Lpprdlvr's Rants and Raves

Blogging

2007-12-04T10:20:00.001-05:00

For anyone who still reads here I thought I'd let you know that I'm doing most of my blogging on Myspace now. It's just easier since I'm on there every day. Most of my blog posts there are public so anyone can read them. If you're on dial-up and want to go directly to my blog here's the link:

Lisa's Myspace Blog

If you want to go to my Myspace page it's here:

Lisa's Myspace Page

Splash

2007-09-21T09:48:00.000-04:00

Since there is absolutely nothing going on here right now I decided to do a post about my cat/kid Splash. Some of you may remember that he was very very sick a couple of years ago.

I felt so bad when he got sick because he was at death's door before we even realized anything was wrong. He's always been very neurotic, spending 90% of his time in the basement, and having very little contact with us. He was feral when we got him at 4 months old and just never got over it.

During his recovery we had to keep him locked in an empty bedroom so that I could catch him twice a day to give him his meds. He spent the next 2 weeks in there, screeching and howling to get out and scrambling up the curtains every time I had to give him his antibiotics. After he was done with the meds, we let him out of the bedroom and honestly I figured the damage was done. He was almost 9 years old at the time and I was sure what little trust he'd given us over the years was gone.

Once out of the bedroom, my fears were confirmed. He spent the next several weeks hiding under the basement stairs, hissing and growling every time any of us came near him. He was like a wild beast.

He's now 11 and an amazing transformation has occurred over the past couple of years. Slowly he began to emerge from the basement, spending time sitting in the dining room windows sunning himself. He'd still bolt if we got too close but it was progress. Then he began to spend time behind Scott's recliner in the living room. That scared me at first because that's where I found him when he was so sick, but I'd check on him there and he didn't protest, and he was fine.

Now you never know exactly where you'll find him. Some of his favorite hangouts are still the dining room windows, but now you can go up and pet him and he merely purrs (just don't pick him up, that requires major reconstructive surgery!. Some toher favorite hangouts include David's bed during the day, the arms of the sofa, the back of Scott's recliner, Scott's LAP when he's home and snuggling next to me when I lay down on the the couch after David leaves for school.

He still runs like the hounds of hell are after him if a stranger is here (or Sabrina!)but at last he's become a part of the family.

RIP Beth

2007-09-10T16:05:00.001-04:00

This was on the website of the local newspaper from my hometown. Beth was a friend from very early childhood.

Daily-Jeff.com
ROXANNA ELIZABETH HUTCHISON 1966-2007
September 9, 2007

Roxanna Elizabeth Hutchison of Byesville lost her long struggle with diabetes on Wednesday (Sept. 5, 2007) at Southeastern Med.

She was born Oct. 28, 1966, daughter of the late Rev. and Mrs. Raymond Rice.

She was married to her best friend Donald Lee Hutchison Jr. on Aug. 25, 1984, in Cumberland.

Mrs. Hutchison was a childhood education major, mother and grandmother her life was filled with the love of children.

She is preceeded in death by, in addition to her parents, her in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lee Hutchison Sr.

She leaves behind her husband Donald of 23 years; five children, Robert David, Donald, Dawn Leeann, Nancy and Elizabeth (Joe); six grandchildren, Elizabeth (Izzy), Roxanna, Anastasia, Stevie Rae, Cyrus and Riley May, all of Byesville; a sister, Deborah Gladhill of Cambridge; a brother, Raymond (Beth) Rice of Pennsylvania; grandmother, Grace Hursey of Cambridge; an aunt, Roxanna Shriver of Pennsylvania; several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins and friends and many who considered her Mom.

At her prior request, no services will be observed.

More reason for us to move

2007-08-24T11:59:00.000-04:00

In 2003 one of our neighbors, she lives in the end apartment of the building right next door to us, had a live in boyfriend. One sunny afternoon he decided to take a gun outside and fire it into the air (Britt saw it from her back yard, she says he was aiming toward our house). A few minutes later the neighborhood was crawling with police and a helicopter. Her landlord ordered J to kick out the boyfriend, which she did.

It's been quiet over there since but about a year ago she let another guy move in with her. They're mostly quiet with the occasional screaming match in the back yard. Last weekend they had one of their matches and later that day there was a mini van there being loaded with what we presumed was the boyfriend's stuff. Monday however he was back and has been there ever since.

This morning, at about 10:30, I heard loud footsteps on the front porch. There was no knock so I looked out the window to see a cop, in a flak jacket, walking off our porch. I can't see much else without opening the front door, so I go to the dining room window. What do I see? Four vehicles, 2 mini vans and 2 cars, parked next to the apartment building. I see a total of 25 or so cops from various agencies (noted by the print on their bullet proof vests), police, ATF, parole.

Fearless me, I go back to the front door, onto the porch. A moment later, I see a handful more officers bringing out the neighbor's boyfriend in handcuffs. As they all drove away, I see that there was at least four more vehicles coming form the front of the building. It all happened in a mater of moments and it was all very quiet (I wouldn't have even known anything was going on if the one cop hadn't walked onto our porch, only heaven knows why he did)but I'm assuming they must have thought the guy could be dangerous.

I wanna move now.

Been a while

2007-08-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

Things have been pretty crazy here for the past few weeks. I've had some ongoing health problems that are finally being addressed properly, my dogs got into my blood pressure meds and gave us a huge scare, though the all ended up being fine. A family friend had a suicide in his family so we've been trying to give him all the love and support we can and finally one of my parakeets died. So I just haven't had the time, energy or inclination to blog. Things have calmed down now though so I'm back.

I've been looking at real estate ads from our hometown. We'd like to move back there in 4 or 5 years and so I thought I'd check out what's out there now and get a general idea of what property is going for. I haven't found anything that has really piqued my interest yet, good thing I guess since it'll be a while before we're actually going to move, but I did find 2 places that we used to live that are for sale.

This is the apartment we lived in when David was born:
It looks like there's an addition on the back of the house. We lived in the upstairs.

We moved into this house when David was about 8 months old:

A funny

2007-08-01T14:48:00.001-04:00

Gina's "response" and some rebuttals EDIT: SEE BOTTOM OF POST

2007-07-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

Below you'll find an email that Gina sent out after her fraud was exposed along with my rebuttals and those of Gina's now ex friend Misty. Mine will be first and they are numbered after her comments.

OK...first off this email is being sent to EVERYONE that I have saved in my "friends folder"....so if your not involved in thsi or whatever...jsut ignore it.

Hi, this is Gina...Bill is posting this for me. I opened my email for the first time today and was floored to see all the crap being dished out about me, Bill and whoever else is associated with me.

First off, let me thank those that sent their well wishes and meant it...it was appreciated.

Secondly: to address this letter from Misty (whom I just spoke to on the phone). It should NOT have been assumed that because Bill spoke with her that she was "in the know" about this stuff. Bill let her know what he was told to let everyone know. So, if you trashed her...apologize to her.

1. Umm the emails specifically said that Bill was talking to "your good friend" Misty. We were very much led to believe she was "in the know" to make your lies more believable. also you state that this is the first time you'd opened your email, however in an email to another friend, the night before this, Bill stated that you'd already seen it. Which is it Gina?

Now to address what she wrote...

Calling the hospitals in my home town was pretty much pointless (and I'll tell you the REASONS why). First off, the accident that I had happened up north where I was visiting my brother...not down here.

2. The original email from Bill said you had gone to the store to pick up a few things, which is it Gina? Also in the original email, bill said he was at the hospital less than an hour after your accident so it couldn't have been too far up north now could it?

Secondly, when I or Bill go to the hospital (and I believe most hospitals do this...and if they don't...they should since it's a FEDERAL LAW), we always put on the form that we do NOT want anyone to know we are there unless they are IMMEDIATE FAMILY...meaning, if anyone who is NOT family was to call the hospital the hospital will say that they have no record of them. This IS part of the HIPPA laws that were put into action a while back...so anyone who would call who was not immediate family will NOT be informed anything about me...up to and including whether or not I'm even there. So, lets lay that part to rest shall we?

3. Point for you I guess.

Third: Misty said she tried calling relatives but found it "odd" that she couldn't get a hold of them. Why is that odd? She doesn't even know who to look for in any type of search....besides last names. So, that's laid to rest.

4. She cared enough to try, so shut up.

Forth: Newspapers and news stations around where I live will not have any stories on it because it didn't happen down there. That's laid to rest...

5. That's not true. In a small community like yours, if someone had been seriously injured in an accident, I'm sure they would have covered it. Case in point, my husband was in a serious accident in his semi, here in the Columbus area. Our local paper, 100 miles away, carried the story even though we didn't even live there any more.

Fifth: She sent a cop car to my home (out of concern...which was nice). According to Bill (who I just spoke with) the officer asked if I lived there...my sister Brenda was here and she and Bill said yes she does. Bill said that he asked Brenda if she was me, she said no, but that I was doing better. Bill and Brenda also said that they would call Misty and let her know what was up... Bill then called her. This is all according to him...which I believe him. So, that lays to rest the notion that I was home.

6. In a situation like that, the police would have asked to see an ID I'm sure. Misty herself addresses this much better in her comments in the next section.

Sixth: Misty was upset that Bill didn't contact her directly or tell her what hospital I was in. Bill and I have an agreement that if anything happens to us only IMMEDIATE FAMILY are to be notified...directly and what he did by emailing you guys to let you know how I was was him being nice enough to do that for me....since he thought you guys were friends of mine. That's laid to rest.

7. You're lying in the ER, possibly dying and he's nice enough to email total strangers to let them know? Seems really odd to me.

Seventh: Bill had gotten several emails before posting those pictures of the car (which I just saw by the way), from people telling him they "wanted proof that I was hurt...either through pictures of ME in the hospital (how sick is that?), police reports (not gonna happen), or something to that effect. Bill was LIVID and felt that people were being pushy and nosey about all of this so he posted some pictures that he found on the net just to shut people up. These are his words... so, if your going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the people that emailed hateful emails to him just because he wouldn't tell everyone where I was at and so on. That puts the mysterious pictures to rest now.

8. Okay that really makes no sense. You're in the hospital but he's going to take the time to hunt pictures on the internet to appease your friends, people he doesn't even know?

Eight: Why anyone would ASSUME the worst about me and what was being told to them because some people decided to play Nancy Drew and NOT ask me directly before slamming the hell out of me is infuriating to me! I thought many of you guys were friends...and I should NOT have to come onto my email here in the hospital and explain anything to you guys like this. A true friend would take what their friend (or their friends spouse) is telling them and if they had questions about it's validity would either try to contact that person or wait for them to get the opportunity to contact them before throwing them to the wolves. I've got 257 emails of people (who were friends before the Nancy Drews stepped up to bat) telling me to f*** off and calling me everything but white....well 427 now. Some of these people are even going as far as to call my husbands place of employment and try to get him fired or calling the police on him and shit. I'm so pissed right now I'm sick to my stomach. NO ONE...and I mean NO ONE should ever have to come onto their computer and read all these hateful crappy emails like this...and for what??? Because there's a handful of hateful bitches out there who can't stand me...and I could name names but I wont' stoop as low as them....and who want to do nothing more than to see me burn at a stake in some distant field.

9. We assume the worst because you've given us many many reasons to.

Ninth: Misty asked me how I signed into MySpace....I didn't. Bill has my password and was asked to check on things for me...he said he would and that's why he did that.

10. Wow again, how thoughtful of him to check on messages from complete strangers to him, while you're hurt in the hospital.

Tenth: My mother passed away last fall. I don't care if ANY of you believe that or not...but she did. My other mom...Bill's step mom passed away a while ago...hence the 2 moms dying thing. If your going to throw shit out there make sure you got the information and accusations right first.

11. point number 2 for you.

Eleventh: Chrissy mentioned that I would never be able to go to a Def Leppard show again....is that a threat of some sort?? Why would I not go to anymore Lep concerts? If I go and I see some of you there...you go your way, I'll go mine. And telling me to drop out of the DL community... don't worry...I will as of now.

