Monday, November 30, 2009

Injury Update II

I’m out of the wheelchair and off the crutches! YESSSS!! I won’t tell you that I’m not still in pain but I’m doing what I can to get healed up! Time waits for no man (or woman) so I have to get it crack’n! It’s still awkward walking though… The heel is still in the boot which makes things weird but oh well! Gotta make it work! I return to the doctor on December 21st and will, at that point, be in two shoes (what a Christmas present)and begin rehab which I KNOW will be difficult! Nothing we want or that is worth having is easy – so I say - onward and upward!! The “warm up exercise” hurts like a you-know-what and if that’s any indication of what is to come then I’m preparing myself now! Thank you all for the continued thoughts and prayers! I still need them!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Madea’s Thanksgiving Dinner Rules


Thank you for this Stephanie! Have a restful Thanksgiving everyone!!

1. Don't get in line asking questions about the food. "Who made the potato salad? Is it egg in there? Are the greens fresh? Is the meat in the greens turkey or pork? Who made the macaroni and cheese? What kind of pie is that? Who made it? Ask one more question and I will punch you in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won't be able to eat anything.

2. If you can't walk or are missing any limbs, sit your a** down until someone makes your plate for you. Dinner time is not the time for you to be independent. Nibble on them da*n pecans and walnuts to hold you over until someone makes you a plate.

3. If you have kids under the age of twelve, I will escort the little moochers to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are not gonna tear my da** house up this year. Tell them that they are not allowed upstairs until it's time for Uncle Butchie to start telling family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for any reason except for that they are bleeding to death, I will break a foot off in their a**es!

4. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE! We do not care that you are thankful that your 13 year old daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of jail. Save that talk for somebody who gives a da**. The time limit for the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Finish everything on your plate before you go up for seconds! If you don't, you will be cursed out and asked to stay your greedy a** home next year!

6. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don't let me catch you fixing yourself a plate in my good Tupperware knowing da** well that I will never see it again! Furthermore, if you didn't bring anything over, don't let me catch you making a plate period or there will be a “misunderstanding”.

7. What you came with is what you should leave with!! Do not leave my house with anything that doesn't belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING IN AND LEAVING MY PROPERTY!!!

8. Do not leave your kids so you can go hopping from house to house. This is NOT a DAYCARE CENTER! There will be a kid-parent roll call every ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call, your child will be put outside until you come and get him or her. After 24 hours, I will call DSS on your ignorant a**!!

9. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat dinner and take your a** home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS THE HELL OUT AT 11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.

10. Last but not least! ONE PLATE PER PERSON!!! This is not a soup kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner! You will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropriate amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Alfred and his greedy a** family, we now have a credit card machine! So VISA and MASTERCARD are now being accepted. NO FOOD STAMPS OR ACCESS CARDS YET!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Single Mother Jailed for Refusing Deployment

From AP Associated Press -
By RUSS BYNUM, AP Military Writer Russ Bynum, Ap Military Writer – Mon Nov 16, 9:32 pm ET, SAVANNAH, Ga. – An Army cook and single mom may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other relatives with health problems.

Her civilian attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care.

"For her it was like, 'I couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with child protective services."

Hutchinson, who is from Oakland, Calif., remained confined Monday to the boundaries of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, 10 days after military police arrested her for skipping her unit's flight. No charges have been filed, but a spokesman for the Army post said commanders were investigating.

Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, said he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but he said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.

"I don't know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Larson said. "If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there's no question she would not have been deployed."

Hutchinson's son, Kamani, was placed into custody overnight with a daycare provider on the Army post after she was arrested and jailed briefly, Larson said. Hutchinson's mother picked up the child a week ago and took him back to her home in California.

Hutchinson, who's assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, joined the Army in 2007 and had no previous deployments, Sussman said. She said Hutchinson is no longer in a relationship with the father.

The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone.

Hutchinson had such a plan — her mother, Angelique Hughes, had agreed to care for the boy. Hughes said Monday she kept the boy for about two weeks in October before deciding she couldn't keep him for a full year.

Hughes said she's already having to care for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs. She also runs a daycare center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day.

"This is an infant, and they require 24-hour care," Hughes said. "It was very, very stressful, just too much for me to deal with."

Hughes said she returned Kamani to his mother in Georgia a few days before her scheduled deployment Nov. 5.

She said they told her daughter's commanders they needed more time to find another family member or close friend to help Hughes care for the boy, but Hutchinson was ordered to deploy on schedule.

Larson, the Army post spokesman, said officials planned to keep Hutchinson in Georgia as investigators gathered facts about the case.

"Spc. Hutchinson's deployment is halted," Larson said. "There will be no deployment while this situation is ongoing."

