No judgement here, only curiosity.  I've got this poll going on elsewhere, too, with interesting results so far.  So which religion do you consider yourself???  Post your answer in a reply - anonymously, if you'd like...

It's been a long time since I posted here on my Bravenet Journal, so I thought I'd pop back in and put a new one up.  I've got three different places I'm using right now - Bravenet, Yahoo 360, and MySpace...I've made those last two active links, in case anyone else has spots there and wants to pop in and say 'hi', or be my 'friend' at one of those places...

Bryson had his operation on March 29th because of an emergency case that came in and had to have his spot on the 27th.  He came through it fine, though he is still dealing with some pain and tenderness, and the occasional headache.  We got some really good news afterward (from Bryson, not the docs) - his memory and cognitive function are back to normal and his hearing is much better.  Now he still failed his hearing test at school after the surgery, but they said that his hearing is at the level that it was at around 3 years ago - some loss, but not nearly as bad as he'd been experiencing prior to the operation.  The ringing in his ears is also gone, now.  Before the operation, he was having lots of problems with short-term memory loss, confusion, etc - now he's back at a fairly normal 13 year old level...typical issues with being organized, but he can at least remember what he's supposed to be doing and where he's supposed to be going.  Of course, according to the docs, those problems weren't related to the Chiari Malformation.  But it's awefully odd that within a week of the operation (when he started staying awake for more than a few moments at a time) the problems were gone or going away.  The only bad thing he's experienced (other than the initial pain) is that he lost 15 pounds that he really didn't need to lose!  Because of all of his other operations, and genetics on his Dad's side, he's always been thin - after this surgery he was practically cadaverous.  He's starting to put some of the weight back on now, though, thank goodness!

Billy's band is trying to get things set up in their new practice space and start playing again.  It's been a long and very slow process so far.  Every time we set a date to move the drums (w/Billy's pickup truck), it rained and we couldn't.  We finally got those moved on Easter weekend, and now the singer's wife is expecting to pop out another baby any time now, if she didn't do it last night.  (Between "his", "hers", and "theirs", this makes #6...)  Hopefully all will go well and the guys can get together this weekend.

My youngest, Zack, has been having fun playing archeologist.  In a recent big storm, a tree fell over at his school, and his class has been digging around in the hole that was left.  They've found pieces and parts of plates, bowls, bottles, etc.  Most of them are not old by any means, but they've still had tons of fun.  They've found a few pennies & such, too.

I've just found out that my 15th high school reunion is coming up in July.  Part of me can't believe that I've been out of school for that long, but considering that I got married two days after graduation, I can't believe that I'll be celebrating my 15th wedding anniversary in another 5 1/2 weeks, either!  Anyone who might have a reunion coming up, remember that these days you can easily find a website for most schools out there - we no longer have to worry about whether the reunion coordinators can find us, or not - all we have to do is check the school's site & find the right contact info...that's how I found out about mine!

I hope my friends out there have been having good luck in all they've undertaken...

For those who are wondering where I am, or where I've been - I have to confess that I've been using Yahoo's "360" a lot more often these days.  No particular reason, other than that I like their set-up.  But I will still post things here, as well.  If anyone has a 360 account w/Yahoo, you can see my blog/journal/page on there - my YID is dixiesweetheartnc.  If you don't, just keep checking back here - I may not post every single day, but I haven't forgotten my Bravenet friends!

My oldest son, Bryson, has major surgery coming up on the 27th.  He has a condition known as Chiari Malformation w/syringomelia (LINK) and will be having a Chiari Decompression.  This is sort of a combination of brain surgery, spinal surgery, and skull surgery, all in one - they will be removing 1/2 to a whole vertebrae from his spine, removing a small section of his skull, and opening the dura (tough covering of the brain) and inserting a patch.  It is a pretty painful operation, with a long recovery.  I would really appreciate any prayers, good thoughts, or positive/healing energy, that anyone would like to send his way!  Thanks! 

