Transgender Children

I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty addicted to "This American Life" and I have been listening to them from the beginning of January onward for the past few months.

I came to February 13th, 2009 and the title is "Somewhere Out there" and it's about finding your "true love" or that one person out there who "gets you".

Well, the 2nd story is about two kids, Lilly and Thomacina, who were both born male but at a very young age felt female. It's the story of them, now 8 years old, and their parents. It's really interesting and if you haven't heard it then you should check it out.

Here is the link http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx

Antique Shopping

Last Sunday I met up with my old friend, Katie "use to be Gillette", and we went antique shopping in Silverton. . . because really. . . what else is there to do? NOT much.



We found some cool old glasses and I forced Kate into letting me take a picture of her wearing them.



Creepy "Angela Cat" on this plate.



At first I wasn't sure what was inside this jar. . . sausages? pig limbs? nope, fake gingerbread men. Morbid.





The most common thing we ran into though, had to be the salt shakers! I even found some really cool old salt shakers that were made out of green glass but they were like 90 dollars. Crazy talk!



You can't tell but this is a lighter and it's the statue of liberty. . .yeah, enough said.

Sleeping with Jasmine

I love sleeping with Jasmine. She is like a starfish.

In the middle of the night I woke up to her saying, "where's daddy? Where's daddy?" . I gently told her that he was in his room. She laid back down, slightly confused. A bit later I wake up to her looking at me and I said, "boo!"
she replied, "where's my mommy? Where's my mommy?"
"She's in her room."
blank stare
"Jasmine, do you want to go to her?"
She nods.
" You can go to her if you want."
She jumps off my bed and goes straight into the closet.
"Hun, that's the closet"
"It's DARK in here and I can't see." she called out from the closet. Once turned around she headed out the door and down the hall.

I found out the next day that she'd thought I was Bethany the whole night. :) You know. . . I'm asian and I have bangs. . . we all look the same really. Hahhahahha.

Hugely Obese

My mom just came in to relay a story my sister in law told her about her friend who is a nurse. Well, this friend apparently has a hugely obese patient who he was sponge bathing. As you can imagine he had to lift up all the folds of fat on this man to clean between them. Apparently, between one of these folds was a half eaten rotten tuna sandwich (ironically I just ate a tuna sandwich before my mom told me this story). There was more to this story but I am sharing this story mostly because I thought it sad. I wish him well wherever he is because we all have the potential to become hugely obese.

Oh, Dahlia child!

So if you don't know my dear niece Dahlia then you probably would be surprised to see this picture. . . but if you do know her. . not so much.

I swear, out of all my nieces she is the MOST accident prone. She has almost cut off her finger, sliced open her forehead, got a tick when she was a baby. . . and I'm sure more that I haven't listed. With this new one she has a count of 11 stitches and she's what. . . barely 2. I'm 26 almost 27 and haven't had any!

On Saturday Paul and Wendee came to Silverton to trick or treat with Beth and Erik and us. Well, everyone slept over and stayed for church on Sunday. Sometime during the evening, while I wasn't there, there was a scuffle with Dahlia and the dogs. Dahlia loves the dogs and the dogs love all their girls. Apparently Dahlia somehow stepped on Sam's hind leg (they have gone bad) and supposedly he scratched her with his paw. In doing so sliced open her lip pretty badly. She was rushed to the ER and stitched up. I heard that at the hospital she was telling them that she wanted stitches on her tummy, arm, etc. She't turning into Salley from, "Nightmare Before Christmas" with stiches all over her.



Poor Dahlia child.

October 31st!!

Happy Halloween!!

Today my sister and he family came and so did my brother, Paul, and his family. In the evening we all went trick or treating. It was fun getting ready for it and walking about the neighborhood.

here are some pics from it.



Jasmine holding her hair for her costume



Her pants have a hole!!! oh, no!!



