2013 Day Twenty-Two

It's been a weird day around here.  I was basically up all night again.  Stud had to start work at 5:30 am, so I basically stayed awake all night because I was afraid he wouldn't get up at 4:30, like he needed to.  Right around 5:15, when he was leaving, Magnum got up, so I didn't go to sleep right away.  I ended up putzing around, watching my favorite morning news show (WGN - too funny!)  I finally fell asleep around 11, only to have the phone wake me up at about 11:30.  Oy!

I watched some mindless TV for a little bit, in between doing a few little things around here, but I was just dragging.  I made the mistake of thinking I'd be able to watch a movie around 4 o'clock.  Yeah....I got about 10 minutes in, and I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I went and started dinner, low and slow, on the stove, and gave in to the nap.  Unfortunately, it didn't make me feel any better.  I woke up about an hour later, feeling groggy and disoriented. 

Magnum came home sick today (he's been fighting something since Monday, actually) so he went straight to bed, not even having dinner.  After Stud ate, and I cleaned up, I basically did the same thing.  I'm lying in bed right now, hoping I'll be able to go right to sleep, but I don't think that's going to happen.  Right around 9:30, I migraine started kicking in, and it's a doozy.  I'm hoping to pass out before it becomes unbearable.  Wish me luck!!

Ok, I know I keep disappearing...

...but I swear, I have good reason.

I've been sick.

Sick sick.

As in 5+ days of fever (over 104 for nearly 2 of those days).

As in throat so swollen (and painful!!) it was difficult to breath.

As in I haven't eaten since last Tuesday.

I tried a shake around Day 2, but it made me WAY too phlemmy.  Day 3 I tried about 1/4 cup of broth, and then violently threw up (and managed to pee my pants in the process.  You're welcome.)  I was so desperate (and HUNGRY) by Day 4, I actually tried eating a container of baby food I bought for Monkey.  It was too gritty (pureed mango), so I gave up.  Day 5, Magnum begged for me to pick something for him to get me, so I asked for popsicles.  Tolerable, but not enough to make me not hungry.  Magnum forced me to eat a scrambled egg this morning.  It was hard to get down my swollen gullet, and I needed LOTS of water to chase eat bite, but I did it like a big girl.  A couple hours ago, Stud made a trip to the store for me to get some rice pudding (and chocolate/vanilla pudding and jello).  I only had a couple spoonfuls, because I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to come back up.  So far, so good.  Although, my tummy is making some ugly noises, and I'm a little afraid it'll be coming out the other end in an ugly way soon.  (again, you're welcome)  Oh, and did I mention that somewhere in the middle of all this, I got my period.  (how many times am I gonna gross you out are you gonna thank me for the info?!)  That could be part of the reason I've had a migraine since Tuesday night.  Or not.  Who knows.

But, on the upside, I've lost 14 pounds since Tuesday, so there ya go.

Magnum put in a call to a doctor friend a few days ago and got me a Z-pack, which has been a miracle.  Before that, I was taking his prescription-strength ibuprofen, but it wasn't doing much, obviously.  I should not have had a fever for FIVE days, nor should it have been over 104 for so long.  My brain is damaged enough, people!  Plus, like I said, a 5+ day migraine is never cool.  I have 2 days left of the Z-pack, and then I think I'll be back to my old self.

In the meantime, try not to do too much without me.  It's taken me hours to catch up with everyone today.  It's a good thing I'm literally too weak to get out of bed right now, or I'd close this netbook, and go do something.  You know, like dishes or laundry.  On second thought, feel free to post away!

Just a little longer...

...til I flaunt the details of my vacation. I've decided to first catch up on what I missed the past two weeks in my Bloggy Buddies lives. I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn (about 4am), and I'm not really feeling so hot. At the risk of over-sharing, I think my bowels have decides they need to immediately evacuate the two weeks of decadent food I've been shoveling in my gullet! So, I'm going to curl up and read for a while, and hopefully I'll be back to share some trip stuff later.

By the way, Mother Nature decided to welcome me back with open arms. It's currently about 55 here right now. Woo hoo! I LOVE it!

The spinning is coming to a halt...

