CJ's First Date, oh my!

I found a note this morning on CJ's computer. I was gathering up all the laundry and found it. A whole front page! LOL!! It was so darn cute I put a date on it and kept it. He was asking if he could go out on a date with his new girlfriend of 2 weeks!! They want to see the new Hanna Montana Movie here in town. She is a couple month younger then him and they will be going with 3 other girls. LOL!! Joe and CJ have a TON of girls that are their friends and not really any guy friends. I called Chuck and read him the note over the phone. We both thought it was so cute! CJ was afraid to ask me face to face because he didn't want me to say "no". LOL!

We think it's fine as long as I drop him off at the theater and then pick him up there. Man, can't believe I'm in the next phase of life with these guys, GIRLS!! LOL!! Next will be driving and more serious dating, YIKES!! Hope I live to see them graduate, LOL!! You should see all the girls that flock around both of them! It's kind of funny really. I haven't met this girl yet so I'll have to do that. I'm NOT going to be letting him go to their house to hang out though. He hasn't asked but I know that will come. I don't mind if she comes here though. I can keep on eye on them better! So, we'll see how this plays out.

The boys might have an away Tennis game today, I need to find out so I can cancel their music lessons. I will be going to the Church here soon to help cut up veggies and help with making Subs. The kids sold a bunch to help pay their way to camp. CJ made almost enough money to pay his way. We just had to pay a dollar! LOL! Camp is $140 this year, he made $139. LOL! He got money for camp by selling those Chocolate Easter eggs too.

Becky, I hope Tater pulls through. Know that I am thinking about him and praying that he'll do just fine! Glad you got him to the doctor when you did! Poor little thing! Hope he comes home soon!

Beach and Joe

I did manage to go to the beach and look for sea glass. I found a few good pieces. I ended up getting sun burnt too! OUCH! Not too bad though. I walked around for about 3 hours. I should have taken a jacket, it was very windy and I was actually cold! Here was my take.

Can you see the 2 tiny dark blue pieces? That color of blue is SO HARD to find!! I pick up even the smallest of blue pieces! That big white piece is the bottom of a bottle, even has numbers on it. So, not bad for one day. I want to fill this jar by the end of summer.

There were a lot of people down there doing the same thing as me. Guess it's a popular hobby! I saw some folks skiing with giant kites. All the white you see in this picture are shells!!! You do NOT want to walk on those with bare feet!! OUCH!!!

Yesterday I got an email from Joe's music teacher. He wondered where Joe was on Saturday night. Come to find out Joe had a concert for the JR. Phil, at the Warner Theater. They were to play in the lobby while folks where coming in. Joe NEVER said a word about it. All he said was, "Mom, there is a paper in my folder for you." On Tuesday night when he came home from JR. Phil. It was 9pm and I was tired and busy. He never took the paper out and gave it to me and I guess I forgot about it. So, he missed his concert!! Not the main one, that is this Thursday. Chuck and I were VERY upset!! All we did that night was lay around and watch TV! Joe does this. He does it with Band, he'll get in the truck when I pick him up and he'll say, "Oh yeah, we have a concert tonight." He just doesn't remember to tell us anything!!! I'm so upset, because he only plays 2 concerts a year and it would have been nice to play another one. ARG!!!!

Friday

Yesterday while taking the boys to school we saw the most awesome FULL DOUBLE rainbow!!!! It was wonderful!!! I stopped to take a picture and I realized that I forgot my phone at home, so I used CJ's but I didn't know I had to press the save button and when I gave the phone back to him it died, so I have no picture of it and it was gone by the time I got home. We had a short storm and it cleared up to be a beautiful day!

I went out with a friend of mine from high school. I had dinner with her, her husband Ron and their 6 year old son James. Then Debbie and I went to see the movie "17 Again" which was really good. The only bad thing was I got a BAD migraine half way through the movie. By the time the movie was done I was in MAJOR pain and as soon as it said "The End" I ran out! LOL!! Debbie had no idea I was so sick so she wondered why I had run out like that. I was trying VERY hard not to throw up all the way back to her place. I ran out of her car and into her house and went and right into her room and laid down! LOL!! Ron wondered what the heck I was doing. Debbie had to tell him I was really sick when she came in. I laid there for over an hour before I thought I could drive myself home. It's a 40 minute drive! I barely made it home and I collapsed into my bed. I feel better this morning. I feel so bad that I was so sick. We don't get together as often as we used to because she works 2 jobs. SIGH!!

