Cindysrambling’s Blog

It’s time again for the annual ‘Stella Awards’! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That’s right; these are awards for the most outlandish laws and it’s verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stella’s for the past year: 7th PLACE: Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6th PLACE: Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn’t notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor’s hubcaps. Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

5th PLACE: Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn’t re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count ‘em, 8, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner’s insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more…

4th PLACE : Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the Stella’s when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor’s beagle – even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner’s fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch. =0 A

3rd PLACE: Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stellas to go…

2nd PLACE: Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000….oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

1st PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos, please?) This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid…?

Saturday was Joshua’s 13th birthday.  I can hardly believe that my “baby” is now a teenager.  The time has gone by so fast!  He was born 3 weeks early and weighed a little over 5 lbs.  I must say that he scared me to death!  He was so little.  I was worried.  He was the first and only one that had to lay under one of those warming lamps in my room.  Did I mention that we almost did not make it to the hospital?!  He was born

Josh & Jess at PF Chang's

Waiting for dinner...

Breanna & Brannon at PF Chang's

Caleb & Breanna

Josh and his birthday gifts

Josh being silly with the ribbon

Blow hard!!!

With two birthday desserts =)

 38 minutes AFTER leaving the house!  Tom thought he would drive for awhile and I could not figure out why he was taking his time.  I told him he’d better get there or he was delivering this baby…He got us there QUICK!  LOL  Another thing, 4 months prior we had an ultrasound that said “he” was a girl.  The baby shower was the night before (remember he was 3 weeks early) and I had lots of fun washing all the little pink outfits and hanging them up.  I was very surprised when the Dr. said it was a boy!  I though he was joking with me because he had given me a bad time all along about “needing” another boy since we already had two girls.   When he was born my Mom and sister-in-law “panicked” and ran and got him something blue to wear home.  Poor tiny thing couldn’t go home in pink!  =)  He has been such a joy!  He loves to give hugs and is very sensitive to Mom.  Loves football and being on the local YMCA team.  Is a sucker for white cake with butter cream icing and can’t wait to drive!  (I can)  Got the Holy Ghost and was baptized this past year.  Is sensitive to the Lord and the spirit moving around him.  He chose PF Chang’s for his birthday dinner followed by presents and dessert at home.  He really wanted that white cake I was talking about, but 4 layer delight sounded really good too…so he got both!  Happy Birthday, Joshua!  Hope your day was special!

Once again….thanks, Mom!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Hello!

As Stacy watched Nick race out the front door today with his new skateboard in tow, she remembered her son several years earlier. The cool fall breeze wafted over her as her memories focused in her mind.

“…Nick, time for therapy…”

No answer came from the young boy’s room.

“Nick, we need to leave.”

No answer.

“Nick, get your prosthesis…Time for therapy.”

Silence overshadowed.

“Nick, you need your prosthesis…Let’s go.”

Knowing her son had been dressed and about ready to travel, she went to check on him.

As she opened the door, she found Nick furiously competing with his brother on a video game. Nick wasn’t ignoring her; she knew he had simply been too focused on winning.

“Nick, game over!”  Smiling sweetly, she turned off the T.V.

“Aw mom! I was so close to beating him! I hate those prosthesis. They just slow me down. I am faster without those stupid legs. And the arm gets in my way. I don’t want them. I don’t like them. I can do more stuff without those fake things!”

Stacy remembers sighing…again. That had been such a familiar discussion at their house. This child of hers! What was she going to do with him?

“Mom! I do not want the prosthesis on me again. Not those legs or that arm. I want to do it my way, It is better for me. Don’t you understand! PLEASE! Get rid of them. I hate ‘em.”

With those words, Nick had scooted out the front door with his very first skateboard under his arm. On the way he bumped his wheelchair and scowled.

“Stupid chair, move.”

