Update on Son

My son sent this email out to family and friends yesterday, saturday 5/16/09 to update them on what has been happening so I thought I'd post it in his own words. He's recovering nicely and almost back to normal which is this first picture.

Day after beating.

Two weeks after beating on April 4th.
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I got some good news and bad news in the past week. Since this is the first time I have written to my whole contact list, let me start at the beginning. I don't want to make this too long so I will just hit the highlights. On 4/4/09, I was assaulted by five guys at the gas station while I was filling up. I was trying to help a young lady who was getting hassled by these guys. I was knocked unconscious very early in the confrontation and don't remember too much. I do remember that as the situation started to come unhinged, I realized that it would be veeery difficult to defend myself since I was still on crutches and wearing a knee brace from having my ligament rebuilt on 3/9.
The end result of the attack was my left pupil was damaged and I have some vision problems in BOTH eyes, damage to the inner ear causing constant ringing and vertigo that persists til today, broken bone on bridge of nose and broken cheek bone which gave me the worst black eyes I have ever seen, damage to the eye socket that makes a sound whenever I blink or move my eyes, sprained left shoulder, bruised clavicle, strained right elbow, aaand I just found out this week that there is more damage to another ligament besides the one repaired in March and more damage to the miniscus which is causing it to lock so that I can't straighten it. That was the bad news this week.
I am still in physical therapy for the ligament repair and I will find out in 2-3 weeks if they will have to do another surgery to repair the knee again. Most of the head trauma is healing slowly. I am still having trouble sleeping, the ringing is as loud as ever, the headaches are getting less frequent but are still pretty severe, and the vertigo is still bothering me every time I stand up (I have to be real careful not to fall down).
But this week I finally got some good news. The police have not been answering my calls and will not return my messages. We called almost daily for the first 3 weeks and finally I got fed up. I figured that since the assault was RECORDED ON VIDEO, it should have been pretty easy to make an arrest. So I finally wrote to my city councilwoman and asked for her to put some pressure on the cops to do SOMETHING. Well I got a call this Wednesday from a Sergeant. He had gotten a call from City Hall and now he had assigned a detective the case (5 1/2 weeks after the fact). He got the tape on Wednesday night, set up a photo array line-up on Thursday, and called me today (Friday) to tell me that he had 3 of the 5 in custody and would probably have the others by Monday. What a relief! Finally some good news from the whole situation. I had, for all intents and purposes, given up on finding these dirtbags. At this point, I am so relieved to have them caught that I don't even care if they go to jail (of course it would be a bonus). At least they know they didn't get away with it. I wish I could have seen their faces when the cops showed up to arrest them. They HAD TO HAVE THOUGHT that they had gotten away with it after 6 weeks. And I hope to get them in civil court to recoup some of the medical costs, too.
So things are looking up. Still a few problems but I am feeling better and the therapy is doing some good. I appreciate all the messages from everyone. I know I haven't been prompt with replies this past week but there are so many things going on and so many good wishes coming in from everyone. Thanks to all who keep me in their prayers but please don't forget to pray for the guys who did this. As much as I need your prayers, I think they need them more.

Chandelier Redo for Pink Saturday 5/16/09

The chandelier top fell out of the thing-a-ma-bob that holds it up there the other day. Hubs said the long screw "tube" was too short so it pulled away from the ceiling but was still held up there by the electrical cord. (What is it with my ceiling fixtures lately?! I tell ya!!) We ran to Home Depot to get a longer one and while it was hanging down there I thought it would be a good time to dust........yeah, I know, I know, I don't do dust, but this was the time to do it if I was EVER going to do it. So I decided to take down the pink chiffon and silk red/yellow roses and put up some netting with pink roses.

Now, hubs is out of town down in California with our son, Keith, to give him and his wife and 2 boys a blessing for all they've been going through. We alllllllll know it's a bad time for this ol' lady to be on a ladder, right?! Yep, you betcha!! However, I'm going to surprise you and tell you that I did NOT fall off the ladder or try to set the kitchen on fire. I took 5 pictures because I wanted you to see it from all angles and how it looks in relation to all the rooms around it. I do love it.

I tied it at the very tippy top (isn't that a cute way of describing it?!) and tied it off tightly with ribbon and then went down every 15-20" and foofed it out and tied it on 5 times to the chain. It is foofed out less at the top and with each successive tie-on the "foof" is bigger. Then I just cut it and let the ends of the netting hang out. The roses are pink paper ones about 3" across on a stem and I just stuck them in there and let the netting hold them. I'll then be able to recycle them again should I wish to do so. This is such a simple, inexpensive (cheap, for those of you in Rio Linda) and beautiful way to cover the chain and make it lovely.

I may try to find some long garlands of faux ivy to twist around it also. Not sure yet. We'll see.

Embellishing Your Jackets & Winner of Storage Shelves

The winner of the giveaway for Cansolidator food storage shelves is:

Cat Nap Inn Primitives

Congratulations, honey!! Now get to working on that food storage.

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I have this white linen jacket that I changed the buttons on but I thought it needed something else. I used this vintage rayon ribbon that I purchased recently to sew on to the lapels. It's a creamy white and it's dirty but you get the idea. I love froufrou-ing up my clothing and all I did was take the ribbon and just twisted and tacked it on. Easy. Try it.

