Ok, I stole this from my friend Trueself over at Deepest Darkest Thoughts

1. When you’re home alone, do you still close the door when you use the restroom?No, not even when I'm not home alone unless there are guests in the house

2. If you have to go grocery shopping, would you rather go alone or with someone? With the hubby :)

3. You win the lottery. Lump sum or small payments over a period of time?:Lump sum

4. Do you like your music loud or at a reasonable level? The hubby would say loud but I think just enough to jam to.

5.Are you a beach person or a snowy mountain person?:Beach, without a doubt, because snowy mountains are too dang cold

6. When do you brush your teeth?:In the morning after my shower

7. Would you rather stay home all day, or be out and about with some friends?:Mostly stay home

8. Are you more likely to be with a large group of people or a few close friends?A few close friends

9. If money were not a problem, where would you like to live?:..Wherever my family is as long as it is not cold there.

10. Are you a good math person? No, I hate math

11. A weekend in Las Vegas or Miami?: Depends on who I am going with

12. Is there anything you would change about your body if you could?: Yes

13. Have you ever smoked? Yes from the time I was 16 until December 31, 2005

14. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Sugar Free Lemonade, Sugar Free Raspberry (or Peach) Tea and Diet Sundrop

15. What were you doing @ 11 PM last night? Sleeping

JANUARY

1. Who kissed you on new years? I was sleeping when the New Year came in, I know...I'm old.
2. Did you have a new year’s resolution this year? Not this year, last year was to quit smoking and that was hard enough!!
3. Does it snow where you live? Nope, Praise the Lord
4. Do you like hot chocolate? Of course
5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No

FEBRUARY

1. Who was your Valentine? My hubby
2. When you were little did you buy Valentine’s for the whole class? Absolutely

MARCH1.

Are you Irish? No
2. Do you wear green on St. Patty’s Day? Yes, don't wanna get pinched :)
3. What did you do for St. Patty’s Day in 2007? I am sure that I probably worked.

APRIL

1. Do you like the rain? Yes, I love thunderstorms
2. Did you play an April fool’s joke on anyone this year? Yes and it was really good, wish I could remember what it was.
3. Do you love the month of April? Yes

MAY

1. What is your favorite flower? I love carnations, they last longer and are cheaper then most other flowers.
2. Is there anything special about May to you? Mother's Day is kinda nice.

JUNE

1. What year did/will you graduate from high school? 1981
2. Are you doing anything fun during this month? Not that I know of
3. Have a favorite baseball team? Minnesota Twins

JULY

1. What will you do on the Fourth of July? Probably see fireworks if we have the kids
2. Are you going on any vacations during this month? No, I don't think so

AUGUST

1. Doing anything special at the end of summer? No
2. What was your favorite summer memory of ‘06? Going to Las Vegas and seeing John Edward with my little sister.
3. Did you go to the beach a lot? Not alot

SEPTEMBER

1. Will you be attending college/school? No
2. Do you like fall better than summer? Yes, I love the fall

OCTOBER

1. What was your last Halloween costume? Shoot I don't remember
2. Who’s birthday is during this month? Mine and my wonderful Mother in Laws

NOVEMBER

1. Whose house do you go to for Thanksgiving? Everyone comes to my house
2. What are you thankful for? My family
3. Do you love stuffing? Of course, what's not to love?

DECEMBER

1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes
2. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? Yes
3. Get anything special last year? Hmmm, I am sure that I did.
4. What do you want this year? Gosh, that's just too far away for me to even know yet

Good Morning :)

I just had to show off all of my grandchildren and then I will let you know what has been going on....

First off I want to tell you all that my girls are KILLING ME!! They have been living together with their children (they both have a boy, one is 4 and one is 18 months). They are fighting like they are married...I swear. Guess what they are fighting about this time....go ahead and guess..... They are fighting about the dishes and who's turn it is to do them. Seems the younger one (S,she is 19) did them on the older girls (E, she is 22) turn and now E is telling S that "it is too bad that you did them when it was my turn, it is still your turn" and S is saying that she is not doing them. E is telling her then she can move out etc....you can only imagine the headache I had when I left work yesterday. They both called and text ed me all day long....like I could do something about it. What was I suppose to do.... call one and say...." I said that you have to do the dishes in your own house....JEEZ!!!

Finally my wonderful husband (the therapist) chose to step in. Last night he went to their house and mediated for them. He explained that they were acting like they were 15 years old and that their mommy could help them out of this jam. He explained that right now, they need each other. They both work and they occasionally need babysitters, neither one is able to pay all the bills on their house so, they have to stick together.

The older one decided that she will be able to pay all the bills on their place in about a month or so, and the younger one said that she would stay until E could pay all of her bills without the help of S.

Sooooo, S will come and stay with us during the 6 weeks that we have David's kids over the summer (which will be a blessing to both of us, although I do LOVE having my alone time) and she will save money while staying with us and be able to move out on her own after about 6 weeks.

Hopefully that will take care of that.

Now a Brandie update...

Brandie was suppose to go to rehab yesterday. No one has heard if she went or not. Social Services did contact my mother to see if she would take the children, she decided that she would but then the foster family that they are staying with said they would be willing to keep the children until they went with their father for the summer. They (neither my mom, my sister or the foster family) want to move Brianna to yet another kindergarten class (this would be the third time she moved in just about that many weeks) they do not think that would be good for her. The kids are all doing wonderfully and my mom and sister will be able to visit with them as early as this weekend.

As I understand it, the judge has called and spoken with the the children's father, both the father and his girlfriend are getting back ground checks on and when that is finished I believe the children will go with their father indefinitely.

