Said really rapidly in a high-pitched nearly not understandable voice all at once: "What's that? What are you doing? Can I do that? What is that? How do you do that? What are you making? Can I help? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Yeah. I told her I can't understand her when she does this and I end up just staring at her blankly. She gets excited about something and still does it.
So I did it back today and she just started laughing hysterically.
Hubby can't figure out how I do my job with the hearing losses I have. I can turn the doctors' volume up and slow down their speech and REWIND at the push of a button or two, and if I get really desperate, I plug in the sound booster and make them even louder. And then if I still can't hear their mumbling, I send it to a proofer for help. I can't do that to the kids.
Sometimes I want a remote with buttons labeled as follows that I could point at the person (husband or child, depending on the button) and have them instantly obey without me having to say a word: "loving husband" "family time" "quality time" "kids asleep" "shhhhhhhhh" "grab my butt" "everyone leave me alone" "bubble bath" "i'm working go ask your father" "scripture time" "family prayer" "give me back the blankets dang it!"
*sigh*
I just remembered the nightmare I had after watching the Stepford Wives. In my nightmare, my husband turned me into a robot. My wishes up there though ... I guess that does make me the Stepford Husband, wanting a robot husband and children. *sniff*
Guess I'll just have to take them as they are: Imperfect, goofy, sweet, silly, infuriating, with minds of their own and attitudes to go along with them. But they're mine. And I'm theirs. And I guess I'm okay with that.
Okay, so we're broke. Sometimes I say we're broke, but that usually just means we can't go out to eat or do fun stuff. This is seriously down in the dumps BROKE. The mortgage is due next week and the car payment the week after, and I don't know where either of them are coming from. If the LASIK hadn't been paid for through the flex-spend account, I wouldn't have gotten it, but it's one of those "use it or lose it" things, and when we miscarried, we realized we were never going to use up the money in that account unless we had my eyes zapped.
Hubby had a really hard adjustment to his medication and didn't work. One week of him not working means no groceries. Of course, him being home and depressed means I didn't get to work much either. I work from home, and, well, when you have to take knives from people and take care of two kids and a grown man 24/7, you don't get a lot of work done. And then there's the fact that his older brother doesn't have a checking account and his membership to WoW comes out of ours automatically (which I've been trying to get them both to change for a year) and neither one of us was prepared for it, and dear BIL says he gave us $200 a few months ago -- we both thought that was for past memberships, not for future, but he said yesterday that it was for the rest of the year. So, adding insult to injury, we have just paid his WoW, and some of the tithing money is missing now, and, well, I'm typing this instead of working right this minute.
Tithing. Even when hubby has been inactive, he's paid his tithing. I haven't *not* paid tithing since I started working 4-1/2 years ago. Missed it one month that year and spent six making it up -- haven't done that again since.
This is not a plea for money or begging for anything besides prayers.
In the midst of all this, the kids have been asking for computer games (!) and toys (!) even after we told them there was no money and no groceries for a week. They didn't get it. Small Fry still didn't get it until this morning, when she wanted eggs for breakfast. She used them up yesterday. And I told her we didn't have any left or money for more. She did make the remainder of the bacon -- 11 slices -- which they gobbled up like they'd been starving for weeks. I'll have you know, I did make a lovely dinner last night with things out of the freezer and food storage.
So I made pancakes while she made bacon. How on earth did I manage that with no eggs? Plus, we're also out of margarine and baking soda and milk! A dear friend told me 2 Tbs of cornstarch can be substituted for one egg. I had powdered milk and made some up. Of course, Their Spoiled Rottennesses wouldn't drink that. But I modified my normal pancake recipe, and made it all white flour so Small Fry would eat them. And the coolest part is that all of this is food storage stuff -- which makes me think things will be okay when more bad stuff hits the fan later on (in the world, not just in our lives) because this was so yummy ... wooooo!
Normal:
3/4 c whole wheat flour 3/4 c all purpose flour 3 Tbs sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1-1/2 tsp baking soda 3 Tbs melted margarine/butter 1-1/2 c milk 1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp lemon juice
Food storage pancakes:
1-1/2 c flour 4 Tbs cornstarch 3 Tbs sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 c vegetable oil 1-3/4 c reconstituted powdered milk 1 tsp vanilla
I may end up making a pancake mix out of this with the powdered milk inside it, so all I really have to add is oil and water. The vanilla is optional.
So, Dear Readers, we may be completely sick of pancakes by next weekend, since we will probably make those every day for breakfast. But we have enough food to get us through. Hubby can pick up some Stouffer's meals at a discount with a paycheck deduction, so I may ask him to do that, too. And we have meat and fruit and veggies in the freezers. So all is not lost, just stressful.
And right now, I'm just grateful I shop sales and make sure there's stuff in the freezers and that I stock up on stuff when we have bigger paychecks. y'know? I need to be better at that and we both acknowledge that we need to stick to our budget better, but I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. Woooo.
Sunday, went to church, then over to my aunt's house. A cousin got home from her mission. I left hubby home (he needed a nap before he went home teaching) and took the girls. My uncle (who has met hubby more than twice) said, "I don't know this little girl, who is she?" while pointing to Small Fry. "She's mine." lol. People kept commenting on how beautiful she is -- my family really likes her. She was very mature and well behaved while we were there.
Monday, we chilled at home. Hubby and I weren't getting along in the morning, and then after we "made up" my BROTHER showed up from Japan with his wife and kidlet. I'd asked him to call and give us notice. He then asked if we'd been napping when they got here. "Sure." Oy.
Niecey-poo is quite cute, has an infectious giggle, and is just a sweetie. Munchkin adores her and keeps following her around to make sure she's not getting into stuff that could choke her. Wooo!
Tuesday, went to visit the in-laws. Hubby's niece and nephew (2 and 4) were here visiting while their parents had a vacation. Mom and Dad and my SIL watched them. I'm sure they're glad we showed up, carrying a pan triple chocolate brownies ... which somehow the nephew got all over his face and arms and Small Fry got on her neck.
Then hubby and I went to a therapy session together, leaving the kids in the waiting room. We have really needed help communicating, and she did help us. We both felt better after our talk that night. Yay. Then we lit fireworks with the kids.
Yesterday, hubby watched the kids until I was done working, then he left to run a couple of errands, and I made the kids help me clean the old office -- Small Fry has been sleeping in there, but bro's family is in there for a couple nights. She was very good about letting them stay in there, and helped clean it out (of course, that means she gets to have a clean room, too). Made dinner last night (chicken legs, salad, and garlic mashies), played games with the kids, and put them to bed.
