trying to get to the finals..Need help please

I made it to the semi-finals of my campaign for Microsoft(MS) Brand Ambassador. It end on July 7th and I really need every one's help to make it to the finals. Only 40 people will be chosen to proceed and I would like to be on that list. Please help. I would really appreciate it.

Windows® Brand Ambassador — Semi-Finals Sponsored by Microsoft®

Also if you want, check out some of my other campaigns. It would really help me out since all these separate campaign entries help me win money and items for college.

Your Life. Our Stage. Sponsored by La Jolla Playhouse

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) Brickfish

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) Brickfish

Thanks a million again! Remember you don't have to sign up to vote, share, or review these campaign entries. However if you choose to it's totally free and it's a legitamate site. I already checked it out.

Amazing artist!!

Marissa Kate is a good friend of mine and is just an amazing artist. A quick study of musical art and already is going to be releasing an album on itunes this year (2009). You should check it out, the site is directly connected to Ms. Marissa Kate so you can chat with her and get the lastest updates first. I promise you won't regret it. She is totally amazing.


Visit MarissaKate

go go shining star!!

So this was supposed to be a project between me and my little sister but she decided she was too old for crafts. Pish-posh, one can never be to old for arts and crafts. Anyways so I decided to make a rocket all on my own and for the most part it turned out how I expected but I hurried it so there are a couple of places where it's totally messed up. Here are some pictures of my awesome rocket which I have names "The Shining Star Athelia" and in commemorating the upcoming holiday of Independence Day or also known as the 4th of July. I thought I would incorporate red, white, and blue when painting the rocket. I know it looks a little kiddish as far as desgin goes but paper mache is hard to work with when you have something that wants to roll away like a 2 liter soda bottle and also because I hurried it to prove something. yeah anyways enjoy my kid like craft!

WOOO-WEEEE!!

It's a wonderful day to do anything fun unless it's of course dangerous or against the law but hey get out there and enjoy life and spend time with your family. I am having a wonderful time with my sister and my nephews....except for that pain in the butt ex-fiance of hers. Not going to get into that because then I will have to get into religion because he acts the way he does because of how he was religiously raised and I really don't want to offend anyone but then again I do have a right to a freedom of speech in both the written and the spoken sense so....yeah. But I wouldn't want to offend anyone just a random vent moment and yes people can act differently based on the way they were raised, whether religiously or culturally, etc....

Anyways, an update on my health I am getting better but I still have a lot of healing to do where they lanced the dang thing but they did a pretty good job of doing it that I am pretty sure I will not have a scar....before I continue on any other subject I want to apologize in advance for my run-on sentences and what not but I am in a very giddy mood tonight/today...seeing as it is early morning at 2:30 am or so where I am at but oh well. So please excuse that none sense.

My Nephew Ayden just turned 3 and the cake was exquisite--even for being store bought and all--I didn't get time to make it due to other extenuating factors (going back up to the pain in the butt EX-fiance of my sisters). But yeah all in all the party turned out wonderful and there was lots of presents for him to open. He especially liked the book and a mechanic toy me and my mom got him. tehee.

As for the most recent as recent can possibly get, I went on a photo escapade around my neighborhood and community park. Of course getting permissions from anyone I took photos off. I will not be uploading those until I am allowed access to the city hall and local library to take photos for the cite council updates and what not. I love taking pictures of the community for the cite council which is to ensure that the community is getting all it needs and also to document the improvements or lack of improvements and what not within the community. Also I get to keep copies for my private portfolio collection. [[Note: both pictures from the party and the photo escapade will be posted at a later time]]

I am entered in a few new campaigns on Brickfish if anyone wants to come and support me that would me nice at http://www.brickfish.com/erica_ryoko.

