Disney Pics - Hope You Enjoy!

Bash - Ready To Take On Disneyland

Disneyland - Halloween Style

Timmie, Bash, and Gianni at Cinderella's Castle

Bash's 1st Disneyland Ride

Loving The Merry-Go-Round

Taking Mr Toad's Car For A Wild Ride

Waiting For Minnie Mouse In Her House

Not Another Dumbo Ride !!

Our Mission: To Find Nemo On The Submarine Ride

Mission Accomplished - Nemo Found!

Bash and Goofy

Having Breakfast With Minnie And Friends

Bash Talking Politics With Cinderella's Fairy Godmother

Bash with Chip - Or Is It Dale?

Bash and Eeyore

Bash And Captain Hook

Bash + Disneyland = 1 excited boy

Defending The Planet And Helping Out Buzz Lightyear

Buzz Saying Thank You To Bash For All Of His Hard Work Defending The Planet From The Evil Aliens

Lightening McQueen, Bash, And Mater

"McQueen, I Got Your Windows Clean! Now Go Win The Race!!"

"Awww Minnie, Don't Cry I will Be Back Really Soon."

" Wow, 2 Days At Disneyland And I am Beat!"

A Trip Through The Wild Fires To Get Back Home

Can you believe the wild fires in So.Cali? I pretty much grew up in So. Cali and have seen plenty of California fires, but nothing like this. I am sending as much positive energy I can muster to all of the people displaced from their homes. The smoke and flames did not stop our trek to the "Happiest Place On Earth". That is right - Bash had his 1st (of many, I am sure) trip to Disneyland. I haven't been there in probably about 10 years - it was fun. The air was hateful though - smoke everywhere and ash in the air. Even the risk of Black Lung could not keep us from the Wonderful World of Disney! Bash had an awesome time! He was not afraid of anything. We rode every ride he was tall enough for - more than once. I have 5 rolls of film being developed as we speak - so I will post all kinds of really cute pics soon. He was so excited - it was really great to be able to share it with him.

The 1st part of our trip was spent in the Bay Area. We drove up in our new truck (oh yeah - did I tell you I bought a new truck? 2004 Navigator. It is sweet!!!) We drove up to get Gianni and visit her daughter Sophia. It was fun! Bash is such a good traveler. On our way from S.F. to Disneyland we drove right through Santa Clarita - it was kind of scary with all the smoke and the flames on the hillside. We were suppose to end our trip with a quick visit to my Mom in Palm Springs, but with the fires and Willow possibly sick - we just high tailed it home.

On the adoption front: No news on my niece. I have not heard from anyone from family services regarding her status. My sister seems to cycle in and out of being able to function. My wish is that she gets well soon and she and my niece will be able to be together again. I wish I would get some news one way or another. Bash's adoption stuff should be done sometime in early December - If all goes well. I am not sure if I should keep my foster care license active. A little info would be great! So, I am continuing with my plans to adopt a sibling for Bash. I have just kind of put everything on hold. But I can not keep my life on hold forever with no news. I have also decided that I may change my country from Vietnam to Haiti. The need in Haiti is so great. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There are hundreds of thousands of orphans. I have been doing research into Haiti and it is rich in history and culture. It is also completely devastated. There is no food or uncontaminated water. Children are dying by the thousands. There is actually a recipe for Dirt Cakes - because of the lack of flour or grain parents are mixing the little bit of oil and salt they may have with dirt in order to feed their children. I just have a hard time believing that this is occurring 600 miles from our Florida coast. So, I am back at square one with researching adoption agencies. Los Ninos does not have a Haitian program (this is too bad because I have really liked all of my dealings with them so far).

I have found a few places that have short 1 week volunteer opportunities. They are in desperate need for medical help. I may try and get myself, Gianni, and Kara to go and help out. A week will be easy to schedule. Most volunteer sponsors want you to commit to months or even a year. There is no way I can swing that with kids, dogs, and bills. I have started reading about Haitian history - it is amazing. It is tied in so tightly to our own US history.

Pics from Goldfield, NV. Haunted Pic Of The Goldfield Hotel

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A Very Happy Puppy - pics

How Could You Not Love This Face?

My Big Baby, Radar, With A Great Big Smile

Radar Laughing Up A Storm

AWWWW Such A Sweet Baby

Pictures - Shiloh Horse Rescue - Sandy Valley, NV

Cute Piggies greeting us upon our arrival

Gianni and her friend

Sklyar, Bash, Myself, And Natalie trying to figure out why "Taco" the mule is sticking his tongue out at us

Bash and Myself petting "Tannis" Jill Curtis's Horse

Bash and Mr Goat checking each other out

Skylar, Natalie, And I feeding carrots to a horse at Shiloh Horse Rescue

Bash and I at Shiloh Horse Rescue in Sandy Valley, NV. Notice Bash and the Mule have their tongue's sticking out.