12. Not a threat. Just making the point that if you're actually stupid enough to go to another show, anyone from the online community who knows about this little stunt will make sure you're made a laughing stock. Also you say you're dropping out of the DL community but yet there you are, still posting on several groups, looking for sympathy.

People assumed that this was a prank (even before finding out from me...they just took the first negative bone thrown to them and ran with it). Let me tell you something about my husband...he may be a jerk at times (and yes, we were separated... talked divorce...but we were never divorced) but he's got WAY more important things to do with his spare time than to come onto some stupid internet groups and make up some bogus story about me. He will protect me in any way he sees fit...even if it means lying about where I am at. He will do anything for me...and ladies and gents...THAT IS A TRUE FRIEND. Then, not only that...he actually called (who I thought was) a best friend to tell her I was doing better. He told her I was resting comfortably in Lapeer Hospital because he didn't know her and he didn't know if it was ok to tell where I was at.

Lets also not forget that the people that trashed me...which was pretty much everyone on here...many of you had NO REASON to do that. I'd never done one bad thing to anyone on these groups. Oh, and lets not forget about whoever it was bringing up the April Fools joke....good god...that was 3 years ago, let it go people. And it certainly wasn't something that was worth rehashing because of this. I've got people saying..."she seemed so nice but NOW"...and stuff like that....well I AM nice. I haven't done anything wrong with this whole thing. Bill tried to protect me (because he knew that there were people in these groups that didn't like me)...so he lied about where I was... and he posted car pics that weren't mine...big friggin' deal people.

13. Again, you've lied and pulled enough stunts that people are suspicious immediately. The April Fool's prank has little to do with that. It's just another point in a pattern of behavior.

Now lets talk about the car accident itself... Misty (and others said that they couldn't understand how someone who is so close to death can survive)...first off lets get some facts right here. When Bill initially posted I believe it said that I was in MRI getting scans done to see how I was. The second post was about what was found. My back is not broken...I've got 2 slipped discs. I've got a bad concussion (hence the unconsciousness and swelling), I've got a broken leg (which had 2 pins put into it to stabilize the bone), I've got a fractured hand (6 bones total), broken collar bone and I've got about a 2 inch scar on my side (just under my ribs where they went in to repair a torn artery). All bad injuries, but luckily none that killed me...much to many people's dismay on here. I have headaches now...which I'll probably have for a long time...and I hurt like hell...which will always be there.

14. I seriously doubt that a doctor, a professional, would have given Bill a list of injuries that wasn't confirmed, unless of course said doctor wanted to be sued.

I WILL be released on Thursday if anyone wants to email me to find out if I'm still alive. I WILL NOT accept phone calls because to be honest...I just don't know who my friends are anymore...and also with the way you guys have acted to me... I don't want to hear from any of you unless you want to discuss this like adults. If your plans when emailing me is to bash the piss out of me...don't bother. I'll just block your email and I WILL tell you to piss off.

People have left the groups because of this (and kicked me out of others)...fine, adios to ya. All I can do is tell you what is going on, you will either believe me or you won't. I've had some time to think while reading through all of these emails and I've decided that I'm done with all of it. I'm leaving and closing all of my groups...simply because I don't care to see the threats and so on headed my way anymore. Not only that... with friends that don't give a shit enough to WAIT and see what I have to say instead of just jumping on the band wagon... I just don't have time for that anymore. Your not really friends apparently.. .so who's been duped here really...sure as hell not you guys. Many of you have never met me...yet you decide that I'm some friggin' monster...and why?? Because your playing follow the leader and jumping on the bandwagon... sorry, but that's exactly what's going on here. Even now, I'm reading all of these emails and people are saying...even NOW...I'm sorry that this was a hoax that Gina put on and so on....give me time to answer for god sakes!

15. I have met you and tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. Didn't take me long to realize you were indeed a bullshitter.

Lastly...many of you hate my guts right now... so be it. I'm sorry you feel the way you do about me...but, I can't change that. All I can do is tell you what happened. Here's a concept too to investigate. ..have any of you (who claimed to be friends and so on) asked yourselves WHY these people were doing all this Nancy Drew shit in the first place?? They're malicious people...not me....you can believe me or not. It's up to you.

16. We aren't malicious. We wanted the truth out there so t hat innocent people weren't scammed by you.

I'm closing my group and leaving all the other Lep groups (and no Miss smart ass~ gypsygirl1999 I won't be posting under another name...I'm fed up and done with all of it). If I learned anything from this accident...it' s shown me WHO is most important in my life....my family. Apparently I can't say that about anyone else...so do what you must.
I'm done...

Gina

17. You lie yet again. You didn't close your group, you unsubbed everyone but yourself and are slowly letting those back in who still have the wool pulled over there eyes. On one of the other groups you posted that you'd closed it and then decided to reopen it, also a lie. If you'd done that, all those old messages would have been lost and they're not. You also haven't left all the other groups because thee are at least 2 that you're still posting on, trying to sell your lies.

Now for Misty's version:

Ok, I have to say, I was just going to pass on this e-mail. But the more I read
it and the more I thought about it, the more I got really pissed off. Now I realize
none of you know me, and I am not about to get into a pissing match, but there
are some inconsistencies. And I will put my responses after Gina's. Mine will
be in blue bold. And yes, Gina did call me tonight. I left a voice mail on her
cell phone and her home phone. Although, I really didn't have much hope for
her cell phone.....seems like it would've been trashed. But oh well, what do
I know. I'm just a malicious Nancy Drew girl.

Gina wrote:

OK...first off this email is being sent to EVERYONE that I have saved in my "friends folder"....so if your not involved in thsi or whatever...jsut ignore it.

Hi, this is Gina...Bill is posting this for me. I opened my email for the first time today and was floored to see all the crap being dished out about me, Bill and whoever else is associated with me.

First off, let me thank those that sent their well wishes and meant it...it was appreciated. You all read my e-mail and the things I did and went through
to make sure she was ok. So even though I didn't e-mail, I was on the damn
phone.

Secondly: to address this letter from Misty (whom I just spoke to on the phone). It should NOT have been assumed that because Bill spoke with her that she was "in the know" about this stuff. Bill let her know what he was told to let everyone know. So, if you trashed her...apologize to her. No need to apologize to me, I could
see how you would think that.

Now to address what she wrote...

Calling the hospitals in my home town was pretty much pointless (and I'll tell you the REASONS why). First off, the accident that I had happened up north where I was visiting my brother...not down here. Secondly, when I or Bill go to the hospital (and I believe most hospitals do this...and if they don't...they should since it's a FEDERAL LAW), we always put on the form that we do NOT want anyone to know we are there unless they are IMMEDIATE FAMILY...meaning, if anyone who is NOT family was to call the hospital the hospital will say that they have no record of them. This IS part of the HIPPA laws that were put into action a while back...so anyone who would call who was not immediate family will NOT be informed anything about me...up to and including whether or not I'm even there. So, lets lay that part to rest shall we? Really can't lay this one to rest. I can call any
hospital and see if someone is there. And they will tell you, unless #1,
you are in the psychiatric ward or the rehab for drugs and alcohol or #2
you want to be anonymous.

Third: Misty said she tried calling relatives but found it "odd" that she couldn't get a hold of them. Why is that odd? She doesn't even know who to look for in any type of search....besides last names. So, that's laid to rest. Ok, can't lay this one
to rest either. I didn't say I found it "odd". What I said was, I was on the
internet, all weekend, yesterday and today, along with calling information
trying to find her relatives. But I couldn't find them to call them. Actually,
I found her family, by looking up Gina's name and saw her families names
located there and just started looking from there.

Forth: Newspapers and news stations around where I live will not have any stories on it because it didn't happen down there. That's laid to rest...

Fifth: She sent a cop car to my home (out of concern...which was nice). According to Bill (who I just spoke with) the officer asked if I lived there...my sister Brenda was here and she and Bill said yes she does. Bill said that he asked Brenda if she was me, she said no, but that I was doing better. Bill and Brenda also said that they would call Misty and let her know what was up... Bill then called her. This is all according to him...which I believe him. So, that lays to rest the notion that I was home. Ok, this is not how this happened or what I said to Gina on the phone. This is the way it happened. I left a voice mail for Bill to call me,
so he had my number and he returned my call. He told me that Gina woke up that morning and that she would be discharged within 2-3 days, and I clarified with him that her brain still wasn't right and he agreed. But they were going to discharge her 2-3 days. I did find that "odd". Anywho, he called me at 12:07 pm Sunday. If you call the police dept. they will tell you my call into them was AFTER the call he made to me. He is telling Gina that he & Brenda called me after the police left. That is WRONG!! By hours, its wrong. When I called the police today, they had to call me back so she could look up the case. She read it to me and the cops TALKED TO GINA. And Gina told them, I'll call Misty. The cop I talked to today, I told her about the accident and the severity of the injuries and she laughingly told me, "Well, it wasn't the Gina XXXX at the residence we went to."

Sixth: Misty was upset that Bill didn't contact her directly or tell her what hospital I was in. Bill and I have an agreement that if anything happens to us only IMMEDIATE FAMILY are to be notified...directly and what he did by emailing you guys to let you know how I was was him being nice enough to do that for me....since he thought you guys were friends of mine. That's laid to rest.
Ok, I have a problem with this one. Yes, I was upset. I am supposed to be her best friend. But they can't tell me? I mean, Gina told him to call me, which he did, so he knew who he was talking to. Gina's reasoning for not having Bill tell me, is he didn't know who he was talking to. Did he forget that quick who he called?? Then I ask her why he he has laptop at the hospital. Cuz my reasoning is, if my hubby is in the hospital, my laptop is the last thing on my list. But, ok, they have the agreement, that they will notify there friends immediately. Thats what she told me. But then she says he has the laptop, becuz the only way he can think of to contact anybody is thru her e-mail. "Odd" that none of her family was on her e-mail. And its also "odd" that doesn't know any of the families phone numbers. Those are her words to me, not mine. Back to telling me, I think I was a good enough friend, to tell in confidentiality, at least the city. Which by the way, she never did. "Odd" that she has this agreement to notify all of her online friends (who mostly she has never met), and she respects us enough to have him do that, but not tell us where she's at. I'm sure we all would've respected her decision. I know that I would've. Another "odd" thing is if they have this agreement, then why isn't her family on her e-mail? Especially if Bill doesn't know the phone numbers.

Seventh: Bill had gotten several emails before posting those pictures of the car (which I just saw by the way), from people telling him they "wanted proof that I was hurt...either through pictures of ME in the hospital (how sick is that?), police reports (not gonna happen), or something to that effect. Bill was LIVID and felt that people were being pushy and nosey about all of this so he posted some pictures that he found on the net just to shut people up. These are his words... so, if your going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the people that emailed hateful emails to him just because he wouldn't tell everyone where I was at and so on. That puts the mysterious pictures to rest now. Sick sick joke. Especially how the story in the picture is so much like Gina and Bill's story. I'm sorry, but I don't care how pissed off you may get at a handful of people, you don't fuck with the ones that you "care" so much about, that while you are in a come, you have your hubby e-mail us all.

Eight: Why anyone would ASSUME the worst about me and what was being told to them because some people decided to play Nancy Drew and NOT ask me directly before slamming the hell out of me is infuriating to me! I thought many of you guys were friends...and I should NOT have to come onto my email here in the hospital and explain anything to you guys like this. A true friend would take what their friend (or their friends spouse) is telling them and if they had questions about it's validity would either try to contact that person or wait for them to get the opportunity to contact them before throwing them to the wolves. I've got 257 emails of people (who were friends before the Nancy Drews stepped up to bat) telling me to f*** off and calling me everything but white....well 427 now. Some of these people are even going as far as to call my husbands place of employment and try to get him fired or calling the police on him and shit. I'm so pissed right now I'm sick to my stomach. NO ONE...and I mean NO ONE should ever have to come onto their computer and read all these hateful crappy emails like this...and for what??? Because there's a handful of hateful bitches out there who can't stand me...and I could name names but I wont' stoop as low as them....and who want to do nothing more than to see me burn at a stake in some distant field.