It's fun to see my bro -- haven't seen much of him since he left on his mission. He'll be 29 this year. We used to be really close. He met his wife while he was on his mission and she moved over here after he got home. They got married shortly after that. Their 7th anniversary is tomorrow. Since then, they were adjusting to being married and then trying to have kids for 5 years before they got one, and just ... faded out of our family for a long time. Frankly, I'm surprised he took me up on the offer to stay here. But after they got married, I moved to Oregon, and they did let me stay with them a few times when I was visiting. And after we moved back to Utah, we lived at opposite ends of a street in Orem and saw them more than anyone else in the family did. So yay! They're here! They're also using our Exploder for the duration of the trip, and I'm taking them to the airport the morning they leave. Which is also the day Small Fry leaves. That's gonna be a fun day ... or something.
He and his wife just look so happy to have their baby -- she'll be one next month, and they had tried for a long time. So now my SIL has asked a couple times when we can have a baby. lol. I'll admit, theirs has made me more baby hungry ... and probably had the same result on hubby. But he's been hesitant to try again after our experience in May, and now with the zapping of the eyes, we *should* wait a while. So I just told her we needed to wait because of the eyes. Both sides of our family are very anxious for us to have a baby though ... Want to see what they'll look like.
I'm finishing up work today -- technically I'm on vacation, but since our internet is lame, I've used up a bunch of my PTO with that at the beginning of the month, so now I just get to work some every day of the vacation. *sigh* Owell.
My parents and other brother are getting in town next week, and Munchkin and a nephew are getting baptized next Saturday. I can't believe we only have Small Fry for about 10 more days! Ack! School clothes shopping! EEEEeeeep.
I picked up my preordered copy in the mail yesterday evening, before I started making dinner. Had to wait to start reading it, but I just finished it -- I had to sleep (tired eyes) and go to church and a cousin's homecoming was today ... Plus I had to make dinner for the family last night and spent some time with hubby (who doesn't want to read the book but does want to know how it ends ... *snort*) ... so ... I picked it up about 22 hours ago, minus 7 hours for sleep, three for church, one for cooking, two with hubby ... that leaves about 9 hours of reading? not too bad -- I'll probably read it again this week unless my bro wants to borrow my copy when he picks up the Beast (our second car) rather than buy his own copy. We shall see.
I liked it -- lots. Tidied up the loose ends, confirmed some of my suspicions, made clear some of the things I'd wondered about, and showed that appearances can always be deceiving.
*****SPOILERS*****
Snape not being an evil punk was sort of gratifying. And the reasons he protected Harry made sense. I was glad she showed that Dumbledore wasn't perfect, even if he was an amazing wizard (character). Draco got all the punishment he deserved, even if it was at Voldemort's hand, not Harry's.
Luna isn't as batty as she seemed in the earlier books. Neville truly is a hero -- late bloomer. Ron is a bit of a hot head, but he always has been. Hermione is still a genius. The twins are courageous as ever. Harry ... is Harry. Voldemort is Voldemort. I rather enjoyed getting to know the goat whisperer a bit as well.
The folks who died though -- there were more than the two I'd heard rumored. Five of the good guys who have been major characters throughout the series ... Six if you count owls. That made incredibly sad. Seven if you count someone who didn't really die ... ahem. None of them were quite as shocking as when Dumbledore died in #6, but when the second personage died, it was almost as much of a shock.
And I always knew Harry and Ginny would wind up together in the end. Albus Severus is a good name, indeed.
*****/SPOILERS*****
And in case you're wondering, I'm seeing pretty well. Every once in a while I have a fluctuation, but apparently that's to be expected. At my appointment Friday, my vision was 20/20 with both eyes, 20/25 in the left, and 20/30 in the right -- I was 20/575 in the left and 20/650 in the right with huge astigmatisms before. So this is huge improvement.
Hubby is doing well with the Tegretol but not so much with any of the antidepressants he's tried. *sigh* At least his moods are evened out mostly -- and when the antidepressant gets out of his system, hopefully the psychotic thinking (which had left but now came back) will go away again. GAH.
Gotta go heat up dinner for the masses. We're having salad with leftover steak from last night. Hubby ate all the ribs apparently. Owell.
Friday, July 20, 2007
The Zapping of the Eyes
CC came and picked me up around 12:30 yesterday -- after running the children to the sitter's and stopping back at the house to grab a hair clip, we were on our way ... I vented, she vented, we had a safe trip to the vision center.
I checked in and paid and they took me immediately back. Checked my blood pressure, gave me a Valium (which helped my mood immensely), handed me a bag full of stuff (sunglasses, eyedrops, sleeping goggles to protect my eyes after the surgery), a card detailing what would happen, and took me back to an exam room, where I waited for a while, read the card a couple times. Okay, it made everything sound kind of scary. Ack. The optometrist checked my eyes once again to make sure my prescription was, indeed, stable. It hasn't changed over the last several months, so that's good. Then the actual surgeon came in to meet me for the first time, introduced himself, and then looked at my eyes and my chart, too.
They then took me back to sit in a chair outside the first laser room. That laser is called Intralase. It's the laser that makes the incision in the cornea so they can get to your eyeball -- so it's all bladeless and much safer than the old blade type LASIK procedures. So, I'm thinking, I read the card, I've typed reports, I know what this is going to be like, right? Wrong. Let's just say I'm glad I took the Valium. They took me in the room and had me lay down on the table. They then realized the assistants hadn't Betadined me or numbed me (!), so they took care of that. They started with the right eye and gave me one more numbing drop, then attached a suction ring to the eye (my eye is twitching as I'm typing this). The suction makes your vision go bye-bye. You don't get to see the laser then dock into its position in the ring. Except, my left eye was watching all of this (I'm left eye dominant) and I started freaking out and almost said, "nevermind!" when they said, "it's 16 seconds to create the flap ..." and started counting. That was fast, the suction removed, but I still couldn't see. They moved to the left eye but didn't give me that last numbing drop. I couldn't feel the flap being made, but that eye hurt mucho within a few minutes.
After they made the flap, they guided me to a recliner in a back room. I couldn't get anyone's attention for the eye pain since there was a wall and I was instructed to wait there for 10-30 minutes with my eyes closed. The Intralase process creates bubbles in your eye that have to dissipate before they can do the actual LASIK procedure. So I waited. Someone finally came to get me and said, "how do you feel?" I could barely voice out "hurts" (it's summer, I'm a bit dehydrated, and the Valium was making me funny). She took me to yet another chair and gave me more numbing drops until they quit burning. Thank heaven. (I even said, THANKS!). The optometrist then came at me with a wire that looked a bit like a tuning fork to make sure the flap was good and would open, and then did something with some funky marker.
