Smellyann Strikes Again

Friday Fragments

Link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're playing along this week!

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TGIF!

That's all I have to say.  Not, you know I have more.

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So, you may or, more likely, may not have noticed I haven't fragmented again in a few weeks. Our lives are always, well, let's be honest, chaotic at their calmest, but things have been even crazier lately. For example, this week:

Monday: Rob had the day off, and I was exhausted, so I slept much of the day away. Nothing newsworthy there. But...

Tuesday: We decided to move.

Wednesday: I hunted around and found a potential place.

Thursday: I met the landlord inside the house with the kids, decided to go for it, signed the lease, paid the rent and security deposit, and got the keys.

Friday (today): We can move in.

I'm a little dizzy, but that's how we roll. Well, that's how I roll, anyway. Hubs is a tad bit freaked out by the whole thing, but we'll be aiight.

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I'm still on Project Vanity Plate, and this is today's find. Hopefully they're talking about God and aren't egomaniacs! If you missed it, I posted a whole bunch of them on Wednesday here.

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Today, in addition to checking out the house and stuff, was total nutballs. I took Rob to work at the buttcrack of dawn, and then I was supposed to take the daughters o' mine to the dentist, but I ended up konking out on migraine medicine and missing that appointment. Gah! I woke up just in time to shower and go meet our new lord of the land.

After the new house visit, I stopped to get the kids a semi-celebratory lunch (thank you, Wendy's Dollar Menu), zoomed home to update Chloë's résumé and grab her new headshots, and then dropped Sophie and Jack off at Jenny From the Block's house before racing to Chlo's audition. I didn't get to watch the actual audition, but I'm still tremendously proud of her. I was a nervous wreck for her, shaking and trembling, but she was confident and relaxed. How?! I don't know; she didn't inherit that from me, but hopefully her nurturing has had something to do with that poise.

Anyhoo, it's for an episode of a TV show I can't name at the moment, but we'll find out Wednesday if she got the part. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed! She really wants the role. I'm highly biased, but I think she was the cutest kid there, and she did great practicing her scenes for me. Stay tuned!

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After the audition, I raced to pick up the Littles before heading to pick up Rob, two hours late, from work. We headed over to the BMW place to pick up his supposedly 'fixed' motorcycle, a month after it was put in for repairs. After a freakin' MONTH, you'd think it'd be in excellent shape, right? Ha. More on that in a mome.

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We went straight to a Thai restaurant for a semi-celebratory dinner (not really; we just have not much food in the house currently, and we had a gift certificate to use there). Aren't these roses so cute? They were the straw wrappers atop each of our drink straws. Love!

We ordered family-style. This was my dinner. Well, that and a wee Spring roll. It may not seem like a lot, but apparently it was too much for me, because I didn't keep a single bit of it down, dang it. Um. It tasted better the first time. I probably could've kept it down, but I had the Jasmine rice with cashews, and, stupid me, I should've known better. I can never eat rice. It just looked so good. Anyway....

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All was well and good after dinner. Rob hopped on his motorbike, the kids and I buckled into the van, and off we went toward home. Only, I zipped into a 7-11 on the way home to refill my giant keg of Diet Dew and, well, hurl, and he followed me into the parking lot. By the time I restarted the van, his bike was smoking and leaking more fluids than a ... ah, skip that. Every metaphor I can think up is gross and graphic. Awesome. So not only was the BMW not fixed, but a freakin' panel was missing off the side, too! Really?! I'm way disenchanted with the place that had it for so long. They can bite me hard, right on my hindquarters.

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So, short story long, we sat there for an hour while Rob yapped on the phone to our insurance company, who basically solved nothing, and then watched him make the necessary repairs himself. I've dated some pretty useless guys before, and lemme tell you single ladies this: Marry a handy guy. I don't care what else you like about him, you will appreciate this advice. The other day, our toilet handle broke, and My Guy fished one out of his "pile of crap," as I not-so-tenderly call it, and fixed it on the spot. Pretty good. Back to the bike. While he was working, I went back into the 7-11 and bought a big bag of White Cheddar Popcorn. The kids pretended they were watching a movie while they ate it - and Dad was the show. I don't know how he felt about that, but I was entertained, and that's what counts, y'all.

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I don't know what else to tell ya. I have a million and one anecdotes I could share, but (a) you probably don't care, and (b) I should probably start packing. To move. Because we're doing that. Eek.

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Have a fab weekend, folks!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting with Mrs. 4444 today!

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Is anyone else shocked it's May already? For Heaven's sake, our pool will be open in 3 weeks already! I can't believe how fast the time is flying. We are so busy all of the time, it's almost hard to keep up with flipping the calendar pages, I swear. Man. I wish I could clap my hands and stop time temporarily, and just... breathe.

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I haven't been here in a few weeks, again, because of our packed schedule. Aside from our usual nutso routines, we've had a billion and one doctors' appointment, and Rob's had an accident that has kept me occupied carting him to those, work, and everywhere else, so... I am off my blog routine again. But! I am here now, and that's what counts, amiriiight?

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If you've ever thought about visiting my town, Virginia Beach, I just wrote this sponsored blog post about many of my favorite places and things to do here. Check it out if you're interested!

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I love this cute picture of Jack eating wings during a mystery shop a couple of days ago.  With the watch and everything, he looks so grown up! For a nine-year-old shrimp, that is. I've been doing lots of mystery shopping again lately to make some much-needed extra fundage. It's fun, but man, all the reports! Ugh.

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I swear, Virginia must be the vanity plate capital of the world. They're so cheap here, after all. Even I have one! I'm going to start taking pictures of the ones that amuse or interest me and posting them as part of my Fragments posts each week (or month, as it were). Can you see this one that I snapped today? It says "RR M8T." Arggghh, Matey! Hee. Do you have vanity plates?

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On Wednesday, the kids took part in the coolest thing. We drove up to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, to attend a special event: a ham radio chat - which NASA said couldn't be done - with International Space Station Astronaut Donald Pettit! Here, the kids first learned about the early age of exploration, in the times before, during and after Columbus' life, so they could later relate that Age of Exploration to the current Space Exploration.

Then, we migrated over to the closed studio, where we connected with three classes (in New York, Michigan, and Louisiana) and the astronaut in outer space, about 400 km above Earth, over Italy. Selected students were able to ask questions and hear Pettit's answers in real time, and we learned a lot about living aboard the ISS. Did you know it only takes eight minutes to get up there, but two days to transfer into the space station? Wow. I would kill to have that opportunity. Maybe one day they'll take an old fart like me and see what they can do with me. I'll be like the female John Glenn. Anyway, it was really cool, and my kids - especially Jack up there - got a lot out of the experience. Way cool!

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I took Rob in for his Neuro follow-up today, after his mini-stroke scares and subsequent finding of a benign brain tumor back in November. I was hoping for a more thorough check-up than the five minute "How are you? Fine? See you in six months" that he got, but I guess no news is good news. He hasn't had any weird things going on like he did six months ago, even after his accident, so I suppose all is well for now. He'll go back in another six months.

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Also today, I went in for a my regular dental check-up, fully expecting to have two new cavities. My teeth have been ultra-sensitive lately, especially in two places, so I thought fillings were going to be the order of the day, if not a full root canal or some badness. But the diagnosis was surprising: I grind and clench my jaw and teeth so much that it's causing my gums to recede, and my enamel to wear, which is causing the pain and discomfort. The dentist said he'd be happy to sell me a $600 mouth guard, or I can go pick one up at any drug or sporting goods store for five or ten bucks and try that. Hmm. Tough choice. But yay for no new cavities!

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Stay tuned for a post about our train trip up to Richmond last week; we had so much fun in our two short days. I'm so glad MIL suggested it!

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Aren't these newsprint nails so cool?! I am totes going to do this as soon as I find where I put the rubbing alcohol. Hopefully that'll work, since Rob drank all the vodka and stuff. Kidding. There's probably not even a beer in this house. I love this manicure, though. Trés cool.

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And finally, my 10½-year-old, Chloë, has a "boyfriend," S. Yeah. We've reached that stage. They're mad about each other. I even had to go on a ride with them to make sure they didn't kiss!!! WHAT?! She's TEN, FPS. I'm keeping a tight rein on this one and don't let them hold hands or anything, but S did recently give her a necklace in her favorite color, with hearts on it... oh, my word. I'm not ready for this part!

Since Chloë had a photo shoot for her acting and modeling "career" recently, my friend Saritah - S's mom - was joking about, "Great, my son is dating a model. That'll go to his head..." but yeah. He is. Hee.

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Well, I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll be back in a bit with my Aloha Friday question & some more updates from our latest travels and adventures. Ciao for now!

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Something's Fishy At Sweet Pea Academy...

So with the help of my MIL and her brother, along with lots of bonus points from doing community service with the Scouts (both Cub and Girl), we turned in enough Labels For Education to get the following goodies:

(Photo from LFE site) A world map, which hasn't come yet, or I'd have a better picture to show you,

a dozen bottles of tempera paint for our artistic pursuits, and,

 

our new 5-gal fish aquarium! The kids are decidedly most excited about this new swag.

