Dressing

We rarely eat salad, yet we have all of these salad dressing bottles in the refrigerator. Oh wait, that one second from the end on the right is a hot barbecue sauce. There are three more barbecue sauces in the refrigerator, plus over half a dozen hot sauces, but that's Superman for ya'. You might notice there is no honey mustard dressing in the lineup. That, of course, is what I wanted on my eggs this morning.

I have been sick for over a week now. Yesterday brought a new experience to the week + of bronchitis. Some sort of intestinal monster attacked me. You may know how this goes. In the morning my stomach felt unsettled, which I took to mean I needed to eat a little something mild. Nope, that's not what it meant. Reverse peristalsis ensued. I'm glad I only ate a little bit. Plus of course diarrhea. (I've been practicing spelling diarrhea. So far, so good.) Then I took my sorry self to bed and was most grateful that gut cramps abated to let me sleep. All day.

Feeling much better this morning, and hungry to boot, I fixed myself some fried egg. Dry fried, mind you. Oh please, no extra grease! I made egg-in-a-nest*, which I most enjoy with a touch of honey mustard dressing atop.  Eh, had to settle for a light spread of mustard, to which I added a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese ("shaking cheese" we called it when the kids were little). 'Twas good, and so far my stomach seems satisfied. I'd be in pain by now if it was going to complain.

And I haven't been dressed in two days. My scalp tells me we need a shower and shampoo. A good idea, indeed, but I'm procrastinating. Or, perhaps, waiting for the washing machine to finish so I get good water pressure for my shower. Yeah, let's go with that one. Sounds better than "I'm too lazy to even get off my arse to shower."

The dress!! As I mentioned in my last post, I made the second sample dress for Light's wedding, took it to her, discovered what was wrong with it, came home all ready to make sample dress #3. That tightness in the lungs I mentioned previously turned into a frustrating bout of bronchitis. Feeling much better, but I'm still wheezing. And my inhaler (albuterol) doesn't seem to help much. No bueno. My goal for last week was to get a good start on the next dress. I get sick-stupid if I'm sick enough, and I was sick enough to not trust myself to properly cut out the material. Over last weekend I managed to cut out the adjusted pattern pieces.

There's this great stuff from Pellon called Tru-grid.
  My Mama took a sewing class last year and was taught to copy the sewing pattern pieces onto this tru-grid, which is gridded (duh) interfacing material. It's much more sturdy than the tissue paper that patterns are printed on. I've already used the tissue pieces a few times in making the samples and the paper is getting damaged. I need to make size changes and adjustments to the pattern, so voila! I (finally!) got that done over the weekend.

There were appointments and errands to run on Monday, and then something else happened (I have no idea what) to prevent me from sewing then. Yesterday was a sick (OMG) day, so perhaps today I can actually get to the fabric part of this project. After a shower, because eww. I should add pictures. I have the second sample dress here I could photograph. Perhaps I'll update this post with pictures, or maybe write a whole new post. Who knows? It's a wild and crazy life here.

*I've also heard it called egg-in-a-hole or egg-in-a-basket.

A little bit more then lots of rambling

I took my computer to the repair place today. Probably won't hear anything until late tomorrow at the earliest. So here I am struggling along on Superman's laptop. I miss mine.

Diva saw the doctor. She's sick, but not with the flu. They did a nasal swab. Diva was all like "WTF?" when the nurse came at her with the long one-sided Qtip lookin' thing. I was good and didn't even laugh at her or nuthin'. She had a fever of 101 at the office. We didn't have a working thermometer so I wasn't sure what kind of fever she had. The doc prescribed a course of antibiotics for her. I feel sorry for the poor Diva. She obviously feels like shit. I picked up a new thermometer at the drug store when I got her medicine, and this evening her temp was 102. I gave her some Tylenol PM (the generic version) and she's sound asleep again. I got her some fruit juice and Gatorade and encourage her to drink a lot. Which means she'll wet the bed profusely, which sucks, but she needs to wash this ickiness out of her system.

Light has been in communication this weekend. She and her boyfriend have terminated their romantic relationship. Thing is, he moved into her apartment a few months ago and doesn't have anywhere else to go or enough money to get his own place. So now Light no longer lives with her boyfriend. Now she lives with a roommate who just happens to be her former boyfriend. She said they are on friendly terms, thankfully, which is the only way this roommate situation will work. I met the guy. I like him. But evidently they aren't good as sweethearts.

Light also told me that she'll be graduating either in May or August. I didn't realize she was graduating so soon. I'm so used to her being in Pennsylvania in school, it seems like that's where she belongs. I'm sure she is ever so ready to be done with school now, though.

While at the doctor's office with Diva this morning I got the results of my blood work. I had my annual physical last week with accompanying blood work. My cholesterol numbers are better, not that they were bad before. My glucose was a little bit high, but the nurse did an A1C check while I was there today (it was supposed to be part of the blood work, but didn't get ordered or something) and my A1C was only 5.5!! It's supposed to be less than 6.0, and a few years ago it was hovering at 6 or slightly above. My doctor had me coming in for blood pressure and A1C checkups every 4 months. When I changed my eating habits a couple of summers ago and started losing weight, my bp and A1C numbers went down. Duh. It's what the doc had been telling me to do for years! Last A1C about 4 or 5 months ago was 5.8 if I remember. Today was 5.5! Yay me! No, I am not diabetic. Doc says perhaps I'm pre-diabetic, whatever that means, but it is NOT "diabetus." With my numbers improving, it looks less and less like diabetes. So it's all good.