Just got home from my parents' house. Mom is doing MUCH better today. She actually made the appointment with her regular doctor for a follow-up. In the meantime, he prescribed some kind of medication (which of course, she couldn't remember the name of!) for the dizziness, and wants her to take it everyday for a week, then stop the next week, and see if it makes any difference. He said that she can then take it as needed.

Did I ever tell you about my parent's GP? Actually, he's also my mother & father-in-law's doctor, and my friend's parents also go to him. EVERYONE loves him. Well, Joe, their doctor, actually went to high school with me!!! How hilarious is that?! My parents were the last of this group to start seeing him. When I told my mom we went to high school together, she says, "Well, we can't go to this kid!" Um...yeah...mom? I'm OLD!! Trust me, he's a full-fledged doctor!!

She got over it pretty quickly. He's a VERY successful physician, and I'm really happy for him. He actually runs the rehab facility that my father-in-law is in right now. He's a big-wig in the Adult Medicine dept at the hospital. In a nutshell, he's done pretty damn well for himself!

Another one of my friends from high school became a neurosurgeon. Way to make me feel like a loser, guys!! The three of us had almost every class together for 4 years. I'm a disgrace to my fellow nerds. :(

This nerd is so ready for bed. CSJ has to work all night, so I'm going to curl up with a good book, and enjoy having my bed all to myself tonight. (Is that bad?)

Can I go to bed now?

I'll keep it short. Mom is home, after spending the night in the hospital. They did the MRI around 11, got the results around 5, everything looks great. So, that's a HUGE plus. However, the only diagnosis they could give her was vertigo. She's supposed to follow up with her regular doctor this week.

I only slept about an hour since Saturday night, so I'm off to bed. THANK YOU so much to all of you who sent well-wishes and prayers to my mom. The power of prayer never ceases to amaze me. Neither do my Bloggy Buddies.

It's 2:10 am...

...and I'm just getting home from the emergency room. I tell ya, there's never a dull moment around here.

I didn't mention in the last post that my mother wasn't feeling well when she left. When I said that my last guests just left, I was referring to my mom, sister and brother's girlfriend (SIL).

For a few months now, my mom's been experiencing these dizzy spells. Sometimes it's as quick as a head rush, sometimes it's a few seconds longer, but it always passes. At her last visit with her oncologist, she mentioned it to him. He wasn't too happy to hear about it, and immediately gave her orders for a CT scan of the brain. He had just finished telling her that even though she had passed the 5-year mark that usually indicated full remission, the type of tumor she had was a slow-growing tumor, and doesn't usually show itself again for 7 years. So, technically, she isn't in remission yet. Naturally, he was worried that perhaps the cancer had spread to the brain.

Ok, well, the scan came back clean, so no worries. But, my mom kept having these moments of dizziness. She mentioned that a while back, while cleaning her ears, she went in too far with her Q-tip (WTF?!) and hurt herself. There was some bleeding involved. So, she thought maybe that's what was causing this dizziness, or maybe some kind of inner-ear infection. Yet, she never made an appointment to see her GP and have it checked out.

Now, fast forward to today. When the party was winding down, my mom, sister and SIL went out to sit on my deck. I came out a little while later to join them. Apparently, my mother was feeling dizzy but never said anything. SIL made her some coffee, and we sat around chatting. When she said she was ready to go, she finally mentioned that she was feeling dizzy. But now, she was feeling REALLY dizzy. We thought maybe she was a bit dehydrated, between the margaritas and the coffee. I got her a bottle of water, and she took a few sips, but she said it wasn't helping. Every time she tried to stand, she had to immediately sit back down because she was so dizzy. She was also feeling nauseous at this point. We decided that I would just drive her home in her car, and CSJ agreed to follow us in his car, and drive me back home. My sister was pushing her to guzzle the water, since we were sure she needed the hydration.

I went out front to get my mother's car and pull it in my driveway so she wouldn't have to walk far, and CSJ left for my parents' house. When I walked back into my yard, I see my mother slumped over a bucket (actually, it was a big plastic party bucket, the kind you put drinks in). She had been puking her guts out. Well, we all know how I feel about puke! I went in to get her some ginger ale, while my sister and SIL tended to my mother. I guess she tried to stand up again, and almost fell. My sister put the puke bin in my trash can and we tried to get her in the car, but no such luck. She immediately started to heave. Thankfully, my sister got the bucket back in time!