We ran as soon as possible over to Petco to get some gravel, silk plants, food, and dechlorinator to set up our tank, as well as figure out which fish we were probably going to get after the tank had time to set up for a few days. I put it together, and the kids were beside themselves the whole time. Jack kept saying, "I'm going to cry happy!" He said it again today when we went to go get our fish.

This is Steve, who helped us both today with our new fish and the other day when we picked out what we'd need to get the tank ready, pulling out Chloë's Starfire Red Glofish and Sophia's Galatic Purple Glofish (both are Danio rerio).

The girls with their new fishies!

Then, Steve plucked out a Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) for Jack. We were originally going to go with something else, but Steve said no, too big. Jack recovered quickly from that setback.

Does Jack look like a little white monkey when he's super-excited, or what?!

We also picked out an algae-eater (Hypostomus plecostomus) for the tank, although eventually it'll get too big for our tank. That's okay; we planned on upsizing eventually anyhow. Sophia got to carry it on her lap on the ride home.

 

This is Hallie, the very friendly Scottish Terrier we met at Petco today. I always wanted to get a Scottie and name him Hamlet. Hallie was all over me; cute pooch!

 

I went against common knowledge, sense and practice and unceremoniously dumped our four new fishes into the tank, instead of taking the proper time to acclimate them to their new environs. Sue me. They seem fine.

I stopped at Jenny From the Block's house after Petco to bring her a few things, and we collectively decided that, since she's the tank "maid," we'll name the plecostomus Alice. Get it? C'mon, please tell me you get it. We briefly considered "Hazel" as well but quickly decided that was too old school for Alice. Hey, Alice? You lookin' at me?

And finally, we have Jack's Tetra, originally named "Little Frankie" but renamed "Speedy" since "he moves so fast" on the far right; Chloë's hot pink Glofish named "Moon" on the bottom left, and Sophie's "Starlight Starbright" above Moon. They all seem happy with their new home.

The kids are totally thrilled. I mean, it's been a couple hours, and they're still in their staring at the tank. Jack exclaimed, "This is even better than going to the Aquarium, because now we have our own aquarium!" Ha! I'm so happy they're delighted. So. Happy.

Fin.

P.S. Thanks, Mamacita and Unc!

 

Aloha Friday (Open To See Embedded Poll)

Link up here to play along with Kailani and friends this week.

My question for you this week comes courtesy of Polldaddy:

  

I'm hoping this coming weekend will bring me some Facebook-sharing worthy news, since that's who I share the good stuff with, following Hubs. And you, too, of course... Stay tuned for Friday Fragments!

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Oops, They Did It Again!

Welp, folks, it's that time of year again: the annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby! Jack's Pack raced yesterday, after he and Rob spent the week hashing out the details of how to build The Car. Every year, Rob asks him, "Do you want it to look cool, or do you want it to be fast?" And every year, Jack goes for fast. It's completely his choice, as it should be, although there are some folks who, like my high-ranking Boy Scout Mama-in-Law said, need to be a "wet blanket" on that theory and always make it look cool. Whatevs! Jack wants to build the car, he doesn't necessarily want to watch the races, and he wants to take home a trophy. That's Jack. So, let's see how it went down, shall we?

First, the Tiger Den raced. It seems like just yesterday, that was Jack. Hard to believe it has been two years since he won that race! And those boys are so little and young-looking and eager and cute. (Rob took the kids to go do the crafts in the other rooms while I knitted a hexipuff or two, watched the races and times, and suffered a horrible migraine that I've been nursing for over a fortnight now...)

After that, the Wolf Den raced. That was last year for us, and whew, it has flown by since Jack won that race, too. Those boys are still so cute, just a little bigger, same amount of eagerness... just adorable.

Lunchtime was next. I helped serve the food, because I haven't really stepped up much in the Pack, and I wanted to be useful in some way to them. After everyone ate, the Akela gave out the Popcorn Sale prizes. Jack had chosen a catapult, but it wasn't in yet, so I don't have pictures of him earning that for now.

And finally... his den, the Bears ("da Bearz" as everyone kept saying) were ready to race!

There were six boys, and there are six track lanes, so each boy's car races on each lane once to account for speed differences. It's a calibration technique. You know. Anyway. They drop the slowest time and average out the rest to determine the places. Five out of six heats, this popped up on the screen, with this one representing Jack's fastest time:

It was all very exciting! (I purposely didn't bring the Nikon, so these are all iPhone pictures. I didn't want to risk losing/dropping/breaking the dSLR, so that was intentional.) I don't have any involvement in the races except to go there to cheer on the boys - all the boys - so I don't take any credit. However, I was fist-bumped and congratulated as much as Jack and his dad were, I think, and I enjoyed every second of it!

Here are the Top 10 standings for the Bear Den - that lowest score was dropped, remember, so basically, well, he did awright. ;)

After we cheered on the Webelos 1 & 2 dens, it was trophy time. Jack earned the First-Place spot for his den, which meant three things: (1) Trophy, (2) Smiles, and (3) Participation in the overall pack race. And yes, he was every bit as just-rolled-out-of-bed-rumply as he looks here. Ha! What a mess. His crooked, looser-than-loose front tooth, really needing a haircut, and sleepy eyes make me laugh, but his happy face makes me smile and warms my heart. This is a boy who enjoys his trophies, and he was PROUD of himself. That matters, "cool-looking" car or not.

 

Right after that, they ran the Pack race, and Jack's car whizzed down the track heat after heat, to take First Place again!! I'm so happy for all the boys, every single one, and it was a fantastic day of racing... but yeah, I was super-proud of my guys. ♥

 

Here he is with both of his First Place trophies! Whoo! We're hoping for a third one to add to the collection, from the Districts, now.

Finally, the traditional First-Place Akela (parents and Leaders, basically) vs. First-Place Cub Scout race took place, and it was back-and-forth for all six heats, as they went from lane to lane. Guess what? Jack's car DID NOT WIN! This guy, Mr. P, who is cool as HELL, won. That's Team P's car on the left, and Jack's green car on the right, with Mr. P checking that they were on the track right. His son, Junior P, moved up to Boy Scouts last year, but he was the One To Beat up until that point, so Mr. and Junior P have talked to us many times about tips for making The Car be fast. Mr. P was totally and thoroughly thrilled for Jack, and he'll be at the Districts to cheer him on! I'm a huge fan of that guy. Just a really nice man, truly.

On the way home, as he held and admired his new trophies, Jack asked if could keep them on his dresser instead of the mantel with the others. I was all, "No way, dude!" For one thing, that's their place of honor. For another thing, we have Sophia up there to lose or break them if we let him do that! So on the mantel they went, as soon as we came home.  They're up there on the right, with all the others, sandwiched between the girls' soccer trophies from a couple years ago.

So, not a bad day of racing and camaraderie. All in good fun. Everyone was a good sport. (But psst: YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!!)

Grandma was very proud, too, to hear the news, and I loved sharing it with her!

This report will be continued on March tenth...

Fin.

Eleven Years Out Of My Life

OMG. I never blogged that it was our 11th anniversary?! Thufferin' thuccotash! That was a week ago tomorrow, now. Sophia took this picture of us on that day. The sun was in our eyes, and my hair is in a very awkward-growing out phase, so it's not ideal, but hey, she's six and we're not Brangelina, here.  I made a super-awesome video for him (15 minutes long, I might add) that made the man-person tear up a little (shh, don't say I told), but I can't upload it to YouTube or Vimeo 'cause of copyright reasons. But I could email it to you if you wanna see it. Just ask. It's cute and stuff.

Anyway. Eleven. Have we had our share of problems? You bet. Are we still madly in love with each other? You better believe it.

Here's to eleven more!

Fin.

What A Pain In The Brain

It has been brought to my attention - by my Self - that I haven't really blogged about Rob's branial-cranial sitchyation, which is so weird, because I tell you every damn thing else that happens to me. (You're going, "We know, we know...") So, having gotten permission from Hubs Himself, I'm going to give it to you here in timeline fashion, as that's the easiest way for me to remember it all, and I may yet get it wrong because the days have blent together in me' noggin. But here goes:

October 29, 2011: While the girls and are camping out with the Girl Scouts, Rob stays home with Jack and endures probably the worst migraine of his adult life. (He used to get them badly as a kid, and has had a few here and there, but none like this.) Nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, the whole bit. Classic migraine. Pain scale: 10.

October 30, 2011: We return home. Headache still present. Rob simpers that complaining to me about having a headache is similar to (example I can't remember, but unfair, basically, because I suffer from them frequently and badly myself), to which I reply that he is free to complain away, if it helps, as I sympathize.

Halloween: A better day, but we skip trick-or-treating (kids being disciplined) and do some shopping, during which headache worsens. We cut trip short and go home to medicate Rob.

November 1-2: Migraine present, but not vomiting, at least. Rob goes to work but comes home early both days, in pain.

November 3:  Headache persists and is so bad, again, that we go to ER. Doc takes history, gives Dilaudin, Phenergan, and Benadryl. Relief is immediate. Eventually, he is released and sent home.

