Catholic Parent Paparrazzi

Yes, it's that time of year again! You know the one. The Catholic school kids have their annual Christmas show in the church. And you can't see your kid at all because of other kids' parents somehow getting the preferential treatment that allows them to stand up all the way in the front with their cameras at all times blocking nearly everyones' view of the show!
Of course, this is NOT Thing 1's time of day for ANYTHING that is serious. Yes, you guessed it. Air guitar. During "Gloria!"
He was in church choir last year. All the masses he sung in were in the morning. The invisible instruments didn't come out even once.
In all seriousness though, this was probably the best show the kids have put on. It was actually less than an hour, started on time and everyone could hear every word! To me, that's a Christmas miracle.

Progress!!!

Finally!

On the foot front: I now have no stitches, a removable walking cast, a temporary disabled parking permit and a wheelchair on the way (so I can manage to get my Christmas shopping done and go to fun events with the family--impossibilities on crutches). It feels so much better to be able to put SOME weight on my foot.

The loan on the house is another thing. Weird, I tell you. The first one we tried was crap--they're trying to close operations so they ramped up the interest rates. Dumped them quick. You know those Lending Tree commercials where they have all these lenders in your living room waiting to talk to you? Well, it's not much of an exaggeration! I have been on the phone all afternoon with them! Things are looking up in that arena.

Kids are getting sick. Thing 2 has been, but seems to be going downhill. Hopefully I won't have to bring her to the main office of the pediatrician's (painted cement stairs I've nearly fallen down without a foot problem).

Overall, exciting day!

New House! Kids at the Ocala, FL Sarah Palin rally!

I wish I could have been there with them, but we feared me being trampled on crutches due to the aforementioned foot surgery.

We lost a bid on one house and then bid on another and we're getting this one! We would have originally bid on the one we're getting since we like it better but at the time it had a contract on it, and the contract fell through. It was meant for us! We should be moving during Christmas break. The kids will stay in the same school for the rest of the school year, then moving to another one for next year. We're all very excited!

Anyone want to buy a house 10 miles from Disney World?

It's real cheap compared to most of the country. I'm in the area with the biggest downturn in the market because it had the biggest upswing in the market when investors decided to buy up a ton of houses hoping to sell quick for a huge profit that never materialized. And it's the hardest hit from the bad mortgage deals. Fortunately, my development isn't getting the tons of foreclosures many are, but we still get hit with the devaluation.
On the upside, it really isn't breaking us since we bought this 10 years ago when the market was low so now we'll still make a profit and want to get something bigger--and we can get it for a steal!
Looks like we'll be putting in an offer in this neighborhood: stevensplantation.com. I won't post the listing because I don't want my future home searchable here. Needless to say, it's HUGE, and a cavernous fun time! People will love wandering around in it. And it's less than 2 years old!
How's that for an upbeat post for a change!

The bully most often overlooked

is the one who seeks to get someone else in trouble in order to make himself feel good.

I knew there would be another shoe to drop since Thing 1's behavior improved so greatly in school--making it harder for others to tattle on him for nothing. So apparently it's a huge sin that someone chose to stand too close to him and got lightly tapped with his outstretched belt as he re-fastened it. And standing next to the other kid who was off his medication today and decided to mock the assistant teacher's English accent suddenly made all the other kids accuse him of the same behavior. No, my child's far from sainthood--but his own speech issues make it nearly impossible for him to fake a foreign accent.

So my sensitive child cried as he was told that he would get a detention next time these things happened. By adults he trusted.

Sister

So my sister teaches dance classes, mainly the little 3-5 year olds, but a couple of adult "mom" groups. This one in particular can be a bossy pain in the rear end and she's had to put them in their place more than once. The owners don't want to teach this class!

So now she's showing at 14 weeks. One of them had to yell that to her. So she said, "No, I'm just fat." Goofy woman.

We haven't told my kids yet. I figure we'll let her handle that in a phone call before she comes down for Christmas. I think I'll have her handle the fact that she's not married yet with "well, God made it happen anyway!" I think my kids will buy that. The benefits of Catholic schools, LOL! Hopefully that won't backfire into an expecting the second coming of Jesus thing, LOL!

