Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

written by Melody of Slurping Life

The color orange predisposes me to visions of fat, round pumpkins followed closely by thoughts of hag-like witches. Because of my prejudice against the color, I certainly have never worn orange clothing. Who wants to be viewed as a fat, orange hag. In my narrow vision the color orange has always been somewhat insipid and reserved only for the trimmings of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Thinking of myself as an open-minded person and not wanting to be considered narrow-minded, I did a little reading and contemplating about the color orange.

Being a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food, but did you know it stimulates appetite? Orange is also the color of fall and harvest. It's one of those conspiracy things. You go to Fall festivals where there are tons of greasy fried dough artery clogging look at me and gain weight delicious food, and you gorge yourself on a delicacy called funnel cake (not that I've done this). The conversation goes, "Look at the beautiful arrangement of fall flowers and pumpkins? The fall colors are so pretty and....oh honey, let's each get a funnel cake." Orange's fault.

Orange is a very visible color used to catch attention and highlight important elements of design. Orange is a very effective color for marketing. Think about toys. The packaging is a virtual palette of circus colors with orange leading the ploy to suck a child into a hypnotic trance of drooling desire. This trance is broken only by the stern parental voice calmly stating no, which leads to wails of "I WANT THAT TOY!" as the child commences head banging against the nearest firm surface followed by writhing in the aisle. Thereby, orange is a highly effective marketing tool to increase pharmaceutical sales for Prozac.

Veering away from the negative aspects of orange, it turns out orange is a very hot color highly accepted among young people. Orange increases the oxygen supply to the brain producing an invigorating effect while stimulating mental energy. Team orange with a vibrant shade of pink, and you are mentally transported back to the psychedelic decade of the sixties. Hmmmmm. Orange is a stimulant...viewing the color orange gives a mental high, or at the very least produces a caffeine-like buzz. When worn with a vibrant shade of pink, orange makes you look like a hippie. Feeling groovy...make love not war...peace...cool.

It appears I haven't been completely justified in shunning the color orange. But when I see orange, it's so dang hard to get visions of pumpkins out of my head. Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It invokes thoughts of sunshine and the tropics. Orange symbolizes enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. Plus I found this. Some genius has developed a brief online quiz -What Color Orange Are You? Having come this far in my quest to vindicate orange I was not going to stop short. I completed the quiz. My results...I'm a true, bright orange...no variance in shade...

You Are Orange

Bright and intense, you embrace the world and all its opportunities. Change does not intimidate you, even if it's a complete life overhaul. You're a very real person. You aren't scared to show the world who you are.

Dare to find out...
What Color Orange Are You?

In light of my quiz results I'll bet you're asking, "Orange you glad you gave the color a chance?"

Melody embraces the thrills and chills of mothering four sons. She and her husband raised one son to the age of accountability, but the fun's not over. They adopted three more sons. The three younger boys with their zest for life promise to keep Melody busy until death...theirs or hers, whichever comes first. Visit Melody at Slurping Life.

Love For Parker

Written by Melody from Slurping Life

Help Parker and have a chance to win a Hewlett Packard digital camera , printer with accessories package (photo paper not pictured) retail over $400, or one of other great prizes.

What follows is my interview with Parker's mom, Tammy...

Tammy, please tell us a little about Parker.

Parker is the youngest of our six children. He is 2-1/2 years old. Parker was born 6 weeks early, weighing a whopping 4.8 pounds, with chronic lung disease, underdeveloped upper airway, tethered spinal cord, Atrial Septal Defects (2 holes in his heart), an imperforate anus and an extra chromosome on his 21st pair...Down syndrome. He was, and is, simply beautiful.

When Parker was a day old his imperforate anus was discovered. The doctors had to suck all food out of his stomach. Parker was then life flighted to Children's hospital where an emergency colostomy was performed.