November 4: My BFF, Dr. Lisa, inquires about Rob's visit to the ER and headache status. She insists symptoms are not normal and that he should NOT be at work but in hospital instead. Trusting her instincts, I inform Rob of this. He immediately comes home. We head back to ER. They perform CT scan and bloodwork. Labs appear normal, but CT pictures show evidence of TIA's, transient ischemic attacks, aka "mini-strokes." Hi, I freak. We are told they will contact NMCP (Naval Medical Center Portsmouth) to get his Neuro appointment bumped up ASAP. He is released.

November 5-6: Headache persists. Because of mini-stroke scare, I cancel my camping training trip for Girl Scouts to stay home with Rob, who is miserable.

November 7: Headache very bad. Stressed and anxious about TIAs (both past and possible current/future), I call civilian ER and implore them to call NMCP to move up the Neuro appointment. They inform me that 11/30 is earliest available as they have already done so, and to return if symptoms worsen or new ones appear.

November 8: Bad, bad headache. We return to civilian ER for treatment. ER doc once again takes history from onset of headache on 29 Oct and performs an exam. Finds right side neurological deficit, including weakness in hand and low/no reflexes in leg. I implore him to repeat CT scan, to see if there are changes (new mini-strokes?) since Friday's scan. He agrees. CT performed. New spots are noted but not ruled in or out as TIAs. Because of right-side weaknesses, he is transported by ambulance to NMCP and admitted to hospital. I go home, pack kids and food for co-op cooking classes, and drop them off at friend Jenny From the Block's house before heading to NMCP. I find him dozing and in the company of - surprise! - three male roommates, which means I will not, as expected, be spending the night with him. Sad. Neuro does rounds, checks on Rob. Says no food or drink until MRI is done in morning, which sucks because he's starving. Neuro orders pain and sleep meds by IV.  BP still high. I'm kicked out after 10 PM, more than two hours past visiting hours, over the protests of his friendly roommates.

November 9: In NMCP, Rob gets MRI of soft tissue, MRI of hard tissue, MRA (basically, an MRI of the vasculature). TIAs not necessarily confirmed, but not ruled out, either. Diagnosed with benign cavernous angioma, a tumor that's (correct me if I'm wrong) a tight cluster of blood vessels in the back left area of his cerebellum. "Benign" does not mean "not harmful," just "not cancerous." Bleeding could occur, which could cause blindness, kidney, pancreatic issues, and death, among other fun things, so there is much cause for concern. MRI is still needed for thoracic and cervical spine, to see if there are more tumors, as Von Hippel-Lindau disease is now suspected. It is decided to release him that evening and do the MRI on outpatient basis (scheduled for 21 November), keeping Neuro appointment for 30 November. Released with script for compazine only, for migraines.

November 10-11: Headache persists, possible migraine, not helped by Compazine at all. Extremely, worrisomely sleepy. Gets time off work (thank God) and sleeps most of time.

November 12-13: Rob okay, mas o menos, but again very sleepy. Sleeps most of weekend.

November 14: Migraine up to an 8-9. Two doses of compazine don't help. Recommended to take to ER by ??? (someone one of us called, but I was so tired, I can't remember who now), but again, I was too tired, I did not feel comfortable to drive. So, Rob takes an Ambien in order to sleep through the pain, and goes to sleep. Me too.

November 15: Migraine persists. New symptoms: Hyperesthesia, in that the pizza boxes I bought from 7-11 for the kids' dinner and hand over to Rob so I can drive are almost dropped, from the sensation of burning heat. I take them back; they are not at all hot. Not anywhere on the box, despite his protests that they are. Also, later in ER, tingling and numbness along jawline, from middle of ear to center of chin.

So, Immediately following my breast cancer gene appointment (see previous post), decision is made to return to civilian ER for migraine relief, after all-day suffering. Compazine not effective, at all, ever, so Dr. Melanie orders stoppage. What? You didn't know I was an MD? Me neither. We head to ER, which is unusually full. A long wait is promised. I decide to page the NMCP on-call neurologist, to see if we can't get a new migraine treatment med prescribed while we wait. In the meantime, Rob is called back to the exam room in short order, but waits a long time to see the doc. Finally, kids and I are allowed back, just as he is getting hooked up to IV saline drip. We wait another long time, during which NMCP Neuro returns my call, pissily asking what he can do for me THIS time and complaining that I am abusing the call-back privilege. I state that we have, in the meantime, gone to the ER for pain relief, that his primary care is NOT available in the off hours, and so therefore I should do what instead?! Neuro says, "Come see me at 0800 tomorrow so we can get a management plan in place until his upcoming appointments." Yay! Agrees that compazine should be discontinued (see?) and that we (he) should seek pain relief from ER doc until morning.

ER Doc then visits, takes history of this issue (from Oct 29-present) and proceeds to examine Rob. Agrees that compazine should be discontinued and new med prescribed, but upon hearing that we have an appointment the following morning with NMCP Neuro, tends toward providing immediate comfort and letting the Neuro make future medical decisions. Nurse eventually administers Dilaudid for pain, Phenergan for nausea, and more saline for dehydration. Observation ensues. Pain level goes from 9 to 2 quickly. YAYYYYYYYY. Doc decides to give another half-dose of Dilaudid to bring it down further, observe for 10 more minutes, and release Rob. We go home, Rob high as a kite and happy about it.

November 16: 0800 appointment with Neuro. Will update when possible.

Thank you to all of you who have been thinking of Rob and us, praying and sending good thoughts our way. We appreciate each and every one of you. I won't be sleeping tonight, as the kids and Rob have to get up in ~3 hours to get to NMCP on time for Neuro appointment, and I don't want to oversleep. Feel free to entertain me with lovely comments! ;)

Fin.

On Being Crafty

Since this guy:

has been freaking me out since Thursday with his possibly having had a stroke or several (hi, two ER visits later and we have yet to have him see a Neurologist, grr), I've been what you might call "productively unproductive." Huh? Welp, instead of doing (mostly) what I ought to do, like school the chillens and clean the house and sech, I've been spending the time trying not to be One Big Worrywart by being crafty instead. Crafting helps soothe my frazzled nerves and so, in this case, I gave myself a free pass to do whatever it was that I needed to do.

Firstly, I was determined to conquer this beast, which all of our girls - including the little 5-7-year-old Daisies - were supposed to have made at our encampment last weekend, but which proved to be next to impossible for just about everyone (including us adults). Chloë massively impressed me - and, I think, several of the other Leaders there - by reinventing the wheel and coming up with her own successful way to do it, but even then, it wasn't "right," as the directions given were confusing and, well, it turns out, just wrong. Since we had several 2-L bottles in the recycling bin, I decided to take another whack at it, and behold! Once you follow the dang directions, it's really not too bad. And it looks kind of cool, so I ended up making, like, five. (Hey, it was nerve-soothing, remember??)

Ignoring the background, and the fact that I couldn't get off the entire Coke label, I think it turned out pretty well. I filled it with glass beads and water, then went outside and snipped what may be my last lily of the year to snap this picture. My mistake was leaving it there alone. Half-hour later, I went into the kitchen, and I found our two wee kittens had battered the flower and drunk all the water they could reach out of the vase. Cats!!

Ah, but they're so cute and sweet and innocent when they're sleeping (not unlike the kids, eh?), it's hard not to forgive them and just laugh it off...

I was enjoying the craft so much that when I ran out of 2-L bottles, I decided to try making one out of a much smaller and more rigid SoBe LifeWater bottle. That took all my strength to cut! But, I rescued what was by then left of the flower and think it turned out mighty purty with some blue glass beads (I almost typed "glue blass" instead, as I am the queen of Spoonerisms). Right?

I then turned my attention to making my SWAPS ("Something Whimsical Affectionately Pinned Somewhere") for my Outdoor II (camping) training session that I was supposed to be at, well, right now. (After the Rob scares, I had to cancel my attendance, but I didn't know that at the the time.) So what's this jumble of mess?

Since our group's chosen Patrol name, with the overall camp theme was "Under the Sea," was the Sassy Sharks, I came up with this SWAP(s) first: A Sassy Shark intentionally pinned to the TOP of the crocheted chain. Get it? Sharks are apex predators, at the top of the food chain? Yes? You see? C'mon, it's jeenyus. Okay, okay, whatever, I liked it.

This was the second set of SWAPS I worked out. Up close:

A baggy containing a little card reading, "Make no bones (get it? Get it? Sharks have no bones! I'm so damn clever) about it, we Sharks sure are Sassy!" with another sassy, dancing little shark clip-art photo, and some frou-frous thrown in there for extra sass. I wanted to make a third set of SWAPS, but time was running short, and I still needed to make our Patrol's name tags, for which I was responsible.

A lot of Google Imaging, printing, cutting, laminating, and badge-attaching later, and my name tags were done. I was SO proud of them, and that's probably the one disappointment I had about not going camping this weekend; "that" being able to explain to each of our participants why I assigned them the sharks that I did. So, you'll have to sit through while I explain them to you, 'cause someone has to know the truth of the matter.

Top, L to R: Hard to see, but N was our "Ghost Shark," because she was absent for our initial training and planning session, so we only had her in spirit. J was our Hammerhead, because they're one of the few sharks that really school in groups and they're quite dominant, and I got the sense that J was a real team player but also a natural-born leader-type. See?