WOOO-HOOO for being earth and community friendly!!
I wanted to share a wonderful plan I have as a community day event with you so that maybe you and your community can come together as well. I know that it doesn't matter if you live in a high-end society environment, gated houses, or slum housing that as long as there are delinquents around there are sure to be graffiti. I hope to organize enough people on a day that I have not set yet since I have to go through a process with city hall and local police for permits and what not, to clean up the graffiti or paint over it in the areas where it is most needed. Graffiti not only affects the portion of property where it's on but it affects the surrounding community housing, schools, shops, the whole surrounding environment.
Hopefully the community coming together to make our surroundings not so drab will not only make other people not within our local community to think that we are good people and that these places are worth visiting too but maybe some great times to be had with neighbors and people who you normally wouldn't talk to.
If you are planning on a day like this too with your community make sure to check out which permits you might be needing and what the following laws are as per volunteering and community service because some places have reserved rights for volunteers such as juvenille detention and all that fun stuff. Just make sure you go through all the arrangements first and be sure to see if there will be extra volunteers who are willing to bring supplies needed(everyone should bring a bit of that), refreshments, towels, hats, and sunscreen. You can't believe how many people forget the essentials.
Always have sunscreen if you are working in the daytime. Bring some hats because it will not only help to keep sun off of people but will help when dealing with paint. Towels are for two reason, one set for getting wet and cooling people off in the sun and the other set to dry off sweat. Of Course we all know what the refreshments are for. You usually want to go for water if you are working outside but also try to get something that will put nutrients in your body. I know gatorade and powerrade are highly rated drinks for being in the sun but they don't do you much good unless you consume twice the amount as the daily intake of water needed to keep your body hydrated.
The person in charge of organizing the event should either document the whole community service event or have someone do that for them. That means documenting people who are coming to help by having them sign in and sign out on a sheet --that goes for breaks too--(you need accurate times especially for people needing the volunteer time), taking pictures of the event and volunteers (to provide copies to the volunteers if wanted and also to your local city hall or library because they tend to have places where community events get specially posted and praised) and to chart who brought what. By charting which volunteer or group of volunteers brought what, you can make sure to give everyone the proper thanks when sending out thank you cards. That probably seems weird and people usually say that if you do a good deed that the deed itself should be it's own reward but some people need to hear those two little words so if you are the person in charge be sure to send out thank you cards to EVERYONE on the list (another reason for that lovely sign-in/sign-out sheet) and make sure that the people who brought things get thanks for that extra contribution.

Here's an example of that:

Dear John and Jane Smith,

I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to help brighten our community by helping to rid our lovely local buildings and lanscape decorations from graffiti. You especially helped by bringing 5, 1 gallon buckets of white paint and 10 normal sized paint rollers. You really helped a lot to make our community shine! I hope to work more in community events like this with you in the future. Also, if you have any wonderful ideas for future community projects, you know how to contact me.

Thanks again for your hard work and dedication to this community!

Erica

Use names if possible, if it's a group of volunteers from a school then make basically two sets of cards, meaning there's one to send to the school for recognition of that club/group of people and also for each individual person who aided in the event. Always thank them for their work first them how they helped and it's always good to say how they helped the community (in this case the smiths made it shine). Try to end it by letting them know that their ideas are welcomed anytime. By doing that you open the door for future events and it let's the person(s) know that their ideas are valued (which is true). A comminuty may have "i" in it but it doesn't mean there is only one indivvidual there. Try to make each one a bit different because generic cards make people feel blah and make them feel like they weren't appreciated as much as they were. When you end it always sign your name, you don't have to put full names if you feel uncomfortable.

well that's all I have on that. leave me a comment or send a message my way if you would like to know more about anything posted above...especially the community service event.

Fan art for....

fan art for my friend Heather (Aka. Cherry Blossom)

Original Picture

Color][Black& White

Fan art with Butterfly wings.

I had quite a deal more of difficulty doing this fan art than I did the one for Taylor Swift. It kind of looks like her but it doesn't. The wings were actually the easiest thing on it for me everything else was hard. The angle was weird for me so I actually altered a bit of the facial expressions. Like the eyes are looking off to the side and slightly up whereas in the original photos they are looking right at you. Yeah but who says you have to be a Celebrity to get fan art. Not me! I made this fan art for my friend Heather because she's such a fantastic friend and a phenomenal artist that she so deserves a fan art or at least a cookie. =^.^=

Fan art for...

[ASK PERMISSION BEFORE TAKING OR USING ANY OF MY ARTWORK FOR ANY PURPOSES! THANKS!]

The Originals Used

Color][Black & White

[Pictures courtesy of Taylor Swift's Celebrity Myspace, all credit goes to original photographer]

My fanart for Taylor

Fanart for Taylor Swift!

I saw the new pictures from her photoshoot and I thought man, this one would look so good with butterfly wings. This was a fast sketch one since I am working on some other drawing projects. It took me about an hour and a half to two hours tops to do this fan art. Enjoy!