Age 3 months old Parker had surgery to release his tethered spinal cord. It was after this surgery that Parker's severe Pulmonary Hypertension was discovered. Due to PH, he is on many very expensive medications, and needs durable medical equipment such as an oxygen concentrator for oxygen 24/7 and a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) for his severely obstructive sleep apnea. Parker's initial pulmonary hypertension levels were the highest his cardiologist, a specialist in PH, had ever seen.

Because Parker has been so sick for so much of his life, he is still unable to crawl or walk. He receives speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy, but on a limited basis. Our insurance company doesn't agree with Parker's prescribed frequency of therapies.

Parker is an amazing little man. Clever, happy and such a joy to have in our family. He's a fighter. We believe that Parker was put here for a reason, and it is our goal to provide the best medical care possible so that he can achieve his potential.

Parker certainly has been through a lot, how many surgeries has he had so far?

Altogether 5, which have included very long and scary PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) stays.

How many more surgeries to come?

Parker will have at least 2 more surgeries. One to correct the imperforate anus and another to reverse his colostomy. These are both exceptionally invasive procedures, and we must wait until Parker is healthy enough to withstand them. There is also a chance he will need surgery to repair the Atrial Septal Defects (the holes) in his heart.

While Parker is an adorable little boy, he also sounds tough. Does he get that from you?

Actually, I draw much of my strength from him.

Tell us about when you were told of Parker's medical problems.

During my pregnancy a routine ultrasound revealed that Parker's femur bones were short. This is a classic soft marker for Down syndrome. After several ultrasounds, we were given a 4%chance (based on the fact that I was 42 at the time and the shortened femurs) of Parker being born with Down Syndrome.

So you had no idea of Parker's medical issues before his birth, but were simply told of a small chance of his having Down Syndrome?

That's right. But the Down syndrome was a non-issue. Parker was our child, and we were totally in love with him. No other issues showed up during the ultrasounds. We thought Parker would be born very healthy, just as our other children had been.

Tell us about Parker's home life.

Parker is adored by two older brothers and three older sisters. Parker and his grandmother, my mom, have a magical relationship. The two of them are extremely close.

To help us keep Parker healthy we have him in what we call our "Safe Room". This is a Parker and Mom-Dad room only. His brothers and sisters may only come in one at a time after they have washed, sanitized and masked up.

Tammy, do you get out much? How do you find time for yourself in order to stay strong and cope?

I try to get out at least once a week just for me. Even if it's just a quick run to get a Dr. Pepper over crushed ice.....my biggest vice. We try to arrange one day per week with no doctor appointments, visits to the lab for blood draws, therapies, etc. It doesn't happen every week. There are some days that are very, very hard, and I have found that it helps to share my days on Parker's blog, Praying for Parker.

I keep a deep faith and tell myself that things are going to get better. That one day with God's help, Parker will be able to run and play like other little boys.

All of Parker's treatment sounds extremely expensive, how do you manage financially?

My husband is a Principal for our local school district. He is also working a second job. We have drained our savings account, taken out loans and wracked up quite the credit card debt.

We don't qualify for Parker to receive Social Security or Medicaid. We do have insurance, but unfortunately, we are part of a widely growing section of society whose insurance doesn't cover the medical bills. We don't make enough money to pay what our insurance company doesn't, and there are many, many things our insurance will not cover. It is a very large crack that many middle class families are finding themselves falling through. They wind up losing their savings, their homes and many times their marriages.

How can people reading this help Parker?

Right now the easiest way to help Parker would be to donate to "Love For Parker" , July 23 through July 27, by clicking the link or the "Love For Parker" button below. Not only will they be donating to Parker's medical fund, but they will have a chance to win a Hewlett Packard digital camera, printer and accessories package valued at over $400. And that's just one of many prizes that will be up for grabs during the love offering.

In addition to donating, bloggers could post this week letting their readers know about "Love For Parker" and include Parker's cute button which links to the love offering. (Below is the button code)

<center><div><a href="http://slurpinglife.typepad.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1312/846093317_2857082714_o.png " border="0" /></a></center></div>

Tammy, thank you for sharing your precious Parker with us.