Ninth: Misty asked me how I signed into MySpace....I didn't. Bill has my password and was asked to check on things for me...he said he would and that's why he did that. You told me that Bill was checking your messages for you. I don't know about you guys, but if I was as fucked up as you guys say you are, the computer would be the last thing on my mind. And if you are as damaged as you say you are, you would think that you would be on some major drugs. After talking to you today, you having all of the injuries that you do, you sure didn't "sound" in pain or on drugs.

Tenth: My mother passed away last fall. I don't care if ANY of you believe that or not...but she did. My other mom...Bill's step mom passed away a while ago...hence the 2 moms dying thing. If your going to throw shit out there make sure you got the information and accusations right first.

Eleventh: Chrissy mentioned that I would never be able to go to a Def Leppard show again....is that a threat of some sort?? Why would I not go to anymore Lep concerts? If I go and I see some of you there...you go your way, I'll go mine. And telling me to drop out of the DL community... don't worry...I will as of now. Yes, she has unsubscribed to my Pampered Chef website. So if any of you would like to add on now, you can do so. Just let me know.

People assumed that this was a prank (even before finding out from me...they just took the first negative bone thrown to them and ran with it). Let me tell you something about my husband...he may be a jerk at times (and yes, we were separated...talked divorce...but we were never divorced) but he's got WAY more important things to do with his spare time than to come onto some stupid internet groups and make up some bogus story about me. He will protect me in any way he sees fit...even if it means lying about where I am at. He will do anything for me...and ladies and gents...THAT IS A TRUE FRIEND. Then, not only that...he actually called (who I thought was) a best friend to tell her I was doing better. He told her I was resting comfortably in Lapeer Hospital because he didn't know her and he didn't know if it was ok to tell where I was at. See answer to #6, I don't feel like repeating myself. Although, I must say, that yes, I was Nancy Drew, becuz I cared. I was trying to make sure she was ok. I don't know Bill from Adam, know what I mean?? After the problems that she was having with him, God only know what could've happened. So if that makes me a bad person, or a Nancy Drew, or none of you would like to have that sort of person in your life, that sort of person who cares, then just let me know and I won't care about you anymore either.

Lets also not forget that the people that trashed me...which was pretty much everyone on here...many of you had NO REASON to do that. I'd never done one bad thing to anyone on these groups. Oh, and lets not forget about whoever it was bringing up the April Fools joke....good god...that was 3 years ago, let it go people. And it certainly wasn't something that was worth rehashing because of this. I've got people saying..."she seemed so nice but NOW"...and stuff like that....well I AM nice. I haven't done anything wrong with this whole thing. Bill tried to protect me (because he knew that there were people in these groups that didn't like me)...so he lied about where I was... and he posted car pics that weren't mine...big friggin' deal people. I asked Gina, put yourself in our shoes, see it the way we see it. And I told her how we all saw it, piece by piece and she told me that she could understand where I was coming from. Protect you? There was no reason to not tell us the city or the hospital, especially if you put yourself down as anonymous.

Now lets talk about the car accident itself... Misty (and others said that they couldn't understand how someone who is so close to death can survive)...first off lets get some facts right here. When Bill initially posted I believe it said that I was in MRI getting scans done to see how I was. The second post was about what was found. My back is not broken...I've got 2 slipped discs. I've got a bad concussion (hence the unconsciousness and swelling), I've got a broken leg (which had 2 pins put into it to stabilize the bone), I've got a fractured hand (6 bones total), broken collar bone and I've got about a 2 inch scar on my side (just under my ribs where they went in to repair a torn artery). All bad injuries, but luckily none that killed me...much to many people's dismay on here. I have headaches now...which I'll probably have for a long time...and I hurt like hell...which will always be there.
I didn't say I didn't understand how someone so close to death could survive. My exact words were, I can't understand how someone could be so close to death, broken back, fractured skull, broken legs and arms, in a coma, breathing tube and be released within 2-3 days, as that is what Bill told me. She told me that her back wasn't broken, just slipped discs, and that people go home everyday with broken arms and legs.

I WILL be released on Thursday if anyone wants to email me to find out if I'm still alive. I WILL NOT accept phone calls because to be honest...I just don't know who my friends are anymore...and also with the way you guys have acted to me... I don't want to hear from any of you unless you want to discuss this like adults. If your plans when emailing me is to bash the piss out of me...don't bother. I'll just block your email and I WILL tell you to piss off.

People have left the groups because of this (and kicked me out of others)...fine, adios to ya. I didn't kick you out of mine - why did you leave???All I can do is tell you what is going on, you will either believe me or you won't. I've had some time to think while reading through all of these emails and I've decided that I'm done with all of it. I'm leaving and closing all of my groups...simply because I don't care to see the threats and so on headed my way anymore. Not only that... with friends that don't give a shit enough to WAIT and see what I have to say instead of just jumping on the band wagon... I just don't have time for that anymore. Your not really friends apparently...so who's been duped here really...sure as hell not you guys. Many of you have never met me...yet you decide that I'm some friggin' monster...and why?? Because your playing follow the leader and jumping on the bandwagon...sorry, but that's exactly what's going on here. Even now, I'm reading all of these emails and people are saying...even NOW...I'm sorry that this was a hoax that Gina put on and so on....give me time to answer for god sakes!

Lastly...many of you hate my guts right now... so be it. I'm sorry you feel the way you do about me...but, I can't change that. All I can do is tell you what happened. Here's a concept too to investigate...have any of you (who claimed to be friends and so on) asked yourselves WHY these people were doing all this Nancy Drew shit in the first place?? They're malicious people...not me....you can believe me or not. It's up to you. I don't hate you, I never said I did. I said I was hurt. I am not a malicious Nancy Drew. But if thats what I am becuz I cared and TRIED to find out if you were ok, then sobeit!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm closing my group and leaving all the other Lep groups (and no Miss smart ass~ gypsygirl1999 I won't be posting under another name...I'm fed up and done with all of it). If I learned anything from this accident...it's shown me WHO is most important in my life....my family. Apparently I can't say that about anyone else...so do what you must.
I'm done...

Gina

EDIT:

EDIT:

I totally forgot about this response to another email:

Who died and made you guys queens of the DL Community? I didn't lie Deb...and neither did Bill. And don't you dare insult him like you did on that group...Bill did NOTHING to any of you but what I ask him to do. So if your mad at anyone...be mad at me. Though...you have no reason to be as I didn't lie.

I think you guys made up your minds about me long before any of this happened anyway. You guys have this "proof"...good grief. Proof of what?? An email from a girl claiming to be best friends with me that I just met last fall and hardly spoke to?? Bill had no idea who she was...that's how good of a friend she was. So...I guess your done with Jeanne...now it's my turn.

Whatever...if they want me to leave any groups I will...no problem. But you telling me to isn't going to cut it.
Gina

A girl claiming to be your best friend? That you hardly spoke to? Geez Gina, that's not what you said in the earlier emails. Make up your frigging mind.

Very special thank yous

2007-07-25T11:05:00.000-04:00

Very special thank you's need to go out to a whole bunch of people, the ones really responsible for yesterday's post. Chrissy, Debs, Lors, Kim, Knight, Liz, Tracey and Lynn, all of you did all the hard work, I simply wrote it out. Misty, thank you for coming forward with what you knew and allowing me to add it to what we already had.

Connie, thanks so much for the support.

Finally, thank you to Lou and Sheila. It's truly an honor to call the two of you my friends.

Gina's fraud

2007-07-24T15:30:00.001-04:00

This all started last Saturday with this email to several people:

"Subject: Gina
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:58:27 -0400

Hello this is Bill XXXX, Gina's husband. I am sitting here in the emergency room right now using my laptop to send you this message. I know Gina has a lot of friends on the internet so I've gone into her "Favorites" link to try and contact some of you. So if you know her please pass this along to those that you know are her friends. I'm only sending this to the group that I know she has and the friends listed in her friends section of her email.

Gina was in a very bad car accident about an hour ago. She went to the store to get some things and the next thing I knew I was getting a call from the ER nurse. She was, from what the police are telling me thus far, hit head-on by a teenager who crossed the center line.

At this time she is down in MRI/CT getting a scan of her head and chest. She is unconscious and non-responsive and is on a machine to help her breath. If you would like I will try to keep you all posted on how she is doing, but at this time and with the minimal information that I have she is in very critical condition. Please pray for her and our family at this time of need.
Thank you,
Bill XXXX"

Immediately several of us were suspicious for several reasons. One, who would think to take a laptop to the ER with them? Two, wouldn't it have been the police making the notification, not an ER nurse?
Three, several of us checked the IP number and it was Gina's home IP.

Then came this:
"Hello this is Bill XXXX again, Gina's husband. I can let you guys know as much as I know about how Gina is doing, she's still going through tests. First of all let me start by saying thank you for all the support you've shown for her and I in this difficult time.

As you know Gina was hit head-on in a car accident this morning. The teenager who hit her was not hurt but his occupant did suffer a broken neck and collar bone. As for Gina, the last I posted she was getting a MRI/CT scan done and this is what we've found out so far.

Gina has a compound fracture of her right leg (meaning the bone has snapped completely in half and is protruding through the skin). She has a pretty long list of injuries and is being prepped for exploratory surgery now. I will tell you what we know as of right now.

Gina's injuries:

1. Her left hand is broken in 6 places, as is her wrist and
both bones in her left forearm.

2. Her collar bone is broken on both sides as is her left
shoulder blade (which was pretty much shattered, so it
is at this time, looking like she will require surgery on
that).

3. Her right leg is broken as I said as is her right knee cap.

4. She has a fractured spine in 3 places and due to this is
in a stationary harness bed to keep her from moving.

5. She has some internal injuries and is bleeding internally because of this. They are taking her down to OR to find out where she is bleeding from. They do believe that the bleeding may be coming from her spleen, so maybe they won't have to do too much in the way or surgery on her to stop it.

6. The MRI/CT scan isn't good however, she's got a fractured skull on the left side near her temporal lobe. This has caused her brain to swell and due to this they are having a hard time keeping her from having seizures.

Gina is still unresponsive and her reflexes are slow to respond. Her eyes are open but she just stares off into space. She is in a coma and is as I said before, in very critical condition. They have to stabilize her (which they have not been able to do yet) in order to transport her to a better, more advanced facility. The doctor, nurse and social worker informed us that Gina had to have CPR performed on her at the scene and upon entry into the ER because her blood pressure bottomed out and they lost a heart beat on her. She has pulled through that but is still not doing well at all.

That's all I have for now. Please forgive me if I do not let you know anything for a little while, this is hard for I, her parents and siblings to deal with right now and my mind is pretty much mush right now.
Thank you again for your kind words and prayers.
Bill XXXX"

There were a couple more updates over the next couple of days. We were still highly suspicious as there was nothing in Gina's local papers about a head on collision. One of us even went so far as to write a couple of emails. I will post those later if I get permission. Monday the replies to those emails came in. First an internet expert confirmed that the first email (supposedly sent form the hospital) was sent form Gina's home as her internet provider does not offer mobile internet service. The second email was from Gina's city's police chief letting us know that no one with her name had been involved in an accident over the weekend.

Then there was this email:

"Well the doctor is saying probably Friday. And yes, she was pretty bad in the ICU, but I know (as I work in the hospital too) it's a precaution that they put someone in there for any head injury (at least they do at the facility I work at). And, due to the fact she was not waking up, that was the main reason the doctor initially felt it was best to put her in there. Once she started coming around she was moved to the step down (or Telemetry) unit.

Again, thank you for all your support the last few days. Gina, her family and I don't know how to thank you all."