Today is going to be a hot one! I already have my A/C on!! I live in a hot box and if I don't turn it on it will be over 90 in my house by 3pm. It got over 80 in here yesterday and it was SO HOT all night long. I'm SO GLAD I have central air in here!! Makes the summers fly by! LOL! I might go down to the beach today and search for sea glass. One summer I got a pint jar filled with the stuff. I didn't go much last year since I don't live right by the beach any more. Here is a picture of our beach.

Shaheen Jafargholi - 12 Year Old Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009

Wow, this kid is REALLY good!! I watched this a few times. It's wonderful!! Just click on the picture!!!

Better Today

I am feeling MUCH better today! I went to SNAP this morning and walked the treadmill and came home and vacuumed the whole house. I now realize that the pain pills I was taking were making me VERY sick! I would all of a sudden get REALLY nauseated and break out in a sweat and I would lay on the couch sweating and moaning and then it would go away and I'd be really cold and then it would start again and I would be sweating and then cold. It would do this for hours! I thought it was just because of the surgery. I stopped taking the pain pills on day 3 and felt better but my stomach still hurt but I could live. Then I went to a party at the church and I helped clean up. I ended up hurting pretty bad and had the starts of a headache so I thought I would take a pain pill and lay down and watch tv the rest of the night. WRONG!! I got VERY sick again with sweats and chills and bad nausea for over 6 hours. I was sick all day yesterday too but not with being hot and cold just nauseated to the point that I would have to lay down. So, had I not taken any pain pills I would have had a MUCH better recovery!! Who knew!!

My pepper plants have FINALLY come up!! YEAH!! I'm glad about that. Can't wait to get everything planted.

We have an Amish crew just down the road cutting the neighboros woods. Chuck is not going to be doing any more cutting he'll be having Amish crews do that from now on. He went fishing on Saturday for maybe 2 or so hours and was in pain all the next day. It makes him mad that he can't do simple things like that without being in pain. It's going to take a VERY long time for him to fully heal. He still walks with a limp. I wish he would do physical therapy but he feels it wouldn't do any good.

Beautiful Day!

Today was SO nice out! I actually wore shorts today!! We all took a ride WAY out into the country today. I sat with my window all the way down all the way there and back. Chuck had to talk to an Amish guy out in Spartinsburgh today about the job they will be starting here on our road next week. Amish don't have phones so we had to drive all the way out there! It was a very beautiful drive though. We ate lunch at the one restaurant they had there in town and it was really good. Didn't get home till about 4pm.

I took CJ's glasses in this morning to Wal*Mart and they put them in the other frames no problem and it took about 5 minutes. CJ is glad to have them back as next week is the week long testing in school.

I'm feeling much better though it still hurts to laugh! I also STILL can't sleep on my side so I haven't been getting good sleep. I HATE sleeping on my back but when I turn on my side it causes me great pain and I have no idea why. It feels like it's pulling so I just lay on my back.

My tomato plants that I started indoors have all come up but the hot peppers have not. I do hope they come up, if not I will be buying plants at the nursery this year for hot and not hot peppers. My sister, Kitty, started some for me and she said hers all came up. I'm hoping this week they will. Last time I did peppers NOTHING came up!!

Thursday News

Today was an okay day. I'm feeling some what better but I still hurt. It's like I did 5,000 sit ups in about 5 minutes. My whole stomach hurts like I worked out too hard, LOL!! But it looks good and is healing just fine.

Yesterday I had a reaction to the IV and my whole arm swelled up and got red and hurt really bad. We went right to the doctors thinking it was infected but it wasn't and they said just wrap it up in a heating pad, which made it feel much better! Today it's a little red but no longer swollen, still hurts but much better. Odd, I never had that reaction to an IV before.

CJ broke his glasses today, he just laid his arm down on them and they snapped in half. Joe has the exact same frames and told CJ he could have them since he no longer needed them. I thought that was nice of him. Joe has decided that the free glasses he got are pretty good and he no longer wants to put lenses in his old frames so CJ can have them. I will have to have that done tomorrow. CJ needs them to read or he ends up with headaches.

Joe was supposed to play Tennis at today's match but he's on the bottom and the other team didn't have anyone to play the exhibition match so he didn't get to play. He really wanted too though. I was SO ready to go home after an hour.

Today I noticed that there was a puddle of oil under my truck. I will be calling Dean in the morning and letting him know about it. It must be the rear end they put in something is leaking somewhere.