Then right on into the LASIK room. They laid me down, asked me if I needed anything to hold. I had stuck my hands under my rear to make sure they didn't flip out and punch the doctor (I did that during the Intralase, too). Things I learned while taking my child to the dentist -- hands have to be held down or kept busy when we're anxious. They handed me a tightly rolled gown and had me hold that. Chatted with the nurses/assistants about paint (one of them is a single mom and her ward painted her deck, but painted a color she's not crazy about. she's leaving it alone so she doesn't offend anyone). She also said I'd notice a difference as soon as I sat up from the table. Then the doc came in. While they were prepping my eye, he realized I'm allergic to latex (thanks, I made sure to hand them my allergies while I was getting my BP checked) and tape, so he changed gloves, but said there wasn't a whole lot they could do about the tape. They have to tape your eyelashes out of the way, then put a ring in your eye to keep the lashes open so you don't try to blink during the procedure. They did the right eye first again. So, the worst part for me was him actually opening the corneal flap. They always say "gently" but he used a whole heck of a lot of pressure. *sigh* Once that was done, I stared at a green blinking light for 30 or 35 seconds. Moved the flap back in place, more drops, more swabbing, removed the tape, then taped the eye shut. Then they had to move part of the machine -- right into my boobage, ramming my breast several times. I didn't say anything, but did move it out of the way. lol. They prepped the left eye, then the machine moved over there, and I got to stare at the green light again. 35 seconds. Moved the flap again, more drops, more swabbing, removed the tape, untaped the other eye. They had me lay there for a few more minutes then took me back to the original exam room. The nurse came in and gave me verbal and written postop instructions, asked if I'd have someone at home who could read them to me if I couldn't read by last night (yep, hubby and both kids), and then had me wait for the optometrist again. She had to give me more drops while we waited for him. He did another exam, then they handed me some random stuff and a bag of candy, and escorted me to the lobby, where CC was waiting.
While sitting in that exam room, I could see the chair and desk across the hall and OUT THE WINDOW above the desk -- I could even see the bushes on the mountain across the street. It was a bit filmy, but I could see it.
CC took me home -- saw the sitter outside her place. She said the other kids' mom had taken them to the pool, and they'd be coming home at 4. I told her to just go ahead and send them home when they got there. :) CC and I then made it home and had Stouffer's flat bread for lunch. (at nearly 4 o'clock ...). Then she left and I laid down. When the girls got home from the sitter's, they were so proud of themselves since they had been good for FOUR whole HOURS. hahaha. I said, "I have to sleep a while now, think you can keep being good?" And they were. When I got up an hour or so later, hubby had brought dinner home and brought me some in my bed. I wandered out in the living room and hugged the kids and snuggled Munchkin (Small Fry is a hugger, Munchkin a cuddle bug), sat there for a few minutes and tried to watch a movie with them, but my eyes just got too tired and itchy. So hubby came and put me back to bed and we watched some anime (with me putting in my drops per instructions and closing my eyes when I needed to), put the kids to bed, and watched more. I ended up passing out long before he did (yes, with my sleeping goggles), but he upped the dose of the Tegretol per the doc's orders last night (and took B vitamins with it per my orders .... hehehe), took his Lunesta like he was s'posed to, slept 8 hours straight, and when he woke up, he took his Wellbutrin (more B's with that, too). And he seems fairly coherent today, unlike the past few days, so we're hoping he's adjusting well to his meds.
This morning, I can read. The close up vision actually took the longest -- and this morning my eyes are barely itchy at all -- I'm using my drops and stuff, but the itchy was so bad last night I HAD to sleep. hehehe. I'm not working today or tomorrow -- we're going to my postop visit in a few minutes and then off to the store to get ready to go camping tonight, and then ... well ... I'll probably work Sunday night and Monday and the rest of next week around my brother's visit from Japan. We'll see.
Hubby asked me first thing this morning if it was worth it. I said I didn't know, but now ... I really think it was. :)
CC came and picked me up around 12:30 yesterday -- after running the children to the sitter's and stopping back at the house to grab a hair clip, we were on our way ... I vented, she vented, we had a safe trip to the vision center.
I checked in and paid and they took me immediately back. Checked my blood pressure, gave me a Valium (which helped my mood immensely), handed me a bag full of stuff (sunglasses, eyedrops, sleeping goggles to protect my eyes after the surgery), a card detailing what would happen, and took me back to an exam room, where I waited for a while, read the card a couple times. Okay, it made everything sound kind of scary. Ack. The optometrist checked my eyes once again to make sure my prescription was, indeed, stable. It hasn't changed over the last several months, so that's good. Then the actual surgeon came in to meet me for the first time, introduced himself, and then looked at my eyes and my chart, too.
They then took me back to sit in a chair outside the first laser room. That laser is called Intralase. It's the laser that makes the incision in the cornea so they can get to your eyeball -- so it's all bladeless and much safer than the old blade type LASIK procedures. So, I'm thinking, I read the card, I've typed reports, I know what this is going to be like, right? Wrong. Let's just say I'm glad I took the Valium. They took me in the room and had me lay down on the table. They then realized the assistants hadn't Betadined me or numbed me (!), so they took care of that. They started with the right eye and gave me one more numbing drop, then attached a suction ring to the eye (my eye is twitching as I'm typing this). The suction makes your vision go bye-bye. You don't get to see the laser then dock into its position in the ring. Except, my left eye was watching all of this (I'm left eye dominant) and I started freaking out and almost said, "nevermind!" when they said, "it's 16 seconds to create the flap ..." and started counting. That was fast, the suction removed, but I still couldn't see. They moved to the left eye but didn't give me that last numbing drop. I couldn't feel the flap being made, but that eye hurt mucho within a few minutes.
After they made the flap, they guided me to a recliner in a back room. I couldn't get anyone's attention for the eye pain since there was a wall and I was instructed to wait there for 10-30 minutes with my eyes closed. The Intralase process creates bubbles in your eye that have to dissipate before they can do the actual LASIK procedure. So I waited. Someone finally came to get me and said, "how do you feel?" I could barely voice out "hurts" (it's summer, I'm a bit dehydrated, and the Valium was making me funny). She took me to yet another chair and gave me more numbing drops until they quit burning. Thank heaven. (I even said, THANKS!). The optometrist then came at me with a wire that looked a bit like a tuning fork to make sure the flap was good and would open, and then did something with some funky marker.
Then right on into the LASIK room. They laid me down, asked me if I needed anything to hold. I had stuck my hands under my rear to make sure they didn't flip out and punch the doctor (I did that during the Intralase, too). Things I learned while taking my child to the dentist -- hands have to be held down or kept busy when we're anxious. They handed me a tightly rolled gown and had me hold that. Chatted with the nurses/assistants about paint (one of them is a single mom and her ward painted her deck, but painted a color she's not crazy about. she's leaving it alone so she doesn't offend anyone). She also said I'd notice a difference as soon as I sat up from the table. Then the doc came in. While they were prepping my eye, he realized I'm allergic to latex (thanks, I made sure to hand them my allergies while I was getting my BP checked) and tape, so he changed gloves, but said there wasn't a whole lot they could do about the tape. They have to tape your eyelashes out of the way, then put a ring in your eye to keep the lashes open so you don't try to blink during the procedure. They did the right eye first again. So, the worst part for me was him actually opening the corneal flap. They always say "gently" but he used a whole heck of a lot of pressure. *sigh* Once that was done, I stared at a green blinking light for 30 or 35 seconds. Moved the flap back in place, more drops, more swabbing, removed the tape, then taped the eye shut. Then they had to move part of the machine -- right into my boobage, ramming my breast several times. I didn't say anything, but did move it out of the way. lol. They prepped the left eye, then the machine moved over there, and I got to stare at the green light again. 35 seconds. Moved the flap again, more drops, more swabbing, removed the tape, untaped the other eye. They had me lay there for a few more minutes then took me back to the original exam room. The nurse came in and gave me verbal and written postop instructions, asked if I'd have someone at home who could read them to me if I couldn't read by last night (yep, hubby and both kids), and then had me wait for the optometrist again. She had to give me more drops while we waited for him. He did another exam, then they handed me some random stuff and a bag of candy, and escorted me to the lobby, where CC was waiting.
