02-10T11:30:00.010-05:00

I have started to use Veoh to watch anmie. I find that I am all over the board when it comes to my tastes in story lines. Because of that I started to keep a log of what I liked and what each story line was about. Mike informs me that this is the kind of thing I should be bloging about. So we will see If may be this will keep me on my blog. These are not in any order, just as I watch them. I will give you an idea of the story line, what type of anime it is, rate it. Please comment if you have seen these and would like to add your thoughts.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge:

Genres: Comedy, Shoujo
It is a strange but cute. It is the story of 4 high school boys that take on the challenge of making a "lady" out of their landlady's niece. The deal is made that if they succeed they will recieve free rent in their luxurious living quarters. But if they fail, their rent will be trippled. The "Pretty Boys", believing to be extreamly confident in dealing with women will have no problem. Little do they know that the girl, having been rejected by her crush two years earlier, believes herself to be ugly and therefore has spent no time on her appearance since. Her interests are in the macabre and horrible only and her qualities are far more Japanese horror like nowhere near lady like at all.
Anime often uses bloody noses to show that a character is sexually aroused. This is considered as telling as...well you know with a guy. This is one of the first times however; I have seen this method used with girls, and it is used often though not always in particularly suggestive scenes. The art work for this is very different in that it uses different styles to depict different emotions and importance of characters. This google image search gives a good example of the different types of art used throughout the anime.
This anime contains language, some nudity, and adult situations. I would rate it a pg-13++. I really do not think it gets a hard "R" rating, but it may be a little too suggestive for those under about 15. This is a different anime. It is fun, and a little strange. I really liked it. There are 25 episodes to this anime.

Welcome Johnathan Nicholas Alvarez

2007-12-12T11:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome Johnathan Nicholas Alvarez

Born at 7:33a.m.

6lbs. 9ozs. 20in. long

Mom and baby are doing Great

Proud parents of boy number 4!!

Johnathan says "Hi" and he hopes to see you soon!!

Hear my first cries...

2007-04-30T11:20:00.000-04:00

So, the other day Mike asked me if January 15 ment anything to me. As I sat there thinking I started to panic a little thinking that perhaps I had missed an important anniversery. For the life of me, however, I could come up with nothing. I told MIke, "I'm sorry, but I got nothing." He laughed and said that he wondered if I would know that date or not. Then he told me that that was the date of my last blog entry. I rolled my eyes at him...getting me all worked up over nothing...and told him I did not realize it had been so long since I had written anything. So in an attempt to get back into the swing of things, I wrote this.

Story's of our life

2007-01-15T08:31:00.000-05:00

Recently the children started asking us to tell them stories of when they were born, when they were babies, and so on. This did not prove as easy as we thought. It's strange how easily one forgets things when put on the spot. I was amazed at how hard it was to come up with more than one or two stories. Mike suggested that I write some of these stories down. So I will. I will post these stories in a different color so that it is easy to tell what is a family story post and what is a general post. It will be interesting to see how much I can remember.

Starting to feel better!!!

2007-01-12T07:46:00.000-05:00

Well, at long last I finally know why I have been so sick. It seems that this latest illness started out as a bad cold and over time turned into a sinus infection. The doctor gave me Amoxacillin on Tues. which I took for 5 days. On the night of the 5th day, my left ear started to feel plugged then hurt. I ended up having to sleep on a heating pad, and take lots of Tylenol to relieve the pain. So, on Mon., it was back to the doctor to see why I was not getting better. As it turned out, the sinus infection I had was resistant to the Amoxicillin and had turned into a double ear infection with blood behind the left ear. My antibiotic was switched to Biaxin XL (the XL stand for extremely large pill!) and an appointment was set up for me to go to a nose, ears and throat specialist two days later.

Of course that gave me just enough time to talk to several people and hear all the horror stories of how they had to have their ears drained and how the procedure was done. You know, just enough information to scare the beejeebees out of me! I had originally thought that I would take the kids with me. After hearing all the stories though, I made arrangements to have the kids stay with a neighbor and convinced Mike to use the last few hours of his comp. time to go with me. I was sure that the doctor would have to drain the ear and that I would have to be given some kind of sedative to keep from screaming and running wildly from the building. For those of you who do not know, I have an irrational fear of needles. I know it is irrational, and all the explaining, and chastising and anger makes no difference. I am still scared out of my wits when I know I have to get a shot. In fact I hardly slept the night before the appointmet because I was so worried.

