I've been tagged...

Kristin tagged me to share 6 things about me.

The rules are as following:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Random Facts

1. I was adopted and just recently met my biological sister for the FIRST time!
2. I'm part American Indian.
3. I've never broken any of my bones.
4. I've had more miscarriages than successful pregnancies.
5. I think Papillons are the most beautiful dogs in the world.
6. I have a 'thing' for dream catchers.

Now my problem sets in... I only know 2 bloggers... so what do I do now!?!?

I'm going to tag Christa and Kristin. LOL

An Old Soul

I spent this past weekend with Billy in Tampa. We had a wonderful time and it was the first time in FIVE YEARS that we've had a "kidless" weekend together. It was LONG overdue. lol

On my way back home, my flight had a short layover in Cincinnati. While I was waiting, I saw a news segment about an 11 year old boy who was in his final battle with leukemia. Please take a few minutes to watch this story about him.

Brenden Foster's Last Wish

Black cats and candy and glow sticks... OH MY!

Happy Halloween!!

Today started off normal... except it's BLACK CAT DAY on Toontown! So, before the kids left for school, we took 10 minutes to turn the new cats BLACK by saying "Toontastic!" to Flippy. :) We now have several new black cats... Little Warrior, Elphaba, Singing Sister, Opurra Toonity and Keenly Interested.

Then, it turns out the TT world is a REALLY small place. (Like I didn't know that already!) I was playing Elphaba with Yowl At D'Mooon and met up with several new black cats. One of them turned out to be a new baby toon of a friend that I run DA's with a LOT! I found her on ToontownCentral.com today and now we're true friends. Yay!

Trick or Treating was fun tonight! I took all three kiddos out trick or treating, but Emmett only made it through about 10 houses. We stopped by our house and then Billy took Kaleigh and Wyatt back out again. Billy decided he'd go out as Urkel... (oh joy!) We're all back safe and sound now, except that Emmett doesn't seem to want to go to sleep since he's all hopped up on sugar. Hmmm...

The kids have a looooong weekend... no school on Monday or Tuesday next week. So, late nights abound in the Ringo House! YAY!

I'm so tired of being in pain.

I have vulvodynia and a whole host of other issues 'down stairs' that keep me in pain a majority of the time. It hurts to sit, stand, lay down, walk, run... whatever. But ya know, I'm a Mom... so I gotta keep going even when it hurts so bad all I wanna do is cry. I was going to a physical therapist for this, but there were issues with the office (messing up appointment times, putting me with the wrong therapist) and I don't go there anymore. I found another therapy place in Louisville via Google just a bit ago and will give them a call when they open. I also found a good place for some online support... http://www.secretsuffering.com/. I'm not exactly sure why I didn't come across this when I was diagnosed with all of this prior to my hysterectomy.

This week has been bad for me, pain wise. I'm sure it's a direct result of sitting in the car for 8 hours to drive to Atlanta. (Kaleigh and I went with Billy's Mom, Sister and Aunt to see Wicked, which was really AWESOME!!) The car ride put me into a pain cycle that I'm having trouble getting out of right now. I broke down about 10 minutes ago and took a 'happy pill' I had left over from the c-section. I hope it kicks in soon. Maybe when it does, I'll be able to lay down and get some rest.

Grrr...

When I was a child, I knew exactly what elementary, middle and high school I would be attending. I didn't have a choice AND I was guaranteed a great education. I even graduated with some of the same people that were in my kindergarten class. (Granted, I grew up in a small town, but STILL!!)

Now, it's time for us to pick a middle school for our oldest child, Kaleigh. Our 'home' middle school is a joke; lock downs at least once a week, poor grades, even poorer choices made by the students. For that and many other reasons, we're looking at our options for middle schools. Apparently, our next door neighbor's daughter who is the same age as Kaleigh has told her that she has no choice but to attend a school that is nowhere near our house. She got VERY upset and started crying about it this morning; saying she wished she could live closer to that school. So for the past 45 minutes, I've been looking at our local school system's website, printing off the necessary forms for middle school applications and also descriptions of the magnet schools in our area. We'll be attending the yearly "Showcase of Schools" in a few weeks and I'd like to be as prepared as possible for that. Maybe even have it narrowed down to 2 or 3 schools by that point.

I'm doing my best not to be upset with the girl next door. I really am. But I tell ya... the Momma Bear comes out in me when I know my little girl is upset. Billy has tried telling Kaleigh not to put too much into what she hears from her friend. That's all well and good and I certainly hope she takes what Daddy is telling her to heart. >sigh< It'll all be over soon, right? Oh wait... nope, it won't... we're almost into the teens! YIKES!

