weight watchers...

but NOT how you would think.
Dondan has always been on the slim side, but I still worry about his weight.
He is just so dang boney, it scares me and Toenail.
We've been buying nutritional supplements and pediasure for a while, for the times he fells finicky about eating. Some days he has an insatiable appetite and other days we have to force him to eat.
I just want him to put on some weight, even if it's just fat so he's not just skin and bones. I know it may sound awful but i'm okay with him getting fat.
He weighs 48 lbs. only cause he's gained one since we've been here.
Nonaz weighs 28lbs and she's 2.
I'm hoping he'll "grow out of it" but I won't hold my breath.
We've been buying weight gainer and spiking his food. We've put it in milkshakes, smoothies, cookies and my latest concoction in brownies.
Everyone knows how much of a chocolate aficionado Dondan is so the brownies went over very well.
He gets to eat them for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Anytime he wants he can have them. The only catch is he HAS to clean his plate at mealtime, which we DO monitor portions.
For a 7 year old he's very conscious about getting fat. He always makes comments about "not wanting to be fat" or "if i eat that will i get fat?" Honestly I don't know where he gets it, I'm not big on diets or dieting, if i want to eat something i eat it. The only time he doesn't worry about "fatty" food is when it comes to chocolate, he will eat any and all chocolate without hesitation.
At mealtimes he has to make sure he has all the food groups and names them out so we know nothing is missing, weirdo.
So, we are weighing him and monitoring him regularly, even his teacher at school updates us when he doesn't eat lunch. Which he has done only once so far.
Toenail is planning to make random visits during lunchtime, to keep him on track.
Nonaz eats more than he does. It's just bothering me, i'm scared something will happen to him. I can put my thumb and pointer finger together around his bicep, yeah, that small. Too small for a 7 yr old. People can't tell when he's dressed, but at home he likes to lounge in his boxers. Mike always has to say something, most of the time it's comments like, "put a shirt on, I can see your bones, it's gross."
I'm sure his meds are a major contributing factor in his appetite loss, but he's doing so well at school. Where do you draw the line? which do you sacrifice?
I'm going to be more proactive about fattening him up and see how far that gets us.

Dondan's dental diary

Last night Dondan was eating some chewy candy, hi-chews to be exact and his cap came out. He wasn't in any pain but it was still urgent enough to be seen right away.
We were weighing the options of recapping or pulling it all together. Dondan asked the Dentist if he could have a gold cap, needless to say we had a nice laugh about that one. Gangstah! LOL
After the dentist examined it and several x-rays later, it was decided that the tooth must go.
He has another one on the way right below it. It's not a big deal to lose it at this point. He's not looking forward to that appointment in two weeks. I for one am dreading it.
We shall see what happens.

After 2 years of waiting....

It's finally here!!
The laser tv!!! It's on sale if you can afford the $7000 they are asking for it, cause so far it only comes in a 65" and there is talk of a 73" version in the make.
We've been waiting on this for 2 years hoping to get our hands on one. Maybe this year or the next they might have smaller versions.
We are excited and disappointed at the same time. We put off buying a flat panel in hopes to get a laser tv, but when they never hit the stores we were bummed. When the AQOUS sale fell in our laps, well how could we refuse.
Now the laser decides to come out!! Better late then never, but it won't be for a little while till we can get one.

check it out... LASER TV

Cute Poem

Not sure who the author is, but I like the message.

I was shocked, confused, bewildered,
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade,
Who swiped my lunch money! twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor,
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought,
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.
'And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'
JUDGE NOT

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian
any more than standing in your garage makes you a car .

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!

A tasty Christmas salad

I've been having some trouble with the video uploads sorry so late.

It was Toenail's birthday (December) and we thought that would be a great time to spring the delectable Candlestick salad. We told him he was making dinner with the help of my brother-in-law, Josh and a favorite classic recipe, found in none other than, "The Friend" children's magazine. It went a little like this....

I can't seem to load the first part so here is the link

PART 1

And here is part 2

Dear Dyson

i'm sad to say your usefulness has diminished. Though not completely useless, you just can't hang with the carpetless environment, even on bare floor mode. I try to use you when i can, but sadly you must now play second string to Broom Vac.
Broom vac may not be as powerful as you, but is mighty handy and convienient on my hard floors.
Let's just say you don't have to work as hard.