Real Models and Catalogs

*Remember to go to yesterday's post for a giveaway of some food storage shelves! Drawing is this afternoon.

My daughter and I buy a lot of our clothes and shoes from catalogs, thus we are put on a lot of mailing lists for clothes and shoes—not to mention household things also such as rugs, furniture, etc. AND even soy stuff, which I have no interest in whatsoever, having been a devoted Big Mac lover my whole life. (How in the world would we get put on healthy eating catalog lists from clothing catalogs?!?!) But I was thinking about that the other day as I was perusing a couple of new clothing catalogs I received in the mail that day and thought I'd share a few comments with you.

Now, this "happy camper" t-shirt is obviously worn by a model who has never had her hubby drag her off to the wilds of Idaho by a raging river with skunks, bears, teenagers with 4 wheelers and boom boxes, getting there entails driving by sheer rock cliffs that have warning signs stating "Danger, falling rocks" and there are some in the midde of the road we have to dodge to get to said "camp", hunters who "park" their horse and all that entails (p**p), parents who think their babies crying in the night doesn't bother us ol' folks at all.......no sireeeeeee!! Parents: yesssssss, it does bother us and we're pretty forgiving the after listening, smelling and trying to ignore all that noise. BUT "happy camper"???? Nuuuuu, not this chick. I go with Love Bunny to preserve this marriage.

Ultrafirm comfort? There ain't enough "firm" in this world to make a bra comfortable, let me tell ya. And eliminate bulges for a sleek look? There also ain't enough "sleek" to make this body not bulge.

Cools my hot flashes??? Puhleeeeeze. I'd have to stick ice blocks in there to keep this chick cool. Removable padded inserts??? Does a 56DD really need "inserts"? I don't THINK so! Moisture wicking for those workouts??? What workouts? Do you seriously think with 56DD someone would "work out"?! Those puppies would be slapping someone in the face constantly. Hardware free???? Gee, that's comforting to know that they haven't put a wrench or screwdriver in there. Yessireeee!

Now this little wrist purselet is something I could go for—especially in this sassy pink color. But how in the world would I get my lipstick, brush, 3 pairs of glasses, debit card, money, weight watcher weekly tracker, cell phone, Cold Stone Creamery and Subway punch cards, Costco membership card, aspirin tin, keys, camera and butterscotch candies in there??? I ask you!

My kind of camp! Indoors. Okay, okay, so I don't drink anymore. I can make exceptions if it's for medicinal purposes, right?! Don't tell my bishop about this and we'll be "best buds forever", sugar. Make it strawberry, please.......the medicine, I mean. *Wink*

Most magazines and catalogs have those models with long sleek legs (meaning emaciated) to model. This one turned out the local "talent" OR their employees for the photoshoot. I think I see a leg or two that could use some Nair or a razor also, which is the "normal" state of my legs. Sometimes it's so bad I have to clip before I can even shave! Now, while it is kinda nice to see "shapely" legs—it does give me hope here, it is also nice to see "normal" feet, which by that I mean "abnormal." The skinny models do NOT have normal feet to which I am an authority because I can "Photoshop" with the best of them, chicks, and trust me, they usually are, but these photos are NOT. They're "normal" feet, in other words, ugly just like the rest of us. The tattoo adds a touch, but I'll leave it at that.

So when did we get hangers with b**bs?! I swear I've never seen them before. For pete's sake, they'll sexualize anything anymore, won't they? *Sigh*..........

Some of the clothing in catalogs now says "organic", but what does that really mean? I believe it is something relating to or derived from living matter. So if a T-shirt or skirt or pants are cotton or linen or silk, isn't that organic? Works for me! So why do they have to say "organic T-shirts", hmmmmmm?

I think I'll go take a long soak to get "mental" again. Sheeeeeesh.........
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Remember to go to yesterday's post for a giveaway of some food storage shelves!

Organizing with Cansolidator

I'm doing a giveaway for U.S. residents only for a Cansolidator. To enter the chance to win a free shelf for your food storage as pictured here, just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name on thursday 5/14/09.

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I bought these shelves for the cans in my pantry. As most of you know I'm big on food storage and being prepared, not just for disasters but for times of stress and emergency. You just never know what lies ahead for you and your family. Also, I love to eat and the thought of not having food just sends me into a state of absolute panic.

These shelves are called Cansolidator and I love mine. Very sturdy and adjustable so you can put in small cans or large cans. Load from the top and the oldest cans come out first so you don't have to worry about rotating food.

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Shelfreliance also has dried food in cans for storage with a very long shelf life—fruits, veggies, beans, grains and even butter! Yes, butter for food storage. If you've never heard of Potato Pearls then you've got to try them. I have some and use them regularly in place of potatoes and hubs and I love them. They are dried potatoes in a pearl shape that are instant and easy to fix for a crowd of people. My recipe is to add butter and evaporated milk and they are yummy!

This is their brand of freeze dried foods.
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Here is a photo of their 72 hour emergency kits also. Hubby and I have ours sitting in our garage for a quick getaway should the need arise. FEMA even recommends having an emergency kit for each family.
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I truly cannot say enough about being prepared with food and the essentials for hard times. Check them out on the sidebar and pleeeeeeeease, be (or get) prepared!!

Go to Shelfreliance to sign up for their newsletter and check out the food storage items they have on their site.