I had a Gee Whiz moment Friday while watching my grandniece, Eli.  She grew tired of the set of toys she played with all day and I went to through the diaper bag to find another toy to entertain her.  I saw this cute little corn cob toy and I took it by the handle and proceeded across the room to give it to my young charge.  I grabbed the corn cob end to give it to Eli and as soon as I squeezed a bit, the corn cob vibrated!  Gee whiz - a corn cob that vibrates!  It's the John Deere Massaging Corn Teether.

It didn't occur to me how funny this was until I was telling Vickie about it Friday night.  We laughed and laughed over the fact that I had my Auntie Karen and Photographer hat on and didn't realize how funny it really was. 

Dang... I need to get me one of these!!  No, not for that...  It's a great little massager for stress relief... oh crap... never mind...  LOL

Gee whiz, it vibrates!Miss Eli and I had a great day together.  We played with toys, she ate lunch of sweet potatoes, we went for a walk around the apartment complex where there is lovely streams and ponds.  The ducks waddled and swam while we enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.  Her daddy told me that taking her for a walk was a great way to get her to sleep, however, she did not fall asleep.  Rats.  She did take a short nap but she wanted to play more than anything.

It's amazing how much she changes in a week or two.  She is sitting up better and she is a lot more active; she really keeps me on my toes. 

While I tend Eli, I also get the pleasure of spoiling Bella, the Wonder Cat, and two dogs.  I'm allergic to dogs so I can't spoil them as much as I'd like but sometimes they don't care.  If Bella gets attention, they get attention!  Bella is usually a calm kitty but Friday, she was on crack!  Actually, she finally showed me her true personality and she is a hoot!  

Just My Size!She kept jumping up the wall to attack something that wasn't there, sliding and skitting around on the bathroom and kitchen floors, and sneaking up to the dogs and batting them on the heads a few times then running away.  She doesn't have claws so it was more irritating to them than anything and it made me laugh.  She tried to wear my Crocs on her paws and her head (I didn't get a shot of her head in the Croc - darn it!) and then flipping them around the floor.  She really got my attention when she kept trying to climb up my body (tough to do without claws!) until I finally sat down so she could share my lap with Eli. 

Eli was on my left and Bella was on my right and the two of them played a bit, Bella kissed Eli and she tugged on Bella's fur.  Bella buried her face between Eli's arm and body and nuzzled her a bit then she decided to climb my chest, which forced me to lay back in the chair.  She climbed over Eli and nuzzled my neck, then the next thing I knew, she flipped out my first earring hoop and had my second earring (a half carrot diamond!) in her mouth! 

I managed to get the diamond out of her mouth before she swallowed it and I thought she swallowed the other earring until I found it on the floor while looking for the back of the diamond earring.  I have no idea why she did it or how she could see my earrings because my hair covered them. Needless to say, I was a bit freaked but while Eli napped, she cuddled with me and kissed me all over my face so she's forgiven.  What a cat...

When Sara got home, I asked her if Bella was hitting the Nip.  She laughed and said it was normal for her to be hyper.  Bella never gets the Nip because she clearly does not need it!  ;-) 

I was outside for a bit over the weekend and took some photos of the latest blooms in my yard.  There are three daffodil blooms and about ten Forget-Me-Nots out so far.  The blue of the Forget-Me-Nots is so vibrant and I've waited a long time to get a good, clean shot of these.  Thanks to my lovely macro lens, I finally did it! 

Photos are copyrighted and can only be used with the expressed written permission by KJR.  

Back in June 2001, I began blogging and soon after, a sweet and brilliant lady, Clara Barker from the Isle of Man in the UK began blogging too. I found her blog via one of the first bloggers who linked to me (Ariel) and she went on about how brilliant Clara was and she was right.

Clara writes songs, plays the guitar, and sings. A few years ago, she honored me with a copy of her first demo CD and I loved it from first time I heard the songs. They were two of the first songs that I put on my iPod. Clara - you rock - totally!

Clara emailed me today to announce she is now on YouTube! RAH for Clara! She has written many songs and each one is great and I'm so proud of her. Here are the two videos on YouTube.





She also has a MySpace Music blog where more songs are posted. Her main site is clarabaker.com where she has her earlier works and info. Clara - you are such a star and I'm so proud of you!! Lots of love!

Many of you may remember Susan's niece, Kayla, the courageous and amazing 17-year old girl, who has battled cancer for over two years.  She's battling it again and this time, there's no treatment available unless she qualifies for an experimental treatment. 