I believe that they want the children with the father there is just so much red tape to go through. That I do not understand. I believe that he is their father (#1), he does not have any kind of record of child abuse (#2) and the he has every single right to those children. I am hoping that when he does finally get them he will ask the state if Illinois for a change of venue and go for custody right in Chicago, that will save alot of heart ache for the children because if they are in California, I am sure that they will want to see their mother one more time and it will be heartbreaking for all of them.

I am going to give you a good post today.

This is my grandson, today he is 1.

Happy Happy Birthday my wonderful boy, your grandma loves you more then you will ever know.

P.S. Is he not the cutest little baby that you have ever seen?

Please Please Please people, put my older sister in your prayers.....

I know I have said some not so great things about my older sister but the things she has gone through these past few months, no one should have to endure.

First of coarse is all the crap with Brandie..OK, here is the update on that...

Brandie went to court on Thursday. The social worker brought Matthew because he is the child that the neglect or abuse was about and the judge wanted to talk to him. The judge asked Matthew if he would like to go and stay with his daddy and Matty replied that yes, he would like to go and live with his daddy. The judge is going to have a phone interview with his daddy we believe today...we are at least hoping that this is the case. We don't know what else happened in court yet but I am sure that we will hear about it soon.

Brandie (we think) also made allegations against my sister (the younger one, not her mom) that she is abusing her children. When M (little sister) got home on Friday evening there was a business card from Child Protective Services stuck in the door jam. This was about 8:30 at night so she figures he had to come in between 7-8 PM. She and her husband left on a cruise Saturday afternoon (this has been planned for months) so she called the CPS worker and left a voice message for him to contact our mother or he could contact her social worker (she is a foster parent and has adopted 2 children) and gave him the numbers. She was devastated and almost canceled her trip, she cannot believe that Brandie would have done this to her but I told her how could she expect that Brandie would not have done this. Brandie is pissed and she is going to do whatever she can to make every ones lives miserable. Brandie does not get it that she has done this to herself, she still thinks in that brain of hers that this is someone else's fault. I told her that she has been planning this for months and she cannot CANNOT go. I know in her heart she really wanted to go and was almost asking permission to go and to not feel like she was abandoning anyone. They had flown her husbands mother out to take care of the children while they were gone and both the kids were looking forward to spending time with their grandmother on the other side.

Then next in line is my older sister's ( I will call her L) husband has not been going very well. He was in the hospital all of last week and they think that he has had 2 strokes. He left the hospital on Saturday and from what my mom says, he looks great. He is fine. However, he will work my sister to the bone. For example my mom said that he was sitting on the couch at her house and he was finished with his ice water so he clinked the ice in his glass while pointing to it so that L would get up and get him a refill. I told my mom that would work one time with me, if he did not have a voice then he would sit and clink until the cows come home. She told me that was kinda what L said to him......my God!!

OK, so then we get to the latest with her family. OK, L's husband gets released from the hospital on Saturday, they spend the night at my mom's house and leave at about 4 the next day. About an hour later my sisters 2nd daughter calls my mom's house looking for L. Seems that her granddaughter (she is 2) pulled a bottle of ammonia off the counter onto herself. She has burns all over the front of her body. She will not open her eyes or her mouth. The last I heard they were talking (the doctors) about life flighting her to a near by children's hospital.

When my mom called me last night with all this information, she just broke down. She said that she just does not know how much more L can take. She said that L looks terrible. Her ankles and wrists are swollen ( I don't know if that is a sign of diabetes or not but my mom seems concerned about it) she said that L looks older then she (being my mom) does. Then my mom said she is afraid that L is going to die. oh man, that was the clinker. I tried to console my mom as much as I could. Telling her that L was stronger then any of the rest of us and that she would be fine but I don't know if I did any good or not.

I am going to go outside and use my cellphone and try and get up with her now, just for an update....be right back.

OK, they sent the baby home from the hospital with instructions that if she does not eat, they will have to bring her back. They have eye drops for her eyes and that is all my mom really knows right now. My mom did mention that Brandie is suppose to come by her house today to return my mom's shoes that she "accidentally" took when she was taking all her things out of the house. (These shoes are diabetic shoes, $ 500.00 shoes that are perfectly matched to my mom's feet so Brandie did not take them for anything other than to be mean if she did not accidentally take them.) I told my mom to call me the minute Brandie leaves because she is alone at home and I know how cracked out this drug can make her, I also told my mom to tell Brandie that if she sticks around for a few minutes, my brother will be there so I am thinking that will make Brandie leave right away because she does NOT want to run into her uncle, she knows how mad at her he is.

Stay tuned and thanks for all the uplifting comments, I really need them some days.

I am going to try and make this as short as possible because I have a ton of work to do but I wanted to update everyone on the Brandie situation.

Yesterday she informed my mother that the children would be going into foster care on May 11th (the next court date). She would not elaborate on this but just stated that they would go.

The social worker my mom has been talking to, called her yesterday and asked if there was anyone in the family that would take the children if need be. My mom told her that my youngest sister would take them in if necessary.

A few hours later another social worker called my mom and asked her if Brandie and the 6 year old female still at her house, my mom answered yes and they asked if there was any way my mom could keep her there. To this my mom had to answer no, but she would try. They informed my mom that a social worker was on her way to Brandie's house to pick up the boys and they wanted to send someone over to my mom's to get Brianna.

That did not work. They did get the boys but when Brandie got home she had a choice to make. She could either have social services come and pick up Brianna or Brandie could bring her down to social services herself. Brandie brought her there herself.

