Thursday Thirteen for Aug. 17, 2006

Thirteen Things Party Pascha can't wait for! 1. Fall! Come on cooler weather! 2. Daughter's 2nd Birthday Party!! Fun times. . . 3. Start working on my "ideas" for Christmas presents. 4. Get the ball rolling on building our house. More later, than sooner :( 5. To be done with payments on my business. 6. The Fair!! I love the fair. The food, the crafts, the games, the food . . . 7. To get baby #3 "started" :P 8. Halloween. well, I can wait, but I love dressing up the kids and us (me & hubby). 9. To get started on our first official "unit" I planned for this year's homeschooling. We are going to try our first units this year and do notebooking. 10. To get my craft area cleaned up so I can get started on my new ideas for outfits for the kids. 11. To get some of the kid's toys and clothes weeded out and gotten rid of! 12. To get our bedroom back to looking like a bedroom. (instead of a giant hamper!) 13. To Win The Lottery!! (ha ha, yeah right!) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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You are NEVER going to believe this!!!

At the risk of letting someone else do the talking, I am going to post what my husband already posted on a forum board he visits. He was pretty detailed and he wrote it fresh--as soon as we got home. I will quote him and add my thoughts outside of the quotes. This is just crazy.

"My wife, kids and I were just on our way to OKC from here in Stilly. My wife likes taking hwy 33 to I-35, going the Langston-Coyle way. Before we reach Langston, my wife starts shouting that there was a woman on the side of the road waving her arms and that she is going to turn around. My wife is all about helping.

She turns around and this woman starts running toward our car screaming. Absolute hysterics. We get her to come to the passenger side and not the driver side, so she won't get hit, and she just keeps screaming, "DON'T LEAVE ME!! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" We ask her name, tell her to calm down because she is safe now, and what happened. She says she was taken from Wal-Mart in Waxahachie(sp) by a man with a gun. At that point I ask my wife for the cell phone. While I'm dialing 911 she starts screaming, "HE IS GONNA GET ME!! HE IS GONNA COME BACK FOR ME!!" My wife and I stay calm but are freaking out.

After telling the cops our location, I hesitate but get out of the car so she can get out of the rain. I was nervous about this because I could just picture her pointing a gun at my wife and telling her to drive or someone jumping from the side of the road and doing something to me. Neither happens and she just slumps down balling her eyes out. I go to the back of the car to get an umbrella and she starts screaming, "DON'T LEAVE ME, PLEASE!" I get the umbrella and we ask her some more questions.

We find out that the vehicle she was in was her own. It was an SUV and that he turned off a dirt road somewhere and stopped and then she got out and ran. We try to keep her calm and are wondering if this is real or if she is crazy.

The cops (Langston) arrive and try asking some questions, but she can't remember her phone number or what type of SUV other than it's a white Ford. Each time one of them would step away, again, she would scream 'don't leave me' over and over. They call for a Payne County Sheriff because we are still in Payne County. At this time, she pleads for us to take her home and call her husband. While on their way, we find out her age, her husband's name and that they own their own electrical business.

Payne County show up and ask for her phone number but she doesn't remember it. She also doesn't remember her tag number to her car. I ask if her car is a work car, thinking a lot of electrical businesses have their name and number on there, she says it wasn't. She also was not carrying anything. I asked her if he said his name or made any phone calls and she said he threw her phone out the window.

Soon, the ambulance arrives and she will not let go of me. They have to pull my arm away and she immediately grabbed one of the paramedics. They were gonna take her for an evaluation. My wife and I have to go to the Sheriff's office tomorrow and make a statement.

I hate to say this but I hope she was taken because I don't want her to be crazy. She was so distraught, was wearing a shirt referencing the state of Texas, and had a nice french manicure. My wife does nails, and I was like, crazy people don't have nails like that, do they!?!? Most of all I just hope they find out where she belongs. I can't get her screaming "Don't leave me and he is gonna get me" out of my head."

After posting this, my husband googles the name of the town and the name of the business she gave, which included her last name:
"even more freaky, there really is business in Waxahachie with their name

Estes Electric

and she said her husbands name was Gary" If you will notice the 4th entry from the map, he is mentioned.

"I just called the business number it gave me an emergency number. I called it and he, Gary, answered and he is on his way here to Stillwater and it was his wife. Wow, I am so glad my wife saw her. She (the lady) told us that no one was stopping for her."
I actually saw several cars drive by without even slowing down. This is a woman, at night, on foot! Is there no concern? She's also lucky no one hit her. She was on a two-lane, very dark highway.
Also, about the same time we found her, Gary was reporting her missing. And about the same time we were all headed into Stillwater, he was being called by his local police about her whereabouts.