BTW, anyone got an answer to what happened to Spring???  We had Spring/Summer weather during the Winter, and now all of a sudden we have Winter back.  We had only gotten about 1/2 inch, total, of snow/sleet/freezing rain during our entire Winter season (usually get at least 6"), and then on March 20th (1st day of Spring, Vernal Equinox) we had sleet all day.  And it's been cold ever since.  I want my Spring back!!!

See ya 'round on the journals, though I will be gone most of next week while he has his surgery...

Wherever you are,

and wherever you go,

may the luck o' the Irish

be with you...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to one & all !

Well, I'm no longer bored, LOL.  My youngest got up coughing this morning, and he's been coughing for a while now, so I decided to go ahead and take him to the doctor.  For his own health's sake, and because his brother has surgery coming up in 2 weeks, I wanted to know why he had this cough.  I didn't really think much about asthma.  I mean, I have it, but it didn't really cross my mind that he could, since he's been pretty healthy all his life.  (Except for seasonal allergies, occassional migraines, and one bout with some weird rash thing called Erythema Multiforme - minor form...but that's a whole different story.)  Anyway, I was thinking along the lines of this cough being an allergy thing, but wanted to make sure that he didn't have bronchitus or something.  So off to the pediatrician we went.  His regular doc was in with another patient, so we saw a different one this time.  She's very nice, and examined him thoroughly and said that it may very well be asthma starting.  She said to put him on Claritin for the allergies, and prescribed an inhaler for him for the wheezing she could hear (with the stethoscope) in his chest.  She said to give it a try, and if it helped....well...then we're probably looking at asthma.  We went to the pharmacy and filled the prescription, and he took a couple of puffs and said that he felt better.  He still had the cough, but he may be like me - the allergies make the asthma worse, so I have to treat them both, or I cough a lot, too.  Anyway, I gave him a Claritin, but it hadn't had time to work by the time I dropped him off at school.  So I guess we'll see how he's doing when he gets home from school this afternoon and everything's working...

On a side-note, when we got to his school, they had the annual book fair going on, so we went in and took a look.  It's mostly kids books, though there are a few that are interesting for adults, too.  I found several that are diaries of people through-out history.  Some of them have fictional characters, but real historical events, and I think one or two of them may be of real people and real events.  Anyway, they were on the mark-down table, and looked good, so I snagged them.  I love reading about history, especially if it's presented in an interesting way...

Welcome to March - a few days late, LOL.  With time slip-sliding away from me, I haven't taken the opportunity to get in here in a week or so. 

Thursday we had the best weather yet this season -- mid-70's & clear skies.  It was so beautiful outside, and my flowers have loved it.  Where before I only had crocuses up & blooming, I now have daffodils doing the same.  And my hyacinths are just starting to bloom - well, one of them is, the others just still have buds on them, waiting.  My tulips and irises are coming up, too, though no buds on them yet - it's way too early yet.  My neighbor's yellow forsythia bushes are blooming now, too, so we're getting some color into the yards.  It's about time!  On another flower-related note, my irises have been in the ground for like 3 years now, but have never bloomed because I planted them too deep.  Imagine my surprise when I saw their roots up at the top of the ground (like they're supposed to be) the other day.  So, either they have put off 'babies' (they do that) that grew up near the surface, or some helpful squirrels have dug the dirt off.  But there are no holes, and these roots are smaller, so I'm guessing they have to be babies.  The squirrels are responsible for planting my crocuses, though, believe it or not.  I'd lived here probably 7 or 8 years and never planted crocuses, when all of a sudden at the end of one winter, they popped up in the middle of my flower bed and started blooming.  Apparently the squirrels had stolen the bulb from someone else's flower bed and hid it in mine, then forgot to come back and eat it later, so it bloomed. 

Now we have cold weather again.  I wish it'd make up it's mind - we're all going to be sick at this rate.  But Spring is on it's way, so I'm happy.  I love Winter, if it snows, but when it doesn't and everything's just dead looking, it's fairly depressing. 

¡Recepción, resorte!  Bienvenue, ressort!  Добро пожаловать, весна!  Willkommen, Frühling!  Benvenuto, molla!  Welcome, Spring!