The children all went into foster care last night, they are all safe.

Hopefully today they will be transferred to my little sisters house. She is a foster parent as she adopted both of her children but because it has been over 2 years, both her husband and herself as well as my mom have to go and get fingerprinted so they can do a criminal background check.

No one has heard anything from Brandie but we do know they were taken because she did not pass her drug test. She was well aware that she was not going to pass when she got in front of that judge and just as cocky as you can imagine, told him that she would take a drug test that very morning. We think that she knew and that was the reason that she suspected that the children would be going to foster care.

Now, I don't know what his going to happen on May 11th. I guess we just stay tuned.

I sure hope everyone is having a great day!!

I am soooooo sick of all of this. I am sick of Brandie and all the crap that she is dealing out. I feel like I should just go out there and deal with her myself. I know that will not do a bit of good but I would just like to see her and have her talk to me the way she has been talking to my sister and my mother.

I found out a few more things about yesterday.....

Brandie offered to do a drug test and she did, which leads me to believe that she thinks whatever is or was in her system is gone and cannot be detected.

Brandie was told by the judge to "get a job" because he appointed a attorney for the children and she is to pay half of that fee.

CPS was out to her house a few days ago and stripped down the baby to check him for anything. Brianna was at school but my question here was.....WHERE WAS MATTHEW??? The social worker did not see Matt, I think that she goes out there today to "interview" the older children. Oh man, I hope they talk.

Brandie went to my mom's house last night, just as nice as you please. My mom did not let her in the door, Brandie asked for her mail, my mom informed her that she had no mail and that was that.

They have another hearing on May 11th in which my mom and my older sister will have to testify against Brandie.

Lets just keep our fingers crossed that they children are safe until that time.

I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!!

I am just sick to my stomach. I just can't believe it.

Court was this morning in California, the dad coming in from Chicago to get emergency custody of his children.

Brandie stood up in the courtroom and stated that my sister is her drug dealer, my mother kicked her out of the house just 48 hours ago and my sister called CPS on her. She stood up and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth SO HELP HER GOD!!

I am just sick. The judge is giving her until May 11th when there will be another court hearing. As far as the judge is concerned, she will be keeping the children until that point.

The only thing that might and I do mean MIGHT save them until the 11th is that Child Protective Services DID call my mom the day before yesterday and there was a report against Brandie for neglect (we think the school did this because Brandie was not bring Brianna to school everyday). My mom told the Social Worker everything she knew and advised her to call my sister (Brandie's mom) and talk to her. The worker called my older sister and she also told her everything she knew. The social worker is appalled. She was going to go and take temporary custody of the children that night and my sister begged her not to, told her about the hearing and said that she would rather the dad went to pick up the kids, not social services. It would be so much better for the kids in this case. The worker agreed and asked that she be called after the hearing. My mom is talking to her now.

I am hoping that they can go in and get the children. Even if they do have to go to a foster home or to some other family member for a while.

I will keep you updated. Please keep them in your prayers.

UPDATE:

Well, today is the day of reckoning for Brandie although I don't know if she knows it or not. Her stbx husband is right now on his way from Chicago to California for an emergency custody hearing involving all of the children. Let me back up and tell you what has been going on.

The Saturday before Easter Brandie came back to my mom's house to pick up the other 2 children. They were so excited to see their mom. My mom says that Brandie looks awful. Kinda like "she looks goth without trying to, she has lost so much weight that she is just bones." She took the children (nothing anyone could do, she still has custody of them) along with a few of her things and all the Easter candy etc. that my mother had bought for them (at least we know that they had a good Easter).

Last week on Tuesday, my mom left the house for the first time since coming back from the hospital. My sister decided to take her out to lunch. When they returned, they found the garage door busted in, nothing taken that was my mothers but still, now she has to replace a door in her garage....Did she call the police and report it???? NO!! Mom thinks that they will not be able to do anything about it because they didn't "catch" whoever broke the door in. She will not listen to "at least the police will have a report that someone broke your garage door". She just will not do it....can we all say enabler!!

Then on Friday my mom received her Mervyn's bill in the mail. There was a charge on it for a little over $300.00 (I think, around there). It was for children's clothing, and clothing for Brandie also. So, what do you think my mom did??? She canceled her credit card. Called the fraud division but they were closed for the night. The next morning she did not call the fraud division...I don't think she is going to.

Last night Brandie stopped over to my mom's house with Brandie's daughter. My sister showed up a bit after Brandie and saw that Brandie's car was in the driveway. She almost bolted into that house. But once inside my mom told her to "please, not start anything, Brandie looks so bad and Brianna is here". My sister kept to herself, just making snide comments about the garage door and things in that nature.

Which brings us to today. I don't know if Brandie was served the paperwork but I was told that it is not necessary for her to be in court for this because it is an emergency custody hearing and all they have to prove is that they tried to serve her with papers. Now, Brandie called him from this "boyfriend/drug dealer's" house not to long ago. When they hung up the phone he did a "reverse directory" on the phone number so now he has the address. With every one's prayers after court today the father will be able to go over to that house with a Sheriff or Marshall or something and get his children. They have tickets to get back on a plane tomorrow to go back to Chicago.

Although the children will be greatly missed. And I feel for my poor mother because I AM a grandma and I know what it would be like for my grandbabies to move far away, this is sooooo the best think for them. They will have a happy and healthy home. They will not see their mother go down the drain (because that is exactly where she is heading) and they will get the love that they so desperately want and deserve.

I will let you know what happens just as soon as I know.....please pray!!

