New Year Meme

New Year Meme
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Put ALL my kids in public school

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions,

and will you make more for next year?

Didn't really make any last year,

just hoping to keep heathly habits growing

and enjoy the little things more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My cousin

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not real close, but we had two women connected to my husband's side

of the family that died in their sleep from accidental overdoses.

Better living through pharmaceuticals is not advised.

5. What countries did you visit?

I really don't get out much, not even of the state,

let alone the country.

But I did get my Passport so I'm ready!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A whole and healthy mom

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory,

and why?

The boys first day at public school and

this whole episode with my mom.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Substitute teaching
9. What was your biggest failure?
Everything happens for a reason, we learn from it and go on

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No

11. What was the best thing you bought?

not sure
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I'm really proud of how all the kids are doing in school
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

pleading the 5th since this is a public blog and

I don't want to offend any family or friends
14. Where did most of your money go?

the basic essentials: food, gas, utility bills, oh and taxes (blech)
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Working with my Kids Choir at church
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

??
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?

I'll go with happier overall but some bittersweet thrown in

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Hiking, traveling, collaging, singing with an adult choir

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Defending my attempt to stay positive and trust in God
20. How did you spend Christmas?

Gifts with the kids in the morning,

dinner and gifts at the in-laws,

at the hospital with my mom
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

No.
22. What was your favorite TV program?

24: Watched all the seasons on DVD
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Trying not to
24. What was the best book you read?

Michael J. Fox's .... Incurable Optimist, his newest one
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Actually a re-discovery The Christianaires "Thank You"
26. What did you want and get?

Alex to be accepted to Grand Valley State University
27. What did you want and not get?

a healthy mom and out of debt, but we're getting there
28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Nothing really comes to mind

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Pretty much got blown off by my husband and kids

- Old enough to know better
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Mom not dealing with cancer and

my husband being around more
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Comfort is key
32. What kept you sane?

Yoga, Music, hugs from my boys
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Keifer Sutherland
34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The whole Pallin presentation and Obama's rise

35. Who did you miss?

some of the moms from the Homeschool Co-Op we belonged to

36. Who was the best new person you met?

the principals and teachers I've been dealing with at North Branch

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Things can change, and change quickly,

hope for the best but prepare for the worst
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Whatever it is, Let God fix it

You've got to let my God fix it for you!

Final Notes: Mom is getting better everyday, her short term memory is kicking back in and I'm hoping she will hold off on any more invasive treatments for a time and just work on getting back to her normal, independent, routine. But whatever she does decide I'll be here for her and I'm happy that this sorted situation and brought my brother and I closer together as well.

I'm beliveing 2010 to be a year of

NEW BEGINNINGS!

Written by Robyn

Reality bites.


When I started blogging I made a choice to keep the content generally upbeat. I've shared at times about my mother's dealings with, ok I'll just go ahead and say it this time, cancer. Man, I really hate that word and even more so the disease. This past week things took a turn for the very scary following her radiation treatments on the brain she had a severe mental lapse and was experiencing dementia-like symptoms. In my heart I like to "speak as though it were" and call her healed, but in my head I unfortunately am acutely aware that time is quickly slipping away. It is difficult to know exactly how to handle treatment of this relentless condition, many times it is the treatment that brings about the end to people before the actual cancer would have. While I respect my mom for being so aggressive in her treatment options I don't completely believe the side effects are worth the overall result but I'm doing my best to support her. I'd rather have 6 good strong lucid months, than 6 weeks of utter hell if the choice was mine. (just sayin') After four days in the hospital undergoing an adjustment in her steroid and pain medications she is now home and functioning much better but still unclear about things at times, we're hoping she will at least return to her normal faculties again, at this point it is unsafe for her to be left alone at all, from there I don't know what the next step in her treatment will be. Until now I've tried to stay out of it because I have a differing philosophy from hers as far as my faith in the medical community. I know they do amazing things now-a-days but they aren't perfect. Who is. But now I'm involved, like it or not, she's my mom and I want to help take care of her as best I can, everything else can and will be put on hold for the time being. The bottom line is life during the next year will be .... uncertain.