While sitting in that exam room, I could see the chair and desk across the hall and OUT THE WINDOW above the desk -- I could even see the bushes on the mountain across the street. It was a bit filmy, but I could see it.
CC took me home -- saw the sitter outside her place. She said the other kids' mom had taken them to the pool, and they'd be coming home at 4. I told her to just go ahead and send them home when they got there. :) CC and I then made it home and had Stouffer's flat bread for lunch. (at nearly 4 o'clock ...). Then she left and I laid down. When the girls got home from the sitter's, they were so proud of themselves since they had been good for FOUR whole HOURS. hahaha. I said, "I have to sleep a while now, think you can keep being good?" And they were. When I got up an hour or so later, hubby had brought dinner home and brought me some in my bed. I wandered out in the living room and hugged the kids and snuggled Munchkin (Small Fry is a hugger, Munchkin a cuddle bug), sat there for a few minutes and tried to watch a movie with them, but my eyes just got too tired and itchy. So hubby came and put me back to bed and we watched some anime (with me putting in my drops per instructions and closing my eyes when I needed to), put the kids to bed, and watched more. I ended up passing out long before he did (yes, with my sleeping goggles), but he upped the dose of the Tegretol per the doc's orders last night (and took B vitamins with it per my orders .... hehehe), took his Lunesta like he was s'posed to, slept 8 hours straight, and when he woke up, he took his Wellbutrin (more B's with that, too). And he seems fairly coherent today, unlike the past few days, so we're hoping he's adjusting well to his meds.
This morning, I can read. The close up vision actually took the longest -- and this morning my eyes are barely itchy at all -- I'm using my drops and stuff, but the itchy was so bad last night I HAD to sleep. hehehe. I'm not working today or tomorrow -- we're going to my postop visit in a few minutes and then off to the store to get ready to go camping tonight, and then ... well ... I'll probably work Sunday night and Monday and the rest of next week around my brother's visit from Japan. We'll see.
Hubby asked me first thing this morning if it was worth it. I said I didn't know, but now ... I really think it was. :)
Just so you know, we now have unclogged drains. They were pretty bad -- every time hubby cuts his hair, the shower and sink get clogged, even though he cuts it over the garbage can. Whatever is left on his head though goes down the drain and gets all tangled up with my hair that floats down there and stuff. Well ... out of desperation for a long, hot bubble bath in a squeaky clean bathtub sometime this weekend while I'm off work, I looked up "clogged shower drain" and found this website. So, per the advice of this old house, I stuffed rags into the vent holes, plunged the heck out of the drains, and voila! UNCLOGGED DRAINS!!!!! NO MORE DRANO!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Need to do the girls' bathroom, too, but it's on my list to do later. Like after I finish my work marathon before my weekend off.
Moving on ... my brother and his wife and I were talking Monday night. They sometimes feel out of place in our family since people are always asking them to do stuff but then not hanging out with them or spending time with them. We talked about my SIL from Japan briefly, mentioned that I'm hoping with me being married to a Pacific Islander that it might help her and him (and Small Fry) feel like they all belong with us when they visit next week. We talked about how we're not really racist, and that we're not even technically "Caucasian" but because our Lebanese blood isn't as apparent as it is in some of our other family members (unless it's summer and I'm at the pool frequently), a lot of people think we are. And some of my family (cousins who are darker than I will ever be) welcomed Moe to the family by saying, "we finally have some brown blood in our lines." IDIOTS. THEY are brown. Goll. And I shared with them the little gem that Small Fry said at the store: "I come from a family of Oakies." I had to ask her what the heck that meant (that is NOT her last name). "Very very very [x30] crazy white people who live in trailer parks." hahahaahahahahahahahah. That so describes her grammas and uncle and mom ...
I'm having LASIK tomorrow. CC is taking me to the appointment. Jess is watching the kids. Probably ought to call her and tell her what time, but here's hoping it all works out.
Hubby is home today -- He got sent home yesterday and they told him not to come back today if he was still out of it. He was. I said that I would really appreciate if he helped clean up some because I'm just so flipping overwhelmed. He and the kids cleaned. As his meds wore off, we got into a fight. Then he calmed down, we made up, and he took the next dose of drugs. Hubby needs to try and go to work in the a.m., but he may get sent home again. Eeeeep.
Anyway. I'm then taking a few days off. We're supposed to go camping with the kids and stuff. We'll see what happens. I'm just excited to have a few days OFF. hehehe
My husband. He is faaaaaaaaaaaabulous. The Tegretol seems to be evening him out some ... yay!!! But the Lexapro ... is a bad idea. Makes him agitated. So today, he was kind of grumpy at church, and I ended up having to take Munchkin out (like, physically had to pick her up and carry her out). He ended up coming home early, took his Tegretol early, and had a little bitty nap, then I came home and we talked for a few minutes. Then we went back.
After church, I brought the girls home and got them lunch, and when hubby got home, I said, "I need a nap, come hold me for a few minutes." He did. Then he went out, shut the door, and told the girls to leave me be. And I slept for three hours.
After my nap, I went to the living room with everyone and all three of them started talking at me at once and I got cranky. Hubby told the girls, "Mom has a bad headache, back off for a while and let her feel better." Well. About 5 minutes later, my head really DID hurt -- I didn't know I had a headache, but he noticed it because I only act that way when my head hurts (he mentioned this to me later). So I took some Excedrin. He helped me clean up the kitchen so I could make dinner, and that really helped, too. We all had dinner and as we were finishing up, a friend dropped by to take the girls for a walk and give us a break. Love her.
So we talked while they were gone. He said, "The three hour nap on Sunday seems to be what keeps you going the rest of the week, and if you don't get it, you end up sleeping more during the week." He's right. And I thanked him for helping with the kitchen and dealing with my grumpiness. There have been times in the past where I've been so grumpy, he's just put on his headphones and kept playing his videogame and left me on my own. Today, he was able to focus and say, "Hey, I love my wife and she needs help." And he followed through.