Let's see - what else has been going on?  I witnessed one hell of a wreck Thursday morning.  I was driving to the store when a car whipped out of a parking lot, crossed a couple of lanes of traffic, and ran straight into the car that was in the lane beside of me (luckily she was slightly ahead of me).  That car then came over right in front of me and ended up up an embankment.  The car that did the hitting came to a stop about 80 feet or more down the road...they were hauling ass when they hit her.  I called 9-1-1 and stayed with her, and they ended up taking her out in an ambulance because her head and neck were hurting really badly.  She was a really sweet lady, so I hope she's okay...

War has broken out on a List that I'm a member of.  This list is for people who have, or who's children have, certain medical disorders.  It's a wonderful place, and usually all goes smoothly, except that there seems to be one faction that likes to stir the pot every now and then.  Well, I posted something the other day and they decided to get out their spoons and stir, so now everything's a mess.  It's riddiculous!  And it's not the first time they've done it.  But, they'll subside back into the mix after a little while - just like in the past...only to stir again another day.  (Can you tell I'm hungry?  I'm using cooking terms, LOL...)

Other than that, I'm just trying to fix up some things around the house, keep the housework done (hard to do with three guys of various ages living here, LOL), and get some other things done.  Staying busy with little things...

Okay, I know I said I was going to bed, but that was before I checked my e-mail one last time and found this from my friend Jenn...

A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done. The monsignor replied, "When I am worried about getting nervous on the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip."

So next Sunday he took the monsignor's advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink and then another drink and so on. He proceeded to talk up a storm. Upon his return to his office after mass, he found the following note on the door:

1. Sip the Vodka, don't gulp.

2. There are 10 commandments, not 12.

3. There are 12 disciples, not 10.

4. Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.

5. Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not ''bet his ass''.

6. We do not refer to Jesus Christ as ''the late J. C''.

7. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as ''daddy'', ''junior'' and ''the spook''.

8. David slew Goliath, he did not ''kick the shit out of him''.

9. When David was hit by a rock and knocked off his donkey, don't say he was ''stoned off his ass''.

10. We do not refer to the cross as the "Big T."

11. When Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper he said, "Take this and eat it for it is my body." He did not say "Eat me".

12. The Virgin Mary is not called "Mary with the Cherry".

13. The recommended grace before a meal is not: "Rub-A-Dub-Dub thanks for the grub, yeah God".

14. Next Sunday there will be a taffy pulling contest at St.Peter's, not a ''Peter pulling contest at St.Taffy's''.

Well, the CT results for my son came back - no deep sinus infection, no shunt malfunction, and no broken nose!  Yippee!!!  Okay, then why all the horrible headaches?  His doctor put him on a trial of Imitrex, which only seemed to take the edge off, but not get rid of it altogether.  He woke up this morning with his eyes and nose swollen, too.  Well, by tonight he also has a sore throat, low-grade fever, and generally crappy feeling.  So, does this mean it was all just a prelude to coming down with the flu???  I hope that's all it is, and that he'll be over it quickly!  Poor guy - he's feeling pretty miserable about now...

In other news, I hit on some good deals the other day!  Billy's been wanting a surround-sound system for the living room, and I found one on sale for a really really good price, so I snagged it.  Then I went out and bought movies - you can't have surround-sound without some really good movies to watch!  (We already had some, but I wanted some new ones, LOL.)  Anyway, I got Star Wars III (Revenge of the Sith), Fantastic 4, Madagascar, and 3 Harry Potter movies.  We had the first two HP movies on VHS, and the third one on DVD, and the fourth one is supposed to come out on March 7th.  BUT, a little place up the road gets advanced copies and sells them for $5 extra a couple of weeks before the official release date, so I was able to go ahead and get "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"!  So we could have the full set on DVD, I bought the first two HP movies on DVD, too - now we could have a 10 hour + Harry Potter movie marathon if we really wanted to, LOL.  The kids and I all love Harry Potter, though they stick mostly to the movies, and I've read all of the books cover-to-cover several times.  We always go to the first showing of the new movies when they come out at the theaters, too.  Kinda got us in a little trouble with this last one, since the first showing was a midnight show - we went, then I let them skip school the next day.  The school wasn't very impressed, but it's things like that that will be important memories when they're older.  Just like when I was a kid and my mom or dad would wake me up in the middle of the night on occasion and tell me to throw 3 days worth of clothes in a suitcase - then we'd all take off to the beach for a long weekend.  My kids will remember midnight showings of special movies...I hope.