Kayla is an inspiration and has a piece of my heart for all she's been through.  She's an example of what positive thinking can do in how she battled the cancer previously.  She's full of love and has a wonderful personality.

Kayla has a family full of love and their hearts are breaking as they're dealing with this new outbreak of cancer.  Please keep them in your thoughts.

If anyone is interested, there is a group making cranes (senbazuru) to send to Kayla, please visit the Yahoo group page.  The project is about a prayer of a 1000 cranes, which is something that was done for Ellen (scroll down to the June 28, 2007 post), God rest her soul.  

Kayla and her family need our help in lifting their spirits and letting know that we care. 

Sometimes it takes me a MACK truck to wake up to all that is going on around me and to my friends.  Last week started out as a good week, until Tuesday when I let an old boss get the best of me.  However, I stood my ground and emailed him as well as several others stating that I did not appreciate how he treated me and I felt that he was wrong in doing so.  Turns out, I was right.  Not that I wanted to win because accusations, assumptions, and other factors always seem to cause nothing but trouble.  I am proud for the way I dealt with this individual, whom I refer to as "The Lord of the Flies" on my FLICKR site.  In this case, the flies weren't attracted to honey but something much more offending. 

Last week was the second week in a row that I had to deal with a jerk and there better not be a third week. 

While I was dealing with this situation and others that cropped up during the week, I missed some important events.  Deni's poor kitties had to be put down due to a rabid raccoon and she herself is undergoing the shots in case her sweet kitty, Noodles, was infected by the raccoon.  I know these kitties were more than pets - they were her babies and my heart breaks for her.  Monica is taking a break from blogging because of her son may be battling lymphoma for the second time.  She needs to focus on him and getting him well.  Vickie's mom is in kidney failure and it is taking its toll on her.  Dawn is also having a hard time right now.  All are so special to me and I ask that you keep them in your thoughts.

I'm sure there's more going on and I don't want to exclude anyone but I have not been able to visit as I want to.  My point is that I seem to get buried in my own pile of sand while others are drowning around me.  My dad's his late twin sister's daughter got married on Friday and my parents asked me to drive them to South Salt Lake for the wedding luncheon.  I thought of all I had to do this weekend and actually hesitated before saying yes.  There were a dozen reasons for saying no but they were all selfish and I'm glad I made the right choice.

My cousin literally broke out in a sob when she saw my dad walk through the door of the restaurant.  She hugged him tightly and introduced Dad to her husband, proudly.  She's always felt closer to Dad than the other siblings, probably because of him being her mom's twin and the connection they had.  Dad misses his sister every day and I know it did him good to see Jeanette happy.  As I sat next to Dad, he was so happy, he was glowing.  Then it hit me.

All we need is love.  Love from family and friends. 

I knew it before, however, I obviously need to be reminded.  It's more than the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons when I take notice of all I have to be grateful for, it's what I need to remember every minute of every day.  Focus on the beauty  and love in life... not the flies.

My dad is slowly disappearing and I feel so helpless because I am unable to fight for him.  Parkinson's disease is taking him away from us.  He has good days but lately, it seems as if it's more bad days.  Yesterday, he couldn't remember my name and it made him feel so bad and it made me feel bad too.  I hugged him and said, "Just call me Kammy as you always used to.  I liked it when you called me Kammy."  He laughed and hugged me back and as I pulled away, he had a tear in his eye.  All I can do is love him and tell him how much he means to me... which is the most important thing.  No one or anything can ever take away that love.   

1.  Yesterday, the lovely Hula called me to see how I was after my "trip."  I explained that I was probably being punished for making fun and dreading seeing the choir on Sunday.  We laughed then she said, "That was definitely a 'Come to Jesus Meeting' that brought you to your knees!"  How true it is!  Gee whiz, Hula cracks me up every time... thanks for checking on me! 

2.  This past weekend, my dad has done some weird things during the night.  One night, he got up to go to the bathroom, which is next to their bedroom.  Mom noticed he didn't come back to bed right away and didn't remember hearing the toilet flush.  The bathroom light wasn't on so she began looking for him.  There he sat, in his recliner in the spare bedroom/his TV room holding Mom's Bra, poking and stretching it.  She left her bra on the inside doorknob of their bedroom door that night.  When she asked what he was doing, he replied, "Going potty."  She pointed out he wasn't in the bathroom then they had a good laugh and he did his business in the bathroom then went back to bed.  Mom hung her bra back on the doorknob and went back to bed too.  Later the same night, Dad did the same thing so they were really laughing about it the next morning.  He doesn't have a clue what he was doing with her bra... perhaps practicing how to unhook it?!  Or perhaps slingshot practice?  As I told Vickie this story, she said, "Maybe he was thinking back on the good old days."  Gee whiz... I cracked up.