How will I remember my mom?
as a strong, opinionated woman
an advocate for mentally impaired children
an intelligent and brutally honest person
someone who brought me much joy and pain (as I did her)
a loving, doting grandmother
an independent, yet fragile individual
funny, extremely organized, creative
truly unique


Who knows what the future holds, but at least at this point there is still some future left to make the best of and with God's grace I pray she can finish the race with dignity and solace.

Written by Alex

Me as a Writer

from her Creative Writing class "Memories" project
I want to write.
I need to write –
hopeless lost words of poetry
flowing from my fingertips
like a berry bleeding dark
off crimson juices.

To squeeze and mangle
every last bit of sense from this language
I want – I need –
to put something onto paper.

Fabricated webs where cruel villains play the spiders,
The protagonist the fly, trapped within
a thickly woven net of misplaced meter
feet askew the spider crawls to the prey
and eats our poor, crunchy hero alive

In these times, our times,
breath is short my breath
holds
as if it is afraid to leave my body
just like the words
crawl back into simple cells
of membrane.
Refusing to be birthed into an artificial world.

Poetry thrives in a forlorn world
it eats murder, suicide, and rape for breakfast.
It scrounges the city streets
scrabbling in trash cans and taking the change
from the homeless man’s cup, on the corner.

it is everything we cannot be,
happiness in misery,
faith in the godless,
hope for those who will soon leave us.

And I want to capture it.
I yearn to tame the untamable.
I need to write.

Written by Ethan

Santa’s Day Off
by Ethan Parton

Santa has the day off! And I know what he did! Santa was at the North Pole lying in bed sick of being Santa. Sooooo he took a vacation. And…well, you’re not going to believe this, but he joined a motorcycle gang. He took his sleigh and went to New York and joined the gang. He was actually pretty good. He did a back flip off a ramp and popped a couple of wheelies. “I’m surprised,” the gang master said. “You can join us,” he added as he got on his motorcycle. “See ya later man.” Vrrooommm. The rest of the gang followed him, even Santa. They started jumping over cars and even houses. “Pretty good for a fat man,” the master said. After that insult Santa picked up his bike and threw it at the master. He went to his sleigh and raced back to the North Pole. When he got back Mrs. Claus gave him a big kiss. “It’s good to be back,” Santa said.

Artwork by Ben

Today's featured artwork is from my middle boy, third child, Benjamin. A marker drawing of a Pokemon, not sure of the name right now, a pencil and marker landscape, and one from Halloween: Frankenstein. The kids have been working on Pokemon at school during art class, they love it!

Things have been pretty quiet around here. Rob had to go to California for a service call. I know, awwwww poor guy. I'm jealous, this is the trip I really would have liked to tag along on. The company must have really been desperate to fly him out there last minute before a major holiday and pay big $ for airline tickets.

Alex has been driving to school so she can get herself home after play rehearsals or go right to work when she needs to. Fox rides in with her so I don't have to go down the driveway for the 7am bus stop run. It's a little unnerving letting her drive them in, especially when the weather is nasty. Praise the Lord they are blessed and protected wherever they go. I do the the bus stop run with Ben and Ethan at 8am, get them on the bus then have moment of quiet to do my Namasta Yoga then some coffee and work on the computer or around the house. I'm thankful I don't really have to go anywhere this week because there is almost no gas in the van and I won't be able to put more in until I get Rob's check on Friday.

THREE Meme

Three names you go by:

Miss Robyn, Robyne, Mom

Three screen names you've had:

Robyne Lee, Robyn Parton, Parton_Mom

Three physical things you like about yourself:

strength, flexibility, good constitution

Three physical things you don't like about yourself:

shortness, soft in the middle, fine hair

Three parts of your heritage:

Polish, Italian, American

Three things you are wearing right now:

leggings, sweats, underwear

Three favorite bands/musical artists:

Billy Joel, David Sandborn, Martha Munizzi

Three favorite songs:

Aretha Franklin “Think”

Christina Aquilera “Ain’t No Other Man”

Patti Austin “I Can Cook”