And now in interesting stuff from my inbox, I present a very expensive house. With what they're calling a "wrap around pool." Call me old fashioned, but to me, a wrap around pool is really a moat. I mean, what else could it be? Perhaps the moat doesn't encircle the palace house entirely, but in the olden castle days of yore not every moat completely circled the structure, right? Especially if there were geological structures that prevented bad guy access to the place, then the moat didn't need to go all the way around. Like for instance a cliff or very large rock beside the castle probably would work as well as a moat right there. So imagine this: a castle surrounded 25% by a steep cliff and 75% by a moat. Trust me, it'll work.

OK, this moat circles the castle. But not all moats did, right? 

Back to the more mundane. I have pictures to share. Not the ones of palaces and moats, but ones I took myself with my camera that I can't find the battery charger for. I can take the SD card out and load the pics to my computer.... wait, I don't have my computer. Shit. I also can't take any more pictures until I figure out how to charge the damn battery. If only I could find the box the camera came in. I bought it in April of this year after the disastrous canoe trip down the Juniper Run when I took my old camera swimming with me. Twitch was living here in my office, using my desk (OK, it's actually his old desk that I took over from him when he moved, but that's beside the point). So I doubt the camera stuff is in the bottom drawer of that desk, which is where I think it ought to be. Maybe it's on the little desk we moved into our bedroom when Twitch moved back home last December. That desk has accumulated a LOT of stuff on its surface. I'd show you a picture, but my camera isn't charged. Actually, I probably wouldn't because it's embarrassingly messy. Anyway, I might try excavating this little desk tomorrow and see if I can find the camera peripherals. Since I'm looking for the camera peripherals I probably won't find them. I'll find many other interesting and useful things, but not what I'm looking for. That's the way of the Java. 

But what I came to tell you is that I have pictures of the room we've been painting. This is the room that Twitch most recently occupied. It was my office before he moved home in December. It's meant to be a formal dining room in the overall design of the house.  We are tentatively planning to move our bed in there when we finish painting it so we can clean out our bedroom and do these major upgrades to the master suite. So right now I don't know what to call that room. Office/dining/bed/guest room? We painted it yellow above the chair rail and gray below. And I intend to put yellow vertical stripes on the yellow field. The yellow was supposed to be cream, but it's a bit yellower than the paint chip implied. Paint does that, I forgot. It's a pleasant yellow. Sproing says it looks like the color of Blue Bonnet Margarine. (I think that's the brand he indicated. We use dairy butter, so I'm not too familiar with margarine brands.) We have many partially empty cans of yellow paint from other projects, and I know there's a very light yellow that I hope works well against the not-cream margarine color. I've painted a test patch of the Blue Bonnet Yellow and need to get out my contrasting yellows to give it a try. My goal is a very faint contrast yellow on yellow, vertical stripes of approximately 12 inches. Coincidentally and conveniently, the paint stir sticks available for free at Lowe's are 12 inches long. Ain't that a treat? 

Superman and I were very efficient this weekend and got that room all painted. We'd done the priming a few weeks ago, just over the very dark blue/gray that was there before. When it was Light's room she painted half of it as a dark storm, the other half as a light blue sky with lighter blue or white sponged over the sky. We didn't need to prime the light parts. The dark bit needed three coats (maybe it was only two) of primer. The whole thing is yellow now and looks all kinds of solid. Nice. No light blue/dark blue bleeding through the yellow. 

It's late, I'm tired, and I don't know if this still makes any sense. Or if it made sense to begin with. 

OH, wait! I have more blood work news to relate. I'm anemic. My new doctor (actually a Physician's Assistant - PA) (because my old doctor, who wasn't old, retired this summer and I'm still in mourning over that) wants me to have a test... EGD? Yes! Thank you Google. It's an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. How cool is that!? I don't know how to pronounce it. Aka an upper G.I. endoscopy. I know how to pronounce that. Anyway, the PA, Jillian, wants to make sure I don't have any internal bleeding. I just had a "scopy" of the other end this summer, so that's been checked out. The procedure is scheduled for Wednesday the 6th. I'll need a driver, and can't eat anything for 5 hours preceding the procedure. (Alliteration, for those English majors out there.) But about the anemia thing, I've been cutting back on my meat consumption and I suspect I just haven't been getting enough iron in my diet. I'd much rather have to eat more leafy greens or take iron supplements than have internal bleeding or esophageal cancer, you know? I'll be sure to update you on this esophagogastroduodenoscopy, though. (Damn, that's fun to type!) 

The anemia would explain why I've been so tired lately. Anemia and staying up too late. Yeah, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight. 

Yep, I caught it

I'm sick. Chest cold with sinus/ear/nose/throat involvement. You don't want details. Saw the doctor yesterday and am on antibiotic now. I suppose I'll feel better in a few days. In the meantime I'm trying to rest a lot and drink plenty of fluids.

I don't really feel bad, as such. Not good, but not terrible. Just stupid. I've got that dull brain thing that happens with illness. Happens to Superman all the time, and it's annoying when it's someone else. Pretty damned annoying when it's me, too.

So let's try to talk about last weekend. Yes, we went to northwest Georgia for the funeral of Superman's aunt. It was good, I guess. This is the first time in nearly 10 years, I think, that I've been to Superman's hometown, visited with his family. I've been staying home with Diva so she doesn't have to go for the past few years. After Diva assaulted me a couple of years ago she was "disowned" by my in-laws. So when Superman goes to visit them, Diva stays here with me. Also, the last time I went there was some strife, the details of which I now forget. Our relationship, me and the in-laws, has been rocky. Lots of miscommunication, misunderstanding, lack of patience, etc. We can be nice to each other sometimes if not for very long. This time we stayed with Superman's brother instead of his folks. That worked very well.