The finished product



I dressed Beth up in my yukata. She's so pretty. I did her hair and make up too :)



not the best .. not the worst :)



Paul was a pirate :) arrrr



Paul and Wendee family



Erik and Bethany family



sisters :)



Kidlets



heading out



Trick or treat Odis's



Nana and Dahlia



Me and Papa


another house



scary house



Jasmine didn't want to take a picture with me. :)

Dahlia and Teddy

My parents have been in Texas the past week and half and I've been doggy sitting for them. I really love dogs and my parents' dogs are pretty great. Sam is an old Boxer and Teddy is a middle aged Shitzu. Well, Teddy LOVES me. He's a real lover actually. At night he'll curl up next to my leg or make next between my feet. As I've watched them the more I get to know both the boy's habits and how they communicate. It's funny how Pavlov used a dog to test things like salivating at the ring of a bell. . .when I hear a little paw scratching the door I jump out of bed knowing someone needs out. When a little paw scratches the dish bowl. . .well, someone is hungry. When I hear a wimper at the floor I know Teddy wants up into bed. I'm well trained.

One thing I've come to realize is why Teddy and my niece, Dahlia, are such good friends. BOTH of them LOVE shoes. I come home and one of my shoes is in his doggy bed or I find another up on a couch. He doesn't chew them but he. . . takes them to different places. . .to smell?

Where as Dahlia will adorably point out, "Mel Mel's shoes" or "shooooeeeezzzzz, shoooeeeezzzz!" Teddy can appreciate her love of people's tennis.

Aflac

I know I haven't been the best at keeping up on the blog but I don't really think anyone besides my family reads it anymore. But what the hell.

Friday I will be taking the Oregon state Health and Life insurance test. I really don't know how I'll do. I'm pretty sure I'll fail the first time. I feel like I'm learning quantum physics or a higher level math where the lingo is so foreign to me. It's like memorizing just for the sake of shoving knowledge into my brain for the test. My eyes and brain are exhausted.

On the bright side. . I looked out the window today and because it has rained so much the river in front of my house is high enough to kayak even further then usual :) Hopefully in a week I can get out there. . . depends on what the chiropractor says.

Halloween Times

I love the FALLLLLLLL!!!!
I think Fall is my favorite season out of all the season. I love Summer, Spring, and Winter but Fall is my favorite. Bulky sweaters, hot coco (with Baileys or Peppermint Schnapps), layering, leaves changing colors, knitting, quilting, crisp mornings, scarves, etc. The list would go on.

Last Saturday I went to my first costume halloween party!!!! It was pretty crazy. I thought that maybe a few people would be dressed up but most of the guests were dressed in costume.

Here are a few pics from the night's events.



I'm a zombie geisha, Aubrey is a pirate, and Andrea is a fairy/ wood nymph



Zombies love gluten free puppy chow



And wood nymphs.



Joanie was Juno which was easy to remember



There was even a hay ride through the forest.



My friend, Naomi, was a bum! I am proud to say that I thought of this outfit. She didn't really know what to wear.



My friend, Garron, was being a poop and didn't want me to post stuff with his face. . so I quickly Photoshopped Dwights head over his. He came as Dwight.



Andrea likes to awkwardly dance around awkward people. It cracks me up.



Probably my favorite Dwight face. Hee hee hee.



At the end of the night my blood turned into a blood go-tee that kind of coagulated and turned nasty.

Kayaking and making Apple Sauce

This weekend Aubrey and I went kayaking/ canoeing on her lake. Afterwards she taught me how to make apple sauce. Here are the pics from our events.



Aubs getting her canoe out into the water :)



there she goes



she's amazing! Hahahhahah



the lake is really pretty



Me in the kayak







I'm in the kayak as we take this picture



Aubs in the kayak



there she goes



together in the canoe



how low can you go?



Pretty low



There are apple trees next to her lake



yup, it's an apple



Now that is a wormy apple



Okay, it may not look like much but it was.



We love apples. REALLY!



Almost done



My first time making apple sauce