It's a FANTASTIC DAY!

IT IS A FANTASTIC DAY!!!
Not, "It's going to be..."
It IS.

I have a friend. (I know, congratulations, right?! You do, too? Isn't it great?!) His name is David, the Rev. David, or, as I like to call him, my personal Oracle -- Reiki Master, ordained Minister, spiritual teacher and student, former Circus Clown -- and then a Real Estate Appraiser (go figure). His boss retired and closed the appraisal office this summer; he was out of a job, but he just picked right up and surged ahead with what he was already doing on the side, as the Rev. David. He has a brand-new website! (I will give you the address later.)

More than anything, David is a really good friend. I love him and I trust him and I respect and admire his peaceful, loving, giving, enthusiastic outlook on life -- well, unless you get him started on family or stupid, mean people. Maybe I should say ignorant, instead of stupid, but I digress...and can one digress, when one has not yet identified the essential subject of today's discourse? I don't know. I don't have all the answers, maybe not even any. And wow, isn't today's blog post somewhat rambling and existential? I might have completely lost my ability to write and/or communicate at all, over the last couple of months, distracted and fully absorbed by other Life Stuff, as I have been.

But I do want to talk about it being a FANTASTIC DAY!

So my friend has found his life direction, out of the fear and chaos of rather sudden unemployment. And he has a website. And he has taken to writing a blog, which I L-O-V-E. Not only because he called me out and gave me very specific, personal, inspired guidance and reassurance -- which I greatly appreciate -- (and it wasn't even the bit about it being a FANTASTIC DAY, that wasn't directly to me), but because his blog is so very David: enthusiastic, honest, chatty, funnyashell AND inspiring.

On Day 2 of his wonderful blog, Rev. David talks about "It's a FANTASTIC DAY!" (Actually, the annoying ALL CAPS are mine. He wrote, and I quote: "It's a fantastic day!") He suggests saying that every morning, before getting out of bed, which is what he does. I know maybe it's "hokey" or too new-age/self-help for some, but David is a Reiki Master, forgodssake, and I'm not even quite sure exactly what that is. (I'm learning.) But that's okay. David is openly gay, and that's how he came into our lives, as the new boyfriend of another BFF (years ago), which is a long story and I don't even want to go there, because I have already digressed in so many directions here this morning...but gay, fabulously gay, and committed to our Paul, so that's okay, too, even though, you know, I'm not gay and I don't know much about that, either. That's okay.

We all watch Modern Family on television (Wednesday nights on ABC, 9pm) -- and although I personally identify more with Frankie Heck on The Middle, I know David & Paul see us as the crazy married couple with the three kids represented by Claire & Phil Dunphy on Modern Family; just like we watch and see Cam & Mitchell as so David & Paul, in some ways. David is very Cam, right up to the shining, bald pate; Paul is not so much an uptight Mitchell, and he has dark hair, not red. Paul kind of looks and sounds like Tony Stewart, my favorite NASCAR driver -- GO #14! But anyway, again I digress...

So, "It's a FANTASTIC DAY!"

I said it to myself when I woke up Monday morning: "It's a FANTASTIC DAY!"
And I said it my hubby, "It's a FANTASTIC DAY!"
And the kids. Even on FaceBook, although my brother-in-law quibbled with me about it, just a little. Maybe I was being betchy about "Super Duper" and Barney and all, but I thought he was making fun of me. (I apologized.)

"It's a FANTASTIC DAY!" And it was.

Tuesday morning, I forgot to say "It's a FANTASTIC DAY!" And it wasn't. At all. It was kind of a nightmare, in a crazy, alternate-universe kind of way that my mother is living in now. I spent four hours at the bank with her, tracking down identity theft and someone hacking into her bank accounts. God forbid, somebody takes all her money and she'd have to come live with us?! (NOT)

So today, when I woke up, I said (and told hubby -- and kids, too): "It is a fantastic day!" And, so far, it is.

That David, Rev. David, he is one smart guy.
Check out his NEW website, in progress: www.RevDavidHamilton.com

Perfect Moments

Facebook post - 9/18/2010:
"Grady High School won last night: 61 - 0. Which is kind of hard to even brag about. Perfect football night in our renovated stadium. Ohmygosh, though, the dancers, drill team & flag girls?! Straight out of the movie Baseketball -- not our kids' mothers' high school marching band!!"

We attended our first high school football game, as high school parents, Friday night. It was a perfect night in our newly-renovated football stadium: temperature just right, slight breeze, clear and beautiful. The stands were filled, but not too full, with adults and kids of all ages.

We found friends in the crowd, and 10yo Boy Phenom was ecstatic to find a group of 5th grade boys that he knew from school last year, to hang out with, visit the concession stand en masse and migrate around the home grandstand, freed for a bit from ever-watchful parents and direct scrutiny. While they roamed, 13yo Drama Queen enjoyed the game and watching the marching bands, Home and Visitor, in the stands and during the half-time show.