Something Unexpected

My special gift from a good friend

Under the blade

So woo-hoo, I got sick with an infection that doctors believe is Mersa...for those of you who don't know what Mersa is it's a very deadly and hardly treatable strain of staff infection and at it's worst is comparable to a low grade of flesh eating disease. I don't think the version I got was full blown Mersa but I still have to wait for the tests to come back and that will probably take a couple more days. Anyways, I still went into the doctors and because of 1) where the infection was located and 2) the severity of it, I had to have it lanced. The infection was on my lip and chin and was so big that I could hardly eat since it started on 4/19; It took me 6 days before going to the hospital because it got better for a bit then all of a sudden got worse.

The surgery was minor but because I was not anesthetized and given a local shot to the prime location of the infection. I was awake for the whole thing and lucky me, I am one of those rare people who create an enzyme that attacks and sometimes slows the progression of the pain killer part of the locals that are used to numb the area, so I felt the whole thing. So on top of having an infection, I get to sit through the surgery for it, while awake and feeling everything. I had to be held down because the pain was THAT excruciating. The doctor sliced the skin where the main infection was to try and get the core out and to get it out she had to squeeze hard; since the infection had built up so much in so little time in that one area that it was about as hard as a table top. The infection was hard but my skin was really tender and in pain from dealing with it for 6 days.

Now for 10 days I get to take this horrible antibiotic--which after I get the results of the Mersa test they are doing--it can change to a higher or lower dose. Not only do I have to deal with that but because she got the main core doesn't mean she got the rest of the infection out...since you can only do so much at a time without making it move to a different area. I get to change dressing and lightly push out the excess discharge out the pinkie-sized hole in my lip that she created to get out the core. Since the hole is on my face I was not admitted to a hospital since it's more susceptible at making the infection come back worse since 1)mersa is a hospital bred infection and 2)I have not spent any long periods in a hospital for treatment of anything. Here's what I mean when I say that Mersa is hospital bred: it originally was a basic form or a low staff infection but since doctors didn't use to culture things like they do now they just prescribed the highest dose of medicine and the infection wanting to survive and getting mad, bred to beat the antibiotics that doctors gave. So since I am home bound, everything in my house has to be sterilized with Clorox and I can't really touch certain things like food unless it is already prepared. I can eat it all by myself but I just don't get to prepare it which sucks because I don't always like how other people make things. Oh well, what can I do when I don't want to get other people sick.

I am happy to say that I have been able to eat more despite the nausea effect of the antibiotics they have me on and my lip has reduced almost to it's normal size. I get to go in for a checkup and consult when they have the results of the Mersa test and if needed a second lancing surgery. I have pictures but since I have been out of it with pain they ended up blurry when I took them. Why I have pictures during this thing is because anytime I am sick, I learned that it's always good to document it as best as possible so that doctors get a better idea of things. Because we all know that when we are in that doctors office and they are asking us questions we tend to leave the small stuff out.

Back to the funny farm for me!

I came back to my sister's house because there is too much stress involving me being back at home with my mom. It seems that even though I went back all I kept hearing from my mom is how peaceful it was without me and how freeing it was. Yeah that's nice and all but the way it was said really hurt because it was like I could do way better with out you here and it was just like yeah...anyways, I am back at my sister's for a couple more days. I was oinly gone for like a day and a half from my sister's and it may be silly but I missed being woken up by screaming toddlers and toys being thrown and temper tantrums...I can't wait to be a mom. It's so exciting. I am just a huge weirdo but this is a short blog post since I have to figure out what craft Ayden and I are going to be doing tomorrow while Josh spends one on one time with mommy that he doesn't get a lot. So stay tuned for more.

You call that a weekend getaway? I do!

This weekend from last Thursday to this Sunday (so today or tonight, whenever this posts) I spent at my sister's how with two screaming toddlers. My sister's Fiance was out of town and she lives too far away to constantly visit us throughout the weekend so I spent the weekend with her to help her out. It was filled with two screaming toddlers, lots of shopping, cleaning, and building stuff...oh did I forget to mention watching the same movies over and over again. I must have watched Iron Man like 15 times because my nephew just LOVES Iron Man. But I did bring some fun craft ideas that were carried out. We made lions from paper plates and construction paper (sorry no pictures available yet, but they are awesome!) and today since we went to the park we got some pine cones and painted them...well I painted the kids ran off and played. I have a splitting headache and I have had it for four days now but let me tell you...IT WAS WORTH IT! I got to spend some time with my sister and my nephews, we played games, watched movies and although we were doing other things like cleaning and shopping and building stuff, it was fun.