A few minutes later, she thought she was ready to try getting to the car again. My sister and SIL each walked on either side of her, basically carrying her along. She got about 10 feet down the driveway, and had to stop. She then started projectile vomiting all over the side of my house. I ran to get her a chair, and she just sat and puked for a few more minutes. We went in and got her cool rags for her forehead and face, and an ice pack to put on the back of her neck. SIL swears it always helps her when she's pukey.

By now, about 25 minutes have passed, and I realize CSJ is sitting at my parents' house. I call him and tell him what's going on, and suggest he just bring my dad back to my house. I figured by the time they got there, we could get my mom in the car, and my dad could just drive home.

My mother was still sitting in the chair when the boys arrived. It was very slow going getting her in the car. Every time she moved, she felt like she wanted to puke. Every time she tried to stand up, she was overcome with dizziness. We finally got her in the car, but then my dad had to wait for a while for her to settle in before he could drive. I gave her a good, sturdy bag to puke in, if needed, and they finally were on their way. My dad told her that if she threw up any more, he was taking her to the hospital instead of home. While they were waiting around to leave, my brother called my dad, and said he was at my parents' house, so my dad told him to just go in, they were on their way. My sister and SIL were both going to head there, also. My SIL stopped on the way to get Pedialyte and Smartwater.

They all left, I came in, cleaned up a little, and called there about a half hour after they left to check on my mom. My sister said she seemed better, but she was still dizzy. I told her to call me if things changed. I went downstairs to finish cleaning up, but realized I was just too tired. I came back up, put on my jammies and got in bed. I then wrote that last post.

I watched some TV, and just as I was settling in for sleep, my SIL called. "Ok, so there's an ambulance here, they're taking your mom to Christ [that's our local hospital]. She had a really bad attack, and she's been puking her guts out for about a half hour." I tell her I'll meet them there, tear off my pajamas, throw on the first two things I find in my bedroom, and run out the door.

Wow, this is quite the saga, isn't it? Let me jump ahead a bit. They gave her an IV with saline to hydrate her, and something for her nausea. The first doctor that came in (intern?) took the whole history, did and exam, and basically said that given her history of cancer and her age, etc., she would like to do an MRI of the brain because even though the CT scan came back clean, there could be some abnormalities not picked up by the CT, but the MRI would see it. But, they don't do those in the ER, so she'd have to be admitted overnight, and have it done in the morning. Mom didn't like that a whole lot. The intern said she was going to discuss it with her supervising doctor, and the supervising doctor would be in soon.

Well, the supervising doctor completely agreed. They gave her some Valium in her IV, because he said that if it WAS an inner-ear thing, the Valium would help with that. (The intern had mentioned that she did see a scab in my mom's ear from the Q-tip incident, but that it wasn't far enough in the canal to have really caused a problem) If it isn't, it would still calm her down enough to maybe sleep. They also gave her more anti-nausea medication. They got her into a room in the CDU about an hour later, and that's where she is right now. I drove my daddy home, and here I am. I'm exhausted, yet I can't sleep. Holy crap, I just looked at the time! It's now 2:49! I've been sitting her typing for 40 minutes?!?! How could that be?

I have a killer migraine coming on, so I took a couple Advil before I started typing. Maybe they'll kick in enough for me to lie down now. I will, naturally, update tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to send some good juju our way.

I guess I called that one...

After signing off last night, I managed to stay awake and watch "What Would You Do?" which we watch every Friday, right after Shark Tank. I was mostly waiting for my boys to come home (I had left them at the in-laws to have dinner. I was just too wiped out, so I went home.) and I was watching from my bed (sadly, my FAVORITE place to watch TV). Well, I don't remember anything after John Quinones signed off. I woke up briefly when CSJ got up for work (4:15ish) and went to the bathroom, but then fell right back asleep. I only woke up again because I had to pee something fierce (sorry, TMI, I know) and it was 8:30! I almost hit that 12 hour mark I predicted, huh?