The funeral was a funeral. They're all Baptists, which is fine for them. The service itself was nice, I suppose. Visitation the day before was a bit odd. I hung out with Superman's uncle, the remaining brother of my MIL's sibs. There were four girls and two boys in their family. MIL is second from last in birth order. Oldest boy died of cancer over 10 years ago after chain smoking most of his life. Aunt Jackie, the nice one who died last week, was girl #2. Uncle Ronald is the remaining brother. He's something of a bad boy. He and I sat in the corner at the funeral parlor and told ribald stories. Shhh: don't tell my mother-in-law. For the most part I behaved myself. I don't think I said anything wrong. The best thing is for me to keep my mouth shut when I'm around them. So except for laughing at Uncle Ronald's stories and adding a couple of my own, I think I did OK. It was hard to keep my mouth shut, though. Especially when my sister-in-law showed up. She and I are very different. She spends a lot of time on her personal appearance: hair, makeup, clothes, etc. I don't. So she showed up for the visitation with her hair looking like she stuck her finger in a light socket. And I know she spent a long time getting her hair to stick out all over the place like that. It looked frightening. I didn't say a thing until Superman and I were alone at the end of the day when we could laugh just a little bit at her between ourselves.

We would have had a lovely time away from home if home hadn't kept calling. We'd been with the in-laws for less than an hour Saturday when Twitch called to tell us that Sproing had been arrested for shoplifting at Wal-Mart. The kid (Sproing, not Twitch) is supposed to be grounded, which means not leaving home. But he snuck out with his partner in crime, walked to the store and got caught shoplifting. The sheriff's deputy brought him home and released him to Twitch, who is for their purposes an adult. The deputy called me, though, and we talked about Sproing. I would like for her to have taken the little snake to jail, but she said they couldn't do that for a shoplifting charge. Oh well. Once he goes to court for this offense, though, he may get sent to the DJJ facility. Whatever. I've done what I can with the little snot. I'm sick and stupid. I can't talk to him.

We've done what we can, you know? Of course we haven't been perfect. There are probably a lot of things we could have/should have done differently. But we did our best. Are still trying to do our best. These little snots (both of them) can go hang. Right now I don't care.

Diva did OK, I think, this weekend. She doesn't seem to have caused any major trouble, at least none that we are aware of now. I appreciate that from her.

Also, on Saturday evening Twitch called telling us that the fireplace chimney wasn't drawing properly and there was smoke all through the house. Well, shit. Though when we got home Sunday night Superman couldn't find anything wrong with the chimney. It worked fine yesterday. Oh well. And while we were gone the dryer broke. The heating element quit working somehow. Superman took the back off the dryer yesterday and found the broken part. He showed me. It's small and has a  name. Some kind of regulator thing. I don't remember because I am stupid today. But he's already ordered a replacement part and hopefully will have it fixed later this week.

I did some knitting over the weekend. Knitting is a good thing to do when visiting with my parents-in-law. It keeps my fingers busy, gives me an outlet for nervous energy, and provides a safe topic on which to speak. And that's all I know.

Hair and death

Diva got a new 'do. She wanted me to share it with you. 

She hates this second picture because it shows her teeth. She says she has baby teeth, but they look pretty good to me. Of course, being the parent, I think they look good primarily because she doesn't need braces, so her teeth aren't as expensive as, say, Light's teeth, which look good now because we spent thousands on getting them straightened. 

These pictures were taken with her standing just outside her bedroom. This is her bedroom door, the outside of it. She "decorated" it herself without permission. It's ugly and tacky and pisses me off every time I see it. And I see it every time I come in the house, since it's opposite the foyer in the hallway.

What else was I going to tell you? I know, let's talk about death. We, Superman and I, are at an age where a lot of our older relatives are dying. Just yesterday Superman's Aunt Jackie died. Poor ol' gal has been hanging on by a thread for a while now. She got dementia and hung around for a while with that, but recently began deteriorating rapidly. Aunt Jackie is the older sister of Superman's mother, and the nicest of all the siblings. She got all the nice that her older sister missed. The oldest aunt is a sour, spiteful woman, and still alive. Superman says she's too sour to die. Preserved, as it were, with her sour attitude. Anyway, we may be taking a 500 mile round trip for Aunt Jackie's funeral. Not sure we're going, depends on a few things that depend, gas prices being one of those things. (I could rant about gas prices, but I'm sure you can find lots of other such rants most places on the internet these days.)

In other death news, the mother of my long-standing best friend from childhood died last Sunday. Her husband died last year (I don't remember exactly when, but I think it was within the past six months). Her name is Pat. She's a hoot. Graveside service and interment is Monday in Ohio, though they've lived in Florida since 1972? Early '70s, anyway. But the family is originally from Ohio, so that's where she's gone to decompose. Pat was like a second mother to me. Honestly, my mother was a bit nicer than Pat, but Pat was more interesting. She had a bigger zest for life. She was also a lot crazier than my mom. We found out years later that she was abusing prescription drugs that whole time, so that's an interesting twist. She was a good Catholic wife, had five babies, of which my girlfriend is number four. And five children was a bit much for her to handle, I think. Now, she might have gone crazy otherwise, but I suspect raising five children pushed her over the edge.

