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October 01 Where have I been?I've been going crazy!! There is so much going on in life right now. I am homeschooling both kids this year. Alicia is still putting up a fight on getting her work done, but she's plugging along. Reece, however, loves it! It is so exciting that I am teaching my own child to read! We also have speech therapy for Reece, gymnastics for both, choir (on different days) for both, keyboarding for Ali, field trips...we are super busy!
The biggest consumer of time and stress at the moment is my sister's wedding in a week. I made it through the bridal shower, which I co-hosted with her future sister-in-law (and my personality twin) Jennifer. The wedding is October 10 and we still have to finish the centerpieces, the corsages, the flower girl basket. I cannot believe how much we already have done, though. It is looming large! Tomorrow Karnette and I go for our manicure/pedicures. I can't wait for a little bit of relaxation!
I need to run and do some housework and homeschooling. I'll try to write more later and possibly add some photos. July 08 I cannot believe it has been this long!!!Wow. So much has happened since I last updated!!
Mike and I had our 13th wedding anniversary on April 21. It was a very kick-back, low-key day and that was perfect.
Reece turned 6 on May 27th. We had his party with the family the Sunday before, with BBQ and all sorts of loud fun. He had a great time. I cannot believe that he is 6 already!! I also signed him up for Kindergarten, another thing that is rattling me.
Indiana Jones!
Six candles!
His gift from Aunt Karnette - a robot. His cousin Johnnie looks thrilled and Alicia looks like she's been at a frat party.
Money!! Notice that his sister is very interested...
This was his gift from Grandpa Dan. He was so super excited!! I still need to hang that super-heavy thing on the wall. He dresses himself, by the way. Three days later, Anayla graduated from high school. The very next day she turned 18!! Oh, and the day before graduation, she got her braces off! She was one very happy girl. She had a combo graduation/birthday party the following Tuesday. It was 80s themed. Getting her diploma
Right after the ceremony; Lindsay, Reece, Me, Alicia, Anayla and Mike
Aly and Anayla at her party
Some of her friends actually dressed up.
Other than all of that excitement, we've just been enjoying the summer around the house. The kids have been playing a lot in the pool.
And that is about it for our summer so far. I think you're up to speed now.
April 13 We've been busyActually, we've been more sick than anything else. Last week was a doozy! Both kids got a virus that caused a rash, from what I can tell it was roseola. Alicia also had strep throat. I got acute pharyngitis and Mike got strep throat. We were all miserable!
Luckily, we were well in time for Easter, although Alicia still has quite the cough. This Easter our church brought in Cheri Peters for the whole weekend. She spoke for vespers on Friday, church service on Sabbath, vespers Saturday and the Prayer, Praise and Pancakes breakfast on Easter Sunday. It was wonderful! I could just listen to her all day long.
Easter afternoon we went to my mom's house for dinner. Yum! She and Dan put out quite the spread, with all of us bringing a little something. They BBQ'd some lamb with a really good berry sangria sauce. So yummy!! I brought a macaroni salad, there was fruit salad, potato salad, chips, pickles, olives, cookies, asparagus...oh so much food! In addition to all of those goodies, I made a cake the kids requested. My dad bought me a bunch of cake pans for my birthday and one of them is a really cute bunny. So we had a bunny cake for Easter! Absolutely adorable.
In other news, our fence is up and it is huge. The neighbors decided that they wanted it to be 8 feet tall. It feels a little like a slap in the face (are we really such bad neighbors?), but I told the kids that at least when they are getting in and out of the pool this year the neighbors won't be able to see them. We had to have all of the jasmine pulled for the fence to go in and it looks so much roomier back there now! I worked in the yard for a couple of hours today. Mike got me a couple of mini rosebushes for Easter so I planted those and then raked the flower bed. I pulled lots of weeds from the yard. I'm getting it all ready for the insurance inspection! Once the insurance finished their inspection, I will be putting up the pool and then planting a lawn. I've also decided I'm going to put some wall planters on the giant fence and rig up a couple of retractable clotheslines. I'm actually excited about my yard!
Now I just need to borrow a truck and finish getting rid of the excess stuff. April 03 Just a wee test while I try to stay awakeYesterday I tried and tried to do a strikethrough and could not
Imagine that. I had to switch to HTML view and not just type the code in the regular view. The things I learn late at night after Windows Live messes with the blogs. Good to know. I'm sooo tired...I have made a vow, though, not to leave teenagers unattended in the house. I want to sleep so badly, but Anayla and her boyfriend Holst are making a birthday card for his dad. Of course, it's not just any birthday card, it has pop-ups and graphics, which is fitting since his dad is an engineer. Still, I am really, really tired. I think Mike will be home any minute and I'll be able to go to bed while he eats dinner and settles in for the evening. I know that poor man is tired, too, he's been gone since 5:30 this morning. He works another double tomorrow, but luckily he won't be leaving until 1:30 in the afternoon so he'll be able to get a little bit of sleep.
