No One Really Knows, but Now They Will...

***I wrote this yesterday afternoon, but didn't post it until today 02/29/08. The reason I did that was because, I felt that Mark needed to be the first to read it. He hadn't even heard the whole story, and out of respect for him and our marriage he needed to be the first to really know. And please, the last thing I want is sympathy phone calls from anyone. My intentions here are only to inform. Thank You.***

I have a mind that wanders often and the things that surface are about as random as a clown in the car next to you on the highway. While I sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon, my mind wandered. Unfortunately it wandered to a time that I've never talked about and I'd rather not recall. Writing about things often makes me feel better about it in the end. I am a product of my real mother. I enjoy writing. So in the midst of my wandering I thought to myself, 'Apart from my brother, I really can't think of anyone who truly understands or even knows about how I grew up...not even my own parents.' That is what prompted me to write this.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that I believe that I am very blessed, thankful and grateful for having become such a good-hearted and mentally sane person. My step mother Herlinda (Linda) Valvaneda is my hero for having taught me how exactly not to treat people let alone children. So before anything else is said, let me just say that most of you will be appalled, disgusted and amazed that such cruel people exist in this world. Many of you will probably be shocked to know that I lived this life.

In The Beginning...

When I met my step mother I was four years old. I lived with my father and older brother in my grandmother's three bedroom country home. I thought Linda was amazing. I loved her and I loved her kids. They were so much fun. My brother and I would beg to go to her house. I believe my father met her at a local bar. She was a recently widowed mother of three kids. Her kids were significantly older than we were. They were teenagers. Her daughters used to paint my nails, fix my hair and put make-up on me. It was every little girls favorite pastime, and I loved it! Very shortly after meeting they married, and oh how things changed!

Family Life...

We moved into her three bedroom house in the city. All three of her children still lived at home. The younger two were still in high school at the time. Upon moving into her home, I was never allowed to play with such things as makeup or nail polish. those things were now considered to be taboo. I was never to touch those things again so long as I lived under her roof. We were criticized about everything we did on a daily basis. I, along with my brother were called ugly and told that we were good for nothing. Everything we did was wrong. We'd never amount to anything in this life. The way I brushed my hair was critiqued. We were made fun of and called cows when we ate. Everything about the way we ate was wrong and disgusting. So disgusting that we we were forced to eat separately. My brother would eat first and I would eat second. We ate at the table. Alone. We would get smacked if we took too long to eat according to her standards. We were forced to play and stay outside in the Texas heat every single day of summer. We were not allowed to enter the house for a drink of water. We were forced to drink scalding hot water from the hose. We were also not allowed to go inside to use the bathroom more than three times a day. If we did, we were accused of being nosy little brats, and we would get spankings. We were never allowed to see my father's family. They were lucky if they were able to see us once a year. And when we did get to see him, she insisted that one of her kids go along so they could listen to every word we spoke and report back to her. If they showed up at our house they would get cussed away and get told that they were nosy and controlling.
After kindergarten we moved to the country where we lived about five minutes away from my grandmother's home. We still didn't see her. We were still required to spend every waking moment of the day outdoors. We would wake up and have to go straight outside. We weren't allowed to make our own breakfast until we were about ten years old, so until then we were forced to starve. We were not allowed to wake anyone up if we were hungry. If we woke up our step sisters they would tell on us and we would get beat for asking for food. They often didn't wake up until noon or one in the afternoon, so you could imagine how hungry we were by then. We were never allowed seconds and we had to eat what was on our plate whether or not we liked it. We could leave the table and throw up, but we were still forced to finish our food. We were also required, forced and expected to eat beans on a daily basis. Often the pinto beans were sour and old, but we were still required to eat them. If we complained, or said we thought the beans were no longer good, we would get beat. They sometimes had dead cockroaches in them, but we were still expected to eat it. We could pick around the cockroaches or eat them, they didn't care so long as we ate the beans.
Showering and bathing was highly regulated in that house. We were required to shower at the exact same time every day. If we were a moment too late, we'd get a spanking. Despite the rigid schedule, we were forced to walk into the living room and say, 'Excuse me, does anyone need to use the restroom before I take a shower?" We bathed in the tub every day. We used a bucket that we would fill up with water. We had to splash ourselves with water from a cup and then lather and rinse ourselves with the cup. We later earned the privilege of taking a real shower. Once we were allowed the luxury of a real shower, we were often surprised with hard slaps to the back or a sharp yank of our hair for not showering the "correct" way. We were never allowed to close the bathroom door when we showered or needed to use the toilet. We had no privacy. We were never allowed the luxury of new personal items. Combs, brushes and toothbrushes were expected to last years upon years. We were not allowed to ask for anything new and if we did, we would be called ungrateful.
We were solely relied upon for cleaning the house. My brother was expected to cut the entire lawn with a push mower. I was required to wash, dry and put away all of the dishes from everyone in the family which consisted of myself, my brother, my father, my step mother, my two step sisters and step brother. I was yelled at daily for not washing the dishes to Linda's satisfaction. I quickly learned that "do it yourself" was not a smart thing to say! I was also expected to scrub down the entire bathroom and to clean the floors in the entire house. Cleaning the floors consisted of sweeping and mopping the hard floors while getting told that I was doing it wrong and I was good for nothing. I was often pushed down to the floor, shoved and pulled up by my hair for not listening and not doing it the right way. Cleaning the carpets was done by picking up every piece of debris visible....by hand. We were basically servants. We were expected to clean and wait on the adults, hand and foot. If they were thirsty, we were summoned to get them a glass of whatever they desired. If they were hungry we were sometimes told to make them a plate. We would take them their food and take away the mess when they were done. We were slaves.
We were once given a single dresser that we had to share. It had five drawers. We each had two drawers and the middle drawer was split in half. The rest of our personal belongings had to be kept in the closet. We had a cardboard box that we used for the clothes and things we owned that didn't fit in the dresser. The closets were infested with termites. We were never allowed to sit on the furniture. We had to sit on the floor in the hallway away from the rest of the family. This is where we spent our evenings and winters and where we did our homework. We were very rarely given toys. By very rarely, I mean, maybe once a year we were allowed a toy. We were always given shoes and clothing for Christmas gifts. Our birthdays did not exist. They weren't celebrated or mentioned. We were always told that our birthdays were just another day. They were no different than yesterday or tomorrow.