Flu shot follies

So the CDC wants all children, let alone the ones like mine with asthma, getting flu shots. Yet I can't get my kids in until mid-November, and me (also with asthma) around the same time! My doc has run out, and I'm not about to make a special appointment with him to pay an extra $15 copay just for that. I already played that game last month when getting my pneumovax. The kids' doc has them plenty but only does flu clinic at certain days and times--and all the afternoon after school times are booked until mid-November! So the kids who have always been on the must-have list even before this year's expanded list have to wait. GREEEEAAAAT. They'll surely get the fu waiting, especially since when we do go, I'll have a cast on my foot. Seems to me that the ped's office needs to hire some temps just to get flu shots plugged away.

Only other way to get the kids a shot before then is if one gets sick and I have to take him/her in for a sick appointment--as long as s/he doesn't have a fever at the time. I can get one anywhere offering it, but again I'm not about to pay another copay to do it, so it has to be under $15. I missed the local urgent care's free event. Maybe I'll have to find another one.

Anyone know how my kids can get flu shots under $15 and not at their ped's office?

Politics

So, this online group I'm in likes to discuss politics from time to time. They say they are open minded. Their posts about it, however, right from the title of their posts, don't leave a bit of room for dissenting opinion. Thankfully that's not why I'm there...

Update on drunk neighbor and her dogs: She came by sober today because a piece of my mail was left in her box by mistake. She also said that she has her dogs, herself and her friend (must have 1:1 dog to person ratio) in a sheriff's department obedience program. Sounds like potential progress!

I never mentioned this!

IT'S A MIRACLE!!!
My vertigo is gone! The audiologist had me do all this testing where she put a mask over my eyes and it measured the movements of my eyes when she had me move into certain positions. You see, vertigo shows up through the eyes even though it's an inner ear problem. Your eyes will involuntarily shake. So I found out that to the right, there was a problem but only minor in comparison to my problem on the left. She saw it starting before I felt it.

After the testing, she had me lay back with my arms above my head, then scootch to the head of the table until my elbows were just off the table, resulting in my head hittingi at a certain spot just off the table. Then she had me turn my head to the right for 3 minutes, then the left for 3 minutes then she helped me get up and told me that it might take a couple days to feel better. She was right. That day I had this low-level constant spin feeling but not too terrible. The next day I was spinning constantly and somewhat worse in intensity to the day it was done--then all of a sudden in the evening it was gone! Even when I moved into the positions that caused the vertigo, it was gone! I still had a day here or there of feeling lightheaded, but I think even that's gone now. Awesome, huh? I had never heard of this treatment before--expecting that I'd be told that there was nothing they could do as I'd heard so many people say before.

So, my BIL and new nephew will be home on Friday night from Vietnam! Everything went without a problem. And we have a name! It's all former last names that people have started using as first names. That's okay though. He has a nickname. It's amazing. There's just something about the way he looks that just looks like he BELONGS to my BIL's. I can't put my finger on it.

And in other news, am I crazy? While I'll still be in a foot cast, 3 weeks after my surgery, I've scheduled myself to volunteer full-time for 7 days in a row! Most of it is with the book fair. I'll do the cashier work since I won't be allowed to walk much, if at all, on my foot. Then I'll work at the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol course so that I can get 17 hours of continuing education for free. Since I've taken the course, it's a refresher for me. Debra Beckman owns the clinic where I take my daughter for feeding therapy and she suggested I do this. With that and finishing up my work to be certified in Handwriting Without Tears, I have all but 1 of the non-mandatory courses to renew my OT license. The rest will be EASY. And cheap. Yay me.

In more other news, Thing 2 was jumped by the labrador's next door, in our yard. Drunk neighbor just doesn't get it that her dogs need real training to not jump on people, let alone little kids. The first time Thing 2 was jumped she only weighed 23#. Now both my babies are petrified about going outside their own home without at least a hand being held! It's just not fair. And Thing 2 has a 6" scratch down her bottom that bruised, bled and swelled! It's getting better now, but I did warn the drunk that next time I'm calling animal control. Fortunately, there's a sale pending on her otherwise foreclosing house, so we'll be rid of them soon enough. She talked about buying somewhere else in the subdivision, but I highly doubt she can afford it or get a loan. Hopefully.

Did you know you can give Coca Cola points to your favorite school for supplies such as art, PE and library books? Check it out at mycokerewards.com.

We got the most wonderful news last night!

