Audrey - Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain

In case you're wondering, I recently acquired a new plant.

It's a Giant Elephant Ear.

The picture is representative of what this particular strain looks like in the wild, although they don't promise such results, saying 8 foot in height and leaves 8 foot by 4 foot are more what you'll get as the home gardener.

Regardless, I got one.

That's her picture up top... I've named her "Audrey" after the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors".

March 15th 2008

Okay, I've really been slack about posting.
My apologies, hon, but I've had a lot going on, and still do.
Medically, I have had 2 warts removed from my leg, my blood sugar I believe has been stabilized, (more on that in a minute), gone off Chantix and on to Wellbutrin for the smoking.
I'm in physical therapy/rehab for my frozen shoulder, 3 times a week for at least 8 weeks, to get my shoulder unstuck.
Dolly Parton has rescheduled her concert due to medical concerns.
(I.e., due to the size of her breasts and her age, her back's giving out and she's been forced to reschedule...) regardless, she's still appearing at the Fox April 29th, just 6 weeks later than originally expected. Grandpa Don and I are planning on going... we have excellent seats, too.

I'm currently up to 40 units of insulin daily, in addition to taking the oral med, Metformin twice a day.
This has brought my morning blood sugar down to "normal" levels - this view is confirmed by what Dr. Springer has said about my AiC levels being excellent.

I'm very seriously considering changing jobs - I don't know where that's going to go though. I've been with this company for 13 years now. More on that in a bit.

This morning, a tornado blew through downtown Atlanta - I saw firsthand the missing windows at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, although thankfully I was at home, in bed when it rolled through the city.
I saw the missing windows downtown because I went to check on Uncle Bobby & Aunt Sheba's house, and they currently live on the side of town that was affected.
They're currently in Tennessee on vacation.

That's about all I got now, I'm going to go eat lunch now.

Love you!!

Monday, February 25th

Okay, I got slack again.
Sorry about this, Andrea - I had a number of things going on, and blogging wasn't high on the list of "must do today" 's.
On the bright side, I did manage to send up a number of outfits for you - not that at your current age (you're a month old today - Happy Birthday!!) you're going to know or care about fashion - which believe me, is my saving grace - when you get older, if I think about sending up clothing, it's going to be in the way of a gift card - I won't embarrass you with my fashion choices.
Toys are also going to end up being your choice via gift card - no offense, but you're going to know what you want more than I will, and rather than incur your wrath I think it's easier to just send you a gift card. Unless of course, I'm sending you another bear.
Those, you're going to have to deal with.
Anyway, in the time since the last post, I've turned 47, gotten my hair highlighted, gotten talked into playing Bingo at the American Legion with Grandpa Don (and won $100), ordered a MONSTER elephant ear plant (that's going to drive the HOA up a wall), gotten involved in the Paranormal States message boards, and lost more weight.
Elaborations are forthcoming, right now I just thought I'd throw up a quick fill in.
Anyway, I have to get ready for work now...
More later.

Paranormal State on A&E

There's a program on A&E called "Paranormal State" - the premise is simple, it involves a team of college students investigating paranormal phenomenon and reporting on their findings, including trying to resolve issues with the phenomenon. They actually go so far as to include a hereditary Pagan (they don't go so far as to call her Wiccan) on their team, so that does win some cudos from me.
Now, I realize that with my background and experience, I have a better perspective than most on things like this; however I really take issue with what seems to be a recurring theme - that almost all the phenomenon they are dealing with is demonic in nature. Based strictly on what this show presents, you'd expect a demon under every rock. While I appreciate the fact that sensationalism sells, crap like this does nothing but bring ridicule and misinformation to something that should be studied and dealt with on an individual basis rather than putting it in one box marked DEMONIC.

It appears that the primary reason for this is due to their use of Lorraine Warren as an "expert", (to see why I put expert in quotes, check her and her late husband's work on the "Amityville Horror" case, a phenomenon itself at the time, later proven to be a fraud, to cite just one example.)

Quite frankly, I find it hard to believe that Lorraine Warren hasn't taken issue with the Pagan in the group, calling her a "Devil worshipper" or other similar stereotype.

Andrea, with any luck, this show won't be on by the time you're old enough to understand what I'm writing, and your own opinions on phenomenon like this will continue to be educated (believe me, I'm going to work damn hard on that one. According to your chart, you have great potential and I for one won't see it wasted or warped.) I've already warned your mother about this, so when the weirdness starts happening, we can always cite it as an "I told you so" event. I do have the feeling that your father's going to be a different story, however. Just don't scare him too badly.

