Cheerleading, PDPs, sick kids, and work

That has been my day.

7 am awake to the sound of Jenna leaving her room
7:20 awake to Jenna in my room, carrying Ariel and her blanket
Jenna and I doze in and out of consciousness for about 20-25 minutes
7:45 Jenna and I go out into the living room where McCayla, the ill, is bouncing all over the place
8:00 Decide that I can't medicate Jenna on my own
8:30 Cuss at the dr's office staff for not turning off their darn after hours message
8:31 Cuss out the dr's office staff
8:33 Cuss even MORE at the staff
8:35 Wondering in what hemisphere the staff live because in mine, it is not after hours anymore; it's go time
8:37 Make appointment for 9:15
8:45 Jump in shower (after reading and commening on Robin's blog, of course)
9:12 Leave the house with coffee in one hand, weepy toddler in the other arm
9:17 Arrive at the dr's office
Checked out of the office at 10
Dropped off Rx at CVS, came home
Called my Pampered Chef consultant and proceeded to order $ 200 worth of product ($ 135 hostess dollars!!!)
Went back out, picked up the Rx, deposited a check, and mailed a few things
Came home; ate a little lunch
Wrote the parent letter for Upward practice tonight
Knitted a little
Watched 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray's admirer, Evan
Had my PDP with my boss, Eric
Knitted a little more
Took off for practice
Practiced with the rah rahs
Came home to find my parents here
Visited with them; ate dinner from Panera
Got kids to bed
Here I am

Phew... and I wonder how it is that I end up working on the weekends.

The prognosis

The dr. didn't see an infection in there, but said that the ear is bulging, and is concerned that it is hurting her when she is standing up, so I have to go get her Zithromax picked up from CVS here in a minute.

So that is the skinny on Jenna and her ear.

Now I have some work to do, and also get ready for the last cheerleading practice before the game on Saturday morning. oy.

Uneventful evening...

Jenna was able to settle down at 10:30, and slept through the night just fine, but she woke up complaining that it was hurting her again. I really think it is sinus pressure, but can't be 100 percent on that, so you know where that is leading us. Yep... the germ-infestation known as the dr's office.

McCayla, on the other hand, is JUST fine. But you know what that means ... she stayed home from school because she vomited less than 12 hours ago, but she isn't sick. I think she was jumping on her bed too much last night, had junk in her stomach (2 valentine cookies and a Little Debbie snack cake ... mind you, I was at a Southern Living party with my mother, so those things were not consumed in my presence), and then felt nauseous. She can't get over that feeling, and basically talks herself into getting sick, which is what she did last night. Once and only once.

So I have to call the dr's office this morning and get Jenna in to see Dr. Ware.

Had a good time last night at Robin's party. Most of the gang was there (where WERE you, Christie? huh ? huh ????), plus my mother. I think my Mom doesn't know what to think of me sometimes. She looks like at me like I am some foreigner in a strange land .. like ... did I give birth to THAT?!

Speaking of giving birth, I had this dream last night that I was in a maternity ward somewhere, visiting a friend who had just had a baby. There was this woman on a guerney, and she was crowning, and the dr. wasn't there yet. The nurse yelled at someone to catch the baby, and my husband was standing right next to the woman but didn't hear the nurse, so I lunged forward, but didn't make it in time. The baby came out, slid across the guerney, and fell on the floor. Pleasant, huh? But he was just fine. He started crying, and all was well.

Then I had another dream that I was in my old high school in some class, but it was my contracts professor from law school teaching the class. He couldn't gain control of the class, so he called for one of my old principals, Mr. Russell, who came in and then started to suffer a heart attack, so I had to call 911. See what happems when I have to deal with illnesses in my family??

Quel Night

Those words ... instills the fear of God in any mother's heart ... Mommy, I feel like I'm gonna throw up. Uttered by my seven year old this evening, right before bed. And sure enough, she has gotten sick once. I knew it was only a matter of time.

So I think ... you know what? I spent that one night last month, holding Evan' head in a bucket. Every 3o minutes he got sick. From 10:30 at night until 7 in the morning. I told Patrick to get his pillow and have a good night.

Serves me right that Jenna would start crying that her right ear was hurting her. Sure enough .. it was, and she was SCREECHING about it.... for 30 minutes. I remembered the homeopathic drops and ran to get them. Only the box remained. I had to run to Rite Aid, where the clerk informed me that no, they did not carry Simalasin drops because she has never heard of them. Yeah. Bandaid aisle. Nice checking on that for me, employee who was five minutes away from getting off of work, who wasn't being helpful to the mother who looked harried and about ready to start to cry.