I'm not even checking this for errors. Sleep nearly overcometh me. April 02 Moving right along...We have made so much progress in the back yard! Well, technically not we as in Mike and myself. Here's the update:
I finally talked to Michelle, who lives behind us and it turns out she's actually pretty nice. There was a misunderstanding on my part, I thought that she was the woman I talked to years ago about the fence back when the house was still owned by my very ill in-laws, but it turns out she's only been married to Johnny for 5 years so it wasn't her after all. Thank goodness! She is very nice.
She also decided to use the fence builder I contacted. Whew!!
Last weekend Johnny, in an effort to save a bit of money on the whole cost of the fence, ripped the fence out himself - with his gloved hands! Considering it was all fallen over and falling apart, I guess that wasn't a huge job, but hey, he did it! I started the next day on removing the vines. I got about a 3 foot stretch out and went in the house whining to Mike. We decided to hire someone so we went with Michelle's recommendation and hired their yard guy (he does most of the yards in the neighborhood) to remove the vines and take them to the dumps. Thank goodness we did that! The poor man was out there with a chainsaw, hacking away at the stupid wisteria!
At any rate, all the vines are gone, my rose bushes are visible once more (Michelle was surprised because she didn't know they existed, lol) and we have a start date for the fence, which is a good thing because Michelle and I could currently just walk through our back yards to each other's houses and hang out and talk about skin care. She's an esthetician, by the way.
Friday the fence builders come and start on dividing us once more. Once they are done I will get started on leveling a nice area for the pool so I can work on putting it up. Hopefully it hasn't sprung any leaks since being piled up in the corner since last summer. The next step will be a lawn and then I'll be living large, baby!
As for the front yard, the yard guy, Randy, seems to think that if I just turn around the valve I can get water to the other side of the driveway. It's worth a shot so I'll probably go down this weekend and buy a couple of small pieces of PVC parts and get it done. I can't wait!! Maybe I'll see how much it would cost to have sod delivered and I won't have to seed a yard in the front... March 19 The YardI got the estimate on the fence today. It was for $1920. That's a lot of dough! We should only pay half of it, but it's nice to know that I got a price from a reputable company. Not that I don't trust the woman behind me, but....I really don't. It's hard for me to trust someone when she's just pulling out friends of friends for estimates. Now I need to call her and have a little talk. We can either go with a decent company, like the one that gave me the estimate, or - and this is kind of what I want - she can pay for materials and my mom's boyfriend Dan and I will do all the work. That is much cheaper for everyone all around, considering he can get the supplies for around $500.
Anyhow...instead of working in the yard this morning, which I should have done, Alicia, Reece and I planted pretty things in hanging planters. We spent way too much money on the flowers. I need to find somewhere cheaper. OSH was misleading with their signage. Oh well. They turned out so pretty! Here are some pictures:
        March 16 The Money PitDo you remember that movie with Shelly Long and Tom Hanks called "The Money Pit"? They were newlyweds who bought a beautiful fixer-upper mansion and the place literally started to fall apart around them. What was supposed to be some simple upgrading turned into a major, expensive, months-long overhaul that nearly ended their marriage.
Mike and I now own the money pit. So far it hasn't harmed our marriage.
Currently, I am working on getting estimates for the back fence. It blew over in the bad weather. The woman behind me (Michelle) and I are really getting to know each other. Probably better than we wanted. My insurance company has told me that if we file a claim our rates will probably go up, and it didn't seem like just a little bit. Also, I got a letter stating that the fence needed to be fixed or they would be dropping us as we weren't maintaining to their standards.
Um, why do they think I called them in the first place? This is why they work insurance and not for NASA.
Since we bought this house not even 6 years ago, we have:
The other day, I opened the bi-fold doors to the closet in the entry and they fell off in my hand!! THAT was a surprise!! Just one more thing to add to the list, I suppose... March 05 Too loud!!Just a few minutes ago Reece was upset because the TV was too loud. It had gone to commercial, well a song, really, since it was Disney channel, and it was much louder than the movie that was airing. It pretty much played like this:
Mom: "Wow, that's really loud."
Alicia: "Yeah, it is, but I like this song."
Reece: (Whining and squealing at high volume) "Turn it dooooooownnnn!! It's too loooooooouuuuddddd!!!!" Reece proceeds to try to turn it down himself while his sister throws herself in front of the set with her arms spread out wide. Pushing and pulling with some yelling commences.
Reece: "Turn it down!! TURN IT DOWN!!"
Mom: "It's a song so it's okay."
Reece: "But Mom! It's too loooooouuuuudddd!!!"
Mom: "Then come sit back here with me instead of directly in front of the TV so it isn't so loud."
Reece: "No! I don't want to move!"