February 4th

Sorry, I got a little slack about the posting - but I'll fill you in on last week - it started with a diabetes class on Monday and Tuesday, during which they started with what to expect in the way of complications in case you don't manage the disease on day one and then moved to how to manage blood sugar by label reading and portion control on day two.
All of that made sense to me, however I wasn't happy about learning that I now would essentially be required to eat 3 meals and a snack daily; in addition, the schedule they were proposing was designed with someone who works day shift in mind, not some schlub like me who works 2nd shift.
With a little tweaking, I did manage to get it worked out, however I'm still having problems with the whole "eating at least 3 times a day" thing. I've gotten by for over 30 years on coffee in the morning with my single main meal late in the day. Only rarely did I actually eat breakfast, and that was closer to brunch than breakfast.
Honestly, I am finding it the hardest thing in the world to eat after I get up. My concession to this has been to do yogurt and toast or a biscuit in the morning, since it's light and still fits into the meal plan I was given.
On the other hand, I did get some things done around the house, putting two shelves up in the kitchen to increase my storage space (wonder of wonders, I now have 2 free shelves in the pantry, in addition to increased storage under the kitchen sink for larger pots and pans)
Friday, I went to see the Dr about the results of the MRI of my shoulder - let me tell you, that was an interesting discussion, because when he opened with "I'm not sure how to tell you this..." I was honestly expecting to hear the worst - but then he followed with "nothing showed up...minor degeneration in the shoulder joint, but that wasn't near enough to cause my issues, no bone spur, nothing else out of place...so I'm at a loss to explain why it's happened"
Thankfully, he decided that the best course of action will be to start with a physical therapist, so that's next on that agenda. My insurance is just going to love me.
Then, we got to discussing my diabetes, and based on the average of my blood sugar readings according to the glucometer, he decided to increase my insulin from 10 units to 15, with the goal of getting it to 20 units to see if that will bring my readings into more of a "normal" range. (That being around 100, I'm currently averaging around 150)
I'm sure my insurance is just loving me right now...I've had a sleep study ($2500) that discovered that I sleep on my side and therefore have no problems with sleep apnea, an MRI, (another couple thousand) that discovered nothing wrong, diabetes classes ($2000), and now a physical therapist.
I hate getting old.

Relationships

While I'm on my soapbox, let me address something that you'll realize over time, but lets just get it out of the way now.
I'm not really your Great Uncle, except by love. You see, your Grandpa Don is my very best friend in the world, and I love him like my brother. Since Grandpa Don is my "brother", I get to be your Great Uncle.
And I've known and loved your mother for years, although we got closer after you were born.
Since I'm never going to have a grandchild of my own, I'm pretending with you - but that doesn't make me love you any less because you don't have my DNA.
So, I'm gonna be your Unca Merlin, your personal faery grandparent.
Wishes granted whenever possible. As long as you're housebroken.

Adoption information summary

Well, it arrived - the summary of the non-identifying information about my adoption.
And, as it turns out, the majority of my theories about the circumstances surrounding my adoption were correct, however as it turns out, my biological father isn't listed in the case record, and there is little to no further information about my birth mother's family either.

However, to quote: "According to the case record, the attorney who handled your adoption had handled several legal matters for your adoptive mother's family for years. <side note, this I already knew from Blake, who referred to him as "a crook" - coming from another lawyer, hard to tell if that's praise or judgement> He was aware of your adoptive parents' desire for a child and their inability to conceive children of their own. A few weeks prior to your birth, the attorney notified your adoptive parents of your birth mother's plan of adoption for you. Your birth mother 'was not able to provide a suitable home' for you. Shortly after your birth, the attorney took you to meet your adoptive parents and you were lovingly welcomed into their home. < I love how they editorialize and use "lovingly welcomed"... > Your adoptive parents paid the hospital bills and possibly for some of your birth mother's expenses. "
I was right. I was paid for.
Seems the Department of Public Welfare attempted to interview her, however she wasn't at the address listed in the case record. She signed me over to Sam & Faye on February 18, 1961, with the adoption finalized on August 3rd 1962.
There has been no contact with Georgia Adoption Registry from any member of my birth family since then.

Well, where do I go now? I'm wondering about paying the $300 to try and find her.
I wonder what I'll get with the $300?
What if they find her and she says "no" ? That's always a possibility.
Wow. This even overshadows your birth, Andrea. Sorry about that, I'm still thrilled beyond mortal comprehension that you're here and safe and healthy, but right now I've got this thrown on my plate, all about my birth and my adoption, and the potential for finding my birth mother.
And it's going to be an interesting next couple of months, lemme tell you.
Enough for now, I posted what I needed to, i.e. the verification of my theories surrounding my adoption.
I was right. Hell yeah, that does feel good.