I am thinking of joining this book swap.  Has anyone had an experience with it??  Good or bad??

PaperBackSwap

This is our first year of having a vegetable garden.  My tomato plants are full of tomatoes. Once they all ripe I plan on making homemade Salsa.  I have made pickles in the past, but this is the first itme making salsa!   I can't wait!!!  We eat alot of salsa in our house. A great snack with chips!

http://www.pickyourown.org/salsa.htm

It is not often I share an email....but this was very inspirational......

Read the story below before you click the link and the video clip will be more meaningful to you.


Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried.

"The n, it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official.

The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following yea r.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Well, now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best t ime? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

I suppose I should do a real entry, I just haven't had the time to blog lately.  As a matter of fact I really haven't felt like it.   Today I was out and about this morning and then I came home to watch Erik so Josh and Amy could go to Josh's Dad's new house.   This morning I went to visit a friend who's son came home from his second tour in Iraq.  He is what I guess they call "walking wounded".  He has a traumatic brain injury and PTSS.    I have know him since he was 13 or so.   He is around 21 and really is struggling.  He has one more year as an active duty Marine.  It was hard to hear about it, since my nephew is in Iraq as well.  So young to have your life changed forever. 

I am cleaning up a bit around the house and working a bit today.   My mom is coming tomorrow and will be staying for about a week since my daycare is on vacation for the week.   I hpe she and I will be able to get out a few evening and do some things.  I really appreciate her watching Tommy for us.  This might be the last summer, since next year he will be starting school and my SIL will no longer do daycare. 

Josh is working at the college at least 20 hours a week and at Express.  He is hardly home.  He does come into my room each night and bounce down on my bed to bug me for a bit.   It is nice to just hang out with him a bit.  I just enjoy his company.   He makes me laugh!

Erik is struggling behaviorally, which is part of the reason I haven't blogged.  We are busy!  He is correcting every wrong he has done, but unfortunately he contimues to add more and more wrongs to the list to correct.   He is really on a roll.   Josh has been staying home most mornings to watch Erik.   The job Erik is working on now has been taking him about 3 days.  He would have been done yesterday, but he snuck a tool out of the garage and caused more damage.     He had to make some stuff up to Amy as well since he was not good when she watched him the other day.   She was nearly in tears by the  time we got home.  She couldn't figure out how he got into the things he did.   I sure hope he is good for my mom next week.

Tommy....he is great!   He is playing outside alot and enjoying the summer.  He can't wait for school to start.  He asks each day if he can go to school yet.   We have gone to the beach a few times and hope to check out a few parks in the area that we haven't been to.   He always loves to make a picnic and go to the park.  One of his favorite things to do.  We have started reading Chapter books.  He loves Horrible Harry and the Magic Treehouse Books.  We are reading the Magic Treehouse #4 right now that is about Pirates.   Boy does he think that is exciting!!

Hubby...is great!  Gotta love that guy.  He is working alot, but is home in the evening and helps out a bit.  We went to Puppy Kindergarten together last night to just get out of the house alone.   We are looking forward a quiet weekend soon!

Me.....I am busy working and reading.  I have been making sure I go to bed each night by 9:00 and read until I fall asleep.   It really has helped me to relax.   When I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed I accomplish alot of reading!!   Weight Watchers ended at my work since they didn't have enough paying members this time around.  too many made lifetime!!   I actually have been doing better since I quit going to WW.  I have lsot 4 pounds since I stopped going.   I think it helped to not focus some much energy on my weight.  Plus I am off the steriods now and that seemed to help as well.  So now I have to probably buy new pants for work!  I have to wear a belt with my size 8 pants.   I haven't been able to say that in YEARS!!!  I hope I can maintain it over the winter month.  Winters in Minnesota sure don't lend themselves to losing weight.  

 I best get going and clean the house some more!  Have a great weekend!!!!!

Has anyone tried The Zoobo Book Club???   You make a list like on netflicks and each month they send you the top book on your list and every book costs 9.95 with no shipping cost.  Hmm....I know I spend more than 10.00 a month on book right now....

OOPS...another browsing session at Barnes and Noble....my TO BE READ list.....just got longer

I found two books written by mothers who have a child with autism.  They are both fiction and sound very good.  

Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

Daniel Isn't Talking - Marti Leimbach

Of course I purchased one book while browsing....I bought The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards

Better Than Chocolate - Susan Waggoner - 4/5

I enjoyed this book.  It is about a couple who comes into some money and all the ways their life changes as a result.  They finally realize what really is important in their lives.    

Now to start a new book............

Had my review at work today....received a 3% raise....YEAH!!   Every little bit helps!

{Smacking Self in the Head}    When will I ever learn.........................time for me to stop while I'm behind.......back to Status Quo