Twenty-five years ago today, my mother died very suddenly and unexpectedly. I was seven. (You're doing the math, aren't you? Yes, I'm 32.) Though a quarter of a century has passed, I miss her every bit as much today as I did throughout the rest of my horrible childhood. It would be nice to have my mommy even now, as a mother myself. When friends get pregnant, they call their moms. On Mother's Day, they call their moms. When they give birth, Mom comes to watch or wait, and then to help out. When their children are sick, they call Mom for advice. I have a wonderful mother-in-law for that, but (sorry) somehow it just isn't the same for me. My mom was a beautiful, angelic creature, and I know I have put her on a bit of a pedestal, but she really was awesome. Ask anyone who knew her. RIP, Mama.
The mourning season doesn't end tomorrow, for it is my mother's mother's birthday. Yep, she died the day before her mom's birthday, which ruined the occasion for Grandma after that. Very sad. Grandma's been gone, oh, nearly ten years now, and I miss her crazily too. She was a wonderful grandma to me, and I have her and Grandpa to thank for most of the happy bits I can remember about growing up.
One year ago today, I lost the ability to have any more children. Not that any were planned, but when the choice is taken from you, I don't know... for me, it saddens. I can't believe it's already been a year since my hysterectomy. I've long since recovered from that and often forget I've had it! But the baby pangs linger.
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Thanks for all the well wishes for Blue-cat! She is doing just fine. When Rob went to get her out from under the bed yesterday, he brought her downstairs, and suddenly there was blood all over the floor. An awful lot of blood for such a small kitty, it seemed. We put her in a box, and Rob rushed her to the animal hospital.
The vet said it looked like she had been fighting, but I never heard any kind of scuffle between her and Tink or anyone else, so I just don't know how that could be! But she had torn the pads of her two front pads, knocked out a tooth, and bitten her tongue. The blood was all from her mouth, which I couldn't believe, after seeing so much.
The vet has rescued a lot of feral kitties, so she gave Rob lots of advice for getting her accustomed to our family and calming down. We're going to try those over the next few weeks and see if we can't get her feeling more comfortable. They involve confining her to the bathroom and sitting in there with her, and swaddling her like a baby and NEVER putting her down, for anything! Who has time for that?! But we'll give it a go. Just wish I still had a baby carrier of some sort!
When they came home, we held her and petted her - and Tinkerbell did NOT like that, but she'll get over it. She's really very sweet, but so scaredy. Now you know where that epithet comes from! We tried swaddling her, but she squirmed this way and that and bolted. Rob caught her, and put her in the bathroom, but she bolted away again when he next opened the door. Gah. This is going to be fuuuuun. :)
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There was a lot of running around for me today. When my alarm went off, I woke up and called the children into my room (they were downstairs watching Noggin already!) to help me with the laundry. We folded three baskets, and then I showered and got ready to go.
Rob came home, and I left the children with him while I drove up to Newport News for my appointment with the nutritionist. I kind of got in trouble for the paltry amount I've been eating - and not exercising - for the past three weeks that I've been sick, but she understood as she's sick herself right now. I can't help it that I had the flu and a cold back-to-back, and it's really knocked me on my arse! So I've got 'til next week to get my act together, and then I really need to work on those things. Fingers are crossed that The Sick is totally gone by then!
I gave it a shove out the door by washing lots of stuff down with Clorox wipes tonight. Downstairs, anyway. I'll work on upstairs later...
Anyhoo, when I came home, I had a little free time before we had to go again, so I got the kids started on today's activity. I had three sticker books, and card stock, and lots of crayons and things, so we decided to make Easter cards for their grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins! They loved the idea an took off with it. Good thing, because I had to vacuum, clean the bathroom and help straighten up the kitchen before Stim got here to babysit.
Sophia was the one who was least into today's craft. I was surprised, since she is my little Sticker Queen. The girl loves stickies and will put them all over her body, all over the carpet (ugh!!) and whatever else she can get away with. But nope, I really had to push her to make her cards.
Jack was signing his name and writing "Happy Easter" on all of them without my prodding! He liked this one. He drew a car on one card and insisted that one had to be for Tim. He loves Tim!
Of course, Chloë was all over this idea! She really filled out her cards, and when she deemed the Nons' cards as "not having enough," she grabbed them to add more. She wants to make more tomorrow. We shall see!
Time was up when it was time to take her to a Brownies meeting at our Troop Leader's house. We had to stop at the store for some bananas, since everyone was supposed to bring a snack, and I was pleased to hear later that everyone ate one. I was going to stay with her, but then I found out they were going to be there a while. Another mom, T, offered to take her home, since Rob and I were going out tonight, and I accepted.
Then T and I stayed out in the driveway for another 45 minutes, shooting the breeze! She knows all about my surgery, as she's a nurse, so we caught up on that, and about her baby (oh, Vivian - you've seen her here before), and who knows what else. We decided that her daughter Kori would spend the night here next Wednesday, for Chloë's make-up sleeover that never happened for her birthday. Yay! I'm kinda nervous!
At home, we got ready to go, and the Littles cleaned up their toys in the living room. I did a quickie vacuum, and then Stim were here. I gave them the instructions for tonight, and then went out to dinner.
(For you locals, we went way down to General Booth and Dam Neck, to a place called Francesca's.) We had a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate for there, which I'd bought for $2! The place was cozy, and the very-Italian server was lovely, but the food? Eh. Ehhhh. Not so wonderful. It's too bad, because it seemed like it should have been good, but it just wasn't. And they really did not have a gastric bypass-friendly menu, which sucked for me. I got sick and spent a long time in the bathroom. Rob ate a ton, though it wasn't spectacular. I was happy to see him eat so well.
We were already halfway home before Steph texted me that Chloë had gotten home at last! I couldn't believe she was there that long. Two hours longer than I expected! But she had a great time, did lots of activities, and ate lots of snacks.
And now, I'm going back to my July '08 scrapbooking. Hey, did any of you watch Parks and Recreation tonight? I forgot to set the DVR for it and really wanted to see it. Was it good? Funny? Tell me what you thought, but no spoilers please!
Fin.
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