Well, my body obviously needed it. Truthfully, I think if I let myself lie down right now, I just may doze off again. My head feels like it's stuffed with cotton, my throat feels like I swallowed glass, and it's gray and rainy outside. PERFECT sleeping weather. I have my bedroom window cracked a bit to let in the cool breeze, and the pitter-patter of the rain against my window is like a favorite lullaby. And I'm about to give into its powers of persuasion....

May 11, 2012

Friday, May 11, 2012
What sport do you wish you could try?

Thursday, May 10, 2012
Did you have a favourite sports player as a child?

The prompts above are the reason I probably won't be doing the "official" NaBloPoMo for May. I guess technically, you only need to post everyday to complete the challenge. The prompts are merely suggestions. So far, I'm NOT digging them.

So, instead of answering the prompt, I'll just ramble on for a minute. I'm SO happy the weekend is here. I'm exhausted. The only reason I'm sitting here typing is because I can't let myself go to bed at 7:30. I'd wake up at 3 am, then be screwed for the rest of the weekend. But, trust me, I could fall asleep right at this keyboard. Part of me thinks that if I DID let myself go to sleep, it's entirely possible that I would sleep until 7 am.

I had a LONG afternoon with my in-laws today. I actually had a long one on Wednesday, too. My sister-in-law and I, along with my mother-in-law, took my father-in-law to the doctor. Well, the whole afternoon was just a three-ring circus of crazy. Besides the couple of hours at the doctor's office, we then went to four different pharmacies looking for a knee brace. Finally, my MIL lost it, and said "Enough is enough!" She was irritated with my FIL for making us drive all over creation.

Well, today, he had his follow-up visit. Stud and I took them today. It was a long visit, followed by trips to two different labs that were closed, finally landing at the lab at our nearest hospital (where Stud and I BOTH visited the ER in the last month) so my FIL could get a blood test. After that, I dropped them off and went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for him.

Now all of that might not sound TOO exhausting, but add into that the fact that every freakin' leg of this journey involved 10 minutes to get him out of the car, 10 minutes to get him back in, all while maneuvering a walker AND a wheelchair, which then had to be folded up and dragged in and out of my car. Ugh. Thank God Stud was with me to push him and his chair. That meant I could drop him and his grandparents off at the main entrance of the hospital, while I parked about 6 blocks away and walked back. Then, after the blood draw, I got to walk the six blocks back to the car so I could pick them up at the door. Ok, I'm starting to see why I'm so tired...

On top of that, I'm coming down with something. My throat started hurting last night, and I woke up out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night because it was hurting so bad. My head is starting to be a little stuffy, which means I'm in for a weekend of fun. It just may be one of those stay-in-bed-and-watch-movies-and-read-all-weekend kind of weekends.

Well, it took me so long to type this, while I watched Shark Tank in between, that it's now 8 pm. I think I can let myself go to bed now! Good night!

Narcotics

I'm starting to have a new appreciation for them. I've written, ad nauseam, about my feelings on the subject, so I won't go there again.

However, I've taken more drugs in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life. Literally. I've tried to go without, and skip doses when I can, but ultimately, I've found myself having to fall back on my Norco. Yesterday, I was feeling pretty darn good when I woke up. I actually went to Sam's Club for some groceries and some things my mother needed for dinner, as we were all getting together to celebrate my daddy's birthday. I was doing fine. Right up until dinner was over...

The pain started kicking in right around dessert time. I was hoping it would just hold steady, but naturally, it didn't. It went from 0-60 in about 15 minutes. Sadly, I had to leave the party. CSJ had some Vicodin with him, that he takes for his arthritis, but I knew I had let myself go WAY past the point of no return. I took it before we left, but my parents only live about 2 minutes from me, so I was still in significant pain when I got home. All I could do was go to my room, put my pajamas on and sob. It took a good hour and half for the meds to kick in, and I was just praying I could fall asleep. Not so much.



Sometimes I think my body has the opposite reaction to things. For example, I can drink 2 espressos at my parents' house, then go home and go right to sleep. Another example would be that Vicodin normally knocks people out, but I think it woke me up. I could not fall asleep for the life of me. I was up until almost 2am. That would be fine except I was supposed to go back to work today. Guess who added to her already two-week-long break? I have GOT to go tomorrow, no matter what.