Sunday, Sunday

Billy's off to work (again) and took Kaleigh with him this time. The boys and I just came in from playing out back and they're now watching the "Thomas" movie in the other room. I figured this was as good a time as any to get some blogging done. HA!!

Life needs to slow down just a teeny bit... after looking at my calendar, I'm really trying to work out HOW I managed to get myself so loaded down with STUFF to do! Our chorus has a show coming up on October 18th. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about the show, I really am! I just never realized how much work I was getting myself into by volunteering. I do like what I'm doing to help and am kinda 'in my element' while working with sounds and whatnot. I just didn't realize I had so much other stuff going on right now. Add to that, for some unknown reason I volunteered to be a Room Mom and it entails MUCH more than I ever expected!! And then add the quartet to the mix and Girl Scouts and Billy going out of town for work and stuff the kids are doing for school and helping my parents find a house here in Louisville and Toontown... >sigh< I'll sleep when I'm dead, right? lol

Well, I'm off to catch up on housework now. Even though I really don't wanna... wah.

Ok, so I'm not so great at this blogging stuff!

I post once several months ago and then that's it?! Yeesh... someone slap me with a wet noodle. LOL

So much has happened since that last post.... YES, I met my sister and she's WONDERFUL! And I have a nephew and a niece who are simply adorable!

I've just recently returned from my 2nd visit to see my sister and her family. This time, I took the 3 kids and the dog with me and we drove. Believe it or not, it was a rather uneventful 12 hour trip! No one puked, no one had any accidents... of course, I think they were as good as they were because of the DVD players in the van. Kaleigh and Wyatt also had their DS's with them and played them until the batteries ran down. (We managed to find the car charger for the return trip.) Thank GOODNESS for technology!!!

This time, Julie and I took all 5 kids to Olan Mills and had some pictures taken. You can see lots of pictures here from both trips. We were all sad to go home after our short visit, but it was great to know that we could all get along for a few days! It makes me sad sometimes to think of all the time we lost... just because I didn't search before I did. (Apparently Bambie (Mom) told her not to look for me.)

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll try to be better at this, I promise! :)

I have a sister and lots of other stuff...

Here it is, almost 2am and I can't sleep. Could it be because Billy had an arteriogram this morning and had to be at the hospital at 5am? Maybe it's because Emmett didn't sleep well last night and was a real handful during the day today? I know a lot of it it has to do with me finding information about my biological family. In just 22 days, I'll be flying to Oklahoma to meet my big sister, Julie! Wow. It still floors me that I can say that I have a big sister. Unfortunately, both of my biological parents have very recently passed away. Mind you, I've been searching on and off since 1991!! It's been quite the roller coaster ride. Right now, I'm anxious... just wishing that I lived closer to Julie so I didn't have to wait until the end of May to meet her.

I've always known that I was adopted. My parents never hid that fact from me or made me feel like I was any different as a result. They love me and have given me a wonderful life! With that being said, it's weird for me to think about what my life might have been like had I not been adopted. What would it have been like to have grown up with an older sister? I have three children of my own now and truly don't understand the constant bickering. My husband, who has one sister, assures me this is normal.

There are times, like tonight (morning?), that I feel a bit empty inside. I never got the chance to meet my biological parents. I don't know if I would have wanted a relationship with them. I don't know if they would have wanted a relationship with me. But it just doesn't seem fair that I didn't have that choice to make for myself. Sure, life isn't fair; I'm an adult, I know that. It just would have been nice to say 'thank you' to each of them for giving me life. I know that they did what they thought was best for me and for them.

I wish my sister was here. We're going to sing a song together at her church while I'm visiting. I'm really looking forward to that! It seems that we've really started to create a bond. I feel certain that I won't want to leave when it's time for me to come home after my visit and that we'll both feel that magical bond that sisters have once we've met in person. She's such a wonderful human being; just what I always hoped my big sister would be like! She's already shared so many of her memories with me. Memories of our Mother, my Father, her life growing up... things she didn't have to tell me. I feel sad that she's lost her Mom and she feels sad that I never got to meet her.

My emotions are all over the place tonight. I'm not sure exactly how I should feel all the time. I'm so very excited that I found Julie... that was my MAIN GOAL in searching in the first place. But then I have to take in account my parent's feelings. I want to tell them about Julie; about her family, about the things she did with my biological Mom... but I know that makes them uncomfortable.... so I don't talk about it. I'll share with them if they ask; it's just a bit of a challenge to not go on and on about my sister and my birth family.

On a happier note... my quartet, Chatterbox!, came in 2nd at regional competition and my chorus, the Pride of Kentucky Chorus came in 1st! I really love to sing and certainly wish I'd found Sweet Adelines sooner than I did.

I guess I should attempt to get some sleep. I love you Julie.