Social Life...

We were not allowed to have friends let alone speak of them. We were never allowed to go to any one's house, or allowed to have anyone over. We wouldn't have dreamed of inviting someone over anyway because of the harsh conditions we lived in. We were not allowed to talk on the phone or give our phone number to anyone. Our phone number was changed and was always unlisted because they feared someone might find us. Our real number wasn't even given to our school. If we even mentioned the word friend, we were always told that we didn't have any real friends and all of our 'so-called' friends were just there to get us into trouble and to use us. We were often unknowingly 'watched' at school and would be surprised with beatings when we returned home. We would get beatings for silly things like having friends or talking to someone in class when we had free time. We were expected to speak to no one.
Since the age of five I was accused of being boy crazy, fast and a whore. I was always being told that the only thing I ever thought about was boys! That is what my entire life revolved around, according to her. We were not allowed to watch TV and if we did, we'd have to cover our eyes every time someone kissed. Even at the age of 12, I was not allowed to change my step sister's son's diaper. They feared me knowing what "privates" looked like, even if it were a baby's.
I was always accused of doing things I shouldn't be doing with boys. I had a jacket that the zipper stuck out on and it would constantly hit and irritate my neck. Every time I wore that jacket in elementary school I was accused of making out with boys and getting hickeys! I would get a beating every time I wore that jacket to school. The funny thing about it all is that I didn't even kiss a boy until I was 13 years old, and had never even had sex until I was 17 years old. Boys were always the last thing on my mind. I was more focused on school and becoming something better than them.

Crime and Punishment...

Our punishments varied from time to time, but Linda had her favorites. A spanking was always carried out in the kitchen. We had to pull our pants and underwear down and would get spanked with either a leather belt or a wooden paddle. The number and force of the swats varied with how angry she was. A beating was full on punching, hitting, pushing, scratching and hair pulling anywhere she pleased. I believe her favorite punishment was kneeling. We were forced to kneel on wooden pencils or raw pinto beans for hours at a time. We were required to keep our arms out at our sides. If we dropped them, we would get our hands beat with a ruler or we would get spankings in the kitchen. One time I was forced to drink an entire glass of Mexican brandy for lying to my father. We would get into trouble for "stealing" food from our own home. We were always hungry and would sneak food. If we got caught, we would get beat.
We were punished and abused daily, whether it be verbally, physically or emotionally. We were ridiculed because of our skin color. I was told that I tried to be 'too white' and my brother was told that he tried to be 'too black'. We would always get into trouble for trying to be anything other than Mexican. The sad part of it all is that I look white and my brother looks black. My brother was always called a fat asshole and I was always called a skinny bitch with no ass.
We were threatened with "The Lechusa" and "The Chupacabra" on a daily basis. These are Mexican folklore and urban legends. She used to tell us that they were going to come and get us while we were sleeping, and once we were in bed with the lights off, she would walk outside and pound on our windows. She was psychotic, and I have her to thank for my years of nightmares about the Devil himself.
Through the eleven years of my life that I lived with this woman, I (and my brother) were never allowed to show any sort of emotion. If we did, we were beat or ridiculed. Two years after my brother moved with our mom, I finally left. I was 15 years old when I moved to Virginia, and my life has never been the same since!

Where Was Everyone?

Many of you are probably wondering where my real parents were at through these 11 years. My mother remarried and her husband was in the Navy. They obviously moved often. She tried to gain custody of us through the years but was never successful. For years she didn't even know where we were until her mom and step dad stumbled upon us one day. We were always told that our mother abandoned us and started a new and better family. She didn't care about us or what happened to us. we would often find letters or cards in the garbage that were from our mom. And if we wrote to her, somehow Linda always knew and she would burn the letters in front of us.
My grandmother called CPS on our family several times, but no good ever came of it all. We were threatened and scared into lying. We were told that if we didn't tell them we were happy and never got spankings, we would get beat. Even if it would have saved us, we feared telling the truth. We were afraid of the repercussions.
Our father was an alcoholic our entire lives. Our own lives were endangered all too often because of his disease. We could have died several times because of his driving drunk. We learned to drive at the age of 10 so that we could drive our drunk father home. He has now been sober for about 4 or 5 years. I doubt that he realizes the things we endured.
One of the most disturbing things about this all is that Linda worked at a day care center for nearly 20 years or more. She also never treated her own children the way she treated us. Her kids have no explanation for the things she did. I once considered her and her children to be my family. I no longer do. I have disowned them. Family doesn't treat each other the way they have treated myself and my brother.

And In the End....

I have since forgiven Linda for the awful things she did to me, and like I said before; in a twisted way, I consider her my hero. She has taught me exactly how not to treat my children, other people's children and people in general. So, now you all know why I am so blessed, thankful and grateful for having turned into such a good-hearted person, let alone normal! Very few people could have pulled any good from all of this, but I have. I have risen above and beyond her. I wish the same for my brother. He seems to struggle with our past all too often. I hope that one day he too can forgive them and move forward with his life as I have.
Here I am, 21 years after that wretched woman entered my life and10 years after I walked out of hers. I am so thankful for my children and my husband and I am truly blessed for all that I have in this life. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I will never subject my family or anyone else's family to the things I have been subjected to. This was not a normal way to grow up by any means, and I hope that someone somewhere can read my story and learn something from it.
I'm not one who tells my life story to every person I see. In fact, this is the first time I have ever written about it, let alone actually talked about my life in detail. I'm sure my family will be shocked to learn that things were much worse than they suspected.

"Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more"
- Hebrews 10:17

Nothing to Report....

Well, the title states it all....nothing to report! Nothing fantastic or exciting at least. haha. We are still just keeping busy and trying to pass the time while Mark is gone. Austyn is fully potty trained! YAY! That means no more bedtime accidents! It is wonderful! Taylor has baseball tryouts on Saturday. I'll take lots of pictures, so look out for those. And little Miss Ryleigh knows how to open the doors in our house! We aren't sure whether that is good or bad yet! That's about it for our quick little update. Here are some pictures of the kids! We hope you enjoy!Taylor enjoying himself at the park a couple of days ago.
Austyn, he looks so sweet an innocent! Oh how deceiving pictures can be! J/KThe kids enjoying themselves on the slide.I'm not sure what he is up to. He took this with his camera.Taylor-7, Austyn-3 and Ryleigh 16 months.She's signing 'Daddy'. She knows how to sign and say 'Mommy', however, she refuses!Life is tough when you can't figure out the pedals on your bike!To be this cheesy and still get called cute and adorable is a feat well managed! lol

Just an Update...