Had lunch with the girls today and had a really good time. They had me laughing so hard that my stomache hurt! Sometimes we can be a really rowdy bunch on Thursdays!

Stuff

Well, got my truck back yesterday, FINALLY!! At least it runs REALLY good now!! I can go through water without being thrown across the road, that's nice. I don't shake really bad either. It drives really smooth! Had Dean change the oil too. We are all glad to have my truck back!

Joe was supposed to have a Tennis match yesterday but just when they were going to start it started raining and it was canceled. So, here is CJ and I in Ashtabula 2 and a half hours before he starts gymnastics! We went to Wal*Mart and got some chocolate bunnies that were marked down and then I just dropped him off early and went to the library. By the time I got home I was crying. I was so miserable and in pain! I should have stayed home. I was gone from 3:30 till 9pm. I went straight to bed when I got home too. I even fell asleep sitting up around 11am and slept till Dean called at 1pm to tell me my truck was done. Good thing or I wouldn't have picked the kids up from school!

Today, I took them to school and came right home. I will pick them up and come straight home. If Joe's Tennis match is today, seeing if the rain goes away, I won't be going. I will stay right at home and NOT go anywhere!

Joe's Band Teacher

Update: I see a LOT of people coming to this post to find out about Jeffery A. Bickle. If you want to know more about this case click HERE.



Joe's all time favorite teacher is his band teacher, Mr. Bickle. This was in yesterday's paper. Joe is VERY upset, poor guy!

Police arrest teacher in sex-with-student case

CONNEAUT — A 25-year-old Conneaut Middle School music teacher appeared in Conneaut Municipal Court Monday afternoon on charges he had sex with a 17-year-old high school student over the past several months.

Jeffrey A. Bickel, 275 Whitney St., faces five counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, and one count of disseminating material harmful to juveniles, a fifth-degree felony, according to court records.

Bickel surrendered to authorities Monday afternoon, accompanied by attorney Paul Conn of Youngstown. After a brief hearing before Conneaut Municipal Court Judge Thomas Harris, Bickel went to city jail, where he was booked and fingerprinted.

He was released on a personal recognizance bond, a court spokeswoman said. A preliminary hearing will be held at 11 a.m. May 12.

Each of the sexual battery charges carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine. The disseminating-material charge carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and $2,500 fine. If convicted, Bickel faces a possible 26-year jail sentence.

Sexual battery charges were filed because the alleged victim is a student in an “institution of higher learning,” where the alleged offender is “a teacher, administrator, coach or other person in authority,” according to a copy of the arrest warrant.

As a condition of his release, Bickel must stay away from all Conneaut schools, including several neighborhoods surrounding Conneaut High School; may not attend any school function in Conneaut or in Ohio; and cannot contact the girl or her family, according to court records.

Conneaut Detective Sgt. Charles Burlingham said police began their investigation after receiving a call from Ashtabula County Children’s Services a few weeks ago.

The Children Services Board contacted police after receiving an anonymous complaint about a Conneaut teacher having sexual relations with a student.

During the course of the investigation, police obtained search warrants late last month. According to court records, officers sought cellular telephone and computer data from Bickel’s home.

Court records do not yet indicate what material — if any — police took from the home.

An affidavit police filed with the court to secure the search warrants provided some information about the investigation. The girl denied having a relationship with Bickel when interviewed at CHS last month by police and a CSB representative, according to the document. One day later, police and the CSB representative spoke with the girl’s parents, and her mother said her daughter admitted she and Bickel had been exchanging calls and text messages and had “sexual relations” in November or December.

None of the encounters occurred on school property, Burlingham said.

The pair had intercourse on “several (occasions),” according to the affidavit. On one occasion, Bickel reportedly sent nude photos of himself via his cellular telephone to the girl, police said in the affidavit.

Bickel is the music teacher at Conneaut Middle School and assistant marching band director, according to reports. He reportedly began working for the Conneaut Area City Schools District last fall.

Police said they believe Bickel was recently placed on leave.

Kent Houston, CACS’ superintendent, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday. Earlier, Houston was seen entering a meeting with Burlingham, Conneaut Law Director Lori Lamer and Luke Gallagher, assistant law director.

Prior to the meeting, Gallagher said Bickel’s alleged conduct was reported to school administrators “at some point” late in 2008 but that information was not shared with police or Children’s Services, Gallagher said. State law obliges school officials to contact authorities with such complaints, Gallagher said.