So I rush home, Jenna is screaming, wanting me, wanting me to take it "off" as she pointed to her ear. I gave her some ibuprofen, and then put the drops in. Nothing. No relief. I take her to her room, she starts to settle some, but then she starts screaming again. Trying to decide if I was going to be making a trip to our lovely ER, I put some more drops in. She did NOT like that at all! She was screaming louder than she had with the pain. Finally she stopped, and then started up again. I took her into our room, and put her on Patrick's side of the bed. Then I decide to *snuff* out her nose with the nose bulb, and you could see the difference... the pain went away. I am SO glad I thought of that. So it must have been sinus pressure in there, because, did you know that sinuses do not start developing in children until they are two years old? Yep. She hadn't felt that before ...

So here I am, getting ready for bed, hoping it is an uneventful night for us back here. McCayla had only gotten sick once, last time I checked.

Oy.

A little crazy at Hobby Lobby

The other night, comparisons were being made at the Studio about how much money certain people have spent in there. Mine was a paltry $ 176 or something. You wanna know why it is so low?

Because I have another vice. Yarn. I LOVE yarn. I can't get over buying MORE yarn. Even if I have 10000000000 skeins of yarn, it could NEVER be enough for me. It is an illness, I know. And instead of saying "no more yarn comes into this house until I sell about $ 1000 worth of stuff", I go and buy 30 skeins of cotton yarn at Hobby Lobby. Why? Because it is on sale. You can't pass up a SALE. Come on. 99 cents a skein. You can't beat that with a stick.

I have all sorts of pretty colors ... pink and green and white and cornflower and multi-colored skeins with those same colors in there. I have this grandiose idea that my bucket hat/apron top combo will be the second coming of the poodle skirt or catch on like pegged jeans in the 80s. I don't think I wore a pair of pants without pegging them. Hmmmm....

So yeah. Vices. We all have them. Matt Powell's is terrorizing innocent bloggers. Mine is yarn and stalking Christie on her blog. What's yours?

That sinking feeling...

You know it ... you forgot an appointment. You forgot to pick the dog up from the groomer's. You forgot to pick your kid up from Brownies. You think your choir director has found your blog.

Yeah. Thanks, Matt Powell. Thanks a lot.

You better find someplace else to be tomorrow night...

About last night....

Christie... so good to finally meet the person I have stalked for a few weeks. It was a TON of fun, and I knew you and I would get along right away. Robin has a good judge of character when it comes to things like this.

Robin...I am over my insecurity now. You may be my friend again.

Aleta...do you even read this? I don't know if you do, but let's pretend. Did you let him sleep in this morning?

Patrick loved the book (with that ONE picture in there, but he appreciated the work that went into the rest of it). I promise to take a pic of it later today. He did, however, roll his eyes when he saw the tote. Yeah well... we have our vices.

And to the person who did something funky to the font on my computer, change it back. I don't like having to use a magnifying glass to read my emails. You should see what my blog looks like! It is TINY! I don't know what to do, and this has happened before. I think the computer shudders, as if it has a chill, and then all things are good from there on out.

Robin...I will NOT be going to church tomorrow. Jorge has to help in the SS class, and Jenna is still ill (well, contagious, let's put it that way) so it will be my turn to play the heathen. You have to be there. Sorry. Heathen role is taken.

Later, dudes!

Good night, ladies

It was a ton of fun!

Another Aunt Fern funny

Ok... remember Aunt Fern? She's the subject a little farther down. Remember the crush she had on Bob Hamilton?

They had a little condo mixer at someone's house, and Aunt Fern, well she couldn't get around very well. She had to use a walker for a majority of her time here Findlay. It really was a miracle that she could get around as well as she did.

So Aunt Fern goes to this mixer, where there were alcoholic beverages. Aunt Fern decides that she can have a martini or something, I can't remember, but it was alcohol-related. Then she decided that she could have another. And another. Pretty soon, Aunt Fern was laughing it up with everyone, probably saying "what?" to half the conversations.

Well it came time for Fern to go home. Fern couldn't get out of her chair. She couldn't stand up very well on her own when she was sober. Imagine the impediment of being drunk.

So who came to her rescue? Like a knight in shining armor, Bob rode in on his white horse, and whisked Aunt Fern off to her condo, three doors down. She invited him in. He declined.

Good old Aunt Fern.