I know its been a little while since we've updated everyone, so here we go.
Mark is still gone. Duh. lol. He visited Japan for about 4 days. I'm sure you all got the pictures that he sent to everyone. He seems to be doing well and his spirits seem high, which is great!
Taylor is walking to school on his own daily. It is such a big step for him and he loves his new-found freedom that he has! He has baseball tryouts at the beginning of March. He's in little league now, so no more baby stuff, this is the real deal! He's excited about it. The season starts on March 29th, so look for lots of pictures! I'll be the paparazzi! haha
Austyn is doing great. Talking 24/7 and constantly asking questions about everything. He's such a little sweet heart and such a love bug. He tells me that he misses his Daddy when he gets sad. We just keep reading our paper chain and watch it get shorter with every day that passes. Austyn is old enough for T-Ball this year! WOOHOO! He is so excited about it. The season starts on April 19th. I can't wait, and again, I'll be the paparazzi at the field!
Ryleigh is so different from the boys! She watches everything that goes on, and she's such a little parrot. She repeats actions and tries to repeat words. She isn't talking a whole lot, but she gets her point across. She knows sign language, so that helps her a lot! She has started to put her hand in her hair when you tell her she's beautiful, gorgeous or pretty. She hears this on a daily basis, so she does it often! I think its the cutest!
I am doing pretty well. I'm just taking care of the little ones and trying to have some adult time. I've started having coffee with a friend of mine during the week. We only get together once or twice a week, but its so nice to be able to sit and chit chat. She has a son who is 2 months older than Ryleigh, so he, Ryleigh and Austyn have a great time playing with each other. We are still counting down the days to Mark's return. I can't believe that an entire month has passed us by already. Well, almost! We'll be sending Mark a St. Patrick's day and Easter package in the next week or so. He LOVES getting packages, so we like to send lots of goodies. Plus the guys he works with love it when he gets packages because he shares his goodies with them. He says they are jealous. haha!
Well, that's about it! Nothing terribly exciting going on in our neck of the woods!
Here are some pictures of the kids.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just wanted to tell everyone "Happy Valentine's Day!" I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow and I hope your valentine is sweet to you! I have 3 valentines this year! Here is a picture of them....don't you just LOVE them!

I Survived!

The sleepover is officially over and has been over for exactly 42 minutes and I could not be more exhausted! There were officially 10 boys in the house last night. Taylor, Austyn, Chance, Ashton, Andrew, Timothy, Dennis, Bryson, Tyler and Brandon! Chance was the only boy to not stay the night. He went home, and his mom later went to the hospital around 11 pm. She was in labor! She had a baby girl around 1:30ish!
Okay, so the night started out a little rough. The boys were rowdy and starving. There were board games out for them to play with, along with anything in Taylor or Austyn's rooms. I enlisted a friend of mine to pick up pizza for me, only she was running late which added to the chaos! Pizza finally arrived around 6 PM, and we passed out salad, breadsticks and small cans of soda. Yes, about 5 kids actually asked for and ate their salad! Shocking, isn't it! lol Everyone gobbled down their dinner and some asked for seconds.
As soon as we were done with dinner, everyone gathered in the living room to play Simon Says for a few minutes. They played while I quickly threw away plates and gathered the gifts. Taylor zoomed through each gift and then we all retreated back into the dining room. That is when I unveiled my masterpiece! HAHAHA!
So, this was my first real experience with a layered cake and frosting the layers and outside and yada yada yada. Taylor requested a white cake with red frosting in between the layers and blue frosting on the outside. Well, the red turned out a little more pink than I expected, so his cake slightly resembles something that should be for a baby or at a baby shower. The kids didn't care what color the cake was, they just wanted to eat it! We sang happy birthday and Taylor got frustrated with the candles. I'm a funny mom and I like to do funny things. So, Taylor's candles were 7 sparkler candles that really didn't sparkle a whole lot, but they did reignite themselves after they were blown out! That was the frustrating part for Taylor. We scarfed down cake and ice cream and then the boys lined up to wash their hands and faces and get their jammies on.
They each brought sleeping bags, pillows and blankets. They picked a spot on the living room floor and made themselves comfortable. We had 4 movies to choose from. They were The Gameplan, Daddy Day Camp, Firehouse Dog and Shrek the Third. They voted to watch Daddy Day Camp first, followed by The Gameplan. I popped snack sized bags of popcorn and grabbed a small bottle of water for each kid. They were set for the night!
About halfway through Daddy Day Camp I started to notice a lot of droopy eyelids so we stopped the movie for a potty break. About 15 minutes later, the boys were about to find out what happens when you are the first one to fall asleep at a sleepover. Andrew was the first to fall asleep!! We didn't have whipped cream, so we resorted to the next best thing, magic markers! Each boy got the chance to draw or doodle something on his face! They were giggling the whole time and saying how much fun this was. Each one said they were going to be the next one to fall asleep! Ashton, Andrew's older brother refused to do it. He just wouldn't give in to the peer pressure! I even called their mom and had her tell him that it was okay to do. Even after he got the 'okay' from Mom, he still wouldn't do it. That's when the boys turned to me, and said, "It's your turn!" They sure are some little pressure pushing kids! I wrote his name on his face.
All of the kids were asleep before the second movie was even over and no one woke up crying, wet, or sick! I slept on the sofa to make sure no one wandered out of the house. I am exhausted and didn't sleep very well at all!
Most of us were up by 7AM. We had homemade donuts (It's not as complicated as it sounds) with sprinkles on them and orange juice for breakfast. The kids all had a great time and told Taylor that his house was awesome and this was the best birthday ever! All in all, it was a fun experience, but I don't know if I would do it again!