Uh released Friday? With all those injuries?

Yesterday evening Bill, or rather Gina posing as Bill took things one step further and that's where she screwed up. She posted these photos on her group:

Thanks to another Lep fan who quickly found this:

I'm normally a pretty trusting person and when I heard about this accident...I had no reason to doubt it's truthfulness. I've been studying for a very hard and mentally taxing exam for the past couple weeks so I am thinking that is why I didn't "catch" the inconsistencies before. When I did see those pictures, I thought that for her extensive injuries that the car didn't look that bad. I totalled my car a couple years ago and it had about the same amount of damage and I walked away. Like I said, I was preppin for my exam so my mind wasn't looking for bullshit. Today I come home from my exam to find all these emails in my inbox about whether this accident was legit or not. Re-reading all the emails and looking at the pics..I decided to look a little deeper. It didn't make sense. I guess I should also note here that I used to be a private investigator before I got into the medical field. It comes in handy at times. I don't even think I needed my background to put an end to this story. Google is your friend people.

Look at the pics in this link and compare them to the photos that "Bill" posted here. If the pics of "Gina's car" disappear,email me. I took a print screen of them on this site. This way no one can say that I am pulling them out of my ass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Link #1
http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/accident_story/9-7-04-bad-car-crash-2.html">
link #2
http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/accident_story/9-7-04.html

and the attached story of said photos:

It was April 29, 2004 around 2:30 in the afternoon and I was driving back from work in Canton, Michigan. Approximately 10 minutes into my drive I was struck head-on, and without warning, by a car going 40-plus MPH heading in the opposite direction. The car was driven by a 17-year-old kid who *obviously* was not mature nor focussed enough to be behind the wheel of a car. The impact sent my car (a 1997 Plymouth Breeze) sailing into oncoming traffic.

As you can see in the pictures, my car was totaled. I was struck with such force that the engine block was pushed UNDER the firewall. When the paramedics arrived it took about four of them to pull my mangled body from the wreckage. I had suffered a BADLY broken right femur (thighbone) in which the bone almost protruded through my skin, a fractured left tibia (shinbone), torn knee ligaments, a badly sprained right ankle and internal bleeding, among other things.

I was conscious for the entire thing and had no feeling from the waist down. It was the single most terrifying day of my life. I thought I was going to die, or at least never walk again. I spent a week in the hospital and underwent emergency surgery. I have more surgery to come on my left leg in the near future. Thanks to the fabulous orthopedic surgeon that was on call that fateful day, my legs were saved. The kid that hit me walked away uninjured. The moral of the story is: live life one day at a time because you never know when something can happen and turn things upside-down. Before my accident I was a very active, athletic 20-year-old. I now have a new appreciation for life, because I realize how fast it can come to an end.

Be safe and be cautious,
Janice

So the pictures were from an entirely different accident that occurred in 2004.

Today this was posted on Gina's group by one of her closest friends:

"First off, you will notice that Gina was the first one that I have sent this to.

Second, I have to say when I got the news about the accident, I was in
tears. I consider Gina one of my good friends and someone that I can turn
to. She was there for me when I was going thru all of my medical stuff.

But, having said that, I want all of you to know that I knew nothing other
than what you did. Some of the e-mails made reference to Bill talking to
me about Gina's condition. Which we did talk. Making everyone think
that everything that was being said and e-mailed was true.

When I first got the e-mail, alot of the things didn't ring true. But my friend
wouldn't lie to me, right??? Then I got to thinking, her and Bill haven't been
getting along, maybe he did something to her. Let me tell you people, I
had all of the same thoughts that you have had. I saw all of the discrepencies.
But again, he must've done something to her. Which explains why not alot
of what was e-mailed sounded true.

I e-mailed her neighbor across the street, I called the hospitals for days
(I'm sure they got sick of me). I tried to call Gina's relatives. I called
the newstation, the newspaper, the cops, 911. I even sent the cops over there.
They were supposed to call me back, which they didn't. Which had me
convinced that Bill did something to her and they were investigating that.
Thats why they didn't call me back, right?? Let me tell you, I could've been a
detective with all of the people and what I was looking into.

But, I just made a phone call to the Lapeer County police station, and
asked them what they found out when they went out to Gina's on Sunday.
I didn't want to hang Bill till I found out for sure. The policewoman had to call
me back, as she had to look up the case number. Know what she told
me?? That the policeman who went out there talked directly to Gina
and Gina told him, no need to call Misty, I'll call her.

Let me tell you people, I AM LIVID!!! I AM PISSED!!!!!!! Gina, what
were you thinking? Why would you do this to so many people who
cared about you?? I have people e-mailing me becuz we are best
friends, and because Bill (or should I say you), put it in the e-mails
that we talked directly, implicating me. Thinking I knew more than I
did. SHAME ON YOU GINA!!

I personally don't want to hear another word about Gina. You took my
feelings and my heart and stomped the shit out of it!! You are not a
nice person Gina. I hope that whatever reason you did this, that it was
worth it and I hope that you get help.

So there you all have it. I can't explain why Gina did this, only she can.
But I can tell you that it is not true and we can lay this to rest and NOT
talk about it again."

Make no mistake

2007-07-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

Time is running out and we do have the proof and we will use it.

We know you're here.................

2007-07-22T22:17:00.000-04:00

and we know the truth. We'll give you until noon Tuesday to come clean, with the whole truth or we'll go public with proof.

Bear update

2007-07-16T20:18:00.000-04:00

We took Bear to the vet today and he's going to be fine. It's not his hips after all, it's a compressed disk, just like Mitzi. Two weeks of steroids and pain meds and then muscle relaxers for the rest of his life.

Back to real life

2007-07-15T10:13:00.000-04:00

Now that our Lep trekking is over, it's back to real life. Thursday and Friday I shaved our 2 long haired dogs (a real chop job!). I did Bear on Thursday and on Friday morning he came down the stairs yelping. He's been having some problems with his hips for about a year but this is the worst it's been. Last night he couldn't even get up the stairs to go to bed. I'm giving him baby aspirin occasionally but it doesn't seem to be helping this time I guess a visit to the vet is in our near future.

I hate having such a geriatric population of animals. Mitzi is 14 and has a compressed disk in her back. She's actually been doing very well though and hasn't had a spell with in in over a year. To actually see her you'd never know she's that old since she still bounces around like a puppy. Ruby is 12 and our sickest. She has Cushing's disease, a severe heart murmur and now has several tumors.

Bear and Jasper are 10 and littermates. Both of them have been relatively healthy until this problem with Bear's hips. Shadow is our youngest dog at 6 but since he's a large dog, his life span is shorter and he's considered geriatric already.

Then there are the cats. Smoke is 13, Splash and Killer are 11, and Puff is 4. Thank goodness no major health problems with any of them yet. Smoke had a bout with an ear infection a couple of months ago that was very dramatic but not too serious. We had thought that he was having seizures but as it turns out they were actually dizzy spells from the ear infections.

It's really depressing seeing them age this way. I've had most of them either from a very young age (Ruby was 4 weeks old and Puff was 3 weeks old) or from birth (Bear and Jasper are Ruby's puppies)and it's so hard to see them get old and fragile when it seems like yesterday they were chewing my shoes, or shredding my curtains.

My C-bus pics

2007-07-13T00:41:00.000-04:00

Def Leppard Columbus

C-bus!!

2007-07-10T16:10:00.000-04:00

So sorry it took me so long to post this, I've spent the last couple of days in a fog. I can't remember ever being so tired after a Lep show. I guess my age is showing!

Our day started around 10, when Chrissy picked me up to go scout out hotels and such. We didn't see anything and finally Chrissy got a message from Cindy that they'd seen one of the buses heading toward the venue. We headed that way and met up with her, Lou and Sheila. I have to pause here to say that DAYUM! Sheila is looking very hot these days. If I was into girls.....................

Apparently the bus that they'd seen was a crew bus because at noon on the dot, the band busses pulled in. Both drivers waved at us and George had his thumbs in his ears, waving his hands at us and was making faces. We also got to talk to one of the truck drivers that Cindy knew.

We hung around for a bit longer but since we couldn't see the buses to watch the comings and goings like we did in Cincy, we decided to head back to the hotel that the others were staying at for a while. We hung out there for a while and then Chrissy and Lou went to Arby's and got us some grub. We left just before 3 to head back to the venue. This is where is starts getting funny/interesting. As soon as we got in the car, I realized I had to pee. Well I wasn'[t going to ask the other girls to take me clear back up to the room so i figured I'd just hold it.

We sat in Germain's parking lot, in the heat, for another two and a half hours give or take. By the time we got out to get in line, I was dying. Inside one of the side gates were porta potties so Cindy told me I should go over and ask them if I could just run in to use one and come back out. Now I know this is hard to believe, but I am pretty shy. I absolutely did not want to ask but I didn't have a choice really.

Security at the gate would have none of it but they did suggest i go over to the radio station van to see about getting an early entry wrist band. We did, and lo and behold there was Archie!!!!! He does sports now but in 2002 he was the evening DJ and I used to call him allllllll the time begging him to play some Lep. He said he'd gladly give us wrist bands if we'd hang around for a minute until the next break so he could interview me. OMG! I'm about to whiz right down my leg and he wants to do an interview? Thankfully he kept it short and sweet and after I made a complete goof of myself, and he told the whole listening area that I had to "tinkle", we were off to the gate once agian. So we got in (even before the ILAA people) I took a looooooooooooooong whiz, got something to drink and waited for them to open the gates to the seats.

We took a seat in one of the only shady areas a moment later, in walked Mike thorugh the back gate, by the buses. Contrary to what Chrissy posted, we did not "call out" to him. I screamed "MIKE!" at the top of my lungs! Poor guy, I don't know how he puts up with us! Anyway we chatted for a bit and then the three of us walked into the seating area.

We thought our tickets were 6th row, but they ended up being 5th row, woo hoo, and now I'll cut to the chase. Styx put on an awesome show again, and this time Chrissy got a pic, from JY I think. I had been looking forward to REO since their Hi Infidelity was the first rock album I ever bought. After 2 songs we went out to the consession stands. It was painful to see Kevin Cronin pointedly avoid the high notes. He wasn't off-key or anything, he just sang lower notes instead of the high ones, if that makes any sense. We ended up getting some grub and talking to some friends of Chrissy's and then back to our seats for Lep.

They opened with Rocket again (same set list they've been doing). Our seats ended up being absofrigginglutely awesome, since the third row was almost empty and the short couple in front of us kept coming and going, and finally left altogether about halfway through Lep's set. I got Phil's attention about 3 songs in and he waved and said HI! He'd already removed his shirt and I gesture wildly, pointing to my head, trying to ask him where his hat was that he'd worn in Cincy. You know, the one I told him I didn't like? His response was "Do you like it?" Ummmmmm yeah sweetie, the slightly new haircut is great but...................I'll try again later!

We were much closer to the catwalk this time so when they came out for BOTHB I did try again and this time he got it! I think Chrissy was also making the wild gestures by this time! So, he gestured that the hat was backstage and then pointed to his pants (he had black ones on, instead of the camo ones that matched the hat) I'm assuming to let us know why he wasn't wearing it. Then he mouthed "you didn't like it anyway!" Ha! he remembered.

Mike was toward the end of the catwalk by now, getting some pictures for the website, so I ran up to him and got his picture! Even with his pass, security tried to rum him off! Idiots!

I haven't gotten my pics developed yet but Chrissy apparently was having lots of luck getting the band's attention. She's got awesome shots of Sav, Joe and Phil looking right at her camera! I'm having trouble getting my kid out of bed to run me to Walgreen's to drop off my film but hopefully I'll have 'em tomorrow.