Maybe part of why I couldn't fall asleep was the fact that I couldn't decide what the hell to do about today. I knew there was no way I could work in that kind of pain, but I also knew I couldn't work with the mind-numbing nausea the Norco gives me. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of situation. Plus, Norco is a narcotic, which means I probably shouldn't be doing a whole lot of driving, right?

I'm thinking maybe part of the reason the pain came back so strongly yesterday is that yesterday was the first day I wore a bra for a whole day since my rash first started. I think I mentioned that the rash is directly under my bra line. Of course it is!! So I've been letting the girls swing in the breeze for a couple of weeks now. Well, it's actually more bounce off my knees than swing in the breeze. (Sorry, boys!) I'm just praying that the bra isn't a problem tomorrow at work. I obviously can NOT go without one, so say a prayer or something for me, will ya?

Believe it or not, I did not take even ONE picture yesterday. I had about 3 weeks of missed time with Monkey to make up for, so I was far too busy lovin' her up to take pictures.

Kids

These are my four favorite :)Sorry, that's all I got. Not feeling so hot tonight.

What a day!!

I'm just getting home from a LONG day. I'm so tired, I could cry. I have a killer migraine coming, partly because the only thing I've put in my mouth today was a piece of gum. The other part is that I woke up with my period. (Sorry, boys!)

Let me give you the highlights-

When I was about a block away from school at the end of the day, I got a call from Stud's school. It was the secretary from the Dean's Office. Naturally, my first thought was, "What the HELL did he do NOW!?" She tells me, "I'm just calling to tell you Stud is having some issues with stomach pains, and he's in the library. Are you on your way to pick him up?" I tell her I am, and she says, "Ok, then just come to the front and we'll buzz you in." Hmmm, that's weird, I thought. So now I'm driving a little more aggressively, as I'm trying to hurry. I called my sister to chat, like I do most days on my way home. I tell her about the call, and we keep talking. About 10 minutes after the first call, I get a second call from school. "This is Mrs. L. again. I just wanted to call you back so you weren't alarmed when you got here. We've called an ambulance for Stud." WTF?!?!?! I click back over to my sister, tell her what's going on, and she says she's leaving right now and she'll meet me there. Now, I'm kinda freaking out. While I'm driving like a lunatic, I make the executive decision to call CSJ.

It seemed that every single street I turned down was the wrong street. Construction here, traffic jam there, argh! I was losing it!! Then, I called my sister when I was about 5 or 6 blocks away to see if she was there yet. She said that she had just pulled up, but watched them load Stud into the ambulance and leave. She didn't know where they were going, because they seemed to be going the wrong way. As we were talking, I got close enough to the school to see the flashing lights of the ambulance, and they were, indeed, going the 'wrong' way. They were heading south, when the closest hospital was north, and only about a mile away.

My sister took off after the ambulance, while I tried to call the office. Because it was after hours, no one answered. I decided I'd better stop at the school first and find out where the hell they were going. I screeched into a spot in front of the entrance, threw my door open and ran to the building. I saw one of the deans waiting at the door for me. He told me that the two hospitals that were close were both on by-pass, and so they had to take Stud to a different hospital further away. I jumped back into my car, which I had left running with the door open, and took off down the street. I called my sister to let her know where they were going, which was a good because she had lost them at that point. I called CSJ back and updated him. At this point, I was in the full-on ugly cry. I couldn't believe I had missed them by a matter of less than a minute, and I kept thinking about my baby being alone in the back of an ambulance, probably scared to death.

Wow, this is WAY longer than I had intended, and I'm exhausted, so I'm going to wrap it up. First, let me tell you that he's fine. The doctor said it was probably just a virus. I guess what happened was, as he was sitting in the library after school, working on a paper, he got a pain in his hip. He said he felt like he needed to lie down, so he did, right there on the library floor. This prompted the librarian to yell at him to get up. But, as he started to try and get up, he felt his stomach start flip-flopping, so he yelled for a friend to bring him the garbage, and he proceeded to vomit several times. By then, the dean had arrived. He tried to help Stud get up, and then Stud said he told him he needed to use the bathroom. He was sweating profusely, and had the chills. He made it to the bathroom just in time to have massive, explosive diarrhea.