My friend posted on facebork last week that she was in the ER with her mom. I commented that I'd just had a dream about Pat. I'd just woken from a nap and logged onto facebork when I saw the post. While napping, I had a dream in which Pat appeared. Can't remember much about the dream, and Pat was, I think, a minor player in the dreamscape drama. And she was drunk. So I commented on the facebork post "I just had a dream about your mother. Aside from being drunk, she was fine." Well, my friend passed that message on to Pat, who had a hearty laugh at that. I am really glad that at least I got to help Pat laugh again before she died.

And I think I've mentioned that Superman's father is in really bad shape. He only has about half of one kidney left, the rest of his kidney parts having been surgically removed a few years ago. And that partial kidney is failing. And he refuses to go on dialysis. I don't blame him for that, though. I'd probably make the same decision were I in that situation. He's ready to die. And once he goes, my MIL will not hang on long, I think. Superman's brother who lives in the area mentioned that their mom seems to be losing her memory. Lordy, I hope she doesn't get the dementia that Aunt Jackie had. That will be ugly.

Although I'm not on death's door or anything, I'm coming down with some kind of ick. But not fish ick. My lungs are tight and heavy-feeling and my throat and right ear are beginning to hurt. Superman had these symptoms right after Christmas, spent over a week being too sick to do much. I'm trying to get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids - and not beer, either! Speaking of which, I could have oatmeal and milk for breakfast: Highland Oatmeal Porter and Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout, both of which are currently in our beer crisper. But I'm not. I had some yogurt instead. And now I'm going to put that load of laundry in the dryer and go back to bed.

Ramblings

I have a cold or something like it. My lungs are tight, I'm coughing, but only a little bit. I'm afraid to cough too much. I can tell that my glands are swollen, and my ears are pretending to be stopped up. The headache, it hurts.

This is the first time I've been sick in over a year. I missed class today, and I haven't missed a class because of illness since I started back to school last January.

"Nite time multi-symptom cold and flu relief" is full of teh dizzy. I'm not sure if it makes me feel any better, but it makes me feel different in a very dizzy sense.

Watched another bad gay movie today. There was really no acting in it at all. I looked. Handsome guys, though. All of the actors, all three of them, had very nice teeth. That's the take-home message I got from this movie.

A note about my seatbelt use: I almost always wear my seatbelt. Occasionally, on some of the less traveled roads in town, I won't. The trip from home to school is short and every so often I won't wear the seatbelt on that trip. I always wear my seatbelt when I drive on the major thoroughfares in town (because this town is full of crazy drivers) and whenever I drive out of town or on a long trip.

"Thoroughfare" as a word is entirely too long. "Occasionally" does not like to be correctly spelled. I like typing with an application that incorporates spell-check features. When I'm writing by hand, my fingers do not do that.

Today is my baby brother's birthday. I'm impressed that I remembered. For some reason I can remember our other brother's birthday, but the youngest brother's birthday doesn't stick as well in my brain. At any rate, I called him today. We talked for maybe 10 minutes. This is how I know we're getting old: we talked about colonoscopy prep. This is how I know we will be forever young: we laughed about funny pooping noises.

If there was anything else I meant to say, it will have to wait until next time. I'm finished for now.

I had a weekend

The play for which I was sewing costumes opened and closed this weekend. Community theater, folks. Five shows, plus one on Thursday morning for the school kids. 'Twas the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I didn't watch it. I actually didn't even do all the sewing I was supposed to. I did get the four dresses built, but the mob caps were fewer than desired.  I'll go ahead and make some more now, anyway, because they'll be used later. Brigadoon is coming up soon.

My allergies have been acting up, causing my throat and ears to itch. Sunday the mess moved into my lungs. I need my inhaler, but can't find it. I think the thing has expired, anyway, so I'm going to call the doctor's office this morning to request a refill on that prescription. If it gets much worse I'll go in for a look-over. Right now I don't think I need any antibiotic. Yet. My chest is tight, though, and I've got a wee cough. I feel icky, but not so much that I can't do anything. 

I think some other things may have happened this weekend, but I'm not sure what. I slept a lot. Superman and Twitch went grocery shopping yesterday and bought $400 worth of stuff. He likes to stock up. 

We have a new-to-us fireplace insert. It was cool enough last night that Superman built a fire in it. He says it puts some nice heat into the room. I think we'll set a fan in the hallway to encourage some of that warm air back toward the bedrooms. 

So, in conclusion, there isn't much to blog about. On today's agenda is more laundry (yes, the washing machine is still working!) and a visit to the drug dealer, my psychiatrist. Nice fellow, but not nearly as useful as my therapist. (No offense, Ur-Spo)

Happy Monday to all, and to all a good week.

I'm still standing

Yes, I'm still here. I've been busy with all that life stuff. The time I have spent online I've been surfing other blogs rather than posting anything on mine. I have an interesting story to tell you, but I want to work on it some more. I'm not going to tell you now. In the meantime, here are a few random thoughts.

Superman is getting sick again. He gets sick a lot. It worries me. He had a flu shot last week and yesterday he started having some mild-ish flu-like symptoms. He is achy and has a stuffed up nose. He's also stupid the way he gets when he's sick. He isn't rolling around on the bed in pain or anything, he just feels generally icky. 

I took Diva to the ear,nose, & throat doctor today. She is now scheduled to have her tonsils and adenoids removed on Friday the 21st. We saw the doctor, he's a nice guy, it didn't take long at all with him. Then we went to see the gal who schedules the surgery. We waited in that little anteroom for over an hour. Finally we saw the lady who handles the insurance stuff. Then we waited for a few more minutes to see the gal who actually schedules the surgery. It was a long and boring morning. I would much rather have been here. Diva finally got back to school at 11:30, 2.75 hours after I picked her up from school. 