Xtina reloaded

with meds.
So, with the urging of the school nurse at Dondan's school, I thought it would be a good idea to get flu shots. Supposedly it's going around and really bad in the local area yadda yadda.
The kids and I get flul shots on Saturday, I start feeling sick Sunday Morning. yay. what could it be? hmmmm. THE FLU?!
On top of that my sinus' are going nuts, apparently it's bad here for allergies cause according to the doctor, "stuff is always blowing through the island".
oooookkkaaaaaaayyyyyy....
I've been suckin' down NyQuil and sinus meds for the past 3 days, now they load me down with, Robo plus codeine, claritin, Motrin, flonase AND afrin. I thought afrin and flonase did the same thing but, hey i'm not the doctor. She says I have an upper respiratory infection, oh well at least i'll sleep like a baby, thanx to the codeine.
Dondan comes home from school on Monday feels crummy and has a slight fever, I give him some meds and keep him out of school on Tuesday and BAM! He's bouncing back good as new!

Ever wanted to know...

what it was like back in the day during the Civil rights movement?
The feelings, the mindset and the experience as a whole?
Well, if you didn't get to experience first hand and perhaps you can not travel back in time, here is a way to get a first hand look into the past.
I came across a program on AFN (American Forces Network) it was Andrew Young presents: How we got over, it talked all about the civil rights movement and how the University of Georgia with the help of several partners had put together a digital library. There is an extensive archive of news film reels stored at the university of Georgia donated by several different news stations from that time period.
A group of students and professors put together a project to make this information available to the public. I think it's pretty cool, you can see all the unedited news reels and to get the first hand accounts of the happenings. The good things that happened and the bad violence as well. The truth of it is rather harsh. The blatant hatred and ignorance just boils me, but it was the reality of the times. It sad to think that there are still people today with that same racist mentality.
Making this kind of resource available may help to bring about more awareness and understanding in our society, perhaps a more colorblind nation.
Lots of good info!
I really like the interview with Andrew Young in 1971 when he says that in the United States we have to move to a position where a person can be elected based on merit and not on race or national origin. Reporter Whipkey asks Young if he thinks an African American could be elected president of the United States. Young asserts that he believes it will happen "in our lifetime."

http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/home

Enjoy!

Island life

Here we are in Okinawa, Japan!
The time difference to pacific time is 17 hours ahead. I am talking to you from the future...oooooooo.....aaaaaaahhhhhhh.....
We have made several friends here, one couple i knew from Florida around 7 years ago and another person i actually met on WOW and joined the Marine Corps because of me. So it's been quite interesting around here.
There are many things to learn about and adjust to.
Driving for one is a big change. For example, you drive on the left side of the road and when the light turns green, you don't go, you hesitate. They call it the 3 car rule, but sometimes it's five. Let me explain. You have to wait for 3-5 cars to run the red light before you can go. If you go on green and hit a car running the red light... it's your fault. Also, Americans are considered "professional drivers" which means if you get in an accident with a Japanese driver, it's automatically your fault. Even if your car is parked and they run into you, your fault.
On Kadena, if you are caught speeding....
1st offense - 30 days license suspended
2nd offense - 60 days license suspended
3rd offense - 90 days license suspended
4th offense - lose license 1 yr.
They don't play here, it's very strict. Oh and drifting.... you can't even WATCH a drift event.
Also, if you get in any type of trouble, the Japanese government can intervene and arrest you for an indefinite amount of time. Even your teenagers can be tried as adults for any reason.
If you get a ticket off base... you don't want to get a ticket off base. If you get in trouble off base, they can incarcerate you for 30 days right off the bat, before doing anything with you. There are dependents in jail now for various reasons.
SO, other than that, it's awesome!
There are several schools here on the island. The middle school Mike is going to just opened this year. Dondan's school has very little students, the first and second graders share a class.

Another interesting fact... there is a viper on this island called the "Habu", it is very deadly and is only native to this island. You can only be bitten once. They have an anti-venom, but it only works once, if you are bitten again, you die. So when people are bitten, they move off the island.

okay, that's all for the moment. We have our house and bought a car, pictures to follow eventually.

Happy Birthday

yes, yes, it's my birthday today, BUT...

There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found....

For when they placed it on his head he began to dance around....

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY"