DIS Divas, Take Two & Tyler....WooHoo!! COMPLETED!...OVER 1400 PICS!!

[DizNee Luver]

Did he buy the tv or did you??? I sure wouldn't have allowed it. I would have said, screw that bud.....you're on your own & I'm taking back my other tv. What a jerk & dare I say......IDIOT?!!

I'm so sorry Kelly.....I can't even imagine the frustration you must be dealing with.....sheesh......

I'll survive the walk.....gonna be there with my family, it will be fun, it's non competitive & all the walk is done in a park....so should be very relaxing....something I could use right now!!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh Kelly.

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Kelly, You are way to nice. I hope you can get his spending under control. Separation is hard at best but when one side seems to not understand money might be an issue. I am sorry. I hope it can be figured out. Good thoughts are being sent to you . Take care

 

[kaoden39]

Kelly, You are way to nice. I hope you can get his spending under control. Separation is hard at best but when one side seems to not understand money might be an issue. I am sorry. I hope it can be figured out. Good thoughts are being sent to you . Take care

Patty, you took the words right out of my thoughts.

 

[DizNee Luver]

We're home from the Walk Now for Autism Speaks!!! We had a good time & the weather was gorgeous.....got a bit warm towards the end....but could have been worse!!

We were up by 6am to get showered, twins fed & everyone out the door by 7:15. Traffic was really light....we allowed extra time, since it usually gets congested & slowing moving. Today we didn't have any issues. We arrived at Willamette Park in Portland around 8:15, so we parked, loaded up the strollers & walked over to event site. There was a playground, so the kids got to run around a have some fun!!

This is the shirt I had made up for the 4 littles......the 5 adults were all getting the official Autism Speaks Walk Day shirt....so I didn't want them to feel left out:

Here's my 4 littles before cutting them loose on the playground (and the dirt)......

Anthony helping Shy across the bridge:

Michayla making her way up the stairs with Ty in the background:

Our little monkey Addy:

They opened the bounce house & Michayla LOVED it......guess I need to redo her bedroom......lol

Shyann figured out how to get up the bouncy slide & had a lot of fun on it:

Here comes Addy head first down the slide:

Then Anthony spinning circles down it:

While the kids played, Nick, Mike & I went over to register our team & turn in a few last minute checks. We ended with $1015!!! We were pretty proud of our efforts for the first time!! We got tickets to turn in for our t-shirts & I went into the bathroom to change & dropped mine on the wet floor.....ugh....not bad...but made me a little sad.

We went back over to gather all the kids, put our team labels on our backs (with all our donors names) & go check out the booths there.

More in the next post!!

 

[kaoden39]

 

[DizNee Luver]

Here are the tents set up with providers of Autism services. There were service dogs, gymanstics, toys, therapies, websites for support & reviews of places to take your kids, etc.

On our way to the tents, we run into Arthur & Jesse Worthum from the Biggest Loser. Here's a pic for reference:

These 2 guys are the nicest, most personable people you could meet. For some reason I thought Arthur's child was autistic but I was wrong. He was approached by someone to support Autism Speaks as a cause & did some research on it. He was mortified to hear that it affects 1 in 110 children, 1 in 70 of them boys. He decided this would be the charity he backed. He was one of the top individuals as well as his team taking the number one spot with just over $10,000 collected!!!! We spoke for about 10 mins. (by the way.....Jesse's a hugger) lol After Arthur started telling people what he was raising money for....he got emails from friends from school, etc letting them know they had children affected with Autism....he had no clue. It was great getting to talk with them & here's a picture (minus Ty & Nick)

We wandered around the tents until they announced the Opening Ceremonies would be beginning in 15 mins. so we made our way to the stage area to wait.
While we waited, we had someone take a group shot of us!!

Addy & Anthony playing......they had one of the sticky/gummy hands that you fling at the walls.....looks like Addy had a nasty nose issue.......lol

The twins waiting:

Addy dancing to Selena Gomez:

Marie, Nick's fiance:

Nick & Tyler making faces behind him:

Are you sleeping Anthony?

Kayla:

Shy:

The love birds.......Nick & Marie:

Mike & I.....I actually like this picture!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Next up was the opening ceremonies. Geoffrey from Toys R Us was there & the crowd got to do the Hokey Pokey to warm up!!

This gentleman was emcee for the ceremony. His son is autistic & him & his wife have a large team that collected a large sum of money.

This gentlemen was the top money getter (I believe individually he raised over $5000):

Next up was Arthur & Jesse......Arthur spoke first:

Then Jesse's turn....he really pumped up the crowds:

While they finished the rest of the ceremony....Mike snuck off to get a picture of Safeway's contribution to the walk.....they supplied water, soda, cheese, nuts, cookies, apples, etc for all the participants. (of course the part he missed while he had MY camera was Safeway donating a $5000 check).....lol

Since Arthur & Jesse's Biggest Fundraiser's Team came in first place.....they got to lead us in the walk.....so somewhere at the front of the crowd is our leaders:

We were about the middle of the pack & here's what was behind us:

We walked around the Willamette Park & passed the boat launch area into the Willamette River:

I look across the field & our leader, Arthur is jogging!!!

Another picture of the Willamette River:

So I hopped ahead, turned around & got this picture of my team......I'm such a proud mom!!!!!!

When you reach the finish of the 2k walk.....you're greeted & high-fived by Arthur & Jesse:

This was the last pic we did.....we removed our tags off our backs that had our team name & donors listed & showed them proudly in this shot!!! Thanx again to all those who donated to Autism Speaks!!!

We all went to lunch at Applebees & then checked out Nick & Marie's new place.....very nice for them....glad they're in a better place now!!! We came home & that would be the end of today's activities. We had a blast....we can't wait to do it again & get ready.....fundraising will start earlier next time!!!

 

[DisDiva2]

WOW! This looks like so much fun! I am NEW here and have just discovered you! Am totally a DIS DIVA (check out my name) LOL Do you ever plan trips to Orlando? I recently moved to FL

 

[DizNee Luver]

Thanx Michele....it is something to cheer about.......the walk raised over $84,000 !!!!!!

WOW! This looks like so much fun! I am NEW here and have just discovered you! Am totally a DIS DIVA (check out my name) LOL Do you ever plan trips to Orlando? I recently moved to FL

Welcome!!! The girls trips are a blast!!! We tend to do our big trip to Disneyland, BUT.......a ton of the gals go to WDW pretty regularly & meet up for "mini" meets.....in fact theres a group going this fall. Go check out the Main Thread in the Community Section for the Dis Divas & introduce yourself & start following along. Maybe you can meet up with the gals when they go here in a couple months!!! The first page will have all the info you need regarding the February trip. Hope you can join us sometime!!

 

[kaoden39]

Wow Laurie that is great!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Wow Laurie that is great!!

It is pretty good, considering this was the third year.....but it's also the only walk held in Oregon.....I would love to see that number get much bigger!!!

 

[kaoden39]

It is pretty good, considering this was the third year.....but it's also the only walk held in Oregon.....I would love to see that number get much bigger!!!

I bet that it gets bigger every year.

 

[kelmac284]

Afternoon gals!!

Laurie what a wonderful day for you! I am so glad everything went well and how fun to meet Arthur and Jesse!

This past year was the first year I watched BL and although they were not my fav team I did enjoy them. Esp Jesse! So cool that you got to meet them!!

Regarding you all's questions no I didn't buy him the 2nd tv. He took MY tv out of my living room so I went and bought myself one the other day and had to buy a stand as well because we HAD a big 60 inch big screen that had a stand that went with it and I just bought a small 32 inch tv but with those new flat screens you can't exactly sit in on the floor plus I have my dvd player and my tuner and such and since I didn't give him any of that I needed a place for all that stuff. So I had to purchase that stuff well then like I said he got this brilliant idea that he needed an EXTRA tv so he bought one for himself out of the joint account. Granted that is his paychecks that go in there but for now that is the money that is supposed to support the girls and I and since he HASN'T been working he is rapidly draining it!

So today we went around to a bunch of garage sales and found a bunch of furniture and a washer and dryer although I told him he needs a fridge before he needs a washer and dryer. He can go to the dang laundry mat! But they made him a deal and he got a dresser, desk and the washer and dryer all for 200 bucks so that was a deal. And at another one we got 2 end tables and a coffee table for 20 bucks.

So he has his place pretty much furnished now except for a fridge which he hopes to find one in the next few days.

Of course now my living room is completely empty but luckily I have my family room furniture. I am hoping my parents can loan me some old stuff because the living room was the room the girls play in and they have their old tv in there. It is one of the old fashioned ones and it barely works but they watch their disney movies on it and stuff. Right now there is nothing in there and they would have to sit on the floor LOL.

Anyway we had our seeding tournament and the girls won almost all their games so that was good.

Now tomorrow I have to get my cable all figured out and then hopefully within a few days he will have most of his stuff figured out and he will be out of here for good.

I just hope he is back to work soon!

As of now he has STILL not heard anything!

I just wish I would hear back on that job so I didn't have to rely on him. I mean he still needs to support his kids regardless but I wish I was in a position that I didn't NEED him so I could just move on ya know!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I bet that it gets bigger every year.

They beat last year's attendance, Grand Club members & donations....so yes, I imagine each year will get bigger....but they need to get the southern half of Oregon involved or hold an event down there........I think the state of Oregon could do better than that!!

Afternoon gals!!

Laurie what a wonderful day for you! I am so glad everything went well and how fun to meet Arthur and Jesse!

This past year was the first year I watched BL and although they were not my fav team I did enjoy them. Esp Jesse! So cool that you got to meet them!!

Regarding you all's questions no I didn't buy him the 2nd tv. He took MY tv out of my living room so I went and bought myself one the other day and had to buy a stand as well because we HAD a big 60 inch big screen that had a stand that went with it and I just bought a small 32 inch tv but with those new flat screens you can't exactly sit in on the floor plus I have my dvd player and my tuner and such and since I didn't give him any of that I needed a place for all that stuff. So I had to purchase that stuff well then like I said he got this brilliant idea that he needed an EXTRA tv so he bought one for himself out of the joint account. Granted that is his paychecks that go in there but for now that is the money that is supposed to support the girls and I and since he HASN'T been working he is rapidly draining it!

So today we went around to a bunch of garage sales and found a bunch of furniture and a washer and dryer although I told him he needs a fridge before he needs a washer and dryer. He can go to the dang laundry mat! But they made him a deal and he got a dresser, desk and the washer and dryer all for 200 bucks so that was a deal. And at another one we got 2 end tables and a coffee table for 20 bucks.

So he has his place pretty much furnished now except for a fridge which he hopes to find one in the next few days.

Of course now my living room is completely empty but luckily I have my family room furniture. I am hoping my parents can loan me some old stuff because the living room was the room the girls play in and they have their old tv in there. It is one of the old fashioned ones and it barely works but they watch their disney movies on it and stuff. Right now there is nothing in there and they would have to sit on the floor LOL.

Anyway we had our seeding tournament and the girls won almost all their games so that was good.

Now tomorrow I have to get my cable all figured out and then hopefully within a few days he will have most of his stuff figured out and he will be out of here for good.

I just hope he is back to work soon!

As of now he has STILL not heard anything!

I just wish I would hear back on that job so I didn't have to rely on him. I mean he still needs to support his kids regardless but I wish I was in a position that I didn't NEED him so I could just move on ya know!

Jesse was quite the character......all pumped up & getting everyone else excited this morning!!! Arthur was super nice & very dedicated to this cause.

Glad you're getting him set up so he can go.....hopefully you both get calls regarding work....I know that will bring down the stress level immensely!!!!

Yay for the girls.....great job!!!

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

My word the twins are so big. I keep thinking they are toddlers. Both of the girls looked so sweet. Addie is just the cutest little thing. Lilly loves to go down the slides face first as I see Addie does. The kids and grand kids are going to wild wolf in a couple of weeks and Lilly would go down face first when she thought none of us were watching. What a sweet picture of Anthony helping Shyla across the play bridge. Doing that sort of thing stands out -- remember next time he gets himself into a jam and before you get hurt that they got into a jam then mad they got into a jam -- lol -- think back to the picture in your mind of him helping his little sister cross a very big bridge. Then smile, then send him to room .

I think I saw my name on Mikes number -- Ya there it is LOL. I only know my name was on his as I did over the internet.

Did you get a hug for me from Jessee and Arthur? I see jesse is still doing great. I know Arthur was the biggest ever to be chosen for BL but I do not think he has lost anymore since going home. They should have him back --as he had so much to lose. He is way to young to carry that much extra weight. That is so nice that he picked this to be his charity of choice. My husband gives to salvation army -- that is his charity --- We both give to volunteer firemen. I guess the volunteers are not funded in anyway besides donations. I can't pick Dale up when he falls anymore -- I just call the fire dept and fast as can be they have Dale up and around. They check him out to make sure he is ok also. They are such a blessing. I donate to charities that I am personal with. I support dialysis center as my main but also smaller donations to deserving charities.

I an sure you will raise more next year. You worked very hard to get donations this year. The good thing is most people continue to donate to organizations they are familiar with. I would think all if not most will donate again next year.

That was so nice of Safeway to donate all of the stuff. A Big wow. Makes me proud to shop there .

Big question is -- How did you feel at the walk? I hope over all you are feeling better.

Have a great night. Back to the Disney trip planning now.

Kelly Have you thought of bean bags for the girls? Those are so comfy and actually feel like they warm up the longer you sit in one. I am not a fan of those bags if you have little ones as the the stuffing can get caught in throat/lungs. Since your kids are older it might be an idea.

Patty

 

[DizNee Luver]

My word the twins are so big. I keep thinking they are toddlers. Both of the girls looked so sweet. Addie is just the cutest little thing. Lilly loves to go down the slides face first as I see Addie does. The kids and grand kids are going to wild wolf in a couple of weeks and Lilly would go down face first when she thought none of us were watching. What a sweet picture of Anthony helping Shyla across the play bridge. Doing that sort of thing stands out -- remember next time he gets himself into a jam and before you get hurt that they got into a jam then mad they got into a jam -- lol -- think back to the picture in your mind of him helping his little sister cross a very big bridge. Then smile, then send him to room .

I think I saw my name on Mikes number -- Ya there it is LOL. I only know my name was on his as I did over the internet.

Did you get a hug for me from Jessee and Arthur? I see jesse is still doing great. I know Arthur was the biggest ever to be chosen for BL but I do not think he has lost anymore since going home. They should have him back --as he had so much to lose. He is way to young to carry that much extra weight. That is so nice that he picked this to be his charity of choice. My husband gives to salvation army -- that is his charity --- We both give to volunteer firemen. I guess the volunteers are not funded in anyway besides donations. I can't pick Dale up when he falls anymore -- I just call the fire dept and fast as can be they have Dale up and around. They check him out to make sure he is ok also. They are such a blessing. I donate to charities that I am personal with. I support dialysis center as my main but also smaller donations to deserving charities.

I an sure you will raise more next year. You worked very hard to get donations this year. The good thing is most people continue to donate to organizations they are familiar with. I would think all if not most will donate again next year.

That was so nice of Safeway to donate all of the stuff. A Big wow. Makes me proud to shop there .

Big question is -- How did you feel at the walk? I hope over all you are feeling better.

Have a great night. Back to the Disney trip planning now.

Kelly Have you thought of bean bags for the girls? Those are so comfy and actually feel like they warm up the longer you sit in one. I am not a fan of those bags if you have little ones as the the stuffing can get caught in throat/lungs. Since your kids are older it might be an idea.

Patty

The twins are getting big.....hard for people to remember, that eventhough they're the size of a regular 4 yr old.....their brains are that of a baby. We even have trouble with that at times.

Anthony can be a wonderful big brother....but he can Jekyl & Hyde very quickly. I do appreciate his help....just wish he was like that all the time.

Arthur looked pretty good....I think he's dropped some since leaving the show.....but he still has a ways to go. Jesse looked good.....not thin but healthy looking. Very sweet guy, energetic & loves giving out hugs!!!

Autism Speaks is working with Safeway hoping to get them more involved. Safeway does month long collecting for different charities....so we're hoping they'll take on Autism Speaks this next year.

Having more time to work on donations should help next year & if I can keep my list of donors this year...hopefully I can go back & get return donors!

I did ok at the walk....thankfully the shoulder pain is subsiding, having my arm down started to make it ache. I decided not to push a stroller as I'm really trying to rest my arm....so resting it on the stroller while walking didn't happen. I slept good last night (or passed out) & found a spot on my mattress that pushed up on my ribcage & that actually felt good. Occassionally today my ribcage hurt & made me gasp....but that was mostly sitting in the car. Thanx for asking!!

 

[kaoden39]

Isn't it amazing how helpful a good nights sleep can be? I find with my shoulder that if I push anything like a grocery cart and hit a bump it hurts like a dickens. Do you have any problems with your hand freezing?

 

[kelmac284]

morning all! Laurie it sounds like yesterday was a perfect day!

Glad to hear your shoulder pain is subsiding a bit and I hope it keeps on the mend!

Patty I actually DID think about bean bags but I would probably have to buy those new and eventually I am going to want furniture anyway so I am thinking now about doing some garage saling myself. If I can find a couch for like 50 bucks I am going to get one and if it is not so pretty then I will just use it till I can afford a better one.

We used to have a montgomery wards outlet here and my ex and I bought a TON of stuff there. A couch, a kitchen table and some other stuff. It was decent priced and new stuff. But I don't know if there is anything like that anymore. I haven't needed to buy furniture in years and with the recession all the places I USED to buy furniture seemed to have gone out of business LOL.