Yesterday was the lunch meeting with that women's forum thing I've been attending. I put on a posh frock and sat in a room with other women and it didn't even kill me. I mostly enjoyed it. The speaker yesterday was the neuro-psychiatrist at our hospital. I have met her before. 3 times. Because she has tested 3 of my children for learning disabilities and emotional problems. Yep, were're spe'shuul. Anyway, the doctor is a really nice lady, very smart, who had some interesting information on how memory works. It was good. And I ate some salad; very good for me.

C and S got a new-to-them truck. It's a little pick-up, a Ford Ranger I think. It's cute. Dark green. They got it for $800? Something ridiculously cheap like that. C casually mentioned that it needs transmission work. Hmmm. It was parked on the side of the road out front when Superman came home yesterday. As he approached our yard he looked at the truck and could tell the frame is bent. We shall see what we shall see. It's not my truck, they will have to deal. Looks like another character building experience. 

I have had something I have to do, somewhere I need to be every day this week. I hate that. I much prefer to have my days unscheduled. It's more peaceful like that. Of course in January when I start classes I'll be pretty scheduled, huh?

Earlier this week I bought myself a six pack of diet meal-replacement drinks. Like SlimFast, but the store brand. I put the unopened box on the floor under my bed. Earlier this afternoon I looked under there and noticed the box was opened. Two cans are gone. I'm pissed. Again. This happens all the time!

Sproing saw his counselor this afternoon. Superman took him. Superman told the counselor that Sproing sometimes steals little things, lies about all sorts of stuff, and bickers with his sister all the time. He told me the counselor kinda shrugged and said she didn't know anything specific we can do besides what we're already doing. Well, that obviously isn't working real well!! I have said it before (perhaps not here, I don't recall). Our kids are so extreme they befuddle the professionals. Or maybe we just have incompetent professionals around here. That's a possibility. There aren't a lot of local therapist/counselors who work with children. 2, maybe 3. Diva sees one, Sproing another. 

Our washing machine is still broken. Superman is waiting on the repair manual. He called about that. The supply house said that it is on indefinite backorder. The manufacturer has run out of manuals and is waiting for enough orders to come in to justify a printing. This is getting ridiculous. I'm still not sure what we're going to do. We could call the repair guy out again, pay him to fix it. We have the replacement part. Or we could spend $100 on a cheap used washer to use until we get the nice big one fixed. 5 or 6 trips to the laundromat would pay for a used washer. I'm wearing my last piece of clean underwear. Oh, the humanity!

It seems like I'm forgetting something really obvious, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is. Eh. We'll let this do for now. Then I'll write up that other interesting story. Maybe I'll post that one tomorrow. 

The week is half over!

Time flies when you are busy or distracted.

Diva is doing much better. She still a bit tired and a lot cranky, but no longer in pain. She has strep throat, but the antibiotics are doing their job well. So far on one else has gotten sick! (Keep your fingers crossed, knock wood, whatever.)

Indigo comes to see us tomorrow! (Wednesday) He'll be driving into town sometime in the late afternoon. We are all thrilled about his visit. The house is a mess, of course. We've been working on it a little bit. I'm pretending not to stress about it.

There is a lot going on with a lot of elements in my life now. I'm tired and confused. I have nothing to say about it now, because I don't even know what to think. You might hear about it, but might not. With me one never knows.

Happy Wednesday to everyone!

Hodge Podge

We had a weekend. Good? Bad? It depends on one's perspective.

My poor darling Diva got sick Friday night. Really sick. She basically turned her stomach inside out. After she had lost everything she had in her stomach she kept retching for hours. She was up almost all night. Superman sat with her until about 1:30, and I stayed with her until 3:00. She had been on a chair in the living room, but at 3 she crawled into her bed. I asked her if she wanted me to stay up for her, or if I could go to bed. She said "Go to bed, Mommy." It was so sweet and sad! But she got Superman out of bed before 6:00. And this was all before the air conditioner was working. We all felt icky and sticky.
Diva update: I took her to the doctor this morning. She tested positive for strep. She is now taking an antibiotic and hopes to feel better soon. But right now she just feels icky. Her head is throbbing and her throat hurts. I'm trying to encourage her to rest, but Sproing keeps trying to engage her in conversation, activity, or argument. It's time for another dose of Tylenol now...

Saturday morning the poor dear had a fever. I didn't take her temp, but she felt very hot. We got some Gatorade for her. She had trouble drinking because her throat was so sore. She slept almost all day. Sunday she felt a bit better, drank some more, but her throat and her head hurt. This morning she still has a headache. The fever is gone, though. I'm calling the doctor in 45 minutes when the office opens.

Twitch came home from scout camp on Saturday. He had a wonderful week. He is a senior patrol leader for one of the patrols in his troop. He is well on his way to Eagle rank. At 17 now, he only has until mid February to complete all the Eagle requirements. On his 18th birthday he turns into a pumpkin. Or an "adult," and is no longer eligible to earn scout ranks. Last week at camp he completed the work for two badges required for Eagle. He was in a great mood, had a terrific attitude when he got home. He's been kind and helpful ever since. This is nice!! The older he gets the more pleasant he is to be with. Now if we can just get Sproing and Diva through puberty and the teen years...