Although she and her husband were largely responsible for his terrific “can do” attitude, she used to wonder if they had instilled a bit TOO much confidence in Nick. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he needed help. Born with one arm and one finger, Nick started life with a challenge. No legs, only a stump where his right arm should be and one finger on his left arm, he obviously required assistance.

She had so worried that day as she picked up the legs and the arm and simply stuck them in the corner of the storage closet. Nick shared a genetic disorder, called Hanhart Syndrome Type II, with only 11 other people. The doctors had told her he would be born “fragile.” FRAGILE! Well, the doctors were wrong. Nick was far from fragile! 

Meet Nick Santonastasso, a 12 year old dynamo from New Jersey.

This young man is a ball of positive energy, enthusiasm and triumph. He has compromised to use a wheelchair at school, but at home and everywhere else – drawing and writing, playing on the baseball field, the skateboard park, the football field, on the keyboard or his beloved drums – he is “limb-less.”

Nick’s family decided early on to raise Nick exactly as his able-bodied siblings. The boy knows no limits and no bounds. His “can do” attitude keenly reflects his parents’.

“I know anything’s possible. My parents just keep encouraging me to do stuff — like, don’t give up and keep trying. If you fall down, get back up…It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again. And you’ll be happy and succeed and not fail.”

By cupping a pen, pencil, or paintbrush under his chin and stump, Nick even figured out a way to draw. Always ready to compete, he won a New Jersey statewide ‘family values’ art contest. The contest was not for “disabled.”  It was a regular art show. No one knew of his limitations until he accepted his award from the governor.

Hearing the front door slam, Stacy smiled. Back in reality, she hugged her arms to her chest, feeling the peace that comes with making the right decision.

Nick had been right, of course. He could do more without the prosthesis.

“MOM! MOM!  I did it! I did it! I finally did! This new skateboard is great. It’s the right size! FINALLY!  WOW! Did you see me? Did you? I figured it out! I figured out how to do it! MOM! I did it! I rode down the street on my skateboard doing a headstand! I got it! I did my headstand! I can do anything!”

You know, it is true, when you watch a young man with no legs and only one finger do a headstand on his skateboard, you know he will go far in life. Somehow, there are no worries about Nick. I just hope the world is big enough to contain him!  

Amazing! I want that attitude…and I can choose to believe that I, too, can do it all!

In addition, YOU can choose to have that same attitude as well. I challenge you today to look differently at what you are able to do…not what you cannot do! Think of Nick each time you are tempted to give up. He would say “….you can do it! Get up and try again! Anything’s possible. You can.”

Remember- above all else today that…

Enjoy!….Thanks, Mom!  =)

A hot Texas summer day beckoned me to the stock tank. My friend and I had decided to meet and take our horses for a swim. Yes, you read that right. You can take a horse swimming. All you need is a horse you can ride bare back (with no saddle) and a tank or pond.

The sun had beaten down on me all week as I taught horse back riding — lesson after lesson. Grooming the horses, mucking out the stalls and feeding the herd zapped my energy. I longed for fun and games. Something different. Thus, the idea of riding bareback down to the tank for an hour or more of water fun seemed like a fantastically good idea.

Deciding on my mount, I climbed the fence in order to get on the horse. I am short with shorter legs than most and although I ride well, riding the horse without a saddle is not easy. There is simply too much horseflesh and not enough leg to go round! However, I like it and it was not far to the tank. So up I climbed and hopped on.

My friend being much taller simply threw a leg over her horse’s back and was ready. There are many advantages to’ tall’, let me tell you.

Being competitive, my friend and I took off at a fast pace and let the horses go. Enjoying their freedom, they were soon nearing a run. Approaching some small hills, they altered their pace. As we began to go up the hill at an angle, I realized that I was slipping off. Grabbing for the mane I tried to hang onto my trusty steed. Too late, his jumps up the hill only made it worse and I soon found myself face down in the dirt.   