Apparently, when he started vomiting, the school decided to call 911. He said the paramedics arrived while he was in the bathroom, and they took him from there. At the hospital, they drew some blood (another post all by itself!!) and took a urine sample. Like I said, the doc said he thought it was just a virus, but wanted to wait for the lab work. In the meantime, they gave him some IV fluids, and some medication through the IV for pain, and the nausea. A little while later, the nurse came back for more blood (Oh, holy mother of God, yet ANOTHER post!!) and we waited some more. The doctor finally came back after about another hour and said everything came back normal, and that it was a stomach virus. He sent him home with 3 prescriptions (2 for pain/cramps, 1 for nausea/vomiting).

The nurse that came to discharge him removed the IV, and put a bandage on his hand. Well, for some reason, when he started to put his coat on, the bandage popped, and blood started spurting. I really thought I was going to have to catch him when he passed out. Instead, he managed to throw himself over the edge of the bed, while she fixed him up. That was the icing on the cake. I may have mentioned before that I DON'T DO BLOOD. Apparently, my crappy-ass attitude has rubbed off on my son. He doesn't do blood OR needles. Maybe I'll bore you with the details tomorrow.

We had plans for tonight to attend a special event for one of Stud's besties. His friend, George, was being baptized tonight at his new church, and had invited us to come about a month ago. For the past few days, we've been talking about tonight, and we made plans to pick up Bro from school, as he was invited, too. Oh, I forgot to mention Bro!

In the windup, he rode along in the ambulance with Stud, so he wasn't alone after all. I love that man!!! I told you a little about him here after the Mother/Son Dance. (George is also in that post. He's the one we snuck in to the dance!) Anyway, he stayed with us at the hospital for quite a while. Eventually, my sister decided she was going to go since CSJ was there with me, and so she took Bro home. I felt terrible that he had been there so long, and even worse that now, he didn't have a ride to the baptism. (Bro doesn't drive for medical reasons.) He said he was going to just walk there (the church is about 4-5 blocks from the boys' school, which is where Bro lives.) but the temperatures were going to be really frigid tonight. I felt awful.

I assumed we weren't going to make it to the baptism, given the circumstances, and I had texted George several times from the hospital to keep him in the loop, but the last few texts said we probably weren't going to make it. He kept saying not to worry about it, and to let him know how Stud was doing, etc. Well, somehow, we made really good time on the drive home, and lo and behold, we happen to approach the church only a few minutes after the event was to start. Stud absolutely INSISTED that we turn into the lot and go to the baptism. I kept telling him that George understood, but he said this was VERY important to George and he wanted to be there. So, we went!

We left the church around 9, but then had to drop off his prescriptions. I also had to get gas, as I didn't want to do it tomorrow. Our temperatures are supposed to drop to below zero tomorrow. By the time I went back to Walgreen's, and got home, it was nearly 10pm. Thank GOD Buster didn't decide to punish us by using my kitchen as a toilet. The poor baby hadn't been out since 7 this morning!

Oh my holy hell, it's now a quarter to 11!! I HAVE to go to bed. I still don't know whether Stud is going to school tomorrow or not. They didn't say he couldn't, and he's insisting he wants to go because he's working on some art project he REALLY wants to finish. (Yeah, how shocking that it isn't an English paper he REALLY want to write!) I'm afraid he may have a repeat of the vomiting, or, God forbid, the explosive diarrhea. I guess we'll have to wait and play it by ear in the morning. In the meantime, I'm going to go check on my baby, and then put my exhausted self to bed. I'm really feeling the effects of the adrenaline crash!

Day 21

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Do you have a special, non-traditional cure for colds or some other illness? Share it with us.

This prompt made me laugh out loud, given all the whining I've been doing lately about being sick. Obviously, my non-traditional cure is to bitch and moan on my blog, and then not do anything else!!