I'm crossing my fingers that the meds are helping and continue to do so. He told me he felt calmer and more mellow in a good way. And he said he likes our therapist and is glad he decided to go back. So those are all very good things. :)
When the girls got back, I chatted with DD for a while. And he put the kids to bed. I hugged them when I got back inside, and he was still in a pretty good mood, too. I sure love him. Awwwwww ... Yup, I'm still a gushy newlywed. *puke*
So ... I made toast for myself for breakfast (and egg and ham -- needed protein, but now I'm sleepy). The kids both picked a box of cereal at the store yesterday, which they were supposed to have for breakfast today. After this, Small Fry is so on her own the rest of the day.
"Mom, what are you making? It smells good."
"Toast."
"Can I have some? With butter and cinnamon sugar?"
"Sure."
Buttered, cinnamon sugared it, told her, "It's done, come get it and eat."
She didn't.
A full hour later (I'm back to work in the meantime), "Mom, my toast is bread. It's all soft."
"It was crunchy when I told you it was done. Eat it anyway."
She choked down one slice and then got her 'tude back. I said, "Next time I tell you that your food is done, put your game down and eat it right then."
"Okay." followed by a heavy sigh.
Dang kids.
Munchkin, however, is eating her cereal. Praise be.
The ex has been sick. We got antibiotics because we were so sick. She didn't. Guess what? She knew Small Fry was allergic to the -mycins, but didn't tell us. We only knew about the -cillins. So we put her on azithromycin (Z-Pak) and she started getting all itchy on the second day. Wasn't sure it was the drug, so I gave her one more dose the third day. Itching like mad. So I took her off of it. Gah. I made sure to ask if there was any other info I needed like that. Hopefully her "no" was correct. We got the flight info communicated and stuff, too. So I feel better about that.
Took DisGrace's older two Spawn to the store with Munchkin and Small Fry after we all went to Costco. DisGrace took Dizzy to the doc with her MIL and, well, I must be needing inpatient level of care since I said, "meh, I'm not working anyway, have to run errands, I'll just take them with me."
Ra is nearly 12 and very much a 'tween with a 'tude, but she also gets that being an older sister means putting up with the little ones wanting to do everything you do. When Small Fry kept whining about Munchkin copying her, Ra told her to knock it off. hahahahaha. Bru was actually very good, except when he wanted to talk to the older girls and they ignored him until he whined, and Small Fry snapped at him. I told her that he'd been trying to get her attention. "I didn't hear him." "I tried to get your attention, too." "I didn't hear you, either." Yeah. Not the best day for me coping with HER 'tude either.
*sigh*
Some days I want her to stay. Other days, I'm glad she's not. Today is one of the latter. I mean, I do want her to stay, but it's hard all around. Munchkin is used to me working at home and letting me do it, knowing she'll get my attention when I'm done. Small Fry isn't used to it yet, but she's trying. She's even changing the dishwasher (I gave her 50 cents today after she'd done it three times ... hehehe). I think another visit or two will help us all figure out our roles, but uh, for now ... I'm glad we're about halfway through the visit.
Hubby started Tegretol tonight. It's a mood stabilizer. In a couple of days, we add an antidepressant in the mornings. We're hoping this combats some of the issues he has with his bipolar depression. Unfortunately, he came home and told me he has to go in front of a review board next week about his job. He messed up a couple weeks ago, told his boss, and they had to scrap about 4000 packages. Other people screw up that bad or worse and don't 'fess up, which can lead to lawsuits and more food that gets thrown away. So his boss said to him today, "We want people like you to work here, people with integrity," but then threatened to fire him. Idiots. Owell. Whaddya do?
As a side note, I had my eyes dilated last night and examined in preparation for Lasik next week. They are *still* somewhat dilated and very light sensitive. Gah. And tell me how much sense this makes: My RX for eyedrops for one week after the surgery costs $69; my part of that was $45. My RX for nausea (which I do still get on occasion, just not as bad as I did when I was pregnant) costs $485; my part of that is $15. The eyedrops are a brand name, the antiemetic is the generic. So ... yeah. Still reeling from that drug bill today ... at least hubby's Tegretol was only $13 ... hahahahaha
Walking ... and not killing my children.
Went to Costco with DisGrace, her three children, and my two monkeys. We raced around the store (she was in a hurry) and grabbed a bite to eat. Then, she had to take Gramma to the doctor, so she took Dizzy with her and I took her older kids home with me to drop off frozen/fridge food, then to Wal-Mart.
Oy.
We got there at 1:30, just as everyone at the pharmacy was going to lunch. They would be back at 2. So we shopped, went back to the pharmacy, and dropped off the prescriptions. Walked around the store some more, went back to the pharmacy. Still not done. Made the kids go away and torment each other somewhere else. Talked to DisGrace, asked her to send hubby to my house at 3.
He got there before me.
So did my hubby.
I'm ready for bed now, but sadly I have to work.
BUT I'm counting the jaunts around the parking lots and both stores as my walk today.
And upon returning home, I promptly drank two bottles of water. i'm sure I'll have to pee soon, but at least I'm hydrating again.
My friend's brothers used to tell the telemarketers that their daddy had just died and would then sob hysterically before hanging up on them ... the calls significantly cut down after they started doing that ...
I was a telemarketer in a former life ... for a chiropractor. I called businesses and spoke to employers. I did NOT interrupt people at dinner. I did NOT insist "I just need a few minutes of your time ..."
The ONE THING I love about my unpublished, unlisted, VOiP phone number is that I *never* get telemarketing calls.
Hubby was a telemarketer before his mission. I forgave him for it and we got married anyway.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I walked!
Okay, so I did the "uber cheesy" 1-mile walk video. But I did it. I actually have walked a couple times outside this week in the heat and mugginess of the valley. No wonder I'm getting a migraine ...
Anyway. I haven't really exercised for like a month. Stress gets to me and I eat and quit exercising. Which is stupid, since the best way to combat stress is the opposite: Eat healthier and move your body.
At least I did it today. And hopefully I can remember the above lesson during the upcoming weeks: I have an eye doc appt this afternoon for my Lasik preop, the Lasik is the next week, and then we're going camping, and then the next week my little bother and his wife and baby are coming for a visit from Japan ... and the week after that, my oldest bother and his wife and kids plus my parents are all coming, and Munchkin and one of my nephews are getting baptized. Then, two days later, Small Fry goes home. At some point between the camping trip and her flight, we have to go school clothes shopping for both girls. And her mother better call me back so we can get her ON the flight. Gah. School is back in on August 7 for Small Fry and August 21st for Munchkin.
So, there's the rest of the month and into August laid out for you.
Munchkin's friend's dad told me that the first time we met. My response? "How 'bout the girls play here."
Hubby is bipolar. He's not medicated. But we did just go to the doctor for meds and he's going to the therapist again today. The therapist recommended one drug, and the doc recommended he try something different. So we left with an RX for a mood stabilizer, samples for a mood lifter, and samples of a sleeping pill for him to try when he's NOT going to work the next morning.
