Check out my blog post for a cool video and other information!!

petersonpeople

All future blogs by me will be hosted by wordpress. This is an awesome site for bloggin, check it out and create a profile and start blogging! And when you do let me know your site name. Here is mine...

my blog

Well, I made a boo boo. About 3ish Mesha and her friend called me from the park, they had been on a bike ride and her bike broke. They needed me to come and get them in the van. So like a good mom I went and got them, laid the seats down, and they held onto the bikes for the ride home. I didn't want to drag the bikes up into the van any further because I didn't want to get bike grease on any part of the seats...well, the rear van door was in the upright position and we drove carefully home, about 1.5 miles. We arrived home without incident until about the last 2 seconds as I pulled into the garage, yeah, can you picture it yet. See below for the real deal.

..">



But alas there is a happy ending, we were quoted $500 from carstar and Stephan ended up finding a place that would a) charge only $300, b) come to our home and do it, and c) do it a day earlier than we had expected, it was same day service! Way to go babe, thanks. He was very understanding. It has been awhile since I have had any sort of car messes, but it seems like when I do I do it up right. Thank God no one was hurt and the car wasn't hurt too badly. I totally take credit for the "women driver" thing, oh well. My husband keeps saying that he is going to get and iphone out of this one. Cast your vote and let me know if you think he should get an iphone for my car goof!

Happy father's day. You are a great father, your children love you and I see the world in your eyes when you look at them, I see your hope for their futures and your desire to help them succeed. Thank you for being a great partner and friend. I am so glad to have you in my life, for being my baby daddy:) We couldn't make it without you, nor would we want to. Your tenderness touches me and inspires me. I hope you know how much we value and adore you. We love you, happy father's day babe.


....

I posted a new video, tell me what you think. I agree and disagree with this "rant" on so many levels, but am curious to hear what others think. Stephan and I are on a new plan, we are not only doing the financial diet with Dave Ramsey, but a low carb diet and workout plan with a personal trainer. It has been fun, and a great way for us to hang out together and get fit at the same time. We are just walking the tight rope, trying to make cautious steps and stay on the path. The first few weeks are the hardest. We are not doing no carb, just lower carb and trying to watch the high fat foods. We are eating so much healthier. The other night I think our family had the most healthy dinner we have ever had...I made a lightly floured seared orange roughy with lemon and garlic, and steamed asparagus spears with a lemon butter sauce. The most surprising was that Stephan ate all of his asparagus, I think I nearly fell out of my chair. Anyway, we now have a stability ball in house, I love it! Youtube has some great workouts for free. In short, we are turning over a new leaf, I just hope these old dogs can learn some new tricks and remember them forever. I was really discouraged with the "fat rant" when she said that 98% of most people who loose weight will gain it back...I choose not to believe it. Tell me what you think!

Weight loss to date:
Rolanda-15 lbs.
Stephan- 8lbs.

..">

So my brother and I went to see 28 weeks later...the sequel to 28 days later. The movie was expectedly fast paced and thrilling as most new zombie movies are. The zombies are fast and not your "Dawn of the Dead" rigor type we all grew up with, these new dead are scary as hell not only because they bite, but because they can outrun you. The scene picks up in Britain 24 weeks after infection, London is being re-populated, clean up is under way etc, etc. I still have to say 28 days later was better in that the story-line was creative, fresh, and unique to the genre, the sequel promises a thrill ride and scare you out of your seat scenes and delivers, but lacks the creativity. I also could have done without all the blood and horrifically detailed scenes, one which included a reunited husband and wife after one had become infected...need I say more. I know you are probably wondering just how someone who enjoys the zombie genre could have the gall to ask for "less" blood and gore. I really believe that you can scare the shit out of an audience with the mere threat of a "dead man walking", or running in this case, after you to kill and eat you with his bare hands. I don't really need the gory details, just a little blood and screams lets me know the deed has been done. By the time he's caught his prey the anticipation is over, I spent most of my time in butt clenching during the chase, and it only lingers for seconds after the attack when I wait to see if the writer is going to give us an, oops I crapped my pants moment where the victim narrowly escapes. Honestly, I always cover my eyes for the really nasty scenes. I wish someone would write a creative zombie movie that uses the viewers own senses to scare, one that shunned the blood and guts but used a believable story-line to grasp the viewers, capture them, and leave them with the same adrenaline, creatively, cleanly, simplistic horror.
Needless to say I had been looking forward to seeing this movie and was glad to have done so. The kids are at Grandmas so mom got to take a holiday and go to the movies. Bottom line, if you don't like to be scared, don't go see this movie.

..">

Ok, so being that cold and flu season are over I am out of kleenex so now that allergy season is in full force my little daughter Emerie has a nasty nose. When she comes up to me with a runny nose I say go get mommy some toilet paper so I can wipe your nose. She always comes back with this tiny little piece of toilet paper, big enough to wipe a mouse's nose. So finally today I said, go get me a piece of toilet paper, and make sure it is big enough to wipe your nose this time, and this is what she brings me...


..">

So mother's day came and went, we had a good day. I love being a mother. I guess for me there are a few goals I have for my children, that if completed, I wouldn't worry about anything else.