Gutburner's brother's partner and his mother are in Vietnam adopting their second child. They took custody of him nearly a day early! Vietnam has this beautiful ceremony, although quick, for handing over babies from orphanages to their adoptive parents called a giving and receiving ceremony. No eye is dry in the place except maybe some unsuspecting children! Although spread thin, the orphanage nannies are very loving and their hearts do break as they hand off the children.

So T&E's new son is 9 months old and already a size 12 months--absolutely humongous by Vietnamese standards! Just to compare, they recieved their daughter, also from Vietnam, at the same age and she still wore a 3-6 month size, weighing something like 13#. She's currently the size of an average American 5 year old at nearly 8. She is perfect, and smart and healthy and beautiful however!

So, E should have gotten back to their hotel about 2 1/2 hours ago. There are many of us at the computers drumming our fingernails waiting for promised pictures!

The 90's are gone! The 90's are gone!

No more 90F+ weather in the 10 day forecast which might as well be through the end of the month. That means probably until May, except for the occasional heat blast which might last 2 days! My time of the year has started--the reason I moved to Florida--which is most of the year.

I still need to get the air conditioning fixed on the van though. It works--just takes 20 minutes to start feeling cold. And most of my trips are only 10....

Well, I did it

scheduled foot surgery. You know its bad when 5 days of prednisone does nothing to reduce the swelling. It's not that I'm not functional, I am, but its getting hard to wear shoes that aren't sneakers. I was surprised to hear that I'll have to have physical therapy and through home health no less. He's removing 2 Morton's neuromas, scar tissue, inflammed tissue and cutting the tendon that causes plantar fascitis to stop the bone spurs. I guess its that last one that calls for the need of therapy. Its such a crazy year that I'll probably go over the out of pocket limit on my health insurance, so now's definitely the time. Too bad I don't know what else will need doing soon, LOL!

Kids are back in school today. Gutburner was a dufus on Friday and took the boy to Cub Scouts even though he didn't go to school. I was asleep and didn't realize he was taking him. Another parent chewed him out about it and now she's blaming me that her kid has strep and tonsillitis--and guess who definitely doesn't have those things? She'll never believe me. Too bad. I've long since given up on winning her high and mighty approval.

Sister's so relieved--she (her baby) qualifies for Medicaid only for maternity services until her 6 week post-partum appointment! Her insurance didn't have maternity so she's so relieved. I can't wait to see her with a bump! Now she has no excuses left not to come down here for Christmas! I guess I now have something good to say about Indiana.

I have to cheer for my sister again! When she called to talk to our aunt about her pregnancy, my aunt used it as a reason to get on her soap box about voting Democrat. My sister was able to blast her arguements and threatened to hang up on her if she continued to bring down her news by talking about politics. Good for her!!!

I did something somewhat stupid on Saturday. I pulled weeds in the lawn without gloves when it was over 90F. After an hour and a half, Gutburner ordered me inside for watering. I'm now sporting some nasty broken blisters on my fingers. I suppose I'll have to find some vinyl (allergic to latex) gloves to do the dishes because soap sure does burn. I have too many pots & pans that aren't dishwasher safe, or just too honkin' big.

I have to LOL at Thing 1. He's really working hard to earn money. Now all of my toilets are marginally clean, his room is clean and he even makes his bed sometimes! The power of money for video games will never cease to amaze me. Just so you know he hasn't suddenly turned into the perfect child, it was like pulling teeth to get him to do his homework last night. He had procrastinated that since Thursday.

I suppose I should upload my camera soon......

Stacey

Love and best wishes to the kids!

I did it again!

Got to my next doctor's appointment, that is. And was so happy to hear that they might be able to fix the vertigo that's been plagueing me for 2 1/2 weeks! SO I went back an hour later to see the audiologist who hooked me up to some space goggles and told me to follow the light. They test your level of dizziness by watching your post-rotary nystagmus. That is, how your eyes shake when you're dizzy. So after following the light left and right and up and down came the fun part--lying backwards and to the left and to the right. Left is obviously the big problem. Then came the wierd part--did you know that air blown into your ear for extended periods of time could make you dizzy? Well it most certainly does. Cold is far worse than hot.

Soon after lunch I get a call to pick up Thing 1 from school with a sore throat. He's acting fine now. But now he can't go to his karate thing. Right now he and I are excited about the new Leapfrog toy, Didj. You can plug in your spelling list for the week and it will make games with them. Maybe we'll get one for his spelling tests because he's having a hard time with them. And I'm having far too little patience for 3rd grade spelling.