Other stuff happened this weekend, too. Can't remember if any of it is noteworthy. Laundry is not noteworthy at this time. Neither is reading the Sunday paper. I painted a little bit in Sproing's room. The walls are nasty. I got a first coat of primer on the wall in one corner. Made a mess. Dripped paint on his bedsheet. Oh, well. My hands and feel are both speckled with paint. I managed to get the spots of paint off my face this morning in the shower. Besides that, I can't think of anything else worth mentioning. And frankly, this entire paragraph doesn't say anything worth mentioning, so you might as well not read it. Oops! Too late.

Briefly

Tuesdays are typically busy days for me, and yesterday was no exception. To complicate matters I feel like I'm getting sick again. My chest it tight and my throat is getting sore. Superman is sick with this upper respiratory mess, too. He was home yesterday, and is taking a strong antibiotic which will hopefully knock out the bug that's been lingering in his system for a while.

I have an appointment to see the doc this morning, and another this afternoon to see my opthalmologist. My eyes have been feeling strange in the past few days. It might just be sinus pressure, or it might be the eyes themselves. Anyway, I'm seeing 2 different doctors today to ask about that.

I was very tired yesterday. When I got home from work Superman was lying down to rest, and he fell asleep shortly after I got home. I lay on the bed next to him and watched him fall asleep. It seemed like such a good idea. I got the kids situated (told them to eat some leftovers we have in the 'fridge and to put themselves to bed on time) then went to bed. It was about 5:00. I slept until 4:15 this morning. I haven't slept for 11 hours in a long time! It felt good. And upon waking I didn't feel any worse than I did yesterday. No better, but no worse.

I'm still working on book three of the saga. I hope to get it posted later today, unless I fall asleep again. We shall see. And yes, Patrick, there are 2 more additions to the family in book three.

Update:
I saw two doctors today. This morning I saw the family doc, who said I've got a sinus infection. I was in there a month ago for a sinus infection, and I suspect this is the same infection that didn't die out completely. And yes, I took ALL of my antibiotic. I think I was on Augmentin(sp?) But it's back again and I feel icky. After 11 hours of sleep last night I've been tired all day. I feel like I'm going through the day in a fog. My mind isn't *sharp* like it usually is. I'm making careless mistakes and missing obvious details. I get nervous about driving the bus when I'm like this. Anyway, the doctor prescribed a new, stronger antibiotic. (Levaquin 750mg if you're curious.) He says this ought to knock out the bug. I hope so! He also said the pressure I'm feeling in and around my eyes is probably from the sinuses and not the eyeballs themselves.

This afternoon I saw the eye doctor. They tested my vision, did their glaucoma test and stuff. He didn't dilate my eyes this time. He said we'd do that next year. OK by me! They did, however, update my prescription (slight change) and get me back into contacts. I wore contacts for a while maybe a year or two ago, then kinda' stopped. I don't remember why. But I wanted to start using them again. So I am typing this while looking through my contacts, not my glasses! OK, technically I'm looking through the reading glasses I need to use for close up vision, since the contacts only correct my distance vision. Let me tell ya', I look adorable in my little cheaters :-) I'll have to get a pic of this for you. The opthalmologist checked a few things concerning pain/pressure I've been having in my eyes for the last week, and didn't notice anything that might be a problem. He thinks it's probably the sinus infection. Although if it doesn't improve in a week or two I'm to go back.

I have a work excuse to stay home tomorrow, written by my wonderful friendly family doc. So I'm planning to sleep, sleep, drink lots of fluids, sleep, blog, sleep, blog, blog, sleep tomorrow.

Non-brainy

My brain is sick. No, not like THAT! I have a cold or whatever it is, I'm sick, and consequently my brain is sick too. When in this condition, strange things can happen.

I had a strange dream this morning. I dreamt it after I woke up, sort of. Superman tried to wake me up this morning so I could eat breakfast and get to the doctor's office for my 8:15 appointment. He was rubbing my arm and softly saying my name. I tried to sit up and to figure out where I was. I couldn't remember what port I was in today. You know, the whole bedroom moves overnight to a different undisclosed location. I knew for certain that I had an 8:15 appt. at the doc's office, and I knew where the doc's office is, but I wasn't sure where I was and how to get there from here. Or there.

It has been that kind of day.

I did get to the doctor's office on time this morning. As Superman said, the office doesn't open until 8:30. I know. I'm a work-in. That was one of the quickest doctor visits I've ever experienced. The nurse who unlocked the front door to let me in was holding my chart. So I walked through the waiting room right to the exam room. She (the nurse) took my temp and bp and asked about my symptoms. La te da and the same old song. She left the room, saying the doctor would be in shortly. Within about 30 seconds the doctor came in, though not shortly. He's very tall, actually. He asked, I answered; the litany of aches resounded. I told him that my sinuses hurt. He should believe me by now. Or maybe he has a Machiavellian streak. He did the #thump-thump# thing on my right cheek. "Ouch! I told you it hurt!" He didn't thump the other one. He told me I have sinusitis (duh) and wrote a perscription for Augmentin. Then I went to the check-out desk, wrote the nice lady a check while the nice lady wrote me an excuse to stay out of work until Monday. I walked out the door and was in my truck before 8:30. It has taken me longer to write this account than it did to live it. I love that kind of efficiency.