Anyway today he is getting his cable tv and I am getting my internet. I sure wish I didn't have to go back to comcast. they are SO dang expensive and not that great. But I had AT&T and they started capping their service and they had NO cust service at all. And then we got this one called CLEAR but I am not thrilled with them either and there is just not that many choices unfortunately. So now I am going to have to go back to the most expensive one which I really DON'T need right now but don't have a choice. I HAVE to have internet esp with my job search.

Which by the way I STILL have not heard back. I am wondering how long it is going to take to schedule me for the computer test??? I want to get moving on this thing cuz that is just step 2 in about a 10 step process to get hired. UGH!

Anyway I think Shane is going to try and find a fridge today as well if he has time cuz after he gets his tv installed he promised me he would be here when the comcast guy comes cuz I don't know about that stuff and I want someone here who DOES know so I make sure it gets set up right!

Then we have to go to the grocery store but IF he gets a fridge he may be able to get out of here by tomorrow. He still needs to get his bed over there and the rest of his clothes and then he has a bunch of misc stuff. Stuff in our file cabinet, stuff in the garage etc.

Get this I live on an acre and he is taking our lawn mower! Don't know how I am supposed to get the lawn mowed! And I DEF can't afford to go buy a mower! BLEH!

Anyway so that is my plans for today. Part of me is glad that he is almost out but I haven't been sleeping well just stressing over how everything is going to work. We don't have anything formal agreed about the girls and we have some tentative plans but I am afraid it is going to get nasty like EVERYTHING else and then of course there is the money. So I have been stressing quite a bit. I told Katy last night that I will just be SO glad when I get a job so I don't have to rely on him anymore!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Isn't it amazing how helpful a good nights sleep can be? I find with my shoulder that if I push anything like a grocery cart and hit a bump it hurts like a dickens. Do you have any problems with your hand freezing?

No hand freezing.......I can't take the cold....it hurts like crazy (part of the fibro)...like carrying a gallon of milk is physically painful for me because of the cold.

morning all! Laurie it sounds like yesterday was a perfect day!

Glad to hear your shoulder pain is subsiding a bit and I hope it keeps on the mend!

Patty I actually DID think about bean bags but I would probably have to buy those new and eventually I am going to want furniture anyway so I am thinking now about doing some garage saling myself. If I can find a couch for like 50 bucks I am going to get one and if it is not so pretty then I will just use it till I can afford a better one.

We used to have a montgomery wards outlet here and my ex and I bought a TON of stuff there. A couch, a kitchen table and some other stuff. It was decent priced and new stuff. But I don't know if there is anything like that anymore. I haven't needed to buy furniture in years and with the recession all the places I USED to buy furniture seemed to have gone out of business LOL.

Anyway today he is getting his cable tv and I am getting my internet. I sure wish I didn't have to go back to comcast. they are SO dang expensive and not that great. But I had AT&T and they started capping their service and they had NO cust service at all. And then we got this one called CLEAR but I am not thrilled with them either and there is just not that many choices unfortunately. So now I am going to have to go back to the most expensive one which I really DON'T need right now but don't have a choice. I HAVE to have internet esp with my job search.

Which by the way I STILL have not heard back. I am wondering how long it is going to take to schedule me for the computer test??? I want to get moving on this thing cuz that is just step 2 in about a 10 step process to get hired. UGH!

Anyway I think Shane is going to try and find a fridge today as well if he has time cuz after he gets his tv installed he promised me he would be here when the comcast guy comes cuz I don't know about that stuff and I want someone here who DOES know so I make sure it gets set up right!

Then we have to go to the grocery store but IF he gets a fridge he may be able to get out of here by tomorrow. He still needs to get his bed over there and the rest of his clothes and then he has a bunch of misc stuff. Stuff in our file cabinet, stuff in the garage etc.

Get this I live on an acre and he is taking our lawn mower! Don't know how I am supposed to get the lawn mowed! And I DEF can't afford to go buy a mower! BLEH!

Anyway so that is my plans for today. Part of me is glad that he is almost out but I haven't been sleeping well just stressing over how everything is going to work. We don't have anything formal agreed about the girls and we have some tentative plans but I am afraid it is going to get nasty like EVERYTHING else and then of course there is the money. So I have been stressing quite a bit. I told Katy last night that I will just be SO glad when I get a job so I don't have to rely on him anymore!

Hope he finds a fridge & can get the rest of his stuff out.

TSA = Government = Hurry Up & Wait = This is not going to be a quick process........ Just sayin'.........