And so it goes...common sense does no good in this house. If it did, socks would make inside the hamper instead of next to it, towels would be hung on the racks instead of thrown crumpled below them and the butter would never be left out. January 21 Working in the home...I don't get paid for my work anymore. I haven't been paid for nearly 8 years now. Ironically, I work far harder and with far fewer breaks than I ever had when I had a paying job. I get paid in kisses now. I have been working on getting my house cleaner. This has been a real issue this winter because I've had a little bit of seasonal depression. I don't think it's anything to get help for, but it does affect how much I get done around here. The past week has been really sunny and I've been so much more motivated! Except today, unfortunately, because it's acting like it's winter and raining...and it's supposed to continue the rest of the week. I took some before and after pictures for motivation yesterday. I am not going to post them all because I don't want to risk being turned in for house neglect (hahaha!), but I will post a few. My kitchen was pretty messy. I think no one else ever puts anything away!! Here's a counter in the kitchen:  Isn't that horrible?! Here is how it looks now....  So much better! You could SEE yourself in those tiles!! Woohoo!! Here's another counter...I don't know what happened here...  Seriously, cassette tapes? We don't even have a tape player!! Wait,we do...but it isn't used!!  Isn't that better? Did you even realize that there were actually fish in that tank? I think they didn't know that there were humans outside of it! Now, the front bathroom is a sore spot for me. There are 8 people living in my house right now and 6 of them routinely use that bath.  This is what I see nearly every morning when I go into the bathroom. How depressing, right? This is how it looks after I take a mere 3 minutes:  Now that's a bathroom people won't be afraid to use, unless, of course, they have a phobia of sea shells. This morning I continued my cleaning. I hit the kids' book basket in the living room. I intended to just straighten up the books and the liner but then I discovered all sorts of treasures hiding in there. I pulled them out and took a picture so I would have proof. I cannot believe what was lurking in that thing!  That's right. These items were in the book basket. There's gum wrappers, a pen, band-aids, a super ball...but then it just gets weird. That's a tube of cream blusher. And a really beat-up hairbrush. The straw to an organic milk. A stick from a corn dog. A chicken bone!! Yes, a CHICKEN BONE!!! Were they eating while reading? Those raisins....they weren't raisins when they entered the basket, I can assure you of that. They were still grapes at the time. Scissors....why scissors? And Reece's new sock. I got him a pack of socks and haven't been able to find one since I opened it. Well, silly me, I should have been checking in the book basket! That's a small taste of my life around here. January 17 Sometimes I get tired of trying to think of a title...and it's a requirement! Life here is normal. Just normal. The days don't seem to be much different one from the next. The house is never the same as I wish it to be. I work on it and it gets a little closer and then the kids seem to notice that something isn't quite right, that something is not the was it was. And then they realize...the house is clean!! Immediately, without forethought, they work in tandem to mess it up to its former messy glory. The toys are dragged back out from their places and into the living room...the dining room...the hall...the bathroom...the kitchen. Food materializes mysteriously on my just-swept floors. Where does it come from? I am surprised that we don't have rodents running about with abandon. My back decided to go out on me last night. How rude, right? I stood up from the house and it started to spasm, each twinge shooting a sharp darting pain through my body. I still changed the litter box because the smell was about to knock me out. I swear, not 10 minutes earlier the thing did not smell. I think that cat has super-urine. Anyhow...my back hurt and I was grumpy. I went to bed and proceeded to not sleep well because, well, my back hurt. I was supposed to get up this morning and go to church, but I had a feeling that I could not sit in a pew all morning and be able to walk afterward. I called my mom and told her I wasn't going to make it to church. She said she would take Anayla. Anayla was up and getting ready. She may as well go, even if I couldn't. Alicia got up and decided she wanted to go, too. They both got ready for church. My mom came and got the girls and brought me some Aleve because somehow we had run out of it. I proceeded to doze on the couch. Reece finally got up and wandered out into the living room. He carefully cuddled with me and we dozed off and on. He roused enough to ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so I carefully eased up and made one for him. It sounded pretty good so I made one for myself. Oh, it was heaven!! I do not know the last time I had a PB&J!!!! The mere stickiness of the peanut butter makes me shy away, not because I can't wash my hands but because it tends to stick to my belly and thighs!! My mom and Dan brought the girls back from church and my mom checked on me. She helped Alicia change her clothes. I know that Ali is 8, but for some reason she is on this kick where she wants us to help her pick out her clothes. As if it was that hard to pick a sweat suit and T-shirt. Mom left and I was alone with the kids. I continued to try to get some rest. Yeah, right! The kids were in top form, fighting over everything from who had a certain toy to who was breathing too much. They didn't start out that way. They were getting along just fine. So well, in fact, that I agreed to help them make cupcakes. Alicia got a princess cupcake kit for Christmas and was dying to use it. They both helped with the ingredients and she stirred it (100 times!). They put the papers in the muffin tins and I poured in the batter and we stuck it in the oven. They sat in front of the door and watched through the glass as the cupcakes rose. Such happy family bliss! Then the fighting began. I don't know how it started. I don't know all that was involved. All I know is, I did not enjoy it. I was so upset with them by the time the cupcakes cooled that I was not about to help them frost those things! Karnette and her girls came home and Lindsay finally agreed to help them. They decorated the cupcakes and Alicia came around and gave one to everyone. I have to say, that mix wsn't the best. They must have made the frosting extra sweet to make up for the fact that the cake was not sweet at all. But we still ate them. Now, it's late at night and my back is feeling a little better. Of course, I took more Aleve for my back. I'm waiting for Anayla to get back from her formal. Tonight is the winter formal. She spent a couple of hours getting ready and looking beautiful and then I dropped her off. I did take a few pictures and she promised to take lots more. I'll have to post them later. Right now, I think I'm going to take a nap. January 04 The morbid waitingI got a phone call Friday saying that my grandma was not doing well at all. She had stopped eating, was back in the hospital and had slipped into a coma. As you can imagine, this put quite the damper on my day. I got nothing else done the rest of the afternoon and went into Sabbath with a really messy house, something I normally cannot stand to do.