My DARling daughter

Jenna has a cold. She is now in that nice, crappy cough stage...

I decided to give her medicine last night, just a decongestant. You know, the warning bottles on these meds should not just say "may cause periods of alertness." They SHOULD say "If you give your child this, plan on spending a good portion of your sleeping hours, trying to get said child back to sleep once the meds wear off."

Man ALIVE! 12:45. She started crying. She wanted a baba. Now, yes ... we STILL give her a baba. It is her pacifier, but you know what? I think I am going to go out and buy her a pacifier and MAKE her use it. I go in, tell her to go back to sleep, and inform her that she is NOT getting another baba.

1:15. She starts at it again. I go back in, sternly inform her that I am getting cranky, and that she BETTER go back to sleep asap.

And it all goes downhill from there. Let's just say I didn't get back to sleep until 4:45!!!!! And I ended up giving her some cough medicine with codeine, thinking that will knock her out soon and I can finally get to sleep. I even went in and tried to sleep on her FLOOR to get her to stop crying. Well that just invited all sorts of problems. When I thought she was fast asleep after succumbing to the med, I went back into my room to get to sleep. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT? Oh yeah... Dadddy .... daaaaadddddyyyyyy.......dddddddddddaaaaaaaaaadddddddddyyyyyyyy

Translation: beyotch Mommy left me alone in here to fend for myself and now you are my favorite parent.

So Patrick fills up the baba, and we all go back to sleep.

Needless to say, I am NOT in a chipper mood this morning, and I have given Patrick his marching orders to go out to Evan's preschool for his parent/teacher conference.

Wanna know whether you roll with the punches or not?

Have your Pampered Chef consultant leave you right at the beginning of your show to handle a family emergency, and end up being the consultant yourself.

Yep. Meredith has entered a new stage in her life... impromptu Pampered Chef. And I had eight people here tonight. Thankfully, all of them are my friends. Robin... you should have been there, man. It was a sight! You could have done it in a heartbeat. Me, I've been to all of three PC parties before this, so I don't know all the gizmos and gadgets. Thankfully there were three people there who own probably all of the stuff between the three of them.

The consultant returned and we were finished. It was actually a pretty good show!

Pro-crastination

Every time I hear this word, procrastination, I think of that Carly Simon tune ... Anticipation, Anticipation is making me late. Well insert procrastination in there for anticipation, and it could still work. Doesn't go with the rest of the lyrics, of course, but it is good with that chorus.

You know what I find funny? I can wear my heart on my virtual sleeve in this blog, not caring who can or does read this, but I get nervous when I hear those four little words coming from my husband .. you know ... the "I read your blog" comment.

What is it that instills the fear of God in my heart when I hear that? My husband said that to me yesterday, and I instantly broke out in a sweat! What did I say about him? Was it good? Was it bad? Did I say ANYthing about him?

He was only trying to be helpful (said he had the pictures from my Mom's car accident and if I wanted to post them, he could get them for me). I told him no thank you, and had to catch myself before I said "oh and don't read my blog again."

Why not? I mean, how rude of me, right? These should be things I say to his face, right? Well, probably not.

So, how private is your blog to you? Do you write it for yourself, for therapy, or do you write it as an act of self-expression? Do you write it to entertain, or to keep people apprised of what is going on in your life?

Points to ponder.

And back to work I go.

Peggy has left the building...

She is now home. It wasn't heart-related at all, more like food. So all is well in the 'ville. She was complaining about the lack of privacy and sheer amount of noise in the hallway. I was like "well you know what a hospital can be like" and then remembered...this woman has NEVER had an overnight stay in a hospital.....EVER! Patrick is adopted, and she has never had major surgery or major health issues. Good for her, I say. I would LOVE to have been over 60 and been able to say that!

So all is well. I am so relieved. And I know she was, too. She said it took her five minutes, and she was out of there!

Phone calls at 10:15 pm

You know, the last time we got a phone call from a family member at night (besides the one we received from Phil last night) was from my brother when my Mom had her car accident. My Mom's accident ... I don't have the pictures anymore, but it was a bad one. It was 2 weeks after Jenna was born, and Mom was on her way home on SR 37. It is a windy road, but one she has travelled THOUSANDS of times. She overcorrected on a curve, spun around, went left of center, and her passenger side was struck by an oncoming, one-ton Dodge pickup truck with one of those nasty looking spoilers on the front. And the strange thing was ... this was a person who lived just down the road from my parents out in the country.