Laughing at me and with me, my friend stopped riding. Waiting while I grabbed my horse and attempted to re-mount, she wondered aloud if I had brought my fence with me so I could get on. I asked her to please hush and move over so I could use her foot as a step-up. Once more on top, we headed down the hill to the tank. Successfully arriving at the cool water’s edge, the horses plunged in.

Loving to swim, these horses would go down under the water and then up over the surface and then plunge down again. We would lie on their backs with our feet down around their tails, hold onto the mane, and simply enjoy the ride. Up and down, under and over we went. Laughing and yelling, we must have been a sight.

After a little while, we decided to take a break and just sit and talk. Except my horse wanted to go up one last time and I was not ready. Up he went and off I came…just as his hooves broke the surface of the water. Swimming away, he missed hitting me as he swooped down. 

That made twice I had lost my horse. Moreover, twice I had injured my pride.

Swimming along side, I lead him out of the water and then sat down on the bank. Again, my friend laughingly lent me her foot as a stepping-stone. I squirmed on.

Too soon, it was time to return to the barn. We decided to swim a bit longer before leaving. Feeling self-conscious, I held on tight and managed to stay with my horse the whole time!

Wet and cooled off, we urged our horses out of the tank and onto the trail. The warm sun evaporated the water that hit the dirt as the breeze played with the mesquite trees. Going up and coming down, I managed to stay on the horse’s back. Pleased with my accomplishment, I turned to talk to my friend as we were going down the last hill. My mistake.

I never saw my horse’s head go down or ears go back until his rear end went up. He bucked. I flew. My feet buckled under me and again I tasted dirt. Only this time the now wet shorts and t-shirt I wore clung greedily to that rich Texas dirt.

I’d been dumped three times in one afternoon! For the assistant head wrangler at a ranch, that was a pretty poor performance!

Not hurt, just a little sore, I looked as my horse headed riderless down the hill. Knowing this would be a story told and re-told to future staff, I shook my head and looked up at my friend. Smiling, but with love in her eyes, she gracefully swung her long leg over her horse’s back, hit the ground with two feet and hugged me.

“Well, my friend, let me tell you. Life’s a dog sometimes but it builds character.”

I stopped walking and simply looked at her in disbelief. A life lesson! She wanted me to hear a life lesson!

“Ok, fine. Whatever you say,” was my less than enthusiastic reply.

However, as we approached my waiting horse, I let her give me a boost up again and we started trotting back to the barn. Everything went well and we fed our mounts and headed home.

“Life’s a dog sometimes but it builds character.” Funny… that little saying never left me. The day I first heard that saying occurred nearly 30 years ago…but the truth continues to ring true today.

My friend was right. Many times life or fate hands us hard experiences, hurtful situations and uneasy events. We have no choice but to go through them and each time we do, we come out a little stronger. I find myself thinking back to that day.

I never once thought of not getting back on my horse. I simply got on. I did not think to quit. I wanted to ride. I don’t know if it was conscious, but I had decided I was swimming that day, no matter what happened. 

I want to be that tenacious with all my desires and dreams. I want to be determined that even if I am “thrown off” I will get back on and keep going. Won’t you be that way with me? Won’t you be too stubborn to quit going after your dreams?

This was such an inspiring story I HAD to share with you today!

Remember:  THERE ARE SOME GAMES IN WHICH CHEERING FOR THE OTHER SIDE FEELS BETTER THAN WINNING!

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

“I WOULDN’T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!”

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith’s head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send:” Hogan wrote. “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan’s office and asked, “Coach, why are we doing this?”

And Hogan said, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

“I thought maybe they were confused,” said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). “They started yelling ‘DEE-fense!’ when their team had the ball. I said, ‘What? Why they cheerin’ for us?’”