Sabbath morning came and I had heard nothing from my mom on the grandma news. I called mom and she and Dan were getting ready to head up to Sacramento to visit her. I don't blame her, that is her mother, but I wasn't about to load up a bunch of kids and take them to see my grandma in a really bad position. The kids and I got ready and we headed off for church. I was so blessed by the service, it was communion, which I love and the pastor gave a wonderful sermon. Anayla's friend Kristy sang "My Redeemer Lives" by Nicole C Mullen and did such a beautiful job! I let Alicia participate in communion since she is able to tell me the significance of the footwashing, bread and grape juice. Reece felt a little left out but I told him when he is old enough to understand he can join in, too. Khori and Tyler happened to come to church (Khori being there was an answer to daily prayer by the kids) so Reece stayed in the sanctuary with them during footwashing, which was a big help to me. They both took communion, though, and it was Tyler's first one. I'm glad that he feels comfortable enough to come to church and participate.
I had left my phone at home so I wanted to get back to the house quickly following church. Of course, Anayla feels she has to be a social butterfly and started to complain until I told her I wanted to make sure no one tried to call about grandma. That got her moving, finally. When I got home there were no messages. I thought about calling my mom but I didn't know if she was at the hospital or with my aunt and uncle or what. The hours slipped by and still no call.
Finally, Karnette called and said that she broke down and called mom. Grandma was out of the coma and they were sending her back to her care home! What?! Mom called shortly after and filled in the details. Friday night, my cousins Darin and Nick, and Darin's wife Tanisha went to see grandma. While they were there talking to her, she started to talk back to them!! She came out of the coma responsively. In the morning, she was still talking. She is still bleeding and they don't know what is causing it, but she has lost 2 pints of blood since her transfusions. She now has a do not resuscitate order so there will be no more transfusions. Since she has a DNR, there is no longer a reason to keep her in the hospital. She was released to her care home on hospice.
And now, the morbid waiting resumes. December 26 The post-Christmas crashWell, Christmas is over. Boy, am I glad!! I spent two days prior to baking. I am not a baker! I can bake, I just don't really enjoy it. However, I was hosting Christmas so I baked. I made 3 part cookies, Mexican wedding cookies (oh, yum), walnut fudge, rocky road fudge, two pumpkin pies and a caramel apple pie. I told you I was doing a lot of baking!!
I got a little smarter this year and had the wrapping done ahead of time. No more staying up all night to wrap gifts on Christmas Eve!! Of course, the kids are also getting older and nosier so I had to get things wrapped before they found them. I did stay up late Christmas Eve, though, waiting for that caramel apple pie to finish baking.
My house is a disaster. It is so messy! I have nowhere - and I mean NOWHERE - to put these gifts. The sofa is piled up. There are piles in the corner of the living room. Stuff all over the dining room floor. The bedrooms are stacked. I should have said one gift a person since there are eight of us living here. Oh well. There are boxes stacked on more boxes, which are on yet more boxes. I usually save them. I actually threw a bunch out. I'm considering getting rid of all of them. I have no room in my garbage cans. The recyclable bin is overflowing and the garbage won't be picked up until Tuesday morning. It's only Friday!!
The kids loved their gifts. I was most worried about Anayla because she is so hard to buy for! Luckily, she loved everything I got her but one sweater. She did say that the one sweater isn't too bad and it will probably grow on her. She is in love with the wool winter coat I gave her. The girl never wears a decent coat. She claims that she isn't cold, but her crossed arms and quick walk say otherwise on cold, windy days. Of course, she is really in love with her mp3 player.