Middle, L to R: S was our Wobbegong, one of my favorite sharks, because she struck me as gentle and shy, like these more docile fish. D wanted to be the Great White, and I forget why, but I gave that to her. She had a strong personality as well, so it seemed fitting, anyway. And, my Assistant Troop Leader, Miss D, was our Patrol Leader, a.k.a. the group cheerleader, so I made her our Megamouth Shark. Get it? Like she had a megaphone to cheer us all on with? Ha. I kill The Me.

Bottom, L to R: I made myself the Nurse Shark, because I was our Patrol's elected First Aider (which makes it suck even more that I couldn't go! Hope no one gets any boo-boos...). The next one was a Chimaera, which I LOVE because it belongs to AD: The overall camp trainer, she gets a name tag from EVERY Patrol to keep for her collection. So why a Chimaera? Well, they are related to sharks, but not really sharks, for one, and for another, in mythology, chimaerae are thought to be able to change themselves into different things, and since she gets to be part of all the Patrols, technically, she's changing roles depending on which one she's with. Love it? I do!! Our Patrol Trainer, C, is a runner, so I made her our super-fast Mako Shark. And last, but not least, A, the oldest (by far) in our group, was the now-extinct but long-lived Megalodon Shark. Heehee.

Yup. I'm proud of these and hope everyone was able to figure out their sharky identities without my help. Am I a nerd? You betcha!

Once I finished that, I was still distracted by my fretting, so I turned to the one guaranteed nerve-calmer for me: needlework. The knitting project (my Sparkle! dress), I deemed to be at a point to stressful to get the job properly done, so I switched tactics and started a pretty doily (Ravlink) instead. (PDF here) I was so glad to finally finish those 10 flowers last night! After about six, I was bored of that. But sometimes, a little tedium is just what the doctor ordered, so that was okay, too.

Last night, I worked on the center of the doily, a fast work-up, and am now at the point where I'll switch colors again (this is actually a light mint green, if you can't tell from the pic; click to embiggerate, as usual) and start attaching the flowers. I can't wait and will jump into that as soon as I finish this post!

And finally, I made the creamed corn at which my teen cooking class balked,and since I was so exhausted from my ongoing Hell Week, I gave them a pass and let them have Study Hall instead, agreeing to make the four (nope, three, since one student did agree to make the rice dish, so I sent her home with the ingredients for that) side dishes on last week's cooking agenda myself and report back to them. My report? Utter deliciousness, and I have since engulfed about 2/3 of the dish. Rob's pronouncement? "Ugh.That is all you." Fine by me! Yum!

Today, I'll make up the other two dishes and show you those, later.

Have a swell week!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you need to get some crap stuff off your chest today, too!

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This has been a week of injury, pain and crisis for Team Odette. Wanna hear? Good, because that's pretty much all I've got to share right now.

Sunday, 6yo DD Sophia slammed her hand in the van door. Cue major crying and agony, as her hand swelled up to double its regular size and turned 15 shades of red and purple. So we drove home from where we were and then Daddy took her to the ER for X-rays. Thankfully, nothing was broken, but as there were a half-dozen booboos on the outside, too, they bandaged her up to high heaven and sent her home with Tylenol and Motrin.

(P.S. She's fine now.)

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Monday, Chloë had her braces put on by the kids' dentist, Dr. C., on the top row of teeth. None for the bottom. She's been practically howling in pain ever since, whining and complaining that everything is poking her in the cheeks and gums, it's too tight, yadda yadda yadda. As her mother has had them twice, and her Daddy once, she's at least got sympathetic parents. And lots of yogurt in the fridge so she can eat.

(P.S. I had to make a special stop at Dr. C.'s office on Wednesday for more wax already. I asked her to use it a little more sparingly, huh? 'Cause I can't be driving down there every two days for more, y'know?)

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Tuesday, the third day of crying in pain, Jack's own dental pain became so bad that we had to take him in to Dr. C. at night on an emergency basis. He had to keep his staff there late and everything, to treat the poor boy. Turns out, he had an abscessed tooth, which they immediately extracted (it was a baby tooth, fortunately). The poor kid is prone to cavities and has about eight right now that need filling under general anesthesia, so we're trying to get that taken care of at the Naval Hospital.

(P.S. He's fine now, as long as we keep him dosed on the same Tylenol/Motrin schedule as Sophia's hand required. His only complaint now is, "It feels weird where my tooth was." Well, yeah, duh.)

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Wednesday, I was shopping at Wally World cooking classes in the wee-wee hours of the morning. So maybe I was a bit tired when I got back home at 0400 and started taking bags out to bring into the house.... I use canvas bags as much as possible, this trip being no exception, and have a number of drawstring ones. Well, I thought I had the canned-food bag right-side-up, but apparently I didn't, because as soon as I lifted it out, PLUNK-DUNK-PLUNK-PLUNK came out all the cans - plus a 68-oz bottle of olive oil - onto the toes of my right foot. I said a lot of bad four-letter words and ran into the house to check things over. Not unlike Sophia, there was blood, swelling, redness, and pain involved. I was pretty sure I broke between 1-3 of those toes.

(P.S. I still am, but since I can walk, and there's not a lot they do for broken toes other than confirm it and dummy-tape them, I've done nothing for it but take the occasional Tylenol. I'm beginning to think we should buy stock in that company, eh?)

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Thursday, my husband came home from work acting funny. Not his usual self. That, combined with unusually high blood pressure (he's usually healthy as a horse, fit as a fiddle, you get picture), a horrible puking migraine that gave him residual headaches every day since, and a few other symptoms, had us driving back to the emergency room as soon as our Girl Scout meeting ended. A few tests later, we found out that the CT-scan showed several spots which indicated he'd possibly suffered a mini-stroke!

(P.S. !!!!!! Yes, I am super concerned. I want him to go to the neurologist, like, yesterday.)

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Also Thursday, I was supposed to go to the Onco-Geneticist for counseling to see if they would do the breast cancer screening test on me, based on my family history of it. I mean, they're going to do it, but this was my intake appointment. I totally forgot about it, so I didn't go. Hopefully, I won't get a $50 missed appointment bill. Ugh.

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Friday hasn't quite started yet, but things are already looking interesting: I'm seeing my prescribing shrinky-dink in the afternoon, and I have the following symptoms to share with him (and no, I'm not to copy my husband, lol; I think these are all/mostly medically-induced): sudden and severe occasional stuttering; muddled thinking and inability to do things I can normally do; the front of my tongue curling so that I talk funny, which I can't stop no matter how hard I try; more visual hallucinations; acting "drunk" according to my husband; and, tremors in my right hand. Awesome, right?

(P.S. I have to go camping again for Girl Scouts this weekend. I totally don't want to go. I'm tired. It's been a rough week. Think good thoughts for me out in the woods, will you, please?)

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That's all I've got. Nothing Halloween-y, as we didn't Trick-or-Treat, or pass out candy, or decorate, or anything. This is not our usual custom, but the kids had 10 days (ten!!) to get their rooms clean, and they didn't do it, so they had it taken away. Le sigh.

Hope you all had a better week than we did, and here's hoping to a better one ahead for us!

☼

Fin.

September 11, 2001 - September 11, 2011: Our Story

Our 9/11 "where were you when ..." story goes this way (and it's long, just forewarning):

We were living in Panama City, Florida, at the time. I was eight months' pregnant with Chloë Raine, with an extreme case of polyhydramnios going on. So we were headed, on 9/7/01, to Pensacola for a 4D-level ultrasound to find out exactly what was happening there and make sure Baby Girl Odette was fine.

Along the way, I writhed in agony over each and every fine bump in the road as Rob drove the three hours to Sacred Heart Women's Hospital in P'cola. It got worse as the trip progressed, and by the time we got to the hospital for my test, I was half-crying, half-screaming in agony.

Fast-forwarding through the stress of not knowing where to go and being brought all over the hospital while the wheel of the wheelchair rubbed against and burnt my thigh, all the while with me hollering and moaning in severe pain, we finally ended up in the L&D ward for Maternal-Fetal Medicine patients. Basically, I was a high-risk pregnancy without being aware of it, for several reasons: My weight was high, we had the polyhdramnios, I had developed pre-eclampsia but NOT been told about it, and Chloë's triple-screen test had come back with a high risk indicator for Down Syndrome.

Anyway, we got to L&D, and by that point, my blood pressure was so high, and I was shaking badly. They were doing everything in their power to calm me down, and I overheard someone tell someone else (maybe I'm the "someone else," I can't even remember anymore) that I was on the verge of having a major stroke that could be deadly. So things were quite serious, you could say.

I had about 24 people, including the janitor I think, reach up into my cervix and push through to check on things. At one point, they decided to break my stubborn amniotic sac, and holy crap, that hurt. Not only that, but there was SO much extra fluid that the staff of this teaching hospital laughed as they had never seen such an amount come out, and it flooded the floor all around my bed. I remember everyone calling for "Towels! More towels!" It even splashed the feet of Rob, who was holding my hand and standing near my head.

When the rush of fluid poured out of me, it dragged Chloë's infant hand out with it, so that when they checked me again, they felt her hand instead of the tip of her head, as things should be. So now I had complicated presentation on top of everything else! With that, the severe pre-eclampsia, and the determination that my placenta had abrupted after one long, continuous contraction on the drive to the hospital, a decision was made that I needed to have her by emergency C-section. I was devastated, having had my birth plan written up for months, and it didn't include no damn surgery!