Oh, one more thing... Brandie's middle child (he is 4 or 5) told my mom how Mark (the boyfriend/drug dealer) held his head under the water when he was in the bath because he got water in his little brother's eyes, When he started crying, Mark told him to "suck it up". When Brandie was confronted with this information she told my mom that "Mark was just punishing him" What a mother.......I hate Mark!!

Hello Everyone

I know I have not been here but I just have not had anything to say lately. Yes, all the crap that has been happening in California with my mom and my niece is still going on. It just sickens me so much I have not wanted to talk about it.

My mom had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago, she is home again and doing fine. While she was in the hospital my niece BR....shit, her name is Brandie, I am so tired of her I just want to smack the shit out of her. Anyways..she decides to have a party when my mom is not home, you know a real good time, meth smoking party....IN MY MOTHER'S HOUSE!! She has absolutely no respect for anyone right now. I wrote her a letter....well hell, I am going to just post it here so you all can read it, this may turn out to be a HUGE post but what the heck..... Here is the letter...

Brandie,

Ok, I have just about heard enough of the shit that you are putting my mother through and I am just not going to put up with it any longer.

I hear that you have until June 1st to move out of the house, Hear that Bran! June 1st. Let me just tell you what is going to happen if you do not move….

1) I will be there on June 2nd to HELP you move out.

2) I will take you to the nearest homeless shelter that will take you in.

3) I will make it my personal mission that you lose your children, I will let social services and the police know exactly the drugs you have been using IN MY MOTHERS HOUSE. I will also inform *** (the children's father) and will testify on his behalf in court, letting them know that at this point he is the better parent.

4) I will make sure everyone know exactly how you treat your children. How you do not sit and talk with them, how you do not do ANYTHING with them unless it is benefiting you in some way, shape or form and how you treat them not like God has intended you to treat your children but how you treat them like they are a burden to you.




Shame on you Brandie. You move into my mother’s house and totally take advantage of her and *** (my sister).

Do you not remember who has paid your bills for you this past year? Do you not remember who has made sure that your children were looked after? Do you not remember who it was that has put food into that house so that your children have been fed?

HOW DARE YOU!!!!!

It wasn’t enough that we all felt sorry for you……poor Brandie….her husband left her with 3 children…..poor, poor Brandie….Boy I sure wish I just had a nickel for every time that I thought that. But all I feel for you right now is contempt. I am so angry with you. You have made your grandmother and your Aunt, the only 2 people in the entire world that could help you when you needed help and you shit on the both of them. Ohhhh they tried to “run your life” once again…poor Brandie. It was ok for them to “run your life” when they were paying over 300.00 per week for day care, it was ok for them to “run your life” when they were making sure your car payment was made, it was ok for them to “run your life” when your children needed Christmas presents because their mother did not have a job, did not look for a job and could not get them the Christmas that they deserve to have, it was ok for them to “run your life” when school pictures were being taken and you could not afford even to buy the pictures. So many, many more things that I could name.

Yet, all I can do is sit here, shaking my head and wonder……what the hell happened to you?

One more thing before I mail this out, If that PUNK Mark is in my mother’s house when I get there he better be walking out the door when I am walking in otherwise I will personally escort him out and I will not care what he thinks of me because at this point I don’t give one shit about what YOU think of me. YOU are nothing Brandie, NOTHING….get it.

You can call me a bitch, you can call me whatever name that you want to Brandie, I don’t care, it does not faze me in the least. I have been called names by people that are way better than you and I am absolutely sure that I will be called more names in the future. The thing about it is that I DON’T CARE. I am not ***(my sister) or my Mom, I have not taken care of your sorry ass for so long that you don’t acknowledge it anymore, like you think that these two people owe you for some reason…..Guess what ??? THEY DON’T!! They don’t owe you a thing.

When all is said and done Brandie, when you get away from the loser that you are with, when you get away from the drugs. You will find that you have burned your bridges. The drugs that you are doing will destroy your life, look at what they have done so far. Brandie, I am begging you to find some help, get into treatment for the sake of your children. They don’t need a mother that is so strung out on drugs that she cannot function around her children. They don’t DESERVE it. For no one else but them, for no one else yourself, Please get some help.

Brandie, I love you. I really really do. I don’t want you to think that I am saying to “get the hell out of our family”. I want you to get some help, I will welcome you back into our family when you are the Brandie that I know and love again.

The drugs you are on right now are the exact same drugs that made my X brother in law kill his fiance. I am so scared for you and I have to make this my personal goal to get you away from my mother. I am sorry that it may have to come to this.


Ok, a little harsh?? maybe but someone has to talk to her and break through the barrier and get her going.

Today.....at this point today, she has left my mother's house (she came home from having an abortion last Friday, packed up all her clothes, packed up the clothes of the baby (he is 1), kissed her other 2 children, told them that she had something to do and left. She has called her mother (her mother is staying with our mother for a few reasons 1) to help my mother get back on her feet after her surgery and 2) to help take care of Brandie's kids. She "claims" the she has not abandoned her children...we will see about that.

We have spoken with their father (who lives out of state) and he is planning on taking full custody of the children, we just have to wait for the court to approve this because we don't want her charging him with kidnapping or anything like that.

If anyone has any suggestions....please let me know, we are running out of them for ourselves.
Things have to get better....they can't get much worse.

