White Collar Crime

Hard not to feel suffocated by the incredible amount of bullshit emanating from Washington these days.   You want to read something that actually matters?  Read this.  White collar crime at it's finest.  Until we collectively grow a pair and do something about it - ain't nothin' gonna change in this country; including our rapidly eroding position in the world economy .  What an amazing, fulfilling career to have had.  What a cool guy.  Marty Sullivan for president!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/26/marty-sullivan-figured-out-how-the-worlds-biggest-companies-avoided-billions-in-taxes-heres-how-he-wants-to-stop-them/

Labor Day 2013 - On Tiki Time

Soo...apparently Google has rebranded Picasa into Google+ Photos.  I love how they just change their products whenever the hell they want without warning and disable features you use all the time - arghh.  And, I actually pay for this account!  Anyway, here are pics from Labor Day weekend in Kure Beach.  We rented a new house - The Tiki House - and it was so charming - we may have a new favorite.  It was definitely a very tiki weekend - lots of time with friends and family.  Hope this works - if not just paste the link below into a browser and it should take you to pics.

https://plus.google.com/photos/102306683465539559487/albums/5919940948144259121?authkey=CJO7xa7x29W8xAE

Lake Winni 2013 - Photoganza

Lots of pictures : ) One suitcase unpacked, one to go. Miss everyone!

New dining room :)

Love it!  Can't wait too see it with the new floors :)

Snow Leopard

Shoot - I forgot my favorite one!  Thx for the reminder Auntie Jamey! 

He drew this on the way to Wrightsville for July 4th :)

More of DCU's Art

I just can't get over Devlyn's drawings lately.  Here are some recent sketches. He's so into it.  I love it.  I pasted a little something from Weebsie in at the end :). He sees Devlyn drawing all the time right now so he's filling up notebooks too - so cute!

Camper of the Week

Guess who was voted Camper of the Week in his huddle at Y Camp today?

New Beginnings

Devlyn's class had their end of year party today.  There was a Hawaiian theme and a "red carpet".  Each student was called up and walked up and down "the carpet" while the teacher read a little bit about what they're looking forward to in 2nd grade.  Devlyn's said he's looking forward to learning about Geology.  Devlyn was recognized as the class "Writing Wizard" this year for his stories.  Charles will love that.  As usual, both teacher's commented on how smart he is : )  So proud of him.  We're headed back up to the school in 15 minutes for "Meet the Teacher" where we'll learn who he'll have for 2nd grade.  Incidentally, ran into his kindergarten teacher from last year in the hallway as we were leaving the party.  I heard she was leaving and asked her where she was headed.  Her husband has been transferred and they're moving to Connecticut.  Of course I had to ask where, never in my wildest dreams imagining what her answer would be.......Newtown.  Hard for me not to make about a million connections in my head after hearing that.  I explained that it's a beautiful area and she'll love it.  What a time to move there as a kindergarten teacher.  Wow.

Time to go learn who Devlyn will have for second grade!

The Look

Devlyn still loves to use this look.  This picture represents the beginnings of it.  It was taken in April 2008 PW (pre-Weebsie).  3 days left until Devlyn is a rising 2nd grader.  Doesn't seem possible :)

Devlyn the Poster Boy

Does this face look familiar?  Tweetsie Railroad (a client at Charles' agency - FWV) used a picture we sent them from our visit in a recent promotional post they put up on Facebook.  They were kind enough to give us free tickets so we made out well in the deal!


https://www.facebook.com/Tweetsie

Bubye Dusty Red

When we bought this house the ONLY room we didn't mess with was the dining room. Aside from changing out the cabinetry hardware, new curtains and switching out the light fixture, it remained as is. I'll admit the dusty red color worked well for holidays. It was perfectly festive and made for great pictures :) The other 10 months of the year it was just red and aside from the hair of the "men" in my life, I don't care for red. Especially dusty, almost maroon, SO early-2000 Southern dining room red. Ew! The red got primed today. Next up, charcoal gray.

Devlyn the Budding Artist

One of the best things about kids Devlyn's age is watching their true interests and talents develop. Devlyn has always enjoyed drawing and art but he's really taken that interest to the next level this year. He's always drawing - it's so cute. He takes his sketchbook on the bus and draws every chance he gets. Favorite subjects are superheroes, game characters and animals. He's just starting to branch out into drawing people. His peers and some teachers have recently started to take notice and you should see the twinkle that puts in his eyes. The best part is how much he enjoys doing it. Here is a recent self-portrait and a drawing of a bumblebee bat that he wrote a report on.