Her seat broke, and she flew backwards, seat and all, into the back seat, and hit her head pretty good. Shattered glass was EVERYwhere ... in her hair, in her skin. She was knocked unconscious. Had it been the other way, where she was broadsided on her side, she would have died. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about that one. Her car was completely totalled. We went to see it to get an idea of how bad the accident was, and I wouldn't have believed that someone walked away from the accident. Even the insurance adjuster made the comment that he was surprised that she walked away with her life.

It was at that moment that my Mom started going to church more. She is now a regular attender at StoneBridge, as is my father.

It is those late night phone calls that are the scariest. It reminds me that life is too fragile to take it for granted. I am just sitting here, thinking about my mother in law right now, worrying for my husband because this is his mom ... I guess I am not ready for this stage of my life, but really have to accept that it is here.

Spare some prayers?

My MIL was taken in for tightness in the chest yesterday, and she is undergoing a stress test today ... so any prayers for Peggy Pitt would be greatly appreciated. My FIL just called and said she was ready for her test, but that she was still experiencing some discomfort.

You know, this is the time when I think "should I encourage my husband to go down to Louisville?" I know his father told him he had things under control, but you know... Now, my Dad had had a stress test back when I was in law school, and I didn't come home for that, but I did come home for the angioplasty because he had failed the test. I didn't even know he had failed it, actually.

Patrick doesn't think it is necessary for him to make the trip, so I guess I will defer to his judgment.

Totally inappopriate behavior

thinking about norma's Steelers' pen (you should see it ... it shines the Steelers' logo on a surface, including the church ceiling) and how she said she wanted to shine it on someone who was up on the platform, and my total willingness to pay her money I do not even have to do it, got me to thinking ... are there times when you just want to DO something so totally inappropriate, but you know you would be mortified once it happened?

There have been times when, right in the middle of a choir anthem, I want to start singing some totally inappropriate song, like "Stairway to Heaven" or "Comfortably Numb". I am not talking Eminem stuff... just you know, songs that don't belong in church, let alone in the middle of a choir anthem.

Or you want to put a Post It on someone's back that says something like "I'm shy ... ask me about my colonoscopy"

Or just start yelling expletives in a totally inappropriate place.

Do you think that is an illness? A precursor to Terets? Who knows, but I suffer from it sometimes, and how I would have LOVED to have seen that Steelers' emblem shining right in the middle of this person's back without his knowledge. It isn't spiteful .. it is pure fun, but I think I have a totally different sense of humor than most.

Oh well.

It is 9:12 and I have to be at someone's house at 9:30

Ah yes... procrastination at its finest. 9:12, no 9:13!!!, and I have to be at a steering committee meeting in 15 minutes. The water for my shower is running. Tell you anything? I had contemplated going without a shower, but my hair looks awful, and I know that our mentor mom will be as pristine as always. She makes you WANT to look better. I am not kidding. Ask anyone who knows Jennifer Miller.

Ok... 9:14. Gotta go.

Lookie what I made today!

and


Mind you, I now feel like I got NOTHING else accomplished this afternoon since 2:00. I have to stock my store at Universal Mama and I chose to do this, instead. Oh well...

There you are, Aunt Fern!

My aunt Fern ... she was a true treasure, a real gift from God. Honestly, this woman was wonderful. She was my Dad's aunt, his mother's sister. My grandfather could not STAND his sister in law. Well, maybe that is harsh.. he had his differences with her, probably because she was a STRONG woman for their time. I mean ... this woman was a strong person. She flew airplanes. She worked in factories in Cleveland, and enjoyed her beer when she came home from work. She was married to a man named Chic. I mean, c'mon! You can't be married to a man named Chic and not be strong yourself. I remember the time she told me that she and Chic took a vacation ... with the woman who Chic was having an affair with! Aunt Fern would get so worked up when she told that story.

She lived in Cleveland most of her life, until 1986 when we moved her down here to Findlay. She had received a pretty good settlement from a bus company that hit her and a friend, and buggered her up pretty good. But she went on with life in true Aunt Fern fashion.

My friends loved to hear Aunt Fern stories, and there were plenty of them. Aunt Fern walked with a cane, then a walker. She coudln't see, and she couldn't hear. One time I told her that my ex-boyfriend was engaged. I said "hey Aunt Fern, Dan is engaged." "He's what?" "engaged, Aunt Fern." "WHAT?" "ENGAGED!" "Dan's GAY!? I KNEW something was wrong with him!"