A-Z

1. A is for age: 43

2. B is for beer of choice: Root Beer

3. C is for career right now: Ad. min./ Secretary of Maintenance

4. D is for your dog's name? Phoenix, loved her, she is gone now

5. E is for essential item you use everyday: Body Wash

6. F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Desperate Housewives

7. G is for favorite game: Football

8. H is for Hometown: Minneapolis

9. I is for instruments you play: sad to say...none, not one instrument do I play

10: J is for favorite juice: Orange

11. K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: The whistler in my office....OMG he kills me

12. L is for last place you ate: Subway

13. M is for marriage: very happily

14. N is for your full name; Karin

15. O is for overnight hospital stays: 4, 3 children and gall bladder surgery

16. P is for people you were with today? My daughter earlier this morning and the boys at work

17. Q is for quote: "Be careful what you wish for, it may come true"

18. R is for Biggest Regret: I don't know, not staying in school longer....mmmm no, I just don't know.

19. S is for status: married

20. T is for time you woke up today: 7:00 am

21. U is for underwear you have on now: yes, I have some on

22. V is for vegetable you love: Corn on the cob

23. W is for worst habit: Not believing in myself

24. X is for x-rays you've had: chest

25. Y is for yummy food you ate today: club sandwich from Subway

26. Z is for the zodiac sign: Libra

I am not going to tag anyone with this one but if you want to play along, please do.

Gosh! I am about to go nuts!! My husband has taken the car in for new tires and a tune up. They said it would take about 3 hours for everything. Here it is 5 count them FIVE hours later and they are still working on it. The mechanic says that the wires are literally falling apart so ALL the wires have to be replaced. Here I sit, should of gone home almost 40 minutes ago and again....here I sit. Yes, I am getting paid to sit here and blog but really, I just want to go home.

So, I will tell you about my other niece.....The 3rd daughter.....RE we will call her.

She had a daughter about oh I would say almost 6 years ago. This daughter has been living with my sister since birth. RE has lived there on and off.

She has a son who is I think about 4 now. He was born around Thanksgiving 2002. He lived with his mother for the first few months of his life. When my dad got really sick and his wife did not want to take care of him by herself (oh did I say that she did not WANT to, I meant to say that she could not) RE went to my dad's house and helped take care of him. I will always thank her for this, I am so glad that she could be with him when we could not. Anyway..... she left her son with his grandma on the other side (his dad is in prison...don't know what for). After my dad passed, she went back home but did not pick up her son. She decided to leave him with his grandma because "she just did not bond with him"

Child # 3 is born. I think this one is a boy and then child #4 a girl, both children by the same father....I should tell you now that he is in prison for somehow being a party to a murder but RE swears that "he did not do it aunt Karin, I promise".

Child 3 and 4 go to the grandparents house (on dad's side) to visit for a week.

Guess what........you guessed it

RE does not go and pick them up when she is suppose to. Turns out that she has another boyfriend and they are doing drugs or whatever and not only does she not go and pick up the kids......she will not return the grandparents phone call either.

Finally they call social services, they take ALL the children and put them in foster care.

daughter # 1 is still there. All others are with their grandparents but because my sister has some problems of her own, they take #1 child out of the home. It just devastated my sister but upon talking to child #1 she is happy right now.

Thank God

I don't know what is going to happen but I will fill you in when I know.

Good Morning :)

Here comes the next installment...and more

My sister sits down with Br and talks to her about all the help she has been getting, about all the money that everyone is spending on her and her children and about how BR is doing NOTHING. She explains how "The buck stops here". BR is compliant, she is soooooo sorry about everything. She is sooooo going to change her life for the better. My sister tells her that she will be conducting a drug test ANYTIME she feels the need and she will be going into the bathroom with BR to make sure she is doing it correctly. She tells BR that she will not be getting any more help from her or my mom until she complies with the rules of the house. She will not let this boyfriend back into the house, she will spend every evening at home with her children not, putting them in front of the TV with cartoons on so that she can play on the computer and such. She will clean up after her children and the drugs will stop here, if any are found IN MY MOTHERS HOUSE again, she will be leaving. As a matter of fact, they will start eviction proceedings now just in case because it takes 30 days for these things to take place. Well, BR was just going to do whatever it took to be the girl she used to be and to be the mother she should be.

That is until the next day WHEN,

She told my mother off (of coarse my sister was not there) and she told my sister off (only in text messaging, would not get on the phone with her). She told them that she is 27 years old and she will do exactly as she pleases. She said that she will not be talked down to. She will see who she wants when she wants etc. etc.

SHE IS SUCH A BITCH, I really need to take a trip out there because she will NOT talk to me like that and I will escort her out of my mothers house. How dare her talk like that to my mother who has given her and her children a place to stay, fed them and made sure that they were comfortable. She has some nerve.

UPDATE: I talked to my older sister (who just happens to be at my mom's this past week) last night, she said that BR broke up with the boyfriend. I told her that I still think she needs to move, she cannot think she can treat people like crap and then miraculously she is an angel again. I think she needs to get into treatment, in house, 90 days. Nothing more, nothing less. I think that she really needs to do this. She is not just smoking a little pot here, she is doing dangerous drugs and anyone who has been reading my blog knows that my X brother in law killed his fiance because he was doing meth. I just pray that she gets it together.

On a cute kids story note :) When I talked to my older sister last night I also talked to my great niece, like I said she is either 5 or 6. She asked me if I wanted to know what she was going to be when she grew up? She told me that she is going to be a vegetarian when she grows up. That was she can take care of animals and she would be going to vegetarian school.....Now, how cute is that? Who would not want to spend time with that cuteness?

Next time on Karin's Korner: The 3rd daughter and how she ended up getting all of her children taken away.....told you this could be a soap opera.

