Crossroads

There comes a time where you are faced with decisions. What you decided can take you down one path, where another decision can take you down another.

At the moment, I am at a crossroad for about four separate things. I guess I need to just take the paths that are the best thing for me. The path that brings me the most happiness and the best chance of personal success.

Some things just aren't worth the hassle they bring. I need peace.

Life sucks and lawyers too

**Warning....I'm pissed, I have a potty mouth**

Well, life just keeps getting better and better, especially with my mother and her situation. For those that need an update, start at the beginning, then go to the middle and now, here's the end.

The piece of shit attorney has pretty much done nothing since October. I've been emailing him, calling him and leaving voice mails since March. Ignorant fucker will not respond.

Two weeks ago, I left a message stating that I wanted the ORIGINAL letter that I received from Life Flight admitting that they fucked up returned to me, that I was taking my case elsewhere since he didn't have the decency to resond back to me. Surprise.............no answer.

So, I contacted Edgar Snyder. They will not touch the case since there is only 3 months left before the statute of limitations runs out. They referred me to another practice. Same story. Same story three more times.

This fucking piece of shit totally fucked me. I am to the point where I am beginning to believe that he's been paid off.

Yesterday, I left ANOTHER message for him and threatened to contact the Bar Association. Low and behold, he had his secretary call me to tell me that a letter was put in the mail to me. She couldn't tell me what it said. My guess is that he is saying that there is nothing he can do further. Too bad he didn't have the BALLS to call me. Fucking coward had to send a letter then have his secretary call me.

So now, my mother is totally disfigured. Totally disabled. She's 61, living in a nursing home for the rest of her life and absolutely NO ONE is being held accountable for their actions. This is totally fucked up.

I've totally been robbed of 10-20 quality years with my mother. Yes, she is alive, but she is not the same person. By not getting the medication that she needed, she has brain damage. At 41, I shouldn't have to be going through this. I am an only child, and don't get me started on my "sperm donor". He has had very little interest in my life. So it's me, all me.

I could seriously kill someone right now. Good thing I don't own any weapons. I really, truly, understand now, how people can just snap and start shooting people.

Life isn't fair, I get that. I'm just having a hard time dealing right now with how my Mom went from this.......

To this.................................
It has nothing to do with money. Money doesn't matter, the nursing home and insurance company will just take it all anyway. It's a matter of principle and holding people accountable for their actions. Someone should have to look my mother in the eye and say, "I'm sorry."

New York City

The last weekend of April, I went on a bus trip with Ford City and Kittanning High School to New York City. I am so glad I have dogs, I would never want a teenager, especially like a certain foursome on the trip. Enough said.

Our first stop was a tour of Grand Central Station.

The view inside was stunning. Lots of people hurrying everywhere. Light was coming through the windows and shining on a very large American flag.

These lights were fashioned after Faberge eggs. They are actually made of gold.

There was a flower stand inside. Notice that all of the customers are of the male gender. Wonder what they are all in the dog house for?
It was cool to see the horse and buggies. The horses seemed oblivious to all the people and traffic around them.

Next stop, Times Square. That place it nuts. Busy, busy, busy. There are so many marquees, lights, etc., it is like Las Vegas on acid.
I have no idea who this dude is. I didn't even notice him when I was talking the picutre. Once I uploaded all my photos, I found him. He sure looks pissed off. Bet his wife is shopping and left him to sit there and watch traffic.

We ate dinner at Applebee's. Going upstairs to our table, they had movie memorabilia on the walls. I saw a photo of Marilyn Monroe. I attempted to take a photo myself, and of cours, cut off her head.

One of our meeting places was St. Patrick's Cathedrial. It was so beautiful inside. This was where Jackie O's memorial service was held. I said a little prayer for Nancy and lit a candle for her. Her candle is the one in the middle, kind of by itself. Nancy would have loved this church. We visited Central Park. It was all blooming and gorgeous!

This sculpture was titled "Romeo and Juliet"

The gondolas were out!We saw a lot of animal life. There were a pair of squirrels that were very comical. They were not afraid of humans at all.

In Chinatown, they sell the baby turtles as pets. Lots of people were walking around with them in the little, plastic carriers. I found out where they all end up! In the ponds/lakes of Central Park! No kidding, there were thousands of them sunning themselves and swimming.

This is the entry way of the apartment building, where John Lennon was shot.

We visited Strawberry Fields in Central Park. It is a memorial for John Lennon, a very quiet, peaceful place. A homeless man decorates the memorial, daily, with old flowers that he gets from vendors.

He has a dog. I noticed him right away. He looks very well taken care of. He even has a blanket to lay on.

We went to see Wicked and it sure was "wicked" awesome! I've been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz since I was a kid. I will have to write a separate entry about that someday. Our seats were in the last row, however, they were still awesome!

Shopping in Chinatown was crazy. You would go into these stores, looking for designer purses and then the walls would open up to a hidden room where they have the "good" bags. There were also all the guys with purses in suitcases.

We were standing on the corner, watching all the "suitcase" guys in action, when all of a sudden, they closed them shut, fastened them and started walking into the crowd.

It was because the police were coming. After I took this photo, the window rolled down, and the officer said to me "No pocketbooks today, ladies". He then smiled and winked at me, it was priceless! Ten minutes later, the suitcase guys were back in business.

We went to the top of the Empire State Building.

The view was spectacular from up there!

The last two photos, were taken on the Brooklyn Bridge. The skyline at night was awesome!

Travis is a hunter!