A message left for Conn at his Youngstown office was not returned immediately Monday afternoon.

All Went Well

Today my surgery went well. Got there at 8am and I was supposed to have it at 9am but she was running behind. Didn't get back there and started till 11am. It was odd to be rolled down the hallway looking up at the lights going by. I don't remember falling asleep at all.

I woke up and they gave me something for the pain and I went back to sleep. I could NOT seem to wake up!! I have NEVER been THAT tired!! Finally around 3:30 they made me sit up and eat something to wake me up so I could go home. I finally got home at 5pm. They pain isn't too bad at all, I'm just tired. I slept the rest of the day and it's now 10:15pm and I am finally awake enough to be on the computer for a bit.

Joe is on the schedule for playing Tennis so he won't be going to his JR. Phil. I can't wait for JR. Phil to be done. April 30th is his concert and then we are done with that. Tennis will be done around May 7th.

Easter Sunday!

Well, it's Easter Sunday. I made the boys baskets last night and they each got little gifts. CJ got a nice watch and Joe got some of those rubber shoes and a couple months on his game that he plays. CJ's loves his watch but I just grabbed it and paid at the register so I don't have the instructions for it since I didn't pay at the jewelry counter, LOL! I'll have to check it out online. But, you don't have to set the time, it does it via satellite They got a lot of chocolate of course. NO GRASS!! I don't do grass ever since I saw some hanging out my cats butt!!! EEWW!!! They like to eat the stuff! That is why we don't do tinsel too!! Nothing like seeing Christmas Tree Tinsel hanging out the cats butt!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to church this morning and then came home to change. The shirt I bought to wear to church was a size too big. It's a low cut front and I had to keep trying to pull it up so my cleavage wasnt' showing! YIKES!! Then we headed over to the in-laws. I made rosemarina salad (of course) and I made deviled eggs. Chuck usually eats about 12 of them himself so there is never enough.

We had a good time and we were home a little after 4pm. I am doing up all the laundry and sweeping the whole house and mopping the kitchen floor because tomorrow I am going in for surgery at 8am. I am having my tubes tied, they don't really tie them but they burn them. Since we have insurance I wanted to have this done before we lost the insurance. I've been wanting Chuck to have it done since Joe was 5 but he just never has. So, I'm taking it upon myself to have it done. I would HATE to have an "accident" right now or even later! YIKES!!!

So, that is up for tomorrow and I'm not sure how I will feel. Chuck is taking the boys out to eat tomorrow so I have NOTHING to worry about tomorrow. They are taking the bus to school and my mother-in-law will pick them up and take them to her house to get their homework done and then she will take them to Tennis practice at 3:30. Chuck will pick them up from there. Not sure how I will feel for the next day. Chuck can take them to school but Tuesday is the day that one kid goes one way and the other kid goes another way. We'll see how it goes when the time comes.

Books and Movies

You know, I think books are so much better than the movie. I saw this movie on TV the other month called Dolores Claiborne and I decided to get the book. I got the book on CD from the library and put it on my iPod. Not sure if you have ever seen the movie, it's a Stephen King book. But last night I was listening to it in bed and it got to the part about where she kills her husband by making him fall into a 30 foot dry well. In the movie he just falls in and dies but not in the book!! Man, it was SO GOOD that I had to make myself turn it off at 12:30am because I knew I needed to get some sleep! LOL!!

Man, the book is really good. Now, to find another one to listen too, LOL!!

Started some seeds in the house to plant in the garden here soon. Mostly just tomatoes and peppers. The rest I can just plant right into the garden. Hopefully we will get it tilled up here soon.

SNOW!!

Okay, I thought it was spring???? Yup, it's snowing here and coming down pretty good too. I wonder if spring will ever come and stay?? Here I'm thinking about getting my garden going and it goes and snows!! ARG!!!

Sandy's New Bone

This is Sandy's first "Big Girl" bone! I bought her a much smaller one the day before and she had it gone in an hour! So, when I was at Wal*Mart I bought her the biggest one they had! She can barely carry it around! She hasn't had any bones all year so I really wanted to get her one but it sure didn't last long. So far, this one is still around and probably will be for some time now, LOL!!