We got to the doctor's office and I started to fill out the paperwork. At first it was the same stuff that you fill out at every new doctor's office. Then the tone of the paperwork changed. The questions about allergies to anaesthesia and whether or not the pain I was feeling would be addressed at my up coming surgery??!!??!. By then I am sure that the kittens I was having were starting to fill the room. Meanwhile, Mike sat there telling me not to worry and that it was not going to be that bad. He relayed stories about when he had meningitis and how he was no longer worried about needles. That I should look at it like "hey, anything to relieve the pain." I just wanted to look and him and say..."I have been through 3 c-sections and still have this fear. Your stories about how you are cured of any needle fear you may have had, is not going to help right now!!!(Sorry Hunny)"

I finished the paperwork and was called in to the exam room soon after. As we sat there waiting for the doctor I noticed some books , pamphlets really, about the ear. One was about ear infections and the procedures that may have to take place if the ear drum gets too much pressure behind it. Lets just say it was not the type of information one wants when trying to not get overly worked up. I pointed out to Mike this fact. In response he rolled his eyes and told me just to sit down and stop worrying. The sitting was not a problem.

The Doctor came in and introduced himself. He took a look at my chart then asked a few questions and jotted down my answers. He then proceeded to check out my nose, throat and finally ears. After the exam he told me that my right ear was clearing up, and that my left ear, though red and inflamed, was not that bad. In fact I think he said that the inflammation of my ear was what made it look like there was blood back there. He then told me to continue to take my antibiotic and that I would feel better soon. I think the flood of relief that hit me was palpable. In fact I would say I was almost giddy with relief. He then gave us my check out papers, said goodbye, and the appointment was over.

That's it. All that work up for nothing...thankfully. As we left Mike informed me that he never thought that my ear would have to be drained, but that he wanted to be with me for morel support anyway. I wish I had been that confidant.

It has been two days since my doctors appointment. I am starting to feel much better, although I still am quite tired at the end of the day. I have a cough and some congestion, and my ear is still plugged, but overall I feel much better. Hopefully by the end of next week I should be back to normal.

Whatever that is.

Sick Again?????

2006-12-29T08:17:00.000-05:00

Well Some how we did it. We managed to get well before Christmas, and then get sick again after. I am beginning to think we have a sick house. Everyone here has a cough of some sort. It started with Mike with a sore throat then moved to Jay with "pink eye." Then Jay started to get the cough and soon after I was coughing. Now Sarah and Lily both are coughing. What is going on here??!!?? It seems like we get better only to get sick again. I am starting to think that I may need to have our house tested. I am just so very sick of being sick! I have looked on line, and have found a few places that have "do it yourself test kits," but I am not sure that I want to do it my self, and miss something. Of course then the problem becomes the cost and the reliability of the company that I have come to do the test. I am not trying to bad mouth anyone, but I have a feeling that if more money is to be made, there is a good chance "something" will be found that will have to be "taken care of". Well I will need to come to a decision soon especially if we are all still getting sick.
On the brighter side, I have started a women's study. (Men should probably stop reading here.) It is a study on heavy bleeding during menstrual cycles and a possible medication that could be used to lower the amount of blood loss. It is an eight month study, if you are selected. The study requires you to use only the products that they supply during "that time of the month", that you see a doc. after each period and that you collect all of the pads, tampons, etc. that you use during that time. (YUCK!!) Did I mention that I will be getting compensated for this? Up to $900.00 for the entire study! It is a double blind study which means that neither I nor the researcher will know if I am taking the drug or the placebo. There will be an 80% chance I will get the actual medication and a 20% chance that I will get the placebo. I hope I get the medication, and that I will get some benefit from it as well as getting paid. What fun!!

A new era is reborn

2006-12-29T08:04:00.000-05:00

A few days ago a couple of my daughters friends came over. They brought with them DDR3. I spent most of the day listening to them jump around and try to beat each other to songs like, David Bowie's "Lets Dance" and Kelly Clarkston's "Since You've been Gone." I was surprised at the number of '80s hits the game had on it. In fact the one song that the girls enjoyed playing the most was "Video Killed the Radio Star." It Started to feel like the first day of MTV as the song was played over and over again. The only difference was the added squeals of "I did it!" or "Oh no, I messed up again!" or just plain laughter.