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game’s last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that’s when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. “We had no idea what the kid was going to say,” remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: “Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank You, but I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”

And it was a good thing everybody’s heads were bowed because they might’ve seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they’d never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it’s nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

by Rick Reilly

Melinda Wright

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

Brannon's head, Caleb, Tom, Kylie & Chase over a game of Monopoly

Kylie stopped to smile!~~~and Chase

Goodness…I can hardly believe we are almost through our first month of the new year!  With our crazy schedule I have not been so good at keeping up with this.  I promise to try and do better.  No new resolutions here!  hehe

This past week we were happy to have  niece, Kylie fly out from Colorado and stay with us for a few days.  We had a good time hanging out and catching up.  Good times!

One night,

Brannon's turn!

Josh & Jess posing =) & Brannon

Brannon and Chase came over for some dessert and games.  It was really fun for me to fix a “goodie” for them and hear them all laughing and having a good time together in the dining room.  I believe that Brannon was the champion here and if I am wrong I am sure I will stand corrected!  =)

I thank the Lord for my beautiful family and I hope they will always come back to Mom’s for something sweet to eat and a game or two!

Pizza…Yum!  I don’t know of anyone who does not like it.  My kids are HUGE fans and could eat it most everyday.  So in trying to start the year off not spending much money, decided to make homemade pizza.  It has been awhile since it is much easier to hop on the computer, place your order and watch the time table click down to the moment the semi-warm pizza arrives at the door.  Well it did not take as long as I remembered to make and boy was it worth it!  Steaming hot pizza straight from the oven, gooey cheese and lots of pepperoni.  I even added some green olives to a portion for Breanna and I.  The first one had diced ham , pepperoni and the green olives.  The second one was just pepperoni, assembled by Jessica.  Yes, there are pictures!  =)  Jessica had to show you her “bite” and does not think I will post the picture.  Here you go, Jess!

Being the home-school family that we are I had Josh find some pizza facts for me while it was baking.  This is what he found:

“Pizza, like so many other foods. did not originate in the country for which it is now famous.  Unless you have researched the subject, you, like so many people, probably always thought Pizza was strictly an Italian creation.  The foundations for Pizza

The Pizza! =)

Josh enjoying his piece

Jess "showing" you her bite!

were originally laid by the early Greeks who first baked large, round and flat breads which they “annointed” with oil, herbs, spices and dates.”

*February 9th is International Pizza Day

*American and Canadian citizens will eat an average of 23 pounds of pizza., per person, per year.

*Each year, pizza is a $30 billion industry

*In the U.S., there are about 61,269 pizza parlors

*Each year in the U.S., 3 billion pizzas are sold

*36% of all pizza orders want their topping pepperoni

So the next time you get a yearning for some “hot” pizza…just take a few minutes and make one.  It will be worth the wait!  =)

Just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy New Year!  I am looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us this year.  I think that I will stop reading the headlines and not worry about what Obama’s prayer will be (he doesn’t believe in “our” Lord anyhow, does he?), the fighting, natural disasters and home prices.  I will dwell on the Lord’s promises that he will never leave or forsake us, that he will bring us through whatever comes before us, that he loves us and I am his child!  I pray that everyone will draw themselves closer to the Lord, make him first in their lives and be ready for his return.

Anyone have any special New Year’s Eve traditions?  I need to get off  here and make dinner.  We are having chicken enchilada’s and Spanish rice.  Dessert that Jess made, coffee and lots of games until 12 a.m.  =)

Happy New Year!   Again.  =)

I am posting two today so that I can catch up with my holiday photos!  =)  Friday night, after shopping most of the day…can you believe it?!  Found Tom, Jess, Josh and I home by ourselves.  Breanna and

Jessica carefully adding her block

Josh hoping this is not the block to make it fall!

Tom concentrating on his choice...

Cindy is scared to pick one! =)

Caleb had gone to their friends house, Brannon & Chase for pizza and games.  So on with the Jenga!  On our second attempt we got it 34 “stories” high.  After that we moved on to a new game…our nerves were shot!  lol