From Facebook Today

Nothing bothers me more than when a distressed parent finds our advocacy groups desperately seeking information b/c their child has been injured by fluoroquinolone antibiotics.  Knowing the pain and suffering an innocent child is going to battle for years on end b/c of these drugs shakes me to the core.  I don't understand how this happens and why noone does anything about what, to me, seems like something that should be so simple to eradicate through education.  It's so evil and wrong.  I'll be silently begging the universe to help this woman's daughter.  

Tina Cudworth GilsinnFluoroquinolone Antibiotic Toxicity (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Floxin)

My daughter (then 8) took Levaquin in 2011 for almost 30 days due to an infection that she had in her sacrum bone. Before we started taking the medicine I called the doctor to verify i wasn't poisoning my baby. We stopped taking med because her knee swelled to the size of a grapefruit and her joints kept making a popping sound. She was then sent on to Rheumatologist because the Infectious Disease doctor couldn't explain her knee swelling, but put her on clindamycin and rifapin. She ended up getting a steroid injection to reduce swelling, which it did UNTIL almost a year later her knee swelled up without explanation and she had another injection. The Rheum Dr has now diagnosed my daughter with arthritis. Over the weekend her knee gave out from her and she is in a brace to stabilize it. We are on our way to yet another dr today, ortho, but I feel like all of this is a root from taking levaquin. She still has the issue in sacrum bone, but that has become secondary to the knee situation. Can anyone offer me any advice? Like · · 112 · June 4 at 8:45am near Geneva, IL ·

Tina Cudworth Gilsinn My daughter was just diagnosed with deteriorating cartilage in her knee, I am beside myself! What in the world can I do to reverse all this mess!

Like · Reply · Sunday at 10:12am

Hmmmm

These pics r really bothering me - sorry!

Upside Up Pics

And by the way don't mention this in front of Devlyn when you see him. He's MORTIFIED.

School's Out For Summer!

Well, in our case, not really but from what the teachers have been telling us....everybody is acting like it anyway! We had our first call ever from a teacher this week (and second - ahem). Apparently Devlyn has been goofing around a bit lately. I found these in his daily folder today. I love that he signed them "Love, Devlyn". Aww....

Kure Bound

It's become a tradition - the boys dress like superheroes to kick off the holiday weekend :)

End of the Line

Another sign we're a house full of big boys :(. I've been packing both boys' up for vacation in this small duffle bag for the past five years. I do believe this is the last time that's going to work. Onwards and upwards to individual bags! I feel a visit to LL Bean.com coming on...

BLU's Testing

This probably isn't necessary but I find it interesting so here you go.  We thought Blake was going to squeeze under the genetic radar and escape having allergies but he developed them this year and has really been complaining so we took him in to see Dr. Aarons at Carolina Allergy and Asthma for testing today.  Dr. Aarons is awesome - he treated Devlyn when he was 3 and immediately got his allergies under control which was quite an accomplishment considering how bad they were at the time.  I was not expecting Blake's results to be anything like they turned out b/c he really just started having problems in the last three months or so.  Dr. Aarons was too.  Blake is pretty much off the charts allergic to trees just like D and regular allergic to grasses & weeds.  His tine test reacted so quickly we were done and out of there in 40 minutes.  They didn't even let the test finish.  To give some perspective - a positive for a histamine is a pseudopod (bump) measuring 2mm x 2mm.  Blake's, for white oak measured 19mm x 11mm, hickory 13mm x 6mm, etc.  We got the right prescription mix and Blake will be good to go from here on out.  The best part?  He's not allergic to Annie - we thought he was.  She's probably just covered in pollen from being outside.

Lastly, we completed the next step in county testing for his possible speech therapy yesterday.  The speech therapist agreed that he qualifies for the next step which is observation in his surroundings (at preschool) and further evaluation.  We were concerned he wouldn't b/c at the last appt they told us he was borderline.  With any luck that will be the last step, he'll be referred for treatment and we'll finally get to the part where he actually gets professional help with his pronunciation.  Watching the tricks this speech therapist used to get him to work on his sounds was really cool.  So interesting to watch her successfully elicit the same responses from him that I've been trying to coax out for months with no luck!

Allergy Test Beginning

 

Allergy Test End (after Cortisone cream application)

 

Spring School Pics 2013 / 3 yr old class Soapstone & End of 1st Grade Sycamore Creek

 

Love Blake's expression in the class pic - always the ham : )  I personally think Devlyn looks like a teenager, comparatively.

Weebsie's Spring 2013 School Pics

Easily my favorite school pics ever.  First time I ordered prints of both poses.  #1 Happy, #2 Angelic (ha!)