(An emergency c/s is pretty much a slice-and-dice operation, and the focus is obviously more on getting the baby out and keeping her and the mother safe and healthy, rather than on having a pretty scar. And I've had three emergency sections now, plus a hysterectomy, plus gastric bypass surgery. Not that you asked - but my abdomen is basically one big scar now. It looks awesome.)

So we readied me for surgery as fast as possible, and when Rob was let into the O.R., I was singing "Come Sail Away" to him for reasons I can't explain, other than that I was high on meds by that point and it was one of the songs he sang/played for me during our brief courtship, being a Sailor in the US Navy and all.

I have to admit, also, to being disappointed I was having my baby for my 25th birthday, because all I really wanted to do for my birthday was not give birth but go swimming! With the polyhydramnios, I was freaking e-NOR-mous, and the only time I was comfortable was when I was swimming in the base pool. I even asked the surgeons, during the surgery, if I could go swimming the next day. Their answer came in the form of chuckles and guffaws. I easily guessed that meant it was a big, fat "no." Dammit.

Anyway, moving along. The surgery progressed rapidly, and Rob looked over the hidey-sheet they put up so Mom can't see anything, and he saw lots and lots of blood all over the place. I think that will stick with him; not sure it traumatized him, but it definitely made an impact on him. When they pulled Chloë out of me, she dipped her head back and gulped in some of the fluid, which was not supposed to happen. Uh-oh. I'm unclear on whether that's what led to her subsequent breathing problems, but they had to put her on O2 for a while to get her to breathe normally. I can't remember the exact numbers, but her APGARs were low to medium. She was not a healthy baby.

They brought her over to me, and I had just enough chance to see how freaking cute she was - especially her tiny nose, I noticed - before I started to barf all over her. They whisked her away to get her clean and then took her down to the NICU, where she remained for ten days. Meanwhile, I was sewn up and brought out to recovery, where my blood pressure continued to be sky-high. I was one stressed-out and fearful Mama!

I'll skip over my own recovery mostly, but Chloë was in the NICU for a week and a half with one problem developing after another. At first, it was the breathing issue I mentioned. Then, she refused to eat. I tried nursing her, and she just didn't "get" it. I was pumping away, but my milk didn't come in for 10 days, so they insisted on giving her bottles of formula which, again, greatly upset me. When they gave her a pacifier, too, I flipped out on them, having done my reading and research on nipple confusion. Argh! I was adamant that she would be a breastfed baby, and this was especially aggravating to me. Anyway.

At another point, she developed fluid outside her lungs, and they were going to have to do surgery for that. Then that cleared up, miraculously and through the many prayers we had for her, by the next day. The following day, it was determined that she had a messed-up shunt in her heart, whereby the blood wasn't flowing properly through her body. They were going to do surgery on that, the next day. Can you imagine? Her parents were now 25 and 29, young enough to be terrified about her baby. At one point, I asked a nurse, "Is my baby going to die?!" and was relieved when the answer was no, she would be all right. But it was an extremely stressful time in our lives.

Meanwhile, four days into this huge, personal ordeal for our own family, September 11th came along. You all know what happened that day.

We did not, not at first. See, after it was determined we would be spending some time in Pensacola for Chloë's sake, Rob asked one of his colleagues to check into our house and look after our beloved dog and cat. Well, this particular guy, Z, was never able to get INTO our house, and so our pets had been locked in their cages with no food, water, or potties for four straight days! Upon finding this out, my blood pressure went through the roof again. I was certain they were dead. Freak out was my main response...

Then, Z told Rob to turn on the news and see what was happening. At that point, the North Tower of WTC had just been hit, so we all still didn't know what was going on. I was lying in my hospital bed, Rob next to me, and Baby Chloë down the hall in the NICU, when we watched the events unfold. I was transfixed. Utterly immobile. What the hell?! What was going on?

Then the phone calls started. Rob was in the Navy (still is), so everyone wanted to know what this would mean for him, as far as a deployment or what kind of duty, etc. He never did deploy and was put on security duty for several month after that, so thankfully I had him home with me while we were adjusting to life with a semi-sick little baby. (She still never wanted to eat at first, and then when she did come around and start nursing, she didn't want to stop! BUT, she had major reflux and would projectile vomit at least a dozen times a day, so she didn't gain any weight. We had to have weight checks done on her twice a week, and it was months and months before she regained her birth weight of 7 lbs and then hit the 10-lb mark...)

And finally, a couple days later, I found out that my boss from my law firm, where I'd worked until I got married, and who was like a second father to me, had dropped dead while watching the news of the attacks, on September 11th. I cried for days over that. I loved that man. He was wonderful to me. If Sophia had been a boy, her middle name would have been his...

So.

That's our story for September 11, 2001. For this anniversary, ten years later, I will be remembering all of that (well, I just did, didn't I?) as well as our country pulling together. I will remember all of the commercials with people from around the U.S and, indeed, the globe, saying, "I am a New Yorker," and I will remember the feeling of shame I felt that everyone was so focused on NY and that the Pennsylvania crashed flight and the Pentagon flight were somewhat ignored and forgotten by the media, it seemed like.

But mostly, I will remember how, as the TV showed clips and ongoing coverage of the horrific attacks, our country banded together and showed unity for the first time in... maybe ever? And I will remember as well the fear of, "What kind of world have I brought my baby into?!" that I had for a long time.

We don't have television service, so I will not be watching coverage of that day, but I don't need to. You see, I really AM a New Yorker, and I spent a lot of time in that city throughout my childhood, and the World Trade Center towers were common sights for me then. And with their disappearance came shock and many other emotions too fragile for me to even name. We're all New Yorkers - no, we're all AMERICANS - on this day, and we will never forget.

God Bless you all and keep you safe, on this day, and always.

Fin.

A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

Y'all did know that's, like, a palindrome, right? That's not news?

Anyway. Not where I'm headed.  Nor is this collage of silly pictures I took of myself early this morning when I meant to be writing up plans and writing down lists:

I love Instagram.

I also seriously LOVE these Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers, which are so good I can't stand it. I got a case of them from Moms Meet to share with my mommy group today, but I've literally eaten like 10 ½-oz bags myself since they arrived. They're addictive! Perfectly crunchy, wonderful texture, delicious flavor, and just the right touch of salt. Mmm. I can definitely endorse this product! Bonus: They're gluten-free, for those of you needing such a product (but they do contain soy, though it's low on the ingredient list.)

ANYWAY.

The plan. The plans. That's why we're all gathered here together today. And no, we're not moving to Panama. Or Thailand. Or Florida, Or Hawai'i, or Australia (boo-hoo). Nor are we going to live on a boat.

  
No, we have decided that, all things considered, those ideas just aren't going to work out for us, right now. Maybe in the future, but not right now.

Instead, here's what:

Rob'll retire in about a year and a half, after 20 years of service to our great country.

Then a lot of this will happen. Hopefully our shithole house will sell sooner rather than later, and we can high-tail it out of here shortly after retirement.

...After which, we'll end up here, this being a marina in downtown San Diego. Okay maybe not *exactly* here, but somewhere in this neck of the woods. And by "neck" I mean Southern California, and by "woods" I mean United States. It all depends on where we can find affordable (please, God, let it be four-bedroom) housing in a safe place, but the closer to SD, the better.

Now you may be asking, in your grammatically-incorrect way that I love so much:

???

Well, there are a few reasons.

#1. Process of elimination. After deciding we couldn't expatriate for medical reasons (my bipolar disorder and Jack's growth hormone deficiency, chiefly), our list narrowed down to Hawai'i, the Florida Keys, or San Diego. It had to be somewhere warm but NOT the Deep South, and I didn't have much interest in the Southwest, either. No particular reason, just, meh.

#2.

The whole reason Rob got into the Navy in the first place was for the G.I. bill, so he could go to college, never intending to do 20 years. But that's neither here nor there anymore, and now he's ready to get that degree. Between the GI bill and Voc Rehab, he hopes to get his B.S. in Nursing, become an R.N., and then continuing ed. to become a Nurse Practitioner. I think that's great. I'm all for it.

So why San Diego?

a. Proximity to MTFs (Military Treatment Facilities) to minimize our out-of-pocket post-Active Duty medical expenses. (Our prescriptions add up, dudes.)

b. Proximity to family, vs. Hawai'i. As Rob pointed out, "our parents aren't getting any younger..."

c. Quality and quantity of accredited institutions of higher learning, vs. the sole Florida Keys Community College (which, by the way, is supposed to be competitive for nursing, but then he'd have to commute to Miami after two years, and .... nah)

# 3.

There's so much for families to do there! We've heard lots of great things from friends and fellow military members who've lived there, so it will afford many opportunities for exploration, discovery, and fun.

So that's pretty much the whole ball of wax, in a nutshell. Maybe we'll be able to live out Plan B of The Retirement Dream, which includes

Oh. When I first read that, I thought it said "OUR," not "ORR." Heh. Whatever. Sorry I stole your banner, Orr Family Farm.