Sleepover=1 crazy babysitter!

We decided to not do anything big for Taylor's birthday. We thought we would just invite a few kids over, have pizza cake and ice cream and be done with it. HA! Right. Well, first of all, the "party" is tonight because some of our good friends will be moving back home to Texas on Taylor's actual birthday. Taylor would have been totally bummed if they couldn't make it, so we pushed the party up a week. Taylor wanted to invite the boys from his class, and ask if they wanted to sleep over. I thought, okay, this isn't so bad. In the past, only like 1-2 of Taylor's classmates have actually showed up to the party, and since none of the parents know us, the odds are not many will be staying the night. I know if Taylor were invited to a kid's party for a sleepover, I would want to meet the parents (if I didn't already know them), go to their house and see what its like and all that jazz. I guess other parents don't think like me because 5 of Taylor's classmates are coming tonight! I am just floored by people's false sense of security. We live on the navy base, so that must mean that we are good people, right? WRONG! Well, WE are good people, but that doesn't mean that everyone that lives here is! I guess that having a sleepover basically means that these parents get rid of one kid and possibly be kid-free for the night. The best part of all, is they don't have to pay me!
Okay enough griping. Really, it isn't that bad, and I'm not really upset about it. It just bothers me that so many people are willing to let their kids stay without having met me before. Taylor, I'm sure will have a blast! Austyn will be in on the action as well. It'll be a fun night, and I'm sure I will learn a lot of things from this experience! Wish me luck!

I'll post pictures and tell you guys all about it tomorrow!

Letting Go

You know, at some point we all have to decide to let go. Well, I am letting go, but not completely. Watching your kids grow up right in front of you is so rewarding, scary and sad all at the same time. You never want to let go. You want to keep them young and innocent for as long as possible, but you realize that to be a good parent you have to loosen the slack on the rope.
Taylor is my oldest child. He is only a week and a half away from turning 7. This means two things to me. One, I am 7 years older than I was when I had him. haha Two, He is seven years older than he was the day he was born. That means he is growing up. He no longer wants the reassuring hugs and kisses when he leaves for school. He no longer needs me to hold his hand when we cross the street. He's capable of doing so many things on his own. We look for those milestones when they are young toddlers and babies and we get so excited about their accomplishments. You can't wait for them to be able to pee in the potty without having an accident. As they get older, you wish there was something left for you to do for them. Isn't it ironic?
Okay, so enough about the realizations that we have come to, and more about letting go. Today I decided to let Taylor walk to school by himself! He was so excited about this. The school is literally a driving minute away. There are crossing guards on the main road, and Taylor is familiar with the path we take to school. We walk to school the same way everyday (when we walk), and we drive the same way to school every time we drive. The walking path is along the exact route as the driving path, so I'm confident that he will get there in time and all on his own. Walking to school on his own is such a big accomplishment for him. I'm sure all of his friends and teachers will hear about the freedom he was given this morning.
Off to other "letting go" topics. Austyn has stopped "letting go" of his pee in the middle of the night. lol. He has not had a single accident since Mark has left! We are so proud of him right now. Mark has declared that today we must go to the store and let Austyn pick a surprise for doing so well! He will be thrilled to hear that he gets a prize!
And then there is Ryleigh. She isn't really letting go of anything these days. Especially not me! She is almost always glued to my side, although she really does enjoy roaming the house and playing alone or with the boys. She knows where all of her toys are and knows exactly how to make a big mess! She won't be letting go anytime soon, and I'm okay with that!
Here are some pictures of my oh so grown-up kids! Taylor has begun to bald! Not really of course! Mark just thought it would be funny to make him look like a little old man while he was shaving his head!
And here is Austyn and Ryleigh. They were waiting for Taylor to finish taking a shower so they could take a bath in their "new" bathroom. They are so cheesy! And Ryleigh is so "mexican" compared to Austyn! haha

Migraines, Fleas and Defiance!

Boy am I glad the weekend is coming to an end! It has been long and gruesome. Friday night wasn't so bad. I had errands to run and a Dr. appointment to go to, so Ryleigh and Austyn were able to play at a friends house while I did all of that. Shortly after visiting the hospital for my appointment, a migraine came over me. I hate when I get migraines because they are so awful. Unfortunately, for me and my family, the only thing I can take is Motrin. I have tried stronger meds and I've tried meds made for migraines. It doesn't matter what it is, if it is stronger than Motrin, I have every single side effect listed on the side of the bottle! Usually the side effects go away after about two or three days which is far worse than the migraine itself. So, I am stuck taking 800mg Motrin and taking naps to sleep off the pain. Lucky for me, I have an awesome friend who was able to pick Taylor up from school that afternoon. I took a very long nap and woke up refreshed!
Saturday was awful! Okay, so really it wasn't that bad, but it definitely could have been better. Just recently we discovered that Roscoe somehow contracted fleas! I was beyond livid when I found this out. He has never had fleas before and we have never had a problem with fleas in our area before. Not to mention, fleas are known to 'come out' more during the warmer months. It is definitely not warm here. It actually hailed today and freaked poor Roscoe out. lol. Anyway, back to the fleas. I took him in to the groomer to have a day of pampering. haha. He had a warm bath, followed by a soak in flea shampoo and flea treatment. He spent the day there and I spent the day bombing my house and wasting time at Target. We bombed our entire house and sprayed our backyard for fleas. I really hope they are gone. It disgusts me to have them in the house. I think he got them from our new neighbors' cat. I often see the cat in our backyard, which drives me crazy. The cat has sprayed all of our bushes in front of the house, so anytime I walk out to the car I smell the lovely scent of feline urine. Its absolutely wonderful! I wish there were some sort of cat repellent that I could set in the backyard. That would be great.
Its Sunday night, and here we are (We being, Roscoe and I), sitting at the computer when we have chores to do. Today has been a fairly decent day. It didn't start out so great. Yesterday when I bombed the house, I turned off the refrigerator per the instructions on the package. Well, this genius lady I know forgot to turn the fridge back on! Yeah. That would be me. I can't believe I forgot to turn it back on! Needless to say, all of the food in the fridge and freezer needed to be thrown out because it was almost lukewarm, and melted. We were planning on going grocery shopping anyway, so maybe it was fate. haha. Taylor, Austyn and even my beautiful little angel, Ryleigh have all been testing my patience today. Taylor seems to think that falling down while he is walking is hilarious. It drives me crazy, and I think it's stupid! Austyn thinks he is the boss and is constantly telling Taylor and Ryleigh what to do. And Ryleigh, well, that girl, she is something else! Today, she found a marker and I asked her if I could please have it. Well, normally, she would happily turn it over and clap, but not today. She shook her head 'no' to me and took off down the hallway. I told her that she doesn't tell mommy no, and I asked her again for the marker. Again, she shook her head no, and she put the marker behind her back! She's getting smart. So, again, I tell her she doesn't tell me no. This time, she shook her head 'yes' as if to say, yes, I can tell you no! I eventually got the marker. I just couldn't believe her rebellious little behind today! Roscoe has been the only good one, it seems. We'll get crazy and give him two treats and a pig ear for being so good! lol
And that was our long weekend. It doesn't seem so bad when it is all summed up, so maybe it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was!