Reece loves all the toys that he got. The clothes, for him, are merely a necessity that must be replaced as they get holey. Not if he grows out of them, but if they are worn to threads. He'll keep wearing them, too small or not. He seems to be especially fond of his metal detector and has already found all sorts of treasures in the front yard - old tin cans, bottle caps, metal yard stakes...such wonderful finds!!
Alicia loved her clothes and all the girly stuff. Girly stuff meaning Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pocket things. If it is nearly microscopic then she wants it! She even got little electronic journals that require a password to open, not that we can get it set. It still rocks, apparently.
Her biggest gift was a kids' digital camera. I could not find it for the life of me! I dug around the closet I had the presents in and couldn't find it. I even took a flashlight and looked in the deep recesses of it! I looked in the garage, where I had originally stashed the bags, again using the flashlight. No luck. Finally, today, the day after Christmas, I went back into the garage and prayed, "God, please help me find that camera. It wasn't cheap and I'd hate to think that we wasted money on it. Oh, and that other Wii game would be appreciated, too, if I could only find it." I looked down and there was the game.
"Thank you, God!! Now, can you show me where the camera is?"
I dug around a little more and lo, and behold - there is was! Precisely where I had looked before!! It fell out of the bag, apparently, and hid under some boxes that were
Of course, the biggest gift of all this year was the Wii. The kids asked for it, they assumed they were going to get, and they did get it. I am hoping that if they are going to be playing video games they will at least get some physical activity! I am also hoping to find the Wii Fit game that was sold out everywhere prior to Christmas so that I can get some physical activity, too.
Mike's big gift this year was the GPS navigational system I got for him. It was worth the hour-long wait at Kohl's on Black Friday to be able to get him a $250 system for $79.99. For me, I got him wireless headphones so that he can watch TV late at night and not wake any of us up. He thinks he is losing some of his hearing and I think he may be right. Silly, deaf man.
My big gift from him was a new camera!! My old camera was on the fritz; I think that the light for the screen was burning out. Taking pictures with it was an adventure - I never knew what I was going to get or if it was in focus! I would put the memory card into the reader and select very few pictures for actual saving. He got me a loverly camera. Unfortunately, my memory card from the old camera doesn't fit in the new one so I was unable to take any Christmas pictures. I bought a new card today.
I still can't really take any pictures!
This camera is so confusing! I am a mature, college-educated woman! Why can I not figure out how to at least use the point-and-shoot features on this thing? I can write HTML (okay, so it's only the basic stuff, but I taught myself!) but I can't figure out how to shoot without a flash while on macro.
Anyhow...here is my loverly camera:
It's a Nikon D60 SLR. Someday I will take beautiful pictures with it, I just know. If any of you know how to use my camera, let me in on the secret, okay? December 15 A little sad, I have to admitFirst off, the good news! Reece came through his surgery with flying colors and he didn't even give me a full day of rest! I saw the doctor at church Sabbath and he asked how Reece was and I was almost to the point of accusations over Reece bouncing back so quickly. Of course, Dr. Hunt just laughed and walked away. But really, Reece did a great job with it all. We went in dark and early to the surgery center. He was put in a comfy bed and put on a comfy robe and played with plush toys given to him in admitting.
After about an hour he was wheeled back to the pre-op room. The anesthesiologist came out and talked to us. Dr. Hunt came out and talked to Reece. The techs and nurses came out and talked to Mike and me - and hugged Mike. Oh yeah, Mike used to work in that OR so they were all old friends! How wonderful it is to have friends working on your child. I put on an ill-fitting white, papery, jumpsuit and a very unflattering white puffy hair-net, but solid-so-it-isn't-really-a-net thingy and walked to the actual operating room with Reece. By this time he was starting to get a little scared and panicked. Of course, the room is very white and sterile and cold. They were knocking him out with gas instead of an IV, but he did not like that mask at all! He fought it a bit and Lisa (the nurse) and I held him down until he finally succumbed and was out.
I walked back out to pre-op, stripped out of my oh-so-stylish biodegradable pseudo-scrubs and walked out with Mike and Alicia. Ali was very upset and crying because she was worried about her brother. We went to the cafeteria for something to eat since none of us ate breakfast so that we wouldn't make Reece feel badly as he couldn't eat or drink anything. We had finished eating and were chatting a little bit when our pager went off. We headed back to the OR.
There in the hall was a nurse waiting for us. Only she didn't know she was waiting for us. She asked if we were Michael's parents. I said no, we're Reece's parents, but dad is named Michael. No, she insisted she was waiting for Michael's parents. She checked our pager and it was the one she had paged. She still wasn't able to put two and two together and determine that, quite possibly, she could be wrong!! She finally went back in. Finally another person came out and said that they were looking for me! Well, duh!! I went back to the recovery room and there was my little boy, crying that he wanted nothing but his mommy.
Of course, dingbat was there and the other staff said, "This is Reece's mom. His dad is named Michael. I think you got confused." Gee, do you think? Just maybe?