We'd love some of this:

because we go through, and desire plenty of fresh, healthy, organic:

If the place is big enough, we might even have a goat or even a cow, for milk, and cheese, and yogurt, and all sorts of things I'd learn to make.

Dang. Just dang.

And hopefully a big, beautiful vegetable garden will keep us occupied in the growing season (or is it always the growing season there?), so with the chickens and goat/cow and veggies and whatever else, we can be pretty self-sufficient and organic, food-wise.

In the dream/fantasy, I'd also get an alpaca or several, to raise for the fiber.

Of course, I could either sell the fiber outright, or learn to spin it. Or both. Yes, probably both.

And I could learn to dye it with natural materials, and I would produce the most beautiful yarns.

And of course, I'd keep homeschooling the kids, and they'd learn so much from the farming and the husbandry and the learning. All the learning, every day, from doing. And behold, it would be very, very good.

And in a perfect world, I'd have her body.

So it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Whether any of it does, whether it all does, and we get to grow old together and live happily ever after.

That's the plan, Stan!

Fin.

P.S. I forgot to mention one final "plus" that San Diego had going for it: proximity to

,

should Chloë (or even Sophia, but never Jack) decide to pursue that avocation after all.

P.P.S. Today is Rob's 39th birthday. Happy birthday, Rabbi/Rupert/Ribbon/Rabbit/Robin/Ruben and everything else I call you!

Things That Suck

Two things, at least this past Tuesday (yesterday):

1. Winning a contest and not having the gas to go pick up the prize. I am guaranteed to have won either: a 2011 Ford SUV hybrid, a trip with hotel and airfare included, $2500, or a big-screen LCD TV. I'm supposed to drive up to Woodbridge on Thursday night to claim it. Not having the money for gas to get there, which is near DC, means that it'll have to go unclaimed. Sure would have been nice to have one of those prizes, though. Except for the trip, we'd have sold it and used the money for house repairs, to get this baby ready for sale. Le sigh.

2. Operation Rescue Mallard gone bad:

This poor drake was the straggler in a flock of ducks that was flying over when Rob was driving home on his motorcycle, and wham! he hit Rob right in the helmet and windshield instead of clearing him. Rob came home, I called a wildlife rehabber, and we were instructed to get him and put him in a box.

So we went out to the lake, where he skedaddled off to be amongst his breathren after the accident, and called out for him. "Bob! Uh, here ducky...!" when Sophia let herself out of the van (not following instructions to stay put) and started running through the flock of geese and ducks converging on us, mistakenly thinking we were giving handouts. Her actions parted the ways quickly and led us down to one hunkered-down bird who refused to scatter. That was our duck. Rob gingerly lifted him into the box, and I could see that both legs, and a wing, were badly damaged. There was blood on the bottom. He was in bad shape.

I called the rehabber back and, since we couldn't bring him out until late that night when they figured out if they had the space for yet another duck - already having over five dozen to care for - was told to give Bob a little water. We tried. He didn't seem to interested in that. Apparently Tap doesn't taste like Pond. (Lucky us.)

He'd soiled himself badly, and I didn't want him sitting in that, so we moved him to a slightly bigger box. One with no stinky duck pee or poo. We imagined the rest of the flock back at the lake, still whispering about Bob being ducknapped. We hoped they realized we planned to bring him back, in time.

Bob seemed content, if not completely stressed, in his new digs. He still didn't drink. We decided to let him chill out there and came in the house. The children were still out playing. Before too long, less than an hour, Sophia came inside to do her impression of poor Bob, which included lolling her head to the side.

Oh, no.

We rushed outside, to find what was clearly a very dead Bob.

I burst into tears, and one by one, so did the children. I don't know that they all would have done that, if I hadn't, but I couldn't help myself. I love the creatures, great and small, and I'm so sad it didn't work out this time. Bob was just too hurt and stressed, and he didn't make it.

Poor Bird. We tried, we really did.

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Things that DON'T suck:

All the support I received, both in the comments here and on Facebook, to continue the blog. Rest assured, I'm not going anywhere. How could I? Thirteen people would be devastated if I left the Interwebs, wouldn't you?  And I won't tone it down, keep it in, change my style, either. Again, how could I? All I know is how to be me. So that's what you get. Thanks for following along. Say hey once in a while. I'd like that. That would be not-the-suck, too.

Fin.

Knitting Progress Y Otras Cosas

Here's where I am on the dress now. I think it's looking so cool. I can't wait to wear it!! It's double-knit, thick wool, so unless I develop coolant in my blood, I think it will be relegated to Winter wear after all.  I'm fine with that.

We didn't do a whole very lot this Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday, we... Hm. Lay around in the un-air-conditioned house and moaned about how hot we were. On Sunday, we did the same. Today, Monday, we actually managed to get to the pool for some respite from the heat. Five minutes into that excursion, I was whining about being bored and having forgotten my knitting. After an hour, I gave up and walked home, leaving Rob at the pool with the kids. I grabbed my knitting and, still soaking wet and wrapped up in my towel, I lay on the couch with my project bag and... promptly fell asleep. For like, four hours. Awesome. Go me.

Part of that sleepiness might be from what is an enormous change I've made in my life, as of yesterday: I gave up my major Diet Coke habit! I have multiple reasons for doing so, including economic, health, and environmental ones. If you want me to go into more detail, say so in the comments. I won't bore you with those here.

But I'm out of iron and unloaded from caffeine, so I am quite the drowsy girl right now. It sucks. All I want to do is clean the house, but it's far too hot, and I'm far too tired, and I've done exactly nothing on that front.

 

 

Excuse the kids sitting around in their drawers, but it really is frickin' hot in here. Anyway, this is them starting on our new Top Secret! Adventure series from the Highlights magazine people. We're starting with Australia. So far, they're semi-into it. Maybe I can make it more interesting for them this week, because we have the China package to do next, and the third one should be here soon. Should be a fun way to explore geography, though!

Right now, while the AC is out of commission, You Take The Cake! is on hiatus. For one thing, it's too hot to bake, and for another, all my goodies will melt! So that stinks, because I am really eager to kick it into high gear.

And on a final note, we're trying to get out of our house. Anyone want to assume our mortgage? We don't even want to make any money on it; we just want OUT of here. Stat.

And on that note, have a lovely week. Think cold thoughts for us!

Fin.

For The Love Of Knitting

I made this for my friend's daughter. The baby was born, I think, on Christmas Eve, and I cast on for this sweater (Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater on 2 Needles) within the week. However, you may have realized, we're never home, and I have no free time (or at least, I don't always make good use of it)! So I just finished it today. Or was it last night? I forget; it's all blent together now.

Hopefully, knowing my friend, the baby is still quite small and will fit this for months to come. Unfortunately, they live in Miami, and this is ultramerino by Artyarns, so... you do the math. Keepsake? Heirloom? Hey. I make the sweaters, not the decisions.

********
I should go pack, but I'm dragging my feet on it. We're leaving for my grandpa's funeral tomorrow morning. The funeral's on Thursday morning in New Jersey, but our hotel tomorrow night is just over an hour away in Connecticut. If I've ever been to CT, I'm not aware of it. But my grandpa grew up there, so it seems appropriate.

I'm hanging in here. You know how it is. One minute you're fine, and the next minute you're snotting all over your husband's shirt with bleary red eyeballs and a crying headache.  But I'm okay. I'm not over-dosing or cutting my wrists or anything like that, which is good. And I'm looking forward to visiting my mom's grave, which is at the same cemetery where Grandma and, soon, Grandpa are/will be buried. I haven't been there in over a decade.

I have no clever way to end this post, so I'm just going to stop.

Fin.

Welcome, Summer.

Well, it's official. Summer is here in Hampton Roads. It's freaking HOT, too - over 100º the last few days. Without AC in the car or house, well, we've been pretty dang miserable. I'm surprised it hasn't killed the pets. Anyway, this week, Chloë is going to Imagimazing Camp Beverly Hills out in deep Chesapeake. She started Monday and has gone twice so far. They have been swimming and boating, playing games, and generally having a ball. She's enjoying herself. I'm glad, because I'm going to put 250 miles on the van with all those round-trips, by the end of the week!

The pool is closed on Mondays, so Rob set up the little Barbie pool that Jack gave Sophia for her birthday in April. At last; they have been begging for it for an age. 

 
  
When alone in the pool, Chloë was pretending to be a mermaid. Yes, she's still the dramatic one.

The ice cream truck came by while all three children were flopping about in the pool, and I happened to have seven bucks in my wallet, so what the hey. Ice cream for everyone! They were out of EVERYTHING that we wanted, though. Hello? Stock up, man. Stupid.

Ah, summer. The ice cream truck was a big part of my childhood, too - whenever we visited Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma would take us to the pool every week day and we'd get to go pick out an ice cream when the truck stopped at the pool. Every single day. I think? At least, that's how I remember it.

That boy was SUCH a mess by the time it was all said and done!

The kids went RIGHT back into the pool when they half-assedly cleaned themselves up after their ice creams were eaten.

 

  Unfortunately, our nice evening was cut short when the bike Rob was messing with gave him a rather nasty bite. Blood gushed out all over the place. I knew I'd be driving him to the hospital after he cursed, hissed, and said, "That's gonna leave a mark." 