I can't quite recall details of the days at this moment but I am pretty sure I can give a good summary of the days...that is, if you care to hear, or in this case read. Even if you don't, I am going to write it anyways.

Thursday

...was a pretty lax day, my sister came to pick me up because I don't know quite how to get to her house, I know the roundabout but that doesn't help me at all. So they stayed here for a bit until my Dad came to pick my brother and his friend up for something to do with working and painting or something like that. So we left from my house pretty late but when we got there is was reheated s-ghettis (how the boys say spaghetti) with colored noodles, lots of sweets and running around with crying then rounding up for bath time then off to bed they went. I stayed up a bit longer setting up things and getting ready for bed myself--plus gorging out on the sweets my sister had in her snack cabinet--then from utter exhaustion and being overwhelmed by the days events, I fell asleep on my sisters leather couch, 1) without putting a blanket on it so I didn't stick and 2) I forgot to turn off the light that was right above me; so that leads to me getting hot and sweaty from the light then sticking to my sisters sofa....wonderful. But it all turned out good, I woke up like 5 minutes after my sister turned the light off and headed to bed herself.

Friday

...wow what a wake up I had. I am used to crying babies in the morning and crying toddlers from when my sister still lived with us and I took care of my first nephew for a bit and I have also been woken up by crazy cock-a-doodling-doo roosters but nothing compared to be woken up by ear piercing toddler screeches. My lord it was like someone was jamming sticks into my ears...well more or less anyways (if you haven't noticed yet from my previous blog posts, I like analogies, personification, metaphors, and similes..a lot). We ate a hasty breakfast then hurried out to go grocery shopping which was longer than all. Before I go any further, I have to clarify that my first nephew Ayden is a tantrum and bully King, where as my second nephew Joshie, is a HUGE momma's boy and cries constantly even long after he gets attention from her so yeah we are not being cruel and my sister does know what cries are what for her kids so she is not being neglectful in the least, if anyone dares to leave a comment or email saying a remark about "oh well she must be a bad parent if he is always crying" or "obviously she isn't giving him enough attention" just zip your stupid little mouths because family is everything and there is no reason for anyone to bad mouth a family without knowing the situation (if I have done it before I don't recall so don't judge me based on probable hypocritical things). And before any people accuse my sister of being a bad parent without 1) knowing her or 2) knowing the whole stories or all the situations involving her and her kids I have got to say that she is one HELL of a DAMN good, great, awesome, wonderful, superwoman almost, MOM!!! She does what she has to for her kids, heck she gave up the master bedroom of the house for the boys to have and they have toys galor that they play with and might I add wreck constantly. and I will assume that anyone who points fingers at my sister for being a bad parent when she is NOT...that they themselves are the bad parents so leave nice comments and keep your stupid pointing finger comments to yourself. Also notice that the only time I really write out cuss words or such is when I am protecting my family. ^___^ OK anyways, He just hasn't learned to soothe himself yet which he needs to fast or he's never leaving mommy's side...well past that back to the events. So we went grocery shopping where joshie cried the entire time he was in the cart but instantly stopped crying once dear ol' mommy picked him up. After that my sister and Joshie played inside while me and Ayden went out front to make the lions. We didn't do it inside because we had glue and Ayden made one heck of a mess in front of the apartments. Anyways, we went back inside after we made the lion then Joshie was already down for a nap since he had a cold and that would also account for some, not all, of his crying...Adyen and I made brownies again. Late that night when Joshie was down for bed early because nap didn't last that long, my sister and I cleaned and organized her apartment/house while Ayden played with toys and plotted every time to re-destroy the cleanliness. I organized the cabinets in her kitchen and her pantry for the better part of the rest of the night. Practically same bed time routine for everyone but this time I put a blanket on the couch to protect myself from the harm of sticking to leather. ha ha beat that evil leather!!