She had a crush on her neighbor across the street in her condo area. His name was Bob Hamilton, may he rest in peace. Bob knew EVERYthing that happened in that subdivision, and didn't care if everyone knew that he had to know everything. She would go all gaga over Bob delivering her mail, or stopping by for a visit. Poor Bob lost his life to some lunatic, and they still have not solved his murder. Thankfully, Aunt Fern had already been moved out to the assisted living facility. She wouldn't have been able to handle it, I don't think.

So Aunt Fern couldn't hear. She would turn her hearing aids up and down, and we would be able to hear the aids screeching in her ears. We would wince, but she was never affected. We could never understand how she could stand that high pitched squeal in her ear, but I guess she really couldn't hear it.

I found where Aunt Fern lives now (she died two and a half, almost three years ago ... St. Patrick's Day, to be exact)... she lives in an Arlington man because this is something Aunt Fern would have done:

Docket entry: An Arlington man contacted the sheriff's office to complain that heard locust in his house on Saturday morning. When deputies responded, the man apologized, saying he discovered the sound had been coming from his hearing aid, which needed new batteries.

Hello Aunt Fern. Glad to have you back.

Is it just me....

or did the weekend last like ... oh .. two minutes? I swear it went by in the blink of an eye. Yikes!

So here we are, back at it on a Monday morning. McCayla getting ready for school, but Evan will be staying home so he doesn't spread his nasty cold germs all over preschool this morning. He can just stay home and spread them around here!

Patrick was up a little but earlier this morning to get some job stuff done. Don't know what he accomplished, but oh well.

Going to a Stampin' Up party tonight... my first! Should be great fun, I think. My Mom is tagging along ... we shall see if she shows because she has to be at Ohio Northern today, and won't get home until 5:45. She always says she will go, but then she gets down to it and she doesn't want to come back into town.

And for anyone who reads ... I am having a Pampered Chef party this Thursday night ... 6:30. Anyone is welcome to come.

Woo Hoo Big Ben!

Super Bowl, here we come! I can't wait!!!!

PS... Robin... fixed the comments box so now you can leave a comment.

Today

I hate having all these grand aspirations of what I want to get done and then only get to the end of the day to find that I didn't get them all done. OY! I want to knit, I NEED to knit, I just am not inspired to knit. I have a few projects that just need to be finished, and I refuse to allow myself to start on something else. I don't need to.

I did get to the Studio today ... talked with Robin for a bit, but she was busy so I headed out. Robin, did that man ever buy anything? Or was he just in there looking around? That was just ... strange. That is the part of retail that drives me BATTY! When I worked at the Disney Store, man. The people would follow me around when I was carrying a box of bean bag plush (when they were HUGE), waiting for me to open the box. I would have to fight them off with my box cutter ;) I am not cut out of retail, I don't think.

Took the kids to Applebees for dinner tonight and had a good time, then ran over to social hour at Wal Mart. I SWEAR, EVERYone in Findlay is at Wal Mart on Saturday nights. It is crazy! Man. And they are all in the grocery section, in the same aisle as I am. All the time.

Jenna is hilarious. Patrick and I find ourselves laughing at ourselves half the time with her. She was in her carseat in the van on our way home tonight. She saw the stars in the sky, and said "twinkle twinkle" which translates into "you there in the front seat... my lackey ... SING TO ME! SING TWINKLE TWINKLE NOW or it is OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" and we comply. I found myself singing immediately to her, and then catching myself, thinking "man ... Queen Jenna on her throne, barking out orders!" so I stopped singing. THAT was not met well.

Well tomorrow is Sunday, church day. I have no idea what we are singing for choir, so I will fake it. We have like 10 altos to 3 sopranos, so I could just stand there and move my lips and be ok.

Later!

Ummm... yeah. Thanks, Robin

Robin calls. "I'm here at the store if you get bored."

Yeah... like I need encouragement to go to the Scrapbook Studio! So guess what I will be doing here soon! I am sure Patrick will LOVE it.

Welcome to my new blog home

I was using my work blog too much, and I had a feeling my customers probably didn't really care to read all about my ramblings about my Church Council meetings, or the fact that I have an aversion to cooking chicken. So I decided to resurrect this blog, and use it as my blog home.

Does anyone REALLY care?

Ok... so I want to knit today. I NEED to knit today to take care of some customer orders. I also am supposed to have a hair appointment to add some more highlights. I honestly don't NEED to go, and we really don't need to spend the money on me getting highlights I really don't need. So hmmmm.... what to do?

I am going to go play around with my blog a little bit. Later.