I had the time of my LIFE!!!

HOW IT CAME TO BE....

One day, my friend Nicole said to me, "I just found out that they're casting for Canada Sings Season 2 and it closes in 2 days, and I want to put a WestJet Team together" She contacted our Business Advisor Colleen, who by the way has always performed and runs the Calgary Stampede Talent Show, and she was like "Yeah, lets do it!".  Well, I am sure it was more professional than YEAH, but you get the gist.

2 days. That was not a lot of time to gather a group, learn our harmonies, pick a song, learn that song, pick a charity, pick a team name, make an audition tape, and mail it in. 2 days, or pass up the opportunity and hope there was a Season 3 of Canada Sings.  Colleen and Nicole decided to go for it.  How many? They didn't know. The strategy was to gather as many people as they could and see if they could make magic happen.

Magic happened folks.

Who did Colleen know that loves to sing? Well, she knew of a few professional singers from her inflight and Stampede days.  She contacted Monica, Stephanie, Lianne, Dan and Suzanne from inflight.  In the back office, she knew Liz, Laura, Dean and Jennie.

Who did Nicole know that loves to sing? Well, she knew that Yolanda and Pam were professional singers.  That was it.  She knew a year ago I tried to start a glee club with Michelle called Cabin Pressure, so she asked us.  We were excited!  We were happy to see Cabin Pressure alive again, Michelle had come with that fantastic name.  She needed some guys, so she asked Dwayne, Brian and Shane to join us.  Jesse heard about it from me, and asked to join.  She emailed Nicole, and was told yes.

19 people.

Sadly, Michelle couldn't leave her post in the Command Center, and never got to join the new and improved Cabin Pressure.

18 people.  We went into one of the training rooms and did introductions. Jesse and I kept looking at each other as we learned how amazing and talented most of our members were, and wondering "do we belong?"

From there we discussed the possible charities and agreed that we would choose the Alberta Children's Hospital, after hearing an emotional story from Jesse.  Next, we tried to agree on a song. It was tough. We had limited choices to pick from and none of them felt right. We would like it, but then someone talented like Yolanda would point out that acapella style wouldn't sound good. We needed to sound good.  Jennie and Dean pointed out a country version of "Born this way" by Lady Gaga.  We agreed that would be better.

So we set out to sing "Born this way". I was blown away by the talent I heard. WOW!  They asked me if I was an alto or soprano. I had no clue.   I didn't know what an alto was!  They asked me what note or key I was in. I was like "what?".  Again, Jesse and I kept looking at each other with wide eyes.

In a matter of 3 hours, we had met, picked a song, picked a charity, learned the song, harmonized, and recorded the audition. It was mailed in to Canada Sings on time.

Then we waited.

The production team from Insight Productions who produces Canada Sings, came out to meet us in November.  They liked what they saw, but wanted to know more before they made their decision.  We did interviews, performed our song, had a dance off, and then solo's.  It was stressful and exciting.


WE MADE IT!

Just before Christmas, we learned we had been chosen to perform on Season 2 of Canada Sings!!  Holy crap.

Our producer Maureen came out to meet us and get a feel for who she would want featured for story lines.  We had a fun time with her, and we got our measurements taken for costumes.

In January, we were told that we would have our bootcamp week on Feb 20th.  Bootcamp was when we would meet our mentors.  We would either have vocalist and choreographer team Sharron and Christian or the team of Scott and Kelly.  They would come to us with a performance planned out and teach it to us in 5 days.

Bootcamp was awesome. Scott taught me I was an alto, but not just an alto, a high alto. It was a week of doubts, no confidence and tears. Then slowly came the triumphs. But then more frustrations.  The best part of it all tho?  The bonds. The friendships formed.  I have a whole bunch of new friends, and our mentors too.

We saw the competition, the OPP.  They were a smaller group and doing a performance that tied directly into their charity. I was freaked out.  We moved on and got more motivated.  We had our struggles and we had our triumphs.  In the end, it was a big tear fest as we said goodbye to our mentors and promised them we would practice.

Practice we did! We did rehearsal's 2 to 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time at the end of our work days.  We would record our rehearsal's and send them to Kelly and Scott, and they would email back praise and criticism.  Then we would fix what they asked us to fix.  We did this for 3 weeks.   We were lucky to have Colleen, she has performed for years and managed performances as well.  She knew exactly how to keep us focused, help us, direct us and praise us.  By our last rehearsal, we were just nitpicking at our performance. Clap bigger, move those arms, smile!  We had our performance and vocals down.  That last rehearsal was on a Thursday, we said our goodbyes at the end and said "See you on Sunday, in Toronto".

OFF TO YYZ...

I was on the first flight departing at 7am, half of us were. The other half on the 8:30am departure on March 19th.  I was tired, but couldn't sleep. We were an excited bunch.  We landed and headed off to the folks holding signs that read "Canada Sings".  We got on a shuttle and headed to our hotel.  Check in took forever and we were late for where we needed to be.  We had a guy named Steve trying to keep us on schedule.

First stop was wardrobe for a fitting. That took some time, and by the time we were done, the other plane had arrived.  We did a group recording of our song in a recording studio that was two doors down from Vanilla Ice's dressing room.  After that we were able to go eat and relax in our room for a bit while plane 2 folks did their wardrobe fitting. Afterwards, we were to dress up and go to a photo shoot.

I was tired and very hot and hungry.  I got to my room and died.  I ran a bath to cool me down. I was about to get in when I got called back to Wardrobe as they needed me again.  I got dressed and ran to the theater (it was connected via a convention center to my hotel).  I got there and realized I left a part of my undergarment in my room. But I was woozy and feeling ill.  So Nicole went to my room and got it, she came back and dropped it off at Wardrobe.   As I waited and worked with Wardrobe, Steve advised me I had no time to rest and eat, and I needed to run to my room and get my photo shoot outfit and make up.  I texted Nicole and told her to meet me in hotel lobby as she had my room key.  I got to the lobby and she calls me and tells me that its in the bag she had Shane drop off at wardrobe. I had to run back to the theater.  I almost fainted. I was so exhausted and needed to eat. I got my key, went back to hotel. I threw up at that point. I ran a bath, and cooled down.  I got a call from wardrobe that they were looking for me. I didn't get a chance to do my hair or make up. I grabbed my photo shoot clothes and ran! When I got to wardrobe, they knew something was wrong. They gave me juice, a sandwich, water and a fan to cool me down.  Apparently the producers didn't like my costume and wardrobe had to ramp it up.

It was time to go to photo shoot and my hair was horrible. A girl named Alex in wardrobe french braided my bangs, and did a cute side pony and put a flower in my hair. Thank goodness.  Nicole did my make up on the shuttle bus to the studio.  I was starving on that drive over but was in good company.

PHOTO SHOOT

We went into this building and lined up against a wall, two guys would come over and check you out and designate you to a room depending on what you needed.  One room was just for powder, the other was for everything. I was nervous when they approached me. So hipster they were.  They looked at my hair, stared at my face and then said "EVERYTHING". Embarrassing!  I went into the room and when called, the hair guy, Jukka said "I love your hair, its perfect, I am just gonna smooth out the sides".  Well, that was OK!  Then I was called for makeup, Susanne redid all my make up.  There was food while we waited, but I didn't want to ruin my lipstick!

The photo shoot itself was a blast. I so love my Cabin Pressure teammates! It was over so fast :(  Back in our shuttle and to the hotel we went.  When I got back, my parents and my sisters had arrived. We all went out for dinner at 10:30pm, had a good laugh and meal.  I was in bed by 11:30pm. I passed out talking to Sandra.

PERFORMANCE DAY....

Woke up at 7am.  My parents got me Timmies.  I tried to eat my bagel, but I just gagged and threw it out.  My coffee, I cherished.  Jesse slept in, and met us with no shower and no coffee. I shared my coffee with her.

We were taken to the stage we would perform on and was reunited with Kelly.  We ran through our perfomance a couple of times and little things got adjusted.  We got mic'd and sang.  It was soooo cool! Scott and Kelly kept yelling "BIGGER!"  We just weren't being showey enough.  BIGGER!!!!

We then had to go back into the studio and do individual recordings.  Before I could get to mine, I was taken into hair and make up first. I didn't get into the recording studio as we sent off to do another rehearsal with hair and make up done.

Back to wardrobe I went, after 3 run through on stage, then putting on a body shaper undergarment, I got overheated again.  More water and a fan.  Wardrobe treated me so well!  Then onstage to do a full dress rehearsal with the set, the mics, the hair/makeup and costume. More adjustments made. Again, we were told to go BIGGER! After full dress rehearsal, I was back in the studio to do my recording.  That was scary and fun!

We finally broke for dinner, we had to put ponchos over our clothes while we ate so we didn't get our costumes dirty. We looked redonk.  We met the other team as we all waited for final final wardrobe fittings.  The OPP team were so awesome and good looking, especially in their WestJet colours!

We were led backstage. We were a nervous bunch.  I talked to Jann Arden and Vanilla Ice..I guess it was more like a rambling.

Not much more I can say about what comes next, but it was amazing.  We left it all on the stage and put out our best performance.

Win or lose, we had no regrets.

It was more like a "nope" talk.

I read over the material I was given. I pulled out the workbook for Quinn and began.  


I gave him a sheet that explained the male genitals terminology. Like, penis, scrotum, anus, etc... He looked at me and said "I know this already".  OK, moving on...


"Quinn, what are some slang words for penis?"
I don't know.  Hilary in the background "dick, twig, cock, one eyed monster..." Quinn says "That's inappropriate"


"What about slang words for the vagina?"
I don't know.  Hilary in the background "vag, vajayjay, box..."  Quinn says "That's inappropriate"


"Slang words for breasts?"
I don't know.  Hilary in the background "tits, jugs, ta ta's..."  Quinn says "Stop it!"


"Slang for anus?"
I am done.


Moving on...Hygiene.  Now this topic he was into.  It went well.  Except for the facial hair part. He wants none. He also enjoyed talking about a healthy diet.  We had to fill in some unhealthy items and he wrote:


candy, chips, pop, alcohol and blood.


Uhm. K.


Then came the fun talk about erect penis's, wet dreams and masturbation. But I was committed to discussing it and it went rather well as I discussed that and how his body is changing.  then came the follow questions and responses.


What are some of the things that you have noticed changing in your body?
Nothing.


Something you are worried about?
Nothing.


Somethings you are excited for?
Nothing.


Then I asked:


Do you ever get an erection?
I don't know.


Have you had a wet dream?
I don't know.


Have you ever masturbated?
I don't know.


OK then, then I guess we will move onto Sex and Sexuality. He says "No, not today".


To be continued I guess.


In other news, that friend Bob of his who asked Hilary for sex and we had to drive home...remember him?    Well Quinn told me yesterday that he is no longer friends with him. I asked him why and he said  "He gets into too much trouble and gets sent home a lot. I don't want friends like that"  That was from DAY ONE in Social Skills. Identifying good and bad friends and how to keep or end their friendships!  So proud of my Aspie!

Teaching my Aspie about Sexuality

If you remember a couple of blog posts ago about Quinn's friend asking Hilary for sex, I mentioned that Quinn just didn't get the severity of that situation? We have tried to talk to him about sex and the human body but he won't have it!  Refused to learn about it in school too.

Well, we shared that story with Trish from Scope Children (our in home counselling service) and she assured us that him not wanting to even think about sex was normal. I mean, afterall, he is only 11 years old but he is also in Jr High.

Trish advised us that because he is in Aspie, we need to be in front of his changes rather than coming from behind.  She has provided us with lots of handouts to discuss Puberty and Sex.  By next week, we are to have read it, agreed on a presentation and figured out who is presenting it.  Our favorite sheet is on Masturbation, Quinn must look at the pictures of places such as, mall, school, library, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. and figure out where it is appropriate to masturbate.  The worry is that, he will figure out masturbation and love it, and want to do it all the time, just like any other boy. However, due to his lack of social skills, he will think about how good it feels and potentially do it whenever he feels like it. Normally, boys are embarassed about that and will hide it.  We are to create "Penis time" for him.  This will be a time of day and place where he can go and play with his penis. Penis time.  Yup.

Currently, my son says "Talking about sex and my penis is inappropriate", so this should be fun.  No kids want to talk about this stuff with their parents, I get that. But he is at a whole other level.  Currently, he has no interest in girls, or boys.

He was asked to dance at his Halloween Dance at school by 3 girls, said no to them all.  Mind you, he said he was worried he would injure his knee, which meant he would have to dance at half of his capabilities. If he danced half of what he was capable of, that would bring him down to Amateur Rank dancer.  Apparently, his full effort has him at Pro/Epic rate.  His mind must be a wonderful place! Cos when he dances, he just looks like he is jumping and running around, spinning on the floor!

I will let you know how the sex talk goes!

Peeling back the layers

This is a Quinn blog today, again.  Expect them for a bit as we are going through something really big here at my household.  With the approval from FSCD, we were given in home counselling by the Scope Children Society.  They're to help us learn how to parent a child with special needs.  Things are going fantastic and our counseller Trish is amazing. We love her.  She is so easy to work with and comes to us with so much experience, and she gets that we are clueless.

Chewlery!

She asked us to think about behaviours we would like to change in Quinn.  My first thought was, "He is so well behaved. He's happy, positive, kind, generous, and effortless!  What is there to change?" She told me to think about it, and observe him a bit closer with that thought in mind.  The first thing I wrote down was "putting things in his mouth".  EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. His cell phone, remotes, toys, paper, wrappers, fingers, clothes, etc.  Drives me nuts!!  So, I shared that with her.  She asked about his favourite foods, not following, I was like "carrots, celery, steak, and cucumbers".  She nodded yes and said "Sounds like he might have Oral Sensory".    Andrew and I stared at eachother with a "huh?" look.  She explained that he likes foods that he crunch or he has to work hard at eating, puts things in his mouth, anything.  She asked us "Does he concentrate more when he has stuff in his mouth? When is he putting stuff in his mouth?" I told her mostly when playing on his laptop or watching tv.  She said he does that to focus and concentrate, that he needs that sensation of something in his mouth.  Andrew and I had that "ah ha" moment. It all made sense! She offered him a piece of Chewlery.  As seen in the pic here, its a necklace he can chew on and wear.  The first two days he wore it, he barely ate (over eating is a problem with him, eating every 30 mins)!   She also recommended that we buy fishtank tubing (those plastic tubes used on filters in a fish tank) to put at the end of his pencils so he has that to chew on at school!  She is a genius!


Please note, altho that was a huge eye opening experience, as we peel back the layers to learn about our son and his Aspergers, its a very emotional journey.  I actually cried upon learning he has an Oral Sensory issue.  One more thing to add to the list I guess.  See? I am getting a list. Do you think I want a list?


Today, I made a status update on Facebook that I got from my friend Kate.  It read:


Tonight a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you might be shy or non-verbal. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have anallergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have SPD or autism. Be nice. Be patient. Its everyone's Halloween. Make a mom feel good by making a big deal of her special child.

*Copied from a friend's post...repost if you'd like. People can never understand it if they haven't been through it.


I posted it on my Facebook status, and then cried. I had that moment of WHY do I have to say things like this? Why do I have to tell the world this, to make his life easier? It was one of those mommy breakdown moments.


The breakdown then occurred on my car ride home as once again, I was overcome with my personal pity party.


Quinn had a fantastic Halloween. He has been some kind/colour of a Ninja for 5 years.  This year, was different tho. This year he was Camouflage guy. Not sure what that was but I supported it! Also, his first time letting his face be painted.  He doesn't like stuff on his face, so this was also a big thing!


Proud of him!


We have an appointment with Trish tomorrow. I am already nervous to peel off the next layer of Aspergers.

A whole lot of updating.

My last blog post was about our Walk for Autism. So let me update about that.

Our walk was a huge success!  The Aspie Avengers showed up in our custom tshirts and our capes made by Jesse.  We were in the front part of the pack, about 75 people back, and Quinn was annoyed about how slow we were walking, so he took off running. We didn't see him again until we crossed the finished line! He finished the 3k walk first!  Hilary got her face painted like a clown.  Hilary actually made a vlog about our walk. It falls off the rails when the walk was over, but she did a great job!

Quinn is doing not so great in school.  He did have a small bullying issue on the school bus, a kid was calling him gay.  He knew that wasn't really an insult so that didn't bother him, however, he knew what the kid was trying to do.  We spoke to the Vice Principle and they worked on resolution.  Yesterday, Quinn brought home his interim report card, its the halfway point in the semester, so they gave us a snap shot.  He is failing math and science. Which is odd, cos those are his best subjects. For his usually difficult ones, he's passing.  Weird.  We will meet with the teachers on Friday and see if we can figure that out.    We are also now getting some counselling for parents with special needs kids.  They help us come together as parents and how to manage Quinn.  Typical punishments don't work for kids like him.  So far so good!

Speaking of Quinn, he had a friend come over. Let's call him Bob.  Bob has been a good friend to Quinn since moving to his new jr high.  Bob came over for a sleep over.  Bob asked Hilary for practice doing it with his girlfriend.  Hilary was confused and said "it?" and he was like "yeah, I want to do it with you" and she was like "Omg, do you mean sex?" and he said "yes, I want to practice for when I get my girlfriend" Hilary was astonished and said "NO".  Apparently, Quinn said "you got guts man".  Hilary told Sandra, Andrew and I.  We laughed hysterically for like 15 mins.  But Hilary was totally creeped out.  When it was time for bed, I went into Quinn's room and I said "Did Bob really ask Hilary for sex?" Quinn responded with "Ya, because he needs to practice" and  I was like "Quinn, that is very inappropriate for him to ask that" but Quinn just didn't get it "He said he needs to practice sex".  Now, I have tried numerous times to talk about sex with Quinn but he shuts down when we do, which is why I was in the place of awkward.  So I just blurted it out "Quinn, Bob wants to put his penis in Hilary's vagina" and he made a gross face and said "oh". I was like FINALLY, he gets it! But, then he said "OK then, but he needs to practice". I told him we would talk about this further because clearly he wasn't getting how severe this was.

I tucked the boys in and said "Stay in your beds, and no bothering the girls" and went downstairs to my room and got ready for bed.  We were brushing our teeth when I got the text from Hilary saying "omg, he came into my room looking for sex". I thought she was kidding, then she responded with "Sandra is here in my room and I am super creeped out".  So she came to me and said that what had happened was, she was in bed, and she heard a knock on her door and said yes?  "Hilary, are you ready for sex now?" and she was like "Uhm no, I said no"  He opened her door and said "are you sure?" and she was like "yes, get out"  as he turned and left he said "I am ready, so just come see me on the couch".

At that point, I said to Andrew "he needs to go home".  We both agreed, after talking to Hilary and her saying she was worried he might try again when she was asleep.  I called his dad, he wasn't too happy to get that phone call, I explained to him what had happened, that we weren't upset about him asking Hilary but the fact that he went to her room was the problem.  He understood and said he had to wake up another child to pick him up, so I offered to drive him home.  It was the longest most awkward drive ever.  Bob apologized immediately upon me saying I was taking him home. I told him I wasn't mad at him, but that he was inappropriate and that Hilary was very uncomfortable.  When we got to Bob's house, his dad didn't even come to the door. I made Bob go get him.  I told him right away, "Bob has apologized to us already and we are not mad at him.  We plan on talking to Quinn about sex, he has Aspergers and he just doesn't get it, and perhaps if he had, he could've been a better friend to Bob tonight".  The dad then looked at me and said "Yah, I will deal with it" he then shut the door and turned off the outside light.  Awkward.

Bob has since called and apologized again. I told him we were OK and he and Quinn can still hang out.  Quinn still hangs with Bob, but not as much. He has branched out to other kids.

I have more to talk about, but I don't have time! Another day it will have to be!!

We will walk for Quinn.

Our Walk for Autism is in one week.  We are doing great on donations, our costumes are almost ready (thanks to Jesse!), and we are excited!

School started this week and I have had a lot of anxiety over Quinn starting at a new school and starting over with friendships.  But he seems to be doing well, so I am beginning to feel relieved.  I just hope the first 2 days reflect on what the rest of the year will be like.  I am not holding my breath on that one.

Some really great stuff has happened for Quinn.  We got in touch with FSCD (Family Services and Child Development) and they approved our application.  As we sat with our social worker and she was telling us what will happen now, I cried.   She advised us that we were eligible for Respite Care. I didn't even know what that was but I was happy!  She explained that when we have someone watch Quinn we can pay them an hourly wage, that person just has to be over 18 and not an immediate family member.  If that someone takes him to the zoo or anywhere Quinn can engage in social situations with other children, then that is considered Community Aide and we can pay that person $18.00 hour.  We send in the bill to FSCD and they deposit it into our account!  Then if Andrew, Hilary and I want a break from Quinn we can have a weekend away and FSCD will pay for someone to watch Quinn for the 48 hours, or they will pay an approved Nanny service.

That alone was HUGE.  We were floored. We explained how we didn't get into any day camps that would work for Quinn, and she said that they would cover that too should we find a camp for Autistic kids.

Then she went on to say that we should apply with LDAA (Learning Disability Association of Alberta) to get Quinn enrolled in social training classes and also for their day camps.  Which, we did. He starts Social classes on September 24. These classes cost $525, they will direct bill FSCD.  WOW right?!  They have summer camps but they were full for this year, but next year for sure. They even have residential camps where he will go overnight for a whole week at a time.

We were referred to PACE Kids where they will direct bill FSCD for Occupation Therapy and Speech Therapy.  We are currently on their wait list and hope to hear from them soon.

Lastly, we were referred to a therapy group called Triple P.  They will come in our home and help our family deal with Quinn's Aspergers, plus provide us with support for discipline/challenges with Quinn.

Our social worker was amazing and understanding.  She advised us that 120 kids out of her 140 kid workload are receiving the Federal Disability Tax Credit and that we should be too. I told her how our last doctor wouldn't sign off on it.  She told us that was BS and to shop around if need be to have a DR fill it out.  We have given it to our DR to fill out and he said he would, so we are just waiting for him to do so.

When she left, I cried. I was floored that so much help was available and it took us 3 years to get it.  A friend at work, Leah, was the one who told me about FSCD and pushed me to call them. I didn't, for weeks. When she was on her last day of work before Maternity Leave she asked me to call so she could move on, as she asked me everyday if I had called them.  So, with her pushing me, I did. Best thing ever.  I owe her so much!

We met with our social worker on July 15th. I won't forget that day!

I am happy to do our walk for Autism Awareness and for Quinn.  We have had tremendous support from friends.  Today I was on the walknowforautism.ca website and saw a video that someone posted from the walk last year and I totally cried. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with Quinn's Aspergers.  Sometimes its no big deal, he's just Quinn.  I belong to a Facebook group for parents of children with Aspergers and it makes me feel better.  That its not just my Aspie who won't ride a bike, take a shower, tells bad jokes, has anxiety, thinks they are smarter than a snake, will only eat 4 food items, and only talks about Pokemon. I feel better about my Aspie.  I forget that he has Aspergers and when people ask me "is it hard?", I say "No" or "I don't know, its all we've known".  He is just Quinn to me.

The saying goes, "if you've met one person with Aspergers, then, you have only met one person with Aspergers"

On September 11th, our family, The Aspie Avengers, will walk for Quinn.

Feeling Disconnected

Lately, it feels like all I do is work, eat and sleep.  All my social interactions are at work, which thankfully, I work with some amazing friends so that is not a downside or negative at all.  I have taken on a new role at work and its not easy and its actually quite exhausting. I find myself withdrawing from people.  It is not my friends fault that I am withdrawing, it is me.

Then there are my cruise friends, who I hold near and dear to my heart, knowing that there won't be another cruise with BNL, or those who wouldn't come back if there was, I seem to be disconnected from.  Again, it is not them, its me.  I don't know why. I just don't feel involved as I have been focusing on other stuff and since I don't see them day to day  like other friends, I don't give them any of my time.  Some days, I don't even open my laptop, and when your friends live in the internet its like I am making the choice to not talk to them.

There are so many people that are important to me, that I need in my life but lately, I just haven't been available. So, I am sorry to them.  Even if I don't talk to you, know that you are there with me, and I hope you haven't given up on me!

I feel like I can't control myself.  I am either all in and totally committed and then I am out. Just a few blogs ago I was going on about my obsession with Twilight.  Since that post, I have completely withdrawn.  I haven't been partaking in an online community that consumed me. Now I never post in there. I feel bad, because my friends began to depend on me. Sorry Debbie!  I am still counting down the days till Breaking Dawn Pt 1...100 days btw :)  It was hard because Rob was at Comic Con and then Teen Choice Awards and I haven't watched any of that stuff.  I know it will come back, it just hit such a strong point, that I had to halt it.

Currently, my obsession is Big Brother. I read the feeds all the time, follow them on Twitter.  Least that will end soon.

I am now thinking about how much I love cheese.  Not just to eat, but cheesy foods. I just ate a leftover chicken enchilada from dinner the other night for breakfast. The cheese was amazing.

Tonight I am having a bbq with my besties Michelle and Matt, looking forward to it too!  That is all for today. I need some more coffee.