OK, so I ended my last post with me going to California. I should tell you that it was the first time that I went, I did finally get back to Minnesota, stayed with friend, partied way to much, ended up at grandma's again, got a job at a bank (now remember, I was 16 at this time), they did direct deposit way back then so you had to have a checking account with the bank in order to get paid, quit the job, kept writing checks and needless to say, ended up back in California, this time with the police escorting me to the airport, in handcuffs, through security ( I laugh as I write that but it was so so not fun) to the plane, they put me on the plane but through this all EVERYONE had seen me get escorted in handcuffs to the plane. Finally we take off, Here I am sitting in my own seat, smoking a cigarette (yes, you could smoke in those days) when a young man (probably 15 or 16) comes and sits next to me, I try and ignore him but he wants to talk to me. Finally the question "comes up".....I saw you get on the plane in handcuffs...what did you do....I looked him right in the eyes and told him that I had killed someone. LOL, you never saw anyone who got up faster and ran to sit with his parents. No one bothered me the rest of the trip.

OK, enough about me for now. Let me tell you about my sister....first a list of characters:

Sister

SH: could be shithead, works either way but for this time it will be sisters husband

BR: sister's first daughter, she has 3 kids and is living with my mom, this will be partly her story although I can tell you stories about each and every one of them.

SU: sister's second daughter, 2 kids, 1 living with her, husband is a puke

REB; sister's third daughter, 4 kids, all at this point are taken away from her, yes this will be a post in itself.

CH: sisters first son, good kid now. Hopefully he will be the smart one in the family

AM: sister's fourth daughter, no children, currently in juvenile detention for failed urine test and not going to school.

BO: sister's fifth daughter, 1 child, not much to say about this child....yet

ZA: sister's second son, this one is too young to be getting in to much trouble, oh wait, another story.

OK, so my sister has ALOT of children. Currently BR is living with my mother because her sorry ass husband left her when her last child was about a week old. Now, let me back up a minute. Yes, he is a sorry ass but I will give credit where credit is due. Their marriage was in trouble long before he left and yes BR did get pregnant on purpose thinking it would "save" the marriage. Advise people.....it does not work.

BR was doing OK, she was working and going to school one night a week. Then she lost her job. For the last I would say 8 months or so, she has not been working. She is really not looking for a job, she is just letting everyone take care of her...including you, if you are paying taxes, she is getting money from you and I also. Her children are 6,5 and 1 or maybe it is 5,4 and 1 but never the less, she does not pay attention to the 2 oldest ones. The middle child has gone so far as to say "my momma does not like me". This has broken my heart over and over again.

Last weekend my mother and my little sister went on a short cruise (Friday through Monday). They had a blast and I am so glad for that because when they got back all hell had broken loose. My older sister had come into town because her 3rd daughter had court (I promise...another story) she decided to stay at my mom's house since my mom would not be home and they just really don't trust BR to do what she is suppose to do.

My sister found a syringe on BR's dresser. She went nuts!! BR did see what trouble she was getting into....for a minute, then was pissed because my sister was in her stuff. Now, tell me...what would have happened if one of her children would have gotten ahold of that shit, what if they would have poked themselves.....my god, what if she would have had to take them to the hospital????????

When my younger sister found all this out she called BR out on the table!! She also made the boyfriend come and sit down to talk about what would NOT be taking place in my mothers house. The boyfriend became belligerent and my sister told him (none to kindly) to get the FU*K out of my mothers house. He did think for just a minute that she would let him speak before he left (silly boy) and she just let him have it. I do have to tell you that my little sister is about 98 pounds (bitch) soaking wet and stands about 5'3 with heels. She told the boyfriend that she would be calling 911 if he did not leave immediately and she was quite sure that he would not be wanting to talk to the police. He left....no problem. Then it was BR's turn, which I will have to continue later. Maybe tonight, maybe this weekend, but if not for sure on Monday.....

Stay tuned.

Hello Again -

I am going to tell you about my family, not the family I live with now but the family I grew up with. This is just about as close to a soap opera that you can find. It is nuts. I am sure that I will not get the whole story out in one post but the plot will surly thicken as we get going.

Now, I grew up in a regular house. Father worked every single day (except on the weekends where he would stay at home and monitor our chores and also do the yard work etc.) Mother stayed home most of my childhood, she did in home day care so that she would be home with us kids all the time (this was a problem when I got older and we could never skip school at my house :) ) I have an older sister that I don't really get along with, she is just one of those people that knows everything that you know, has done everything that you have done etc. She is exactly a year and a half older then me. Then comes me of coarse, my little sister who I am the closest to. She is about four and a half years younger then me and then comes my little brother. He was the most spoiled child. Not only by my parents but by me and my older sister. My mom swore that he would never talk because all he had to do was point and we would get him whatever he wanted.

We had about as close to a normal family as I guess we could have for the most part. In 1979 my mother went with a girlfriend of hers to Hawaii. She stayed in California for a few days also. When she got back to Minnesota, she informed our family that she was moving to California. We could take it or leave it but she was getting out of the winters and moving somewhere warm. My older sister was already living with her boyfriend at this time and I was NOT moving to California, after all, my friends were all in Minnesota. I was 15, in high school and I was just NOT moving. We (OK, my parents) decided that I would stay with my grandma and they would all move. At the end of the school year, they would look at it and make a decision as to if I was going to be made to move or not.

Living at my grandma's was OK, but it had its drawbacks. She did not actually live in the city where I went to high school so I had to take the city bus in everyday. This was not the problem. The problem was that the last bus out to where she lived was at 9 PM and lets face it, 9 is when everything was just getting started. No one left at 9. So I started staying at friends houses. I don't think my grandma would have cared so much if I just would not have forgotten to call sometimes. (bless her heart).