Three things you want in a relationship:

love, respect, laughter

Three physical things about the preferred sex that appeals you:

eyes, buffness, smile

Three of your favorite hobbies:

collage, making jewelry, backpacking

Three things you want to do really badly right now:

go somewhere warm,

finish my living room project,

be done with Christmas
Three things that scare you:

drowning, really large arachnids,

super blackness in a totally unfamiliar place

Three of your everyday essentials:

hugs, yoga, java

Three careers you have considered/are considering:

location scout, au pair,

recycling educator/advocate

Three places you want to go on vacation:

a rainforest, Europe, Disney World

Three kids' names you like:

Henry James, Jade Rose, that’s all I got

Three things you want to do before you die:

go on a mission trip,

flip a house,

travel around Europe low and high class

Three ways you are stereotypically a boy:

gifted in the art of flatulence,

can go days without showering if optional,

can have a conquering spirit at times

Three ways you are stereotypically a girl:

I love to coordinate,

I believe everything should smell pretty all the time,

fruity drinks rock!

Three celeb crushes:

back in the day Shawn Cassidy,

Sean Penn, Keifer Sutherland

Artwork by Alex

Tuesday evening was the 5th, 6th, and Middle School Band Concert. Fox was really digging wearing the band tuxedo, he kept saying he felt like James Bond and went around introducing himself as "Parton, Fox Parton." The bleachers in the Upper Elementary gym were a tad uncomfortable after an hour and a half but it was nice to have everyone there to support his musical efforts, including Rob and Alex plus Grandpa Q and June made the trek up too. First concert of the year, with a band director who has been under the weather, they sounded rough but I look forward to hearing how they progress by the end of the year.

Featured artwork for this post are pieces Alex did for her Painting class at NBHS: the first was based on a quote ("and I've come to realize the world is an enigma, a harmless enigma made destructive only by those who try to decipher it"), the next represents a month (June), and the last goes with a book (Catch 22). She did a few others as well but these are my best picks.

This was a pretty mellow week for me. I had no sub jobs at all and got to be home everyday other than running out for some errands. Each morning I was able to do my Namaste Yoga (sometimes twice), did some more rearranging, pulled down more of the ceiling, and got started writing entries that I pulled last week. Alex was a busy girl this week however, with picking up two more shifts at Burger King, auditioning actors for her directorial debut, and finishing up her college class. The instructor told her she really didn't have to take the final next week, just show up and put her name on the paper, she has a 3.5 already betwee the first two quizzes and he drops your lowest grade. Might be wise to take the last one though in the off chance she could bring the grade up to an A figure, but that's just the mom in me talkin'.

This whole winter thing that came upon us is not my cup of tea at all! I'm over it already and I have yet to begin any type of Christmas anything. Well, except for helping Ethan with his Christmas Tree project for school. I haven't been a fan of Christmas since I was 13, it is a time of year that irritates and stresses me out to no end. This would be a perfect time for an "I'm just sayin" rant but I don't even have the energy for it right now. Just hoping to get through, with some semblence of peace in my heart.

Friday Fill-In

1. You get what you get.

2. I reserve my right to just say ‘no’.

3. It's Namasta Yoga time.

4. Totally ridiculous!

5. I feel more respect for Christina Aguilera after seeing her ‘Behind the Music’ show.

6. Thank you New York and...goodnight!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with my guys, tomorrow my plans include a children’s ministry meeting and Sunday, I want to go to church then kick back!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Artwork by Ethan

Well, it's been an interesting few days. Friday I subbed in Ethan's class, all went well although they had a tendency to get loud quickly and I had to tell them to 'dial down' a LOT. We did get through everything and even had time to watch 'Bolt' at the end of the day while those who had some work to complete did so while we watched.

Today's featured artwork is from Ethan, the first is a Flexible Bug he drew on his own, the other two hand prints are a standard project Mr. Watson does with the kids every year. I've always like these, it is a simple project that pretty much any kid can handle yet it looks complex too. Friday evening was the Ladies Christmas Banquet at my church, I ended up attending alone since my mom ended up going to the hospital. She received a call from the doctor that morning informing her they noticed some spots on her brain when they were actually scanning the neck area. After noting she had no seisures or headaches, they sent her back home but have her scheduled for radiation treatment, starting today. She'll receive ten treatments over the next two weeks, they say she will loose all her hair. So, the back procedure is postponed as well as the clinical trial for now. The doctor told her "this isn't the end, it's just a set back." I agree.