Ladies and Gentlemen...........................I have a hunter! Yes, Travis is a ferocious hunter! To my horror, yesterday morning, he took off like a bullet towards the edge of our yard where the woods starts. I thought, great, he's going after a bunny or a deer, this is going to be a long morning.
Imagine my surprise when he started attempting to attack his prey......................................a BUTTERFLY! LOL It was just like in the cartoons with him jumping and flopping around like an idiot. I need to try to get photos of his hunting abilities.

**Disclaimer**No butterflies were harmed in this announcement

Leg update........

Well, my leg wasn't broken, I never thought it was. I actually thought it was crazy that they considered it. After seeing the orthopedic doctor, he determined that I sprained my bicep femorous muscle. It is the lower muscle of the hamstring and it helps control flexing of the knee and bilateral movement. I got two shots of Cortizone and a script for physical therapy.

I am in my second week of physical therapy and it is helping tremendously. They've been doing ultra sonic massage on the area, followed by deep tissue massage, followed with 20 minutes of heat. I can honestly say, it is almost back to normal. By next week, it should be a memory of the past.

Travis Pupstranna

Travee Update: He got groomed for the first time last week. He was a little naughty! I was told that she had to muzzle him, because he kept trying to bite at the scissors to play with them. She didn't want to cut his mouth or tongue. Then, when she was grooming Riley, she let Travee run loose, she didn't want to put him in a cage, because of his past, I guess he faked her out and gave her a scared look when she walked him to the cage. Anyway, as she is grooming Riley, she sees him helping himself to her half eaten peanut butter sandwich that was in the trash! LOL Travee loves peanut butter. All in all, it was good, she said that he can come back! Also, he still has his mop top!

Travee has a number of nicknames now. Travee. Kissie Face. Little Pye. Most recently, Einie, short for Einstein as we feel that he looks like Albert Einstein with his fluffy hair.

I was away last weekend, so Nick was in charge. I called home and asked how everyone was behaving. He said "They're bad!" He said that they had ripped Caterpillar apart and disembowed him in the living room. I asked what he was doing while the carnage was going on. (He likes to surf the net on his laptop and is oblivious to anything going on around him). He said that he was using the restroom and in that short amount of time, they ripped the toy open and when he came out of the bathroom, both of their heads were bobbing up and down, as fast as they could, ripping the stuffing out as a team! I can just imagine them saying to each other, okay, here's our chance, we've got about 80 seconds, let's go!

Groundhog Day

Somedays I feel like I am in the movie Groundhog Day. I swear, I get up at the same time every day, do the same thing, every day. I even do things in the same order. Maybe that means that I am obsessive compulsive.

In other news, my leg situation has officially pissed me off. Just when I think it is getting better, I do something and get the shooting pains. Like someone has stuck me with a hundred hot pokers. I go to the specialist tomorrow. I really hope we can find the problem and deal with it and move on.

Travis at six months

Travis is now nearly six months old. He is doing wonderful, considering his sad start. He is really a part of the family. He still does get a little rough with Riley every now and then, but after a time out, he seems fine. Most are happy to see that he has till managed to keep his little "mop top"
He is definately going to be a dock diver. He jumps on and off the bed with such enthusiasm. His front and back legs are stretched, straight out and his ears are flapping. I swear, he looks like underdog, flying through the air.

He is going to get groomed next week for the first time. I am sure he will do fine. His feet are getting to the point where they need trimmed.
He is entering the gangly stage. He's growing up, but needs to fill out. He needs to grow into his long legs and his ears! He is going to be beautiful when he is full grown.

Season Opener

The Steel City Derby Demons had their season opener on March 22. My team, The Hot Metal Hellions took on The Wrecking Dolls.

The Hellions welcomed back Formalda Heidi, who was out half of the last season due to an injury. We also finally can claim Mel Practice as our own. Mel played three bouts with us last year as a sub. She dropped down into the draft pool in the off season and the Hellions snatched her up.

The Hellions also had two rookies playing, Amanda Smackround and Michelleter Skelter. Hats off to these rookies, they rocked their first bout.

After about a month of agony, my new purple skates are finally starting to feel like home on my feet. It's funny, in photos, you can barely tell that they are purple, but trust me. they are!

The bout was a tight one. At half time, we were tied. The lead kept going back and forth. The Hellions, however, were victorious in the end.

I didn't get through the night unscathed, though. I took two hard falls on my left knee. I treated it as instucted and things were going great until day 4 when the entire leg from knee to toes swelled. I was sent for xrays, seems they were thinking my fibula was broken, but the xrays read normal. Thursday I go to an orthopedic doctor to see what my action plan is.

Congrats Hellions on a great season opener!!

Miss Gross Conduct

So, my aggressive side has been coming out lately. Some love it, some hate it. I, personally, don't care who hates it. I play roller derby, aggressiveness is to be expected.

Tonight, I was informed that a lot of people think I am going to dethrone the Miss Gross Conduct recipient of last season. I say bring it on!

Listen, you have a split second to make a decision. Sometimes you make the right one, sometimes you make the wrong one. That's what referees are for and why we have penalties.

You can't have it both ways. You can criticize someone for not being aggressive and then when they are, criticize them for that. I have been elbowed plenty of times in the face, I've had fat lips, been kicked in the shins and received plenty of bruises. Do I remember who did all those things? Hell no! It's derby and I expect it. Actually, I WELCOME it.

I wear my bruises with pride. I am, after all, Fonda Bruises! Eat it!