Back to the show.....I was really wound up and sadly when that happens you just never know what I'm going to do. During "Armegeddon It" I uh....cut loose. I caught Phil's eye, he smiled and I stuck my tongue out and wiggled it. He laughed and mouthed "You are bad!" A moment later He looked my way again and this time I stuck my tongue out between two fingers. This time I got an "Oh my god!" from him and he was laughing so hard i was afraid he was going to fall off the stage! All too soon the show was over.

Mike came out as soon as the lights went up and got some pics of me, Chrissy, Jen and Eve in front of the stage. Security was busily shooing everyone out so he said he'd meet us in the parking lot in a bit. He did and we got more pics that also included Lori, Sheila, Cindy, Val and Sandy. He chatted with us for quite a while but we finally let him go as we knew he had a long drive home.

We stuck around, waiting for the buses to leave and met a few more die-hards. As the buses left we followed them out of the parking lot and all the way to the east/west split and then headed home, tired but happy.

Shhhh, be verwy vewy quiet........

2007-07-08T09:04:00.000-04:00

We're hunting Weppards!

Be back tonight or early tomorrow!

Found this

2007-07-07T18:03:00.000-04:00

Quote of the day.....

2007-07-07T16:54:00.000-04:00

This was on my google page and I thought it was amusing.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a rich widow.
- Evan Esar

Uh oh!

2007-07-01T16:40:00.000-04:00

Scott asked David when he gets to meet Danny. This should be interesting. Scott loves David but he's having a hard time dealing with his homosexuality. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cincy pics!

2007-06-28T22:01:00.000-04:00

Chrissy's are better but here's a link to mine:

Styx

Def Leppard

2007-06-28T11:29:00.001-04:00

Let's Get Rocked!!!!!

Okay, so they didn't do LGR but it's all good people! Chrissy and I had a totally awesome day. We got to Riverbend a little after one just to hang out and the buses pulled in just after we did. We followed them from the front parking lot back to the gate just to give them a big welcome and then a kind soul told us where we could go to get a bit closer and watch as the band left the buses. We ended up sitting there for several hours, watching the comings and goings and chatting with Ricardo the gate security guy. Very cool dude! We shouted hello at Vivian as he left the bus at one point and we also shouted and waved at Tommy Shaw as he was beside his bus. We chatted with Mark and Mike for quite a bit as they were wandering around, checking out the venue and we got to hear soundcheck.

We got rained on a bit as we entered the venue but the sun quickly came out again. Styx went on first and as Wil Weaton would say "It was total hawesomeness"! I've always loved Styx and though I miss Dennis DeYoung it didn't take away from the show. Tommy and JY and the rest of the band are very high energy and put on a heck of a show. During Foreigner's set, we went out on the lawn for some smokes since neither Chrissy or I are into them.

Now for Lep! First of all, let me say that I haven't been too enthused about this tour. I will always see Lep when they play close to me, I just wasn't looking forward to the same old set list. Ha! What a ride!

They opened with Rocket for starters, and while I'm not good at remembering the whole setlist, they did do Excitable, Mirror Mirror, Another Hit and Run, and Switch 625. They did a bit of an acoustic set, Two Steps Behind and the beginning of Bringing on the Heartbreak. They also changd the arrangements of a couple of the songs and added some vocal effects to others. This not your average Vault setlist people! It was fresh sounding and exciting.

As has been rumored, the stage now includes a catwalk (that THRUSTS into the crowd!) that they made good use of. Somebody will probably slap me for this, but I don't think I even looked at the video screen. Too busy looking at the band I guess! Rick's drumkit was way up on a platform like last tour, but I think it's even higher this time. The stage is huge and they used every inch of it. I think they should call this tour "The Bigger, Bolder, Louder Tour"!

The band looked great. Everyone seemed to be in fine shape and more than ready to entertain the fans. Joe looked fit and was his usual flirty self, He spent a lot of time on the catwalk. Sometime during the show it started raining, and then actually storming. During Bringing on the Heartbreak, Joe was at the end of the catwalk when there was this huge flash of lightning. He barely missed a beat but he he jumped nearly a foot in the air from the surprise. I guess you had to be there but it was funny, really funny.

We couldn't see much of Vivian or Rick from where we were but when we did see them they were smiling and seemed to be having a blast. Rick had this t-shirt on that ha a vest printed on it. I thought it was cool, I don't think Chrissy was impressed.

Sav looked great and kept a close eye on the crowd during the obscure stuff. If you want it to stay in the set, sing, scream and jump up and down people! They are paying attention and we need to let them know that we WANT TO HEAR THE OLDER STUFF TOO! Sav saw us singing during Excitable and had a nice satisfied smile on his face. While he was on the catwak, Chrissy blew him a kiss and she was rewarded with a cute little flick of his tongue.

Phil was looking good as usual. He actually kept his shirt on almost half the show! Is that some kind of record? Before the acoustic set he came out sans shirt, with a camo hat on, backwards. Poor dude got confused, Chrissy told him she liked it and I told him to ditch it! When I told him I didn't like it he gave me this "aww shucks" sort of look. Sorry Phil!

They ended with Rock of Ages and as the house lights came up, we could see just how hard it was raining. When we got out from under the roof we were instantly soaked, it was like walking into Niagara Falls. Thank goodness Chrissy had the foresight to bring a couple of extra shirts so at least our top halves got a little dry afte we got to the car. 2+ hours later, when we got home, I could still wring water out of my pants.

Feeling a little weird...................

2007-06-26T15:09:00.000-04:00

Just met my son's boyfriend. Knowing he's gay is one thing, having it right in my face has left me feeling a little odd. Danny's a very sweet young man though so it's all good.

Busy week!

2007-06-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

I gotta get the house cleaned up today and tomorrow and then..........
We're off to see the wizard
The wonderful wizard of Oz
We hear he is a wiz of a wiz
If ever a wiz there was.......

Okay so we're really off to see Lep on Wednesday. We're only doing 2 shows this tour, which is really sad for me. I did 9 on the "X" tour, 5 on the ROA tour and 3 on the Yeah tour. Between the cost of tickets and gas I just can't justify any more this tour though.

Been a long while!

2007-06-10T11:44:00.000-04:00

I've actually had a good bit going on, mostly money related it seems like. First our water heater quit on us. We knew it was going, it had been leaking for several weeks but we were hoping it would hold out til our tax refund arrived. It didn't. We woke up the Thursday before Memorial day to no hot water and a small flood in the basement.

We weren't sure what we were going to do. We had $300 and that was it, and that was supposed to go toward the gas bill. With no other real choice, Scott took Friday off and we replaced the old gas water heater with an electric one and crossed our fingers that the gas wouldn't get shut off before the next Thursday.

Lo and behold, Tuesday morning, there was the tax refund in the mailbox! Hallelujah! Got the bills paid, paid off the furniture we had on layaway (pictures below)and had a wee little bit left over. Good thing since we had another minor mishap last Wednesday. I tried to heat some rice and veggies in the microwave and although it came on, and ran, the rice was still ice cold. Scott says it was cooking the wiring instead of the food!

So yesterday off to Wally world we went with the last $100 of our refund. I wanted a stainless steel microwave but they started at $150 so that was out. I eventually found one for $50 so Scott said to spend the rest on whatever I wanted. You know me, I hit the clearance racks! I found a set of flatware for $40 (originally $70) and a pair of jeans for $5. With tax it all came to 100.87. Am I good or what? lol

Speaking of "lol" I have become addicted to lolcats, more specifically the website I Can Has Cheezburger? so if you don't see me around on the groups and forums, you know where I'm at.

Pics of new furniture!

Wow a real post for a change!

2007-04-26T19:36:00.000-04:00

There just isn't much going on here. Scott and I had a huge fight with David earlier this week but things seem to be okay now. I will be so glad when he's over all the teenage agnst shit. Of course Scott's been out of town all week so we shall see.

Ruby (one of our dogs) has been sick today. In addition to the Cushing's disease that we knew she had, she's now developed a severe heart murmur. The vet said she'll probably go within the next few months. It breaks my heart, we've had her since she was 4 weeks old and she's my dog. She has little use for anybody else, lol.

Well gotta cut this short, we're starting to get some bad weather.

More Ben

2007-04-22T20:40:00.001-04:00

So sue me! I can't help it I'm hooked!

".....I'll be lovin' you soon........"

If someone wanted to buy me this CD for mother's day, I'd love 'em forever. :)

Ben

2007-04-18T10:52:00.001-04:00

WTF?

2007-04-11T13:49:00.000-04:00

In the past I've talked a little bit about how dysfunctional Brittany's in-laws are. I've also mentioned that Britt got an apartment on her own a few months ago. Well a few weeks ago ET moved in with them and they seem to be getting back on track.

A while back, a "friend" of Britt's (she's really only been nothing but trouble)asked her if she and her son could move in because they apparently had no place to go. Brittany said no, mainly because her apartment is only 2 bedrooms and it's really pretty small. Well this girl went off on her, making threatening phone calls and whatnot and finally calling Children's Services on Britt, saying that Britt was using drugs heavily and having wild parties, Sabrina didn't have enough to eat and was dirty, blah blah blah. CS came out checked things out and that was pretty much the end of it.

Now for the "WTF?" part. This girl has now moved in with Britt's in-laws! I just don't get it.

2007-04-09T22:40:00.000-04:00

Meh....

2007-03-31T19:29:00.000-04:00

The story on the recalled pet food didn't pan out. Hmmph.

Hmmmmm

2007-03-25T10:30:00.000-04:00

Keep checking back here. There may be another story on the pet food recall in the next couple of days that has a little twist. ;)

New recipe

2007-03-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

Another new recipe on Let's Get Cooking, this one is for Swirled Cheesecake Nibbles.

Rat poison?

2007-03-23T13:37:00.000-04:00

It seems they found rat poison in the recalled pet food. There's no way this was an accident.

Yahoo News

Beasties

2007-03-20T17:35:00.000-04:00

Have you heard about the canned pet food recall? It took me a while to find the link to the company's website and I was nearly panicking. Thank goodness the 2 brands that I feed my beasts, Friskies for the cats, and Kibbles 'n Bits for the dogs, weren't on the list. If you're interested in the list here's the link:
Recall List

I thought it very interesting that the cheap store brands and 3 of the most expensive brands were made by the same company. It only solidifies in my mind that there really isn't much difference between brands. I've always kind of felt guilty that I don't feed my pets the best, well not any more, LOL.

My Birds

Does anybody else have pet birds? I'd always only fed mine bird seed until a few years ago. My vet told me that Pepper (RIP) our cockatiel was overweight. We discussed his diet and he told me that a seed only diet is very high in fat and really isn't good for them. So now in addition to seed, they get some kind fo fresh food every day. In the spring I collect dandelion greens that they love, and th rest of the year they get chopped grapes, apples, fresh spinach, frozen mixed veggies, thawed, and brussels sprouts.

EDIT: Tracey, the recall is because 13 cats and 1 dog have died from kidney failure after eating some of the recalled brands of food. On top of that, Menu Foods, after receiving complaints, conducted their own study in February, feeding the food to 40-50 dogs and cats, in which 9 died. I hope they get shut down for good.

Let's get cooking!

2007-03-20T10:40:00.000-04:00

There's a new recipe up on Let's Get Cooking, courtesy of Chrissy.
New Recipe

Puff AKA Studly No Nuts

2007-03-19T13:15:00.000-04:00

Here's pictures of Puff that I promised Tracey eons ago. Does he really look fat? Obviously he's much bigger than the other cats but I swear there's not an ounce of fat on him. It's solid muscle.

Just got a call from the hospital!

2007-03-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

Mike is being discharged today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm in love......

2007-03-17T23:38:00.000-04:00

Family emergency

2007-03-13T10:16:00.000-04:00

I just found out that my brother Mike is being taken in for an urgent triple bypass surgery in about 2 hours. Please keep him in your thoughts.

Let's get cooking!

2007-03-12T09:43:00.000-04:00

Well I did it. I started a new blog for my recipes. Check it out and pass along the link!

