Monkey

First, I want to remind everyone about my blog tour with Teen Book Scene.  It began today with an interview of one of my characters, Julianna.  She's the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, Ben. She's also Austin's ex-girlfriend.

It's starts here at Book sfrom Bleh to Basically Awesome.


On my sidebar *points right* you'll find a banner that will take you to the rest of the details of the blog tour. 


Other than that, I just want to wish everyone a safe and sane Halloween!

Never Eighteen, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, and saving lives

I already told you I've opened up a Cafe Press store full of Never Eighteen gear.  All the profit will benefit Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA. 

I just haven't told you the why, and it doesn't just have to do with Never Eighteen.

The hospital has an awesome staff and  many wonderful programs for children.  They've also won bunches of awards.

This hospital also happened to save my daughter's life, so I hold them close to my heart.  At five weeks old, my younger daughter Rachel contracted RSV ( Respiratory syncytial virus).  This virus can be deadly for infants, and is actually attributed to many SIDS cases.

I noticed one night she wasn't breathing very well.  I took her to her doctor who told me to count her breaths.  If it got below a certain count, I should take her into the ER.  There was no word about "this is really really serious" or "she could die" or anything like that.  I didn't really understand it.

But I counted.

She breathed, but not well.

I finally decided to just take her in.

The ER docs were great.  They said, if they had any beds open they would have admitted her, but they were full (it was winter, lots of sickness going on).  So they told me exactly what she had, what to watch for, and again if her breathing was labored and her reps were down, to bring her back in.

I honestly don't remember if it was the next day or a couple days later, but I continued to watch her breathe.  I was obsessed about it as I'm sure any parent would be. 

I sat and watched.

Her breathing became labored.

Her breaths were shallow.

It came down to her only breathing about once ever few seconds.

My dad took the both of us (Older daughter and husband stayed home) back to the ER. 

She was dying.  They started work on her right away.  They wouldn't let me in the room, they said it's too disturbing for a mother to watch.  My dad went in with her.  I heard her screaming.  I thought I was going to faint or throw up or both.

Someone stayed out with me and explained what they were doing to her.  They had to loosen up the gunk in her lungs and suck it out.

When she was stabilized, they took her to the ICU where the doctor there (I wish I could remember his name) explained what RSV was and what they would need to do to Rachel while she was in the ICU.  He's the one that told me about the RSV/SIDS link.  A nurse, his name was Steve, would come in every couple hours and pound on her chest with a little pink rubber mallet to keep the gunk loose in her chest.  He taught me how to do it, because I would have to continue for weeks afterward.

If I hadn't brought her in that night, I know she would have died.

I couldn't stay the night in the ICU.  They gave me an empty hospital room to sleep in.  After two days they moved her into a regular room, where I was able to sleep with her.  We were there for five days.

I am so grateful for the entire hospital staff.  They not only saved my daughters life, but also attended to my needs as a mother.

I'm sure you understand why I want to give back to them.

So, if you're in the market for some Never Eighteen gear, visit my shop, look around, and know that if you buy something, the profits are going to a very worthy organization.

You can find more information about the hospital here.

Wednesday Weigh in, guest blogging, a new video, and a good cause

I'm six pounds down.  It's been a rough road to get there.  I still want to drop another twenty at least.  My exhaustion has finally passed and I've got off my butt and exercised.  Tortuous Jillian Michaels yoga in the morning, some kind of aerobic activity in the afternoon/evening.  It was nice enough to bridge walk the other day, but weather is changing and I'll probably move to the elliptical (once I superglue the foot back on, the hazards of having a bunch of teenage girls in the house).

I also want to mention that I have a guest post up at the Class of 2k11 today about what they've taught me that I'll take into my debut year.  Look for another post from me on Friday at the Class of 2k11.

I've also opened a Never Eighteen shop at Cafe Press.  All the profits are going to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma.  I thought it apropos with the theme of my book and they saved my daughter's life when she was just 5 weeks old.  I feel like I'll never be able to repay them.

I've posted a new video.  A bunch of random thoughts from me. Watch it here.

One more thing, I have a blog tour starting on Halloween through Teen Book Scene.  The details can be found here.

Have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday, Total BItch Day

So yesterday I got a little postal.  It was just one aggravating thing after another until I though my head would explode. I want to tell you a situation and you tell me if I'm a total bitch or not.  K?  Here we go.

I was driving my daughter to  a friends house at about 6:40 am because it's Spirit Week this week and she needed a life jacket to wear to school.  I'm driving up a street and in front of me is a school bus, lights on, stop paddle out.

So, of course, I stop.  The lift is down, not on the street side of course, it's on the sidewalk right in front of a house, so I can tell a disable child is going to be entering the bus.  She comes out, her mother following behind, they get her on the lift.  All this has taken a few minutes, maybe 3 or so.  

I'm not a patient person by nature but I was fine. I understand these things take time.  Well, this started taking a LONG time, I was still fine.  This is where the irritation starts.

The bus driver waves me through.


Um, no.  I don't think so.  My luck, I'd drive through, and a cop would be sitting there just waiting to give me a ticket, plus there was a line of cars already in the other lane waiting.  Even if I wanted to pass, I couldn't.


So after the girl is situated and ready to go, the bus driver and the mother start chatting.  CHATTING!!!  Cars lined up on both sides of the street waiting. 


Um, I'm pretty sure that driver has been on that route forever and knows the drill so wasn't getting instruction.


I'm feeling a little road rage coming on, but just cuss and yell, a whole bunch, in my car so they can hear me.


The whole incident takes about ten minutes.


I guess what I'm pissed about most is that there was no chance of a child getting run over, and the bus driver was waving me by, so why the hell did she put the paddle out and lights on in the first place?  It's 6:effin' 40 in the morning!!  There were no other kids on the bus!!


Okay, my rant is over.  I'm not some horrible person against disabled people, however I guess I am against inconsiderate bus drivers.


So tell me, am I being a total bitch?

Monkey Madness Monday:Torture and Blog Tours

So, this exhaustion stuff is over for the most part, and I'm really trying to be healthy and drop some pounds.  I promised myself I would get off my ass starting today and do yoga in the morning and something aerobic at night.

I got up.  I put my DVD in the machine.  but what I experienced was not yoga.  It was Jillian Michaels yoga, which is really some form of torture disguised as yoga.  I think she's trying to kill me.

I know, I bitch, I complain, I moan, I probably won't be able to walk for a week, but if I continue with this torture, I'm fairly certain within a few weeks I'll have abs of steel.  Okay, maybe not steel, but aluminum at least.  

Enough about torture.  I'm just giving you a heads up that there will be a Never Eighteen blog tour coming courtesy of Teen Book Scene. You'll find out all sorts of interesting stuff about me, the book, and the characters.  Don't worry, I'll remind you again.

 

Okay that is all for today.  Enjoy your Monday.