Home Schooling

2006-12-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

Today I was talking to a friend. She was explaining how she was looking forward to next year when her youngest would be in preschool. I have to admit, for a few minutes I was jealous. I thought of all the time she would have to do what ever she wanted to do while both her kids were in school. I thought..Man I wish I had some time away from the kids each day. I realized that I would not get that time a lone for quite a while, but then the more I thought about my personality the more I realized that a break from time to time would be great, but I would miss having my children if they were gone for long periods of time every day. I also know that I would hate having to drive them back and forth to school every day. The driving I don't mind, its the having to be there on time. I also feel like I would miss out on those moments when they first began to "get" the lessons. It really is neat when you can see your children starting to understand reading for the first time, or math concepts, etc.

At this point I expect to home school until the children are ready for high school. Will I do it? I hope so. I am constantly trying to make sure that the kids are getting all the information they need for each school year. But there are a lot of ideas as to what each child should learn, when, and how. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. So far my focus has been on math and reading with a touch of handwriting. With my Kindergartner I feel I am right on, but I sometimes wonder with my second grader. Next year she will start a new curriculum. It is more computer based and will cover more areas. I believe it will also help me with documentation of each grade level she completes. It will definitely be a learning experience for all of us.

So yes, I sometimes am envious of my friends who have time to do their own things while their kids are in school, but I really enjoy being there as my children learn new things, and start to understand new concepts. I know that a lot of people say that they would not have the patience to home school, but I think that most people could do it if they wanted to. It just doesn't seem as hard as people make it out to be. There is a daily amount of work that needs to be done and we try our hardest to finish it each day. Most of the time this is accompanied with a lot of crying and complaints of "too much work", threats and punishments and sloppy work, but it is not that difficult.... But then again maybe I am just fooling my self. I am all of a sudden jealous again.

Making Contact

2006-12-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

Recently I decided to use the Internet to try and find some long lost friends. On the advise of several people I did a myspace search and an Internet search using names, old email addresses and old phone numbers. In the end, I was able to find and contact one person. Kirsten. She is a friend of mine from high school that I lost touch with when we went away to collage. I had actually seen her once about 5 or 6 years ago after I had run into her mother. At the time Kirsten was getting ready to leave on a missionary trip that was to last... I think 2 years?. Her mother was throwing going away party and invited me. It was great to see her. She was so excited to go on this trip. I got an address that I could write to her at while she was on the mission field. Unfortunately I am horrible at writing letters!!! I never did write her. I may have emailed a few times, but that is about it. Because of this we lost touch again. Anyway, I found her and I am looking forward to hearing from her.

I did find a few other friends old web pages and postings, but none of them seemed to lead anywhere. Although there were several interesting sites. One having to do with some kind of foam weaponry for sale, one filled with stories written by on old friend and one of his friends. That one is still kinda fun to go and read from time to time. I know that I have a working email for that person, but he never seems to write back...you know who you are. And by far the most interesting was the old web page on sheep. I'm not sure that this page still is monitored by any one, it is a few years old, but there are a lot of interesting pictures. There were a few others, but not quite as interesting as these. Most of the people I searched for came up with unrelated web pages, or nothing at all. I was glad to have at least one work out.

Here Comes Christmas

2006-11-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

Well Christmas is around the bend. Soon it will be time to "decorate" the house. I have already had to inform my children that "No, we are not the only house in the world that does not have Christmas lights up yet." The next question, and the one that continues to come is, "When are we gonna put the lights up?" To this question I have a slew of answers, "When I get a chance to go out into the garage and find them." , "When the snow starts to fall.", "When I get the chance to pull them out and check them.", "When everyone else in the world has theirs up, and you know where freezes over." O.K. so the last one is usually what I am thinking not saying. Regardless, they are all ploys to put off what I know will eventually be the task at hand. It is not that I do not like to decorate the house for Christmas, it's just that I know it will take twice as long, or longer, to put it all away. And that all the enthusiasm that the kids had in helping put everything out will suddenly disappear when it is time to put everything away.

All of the Christmas boxes are packed away safely and neatly in our garage. They are all labeled and easy to find and pull out. So why all the fuss? Honestly, I am not sure. For some reason I am already feeling the pressure of the holiday ahead. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and getting together with all the family. But something about the tension that seems to linger in the air this time of year gets to me. It did not help that the day after Halloween my girls found the one and only station on the radio that is playing Christmas music around the clock. My only hope is that they will tire of it form time to time and will want to turn off their radio. So far, no luck.