Please speak Psalm 91 for Judith Ann Margaret Rose

Saturday Rob got the deer processed that he took last weekend. We had backstraps for dinner, yum! It was the first time for a while that everyone was home together, well, at least for a little while in the morning we were together. Once Alex got her obligatory chores done she was out the door to pick up a buddy and hang out in town. The boys helped with some cleaning too then later Rob, and them played a fierce round of Monopoly. Sunday I went to church on my own, had to do infant nursery duty. We've had one baby coming in so I got to play with, feed, read to, and snuggle a sweet little 3 month old for couple hours. Precious.

Alex got clocked by a deer on the way home from work last night. Thankfully she wasn't hurt, although she said she "pulled over and had a panic attack for about five minutes!" She said it "came out of nowhere," hit her and took off. She called me when it happened to see if she should do a police report if it was covered under our car insurance. HA! "No, dear, we have PLPD, if it's still driveable just come on home." Lovely.

Artwork by Fox

Happy December everyone! It doesn't seem possible that we should already be in the last month of the year, at least the weather has been acting more spring-like than winter-ish (except for this afternoon that is). This week I was blessed to get 2 full days and a half day substituting. Wednesday I was in the Junior High special education room, that actually served 5th, 6th and 7th graders. They were a decent bunch and the teacher aide was great, we really had a good day. I also had the daughter of Fox's Cross Country coach in there for a little bit, we had some nice conversations. There are only 2 boys that stay in the room the entire day, the rest rotated in and out from their regular classrooms. This morning I picked up an afternoon gig in a 1st grade room, before leaving the house I grabbed a few of my favorite picture books to read just in case we had down time. Oddly enough when I arrived and spoke with the teacher briefly before she headed out she said that Writing Workshop was first, starting with reading a book to them. "Oh, I just happened to bring a few of my favorites with me today," I said. "Perfect" she replied, "I was just thinking I should pull something for you to use." We got through everything but I'll admit this was not one of my favorite groups to work with. They were quite talkative, even while working on assignments and major tattletales (a pet peeve of mine). When I took them down to Art class I passed Ethan's class going in for gym, all the kids were calling out to me "Hi, Ms. Robyn, see you tomorrow!" Hopefully all will go well in their 3rd grade class tomorrow. I think if I taught regularly I would like 3rd grade. They are mature enough to act accordingly but young enough to still have some silly fun with.

These art pieces are my favorites from Fox's 1st Trimester Art Portfolio, a kooky collage, paper weaving, and Cross-Link creatures. Although I haven't gotten Fox and Alex's official report cards yet I did check their final grades online, Fox received an A in everything except for Math and SeminAR which he got an A+ in. Alex ended up with a B average but the final grades were sort of a bummer, two As and two C+s, wish she could have squeaked those up to a B- at least. I know because of the play being in final production and performance she really didn't make the effort she should have to do a last week of the trimester follow up with her teachers to make sure they had grades for everything she allegedly turned in. Hopefully a good grade in her college class will help bring the GPA up a bit.

Things have been getting a little weird with my mother and her 'condition.' She was having pain in her back and ended up with a pain patch (morphine I believe) and on Vicodin, this has not helped her mental or emotional state. Now they have her on Methadone to wean her off the pain meds before they do the vertebrae reconstruction procedure (spinal cement they refer to it as) to build up the deteriorated bones so they're not pressing on the nerves anymore. The procedure is at the end of next week, let's pray it goes smoothly and is successful in restoring her 'temple'.

Rob has been down in North Carolina all week (his second trip in 3 weeks) to fix a machine that was not repaired correctly in the first place. Unfortunately it was one of his company's employees that messed things up originally so this was a lose money venture when they started out, but the fates of favor turned in their direction so that he and another tech ended up getting extra work out of the company making the excursion 'in the black' opposed to 'in the red.' PTL

Monday the Direct TV was installed. The kids and I have been jonesing out to various shows. Monday I watched umpteen episodes of "Million Dollar Listings," Tuesday I got caught up in "ReDesign" and also I got to do a couple "Namasta Yoga" workouts, plus I'm recording some to do whenever I want. I just don't get the whole run-the-same-program-multiple-times-in-a-row deal, it's different episodes but the same show. Nice to have television though.