Saturday

...another screeching wake up while we got the boys ready and full of food before we headed out to meet my dad, step-mom, and little brother (who is 5 so yay another toddler to the already two destructive ones..but that's OK) where we then went to IKEA and got some new furniture for the boy's room. Joshie definitely was not feeling well and wasn't liking not having all the attention from mommy because he spent the whole time we were in IKEA kicking and screeching (not screaming) and crying even when my sister held him he simmered down but still pitched a fit for the whole 2 HOURS we spent in there. Then when we quickly cleaned out the things from the boys room in the places we were going to put the new furniture, then brought it all in. Joshie was put down for a nap in my sister's room while I watched a movie for a bit with Ayden while my sister started building some of the furniture herself. That was of course until she needed my help then Ayden watched the movie by himself but then started reeking havoc and chaos while we tried to put a so-called "easy-to-assemble" toy storage unit from H-E-double hockey sticks. Yeah easy-to-assemble my butt. That thing took forever and a year to put together, plus from the way it had to be assembled I hurt my hip really badly so walked with a limp for the night. When we were FINALLY finished with it, Joshie was up from his nap so we went out to McDonalds to eat where Ayden played in the play area...well sort of played...for a bit. He was too afraid of the higher places of the play area and didn't like the dark slide because it apparently had spiders. I figured out that spiders is his code word for something he doesn't like to do, like going down the dark slide but the bigger yellow slide was OK to go down. But yeah he only played in the play area if I, Auntie Erica, would play with him. I tried my best but it was hard to move around in that tight space, even with as skinny as I am, plus my hip was hurting really bad so it was no fun. The only way Ayden would go down the slide is if I went down with him where I found that someone who has a tail bone that sticks out a little bit farther than other peoples' like mine does, shouldn't go down a slide that has a discrepancies in levelness of the slide. Meaning my tail bone rammed right into a bump on the way down, so on top of my already hurting hip, my tail bone was aching like no other. So after McDonald's, we went back to the house where we attempted to build more stuff. My sister put up these cool "V" shaped shelves for the books they had while I played with the boys. Joshie didn't like that so he cried the entire time and my sister wouldn't let me put the shelves up because she knew where she wanted them. It was almost good because Joshie soothed himself--it took him a while but he did it--until my sister was finished then he latched onto her leg and started crying again. He finally got too tired to cry and too tired to stay awake so she got him into his pajamas and what not and put him in his bed. Joshie was waiting for his other grandpa to come and visit him that night, since my dad, already saw him today [for those of you who are a bit slower on the draw, yes that means that my dad is his grandpa too.] So his other grandpa visited him and played with him while my sister and I put together the last piece of furniture for the boy's room and put it delicately into the room so that Joshie didn't wake up and of course he didn't. Other Grandpa left then Ayden and I played a fun throwing game with a stuffed monkey. Well it made him laugh although it was just throwing it back and forth between us two. I have to say Ayden has one heck of an arm, he really does. Shoot he is the next all-star what ever sport he chooses to play.Then bed time routine again for all of us.

