Pass out or The Choking game WARNING!!

I thought Savannah was too young to even know about this, a deadly game called many things but most commonly "Pass out or The Choking Game", but tonight at her gym a group of "advanced" gymansts were in the locker room playing "PASS OUT", and one of them had trouble waking up, another gymnast walked in and went and informed a coach of what was happening.

These are girls, ages 10 - 15, most are 4.0 students, that work out 4-5 days a week, 4 hours a day. They are smart girls, but they made a bad decision, one that effected the whole gym, one that effected me. It scares me, it was too close to home. Our family had a long talk about the "game" and the concquences of it. Please do the same with your children, NOW, before its too late, then give them a big hug and make sure they know how much you love them!

Read below for more info about it..........


"For many of the nation's middle-school kids, it is an open secret: choking yourself or having a friend do it for you, passing out and reviving — waiting for that euphoric 10 second high as oxygen rushes back to the brain.

Boys and girls alike seem to be playing this asphyxiation game. The most common ages range for kids playing this is between 9 and 14, middle school age and early high school age kids. It is also called blackout, funky chicken, space monkey, flat liner, tingling and suffocation roulette.

Whatever they call it, kids are gambling on cheating death.

They choke themselves with belts, ropes, ties, their own bare hands, or even a bicycle chain lock, to deprive their brains of oxygen and get a drug-like high.

Apparently there are two parts to the experience. First, the high is when there’s light-headedness due to reduced blood flow and therefore a reduced flow of oxygen to the brain. The second part, the rush, comes with the removal of pressure on the chest or neck with releases a powerful surge of dammed up blood through the carotid arteries into the brain.

Kids do it to one another or to themselves. It is particularly deadly when they do it alone because there is no one there to be sure they come out of the pass out phase. Some develop brain damage and others die. This is something the kids do not seem to be talking about openly and often the deaths, when they occur, are misdiagnosed as suicides.

One expert in Atlanta says more and more kids seem to be doing this and good kids are doing it too. Some do it because of peer pressure, of course, and most do it for the quick, 5 to 10 second euphoria it creates. Apparently the quest for this high may be addictive."

Countdown.........

Swiped from Stacy's blog.......... thanks Stacy!

10 Favorites
Color: Deep Red
Food: Lobster
Month: June
Song: I can’t pick just one, right now I am listening to a lot of Rascal Flatts since I am seeing them in concert this week.
Movie: Grease
Sport: I love to watch Gymnastics, Soccer and OSU Beaver football
Season: Summer
Day of the Week: Friday
Ice Cream Flavor: Daiquiri Ice
Time of Day: Early evenings

9 Currents
Mood: Blah……its so yucky outside today
Clothes: Capris & Sweatshirt
Taste: Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper
Desktop: Cluttered with medical bills….yuck!!………oh wait maybe this means on my computer, that would be our family picture from this summer at the coast
Toenail Color: OPI’s, “The Lifeguard Makes me Blush”
Time: 8:18am, almost time for the kids to get on the bus
Surroundings: My warm, cozy home
Thoughts: Can’t wait for Thursday to get here, I am off on Friday! WOO HOO
Wonderings: Will it be snowing in Portland later this week, it can’t I just took off my snow tires!

8 Firsts
Best Friends: Jennifer
Kiss: Can’t remember his name, he lived behind me in 3rd grade though
Screen Name: the4ouvs
Pet: Dinky (our dog)
Piercing: Each ear, cant remember when though
Crush: John (in middle school)
Computer: Cant remember, it was around 1990 though.
Home Location: with Aaron? A crappy 1-bedroom apartment on Geary St., that he picked out while I was living in Philadelphia.

7 Lasts
Cigarette: High school, when it was “cool” to drink and smoke on the weekends
Drink: Last night (Captain Morgans and Diet Pepsi)
Kiss: This morning when Aaron left for work
Movie seen at the theater: Little Miss Sunshine
Phone Call: From Monica
CD played: Rascal Flatts, Me and My Gang
Gift received: Bottle of wine from Sonja on Valentines day

6 Have You Evers
Dated One Of Your Best Friends: No, as he was my not best friend until we started to date
Broken the Law: Sure, if speeding counts.
Been Arrested: No
Skinny Dipped: No
Been on TV: Yes, in the audience of the Price is Right, and AM Northwest when I was a princess in High school
Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: No

5 Things
You've Eaten Today: Graham crackers
You've Done Today: Woke up, showered, got ready for work, make school lunches, made breakfast for the kids, 2 loads of laundry, checked email, got mail ready to send to mom/dad…….boy its been a busy morning so far.
You Can Hear Right Now: Kids playing and singing
You Can't Live Without: Love, my family, cell phone, internet, hot hot showers, blowdryer, nail polish, dt dr pepper……
You Do When You're Bored: Surf the web, watch old movies

4 places you've been today
Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and computer room (so far I have not left the house)

3 people you can tell anything to
Aaron, Amanda, & Carey

2 Choices
Black or White: Black
Hot or Cold: Hot

1 thing you wanna do before you die
See my kids grow up, happily married & have children of their own

Our weekend.......