He's supposed to be on the mood stabilizer for two days then start the others ... but because of a mixup in our bank accounts, we have to wait until Friday to fill the Rx. So, we wait. But I'm hopeful this will help him get more stable. And not make him MEAN like my herbals did.
Hubby and I both wanted to see Transformers -- lemme just say, it's way cooler than the cartoons.
At our home teacher's suggestion, we took the girls. He and his wife had taken their autistic son who is very sensitive to violence and noise, and he rather enjoyed it. Since Munchkin is also sensitive to violence, we figured it would be safe. Well.
Some of the previews (chuck and larry?) will probably lead to conversations with Munchkin, who doesn't know anything about gay people.
And yes, there was a LOT of violence, but no blood as it was mostly machines pounding on each other. Even when people died, there was no blood, which is what Munchkin is mostly sensitive to. She LOVED it. So did the rest of us. And neither of the girls woke us up in the night with nightmares. But even I had dreams about talking cars that turn into robots.
There were some swear words, the girl doesn't dress all that modestly, and a rather uncomfortable discussion in the boy's room with his parents (mostly his mother) about masturbation, i.e., Sam's Happy Time. Could have done without those things, which will probably lead to more uncomfortable discussions with Munchkin, but it was a pretty good movie overall.
I'm so getting fired for this. *crossing fingers* hopefully not.
"When I asked about psychiatric history, he had very little to say other than to tell me that his brain has been sent by fax or scan to Australia and he would like to know if it is back yet."
Now, I honestly had to laugh at this. Poor patient.
At least my day doesn't suck that bad. hehehehehe
So hubby wants to quit his job. I told him to find a new one and then quit. We worked on his resume at 2 this morning. I haven't had much sleep obviously. And today, I'm getting all the psych reports. Those days have two effects on me.
1. It makes me feel better about my own brain to know that I, in fact, could be crazier.
2. It wears me out emotionally, listening to all these poor peoples' problems. Like the patient above. Or the one who thinks he's Jesus reincarnated, but has AIDS and (as the doctor said) those two items are incompatible. Or the battered women who end up hurting themselves to get some attention and acknowledgement that something isn't right in their world.
So I'm sleepy for lots of reasons. At least hubby was finally able to tell me what was bothering him -- poor guy. thought i'd panic and freak out on him for wanting to quit his job. heck, i want to quit my job on a regular basis, but i don't. So I'm hoping I don't get fired. But sometimes the "nuts" make me laugh. And/or cry. And sometimes, I have to tell *someone* about it. I may have to look for a new job anyway, esp. if he leaves his. We'll no longer have good insurance, so I'll have to do something different since our insurance sucks. And, being a heart patient who has to have yearly followup and wants to have babies, we NEED insurance. Oy.
Moved my office into the bedroom yesterday -- Small Fry and Munchkin need space from each other. And we'd intended to turn the office into a nursery. And my brother is coming from Japan, so we're letting (making) them stay here a couple days and needed a guest room of sorts. So .... the office is in a corner in the bedroom. It's quiet in here, away from the other computer and the TV. I like it. Hopefully it works long-term.
And that's all my ramblings today. I need to get ready to go to the temple with CC. Yay for the temple!
Okay, so the other day, Small Fry said her mom told her to shave her underarms but she told her no, and I was like, "do you have hair there?" so she showed me. I didn't say anything, but got a razor out of my stash, handed it to her, and said, "go put this away." We made the kids have showers Saturday night, and she was all proud of herself when she came out. "Look Mom! I shaved and then put on deodorant and didn't even cut myself!" Her mom seemed upset that I actually got her to wear a bra. Can't wait to hear about the underarm hair.
Laundry: When I'm working full time, I'm not the best housekeeper. I admit this fully. After my surgery when I was mostly recovered and only working part time, the house looked much better. But now? I don't get the laundry put away at once, my kitchen is a wreck right now, the office is the messiest room in the house right this moment, etc. If the kids don't get the laundry in the hamper, it doesn't get washed. Period. That's my rule. So Small Fry has no clothes to wear because she didn't get them in the hamper. And she only brought like 3 outfits. To be fair, Munchkin has a zillion clothes, a lot of the handmedowns from cousins and others. I got out another hamper for Small Fry to use by herself so I can do her laundry separate from Munchkin's.
PMS: I finally started my period Saturday night. The cramps hit me that night and continued yesterday and with that and my rotten/PMS mood, I made Small Fry make dinner last night for her and Munchkin -- she made ramen. They could've had some leftover chicken, too, but didn't. Anyway, I was in so much pain yesterday, which an Aleve and two Midol weren't touching, I just kind of wandered around moaning. It just wasn't the best day. I asked Small Fry if her mom gets cramps with her periods (the lucky women don't), and she said she didn't know and had never noticed. So I explained that I get really bad cramps the first day of my period. She said her mom only has one-day periods. Can I shoot her yet? the mom. not the small fry. My PMS blew the roof off the house last night in conjunction with hubby's worst bipolar crash since we've been together. He's usually not mean to me, even when he's crashing, but last night ... oh my gosh ... horrible horrible night. I'm better right now, but I don't know how he is since he's at work.
Hubby and I both have mixed feelings about my period arriving, with both of us being both relieved and sad I'm not pregnant (I was 5 days late -- I think the miscarriage messed me up). It means I can get my eyes zapped next week (YAY!), but I am getting more and more baby hungry. *sigh* Hubby stopped at his parents' house on the way home from work Saturday and his dad started lecturing him about why people get married (to have babies) when hubby finally told them we'd had a miscarried. FIL said, "It's 7 times harder on the woman to get over that. You get home and take care of your wife." And kicked him out. hahahaha.
We decided the girls need to sleep in separate rooms and we are going to move my office into our bedroom, and Small Fry will then be sleeping in my office. I don't know how we'll do it once we do have a baby, but that's quite a ways away since we have to try to NOT get pregnant until January. So I cleaned up a huge part of the master bedroom last night after the cramps calmed down -- Small Fry helped. I'm going to have the kids both help me move the furniture around after lunch.
The good news is that I do still love my husband and our kids. We're okay. I'm just worn out and can't wait for my vacation next weekend.
My internet was down yesterday, so I didn't get to post.
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of my open-heart surgery. As my husband put it, the one-year anniversary of the day they brought me back to life. They had to stop my heart in order to correct the structural problem.
So here's my Friday Fave Five, Gratitude of an Anniversary Style:
1. I'm thankful for a primary care doc who was aggressive in getting my heart murmur investigated. His insistence that I get an echo 18 months ago saved my heart valves from permanent damage.
2. I'm thankful for a sister who works (indirectly) for the best acute-care hospital and for the best surgeon in the western states. Oh the irony ... she lives in North Carolina. But she's the one who got me the name of my surgeon.