Sunday

...another screeching wake-up and it didn't faze me as much as it did the first night but the loud drop of a toy being thrown against the wall did the trick. Not much sleep on this night and I guess I forget that not much sleep on the night before either because Joshie was just up on and off and he actually fell and bit his lip really hard while trying to get out of his bed. He wasn't feeling too well at all and we gave him his medicine but we definitely had to watch it with him because he liked the taste a little too much. We found that out when we tried to give Ayden a bit of medicine too because he was showing cold symptoms too and Joshie tried to take his for him. What happened to kids medicine being just a tid bit yucky, now they are so good kids think it's candy. Anyways, we got up and got ready, ate breakfast then my sister took me to my house where we all stayed until late. I watched the boys while my sister went to the mall to get her hair done because she needs a break too and deserves one. Ayden and I made the other lion because Joshie couldn't make one so Ayden being the good older brother he is, made Joshies for him so he would have one too. Then we played with lots of toys and my other sister and brother were over her for the weekend while I was at my sister's so they were still there when we got there. While my sister was gone and my mom was watching TV, my brother(the one that's always there), my sister(the visiting one), and I played the throwing stuffed animal game with Ayden and Joshie. Half-way through Joshie was cranky because of his cold and he was tired still from another off and on night of sleep so I set-up the play pen in the back room and put a fan in there on low to make sure it didn't get too hot in there and put him down for a nap in there with a bottle of juice. He fell asleep fast and slept for a long long time. Ayden and I went to the park while my Mom watched Joshie, although it was fairly easy because he was napping but just to be on the safe side, wouldn't want him to be unattended. We played for at the park for a bit just me and him but it was--from my estimate--a 30-40mph wind so there was sand blowing every where and it just wasn't that fun but we got a pine cone to take home and decorate. We got home and Joshie was still asleep so Ayden and I played with some more toys before it was time for his bubble bath because he was going to go home as soon as my sister got back from her hair appointment (which took way longer than expected because of some people not understanding that you can't dye dark hair to a pure white-ish bleach blonde straight away or else it would make your hair fall out. so they took my sister's time slot to fix that issue). Joshie woke up while the Ayden was in the bubble bath so I let him wake-up a bit more then put him in the water too. No I didn't leave Ayden in the water by himself, I had my brother come and watch him while I got Joshie. Joshie didn't want to be in the water for too long so I had my brother come watch Ayden again while I got Joshie dried, diapered, and clothed. My mom watched Joshie while I finished giving Ayden his bath then also got him out and dried, diapered, and clothed him...did I forget to mention combing their hair. By the time they were all dressed and that, my other brother and sister alone with my step-dad had left, they had to go home so my brother who is always there was on the computer while I played with both Ayden and Joshie with the toys. I had the big ol' monster truck toy they have at out house rammed into me and over my toes a good 20 times or so. They also ate some soft Cheetos puffs (for Joshie, I made them into small pieces too even though they were soft) and Doritos (for Ayden, only flat ones because curled ones can hurt then and get stuck easier), and they both ate a banana [that was before the chips though]. My sister finally got back and I had their shoes and socks on before she got in because I went with her real quick to visit her friend because she was supposed to go over there for his kid's birthday party that day but because her hair appointment got messed up we only went for a bit so Ayden can meet Tatum (my sister's friend's kid). Joshie and I stayed in the car because there were still a couple of toddlers and especially infants there that would've gotten really sick from Joshies cold so I took my sister's car and drove it around the neighborhood a bit while she was inside talking and the kids were playing. Joshie didn't seem to mind and we had fun, he was dancing in his car seat to the music that was playing and despite his long nap earlier he was dozing off a bit. I bet he was feeling a lot better after that nap though because that was the longest he slept for two days because of his cold. Then my sister took her car back and we came back to my house where Ayden and I decorated the pine cone with some gold glitter glue and beads then they gathered all their stuff, cleaned the mess they made and went home because Ayden was going to spend the night at his other grandma's house. It was quite a day today too. It was nice having some peace and quite but at the same time sad. My four day splitting headache was well worth it.

Oopsie, I did forget to mention every time we saw a movie but heck what to do. So that's all of it and telling from how long of paragraphs I have for the days, I am not a good summarizer. Oh well.

If any of you were wondering why in the title I called this eventful weekend and a day (since the weekend technically starts on Friday) a getaway, then I will explain a bit. On my previous posts I believe I have told that my mom is sick and because she is sick I stay home and take care of her. Since she's sick, I tend to worry too much and stay too close to her to watch her and make sure she gets better and what not but that was getting a bit too much for both of us. She is going to have to return to work hopefully soon and I told myself that if I didn't spend this weekend away from my mom then I will never separate myself from her and I will still worry too much. That is not to say that I didn't want to spend time with my sister it's just that it's scary when someone that's really close to you is sick. Even though I know that some of the things with her illness are out of my control, just being there and watching her while she is sick makes me feel safe because knowing me, I know I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to my mom when I could have been there to help her. Some people know what I am talking about but some people who haven't experience someone being sick for so long like this might not know what I am talking about. But this weekend was not just to spend time with my sister and nephews who I hardly see, but to prove to myself that my mom can and will be fine if I am not there every second of the day to watch her with her medicine. I was a bit sick the first day I was at my sisters and I wanted to go home but I stayed. I made the right choice. Now I can feel easier about leaving home a bit more even though she is still sick. I can't control everything and my trying to control it and help tends to be a bit too much for both me and my mom. Although my helping her has become routine for me and her but it wore us both out mentally and emotionally because it's hard for her too, being a mom and being so strong for your kids then suddenly having to rely on them so much. My mom is a strong and prideful person, it's really really hard for her to say she needs help when she does because it's not that she wants to seem weak to others but for some reason, in her mind, it makes her feel weak, needing support from someone else when you know it was something that you used to be able to do by yourself. Well my short explanation has turned into a long one. Anyways, all in all it was a worth while weekend and I look forward to doing it again.

Anyways, that's all I wanted to blog about, my four days of fun and what else it meant and such..so yeah. I might put pictures up later too.