For this article, I have to refer to 15yo Puberty Angst Boy in some way more fitting, since our 10th grader, a member of the school's Army JROTC program, was selected for Color Guard duty, the presentation of the flags at the beginning of the game. We were so proud of him, as the formation of five cadets carried the colors out onto the field in procession. He carried the rifle and marched on the right of the small group, his weapon at proper Shoulder Arms. It is almost more than I can write about to see my son, so tall and handsome, dressed in his full Army JROTC uniform, serving his school, our community, our country. I wouldn't have thought it was such a big deal, such a proud moment, but it really was. It was a glimpse of the future -- however he chooses to fulfill his personal destiny -- almost overwhelming.

Of course, then he immediately ditched us for the entire game, hiding up in the grandstand with his friends. We never even saw him after he marched off the field. He barely deigned to answer our text messages when we were leaving -- wouldn't even walk home with us. He is 15, after all.

And, oh, what a half-time show! The girls...wow...glitter, sequins, spandex, body parts and hairography (do you watch GLEE?!) we never even imagined possible or appropriate when I was in the flag corps...yes, 25 years ago, but still!

The game itself was a blow-out: 61 - 0. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the other team, but our high school players were impressive. When their individual pictures flashed up on the new Jumbo-tron, they looked like grown men, and I am pretty sure there were college and professional scouts in the stands. We have a good team like that, which is pretty cool, even if this was our family's first football game, our second year at the high school. (Last year, they were renovating the stadium and the games were all played at another high school.)

At the end of the 3rd quarter, it was already 61 - 0, and we were tired, sore (concrete benches), and slightly nauseous from over-sized bags of cotton candy on empty stomachs. We walked home, a quarter-mile across Piedmont Park.

13yo Drama Queen carried her umbrella, swinging and tossing it like the baton girls in the marching band.

10yo Boy Phenom...and these kids are the siblings who constantly fight and bicker, torment and annoy each other, brutally exclude and ignore (at best) -- these kids hate each other, right?! You know how other parents always say, "Oh, but if anyone ever messed with one, the others would be the first to defend and protect!" No. Not my kids.

But...10yo Boy Phenom picked up a stick and walked all the way home -- carrying that stick at Shoulder Arms, military-style -- just like his big brother. That is something I want to remember for the rest of my life. Perfect Moments, indeed.

New Rebel Review Posted - Sept 2010

At the risk of overwhelming you with sporadic activity from a too-long quiet blog, this is to let you know there is a new Rebel Review!

Check it out:
Rebel Review - BOOKS: How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson
"Extraordinary Coming-of-Age for Modern-Age..."

1800PetMeds.com - The Blog That Goes With The Ad

There was supposed to be more blog to that affiliate advertisement that went out in email this morning -- sorry! I DO love 1800PetMeds.com - America's Largest Pet Pharmacy and I enthusiastically endorse them and purchase pet products from them, now in bulk and more regularly than I would like, but there you go: I am rehabbing a broken dog, and the people from 1800PetMeds.com (by email support, phone and even Facebook!) have been incredibly kind and helpful, their products -- and prices -- are great.

Mocha-the-Dog is doing much better, since her spectacular football-esque knee injury mid-squirrel chase in the park on June 30, 2010. She was a broken dog and it was a horrible day, ending with our veterinarian's determination that she would require surgery: $3000 - $5000 TPLO surgery, a fancy new procedure in which the veterinarian surgeon specialist would reconstruct her knee by sawing away bone and installing metal plates and screws and other such hardware to re-build her knee. Better. Stronger. Faster... And that we'd best prepare to have to do the other knee as well -- sooner, rather than later, probably.

$6,000 - $10,000 for doggie knee surgery.
Really?!

Sadly, we couldn't afford that kind of high-tech medical care for one of our children. 13yo Drama Queen has a bad knee...we took her for full evaluation with a pediatric orthopedist: xrays, exam, special brace, orthotics, even a course of Physical Therapy (PT). At $350 per session, we requested a print-out of the suggested PT regimen and told Drama she'd have to PT it at home, with our help and encouragement. We will, of course, re-visit the issue with her pediatrician and if surgery becomes necessary, well, then, thank God for health insurance, such as it is. We'll still end up paying as much, but for a human child, who, I'm sorry, has much greater priority and potential...

My husband keeps pointing out and reminding me of all the very happy 3-legged dogs in the world. Fortunately, we're not to that, yet.

Against our (former) vet's recommendation, we decided to hold off on the immediate TPLO surgery for Mocha; to take some time to research and consider other opinions and options; perhaps get a second opinion, under less trauma and stress.

Fortunately, in my obsessive research in the days following her injury, I came across a very knowledgeable and supportive group online: Conservative Management (Yahoo Groups) and learned more about this specific injury (canine CCL) and alternatives to the aggressive TPLO surgery, both surgical and non-surgical approaches (Conservative Management (CM)). I am very pleased with the CM approach and progress she has made, so we will stick with that for the foreseeable future, as long as she continues to improve with dietary changes, restricted activity and careful physical therapy/rehab, as well as much-needed weight loss and supplements -- products from 1800PetMeds.com. Which is where all this started--so there you go.

I have been using 1800PetMeds.com for years:
Our 75lb Mutt & Saving Money on Pet Medications

Highly recommended!

The Rebel Housewife is an affiliate for 1800PetMeds.com. Please use the links on this site!

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