This, that and other stuff..

The photos are from The Snow Ball that Becky attended on Saturday night. It was held at the high school. She looked so beautiful! She really had a great time..she was so excited!

I've stayed away from journaling for a bit because Jackie had a "setback". (Read: fell off the wagon, slipped, etc.) She used again and it was very upsetting because she knew full well that if she used again that she wouldn't be able to return to our home. She OD'd at her girlfriend's parent's home on Thursday Dec. 2. She managed to dial 911 and the police found her nearly unconcious. Oh, and she managed to call and leave a message on Rachel's cell while she was at school. Scared the hell out of Rachel as she was barely coherent and her message was to call an ambulance. Poor Rachel called me at work and all I knew was that Jackie had OD'd. For about half an hour, forty five minutes we had no idea if she was dead or alive. When Herman finally blasted the woman at the ER, she said that they had stabilized Jackie.( Very strict with the HIPAA rules.) So we knew that she was ok. SHe spent 2 nights in the ICU and then was moved to a semi-private room. She's still there, 11 days later. Because of all the years of heroin abuse, her veins are shot. They had to run the IV thru her groin. A few nights after she was admitted, she had a pain by the IV. They took it out and a day later discovered that she had blood clots in her leg. So they started her on coumidan, a blood thinner. She can't leave the hospital until they achieve the right level of coumidan in her bloodstream. Once they discharge her, she'll need to go back every 3 days to have blood work done to make sure that the levels are OK. They said that it may take as long as 6 months for the blood clots to dissolve.

My mom knows how upset we are with Jackie and has offered to allow Jackie to live with her for a bit. My mom has had Jackie there before and it wasn't easy on her. Jackie is a handful, to say the least! (I'm just gonna leave it at that, because Lord knows I could go on and on.)

On other fronts, I have not yet started Christams shopping but not to worry! I usually do it a few days before Christmas! Our tree is up..and it's choking me. We may have to re-think the whole live tree thing because the past 2 years I have had a hard time breathing while it was in the house. Oh, the tree isn't decorated..it's just up. LOL!

Herman is taking Rachel shopping for her presents tomorrow night. He takes the girls out and they choose what they want: the correct style, size and color. They bring it home, we wrap it and they open it Christmas Day. I'm really torn over this way of doing things for a couple of reasons: No surprises. No excitement of picking out something for them that I think they'll just love. Clothes..just clothes. That's all they pick out. What about cd players, cds, books, stuffed animals??! Where is the fun in it all??!!  HOWEVER, there is a part of me that LOVES this way of doing it: I don't take them Herman does! No exhanging clothes that are wrong style/size/color! AND I DON'T HAVE TO GO SHOPPING!! (I know I said that first but I really felt that it needed to be repeated.) John's another story. He has "pedals" picked out for his guitar. Oh, and a half-stack amp that I cannot possibly afford right now. I can still buy surprises for him because, unless it's pink or girly looking, he;ll wear just about anything I buy him. Besides, I have his whole look pinned down: black, big and no dragons on the shirts, for Pete's sake!

Ok..I'm done.

Peace!

(P.S. Would it be asking too much if I told the kids that they should wrap their own presents?! Just a thought...)