It is so rare that both kids get invited some where on the same night, but on Saturday Dominick was at a sleepover/birthday party and Savannah got invited to her best friend's house to spend the night. So we had no kids and did not have to pay a babysitter either.

So what did we do..........we debated about going to Legends for dinner and a little gambling afterwardes, but decided we did not feel like driving that far, so we talked about a movie with dinner, but finally decided that we have been running 24/7 latley so we went to Applebees for dinner, and rented 2 movies and stayed home for the night. It was great! I cant remember the last time we watched 2 movies in one night, or watched them without the kids wanting something, or fighting.

All in all it was a great night!

Valentine's Day 2007

Valentines day has never been a huge romantic day for Aaron and I. We met on St. Patrick's day, so we tend to go out and celebrate on that day. BUT today has been a wonderful day, full of surprises.

1st- Woke up to 2 dozen tulips and an I Love You balloon from Aaron and the kids.

2nd- Emma (one of my daycare girls) gave me a cute little school type valentine that says, "Miss Patty plays with the kids, gets drinks & lunch & going to sleep" that is what she told her mom to write on it. How cute!!

3rd- Savannah made me a wonderful card and gave it to me when she got up this morning, she really does love me, even though we but heads a lot!

4th- My dearest friend Mandy brought me Hot Chocolate from Starbucks on her way to work.

5th- When I went to open the door (when Mandy came over) there was a gift on my porch. It was from my childhood great friend Sonja. It was a bottle of wine, and a wonderful note.

I am blessed to have such great friends and family in my life!! It's the little things that matter!

PS: Dominick I am sure made me something, but I am not allowed in one his drawers of his dresser, but usually he remembers it a week or two after the holiday :) Silly boy, I better get him trained right before some girl gets her heart broke by him and his forgetfulness.

Change.....

A few weeks, or maybe longer I wrote that Change is in the air.............well it had gone from in the air to in the house. Last night a daycare parent told be that they would be having to leave, see they are getting divorced, she is moving in with her mother who lives in the same city she works, so the commute from Salem to Albany and back again TWICE a day is just to costly. Bye to 2 kids (or also known as $750). This morning another family that has been struggling to stay sane since the birth of their 3rd child, made a decision that she is going to quit work and stay home and be a mom for a while. Once again other wize known as $850.

So I need to make a decision. Do I look for more children, or do I decide to go back to work. Doing neither is no an option unless we would like to live in our Tahoe, but I just cant decide. I have not worked for anyone else in 12+ years. I am not sure that my kids are really old enough to stay home alone (even though it would just be for 1 hour most days). I am not sure that I want to do daycare anymore either though. I really just want to crawl in bed and go to sleep, and not worry about it. Strange this is that Aaron is usually the worrier, and he is sure that all will be fine, and it will work out for the best. Me on the other hand, has cryed so much I am sure I look like something that the cat dragged in.

I really am leaning to going back to work, I am tired of my house being constantly dirty, toys on the floor, my food bill $1000+ a month, my utilities sky high since we are home all day, etc.

BUT what about the dog, she is used to us being home, she is an inside dog.

There are too many variables, my brain hurts. Life will go on, change will happen. The future is certain to be uncertain.

Pacific Edge Challenge 2007

Savannah's gym holds a very large meet in Newport every February for the past 6 years. It is a HUGE undertaking, requires lots and lots and lots of prep work, team work, and parent volunteers. Even the kids work it, Savannah spent a lot of time ringing up sales in the concession area, and making change.

This year I was the volunteer and fundraising cooridnator. Next year I may not be. It was a great meet, the parents club made lots of money, the girls had a great time, but I am EXHAUSTED!! We left around 10am on Thursday, and returned at 6pm on Sunday.

Savannah moved from level 5 to 6 in between fall and spring season. Meaning she had 5 weeks to learn 3 new routines, and all the elements that went in them. The biggest challenges is a round off, back handspring, back tuck on the floor, a back walkover on the beam, and a fly-away (a back tuck while letting go of the high bar) on the bars. But she did it, and had a good 1st meet. Bars is a challenge to her, and it showed but I am darn proud of her effort and hard work this past month or so.

Great job Savannah!