I cuddled with my "baby" and soothed him. I removed the monitor pads (not an easy job, they are really sticky) and smoothed his hair. Then we both went for a ride to the surgery center where he got a popsicle and his sister gave him some fruit to eat. By the time we finally left he was bouncing off the walls and his sister was wild and I was ready to ask for anesthesia myself.
We came home and Mike and I both crashed while Reece and Ali played video games. He's doing just fine.
Now, for some sadder news. My grandma, who is 86 and shares a birthday with Reece, was hospitalized last week for severe anemia. We decided to go up and see her yesterday (Sunday). She had been in a facility that really did her wrong. They didn't want to do anything but babysit and she was lucky to get out of there alive. She had to have a transfusion of 4 pints of blood (about half of a person's total blood). She had slight pneumonia. She had quit walking. The staff at the home hadn't been doing any therapy with her and her movement was limited. She was moved to a new facility and they recognized immediately that she needed to be hospitalized and called 911 on her second day there. They saved her.
She has been released and is staying at the new facility. It is a private residence with 4 residents. They are very conscientious, it is very clean and it is a beautiful place. The care is better and it is cheaper.
I went to see her with Aunt Betty, Karnette and Mike. The last time I saw gandma, she was walking, albeit with a walker. Yesterday she was in a hospital bed in the fetal position. She didn't recognize us, but she doesn't want anyone to know that so she is really friendly and says she loves us. I sat next to her and stroked her hand and ran my fingers through her hair. She said she was feeling okay, but was tired. I told her it was fine to take a nap. I cuddled with my little grandma for about 15 minutes and then gave Karnette her turn. We talked to Aunt Betty about her treatment and care and meds and my uncles who can't get their acts together and just spent time with grandma.
When we left I told her I love her and she said she loved me too. I kissed her and then we left. I realize that she has not been in good health since her stroke 20 years ago and apparently the doctors were shocked that she has lived with as much damage as that stroke did. It's just hard to see this intelligent, funny woman who was always perfectly attired and coifed reduced to being treated like a baby. I know that she isn't hurting and that it's part of aging, but I honestly think that sometimes God takes the mind first so that the person doesn't know what has happened to them and they don't get depressed over it. I'm glad that He's done that for my grandma. December 10 Today is kick-back, but tomorrow...First off, I have to complain a little bit. I DO NOT like the changes MSN has made to this whole set-up!! I don't, I don't, I don't!! Okay, now on to other things.
This morning I was rudely awakened by Mike who was getting ready to leave for a double shift at the prison. He couldn't find his car keys. He's been off since early Sunday morning and only driven the van. Turns out Reece had been playing with Mike's keys Sunday while Karnette and I were Christmas shopping. I had no clue where those keys would be. Mike finally took the van to work. This means I was up at 5:30 looking for keys. Finally, after 3 previous tries, I woke Reece up enough for him to tell me that they were behind Lindsay's bed, next to the wall. I went in, pulled her bed out, picked up a bunch of clothes from under the bed and lo and behold - there were the keys!
As a punishment for playing with daddy's keys, we did not go to the Christmas party this morning we had been invited to attend. I'm really okay with that because the kids have been so hard to deal with lately. I am about ready to hit Mike with a large, solid candy cane, right upside the head. He keeps bringing in all of this JUNK and letting the kids eat whatever they want! Their behavior is off the charts right now. I can't seem to get it through his thick head that buying junk for your kids does not equal showing them love.
To make matters worse, Alicia is off her medications. I finally gave up when she kept throwing them up every morning. I'm trying behavior modification, but I am getting no backing from Mike on it so I'm not sure how well it is working. I wish someone would sit that man down and explain that she needs structure and discipline. I'm afraid that Reece is also exhibiting signs of ADD/ADHD and all this sugaring up of him isn't helping. Not to mention what it does to their teeth!
Tomorrow is bound to be a stressful day for us. Reece is getting tubes in his ears at 8 a.m. I finally called the doctor's office to get some information on when it would be done and the girl who schedules and gets authorizations hadn't been told that the doctor ordered the surgery! It's a good thing I called! I took him for his pre-op last Friday and that was, of course, not exactly fun. He did fine during the examination, probably because he just loves Dr. Hunt, but the second we went into the lab he knew something was up. He said, "I don't want them to take my blood pressure!!!" I told him it is a blood draw and he said he didn't want that either. I literally had to lay my leg over him and hold his arms rigid so the tech could take his blood. He was so angry at me. Then we headed to the hospital where he declared it and everyone in it to be "stupid". By the time we were done with the pre-registration he was in a better mood. I just know that tomorrow he'll be ticked, though, and I fully expect him to be clingy. I better get to cleaning the house today! December 04 Guess what? It's fall!!Fall has finally hit the Central California valley. We went from temperatures in the 80s one week to fall weather the next. Currently it is 55 degrees at 1:21 pm and the sun is just barely starting to shine through the fog. Ah yes, the fog. Some call it toule (too-ly) fog. I call it pea soup. I'm not having to drive in it much, thankfully, but poor Mike has to drive from work in it. It's pretty bad out there in the middle of nowhere, which is where he drives through to and from work. We didn't have much fog the last couple of years and I think perhaps it's making up for it now.
The kids are doing okay. We had some illnesses but seem to be over them now. I took Alicia this morning to our appointment with our coordinator at the charter school. I was really nervous because we have fallen behind - waaaay behind in my eyes. Mrs. Parker said we're doing fine and can always make it up on scheduled days off, which I've already been doing, I just didn't have the heart to tell her that we were THAT far behind. There are a couple of very good reasons, though. 1. We were sick! Neither one of us really got out of bed for a week! and 2. We've taken Alicia off of her meds. She said that the lower dose hurt her stomach and then when it was upped she threw it back up almost every time. I figured all the puking had weaned her off so we just stopped it. I should probably tell her doctor. Hmmm....Anyhow, we are trying behavior modification. We take a lot of breaks so that she can do some sort of exercising and be able to concentrate when she sits back down. It's definitely a learning process for both of us and I'd really like for her to learn how to work with it instead of being medicated all the time. I worry about what may happen to her down the road after being on meds for years. Maybe the throwing up was God's wake-up call to me. We'll see!!
Reece has his pre-op tomorrow for his surgery on his ears. I called and asked the office if they had received the authorization yet and apparently there was some sort of break-down in communication between the doctor and his staff because she had no clue that Reece was supposed to get the tubes! She immediately sent it to the insurance company and he is scheduled for the 11th of this month. My poor boy. Hopefully this will clear it all up and we can get him into speech therapy and next year I'll be able to do Kindergarten work with him. Keep him in your prayers! November 13 Just add migraineToday started out well. Really, it did. Alicia and I went for a nice walk this morning, before it got warm. It was around 50 degrees out so it was perfect for walking! We walked the couple of blocks to the hospital, holding hands and talking the whole way. Well, she mostly talked and I listened. Boy, is she a chatty one! We decided to stop in the hospital and see if I still knew anyone working there. Hey! It's possible that I didn't because they've done lay-offs.
The auxiliary was having their holiday sale for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a good thing I didn't have my wallet because that girl wanted almost everything she saw. We browsed through all of the really cool offerings and then headed off to see who we could find. We checked personnel because I know that Carol still works there, but there was no one home - in the whole department! She told me later that they were all in a meeting.
We headed over to accounting, the last department I worked in. Finally, people I knew! My friends Janet and Cheryl were so happy to see us. They couldn't believe how big Ali is now. She was very sweet and gave both of them hugs and promised to come visit soon. Our last stop was in medical records, where we saw three more women I knew. They also couldn't believe how much Ali has grown. Then we headed home, collecting beautiful fall leaves all the way. Once we got home, Ali willingly sat down and did two days' worth of English. I will have to try this again tomorrow!
This evening has been a different story. The kids have, of course, been fighting off and on and making all kinds of noise. Then the birds started in. Those things are incessant!! They will NOT stop with the chirping! Some people have rottweilers that bark when someone is at the door, we have cockatiels that screech at the slightest sound. The sound was driving me insane. Add to it the TV and you have a recipe for disaster.
In my house, disaster is spelled M-I-G-R-A-I-N-E. Yes, I now have one. I'm going to bed. November 12 He's feeling betterI forgot to mention in my last post that we did end up buying a new thermometer. The old one had done nearly 8 years of service and needed retiring.
Reece is all better. He woke up yesterday and was doing great! It had been a complete week. He was crying Sunday night saying that his stomach hurt, but he quit that song and dance when we told him we would have to take him to the emergency room. I don't know if he was faking it or just decided it wasn't bad enough for all that nonsense, but I haven't heard it since.
We're back to our usual schedule this week. I am having Alicia do some extra school work since she is so behind from first her being sick and then Reece being sick and occupying all of my time. She is, of course, resistant to this but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? We are still way behind where I want to be and we have an appointment with the coordinator on December 4th so I am desperate to get caught up. I don't want her to think that I am a total slacker. Really, I'm not. It's just that when everyone in the house feels like poop it's hard to get motivated to motivate her. We were both dragging our feet. Now it's time to race!
My house is back in order after being a disaster due to too many people being miserable. I even managed to alter the dress I told my friend Vanessa I would do for her. It took me a full half an hour today! I really thought it would take longer than that because I had to trim about 8 inches off the hem and rehem it. I also took in the sides a little. I'm only charging her about $10. I'd feel funny taking any more than that and, truth be told, considered charging even less.