This morning started off a little rough, but the day got much better.  I just have this thing about cleaning up after 3 guys, and then having them make a bigger mess in return.  I sometimes feel like that's all I spend my time doing, is picking up stuff and moving it from one place to another - dirty clothes from the floor and furniture to the laundry basket, trash and wrappers from the desk and counters to the trash can, toys and CD players/etc from the living room to the kids' room, shoes from the middle of the floor to whichever room they're supposed to be in, etc.  Anyways, I got up this morning, only to find sugar all over the counter, cups sitting here and there, crumbs all over the table, shoes in the middle of the floor, etc.  It didn't go over well!  Especially since I've spent so much time this week working on this house - I didn't want to have to do it all weekend, too.  I already needed to vacuume - with these two dogs, just vacuuming the living room, short hallway, and 1/2 bath will completely fill up the cup on my bagless vacuume twice each time I clean.  They shed so much I keep threatening to shave them!  So, seeing all the extra mess lying in wait for me, I sort of blew a small fuse.  Not major - no screaming, yelling, throwing stuff.  But I did tell them that I was tired of having to constantly clean up behind men who were unwilling to clean up behind themselves.  Okay, one man and two boys, but those boys are plenty old enough to pick up what they put down, and put it in the right spots! 

I have to admit, after that my husband was really sweet and actually swept and mopped the kitchen floor!!!  The one household 'chore' I ever really ask him to do is to take out the garbage, and when he went to throw something away the can was full, so he decided to empty it, and coffee grounds got spilled all over the floor, so it needed it!  Even though he'd made such a mess up front, just him helping out like that meant a lot...  (Thank you, honey!)

I guess that's about it for tonight.  Time to head to bed myself - it's almost 11:00 and I'm getting sleepy...

Well, we got to take an afternoon trip to the hospital for a new CT scan yesterday.  For the past week, my son's been having bad headaches off & on,  but an Ibuprofin and some rest usually took care of them.  Yesterday morning he had one that  wouldn't go away, so I took him to the pediatrician.  He talked to him, asked  tons of questions, and said he didn't think it was a sinus infection or anything  like that, though it could be one way deep in his sinuses that can't be seen by  normal methods.  He was a bit concerned about the headaches, though, and  thinking about ordering a CT scan to check the shunt, since headaches are one big sign of a shunt malfunction.  (For those who are unfamiliar with the shunt, it's a device that is implanted to drain excess fluid away from the brain, for people with Hydrocephalus, which is a condition where the fluid doesn't drain properly on it's own.  Too much fluid puts pressure on the brain, and can cause mental retardation and death if left untreated...not to mention the milder symptoms of severe headaches, nausea, blurry vision, etc.)

I asked him to take  a look at Bryson's nose while we were there, because last week his basketball  rebounded off our storage building really hard and hit him in the nose, and  there's a bump there and a bit of swelling, still.  I hadn't thought a  whole lot about it, because even though it hurt initially, he wasn't in a ton of  pain, there was no blood, and it didn't look crooked...it's just that the  swelling hadn't gone away and there's a bump. 

Anyway, Dr. B called the  hospital and talked to one of the surgeons there (my son's craniofacial  surgeon and neurosurgeon are both out of town this week), and he said to  definitely get the CT done, to check the shunt and to see if the ball possibly broke his nose.  So we had it done yesterday  afternoon, and hopefully will hear something back later in the morning (by the time  they were done, all the offices were closed). 

I don't know if this is  going to turn out to be a shunt problem, a broken nose, deep sinus issues, or  something else.  Or maybe nothing - could just be that he's on the verge of  coming down with something.  Since he woke up with another migraine this morning, I'm hoping they can find out what it is and get it taken care of ASAP, so the kid won't be in so much pain all the time like he is right now!