Done for now, tis taking far too long to type this in.

I finally made it

to a doctor's appointment, that is! It seems I've been having a problem in that area lately. Probably because I see too much of them. Yesterday it was the pulmonologist. That one's been scheduled for months. However, the ones I recently scheduled last week and even re-scheduled for this week were 1) canceled due to illness, 2) missed because I slept right through it after going back to bed on same ill day, 3) canceled due to being up north due to the funeral and 4) forgotten because Outlook didn't remind me until 5 minutes before it was scheduled--and I was still in bed. The last one--rescheduled--is in an hour. Think I'll make it?

So the pulmonologist, after seeing that I had wonderful PFT's (9 years of playing a wind instrument will do that to you, even if you're near death with wheezing), took my word for it that I've needed the inhaler up to 4 times in a day, said that wasn't cutting it and gave me Prednisone. Please send prayers or vibes for "boobs don't grow" like DFIL's did post-transplant.

Thing 1 is doing cruddy in spelling. Teacher added that bit of info (which I already knew since his school has a great online grading system) to a thank-you note for some pencil grips I sent in. So my mom quizzed him last night, probably will again tonight and I think he'll ace tomorrow's test. He has some kind of karate demonstration thing for the city tonight at an event where the city shows off its services. He's worried he'll hurt his foot trying to break a board.

Thing 2 has a busy schedule of speech therapy and dance class after school. That's what Thursday's like. Hopefully that will go better than 2 weeks ago where she rebelled over everything.

Its Raining Uncles

Yep, that means I've lost a few uncles this past year. I just got back from the last funeral--the 3rd. Hopefully that means the superstitions are right and its the end of that for a while. Each was a blessing due to long illness.

I don't think I know of anyone else in the family who is that sick. Hopefully it's not just because I can't think.

Gutburner stayed home with the kids. They all survived. We'll call "him" "Gutburner" due to his love of all things spicy. I apologize to his stomach on frequent occasions.

It was good to see many members of my family I hadn't seen in a few years. I only managed to offend one of them--unless no one else mentioned it to me. It had to do with Indiana probably being second only to North Carolina in the number of smokers per capita and the fact that I didn't have asthma the last time she saw me. Apparently pulling out my inhaler when its needed jabs the knife in too far. That and my habit for being recklessly blunt. That's what you'll find here. So I apologized knowing that anything I do certainly won't change her.

Oh! My sister's pregnant! We're still wondering if that will change her status as single seeing as she's been with the guy for over 14 years--I don't have to count since its only 2 weeks after my wedding that she started dating him. Or if she can convince him to change his unfortunate last name for the sake of their child's social health. I'm sure there's lots she's hiding in regards to both of those things. On the plus side, her SO did come to dinner with us! Yes, this is right up there with miraculous considering the first time we met him, he whispered all the answers to any questions we asked of him into her ear for her to speak! No, that's not an exaggeration in the slightest, believe it or not! Unfortunately the gorgeous dress she bought a few years ago for the wedding doesn't fit anymore. Don't you just want to shoot her in this picture? Skinny bitch.

I guess karma is biting her there. Really, I'm not bitter! I'm just glad she's finally having one of those kids she has wanted badly since we were calling her Chubawubz when she was 8 months old. Doesn't matter where the sperm comes from. Even if her new last name will suggest that nickname if she ever marries him.

Introduction

I've got a somewhat interesting family. Maybe you'll agree, maybe not--in which case, why the heck are you here?

I've lost my brainpower due to a couple of kids, too many hours on the kind of thing you turned on to read this and fibromyalgia--not in that order and who knows to what degree each added to it.

Thing 1 is a cute kid with personality. He gets that from his dad which means ADHD and the resulting idiosynchrocies. I've come to find that it comes with the name. Didn't know we were cursing the poor kid until it was too late.

Thing 2 is also a cute kid with another personality. She thinks everything is a jungle gym, that her left thumb belongs in her mouth and that she's never found a food that wasn't worthy of refluxing. Apparently that comes from me. Didn't know I was cursing her until too late.

So I'm new to this. Obviously. Don't know if I'll ever post pictures. Don't know if I'll ever even post again. We'll see. Stay tuned if you feel like it!