I love to sew, but now my back is in knots. I really need a tall table for cutting, pinning, sewing...a nice, tall table that I wouldn't have to bend over. I could use it for scrapbooking, too! Oooh! And drawing!! Oh, what I could do with a tall table! I would love to have a table or countertop waist level or even a little higher. Instead, the table hits me mid-thigh and the counters are at my hips. I guess it's just one more drawback to being on the tall side. November 07 A little updateReece has been sick this week. I mean sick sick. He woke up about 2 am Wednesday morning with a fever. He was so hot to the touch! I pretty much didn't sleep after that. For some reason, he didn't register quite as hot on the thermometer, about 101.5. All day Wednesday he was feverish and miserable, but he refused to take any medicine for it. That night he was still burning up. After I went to bed and Mike took his child-watch shift, Reece threw up. The next morning he ate a little bit and then he threw up some more. Greaaaaat. I called the doctor's office and they squeezed him in at noon. I took my poor boy down there and carried him around, no easy feat since he's now 5 1/2, and waited to see the doctor. The nurse happened to notice how miserable he was and put us in a room so he could rest without being in the waiting room.
Finally we got into the exam room. Reece's temperature measured at 103.8. Poor baby!! His stomach was hurting and sensitive to touch. One thing I had worried about was appendicitis because he kept pointing to that region and saying it hurt. Dr. Barker tried to give him liquid Motrin, but he threw it all up. While we attempted to clean him up a little, he threw up some more - all over the doctor's hands!! Luckily for Dr. Barker, Reece hadn't eaten much for a couple of days so it was pretty much just liquid. Since he couldn't keep down the medicine, we had to take another route. Reece was adamant that he didn't want a shot so there was only one other alternative, one that Reece didn't understand but soon would.
We had to go the rectal route.
A few minutes later Reece wasn't too happy, but he was medicated. I left with instructions to bring him back if there was no improvement in a couple of hours and we would have to run tests. Hospitalization was mentioned if there was no improvement. Thankfully, his fever broke and he went to sleep. Dr. Barker called before he left his office to make sure that everything was okay. He is such an excellent doctor!! Later, of course, the fever came back and little man refused medicine. I tried to give him Tylenol meltaways, but he threw them back up. I was up all night with him again last night, monitoring the fever and just holding him. He peaked, as far as I now, at 104 degrees.
He's feeling a little better today, Friday, but now I am exhausted. I managed to get in a little nap this morning, but then I was up and trying to get the house clean while answering his plaintive call, "Mommy! I want you!" He's still feverish, although it isn't nearly as high, and still has some stomach pains, but I think the worst is over.
I bet I don't get to go to church tomorrow. October 25 My blog, old friend, I've missed you so!Missed my blog, but avoided it still. I don't know why, but I haven't had much get up and go in the get on and write category. I have, however, spent way too much time on Facebook where I seem to find a new old friend almost daily.
What's going on here? Lemme tell ya! Ali, Karnette and I have all been sick and we can't seem to shake it. Although, I suspect that Alicia's is due to her stronger dose of her medication. I am seeing a bit of a correlation there. Due to feeling icky, I have neglected my poor house - and it shows. I would be mortified if anyone stopped over. They might think I'm actually okay with living like this! Every time I do a little something, this weird exhaustedness comes over me and I have to sit down and rest. It really is a drag.
Alicia has been attending her 5 weeks of Thursday school at the charter school. It's nice! She gets to go all day on Thursday and hang out with other homeschoolers and do things like science experiments. I have her in a pretty intense writing workshop, a science class and a social studies class. She seems to be enjoying it so far; she's three weeks in. On Tuesdays she goes to gymnastics, also with other homeschoolers and on Wednesdays she has choir. She is pretty busy! Who says homeschooled kids aren't socialized? One of her buddies is in both choir and the 5 week school so she's happy as a clam, however happy those are.
Reece is learning things at a very fast rate these days. It is amazing what that kid picks up. One day Obama came on the TV screen and he says, "He's going to be our next president." I was, understandably, not too happy about that! I asked him where he heard that and he said from his dad, which I KNOW is not true! He realized that this bugged me so then he started saying it every time Obama came on (which was often since I was watching FoxNews). Finally he ended with his version of a knock-knock joke:
Knock-knock!
(who's there?)
Obama!
*groan* (Obama who?) *cringe*
Don't cry - it's only a joke!!
I like that one. It's nice that he thinks all knock-knock jokes end with the same punch line (it works with boo-hoo being at the door).
We have been getting Reece's ears checked because his speech isn't quite right. He has a huge vocabulary, but everything sounds kind of slurred. We had his hearing checked a couple of months ago and it was perfect, but the pressure in his ears, which should have been at zero, was at 50. We went back last week and the left ear is now at 60 and the right ear at 85. This means he gets tubes in his ears. Once that is done we can start speech therapy. It makes no sense to do it now because he talks the way he hears - with his ears plugged!! Now we're just waiting for the authorization from that pesky little entity called insurance. Poor guy.
That's about it news-wise. The house is still full. Mike is working at the prison and hating his drive. I'm stressed out...life as usual. |
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