Easter Eggs

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at the church making chocolate covered eggs. We make Peanut Butter, Maple Walnut and coconut. They are 10 oz before you dip them in chocolate. CJ was going to go but he woke up in pain still and didn't want to go. He raising money to go to youth camp so my hours go towards that. I had a really good time. The only problem was the frosting. It was SO runny!! No matter how thick I made it, it ran. I told them their recipe stank and they needed a new one made for decorating and they needed to use frosting bags and not some contraption. Needless to say I am now in charge of frosting and will be for years to come, LOL!! I don't mind, cuz they really needed a new recipe!

The men mixed the batches up.

Then you have to weigh it so that it's 10 oz.

Then you have to shape them to look like potatoes.

Then they get dipped in chocolate.
Then we put them in the fridge to harden then we have to cut the excess chocolate off the bottoms so they will fit into the containers. The excess chocolate doesn't work so well to re-use so we get to take it home. I'm going to make chocolate suckers with mine! Here is a Dean cutting off the excess chocolate.
Then once they are in the containers I go around putting on the frosting. It's supposed to be a pink flower with a leaf but really it's just a pink blob with a green blob, LOL!!! Here is a bunch ready for lids. Wendy's in Girard donated all the containers!

Then we put lids on them and stickers and packed them up into boxes ready to be sold. We sell them for $5 an egg. I think we made over 300 eggs yesterday. I don't remember. Here is Kenny packing them up.

I was there for 5 hours and I can't believe how TIRED I was the rest of the day!!! I was totally wiped out. I guess I'm going soft! LOL!! If we sell out this Sunday we will be doing this again on Thursday and I will make a new batch of frosting and use frosting bags and the flowers will look like flowers! LOL!!

Bloody Noses

Well, at noon today the school nurse called me and said CJ was having a bloody nose and it was REALLY bad. We get this a lot. CJ has them all the time. In fact, this was the third one this week. They last about an hour and he does bleed all over the place. He was at lunch and got up cuz he knew he had one and went to the bathroom and got it all over the mirror, sink and floor and had to call the janitor. They made me take him to the ER. Good grief! So much for lunch with the girls this week. I was going to leave in 15 minutes when I got the call.

So, took him to the ER and the doctor we like was there and joked around with CJ and they were both laughing most of the time. We told him about the other doctor and what happened and he wasn't too happy about it. The doctor said he was the head of ER and he wanted to know who it was. I had no clue and just said it was last month sometime.

I felt so bad for CJ, the doctor had to use silver nitrate and burn the vessel that keeps breaking open causing the nose bleeds. He numbed the area but CJ still shook, turned really red and cried. This is a guy that never cries because he is hurt so I KNEW he was in some major pain.

Then the doctor got this long piece of gauze covered in Vaseline and rolled it up and shoved it up his nose! He has to keep it there till Saturday morning. It's SO uncomfortable for him. He has this weird band aide over it too. The doctor told the nurse, "Okay, bring me the nose sling" LOL!!! CJ couldn't stop laughing and then the doctor couldn't stop laughing! LOL!! Love that guy!

The doctor said no school tomorrow and no gymnastics tonight. He gave me a note to give to the school. CJ and I went back to the school since all his stuff was still there. There is no school next week for spring break so we wanted to be sure to bring it all home. The nurse felt better knowing that CJ will probably not have bloody noses any more. She felt bad when she saw him, he looks terrible! I gave the school the note so I don't have to worry about calling them tomorrow. We waited in the back parking lot for an hour till school let out and got Joe and went home.

By the time we got home his nose REALLY hurt since the numbing had worn off. He's been in his room all night and he so wants to take out that gauze. He keeps sneezing and that isn't helping either. Tomorrow is the day we make chocolate covered eggs at our church. They are 10oz BEFORE you dip them! They are SO good. CJ wants to go but we'll see how he feels. I will still go. CJ was selling eggs to earn money for camp this summer. He gets paid to make them too. That is why I am going so he can get credit for it. We'll have to see how is doing.

Chuck and I went into town and dropped Joe off to Tennis practice and then went over to Dean's Auto. Found out that the problem with my truck is the 4X4. It is wanting to lock but it won't let it so it shakes my whole truck like crazy. This whole time I thought I had bad tires. They aren't sure why it's wanting to do that so they have to figure that out. In the mean time, Dean gave us his plow truck to drive around because only have one truck isn't working. Chuck can't work since I have to get the boys at 2 and then run them all over. Then on Tuesday's I go one way and Chuck goes another with each boy. So, I thought that was really nice of him to let us use his truck till mine is done. Dean took the plow off the front.