Oh well, time to go and check out the garage and see which boxes I will pull out to decorate with this year. Like I said it should not be that hard a task. Well, maybe after this cup of coffee. And I still need to clean the kitchen. I think maybe I should wash the floor. Oh, and I need to change over the laundry. Well maybe those boxes can wait till tomorrow. But then I'm sure I can come up with another list of things to do before going out to the garage. It's not supposed to snow anytime soon is it?

Yeah!! I got a comment!!!

2006-11-17T14:13:00.000-05:00

I'm finding that I spend a lot of time trying to put the right words together in my blogs to make them interesting. I even have my husband read and edit them. I don't know who I am trying to impress. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that more than likely (how many times can you use more in a sentence?) my husband and myself are the only readers. The chances of someone just stumbling on to this blog, and deciding to read it, are slim. First off they don't know me, and well, I'm not that interesting. Second, wait, oh yea, I'm not that interesting.

Still, that does not stop me from checking every now and again to see if someone has left a comment. On the off chance that some one does read this blog, I highly doubt that they will take the time to leave a comment. I do on the other hand have family that I can talk into reading it. I figured I could start by just telling them about the site, then move on to guilt tactics to ensure that at least someone in my family reads it. Then, one day to my surprise, I received my first comment!! My younger sis, Liz, came though for me!!

So there it is folks, right there under my first entry, my first comment. From my loving younger sis, Liz

Thank You!

NO WAY!!!!

2006-11-15T08:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have to say this was a hard blog to name. I wanted to go with "c'mon drop the soap" but I was thinking na, that is way too crass. Not that I don't think he deserves this, many times over! So anyway, here's the story.

In collage Mike and I knew this guy named Allen. He was the type of person that the"secret knock" was invented for. He had the same computer as Mike and I did at the time, an Amiga, and thus we met. This was a rare occurrence seeing as most people had Mac's or IBM's (Some things never change! *SOB, SNIFF, SNIFF*) so we were excited to meet a fellow Amiga user. Once we met him, we knew we wanted to try to avoid him at all costs. He seemed like a nice enough guy at first, but then he got close enough to smell. If any of you are parents, you know what I am talking about when I say, the milk cup that you found hidden in the car for possibly weeks, in the middle of summer, is far better thrown away than opened. In this case, he not only opened the cup but carried it with him every where he went. I really can't explain the smell. The closest I can get is a mix of sweaty body order and sour milk. Still not quite bad enough, but close.

Anyway, in an attempt to avoid him we came up with a knock that we told all of our friends (ie not him). Most of the time this worked and we were able to avoid him, at least while we were in our rooms. Occasionally, however, we would forget and in he would come. We learned quickly to move any thing fabric away from where he might sit. His smell transfers!?! It was during these times that we learned that his personality was just as grating as his smell was noxious. As we became more diligent in avoiding him we slowly started to see less and less of him. Soon after Mike and I and a couple of our friends got an apartment off campus. We thought we were rid of him.

Fast forward to a couple of years later. Mike and I are married. I am working at the AMC movie theater at Briarwood mall. I had started as a concessionest, then a box office worker, then did projection. Projection was fun, but in the box I could read all day long, with few interruptions. On days that we were busy, two people worked the box, and we were so busy that time seemed to fly by. It was a very easy and fun job. So there I was, working in the box office, which was a Plexiglas box big enough for two people to work if they stayed in one place. I had just started to work my shift, all of which was in this box, when one of the managers told me I would be training a new box person. Ok I said. I figured it would be nice to have someone to talk to. I was wrong. Allen was my new trainee. After about 10 mins. of training him, I knew I was in trouble. The smell was overwhelming in such a small box. I trained him quickly, and asked to be put back on projection.

It was soon after this that I was made a manager. Not long after Allen started to work at the theater, people started to refuse to work with him in confined spaces. In an attempt to accommodate him and his co-workes he was made an usher. Still complaints continued to come. Soon it became apparent that someone was going to have to talk to him. Yup, that someone turned out to be me. Lucky,lucky,me!! So I called him into the office, and explained the hygiene issues that we were having with him. He came up with several excuses, and reasons why his order was inescapable. In the end, he agreed to try to do something "help". At times his smell was better, but over all, he was still olfactorally offensive. After a while he quit to go to a "better" job.