Let's Get Cooking

11 days and other stuff

2007-03-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

Only 11 more days til Chrissy and I see the Goo Goo Dolls at the LC. This is a show I'm getting pretty excited about. I've never seen the Goos live and I really enjoy shows at the LC. I've been there a couple of times, once to see Lisa Marie Presley with Chrissy and once to see Styx. It's a fairly small venue, for the Styx show I had balcony seats and I still had a great view.

4 pounds vs 17 pounds

I was going to post about this a couple of weeks ago but then Smoke got sick and I completely forgot about it until last night. Even before he got sick, Smoke was pretty thin and frail, after all he's almost 13. At the vet's he weighed in at just over 4 pounds. A few posts ago I also posted that Puff had weighed in at 17 pounds when we had him neutered. Puff has always bullied our other two cats, Killer and Splash, who both weigh about 8-10 pounds but never Smoke. We always figured it was because Smoke was so frail. Apparently that's not the case. A couple of weeks ago and again last night, I saw the funniest sight. Puff was lying in the chair when Smoke jumped up beside him. He gives a loud "PRRRTTT!" and pounces on Puff, grabbing him around the neck with his teeth. For males/females this is a mating posture. For males/males it's to show dominance. Poor Puff looked up at me, and gave this tiny little meow and looked absolutely terrified! So I guess we know who's top cat in this house.

Honestly everything else has been really quiet. Brittany got promoted to manager where she works, school has been fairly quiet for David and Scott's been spending a good bit of time out of town for his job.

Lepplady at it again

2007-02-26T17:55:00.000-05:00

She's whining this time because Mark Senff has a "non Lep" forum from which she's already been removed/banned. I would have kept my mouth shut about the whole situation since anything she says or does tends to bore me, however I like and respect Mark. So when she posted on her myspace blog about it I made a few comments. I would have left it at that, however my last comment was deleted for "bashing" her and I really hate being censored.

I didn't think to copy my comment but this is basically what I said:

"Mark's forum is just that, his forum. I have seen you do exactly what you accuse him of,on your own forum and group. I've seen you start threads, or post in threads simply to bait or bash other fans no matter how subtly you try to put it. You joined Mark's forum and with your very first post you started with your innuendo and jabs."

There was a bit more and this isn't word for word because like I said I didn't think to copy my comment (you'd think I'd have learned by now) but that's the gist of it.

EDIT:

Lepplady "kindly" sent me a message with my deleted comment in it. Here it is in it's entirety:

1. Toward, against, whatever, you got my point.
2. I've seen with my own eyes, how you, on your own forum and group, have bashed not only Mark but others as well, time and time again, however subtle you tried to be. I've seen you deliberately start threads, or post in threads for the sole purpose of baiting people, no matter what spin you tried to put on it later. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Mark's forum is just that, his forum, it has nothing what so ever to do with Def Leppard. You joined and even posted a few times but immediately started with your snide innuendo there and subtle bashing on your own group.

I'm just gonna go scream now..........

2007-02-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to get into my yahoo mail all morning. I can see that there are about 20 messages waiting but it won't let me in. Grrr.

Am I the only one?

2007-02-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who still irons clothes on a regular basis? I ask because I have a huge basket of stuff I'm trying to wade through to get ironed and I mentioned it to my friend Nancy and she acted like I had 2 heads!

TGIF!!!!!!

2007-02-23T09:52:00.000-05:00

For those that read my blog on myspace you already know how my week started out. For those that don't, here's a recap:

Monday morning at 5 am we awoke to a deathly ill kitty. I won't go into all the details but we seriously thought he wasn't going to make it. He did thank goodness and his on the road to recovery quite nicely.

Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment. I waited an hour to get into an exam room and another 45 minutes for the doctor to come in. He gave me antibiotics for the gashes in my fingers from the cat, and bitched because I hadn't gone to the ER. My BP was excellent and I'm no longer on any meds for it, woo hoo! My glucose is still running too high but he didn't change my meds and didn't really listen to what I was saying. Rumor has it he's going to retire soon so I think I'm going to start doctor shopping now. We also had a finance class Tuesday night that we almost missed due to the DR's appointment.

Wednesday we had a meeting with a financial advisor that went pretty well. Yesterday and today I'm trying to get caught up on laundry and dishes and of course twice a day since Monday has been a huge fight trying to get Smoke's medicine into him.

Man I could use about a 48 hour nap.

I need some advice

2007-02-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

What do you say to a young woman who seems to have everything going for her,she''s beautiful, she has a beautiful child, a great job, a nice apartment, but her choices in men suck? I've talked til I'm blue in the face but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

What a day!

2007-02-06T16:40:00.000-05:00

I woke up with a massive migraine this morning. Of course today isn't just any day either, first it's David's 17th birthday and second, I started babysitting Sabrina again today. I've been taking ibuprofen all day but it's not helping. Calgon, take me away!!!!!

RIP Barbaro

2007-01-29T13:32:00.000-05:00

Tracey.....This is Puff

2007-01-25T14:25:00.001-05:00

When he was about 6 months old, he's now almost 3. I'm gonna try to get a new picture of him later today.

Of all the nerve!

2007-01-22T15:06:00.000-05:00

Hmmph! The vet and vet tech at the clinic where I got Puff neutered had the nerve to say he was obese simply because he weighs 17 pounds! He is not obese, he's just big boned!

Busy busy busy!!!

2007-01-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

Man have things been hectic here for the past few weeks. First of course was Britt's accident and all the legal stuff that it entailed, which is finally all done. We also had some other legal stuff we had to take care of, David's been sick, as has Shadow, and today we took Puff to finally get him neutered. I think I'll be glad when this month is over!

A word to the wise, if you are ever in an accident, go to the ER immediately even if you don't think you're injured. It makes a huge difference when it comes to a settlement, sheesh. Britt got more than twice what we got (from her own insurance company since they have yet to track down the other driver) than we got when Scott got broadsided a year and a half ago.

So, not much interesting going on here at the moment. I know I owe some emails (Margie/Sarah, Cindy, Debbie) hopefully I can get to them this week.

Details

2007-01-05T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm still pretty shaken about last night's accident. Actually I guess angry would be more appropriate. See the other driver and one of his passengers ran off after they moved the minivan they were in but I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I?

Brittany called me about 20 minutes after 5 last night crying, saying something about the car leaking fluids all over the street. She managed to tell me where she was at so I hung up and left to see what was going on. On the map, we live at the corner of Floral and Lechner. Brittany used to live at the corner of Lechner and Fairmont until she moved 2 weeks ago. ET and his parents still live there.

When I get down the street I see our camaro (we've been letting Brittany drive it,intending to sign it over to her once she gets her license.)sitting between the alley and Fairmont, on Lechner, with the front end completely smashed in and it was indeed leaking fluid everywhere.

ET, Brittany, Sabrina and another girl and her baby were driving up Lechner from W. Broad, going to ET's house when a minivan pulled out of the alley in front of them. There were 2 guys and 2 girls in the minivan and after the accident one of the guys pulled the van into the parking lot of an apartment building and the 2 guys disappeared.

The 2 girls from the van tried to tell the police that they were the ones coming up Lechner but he could tell from the damage that they were lying. So to make a long story short, the camaro is totalled and I'm assuming the other driver was uninsured. Thank goodness Brittany has uninured motorist coverage.

ET and Sabrina are fine, but sore, this morning (or last night at midnight when I last talked to them), and Brittany is in 2 casts, her right wrist and ankle.

Please send some good thoughts our way......

2007-01-04T19:00:00.000-05:00

Brittany, ET and Sabrina were in an accident this evening. Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt but we're all pretty shaken up. They're at the hospital right now, getting Brittany's ankle and wrist checked out, along with ET's knee and Sabrina was complaining that her neck hurt.

I'll give y'all more details when I've had a chance to calm down.

UPDATE: Brittany's wrist has a hairline fracture as does her foot/ankle.

Looking ahead..................

2007-01-04T09:53:00.000-05:00

For once I'm actually looking forward to a new year. We've got lots of remodeling planned for this year and it looks like we might actually have the money to do it! We're starting on our bedroom first which is going to be a BIG job. We're ripping out all the old plaster and the wall between our bedroom and the tiny empty one to make our room bigger. There's also a chimney in our room that needs torn out. That's not really a big job but it is a dirty one.

Brittany and Sabrina moved into their own apartment a couple of weeks ago and I'm looking forward to helping her put the finishing touches on it. She seems really excited about living on her own for the first time.

I already have a couple of shows planned. Chrissy and I are going to see the Goo Goo Dolls in March and I may be going to see Buckcherry and 3 Days Grace with Scott if I can talk him into it. I'm seriously hoping the Leps don't tour this year. My bank account can't handle another tour so soon I don't think!

Looking back............

2006-12-31T20:56:00.000-05:00

Sitting here reminiscing over 2006. No huge changes here in the past year, thank goodness. I reconnected with 2 old friends, Margie, whom I've known since we were in diapers, and Cindy. Cindy and I met in junior high and became fast friends. We grew apart in high school but she found me on myspace a few weeks ago. I'm so grateful to have both ladies in my life once again.

Not near as many road trips this year but Chrissy and I did see the Leps 3 times. We were supposed to see Rick Springfield together but she had to work :(. I went by myself and had a great time but I really did miss my concert buddy!

We lost our precious little Penny. I still miss her so much. We added Misty Blue to our family and she's a sweet little budgie.

We didn't get nearly as much done to the house as we had planned but it looks like we will in 2007. We have a few little things to do in the 2 bedrooms that we started, David's room needs some trim painted and new windows and the spare room needs an acoustic ceiling and new windows and then they're both done.

I guess we had a pretty uneventful year but I'm glad. The past few years were pretty hectic and it was nice to just cruise through this year!

Oh and one other thing....

2006-12-26T13:14:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about starting a new blog, all about favorite recipes. I'd like to get a team together for it instead of trying to do it all my self. If anyone is interested in reading or in being a part of the team email me. If there's enough interest I'll do it.

Post holiday sales

2006-12-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

I love 'em! I didn't do a lot of shopping today but I did hit Wally world. I came home with 7 bags of stuff plus a gift set that wouldn't fit in a bag, all for under $60! I got 7 or 8 gift sets, candles, a dog toy, a holiday themed throw, a frame,holiday themed pajama bottoms, bows and napkins. I was shocked that the store wasn't more packed. Last year you could barely get down the aisles and everything was pretty picked over by the time we got there. Not this year. The store was reasonably busy but not crowded and the foot traffic in the aisles was manageable.

There were about 10 aisles of stuff that was 50% off and they were literally overflowing with stuff. I'm hoping that by this weekend it will be marked down even more. They also had about half of their registers roped off for returns and there weren't more than a dozen people in line. I love clearance sales!

What not to eat during the holidays

2006-12-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday
buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact,
if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where
they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine
single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than
single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year
but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories
in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an
eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one
for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole
point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make
a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy.
Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with
skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother?
It's like buying a sports car with an automatic
transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort
to control your eating. The whole point of going to a
Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots
of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now
and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have
nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which
you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a
10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet
table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size
of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have
as many as you can before becoming the center of attention.
They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them
behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of
each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and
one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have
more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with
the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all
cost. I mean, have SOME standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave
the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying
attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is
just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in
one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and
screaming,

"WOO HOO what a ride!"

Thank you!

2006-12-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to thank my friends for all the support. I was really afraid that maybe I was being way too sensitive and I'm glad to see that I'm not and that what I see as bigotry is indeed bigotry.

There were numerous more messages back and forth on the OF after I posted and it still hasn't been resolved. The mod involved tells me that he has forwarded all messages to the other mods and the administration to get their input. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Okay

2006-12-19T15:26:00.000-05:00

I talked to David (the person who's confidence I was afraid I'd be breaking) and he says go for it so here it is.