3. I'm thankful for my surgeon (and his staff). He had the experience and the knowledge to take care of my anomaly without too much fanfare -- and without making me feel like I was an idiot for insisting on seeing him even though my former cardiologist kept saying, "I don't think you need that surgery." The surgeon and my new cardiologist proved him wrong and got me taken care of. And the staff in the office has answered all my questions and called in pain killers without question when I need them (they are NOT narcotics, so don't go thinking I have a problem here!) Along that line, I'm also thankful for the cardiologists who found the problem, and for the ones who are now my once-a-year best friends.
4. I'm thankful for the staff at LDS Hospital and the insurance that paid for a chunk of the cost of the care I received there.
5. I'm thankful hubby stood by me and stayed with me during my hospital stay, only going home to do homework and have a shower. He even slept on cramped couches the one night I spent in the ICU. I didn't really get it, that he really loved me until later after hearing about that night. Apparently, when they wheeled me out of surgery, he came and hugged me and said something about wanting to go home to clean up and I asked him to stay. So he did. Even after I threw up on him multiple times due to the morphine they kept pumping in me (it's now on my list of allergies to medications). The nurses were all going gaga over him and his devotion to me, and he was so oblivious and just in love with me and worried about me ... I think most of his gray hairs showed up that week. And lemme just say, spending the night with him (and no kids) last night was a whole helluva lot more fun than the nights spent in the hospital and at home last year. Woooooo! hahahahahaha. I sure love that guy. And I'm grateful CC and DisGrace and all the other wonderful people who knew I was struggling so hard with loving him helped me so much during our courtship. hehehehe.
(I'm also thankful that I've recovered to the extent that I have -- I still get some musculoskeletal pain and fatigue, but the dizziness and the palpitations, even if I'm running on caffeine, and flutters in my throat are gone!)
The kids were at each other's throats yesterday, so I took the short one away and left Small Fry to fend for herself for a little while -- mostly to protect Small Fry from Munchkin's abuse. The errand took longer than expected, but I left Munchkin at a neighbor's for a while and hubby and I spent some two-on-one time with Small Fry. Then Munchkin came home and started terrorizing everyone again, and then Demented showed up to get the girls and take them home for a sleepover. Dizzy was playing shy, but man she's cute. Alas, our date was interrupted by a few phone calls with reports of the girls arguing and being dramatic and NOT very good guests.
Hubby is going to make them clean the house later.
Alas, I'm going to have to have a talk with the short one and let her know if she's going to keep acting like a baby, she's going to get treated like one. No TV, no videogames, no pixters ... no big kid toys. at all. I was extremely upset with her yesterday -- I don't think I've ever been so angry with her in her short life.
Anyway. The internet is up and I need to work like 15 hours. So I'm off to do so.
I didn't really post yesterday any thoughts about freedom or what the day stands for. I didn't really talk about how my in-laws came here illegally, but are now legal immigrants, hubby a legal resident alien with an official card and everything, and how grateful they are to be here in this country, even though the country itself isn't perfect. I didn't really talk about how one year ago, I was checking into a hospital for a surgery that will affect me the rest of my life in both good AND bad ways and that I had insurance which covered a huge portion of that hospital stay. I didn't talk about how grateful I am that my doctors caught the problem before it destroyed my heart valves -- thank heaven for adequate healthcare and talented doctors. I didn't talk about members of my church were able to come to the hospital and provide me Priesthood blessings and the opportunity to partake of the sacrament on my last day in the hospital. I didn't talk about how the hospital provided a cot and meals to my fiance (now husband) and snacks for my parents without charging me or the insurance for it (I checked the bill).
So ... First, I post some humor. It's funny, whether or not I agree with the overall message. Then a post someone sent me which I agree with, whether or not Mr. Leno really said it.
"Jay Leno. . . Hits the Nail on the Head"
The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.
So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking. "What are we so unhappy about?" Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer ad heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the pat year? Is it the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.
Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.
Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an office equipped wi a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.
This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping ad pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.
How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.
Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
I know, I know. What about the president who took us to into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?
The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the president is on the news or talk shows? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?
Think about it. . . . . are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful Ass every day.
Make no mistake about. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a "general" discharge, an "other than honorable" discharge or, worst case scenario, a "dishonorable" discharge after a few days in the brig.
So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads ad they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash wi blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner?
The media knows this ad media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way. . .. Insane!
Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.
We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
*****
I did NOT edit for typos or content or anything. And I've since learned Jay Leno only wrote the closing paragraph --Craig ... something ... wrote the rest.
But I do agree that we do live in the most blessed nation on earth. President Bush may have made mistakes; he's human. I don't agree with everything he's done. But whining about something only makes people mad and doesn't solve anything. My kids know this. So should all of the adult citizens of this country.
I think if people spent as much energy looking for solutions as they do complaining about life and the president in general, we'd have a lot fewer problems than we do as a country.
Happy Independence Day. The girls wanted to go to a parade this morning but I was trying to work and they weren't letting me. We're supposed to do fireworks and see their grandparents and hubby wants to go see Transformers, but none of them have let me work yet (they're leaving me alone right this second though, but I'm posting instead of working????). *sigh* Speaking of Transformers, we saw this guy all dressed up for the Transformers premiere Monday -- we saw him pull into Sonic, where we were grabbing dinner the other night before we saw Ratatouille, and he posed quite nicely for us. He has red contacts, which you could only tell outside. When we got back over to the theater, he was there with a friend of his who was NOT dressed up. Too funny.
Snapped this picture of Small Fry as soon as she jumped in the car the day I picked her up. She's so gorgeous.
This is Lace's oldest daughter, The Princess. She was showing off her gaposis. We were at dinner with all the family who lives in Utah since my parents were here, closing on their new house, which is near DisGrace and family.
At the restaurant, Dizzy, my niece who is 20 months old, wanted to come say hi and sit in my lap (and eat my food). But hubby startles her every time she sees him (she needs to spend more time with him) and he was sitting in between us. So when she finally got there, I needed to do something for Munchkin, so I plopper my niece right in his lap and he held her like, "AAAAAAAAAa, a baby!!!!" and she just wouldn't even look at him. Then I got done with Munchkin and Dizzy started reaching for me. I turned her back to hubby and started rubbing her back. She snuggled up to him, but was more than happy when I took her back a couple minutes later. So was he. Wish I'd taken a picture of that, but owell.
This is Dizzy's Daddy and my hubby -- Dizzy's Daddy is the one who hooked us up. This was at our family reunion last summer. He looks a little strange, but he's a great guy, one of my favorites.
So, there you have it. Hubby may or may not get to see the movie, but I am going to get work done so we can go see his parents (they haven't seen us since Small fry got here) and do fireworks at some point. Yahoo.
So, we have this family therapist. She is really great. Munchkin saw her for about 5 or 6 months last year. Hubby and I saw her together once in May and Munchkin got mad we went without her. lol. I went again by myself in May, and hubby decided while I was in Cali that he needed to go see her. He couldn't remember where her office was, so he followed us over there last night (it was on our way to the movie; see below) and Munchkin asked if she could go in, too. hahahahaha. Too funny.
The good part is she's helping hubby.