After a few months of coming and going whenever I wanted to I think she had just had enough. My dad was called and he came back to get me. I was babysitting at the time and one of my so called friends ratted me out and told him where I was. He came to the house with a few policemen (did I mention that my dad was on the police reserves when he lived in Mn.?). Good thing that the parents had not left yet when a knock came at the door. I looked out the window and saw that it was my dad. I told Mark (just a guy that was there) not to answer the door. He went outside and told my dad that I did not want to go with him, now remember that 10 minutes before I had no idea that my dad was even in Minnesota. It took all of a minute and a half for my dad and 2 police officers to get onto the porch. They kindly informed me that I had a choice, I could leave with my dad or I could be held at juvenile detention until the morning, my father would come and get me and they would escort us to the airport. I (being a smart ass that I was) told them that it was not a choice and I would be leaving with my father, thank you very much. They put me in his car, locked the door and closed it. This is where I informed them that I was a big girl and I did not need the door locked. I lifted the lock. He opened the door pushed the lock down again and closed the door. I lifted the lock. Much to my surprise, he was not amused and started yelling. This is when I stopped being a brat and just sat still :)

The next day I flew with my father to California. My brother and sister were so excited to see me. LOL, what a joke. I was not happy at all, in fact I think I made my parents want to send me back the minute we landed. I refused to do anything that they wanted to do "as a family". I was just a royal pain in the ass. This is when I started smoking in front of them. I did not care what they said, I was going to do what I wanted to do. Man I was a bitch. If one of my children would have pulled that shit on me, I would have.....well, I don't know but there would have been blood. LOL.

OK, this post was not going to be exactly like this. I was going to tell you my sister's story...and man do I have a story to tell. I will finish with this now and I will start with her tomorrow.....stayed tuned.

Good Morning!! Happy Friday.

I have a couple of e-mails that I want to share with you this morning. I have been sitting at my desk laughing (out loud even) and I thought it would be a good Friday thing to share here.

First one: "Life Savers"

Kids are so smart.
A teacher was doing a study testing the senses (taste) of first graders using a bowl of lifesavers. The children began to say:
Red......................Cherry
Yellow.................Lemon
Green...................Lime
Orange.................Orange

Finally the teacher gave them all HONEY lifesavers. After eating them, none of the children could identify the taste. "Well," she said, "I will give you all a clue. It's what your mother may sometimes call your father." One little girl looked up in horror, spit her lifesaver out and yelled, "Oh, my God!! They're ass-holes!

Ok, I laugh even though I have read this tons of times already.

# 2
A woman named Jill stood up at her church's Testimony Meeting,
or as some churches call it, "Cry Sunday," one Sunday morning,
took the microphone and bared her soul to the rapt congregation:
"I want to tell you about the awful accident that my husband,
Jim, has suffered this past month.
He was riding his Goldwing, lost control, ran off the highway and hit a tree.
He was rushed to the hospital, and could have died, but thank the Lord, all he suffered was a broken scrotum.
" The congregation gasped in horror.
The men in the congregation were obviously uneasy and writhed in their seats.
"Jim has been in terrible pain all month since the accident.
He has trouble breathing. He has trouble swallowing his food.
He can hardly lift anything, he's in so much pain, and he has missed work because of it.
He can't lift our children up to hold them and give them the personal love that they need.
Worst of all, we can no longer cuddle and have intimate relations.
He is in constant pain, a pain so terrible that our love life has all but slipped away into oblivion.
I would like to ask you all in the congregation to pray for Jim, and pray for us, that his broken scrotum will soon heal and be as good as new.
A dull murmur erupted within the congregation as the full impact of this terrible accident sank in, and the men in the congregation were visibly shaken up with the thought that,
"There but for the grace of God go I."
Then, as the murmuring settled down, a lone figure stood up in midst of the congregation, worked his way up to the pulpit, obviously in pain, adjusted the microphone to his liking, then leaned over and said to the congregation:.

"My name is Jim, and I have only one word for my wife, Jill. That word is: sternum."

Ok. that was too good too. Have a great weekend all.

Hello everyone.

I told you all about going to get the family pictures taken last weekend. Let me tell you all how that went. We just went to the local Walmart to do this. There are a total of 12 of us so you would think that it might be a little hard to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling but this lady was fantastic!! The shot of the family took 3 tries but every picture after that was done in 1 shot. It took all of about a half hour for all to do.

Sarah has always wanted to do this, she loves taking pictures etc. While we were waiting another couple was getting their pictures taken. Sarah stands off to the side so she can see how they are doing and she is telling them how great they are, how good they look together etc. Finally she asks the lady taking the pictures if they are looking to hire anyone. The lady say absolutley!! So, we walk out of the store with pictures of the entire family as well as Sarah has a new job!! Today is her third day and she just loves it. The best part about it is that she will not have to work nights. The photo center is only open until like 8 pm so it works out perfect for her. They will guarantee 30 hours per week but her boss said that she will most likely have 40+ hours. I am so thankful.

So as of right this minute, everyone is happy and healthy and for that I am truly blessed. I hope everyone is keeping warm, even here in NC it is cold....well, not like Minnesota or Wisconsin cold but here they think that 30 degrees is cold.

Good Morning :)

I know, I have been bad. I should have updated earlier but I seem to always be so busy. I promise that I will try and get here more often.

Sarah is out of the hospital and seems to be doing much much better. Her place of employment called her once again and offered her another job. She is to start on the 5th of February but is looking for another job in the meantime. I don't think she needs to go back to a job that has laid her off 3 times. Where is the stability there? She says that she needs a job and I agree with her. I cannot continue to pay her bills and mine as well but I just hate the thought of her going back to that place to work again. I think that the medication she is on is helping her immensely. She is the happy, playful girl again. I am just really really scared that she will go back to that place again and this time not want to tell us about it for fear that she will go back in the hospital. I don't know, maybe I am just babbling here, maybe it won't happen and everything will go back to normal. Not that normal was really good, she could be such a bit....well, she could be not so nice of a person sometimes and you all know me....Miss Sunshine, so I don't have any idea where she could have gotten that from.:)

The rest of the family is doing great. We will have David's kids this weekend, I am sure that they will tell us that they do not feel good and want to stay with their mom (because that is what they have done the last 4 or 5 times we have gone to pick them up) and we will do what we always do, tell them they will be fine and to get into the car. They are always fine once they are in the car and away from their mother but I think that initially they do not want to come to our house because we have rules that must be followed, mom does not. We do not allow sitting on your butt playing games (playstation, gamecube etc.) all day or sitting on your butt watching TV all day either. This is just not acceptable at our house. David's son is 13 years old and weighs about 240 lbs. He is a very big boy and although his mother keeps telling us that he is on a diet, we find out that they go out to McDonalds or some other fast food restaurant at least 3 or 4 times a week (she does not like to cook) and he is eating whatever he wants on the menu. Not you have to imagine, I have been in this family for almost 6 years and I have never had a meal with David's son that he has not asked for seconds or thirds. We do not keep him on a diet, we don't think that is fair (Amanda is 10 and she is a skinny little girl) We do however watch his portions on his food and we strictly don't let them drink soda unless it is a special occasion. Anyway, I will tell you more about that some other time. My point was going to be that we are finally going to be able to do a family portrait this weekend.

This is getting way long winded. Everyone, please have a great day and thanks for coming to my site, reading , commenting and showing your love. I love you all too.

UPDATE

I know that I have been extremely absent lately. So much has happened this week. I will tell you more about what has been happening in Sarah's life.

On Monday I left work early to go to the doctor, I have a viral infection of some kind and she did not want me to go back to work until at least Thursday. I told her that I would give her Tuesday but I cannot guarantee the rest of the week. (I HATE staying home all day long). Anyway... I get home and my older daughter is at my house doing laundry. When she finished she called Sarah to come and get her and Sarah asked if my husband could drive her home. They all piled into the van and left. A few minutes later my husband came back with Sarah and the baby. Sarah was a mess. She had been crying (I know that I told you all that she had been laid off at work but I don't think that I had told you that she had been called back 2 times and laid off again 2 times, extremely depressing) She came in and asked if she could just stay with us that night. No problem. My husband started to talk to her (he is a therapist) and she admitted to him that if someone would have been home with her so that she knew her son would be alright she probably would have killed herself. When David asked her on a scale of one to one hundred with one being not really and one hundred being if I had a gun right now I would blow my head off where was she, she stated that she really just did not know. (Later my husband told me that is what worried him, the "I don't know". He knew that if she answered a small number we really did not have to worry and if she would have answered a high number we did not have to worry, telling me that had she stated 100, he would have thought maybe this was an attention thing because if someone says 100, they would have done it already, not telling anyone.) He told her that he was going to make a phone call in the morning and he wanted to take her to someone to talk to. He said that because he is her step father and he loves her, he cannot do any therapy with her.

So, on Tuesday he went into work and called a friend of his. He brought Sarah to see the therapist and after talking to Sarah for about an hour decided that she needed to be hospitalized. She agreed.

She has been in the hospital since Tuesday, she is getting better and I think she really needed this. David and I have the baby and let me tell you, I am just not used to having a baby to deal with 24/7. He is just the love of my life but I need a break (see, I am at work today and he is at home with his papa, he-he)

So, that is what is going on in my world lately. Hope everything is going great for everyone else.

Ok, I am going to leave you all with some kind of buzz. I am kinda at a loss for words and don't really know how much I can tell you but I think I need to tell someone and I can't tell anyone here.

My daughter has been very very depressed lately. She is 19 and has a year old son :), Recently her and her sister moved into their own house across the street from my son and his family. All has been going well. At the beginning of the week she got laid off from work and then a tumble down effect started to happen. Finally she went to the doctor today and he put her on some new anti depressant medication. He also said that he was going to refer her to a psychologist. As she is telling me this she is crying, said that she had to tell him things that she has never told anyone, like not even me!!

I just tell her that everything is going to be better now and asked if she wanted to tell me. She did. She told me that when she was about 6 years old my kids had a friend named Seth...YES THAT'S RIGHT, I AM GOING TO TELL EVERYONE THAT LITTLE ASSHOLES NAME, SETH...FROM MARTELL, WISCONSIN...THE LITTLE BOY THAT HIS PARENTS THOUGHT HE COULD DO NO WRONG....LET ME TELL YOU...HE DID WRONG!!!!!

OK, sorry. Apparently when she was young and they were outside playing (I think he was about 9 or 10) he made her pull her pants down. Now, she cannot remember exactly what happened. She is sure something bad happened but she thinks she has blocked it out.

In March I am going to Minnesota for a friends sons wedding. I will be about 45 minutes from where I lived in Wisconsin. I don't know if that little asshole is there but I will find out. I never thought I would do this either, but I am going to contact my X husband and let him know. I want him to find him. I want him to know that as Sarah's parents....WE KNOW!!!! It took her about 13 years to tell me but now I know.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and I promise I will be back next week and let you know how the weekend went, Christmas and New Years. Not alot to tell but we had a good time.

Love and Miss you all!!