On a related note, though totally unconnected; the doctors' office has recently been expanded and renovated. It looks very nice indeed. There are at least half a dozen new exam rooms and a beautifully big new lab (the old one is now a closet, as it is about that big). The office manager and insurance gladiator each have a new office- with DOORS! I've been to see the doc numerous times over the last 6 months since they moved into the new digs. But I always get the same exam room. Is it possible all the other doors are facades, that there is nothing behind those doors but the empty overgrown field beyond the parking lot? The brain reels with the implications of this trickery. This brain does, anyway. And I've already told you this brain is just not herself tonight.

I have no real idea whether or not I feel better now. I feel icky still, but my head is in such a fog that I can’t qualify my ick. Nor do I wish to, necessarily.

Ugh ickity yuck

Well, I'm glad I got home before I got sick. It is hard to travel while one is sick.

When I woke up this morning my ears and throat hurt pretty badly. I've gotten worse as the day progresses. The glands in my neck are swollen and sore, and I'm affraid the ick is trying to move into my lungs. I have an appointment to see the doctor first thing in the morning. I had to call in sick to work. It's been 2 weeks since I last drove my bus. I was looking forward to seeing my troops.

Superman came home for lunch and fixed me some chicken soup. Real homemade chicken soup, y'all! Not soup out of a can. He used canned chicken and canned veggies, but fixed the broth, spiced it up nicely, added veggies and chicken and some egg noodles. He shredded some cheddar cheese on top of the bowl he brought me. Isn't he so sweet!

I've taken a OTC pain reliever and antihistamine. This is that "medicine head" makes-ya-drowsy antihistamine. I'm having trouble concentrating well enough to finish this post. This looks like a good stopping place.

2007

Introspection is highly overrated. We'll have none of that foolishment here. There's a Saturday, a Sunday, predictably followed by Monday. After Monday comes Tuesday, just like every other week. Wednesday we will mourn the end of our little break from work and school, and on Thursday we will get up at 4:fuckin15 in the morning and drive a big orange/yellow school bus to the end of the county and back.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy being at home with Superman, enjoy Light being at home with all of us, and make the best with what we've got with the other souls in the house. And I'll try to rest. Rest, as in SLEEP! There's a difference between "resting" in bed blogging until after midnight and actually sleeping in bed for 8-10 hours.

Update on the germ party in my system: Nose-congested, but not too bad. Ears: fine. Maybe still a bit stopped up but not in any pain now. Thankfully! Throat: Mostly fine. It is rough and my voice is scratchy, but the throat doesn't hurt like it did 2 days ago. Chest: clusterfuck. Tight, congested, wheezy, limited breathing ability, damned uncomfortable.

Superman had a "procedure" done today. I can't remember what it's called, but it has to do with studying the nerve feedback in his arms and legs. He's been experiencing some strange pains in his arms and torso. He's got a ruptured disk in the middle of his back, and that might be part of the problem, but he also has recurring shingles attacks that usually bring a good bit of pain for a few days. The last bout was different, and the docs aren't sure it was shingles or some other neurological condition. So yesterday he had an MRI, and today he had this nerve thing study. The one today was kinda painful, so they gave him some Valium to take right before the procedure. Superman is a cheap date, y'all. It doesn't take much to knock him flat on his ass. The techs couldn't do the test for over an hour because he was sound asleep. They needed him to be a bit more aware than that. They also said he was having strong leg jerks in his sleep, which they were concerned about. Superman has never been bothered by it, but I know he jerks his legs in his sleep sometimes. I do, too. The techs doing the test said that the doctor should know about the restless leg thing, because he takes that sort of thing very seriously. We shall see. I told him to tell the doc my legs do that, too.

When he got home from the testing lab, he was so funny! Sort of like drunk, but different. He was dizzy and loopy. Couldn't carry on a conversation that lasted more than 2 sentences. Non sequiturs all over the place. He ate some supper and went to sleep. But it was early and I was still talking to the kids. He'd hear something I said to one of them, sit up in the bed and say something completely irrelevant. I can hardly wait until he wakes up tomorrow so I can share with him how funny he is.

And alas, it has gotten very very late again. I've had a marvelous evening catching up with my blog buddies. Some are still off on vacation or whatever, but many of them are back and posting all manner of interesting stuff. I love this whole blogosphere and all my new friends. :-)

Thursday ramblings. Not pretty.

There are things that need doing. Superman has a goal for the day: to clean out the garage. It is nasty. But he keeps getting pulled away from the task. I've tried to get all the others in the house to pitch in and do useful-work-for-the-good-of-the-cause. As usually happens, things got started but not completed. The problem is endemic. And originates with me. As wonderful as I seem here (HA!) I'm really messed up.

I've been resting and drinking vast quantities of fruit juice. But no likker. I have a strong desire for eggnog and Captain Morgan. But I digress.

Where were we? Ah, yes, rest. I've rested, but not slept. I am tired now, my brain isn't thinking clearly, and I need to SLEEP!!!

Laundry is the task I gave Light today. I told her she could bring all of our clean stuff in here, pile it on the bed, and I'd fold it. And she did. Here it is. On my feet. I want to stretch out and go to sleep, but I have to fold clothes first. I'm just about to do that, really. I've been just about to do that for the last 3 hours. That's my messed-up-edness. No self discipline. And lots of whining. Shit. I hate hearing it from others, but not as bad as I hate hearing it from me. Shit.

The head feels a little bit better today. I'm not as congested, my ears and throat don't hurt much at all. The crud is moving down into my chest. For some reason when I am tired my chest gets tight and icky. I'm sick, and I'm tired, and my chest feels icky already.