Advocacy

Everyone has to listen to my negativity surrounding being floxed so I thought I'd take the time to update my readers (all 6 of you) on some positive momentum generated by people like me in an effort to increase advocacy and awareness for the dangerous side effects of FQ's.

The Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Toxicity Advocacy Group I belong to descended on Washington this week,  assembled at the White House and met with members of the Senate and Congress.  I am so proud of them and wish I could have been able to make it.  Unfortunately, our recent family vacation was planned before I heard about the Washington "rally" and could not take the additional time off to be there.  I WILL be there next time.  Two weeks prior, one of our group's founding members, John Fratti, who is also one of the most severely injured by Levaquin, attended Johnson and Johnson's shareholder meeting to make sure that they were, once again, made aware of Levaquin's adverse side effects.  Not that they actually care but, hey, every little bit counts!  If they cared they'd dump money into research to help us AND lobby for stronger warnings and physician education.

Our FQ Awareness group met with Senator Dianne Feinstein, CA-D and Congressman Rich Nugent, FL-R who both took the time to listen to our collective experience regarding the dangers of these drugs and the need for widespread consumer awareness

Here are some pics and links of our group's efforts:

  

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/viewart/20130425/NJBIZ/304250043/Johnson-Johnson-annual-meeting

http://www.levaquinadversesideeffect.com/johnson-and-johnson/

Mtn Trip 2013

Tons of pictures - had to merge from both our phones.  Awesome trip : )  Springtime Blue Ridge adventure!

Y Guides Spring Outing - 2013

Devlyn and Charles joined a Y Guides troop (Indian Guides) a few months back.  They had their Spring Outing this past weekend.  8 boys and their Dads spent Friday-Sunday down at Camp Seafarer here in NC doing everything under the sun.  Archery, a statue scavenger hunt, ice cream social, zipline, fishing, tennis........the list goes on.  It was nice and chilly and wet so they definitely got the full experience of "camp".  Devlyn had a blast and completed all the activities to get his gold coin.  Charles is still recovering.  We're off to the mountains this weekend (Blowing Rock) so plenty more pictures to come : )

Overheard

7:07pm in the kitchen - kids are upstairs getting ready for bed.

Devlyn appears, holding mouth wide open. "Am I bleeding?"

Me: "No. Why? Did your tooth fall out ?!?

Devlyn: "No. Blake punched me in the face b/c I wouldn't let him lick my belly button."

Me: Pour glass of wine.

Sad News

After 5 or 6 good years, it is finally time to lay our trusty Lightning McQueen "crocs" to rest. Bought at Walmart in 2007, they have dutifully provided both boys with infinite fun and unbelievable wear. I never imagined $12 of foam rubber, which seemed pricey at the time, would take us this far. As Blake stared down at his toes poking out of the holes worn through by other, ever-growing toes this morning, he declared sweetly and innocently, "Mommy, I think these shoes are too small for me. I need new ones." I felt like laughing and crying at the same time :). Well traveled and loyal to the end, we bid you goodnight oh red, Lightninged ones. Godspeed Lightning McQueen "crocs"!! Fare thee well.

Sprague Rd. Caniacs

The universe aligned this month and Devlyn's Winter track out took place the same week as the Greater Raleigh Sports Council's annual "Lunch with the Hurricanes".  My company (Glyph) sponsors a table there and we had extra seats so Devlyn got to go!  Poor Blake was in preschool.  They break the room up into about 40 tables of 8 and each table gets 1-2 members of the Canes.  Devlyn had high hopes we'd get a Staal.  Eric Staal's brother Jordan joined the team this season so it's cool for Devlyn and Blake that brothers play on the team together.  Eric Staal is their favorite player anyway : )  Long story short, we stopped in the team store on the way up to the luncheon and got Devlyn a new team jersey.  He's grown out of the one we bought him when he was 3 and Blake can wear that one now.  After lunch and mingling is over, you get to walk around and seek out your favorite players.  So Devlyn rolled into the luncheon with a fresh, clean team jersey and came out with 6 or 7 of the top players' autographs!  Man did he have a good time.  He would not let me take pictures of him with any of them but he started with Jordan Staal and ended with the coach.  He had the Staal brothers autograph his shirt right next to pins he has with their numbers on it.  And of course all the players are extra nice to kids he really got the full treatment.  We sat with Grayson Bowman (newbie) and an old Whaler, Steve Rice who was at the luncheon as an alum.  Dad - thought you might remember that name.  Here are some pictures including one stealth pic Devlyn took about 5 seconds after the players sat down at our table.  It's of Bowman.  Next year I'll have to plot a way to get Weebsie in there : )