Several years later Mike and I bumped into him at Sears. He had become a sales person for the electronics department. Yes, he still had an order issue, just not quite as bad as before. He was happy to see us and wanted to know what we had been up to. At that time my oldest was 3, my middle was almost 1, and the third had not even been thought of. He commented on how beautiful our girls were, and told us about his coming to work at Sears. We talked briefly, then nicely made our excuses and hurried away. We learned to avoid Sears' electrical department as much as possible, least we be beset upon to hear more of his life story. One day he caught us and told us that he was going to be working elsewhere. Since that day, we had not heard from him, until last night...On the news.

So our old "friend" Allen apparently moved to Wayne county along with his collection of child porn. He was arrested last night after trying to solicit sex from who he thought was a 14 year old over the computer. Turned out he was talking to an undercover police officer trying to arrest child predators. All I can say is "Good work Wayne county police!!" And I feel sorry for the cell mate that has to live with him. No one deserves that fate!!! On the up side Allen will have use, hopefully daily, of a shower.

Don't forget to use soap Allen.

"I'm just a baby"

2006-11-10T17:32:00.000-05:00

There comes a time as a parent when you hear your own words come back to you from the mouths of your children. Usually it is something that you only said at home in anger in the guise of "discipline", that as it was coming from your mouth you already could not believe you had said it. You know like, "Get in your room before I beat you", or "Oh my gosh, just be quiet" or "I should not have to tell you, you are a big kid and he is just a baby". Yes, you were thinking it, but thinking and saying are two different things. And of course, they say it at the most inappropriate time. Sometimes to you, sometimes to siblings, sometimes to friends...Always in front of the wrong person!!

So recently my 2 year old has started to tell us "I'm just a baby." After he said it two or three times, my husband asked me, "Where has he heard that? You know someone is telling him that. He did not come up with it himself." From the way he was speaking you could tell that he was implying that an adult friend of ours had said it to him, or possibly an aunt, uncle, or grandparent. Now, as earlier mentioned in the examples of what one says when all calm has left the building, I believe I have actually said something with those words in it. So now I am left with a choice. Tell my husband it was actually me who said it to him, albeit not in that context, or act innocent and pretend I haven't a clue.

In case you are wondering, I came clean and told him. We laugh about it all the time. We also work with our son to let him know that he is not, "just a baby" but that he is a big guy.

I'm not an I.T. person

2006-11-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

So today has been a lesson in "code." I tried, I really did, to do this on my own, but an IT person I am not. Apparently you need to know a little about computer programming in order to change the text in the lay out. I used the "help page", and the "template page" like instructed on the "help page", but still I could not change the "links" section of my blog page. I even cut and pasted the suggested code from the "help page" and stuck it in the "template page" as suggested if certain code could not be found. Of course, I could not find the code. (Again, not surprising. Are you confused yet? 'cuz I kinda was!!) This done, I saved the changes to the template and republished the blog. There. I had done it. Now to view the blog page...Nope, no change. My husband, who is a programmer, came home and took one look at the template and said,"Oh, I see your problem. You quack, quack, quack here so that quack quack quack...And so now it should work just fine. And as you can see, it does.

First time blog

2006-11-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

So here we are, my first blog. Where to begin? I've read other blogs, they all seem to have something clever to say about some life experience. Well, I'm not sure if it will be clever, but I do have some life experiences that may turn out just this side of boring (I'm not saying which side though!) So here we go...

It is 9:00am and we (myself and my 3 children ages 2, 5, and 7) are all sitting in my bed room watching T.V. The top show for the moment is "Baby Einstein". My 2 year old fondly calls this tape "puppets" He loves this tape and has watched it many times. The thing that I find interesting is that they all like this tape. My 7year old will even ask for this tape. She says "I know Jay loves this tape and I want to watch something he wants to watch." but I can tell by the way she watches it, that she likes the tape just as much as her brother. If you have not seen these tapes, let me tell you, they are ingenious! They are movies of everyday toys and puppets set to classical music. That's it. There's no story behind the scenes nothing but a series of animal pictures, toy trains running on their tracks, wind up toys doing their thing, water and oil toys creating their patterns, and what seems to be the biggest hit, puppets turning to look at the camera. Certain puppets, like the dragon, inspire my 2 year old to yell, "mommy, mommy I scared. Dragon" then laughs his head off as the dragon opens his mouth and sticks out his felt tong to a "blagh" sound. Man! If only I had thought to tape my play sessions with my child.