There's a thread on the DL forum about "What grosses you out". Some of the posts hit home because a few months ago I found out that my son is gay. I love and support him no matter what. To me his sexuality is not an issue. However I guess I've become hyper sensitive to any type of homophobia or gay-bashing.

In this particular thread, someone posted that gay displays of public affection grossed them out, then stated they hoped there weren't any gay rights activists on the board. I stated I was and was offended by his attitude. We were told to take it to PM, which I didn't do, since I'm not really interested in his/her point of view.

A few pages later someone posted that fags and lesbians grossed them out. I PM'd the playground mods with this

"I know that a warning was already posted but the gay bashing is still going on. As the mother of a gay son I find it highly offensive and I would appreciate it if you'd take a look and delete the offensive posts.
Thanks"

This is the reply " All posts after the warning message that were commenting on lesbians and / or gays have been removed. The post that flared it up again has been edited, with the word "fags" being replaced with "gays". Why it has been allowed to remain, for now, will be explained below.

There have been no attacks on people of any sexual orientation because for a member to let it be known that public acts of homosexual affection gross them out (which is the topic of the thread) is simply a statement of their opinion. It's no different than a member saying that public acts of hetrosexual affection gross them out. The aforementioned problematic post, by ******, does not clarify this though as it simply states "Lesbians and Gays", and as a result we will be asking this member to either modify their post so to make this clear, or to simply remove their comments altogether, or we will.

The first post, by ******, that stirred up bickering between members was quite clear in that there was no malice towards gays, and that rather it was simply a dislike of homosexual acts of affection. It seemed the problem there was said members attempt at humor in his ending sentence, which didn't go down too well. That should have been addressed via private message, and not on the board."

By now I was pretty upset so I replied with this: "I see, so it would be okay if I posted that seeing a multi-racial couple showing affection in public grossed me out?"

The mod's reply "No, it would not be okay. If you said it grossed you out because it was a multi-racial relationship, that would be racist. It would not matter if it was a hetrosexual relationship, or a homosexual relationship, any comments about multi-racial couples would be removed. They would be removed because it would be focusing on the colour of peoples skin, rather than the actual public showing of affection. The core of the dislike towards seeing couples showing affection in public is that people do not wish to see it, the act itself, which should go on behind closed doors. And, we're not talking about little things like holding hands, or hugging, or a peck on the cheek. What people are referring to is full on kisses with the tongue, and feeling each other up in public, etc.

Seeing a homosexual couple showing affection for one another bothers people more so than a hetrosexual couple because they cannot understand the previous, they do not find their own sex attractive, and do not think such thoughts about their own sex, and as such do not wish to see it in public. Many of whom dislike seeing shows of affection from both homosexual, and hetrosexual couples, it's just the latter can override the previous for the above reasons. There are those who dislike it for lesser thought of reasons such as their children seeing it, and then they (the parent) would have to attempt to explain to their child what was happening, and why, when the child may be too young to understand, or comprehend, and then again the parent may struggle to understand and comprehend it themselves.

Members saying that they dislike seeing couples (hetrosexual or homosexual) showing affection in public is not to be confused with them having a problem with said individuals on any other scale. "

My most recent reply "Gotcha, on the DL forum it's okay to be a bigot about homosexuality but not about race.
I'll keep that in mind."

Am I overreacting? I don't feel like I am but I admit I'm not very objective on this subject.

I have an issue

2006-12-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

and I'm not sure what to do about it. I can't go into a lot of detail since that would require breaking a confidence but here's the gist of it. There's a forum that I frequent that has recently allowed some very offensive (to me anyway) posts. I'm sure a lot of you know what forum and maybe even what posts I'm referring to.

I've discussed these posts with a mod and was told they'd be allowed to stand because it was merely "someone's opinion". I understand freedom of speech but these are bigoted, ignorant remarks that really bug the hell out of me. I was told to simply bypass the particular thread that the comments were in, but the problem is they've actually popped up in a couple of threads.

I'm seriously considering leaving that forum and never going back but I don't want to just slink away either. I feel like I need to make a stand of some sort. I'm really just heartsick because I've spent a lot of time at that forum over the years.

BTW I even gave the mods a hypothetical post, privately, using the "someone's opinion" train of thought, and asked if it would be allowed to stand. I knew it wouldn't because it was racist (I'm not) but I wanted to see what they'd say. My message was read but not replied to.

Attention Sludgers!

2006-12-17T12:27:00.000-05:00

I see I've been getting a bunch of hits from Metal Sludge. Please feel free to leave a comment, I don't bite (unless you want me to :) ) and I'm always interested in meeting new people.

I have a new obsession I think

2006-12-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to the Guitar God!

2006-12-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas a little early!

2006-12-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to the Savage One!

2006-12-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Then and now

2006-11-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

I was looking through some old pictures and found these:

Shadow then:

Shadow now:

I may have posted these before but I was just struck by the difference. He was 18 months old when we got him and he was so thin and so shy. Now at age 5 he's fat, sassy and most definitely NOT shy.

A reason to hope

2006-11-05T19:51:00.000-05:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061105/sc_nm/science_stemcells_dc

Revised fairy tale

2006-10-28T23:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks Tina!!

This is the fairy tale that should have been read to us when we were
little:

Once upon a time
~~~~~~~~
in a land far away,
~~~~~~~~
a beautiful, independent,
self-assured princess
~~~~~~~~
happened upon a frog as she sat
contemplating ecological issues
on the shores of an unpolluted pond
in a verdant meadow near her castle.
~~~~~~~~

The frog hopped into the princess' lap
and said: " Elegant Lady,
I was once a handsome prince,
until an evil witch cast a spell upon me.
~~~~~~~~

One kiss from you, however,
and I will turn back
into the dapper, young prince that I am
~~~~~~~~
and then, my sweet, we can marry
~~~~~~~~
and set up housekeeping in your castle
~~~~~~~~
with my mother,
~~~~~~~~
where you can prepare my meals,
~~~~~~~~
clean my clothes, bear my children,
~~~~~~~~
and forever feel

grateful and happy doing so. "
~~~~~~~~
That night,
~~~~~~~~
as the princess dined sumptuously
~~~~~~~~
on lightly sauteed frog legs
~~~~~~~~
seasoned in a white wine
~~~~~~~
and onion cream sauce,
~~~~~~~~
she chuckled and thought to herself:
~~~~~~~~
I don't freakin think so.

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little angel!

2006-10-27T05:55:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo for me!

2006-10-25T19:19:00.000-04:00

The last Wednesday of the month is half price day at one of the local thrift stores. I used to shop there all the time but hadn't in a couple of years. Well all my jeans are little more than rags and we're trying to watch every penny so off to the thrift store I went. I got 3 pair of blue jeans, 2 looked new, the other pair nicely worn, 1 pair of black jeans, like new, 2 pair of cargo pants both in great condition and a cordorouy shirt all for only $9!!!!!

Wow!

2006-10-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

These are some family pics from the early '90's. I'd forgotten just how heavy I was back then!

What a cutie! David at age 2

2006-10-18T19:59:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow some pictures of a really chunky monkey!

RIP

2006-09-25T11:43:00.000-04:00

My pretty Penny

Happy Birthday Chrissy!

2006-09-19T05:56:00.000-04:00

Joe in Cleveland

2006-09-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

Sav in cleveland

2006-09-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

Photobucket

2006-09-17T20:54:00.000-04:00

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

Some pictures

2006-09-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

Pics from Columbus. I'll post more once I get them delveloped!

Columbus

2006-09-13T16:01:00.000-04:00

HELLOO?......................

Whew! What an exhausting 3 days! The adventures of Lisa and Chrissy started on Sunday afternoon when we met up with Angie and Heather for lunch. We parted ways after that since Chrissy and I had to be at the venue early for the ILAA pre-party. We still ended up getting there early so we drove around to the back of the venue just in time to hear the Leps doing soundcheck! We actually got to hear Women live, woohooooo! Sav started playing his bass and when there was a break Chrissy screamed "Saaaaaaav!" at the top of her lungs. A second later we hear Sav, "Hellooo?" Keep in mind, we are behind the venue and the wind is blowing from the direction of the amphitheater toward us. Chrissy , don't EVER acuse me of having the big mouth EVER again!

MY EYE, MY EYE!.................

We got signed in for ILAA and found a table. We ended up sitting with Animal and Sav Rocks from the OF and chatted with them for a bit. Neal (jerk) Schon and Jonathan Cain came out for pictures and then we headed to our seats. Our seats were right on the end of the third row center isle. The first two rows were a seat or two shorter so we were right in front of the barrier! Needless to say, that when Journey came on we were at the barrier and never moved til the show was over! During Only The Young Jonathon smiled and wrinkled his nose at me so I stuck my tongue out. I was rewarded with a pick, the only problem is, I catch like a girl and it ended up smacking me in the eye and bouncing back over the barrier where security picked it up and gave it to someone else. Hmmph!

WILL I EVER LEARN TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT?..............

When Lep came on, it sounded like they were going to start with Hellraiser but no such luck. Chrissy had brought the picture of her and Sav that was taken in Cincy in '03 and kept holding it up when Sav would come our way. It took a few songs for him to actually see it but when he did his whole face lit up! Phil came over and said hi a couple of songs into the set. Toward the end of the set Phil went to the back of the stage and came back out with a really sharp looking black shirt on. I tried to tell him how hot he looked but he must have misunderstood because he said "Okay" and tossed a pick my way. Unfortunately my catching skills had not improved and it bounced off my hand and over the barrier. Talk about Deja Vu! While everyone was scrambling to find it, Phil apparently told Chrissy to make sure I got it. Uh yeah right, a bazillion rabid fans fighting to find it and she's supposed to make sure I get it! LOL In the end however the security guy found it and handed it to me. WooT! After the encore, as the band was saying their goodbyes I opened my stupid mouth and shouted "I love you!" at Phil. Geez Louise!

CAUGHT IN THE ACT!.....................

After the show, we said goodbye to Gina, Sheila, Lori, Heather and Angie. We drove back to the rear of the venue, where the buses were to meet Jan and Cindy. Sav Rocks and Animal were also there and when the buses finally pulled out, they jumped out of their car to hold up a banner that SR had made that said "Sav Rocks". The attack bus went by, followed by Phil and Rick's bus, otherwise known as the "Wuss bus". Rick was hanging out the back window and started snapping pictures. We quickly fell in behind so we could follow them to Cleveland. Rick continued to snap pictures of Chrissy's car, all the way to the freeway! Evidence that we were stalking them, maybe? Geez I hope not!

BUT OFFICER WE HAVE TO CATCH THE BUSSES!...............

When we got to Linndale (almost to Cleveland) we thought we saw the busses get off the freeway. We were wrong so Chrissy gassed it so we could get back on and continue following. Umm, big mistake. There was a cop sitting at the side of the road and within a moment or two, lights and sirens were blaring. We pulled over and found they'd clocked us going 74 in a 60 zone. Ooops. we called Jan and Cindy, found out where the band had ended up, and got our own room at a much cheaper motel. We finally crashed around 4 am.

Quote of the day.....

2006-09-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

Actually 2.....

"At least get it in my mouth so I can eat it!"
"I know how the box works I just dont know if my chicken will fit!"
David, at Applebee's

This and that

2006-09-08T12:09:00.000-04:00

Well the ankle is doing better today, though it hurt like the dickens after I went grocery shopping last night. Tonight it's off to the mall to find something for the Lep shows. I actually had a couple of things picked out that I already had but because of the ankle I've had a change of plans. Both outfits required something with a bit of a dressier shoe but I doubt I'm going to be able to wear anything other that sneakers right now.

David is home from school today. Yep, 2 weeks into the school year and already his ride didn't show up or call. Please please please let him pass his driving test Monday!