1. I want my kids to know God loves them, and that they were created for a bigger purpose, and I want them to love Him back and put Him first in their lives.

2. I want them to love themselves, respect themselves, and do the same to others.

3. I want them to know that I loved them dearly, and sometimes had to sacrifice their pleasure for their ultimate gain.

I think that may be all it would take for me to find my children happy. I know deep down I have desires for them to be successful in love, career, and friendships, but I think if the above are true then the rest should fall into place.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a really happy mother's day.






..">

This is us at O'Charlie's getting a free dinner because someone "forgot" to help us on Mother's day, so after 25 minutes we called a manager over. Wasn't that sweet of them!

So it is time that my 14 year old daughter learns to mow. Stephan, my husband is teaching her the ropes. It went down Tuesday night, the lawn looks good, and much to her dismay, she broke a sweat. She seemed to think it was going to be absolute cake. She was also very surprised when we told her that we mowed once a week, she was like, "What! I thought it was once a month." How observant she is. Anyway, she did a great job and told us she thought $20 would be ample compensation. I was thinking more like $10. Her dad does the trimming and the blowing of the grass, and we supply the mower and the gas. What do you all think is a good price, what would you pay her if she was yours?

So if any of you were wondering how her foot was doing we are going for her final appointment today. We are hoping she gets a release to start diving and running again, I know she misses it. We'll keep you updated.

BTW, check out her lawn mowing shirt, she received the "character counts" award twice this year while at Liberty Junior High. I am really proud of her. I think the awards were for befriending others, and making people laugh.


..">

..">

..">

..">
Daddy, Emerie, and Owen same night

My favorite nursing memory is one I will never forget. I was working general peds at one of the large children's hospitals in Atlanta, they had two but are now merged. I remember that I was fresh out of nursing school and had taken a charge nurse position on a newly created floor. We were so new, so many shifts ended in empty rooms talking and crying on one another shoulder about our mistakes and worries from that day. Nursing is so much more responsibility that one assumes while in nursing school, nurses hold lives in their hands everyday and we were painfully aware of that. It was sink or swim, and so we swam, with all our might.

It was a lovely spring day when Carl came, he gave us a glimpse into what nursing should be: compassion, caring, and more than incident reports and nasty doctors, it was about the patients and what they could teach us.

All we heard is that we were going to get a little boy from the special procedures room, that he was severely developmentally delayed and had cerebral palsy, if my memory serves me well, he was about 7. Nothing too out of the ordinary for us, being a pediatric hospital cerebral palsy, new g-tube, developmental delays, that was all commonplace. What I wasn't prepared for was the rest of the story.

Carl's mother had brought him in for the scheduled g-tube placement, but she had told the nurses and staff that she would not be there to pick him up, she had decided to leave him, that she had enough. I don't know what she was going through, or how many mouths she had to feed, her financial strains etc. I can't even begin to guess about her circumstance, and won't judge her. All I know is that that day and the weeks ahead changed my life.

Carl was to be my patient and when I received him he was a little more than a handful. He was a curious little african american boy, long legs that were kind of curled up from the CP, we assumed they didn't work but Carl would soon show us otherwise. He had horrible buck teeth and very foul smelling breath, he was kind of messy and needed a bath, and he wasn't happy to be there.

I began his day by administering his medications and performing the routine care of his newly revised g-tube, and then got set to bathe and brush his teeth. Easier said than done. He fought the teeth brushing with every ounce of energy he had, which I can assure you was a lot. It took about three nurses to freshen up that mouth. Then we put him in the bath, he fought and cried, and at this point I didn't want his first day to be trauma especially after being away from his mother. I was about to say forget the bath when something magical happened. The baby bath we were using had started to make bubbles and he began to quiet down and notice them, I quickly put more bubbles in the tub and ran more water until the bath was full of bubbles. His eyes danced and he smiled and laughed and splashed and hollered. Carl had never had a bubble bath.

To sum up Carl spent the next three months with us. I am not sure how he didn't get placed in foster care. He was waiting for placement in a home for other children like him. Each day brushing his teeth got easier, and baths became something he looked forward to. He opened up to us and showed us that he knew how to crawl, and crawl fast. One of the night nurses told me that first night in his bed she heard something crawling along the floor in the hall, it was Carl. He had crawled out of his bed and was crawling the hallways, we had no idea he was so mobile. Soon he showed us how he much he loved to be carried around the unit by wrapping those legs and arms around us, he would hook one of his arms around our head and pop his thumb into mouth as if to say, " your not going anywhere." He would sing in his very own special way, his favorite was 10 little indians. Indulge me for a moment while I attempt a rendition: " hun hitto who hiddo hee hiddo hindians, hore hiddo hive hiddo hix hiddo hindians." It was absolute bliss to hear him sing. And when another man would enter his room he would calmly take his thumb out of his mouth and say, "huts up ma", someone had taught him to say, what's up man. Everyday Carl had something new to show us and we loved him so. By the end of his stay we all wanted to take him, or keep him there with us. But they had found him a home. Father Purcell's children's center.

He is 17 now. I call and check on him from time to time. They say he very happy and goes to school everyday. I am glad he is doing well, but I doubt that he ever know the impact he had on me. I will never forget him. Goodspeed "man."