3.  Dad did something else odd and Mom or I can't figure out why or how.  Mom went to use her disposable razor to shave the back of her neck a bit (she's got short hair) and there was something hard and pink between the blades.  The she realized it was denture adhesive.  She asked him about it but he has no clue.  He's always had wild dreams but since he got Parkinson's, his dreams are whacked!  Gee whiz, they're a good source of entertainment though!

4.  The outpour of caring and concern you all give me always makes me feel so good - thank you again.  My knee is much the same - looking sexier and sexier and more purple, which is part of the process.  I saw my internist on Tuesday and all is good (no blood clots in the veins - just in the tissues).  He gave me extra instructions and I'm behaving... well, as much as I can possibly behave.  Gee whiz, I'm such a source of entertainment for my doc; he gave me a couple of zingers as I was leaving.  But then he had to admit, he fell on his bike last week so I'm not the only klutz. I went to work yesterday and did OK - I had my heating pad and icepack and kept my leg propped up. 

5.  Monica's daughter is back home but please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, it's been a rough 10 days. 

6.  I am taking Sept 20 - 24th and running away to one of my favorite places - my aunt's cabin.  Gee whiz, I can hardly wait!   

7.  I will have two weeks (possibly three) off of work in October but the first few days won't be fun, I'm having some surgery then six weeks later, I'm having the second surgery.  No worries, I'll be fine.  My finals are hopefully on Oct 8 which will be great, then I'll have more time to study for my finals than I would have if I was working.  I'll probably be high on pain meds so I won't be stressing!  Gee whiz, sounds like a great plan to me!  

I think I'm out of gee whizzes for this week... have a wonderful weekend!  I know I will... homework, homework, and hopefully a PJ Day.  

I usually don't write anything political on my blog, mainly because I hate politics.  However, there are injustices where our Veterans are concerned and I cannot ignore it.  The VA hospitals and medical facilities are jokes, triple booking appointments so there's no way they get the health care they need.  Vets can't get their medications as doctors prescribe, they get the "next best thing" or what is "available" even if it's samples of medications that have expired (which happened to my dad).  It's disgusting, all of it.

The main reason of this post is to call your attention to one incredible man, Monica's son Joshua, who went through two tours of Iraq and has been home for over a year, but he's suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and the VA is not helping him.  There are countless others in the same situation since ONE in THREE soldiers suffer from.

The media and government show us what they want us to see, they're not showing us the whole story of the horror of what is going on in Iraq.  The media is also too busy with their so-called-journalism that will bring in ratings rather than the truth, those who need help, and what is important.

Please stop by Monica's blog and see what she's going through to get her son help, not only for him but for all Veterans and Military personnel.   Also, Skunk Feathers wrote one hell of a post that you should read too. 

No matter what country we live in, there are similar situations.  We, as humans, need to put a stop to how our Military, both active duty and retired/discharged, being treated as they are.  They fought for us - our lives - and now we need to return the favor.   

Wanted: your old, your down- trodden, thread bare, your holey Jockey Tank Tops.  Just not any fabric will do, they must be the ribbed cotton. 

My mother needs your help for a worthy cause.  As the photo shows, this is what she is reduced to using.  Her daughter (who is probably ME) has not been satisfactorily donating her tanks to her cause. Mom has been reduced to sewing this holey tank top four times but still refuses to give it up until she can have a replacement. 

By helping her, you will be helping me.  I beg you to help.  The coveted look in Mom's eyes when she sees one of my tanks is beginning to scare me.  I'm afraid I'll come home one day to find all my tanks have been cut up for dusting rags. 

Yes, I said dusting rags.  She swears these are the only dusting rags that pick up 99.99999999999% of dust. 

In many ways, I am becoming my mother, but this, I swear, I will never do.  I draw the line at clipping coupons and washing and reusing the ziplock slide lock bags.  Oh no... I just realized something.  I do like cut up old towels for cleaning and won't use anything else, but I will use old t-shirts for dusting, any type will do.  Whew, there is hope for me.    I think.