We spent several hours at the ER waiting for him to get his five stitches. That particular one, to which I drove, is normally like the fast-food restaurant of hospitals, but it was surprisingly packed and slow that night. The kids were starving; I had to break down and go to The Evil Empire McDonald's for dinner. I made the mistake of eating a McNugget or two myself, and I retched a couple of times in the parking lot for my folly. Just can't eat that crap; the pouch vehemently rejects it! 

Anyway, Rob: he refused pain meds and was therefore in a great deal of agony on Monday night, but he was able to ride his Beemer to work on Tuesday. It's hurting a lot less now. He'll live. It was a nasty slice, though, and we think maybe he hit a nerve. That's what he gets for messing with the bike when he was supposed to be working on our garden!! Chloë and Sophia were very sympathetic about their Daddy's accident, but Jack just whined, "I don't wanna go to the hospital, I wanna stay in the pooooool." Gee, thanks, Son.

And that, my friends, was Monday.

Fin.
 
P.S. I realize Summer started more than a week before this, but I needed a blog title. Sue me. :P

Just Another Manic Monday

So, I stayed up all night again last night, Sunday into Monday, so I could work on my coupons, of all things. I haven't opened the paper in three weeks, and since it's almost the end of the month, I needed to work on the database if I was going to have a chance of winning that $25 Amazon.com gift certificate for April! I hope I get it again... it definitely helps!

The plan had been to work on coupons on Sunday and laundry on Monday, but it didn't quite work out that way. Other than taking Sophia to her classmate's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese (deja vu!) on Sunday, I mostly slept. Don't know what's up with that, I've just been so tired. Between that and a wee-hours cup of coffee, I was well primed for another all-nighter. It seems like I do it once or twice a week lately. Sucks, but like Stephanie said, it's better than every night like I used to do!

 

I spent over an hour on the phone with my dad in the morning, hearing about his and Wife's honeymoon cruise, his first visit with my grandpa since my sister's wedding, his extensive home repair woes, yadda yadda. When he asked me what was new, I hesitantly told him about the kids' ADHD diagnoses and our plans to homeschool next year. He's VERY outspoken and not at all crunchy or anything like that, so I thought he would not approve... but he did and said he was proud of me! I don't live for my dad's praise or anything, but it comes so rarely that I'll take it when I can get it. He was all for the homeschooling thing, which shocked the crap out of me, but especially when I told him it was an alternative to keeping them in school and medicating them.

 

Around noon or so, I got up (yes, I worked on coupons for, like, 12 hours! But I wasted plenty of that time doing other things, too) to get ready to go to court. Today was my appearance for my naughty doggy's "dog at large" charge from last month, when Tiger Lily escaped the yard and had a nice time roaming the neighborhood until someone called Animal Control. Did I tell you about that? I had planned to fight the fine, since it had never happened before and hopefully won't happen again. She's licensed, microchipped, rabies-vaxed, and we pick up after her when she poops around the neighborhood. In other words, we're pretty responsible pet owners, and I was hoping for leniency based on that fact.

I was nervous. I dressed in a new skirt (I never mentioned that I went on a shopping spree at Old Navy after Sophia's birthday party last weekend. Everything is a size medium! I bought mostly size 14 bottoms, but 12s fit, and I should be down to at least a 10 after my abdominoplasty. And dare I say I could probably have fit into some 'small' tops, too. Exciting!) and tank top with matching sweater. I carefully did my make-up, hair, and put on jewelry. I wanted to look proper and responsible for the court.

At the court, I was chagrined to find I could bring in neither my cell phone nor my knitting. I had to trek back to my van in heels to put all my stuff back. By the time I got back in and found my courtroom - in criminal court, no less! - it was already time to go in. 

The judge was quite stern. When he was first addressing us, the peanut gallery, I was thinking, "Oh, Lordy, I'ma goin' to jail!" And then after the two people stepped up to ask for continuances in their cases, I was the first person called! I tried not to be nervous, but the judge had just yelled at the previous guy for talking too much, and I didn't want to make the same mistake. 

The animal control officer who had captured Tiger Lily and issued my citation, or whatever it is, was there. She stepped up to the bench with me and explained the case. The judge asked me, "How do you plea?" and I said, "Uh... not guilty?" He was not amused. He raised his eyebrows and looked down his nose at me, and then I said, "Your honor, I would like to ask for leniency. This has never happened before or since."  And blah blah blah, I gave the rest of my reasons. He looked at the AC officer, who basically pled my case for me, telling him I had no priors and that I was very cooperative, etc. He asked her if he should give me the benefit of the doubt this time, she nodded, and he spat out, "Your case is dismissed!"

I just stood there for a second and then asked, "Okay... do I just leave now?" "Yep!" replied the judge. I thanked him quietly, nodded at the officer, and high-tailed it out of there with a big grin on my face. It was all I could do not to kick up my heels and whoop out in the hallway!

Once in the car, I called Rob and my dad to share the good news about my dismissal - and, I'd like to add, I wasn't even the one who let the dang dog out in the first place!! I drove home and worked on laundry for an hour or so. I was so caught up with laundry so very recently, that it amazes me how far behind I am on it again already. It's ridiculous, the amount of clothes we go through. I can't stand it! But it's even worse now that I'm both changing over the kids' wardrobes to Spring/Summer and putting away Fall/Winter, as well as getting rid of all my Large/size 18 clothes and putting in all the new stuff I just got. Clothes, clothes, everywhere, and not a stitch to wear! Heh.

Anyway. Rob was supposed to go down to the bus stop to get the kids, but he fell asleep, so I had to race down to the corner at top speed to meet the bus. Just in time! All three kids bounced happily off the bus; they'd had good days. Rare for all three to have one at the same time.

Rob and I canoodled for a little while, while the kids cleaned up their rooms a little bit, and then I finally fell asleep. Just for a couple hours; I woke up just as Rob was taking Jack and Sophie to The Boy's Cub Scout den meeting. Chloë stayed home with me, to work on homework and then study for the Virginia SOL tests coming up next month. We have been really lax about working on that, and now that we're going to homeschool, I care even less... but I would like to see her do well.

When Rob and Crew returned home at 2015, Chloë and I whizzed over to the library. While she studied, I was reading up on homeschooling stuff online. There is just SO much stuff out there, I keep getting overwhelmed. I just don't feel like I know where to start. So I wanted to go check out a few books on the subject, to give me a little more focus. I found one on getting started in homeschooling, though not the one by Rebecca Rupp that I was hoping to find (maybe I'll get that on Amazon if I win that GC?), and another on homeschooling kids with special needs, and a third on what kids should know at each age and stage.

Chloë checked out a few books, too, and then we picked out an audiobook for the kids to listen to whenever there's time. We chose Little House on the Prairie, which I loved to read as a young girl her age. I couldn't find any audiobooks I was interested in there, but I'd like to listen to some while I do my knitting and such. I know I can download more from the library's website, so I'll have a look-see later to see what I can find. Have you ever listened to an audiobook? Do you like it?

Upon our return, I found Rob in the kitchen, cleaning up and cooking dinner. I had thought he'd already fed the kids before Cub Scouts, but apparently not! It smelled wonderful, but it was going to be a while, so I started the kids in on their audiobook. They sat around behind me in chairs and cuddled up on the floor in blankets, listening to the story with various levels of interest. I'm not sure Sophia is into it, but I caught Chloë reading one of the books she checked out when she was supposed to be listening, so... I'm not sure it will hold their interest!

Oh, before I went to the library, I talked a little bit with the kids about homeschooling next year, and what they want to learn. Sophia, no surprise, wants to learn more about birds. I told her I'd send her to her grandma. Next! (I jest.) Chloë wanted to focus on art and music (eek!), and learn more about taking care of animals. Jack wanted to learn about cars and boats. Shocker! That will all be fun; we can definitely do that. I just can't wait!!

I plan to be semi-structured with homeschooling. I want Sophia to learn to read more - she's definitely ready - over the course of the next year, and I want Jack to improve drastically. I will work on all the core subjects, but we will also have things like Field Trip Friday (maybe, I don't want to be too rigid about that), Library Day, etc. 

Also, I want to take a whole different approach to our eating style. I'm all into the environment, and yet I don't practice what I preach where food is concerned. As we use up the stockpile that I developed mostly in February, I want to replace those over-processed, "fakey" foods with natural, sometimes organic (but I'm not a stickler) and definitely local foods. Eating local is very important to me. We'll hit the Farmer's Market as often as we can, getting fresh meats and seafoods, produce - and there's even an organic market there, too. We'll go to the berry fields and pick our own, as well as beans and whatever else I can find. I want to learn to freeze and can our produce, and eat what's in season locally as much as possible. I'm way excited about the prospect. It will not only be great for the environment, but it'll be much better nutrition and might help with the kids' ADHD-whatever thing, as well. And surely, it'll be much more delicious than something out of a box, right?

Rob suddenly remembered that he had to go to work, leaving me to finish dinner while the kids listened to their story. D'oh! He jumped up and left, quick, fast and in a hurry. I miss him already. The kids ate well, and then I sent them off to bed, quite late. Quite late.

I'm all amped up about homeschooling right now. I feel like, with another cup of coffee, I could stay up all night researching it some more! I kid, I kid.