The not so good part is Small Fry asked if she could go see her on her own because "I'm missing something" (which I thought she meant missing out since the rest of us have seen her). She clarified, "I'm missing part of me inside," but her biological mom doesn't believe in therapy. I'd actually brought it up to hubby a few days ago -- he said he didn't want to get in trouble with the ex, which I understand (since she's slightly crazy and her mother is more so). I may bring it up to her mom, but I might just take her and let it slide.
So ... yeah. We saw Ratatouille last night with the fam -- us girls plus my folks and DisGrace and her family and Lace and his family. Little Dizzy came and snuggled with me ... and ate half a tub of popcorn. Man, I love that kid.
I'm getting baby hungry, which I need to not be yet. Still have two weeks before my eye surgery! Ack! Hope my period comes this week ....
BUT, here is our newest family member. Mamabear's Baby Bear arrived almost two weeks ago. She's in North Carolina, so this is as much as I'm going to get to see her for quite some time. Can't wait for my baby brother to get here this month with his wife and their little one (who is nearly one year old now!). Lurve babies!!!
And a little gem Small Fry shared with me about her mom. "My mom says you and dad make $60/hour put together." Gasp. Astonishment. Horror. No wonder she thinks we're an ATM. "Honey, that's not even close to being true." Then I explained how I'm not paid a dollar amount per hour -- I'm paid solely on production. If I'm typing or editing reports, I'm making money. If I'm not, I don't get money. End of story. She doesn't get it, but she may eventually. Later on in the day money came up again, and I said, "[Small Fry], if your mom brings up how much money we make, I expect you to tell her she has no idea how much we make. And, in my opinion, it is none of her business how much money we make. We don't discuss our finances with her or you kids." I guess I was kind of rude, but it really isn't anyone's business but ours (and the banks' I suppose since they really own the house) how much money we make, how much money we have, or how we use it or anything like that. Oh my gosh ... I was just ... floored. And next time the ex talks about money and how broke she is, I will tell her straight up I don't appreciate her talking to our child about how much money we make since she has no clue about it, she is not correct, and it isn't her business. She gets her child support and we help out when we can with other things, but we are not an ATM and she'd better get that out of her head ASAP. *bashes head into wall* Stoopid.
Monday, July 2, 2007
STRESS. That's what I'm feeling. STRESS.
KIDS. Small Fry and I are both still sick. But hey, I'm back down to 240 today after the traveling and the eating not so good. Need to start exercising but that's hard to do when I feel like this. I know sex burns calories, but I don't usually like to count that as "exercise," not even when I'm sick. Too bad for hubby, he's been kissing me so much since I got home from Cali (he missed me ... and vice versa), he's going to get the bug eventually.
Munchkin and I have a pretty open and honest relationship. And I'm grateful for it. But lately, she's been asking me some uncomfortable questions. Lately, We've had discussions about underarm odor (she is now wearing deodorant to combat this -- she's 7 for Pete's sake), periods, hair growing in funny spots (armpits and down below), and ... her clitoris. Oy. Mostly she just wanted to know what it was called, not what it was FOR.
So yesterday, in my semi-delirious state of being sick, she asked me what the mark on my neck was from.
"Daddy bit me." WHAT??? Why did I SAY that???
She was horrified. "Why did daddy bite you?"
"Y'know how we like to kiss?" WHY did I say THAT????
"EWWWW".
End of discussion.
Some day, probably in the near future, she is going to ask me about sex in a not-so-roundabout way. Her body is changing and she's probably going to start developing and get her period in a couple years. Small Fry *just* started wearing bras. It'll be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens from here on out with both girls and their puberty and all that ... at least right now, the conversations are open and honest and not that embarrassing, just a tad uncomfortable at times. *sigh*
And hubby still wants four more kids. Probably because he's not the one dealing with these discussions.
Sadly, being pregnant that many times will probably not help my goal of getting in shape, but will help my goal of having a semi-large family. Yay!
She's eaten the food I've made the last couple of days. Dinner Saturday night was ham-fried rice and shrimp and sweet/sour chicken (not deep fried and made from scratch by me TYVM) and stir fried veggies. She said, "this reminds me of Chinese food, which is my favorite food."
Score.
Breakfast yesterday was pancakes (my own recipe, TYVM). She ate one, said "that was very filling and good." And then didn't ask for anything else until lunchtime, when the girls ate the leftover rice and chicken.
Dinner last night? Pan-seared chicken breasts, then roasted in the cast iron skillet, boiled new potatoes (with parsley, salt, butter), and a lovely salad. She ate it ALL, declaring it quite delicious.
Okay, so I know her eating my food shouldn't make me feel soooooooo much better, but that's not all. I am PMSing in a major way and ended up getting mad at hubby yesterday for something he didn't even do yet. Then about 10 minutes later, I just started crying and apologized for being a witch (only said a different word) and he just got up and hugged me for a while. Small Fry noticed and came over and hugged me, too, and then Munchkin. It was sweet.
And even though she's been calling me Mom since I picked her up, she now sounds like she means it. Or maybe I'm more used to it. lol.
The girls are getting along somewhat better, but I'm still sick and so is Small Fry. Think I'm calling the doctor in 45 minutes when they're open -- might have strep. BAD sore throats. And if we do, we need to get on antibiotics ASAP and prophylactic drugs for hubby and Munchkin so they don't get it, too.
On another note ... after watching this movie (thanks kip!), I remembered a conversation I had with Munchkin yesterday.
Usually, I'm grateful for our open and honest relationship. But lately, she's been asking me some uncomfortable questions. Lately, We've had discussions about underarm odor (she is now wearing deodorant to combat this -- she's 7 for Pete's sake), periods, hair growing in funny spots (armpits and down below), and ... her clitoris. Oy. Mostly she just wanted to know what it was called, not what it was FOR.
So yesterday, in my semi-delirious state of being sick, she asked me what the mark on my neck was from.
"Daddy bit me." WHAT??? Why did I SAY that???
She was horrified. "Why did daddy bite you?"
"Y'know how we like to kiss?" WHY did I say THAT????
"EWWWW".
End of discussion.
Some day, probably in the near future, she is going to ask me about sex in a not-so-roundabout way. Her body is changing and she's probably going to start developing and get her period in a couple years. Small Fry *just* started wearing bras. It'll be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens from here on out with both girls and their puberty and all that ... at least right now, the conversations are open and honest and not that embarrassing, just a tad uncomfortable at times. *sigh*
Hubby still wants four more kids. Probably because he's not the one dealing with these discussions. Right now, we're not even trying to get pregnant, but we have been "practicing" a whole heckuvalot. I know sex burns calories, but I don't usually like to count that as "exercise," not even when I'm sick. (and too bad for hubby, he's been kissing me so much since I got home from Cali (he missed me ... and vice versa), he's going to get the bug eventually).
annnnnnnnnnnnnd ... This post bumped my rating from G to PG. At least I'm not NC17 like someone I know ...
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