We got some bad news about Ruby. She was still having a bit of diahrrea so we took her back to the vet and we discussed some other problems that she's been having. She's almost 12 and I really figured they were age related. Turns out it's much more serious. The vet believes that she has Cushings Disease. Basically it's a tumor on her pituitary gland in her brain. The test is very expensive and not always conclusive so we decided against it but she has 90% of the common symptoms. Most dogs only live about 2 years once they get it and she's had some of the major symptoms for almost 3. I'll be a wreck when she goes. We've had her since she was only 4 weeks old and she is my dog. Or I'm her person I guess!

UUUHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

2006-09-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

I may not be going anywhere! I twisted my ankle tonight while I was walking Shadow and it hurts like h*ll!

Update:
My ankle is much better today, thanks to my neighbor and dear friend Nancy. She brought over some Tiger Balm (think IcyHot only about 10 times as intense!) last night and it worked wonders. Most of the swelling is gone and I can walk, though I'm still being very careful. I sure as heck don't want to twist it again!

Busy busy busy

2006-09-06T14:42:00.000-04:00

Sheesh, somebody give me time to breathe! We've got court dates twice in the next week, two different things, nothing too exciting. David takes his driving test next Monday and still has not had time to practice, plus I've got 2 Lep shows, one Sunday and one Tuesday. I swear I'm gonna pull my hair out.

The transportation that David's school said they were going to have fell through at the last minute. They decided since there were only 4 students on this side of town that they weren't interested in bussing them. So far he's been riding with his friend E but that's not working out too well. They have to be at school at 7:30 and her dad didn't even pick David up today or yesterday til 7:35. If they get 3 tardies they get an in school suspension. Not to mention that it's not unusual for E to miss school a couple of days a week. On top of all of that she has soccer practice til 4:30 every night too. Please cross your fingers that he passes his test Monday. If he doesn't I will have a nervous breakdown. I mean it!

All of the dogs are back to normal. Actually they have been I just forgot to mention it and thank goodness Shadow never got sick. I had to strip the rug out of the kitchen and throw it out because it was so foul. Another thank goodness that it was the only place they really got sick, they avoided the carpet in the living and dining rooms.

I'm off now to see if I can find something to wear to the Lep shows. Chrissy and I have a trip to the mall planned for Friday just in case!

The great Grey Hunter

2006-09-05T05:58:00.000-04:00

Weimaraners are hunters, but being a cityfied dog, he'd never figured out what to do with all of that instinct. Until yesterday. He spotted his prey as soon as he left the porch. He slowly raised one paw, his body quivering from nose to tail with excitement. Step, by painfully slow step, he stalked his prey.

He watched patiently, getting as close as he dared, before BAM! He pounced! One swift bite and his prey was dead. Proudly he trotted back to his master and dropped his gift at his feet.

The poor butterfly never stood a chance.

Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T10:37:00.000-04:00

Crikey mate, RIP.

Not today........

2006-08-31T16:54:00.000-04:00

Well David couldn't pass the maneuverablity part of the driving test so he's going to practice this weekend and we'll reschedule for next week. David's upset and Scott's being a dickhead. He's mad because he says he knows david can do it. I know he can too, but I'm sure he was nervous and it's stupid to make such a big deal out of having to do it again.

Eeeeeek!

2006-08-29T20:48:00.000-04:00

Rode with David for the first time tonight. It's a good thng I took my BP meds first, LOL. He finished his driver's ed today and is scheduled to take his test Thursday afternoon.

I think Rhonda hit the nail right on the head!

2006-08-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

I am stuck in a rut! While I was thinking about it, this song by Reba McEntire started running through my head

She married when she was twenty
She thought she was ready
Now she's not so sure
She thought she'd done some livin'
But now she's just wonderin'
What she's livin' for
Now she's feelin' that there's something more
Is there life out there
So much she hasn't done
Is there life beyond
Her family and her home
She's done what she should
Should she do what she dares
She doesn't want to leave
She's just wonderin'
Is there life out there
She's always lived for tomorrow
She's never learned how
To live for today
She's dyin' to try somethin' foolish
Do somethin' crazy
Or just get away
Somethin' for herself for a change
Is there life out there
So much she hasn't done
Is there life beyond
Her family and her home
She's done what she should
Should she do what she dares
She doesn't want to leave
She's just wonderin'
Is there life out there
There's a place in the sun that she's never been
Where life is fair and time is a friend
Would she do it the same as she did back then
She looks out her window and wonders again
Is there life out there
So much she hasn't done
Is there life beyond
Her family and her home
She's done what she should
Should she do what she dares
She doesn't want to leave
She's just wonderin'Is there life out there
Oh is there life out there
She doesn't want to leave
She's just wonderin'Is there life out there

I'm not a drinker...

2006-08-27T19:24:00.000-04:00

But I seriously need a beer or six before I have a nervous breakdown! Here I sit, depressed yet again. I'm so unhappy with my life and I don't know what to do about it. I've thought about going back to school but I just don't have the motivation. I've been blown off by someone I cared a great deal about and thought was a dear friend. I think I need to crawl in hole for a while and think about making some changes.

Happy Birthday!

2006-08-25T09:33:00.000-04:00

Sending out a big Happy Birthday to Mr. Vivian Patrick Campbell!

I'm developing quite the crush on Mr. Campbell!

Things are finally looking up!

2006-08-24T10:32:00.000-04:00

We had a bit of a scare with Jasper. For two days, after we thought he was better, he refused to eat. he ate all of his supper last night, and Bear's though so I guess he's fine! We've got Bear's diarrhea under control, he's not eating much but that's to be expected. So far no signs of illness in Shadow.

We've come up with a five year plan to get our finances in order so we are finally seeing a light at the end of that very long and dark tunnel. For the first time in a very long time I got a full peaceful night's sleep.

David had an all day orientation at school yesterday and we found out that they will have transportation after all so that's one more thing off my mind. he also had his first in car driving lesson yesterday and he has another tomorrow so it won't be long til my baby has his driver's license! I miss my little boy but I'm so proud of the young man he's become.

Gerry sent me a link to a wonderful photo montage that a lep fan made of Steve Clark. It made me cry. If you're on myspace you should add Gerry as a friend. He's one of the sweetest, funniest, kindest people you'll ever meet.
Here's a link to the montage (if I can get blogger to co-operate!)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gerrylaffy

Sick dog number 4....

2006-08-23T10:32:00.000-04:00

Bear

My week from h*ll

2006-08-22T13:40:00.000-04:00

One week ago today, David, Shirley and I went to Byesville. It's been soooooo downhill from there! We'd no more than walked in the door last Tuesday night when Ruby crapped on the floor. I figured she was just excited to see us since we don't leave them alone for that long very often, and she's getting a bit on the senile side.

No such luck. 3 times in the middle of the night I had to clean up after her and take her out. By Wednesday it had become explosive diarrhea. Every hour or so, around the clock I was cleaning up messes and taking her out. Thursday evening Jasper started doing the same thing and by that time Ruby's messes were absolutely foul smelling.

Friday we got a diagnosis, Dog Show Crud, and believe me the name fits. It's nasty and highly contagious. Sunday night Mitzi began having diarrhea, but Ruby was getting better. This morning Jasper finally had a semi-solid bowel movement, so it looks like he's on the mend. We were hoping we'd dodged a bullet with Bear and Shadow since they've seemed fine, however as I typed this, Shadow threw up ( the other three actually threw up once a few hours before the diarrhea started too) so I may in for yet more disgusting messes and sleepless nights.

It takes about five days for it to run its course, and of course that's without any complications. So far we haven't had any so keep your fingers crossed, as it can be deadly at times.

So here's where we're at right now. Ruby and Jasper are better, Mitzi is on day 2 and Bear and Shadow (maybe) have yet to get sick. I got a full night's sleep last night, thanks to pepto bismol for Mitzi. I've gone through 8 rolls of paper towels and 2 cans of Lysol. I'm stocked up with plenty more just in case, also on pepto though that's kind of hit or miss on whether it works or not. It helped Ruby some, Mitzi a bunch and Jasper not at all.

Debs.....

2006-08-17T12:12:00.000-04:00

There was no need for an apology! I wasn't offended at all, it was really just an observation I made after re-reading my posts and your comment. You're a dear friend and I'm soo sorry there was a misunderstanding.

Byesville

2006-08-16T14:50:00.000-04:00

I grew up in a small town in Ohio, Byesville. Chrissy and I have been talking for months about going back for a day or two just to walk around and check things out but with her new job she's been really busy, so yesterday my sister Shirley, David and I made the trip. It's about an hour and half southeast of Columbus.

It's amazing how much it's changed and yet it's still the same. I hadn't been back there to really explore the town since the early '90's. My mom's house has changed sooo much I didn't even recognize it, as had the house right next door. I took some pics and I'm going to go through all my old pics and I'll post them later so you can see the difference.

The city park looked wonderful. It has all new playground equipment, with a few of the old things left for good measure I guess and 2 beautiful gazebos. Downtown hadn't changed a whole lot, though the stores that are there are all different, not that there are many left at all. Lots of empty store fronts which is sad.

I got to talk to my mom's best friend for a while. She's 85 now and sharp as a tack. She was like a second mother to all of us kids as we grew up. I saw Margie's parents but by the time we got done talking to Mary they'd left. Next time I want to make the time to see Margie herself, and possibly a couple of other old friends though I'm not sure who all still even lives in the area.

I have such mixed emotions today. It was great to see the town where I grew up but it's sad too. Scott and I have been talking about moving back there in a few years, once David is in college. I think I'd like that but I'd miss all of the things there are to do in the city. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Shopping spree

2006-08-12T18:08:00.000-04:00

Well sort of. We picked up a new chair for our desk (our old one Scott got out of the trash and we've had it for almost 12 years!) and a paper shredder that we've had on layaway. I also got notebooks for ten cents a piece and packs of paper for 50 cents to get David started back to school. I got me 2 pairs of boxer type shorts to work out in. My old ones I bought at a thrift store years ago and they were shot.

Scott's birthday is a week from tomorrow. Anybody got any ideas as to what I can get him? He's taking Thursday, Friday and Monday off and he'll probably go fishing a couple of days but he's not taking off for the whole weekend like he usually does. We just don't have the money.

Oh and I gave the white Lep tank top that I won at the ILAA pre-party to Sabrina. It actuall fits her!

This is driving me crazy!

2006-08-12T11:34:00.000-04:00

I've had a Randy Travis song running through my head all morning. It's called "Send My Body" and it goes something like this:

"Send my body home on a freight train,
Don't worry none that I don't go first class,
Just see they bury my under our old apple tree....."

I haven't heard the song in years so I don't know why I'm "hearing" it in my head now but it's about to drive me bonkers!

One month

2006-08-10T14:44:00.000-04:00

Til the Columbus show! I have so much to do before then. We're still waiting on the driving school to let us know when David has his in-car lessons. I've called them twice and they keep telling me they'll call me back in a day or two.

Meanwhile, I have to find transportation for David to and from school. Only the seniors are allowed to drive and Columbus Public Schools has decided they aren't going to bus students to the charter schools any longer. City buses are out of the question because he'd have to catch a bus at 5:00 am just to get to school on time and wouldn't get home until after 6:00 pm. As if I didn't have enough stress in my life!

I have come to the conclusion

2006-08-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

That I am an attention whore. Raise your hand if you knew this about me already. I see. Lots and lots and lots of hands. :) Good to know that my friends know me so well!

After reading my posts about Cincy and RS and then Debs' comment I realized what it must look like. When it's a band or act that I really like, it's as much about being up front, getting noticed, and getting awesome pictures as it is about the music. Had I stayed in my seat at the RS show I still would have had a blast. Getting up front was a huge added bonus.

There are bands that I'm more than happy to see from anywhere in the venue, like Kenny Loggins ( I had nosebleed seats, unfortunately I didn't get to use them as that was the week that Scott's dad died), KISS, and Styx among others.
I guess my point is that I'm not always an attention whore, just most of the time! In fact I tend to be a bit on the shy side at times. Almost every time I've met anyone famous, someone (Usually Chrissy!) has had to push me to talk to them.