"I just got off the phone with a sergeant from Waxahachie. They found her car not far from where we found her, but didn't tell me if they had found the man who took her."

On our way back home (we had to go back home, because this morning we have to make a statement at the sheriff's office), I said to hubby 'okay, I'm going to be my weird self' and he picked up where I was going and said,
"we had to leave late."
We were running sooo late. And we had been arguing about it, even. And I was driving. I never drive at night. And we went the back way (hubby doesn't go that way). I guess just everything was put into motion for us to find that lady. For all we know, that guy had chased after her and lost where the car was and was, himself, also roaming around that area (weilding a gun) and looking for her.
Thank you, GOD, that he didn't stumble upon us while we were waiting with her (before the police got there)!!!
Okay, gotta get ready for the police statement. God bless everybody and take care of yourselves.

"just a kid"

My sister gave my son this "toy" that teaches you math. He's in the back seat of the car and turns it on.
It says, "are you ready to become a math expert!?"
My son yells at the thing, "I don't want to be a math expert! I just want to be a kid!!"
I just busted out laughing.

Weird Things from the Past, Episode II

If you will go to this post and read the 2nd and 3rd posts, it is happening again! People are finding me and contacting me. I think it is cool, actually. But yet, still weird. I am always reminiscing in my mind about events and people and what-not. And that always causes me to wonder if they remember me like I remember them? And do they think about the kinds of things I think about, if they do remember me? And are the thoughts happy, sad, angry, or what? You know?
The person who found me that I mentioned in my previous post remembered something that I didn't even remember. And I guess I caused him to have a love for redheads for the rest of his life. I find that so flattering, yet kind of sad. Sad, because I never even knew he liked me. Granted, it was in 3rd (?) grade, but still. How many people did you have crushes on and they never knew? How many had crushes on you? You may never know. And some people don't care about things like that. But I am one who does. It's nice to know that people like you, even if you don't find out for 20 years. When you do find out, it makes your heart kind of dance. They like me, they like me. It makes you smile.
Of course, then that makes me start to think about the jerks in jr. high and high school who didn't like me. The ones who, when I would tell them how I feel, they would literally laugh in my face and make fun of me. Who does that? And are they suffering now? Did karma pay them a visit? Sometimes I hope so, but sometimes (because of my niceness)I hope not and that they are doing fine. (Maybe just get papercuts more often than normal, or something.) :)
Anyway, can't wait to find out who found me this time!
And I need to update my pics, because this particular Salazar name made me want people to know I'm not so "fat" in the face anymore. :) ha ha.
Although, that will change soon, because we are planning baby #3!! Yea!!

Beautifully written, but pissing me off . . .

This was sent to me by a fellow homeschooler. It prompted me to respond with the following:

oh my God! If you could see me now . . .
tears running all the way down my chest. (really, they are) My grandmother always said she never saw anyone whose tears traveled like mine do. This was the saddest thing I have ever read at almost 3 in the morning. The whole time, I was saying to the lady, "just quit what you're doing and be with your kids." Seriously, that was what I was saying. She was pissing me off. I know a few people who really need to read this. Just yesterday, I created a new "schedule" in hopes of doing more with the kids. Yes, cleaning is on there, but not much. I actually made a two week schedule to get the house in order. I was supposed to start today, but I just didn't get to it. :) The kids wanted to finger paint! And we had to do it outside! And they had to change their clothes a kagillion times (because Parker is many, many different superheros . . .) And then Dora came on. And we had to go get something to eat and take it to eat with daddy at work. And later, "So You Think You Can Dance" was on and while I watched, Lydia danced along and went back and forth between rooms, playing. Parker did the same. But many of my days are like this. Messy house, dishes piled up, toys strewn all OVER the house! But I really don't care. The main reason I care, is when the in-laws are coming over. Because they make comments to each other and then I hear about it later. But I will NEVER miss visiting my kids because I chose to clean my house, like my mother-in-law has. Or spend time tidying up the kitchen, which is already basically spotless, while my guests are in the other room chatting and wondering what I am doing (like said mil). Why do you think I have chosen to homeschool? Because, unlike some women, who say they can't wait for school to start so they will have time for themselves, I want to be around my kids as much as possible. I just hope they will continue to feel the same way about me.
~Pascha

I hope you use this to realize what is most important in your life. Realize it now before it is too late.