Still Alive And Well

I know, I know - I have not posted in quite sometime. It has just been a whirlwind of emotional/mental turmoil. I am finally through the darkness and will have some time to blog. I also have new pics to post - so this may be a long long post. OK, let me roll up my sleeves and start typing:
It is difficult to know where to begin. Work - I guess is where all of the darkness lays - so let's start there. My last post about work was related to the hateful meeting I had to endure between my boss, the manager, Kelley, and I. Well, let me just tell you that things have progressed so far downhill that I am no longer employed with that company any longer (thank god!). Cruella (the manager) and her evil male counterpart basically sold Kelley and I down the river. There was a lot of backstabbing. Lies were told and accusations made (not by Kel and I, I might add). When mistakes were made by the two of them - it was Kel and I that were blamed even though we had nothing to do with the situation. It had become a toxic work environment for both Kel and myself. For those of you who really know me, you know, that I am a pretty honest and direct person. I hate to play games! And there were a whole lot of games being played. Evil, dark games that would affect not just me or Kel but all of the department. So, on 10/5 at approximately 8:30 am Kel and I gave our resignations to Cruella's evil male counterpart and his boss. It was the longest "resign from a job" I have ever had to endure - 2 hours of hashing and rehashing issues. I then went over to my clinic and told as many people as I could find. I was actually on vacation that day and I knew that word would travel fast. It was very sad, some tears were shed. I will miss all of them very much. And I hope in the aftermath that when it is all said and done that everyone in my clinic will know how much they meant to me and how honored I am to have been a part of their lives. Anyway, I had a good weekend. I even went in to the office late Sunday night to get things ready for our quarterly audit which was to take place this week sometime. Monday I was off also - a well needed little break. On Tuesday, 10/9, I was in the office bright and early - ready to get things all tied up and completed so my departure would not seem as traumatic for my clinic as well as the department. I had received an email from our chief nursing officer stating that both Kel and I were to report to her office at 3pm for a meeting regarding our resignation (jeez, does everyone have this much trouble resigning from a job?). Kel and I both thought this was weird, but we continued to get our clinics organized for the audit. I was planning on coming back to the office after the 3pm meeting to finish audit stuff up, order iud's for my provider's, and fax postpartum depression forms to BHO. All very innocent. I should have known something was up when my g drive (our personal "do not delete" file) was found on the company's k drive (the all company access drive). This is disturbing because amongst the clinic related items in my g drive there were also things like my resume, my resignation letter, and all of my employee and provider information. Not sure who has access to read the K drive OB files but whoever it was would have been able to see lots of confidential information. So, at 3pm Kel and I headed into the CNO's office. We were greeted by the CNO and Cruella's best friend, the executive director of adult medicine. We were also asked to hand over all of our company property - keys, phones, badges. We were then escorted to our cars by security and told we could clean out our offices tomorrow under supervision. They were going to pay us out for 2 weeks and then that would be it. It was shocking and a little humiliating, but I laughed and joked through it. Kel, was not so happy. She got on the phone immediately with everyone and said she had just been fired. I kept telling her that we had not been fired we had quit and they had decided we did not need to finish out our time. I was kind of happy to be done from all of the drama. I was also upset about not being able to say goodbye to my staff and my providers in a more positive way. I guess the company thought we were going to sabotage everything - that is so not me. To sabotage anything would ultimately have hurt my clinic. That would be something I would never do. I did get a few calls from my providers - who were very angry at the actions the company had taken. I also got phone call from my staff who were worried about what would happen to them. But one of the calls I got was from the nurse recruiter from a hospital I had applied to - they offered me a clinical supervisor position for labor and delivery at quite a bit more money then I was currently making. How awesome is that?!?!?!? I was not without a job for long. I will start orientation on 11/12. So, now I am enjoying my time off. Next week I will be going to the beach for a week. All is well with me. I guess the fallout from all of this is still continuing. The evil male counterpart got demoted and even has to give up his office. Cruella thinks she has won but from what I hear from the chief and other providers is that they will not make it easy for Cruella. The department has now moved from under Specialties to Adult Medicine, again. I hear rumblings from other employees in the department that they are giving their notice. It will be interesting to see what else happens but I am happy to know that I am not part of the toxicity surrounding the company put forth by management. I am free!!!!!!!

I did go clean out my office the next morning. I had a chance to speak to some of the staff. But it was awkward. I was supervised while packing up. I had so much stuff - it took an hour. When it was all packed in my little Mini Cooper and I drove away it was like a weight had been lifted. I don't think I had realized how unhappy I had been for so long related to work and dealing with management - trying to be an advocate for my clinic and the patients.

I am still getting phone calls from people. Kel got roses from one of her clinics. Life goes on and I know where ever I go I will be just fine. I am a survivor - there is no keeping me down!