I can't begin to tell you how incredible it feels to know that a group of people would get together and see in Parker the same potential WE see in him. Each and every time someone donates to Parker's medical fund, we feel the same exact way. We feel so incredibly blessed that there are others out there willing to give of their resources because they share in our hopes and dreams for Parker. We want Parker to be with us for a very long time. We are sincerely grateful for all of you who are able to see the very big potential in a very little guy.

A Bottle of Love

Written by Melody from Slurping Life

It's just an old brown bottle...

My Grandmama's hands caressed the glass

as she rolled out the dough.

Now I nestle the bottle in my hands.

My fingers tingle with memories of

dumplings, pies, cookies

talking, singing, laughter

and the love which fills me.

~

When my maternal Grandmother died ten years ago, her only personal belonging I asked to have was the brown bottle. For as long as any family member can remember, Grandmama used this bottle as her rolling pin. As a little girl, my summers were spent with my Grandmama...countless hours of happiness watching her roll out dough on the Hoosier cabinet in her kitchen. Traces of dried dough cling in the crevice of the bottle's lip. Traces of my Grandmother cling within me.

I love you, Grandmama. I miss you. ox

Three Stooges, A woman And A Dog

Written by Melody from Slurping Life


"When are you planning to have children?"

"We don't plan to have children." This was my standard response for the first four years of marriage, and it was always met with gasps and appalled faces.

Inevitably the next question, "Why not?"

"It just isn't in our plans" was always my reply...

~~~~~~~~

CRASH...THUMP...SCREECH...KER PLUNK...THUD

"Mooooommmmm!! Mom, help!"

So began the morning...excitement...adrenaline...anticipation...just another day. "Lee, what's going on?" I call down while untangling myself from bed covers and trying to comprehend the sounds that are repeatedly and forcefully coming from below.

CRASH...THUMP...SCREECH...KER PLUNK...THUD

"Boys, are you alright?" I call out.

"Yes, but we need help" Lee yells back.

By this time I have exited the bedroom and am standing at the loft rail overlooking the great room. Which, by the way, no longer looks great. Completely inconsistent with my normal response I freeze. Not my usual run down the stairs jump into the middle of an emergency and take command mode. I flippin' freeze...and stare...and begin laughing...laughing insanely...and cannot stop.

Looking up and seeing my mature response to the situation, Lee bellows, "Mom?! Help us. Do you see what Ursula is doing?" Lee is always the spokesman of the trio. "We can't catch her."

Ursula is our four month old, twenty pound shepherd-chow mix puppy. And she has overturned the kitchen garbage, pulled out the full trash bag and is dragging it along running with the swiftness of a cheetah...clearing all obstacles with the grace of a gazelle. Running with the coordination of a drunken elephant behind her, in front of her, and around her are three boys.

"Mom!" The boys scream in unison. "Help!"

Like this is the worse thing I've seen that involved the three of them. So I make my descent and join the chase. Taking note that there are smashed green peas, pulverized cooked carrots, slimy mashed potatoes and sundry trash items strewn everywhere...everywhere. As the chase continues my size 8 feet are now re-smashing and re-pulverizing peas and carrots...slipping and sliding on mashed potatoes as the four of us try to catch a puppy and her weapon of mass destruction. I round the kitchen island simultaneously hearing the cry, "Mom, watch out!" Too late. I slide across the floor landing face down in a...puddle...of...puppy...puke. But I caught the dog.

"Wow, great catch, mom." cheers Mac.

"I'm hungry" says Wil.

~~~~~~~~

I don't understand why we changed "our plans". One thing's for certain, this is one wild ride and I've never wanted to miss a single minute of it. Well, except the puppy puke.

Melody sucks up the joys of mothering four sons and blogs at Slurping Life. She and her husband raised one son to the age of accountability, but the fun's not over. They adopted three more boys. The three younger boys have many years remaining at home. Her special purpose (needs) boys and their zest for life promise to keep Melody busy until death...theirs or hers...whichever comes first.

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