Does this bother anyone else? I mean I know she HAD to know that it was highly likely that she would be sent on a tour (why do they call it a tour anyway?? There is no site seeing or enjoyment taking place...) to Afghanistan or somewhere like that PRIOR to enlisting, but to place the child in foster care just bothers me! I mean, is there NO ONE in the child's family, either on the father's side OR the mother's side who could take responsibility for this child? I know her intentions were probably good for joining the military in the first place: money, job security, insurance, stability, etc but to STILL send this "single mother" to jail?? Man... I know, she should have appeared at the site instead of pulling an AWOL (absent without leave) type of situation but I understand why she did... Later in the article it stated that if she would have appeared WITH her child, then they "... would not deploy a single parent with NO ONE to care for the child..." However that is not what she was told.

Also, it says that she doesn't have any relationship with the father... Well, what about the rest of his family? Just because the father doesn't take responsibility for his child excuses the rest of the family? What is up with that? That is something that is rampant with single parents and their children. The absent parent doesn't do what they are supposed to do then the family of the absent parent usually (not always) takes the same road as they do... I don't get it!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Genre of Movies

Is it weird that I don't like "chick flicks"? I ask that because my youngest and I were watching a Disney movie and a commercial came on and I said, "Well, that's probably another movie I won't watch.." She asked me why and I told her that I just don't like movies that make me cry. I cry enough on real life issues that I prefer to not watch a movie that would pull that emotion out of me... Does that explain why my favorite genre of movie is horror? No... I hate being scared but since the things that occur in those films is highly unlikely, then I can bare to sit through them for an hour and a half... Pitiful? Probably, but I doubt a man can really live through being: burned, decapitated, hung, electrocuted, stabbed, diced into pieces and some of the other things that have happened to both Micheal Myers and Jason... So sue me... No chick flicks here please!! lol

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Injury Update!!

People have been reading the blog and calling a sistah to check on me and for that I send out my gratitude!!

I went to the doctor yesterday and he removed my stitches - 9 of 'em! (My neice wanted to know how many I had. That's for you Asia!) I thought it would hurt alot worse than it did but it was a slight tug for each one and that was it.. When he took of the splint cast, I tell you, it looks like I have one Olive Oil leg and one Popeye leg! He placed a heel in my walking boot and said that I still can not put any weight on my foot for two more weeks! I have to keep the walking boot on with the heel on the inside until I return to the doctor. He then will lower the heel for two more weeks and so on until it is flat on the inside, THEN rehab begins!!

That cliche' is true "You never know what you got until it's gone." That goes for body parts too! lol... The things that I took for granted before, I never will again! The simple things, like being able to carry a cup of water or a plate of food from one room to another; being able to shower; checking the mail - little things like that which require the use of BOTH legs. I tell you what, be happy with what you can do people!! Some people are looking at you and wishing they were in your shoes...

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

What else do you call it??

I went to the doctor today and had what I consider a "setback"... Minor? Maybe or maybe not, but that is how I have to think of it in order to make it... Apparently this injury has pretty much sat a sistah down.. Physically for who knows how long... I was under the impression that I would be able to be use the walking boot, but that guess was incorrect... I will be unable to use this leg for longer than I expected and it has me worried... I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous, scared even... The doctor said that absolutely NO WEIGHT can be placed on this foot at all and if there is, it could harm the area he has worked on and could slow down any progress that could have been made up until this point.. I've made myself sooo nervous on these crutches that I can't even tell you... Man.. Stay encouraged, girl and stay strong!! That's what I keep telling myself... Wow...

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

A HUGE Thank You!!


I know I've been out of pocket for awhile and quite frankly, I guess I needed to be... I thought that being at home, I would write alot and have plenty to say but I guess this medicine knocked a sistah out more than I wanted to be... My mind was sleeping even when I wasn't... (This is some strong stuff!!LOL)

I wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of those who have helped me and my girls while I've been recovering from my achilles rupture injury! (Yes.. It feels just as it sounds!) It's easy to get down and out when bad things happen to you, but when you are surrounded by love, helpfulness and kind people, there is no way you can feel sorry for yourself. So many people helped my girls while I am going from the recliner to the bed with my foot posted high in the air... Yes this sucks, but people came together for me and my girls and for that I am eternally grateful!

I even noticed while paying bills yesterday how nice the world is... So many people held the door for me or assisted me with things as I hobbled around on these crutches that I have yet to use correctly... I'm not supposed to be out anyway, but bills wait for nothing or no one... People jumped out of their cars to help me or held the door or let me go first... Things like that may sound like nothing to you, but the smallest things to some people are HUGE to others and yesterday I needed all the help I could get...

I've also noticed how so many places' handicap accessibility is not what it should be... (You pay attention to things that you normally wouldn't when placed in a situation that causes you too...)

My doctor told me that my recovery/rehab for this injury is "extensive". I can't let that get me down either! He also said that it depends on the individual... I tell you what, I plan on being back on the volleyball court or sand as fast as I can with making every effort possible in order to make that happen! I can't sit here for too much longer without going CRAZY!! I have to get out of this apartment as soon as I can! The walls are closing in on a sistah!! lol