I'm blogging from within a fog. I have no idea where this is going, and I doubt it makes much sense. But I'm spellchecking! Am I spelled correctly? OK, I'm off to fold this mound of clothes on my feet. More later, maybe tomorrow. Maybe I'll sleep the rest of the day after my clothes are folded.
must. fold. clothes.

The aftermath

I hate that word "aftermath." Especially when the Weather Channel uses it to describe what's left after a weather disaster.

Yup, I'm sick. Sure enough, upper respiratory infection; URI. Superman took my prescriptions to the pharmacy and got my meds for me. He bought me some juice and Gatorade. He's so good to me.

Christmas is over, thankfully. No more expectations to make life idyllic for the kids. It is mostly self-imposed expectations that paralyze me. Why do I do that to myself? How can I stop?

I'm going to nap for a while. I hope everyone has a peaceful rest of the week.

Is it safe to come out now?

Is Christmas over? I seem to have survived the day. Well, sort of. I'm getting sick. It's an upper respiratory infection, I suspect. The ears, throat, and sinuses have invited the lymph system to a big bacterial get-together.
I slept a lot of the afternoon. For Christmas dinner I planned to roast Cornish game hens, one for each of us, and I'd also gotten a duck. Yesterday I made sure they were thawing and I mixed up the brine solution in which they would marinate. This morning I finished the prep for that, but Superman had to get the birds into the brine. At about 3:00 this afternoon I suggested that if we were going to eat this dinner it needed to be started. So he and Light fixed dinner. They are wondermous, my darling dears. Light made biscuits for the first time today. They were pretty good!
Superman came to get me when dinner was almost ready. I'd gone back to sleep. I joined the family for dinner, but just didn't want to eat. I had a few bites of most stuff. I ate a whole helping of green bean casserole. I love that stuff. But aside from that I just didn't eat much. It all tasted blah. So I went back to bed.
I've been awake. I watched a video (Catch and Release; I got it for Christmas.) and have read a few blogs. Of course most folks are doing other things today/tonight so blogging activity is minimal. And my brain is muzzy.
Catch and Release I found this movie to be rather scattered. It started in the middle of the story and never really fleshed out the details. I enjoyed the growing attraction between the two main characters, and thought he played it well. He's a hunk, so of course I enjoyed that! Maybe it's because I'm sick and my brain is muzzy, or maybe it's the movie, but the thing didn't really hold together very well. But I liked looking at him. ;-)
Chocolate is supposed to be good for you, right? So I'm sitting here eating some super dark premium chocolate, hoping it will make me feel better. Ghirardelli Intense Dark. I still feel like crap, but my tongue is happy.

Long distance mothering

…sucks.

I was just reading Cowbell's blog. Her latest post details her college age daughter being very sick and on the other side of the continent. That's hard on everyone.

But I bring it up because Light called us tonight. Crying. She asked if I'd gotten her email. I'd turned off the computer to take a nap earlier and hadn't gotten back online, so no, I'd not seen the email. Did I need to look at it now? Light? You still there? "..sniff, snuff, Just a minute… sniff." Superman had the computer and was guarding it jealously. Poor guy. He doesn't get much chance at the 'puter cause I bogart it so much. But I said to him "I need to check my email. Now."

"Now? You mean immediately? Can't it wait?"

"NOW. It is very important." And I go back to making soothing mommy noises into the phone. He gets the point.

One of Light's best friends was in a terrible car wreck early this morning. He is in neural intensive care with lots of broken stuff, including at least one place in his back, possibly two. Well, here's part of the email she sent me:

He is in the Neural Intensive Care Unit at ___________ Memorial. He has a broken bone in his neck, his lower spine is broken, he has internal bleeding, his kidney and spleen are badly bruised, he has cracked ribs, is not fully coherent, and is having much difficulty breathing. They have inserted an oxygen tube down his throat, but one lung is badly damaged and may possibly collapse. Right now he does not appear to have any paralyzation.

He will need several operations, however they are currently postponed until his lung shows signs of being able to withstand them.

She is obviously upset. I know this young man. His family lives around the corner from us in our subdivision. He's been to our home many times. I'm upset, too.

I am worried about his condition, of course. This might prove fatal. God I hope not. Though I don't really know his parents, I am concerned for them.

I am concerned for Light. This is her first experience with grief of this nature. No one close to her has ever been injured or killed or died or anything. Of course this is part of life, and she will encounter trouble like this off and on throughout her life. She needs to know how to handle it. That doesn't make it easier for her or for me and her dad.

I am a mother. Things like this happen and I immediately think "what if it happens to my child?" My stomach lurches, my head spins. Get a grip, mama. Breathe. Keep your head on straight. Guiltily, I am so very relieved it is her friend, not her lying in intensive care, coma induced by the doctors, fighting for life.

Light is a freshman at a college in state, only an hour and a half away. We can be there soon if we need to be. This is somewhat comforting. And I sympathize with Cowbell who cannot drive for an hour or so to take care of her very sick baby girl.

Parenting is joy. Parenting is grief. Parenting is hard.

 

The morning after

Note to the wise: Don't drink the night before you get a virus. A biological virus, not a digital virus.
Yesterday I was sick. One of those mini-flu things, a 24 hour "bug". Ug. I won't go into details, but suffice to say it wasn't fun.
Today I feel ...not as sick, but really groggy. Ever feel stupid? Like you can't get your brain to work as well as it usually does? I'm stupid today. I am able to process information, sort of, but very slowly. My fingers are stiff so it is hard to type. My back and leg muscles are sore, but don't ache like they did yesterday. Thankfully. That is not the way I wanted to spend my day off.