In the morning, Sophia's supposed to stay home with me and then go in at 0900 and register for kindergarten... but guess what? We're going to march in there and inform them of our intent to homeschool, instead! I'm sure they'll be surprised, since I had originally told them it would just be Jack.

This homeschooling thing is going to be So. Much. Fun. I can't wait!

Fin. 
  

 

 

Friday Fragments

If you're playing along today, link up here!

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I'm a little burnt out on deal-shopping, after going so gung-ho-crazy on it for the first three months of the year. I used to read the deal blogs all day, every day when I wasn't off doing something else, and now I go a few days or more between checking them, because it's just TOO many good deals! I've missed out on some good things, but oh, well - another one is right around the corner. I am, however, keeping up on the Deal Seeking Mom's coupon database, because I've won her $25 Amazon.com gift certificate for the past three months in a row for doing so!! (Just got my third one yesterday, so I'm psyched!)

☼

We went out to dinner tonight with my dad and his wife #5. I don't think it's just because we've eaten at so many exceptional places with my mystery shopping "career", but this place was absolutely abyssmal, especially for the crazy price we (yes we, Dad didn't help) paid for the meal. I'll probably write a restaurant review later, because it was so bad, and I want to spare any of you locals from going there. Although, Steph, I think you actually like the place, but for the life of me, I can't fathom why!

☼

Speaking of wife #5, O - M - G. She is dreadfully and painfully devoid of all traces of a personality. She doesn't make eye contact and barely speaks a word. She just looks down and sits there, saying nothing. I can't understand WHAT my father sees in this woman, except that she is thin, which is and has always been his number-one criterion in the perfect woman. (Which is funny because at least two of his wives, including my mother, God rest her soul, were definitely not thin.) I can't stand her; she makes absolutely zero effort to converse, get to know you, establish a rapport, etc. I doubt this relationship will last long; if they hit their one-year anniversary together, it'll be nothing short of a miracle. And if, when they get back home after leaving Saturday morning, he asks me what I thought of her, I'll have no choice but to say, "Well... she's really thin!"

☼

So I took Chloë to her first talk therapy appointment on Wednesday afternoon. For one thing, she (the therapist, "L") agreed that Chloë was definitely hitting on a lot of the characteristics of ADHD, just from sitting there watching her. Also, she told me that the doctor in the office (Dr. Charles Parker, if you're of a mind to look him up; "L" is an LCSW) is a nationally-recognized specialist in child-ADHD, and she recommended getting the kids' pediatrician to refer Jack and Chloë to him, and put Jack in her (L's) care as well, so she can closely monitor their behavioral responses to medication, if we go that route. I'll talk to Rob, but I think that's a good idea.

As far as the therapist, she agrees it's appropriate for Chloë to be in therapy and thinks she can help her with the emotional issues she's been experiencing. Her initial diagnosis is the very broad "adjustment disorder," but that's mainly for insurance purposes. I sat in on the entire first session to give Chloë's history, reasons why we thought she needed to be there, goals for therapy, and so forth. For the next few sessions, Chlo will go in by herself and engage in various forms of play therapy, and then I'll be brought in once again to re-evaluate things. For Chloë's part, the only problem she acknowledges having is that she hates her sister. :( I really hope L can help her out with her feelings there.

☼

BUT, as much as she claims to hate Sophia, today was a good indication that that's really not the case. I took Sophia in to the base clinic to get her labs drawn for her next appointment on the 19th with her ped. If you know anything about Sophia, it's that she's HORRIBLE with needles and getting shots, so this was absolutely no picnic. It took three of us to hold her down, and she screamed her lungs off from the time I sat down in the chair with her until after they pulled the needle out. It was emotionally draining for all of us, and Sophia couldn't speak for about half an hour after the experience, poor thing. Even the lab tech was affected; I heard him say, "I'll be right back, I need to take a break," immediately afterward.

Well, we went out into the hallway to leave, and Sophia pointed at the water fountain, indicating she wanted a drink. Chloë ran to hold the button down for her. Then, she took both of Sophie's hands in her own, asked very sympathetically, "Are you okay? Are you okay" and rubbed her back. She started to reach for her, then stopped and looked at me. I said, "You want to give her a hug, don't you? Go ahead and hug her, I'm sure she needs it." So Chloë completely enveloped her baby sister in her arms, rubbing her back some more, and made soothing sounds. It was very touching. I said, "See, you DO love her, honey." She just grinned at me.

☼

We stopped in the store afterward, Walgreens, to pick up some pictures I'd ordered for developing. I was browsing around for a few other things, and a woman came up to me and said, "Your children are such angels! They're so well behaved!" I blurted out, "Well, not always, but I got lucky today!" before saying, "I mean, thank you! Thank you!" because that is one of the nicest things you can hear as a parent, especially when lately you've been questioning how well you're doing all the time... It was a nice pick-me-up.

☼

I'd rented Where The Wild Things Are for the kids from the Redbox yesterday, and they watched it last evening and again today. It's more grown-up than the usual cartoon fare they get to watch, but they all seemed to like it. I did, too; there were some very amusing lines in it, right along my type of humor. I admit I've never read the book, but now I'm inspired to do so. Have you seen or read it?

☼

And now for a couple cute kid quotes:

Sophia, nearly 5, declared: "If you think a worm is a gummy worm, and you put it in your mouth, and you chew it up, and you swallow it, then you're gonna get sick, and you're gonna DIE." - out of nowhere!

☼

Sophia asked me, endearingly, "Mommy, do boy cows have gutters, too?"

Oh, the cuteness. ♥ Age four, I'm going to miss you!!

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Fin.

 

When Will It Stop? Ida Know

First, the missing picture from last night's fire in the oven:

That was fun. And pictures of our new kitty, Star:

The pictures don't really do her justice; I'll have to take better ones when she's calm enough to relax on her own around the house. She's been in hiding all day, and we had no clue where she was. Rob just found her lounging in Sophia's headboard.

As for me, I want to thank everyone for all your kind and supportive words regarding last night's post. I closed the comments on that post, because I don't want the mother to find it and become upset, and I may end up unpublishing all of them and my post if I think about it a while longer. Please do not be offended if I do; I just don't want to cause her any more grief.

I ended up taking a sleeping pill and knocking myself out, because I was getting so upset about the email, I didn't want to be awake anymore to think about it. Y'all really helped me to feel better, and between that and a long slumber, I feel a lot more relaxed about things. CARE Package will continue on as it always has. If by some chance I start getting more feedback like hers, then I will re-evaluate. Until then, the show goes on.

********

Tropical Storm Ida is hitting our area hard. Life was completely canceled today, including:

• The kids' school
• Rob's work
• My plans to volunteer in the girls' classrooms (didn't hear back from Jack's teacher in time)
• Soccer practice
• The civic league's meeting, meaning no flag ceremony for the Cub Scouts
• Something else I'm forgetting, because I already deleted it from my phone...
• And school is already canceled for tomorrow, too! Ahh, five-day home-bound weekend!

Here was our street around 1500 today:

A close-up:

which is absolutely nothing compared to what it is now out there, which is still absolutely nothing compared to the hip-deep water some people in other areas of Hampton Roads are experiencing! And worse. So yes, we are definitely among the fortunate ones, and I am most grateful for that.

Not canceled: the mail! They really do mean in rain, sleet, snow or hail, because the mailman came knocking on our door with my package from Oriental Trading:

I normally abhor the junkfest that is that catalog, but then I realized it would be perfect for small treats to fit in the Advent Calendar boxes. (And it didn't hurt that I got MyPoints for them - Rob just cashed in the $55 in REI gift cards that I got him from MyPoints, so sign up if you haven't already!) This isn't all of them, by any stretch, since I needed three of each thing for each of the 24 days. I have all but one box filled, so ... ooh! I have those three packs of Mentos that I was saving for the Tooth Fairy to give, but there are no loose teeth on the horizon. I think I'll see if they fit. Yeah, that's the ticket. So ta-da, it's done! I filled it up after shuffling the kids out of the room, up to clean their own rooms. There's some cute stuff in there. I'll show detailed pictures as we open each drawer. Yay, I can't wait!

Poor Rob had to don some heavy-duty rain gear to go out to the mailbox and get the rest of our mail. Thank you, honey! ♥

I brought home about half of both pies from Bunco last night, so the kids were after me all day to give them some. I got no takers on the apple cream (wth, it's freaking awesome, people!), as they all chose the Nestlé Tollhouse:

Mm-mmm, good! Let me know if you want recipes!

And that's about all I can glean from our most unexciting day. Cheers!

Fin.

National Bankruptcy Day?

 

This post makes the issue much clearer than I could upon rewrite, so I'll just refer you there. Please, write to your representatives to save handmade items for children and those of us who make them!

Fin.

CONGRATULATIONS...

... to Stephanie and Tim (togetherly known as "Stim")! They have just discovered they are pregnant after a long, long time of trying, and going through PCOS and infertility struggles.

Please send prayers and good thoughts for a "sticky baby," since PCOS has a high rate of m/c.

I'm SO EXCITED, I can't tell ya! Steph's going to be such a great mom, I just know it!

Yayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayay!!!!!

Fin.