In all seriousness, I've NEVER been a proponent of the "better living through chemicals/pharmaceuticals" school of thought. It's VERY rare that I take any kind of medication. I've mentioned before that I endured a horrific and long labor, and then birth, without the aide of any drugs. I've had root canals without drugs. I've suffered with migraines nearly my entire life, yet I only deal with them by closing myself in a dark room and/or sleeping. I think you get the picture. I guess my non-traditional cure is to let nature take its course. So far, it's kept me alive for over 4 decades! ;-)

Day 17

Friday, December 17, 2010
Describe yourself using ten words that start with the letter P.

These are going to be in no particular order, other than how they pop into my head:
1. plump
2. pleasant
3. proud (mother)
4. penguin-lover
5. people-pleaser
6. parent
7. patient
8. passionate
9. playful
10. pack rat

Sheesh, that was a little harder than I thought it would be. Let's see if I can think of 10 things I'm NOT...

1. pushy
2. phony
3. perfect
4. pregnant
5. pianist
6. pampered
7. peculiar
8. pesty
9. petty
10. pompous

Ok, how 'bout 10 things I wish I were:

1. physically fit
2. powerful
3. pregnant
4. partner
5. published
6. protected
7. performer
8. photogenic
9. PhD
10. penguin

Hmmm....maybe I should try and get some much-needed sleep, cuz based on this drivel, I'm obviously slap-happy right now. Besides the delightful congestion in my chest, which has given me the cough from hell, which has caused me to have such violent coughing fits that I've wet my pants about 3 times a day for the past few weeks (oh, no, I'm NOT kidding!) and given me what I believe is a hernia, I have been up most of the night because I can't breathe, either, now. My nose is alternating between running and being stuffed up. Good times, good times.... It's just after 5 am, and I've given up. There will be no rest for me, at least not if I plan to lie down. As I sit here in bed, I can't decide which is louder - the wheezing coming from my chest, or Buster's snoring. I'm gonna have to go with Buster on this one. Why does this Dorky Dog insist on sleeping (and snoring!) right next to me!? Jeez, no wonder I can't sleep...

Today just keeps getting better and better!

If you read my first post from this morning, you probably figured out that I was in a pretty good mood when I left for work. I know NO one else really cares, but I still tried to take some video for you this morning as I was leaving.

Yeah, I know, you can't see anything, right? Trust me, it was snowing! :) (I can't believe I'm letting the whole world see the disastrous mess that is my garage. Oy!)

I snapped a couple of pictures around the yard to show you the overnight accumulation of snow.


I even tried to take some video during my drive to work.



I was in such a good mood when I got to the Hell-Hole! The babies were pretty hilarious, too. They know how very happy the snow would make me, so when I went to pick them up, they were all clamoring to tell me it was snowing. Like, duh! Do you think I can't see that?! They're funny. I had intended to take a picture out my classroom window to show you the pretty scene I was able to enjoy, but right after lunch, the office buzzed my room.

"Mrs. L., Stud's school is on the phone." Ah, crap!! NOW what did he do!?! Turns out it was the school nurse. She said Stud was in her office "complaining of stomach discomfort and vomiting, as well as a pain in his right, upper chest. He does not have a fever." She then said that Stud told her I probably wouldn't be able to leave and that she could call his grandma. I immediately told her, "Oh, no, that's ok. I'll be there as soon as I can!" Isn't it awful that my first thought was, "Woo hoo! I get to leave!!"

I did some scrambling and got someone to cover my class. There really wasn't too much for the sub to do this afternoon. The class has computers at the end of the day, so he really only had to keep them occupied for about an hour. I set them up with a game I just made them (to work on place value) so hopefully they played it without too much trouble. I made sure I set up the TV as a backup plan.

I couldn't resist taking a little more video right before I pulled into the parking lot of Stud's school.

This was the accumulation on the ground outside the doors of Stud's school.
When I got home, I decided to take a couple of "after" shots of the spots I shot this morning. Not a huge difference, but definitely more 'snow.'

Right now, it's about 6 hours later than the first post I did this morning, and it's only 1 degree warmer. It's currently 23. It's supposed to be really cold the next couple of days, so maybe I should look for my coat, huh? I really didn't need it yet today, since I wore a long-sleeved shirt.

Well, even after checking emails, reading all my favorite blogs and writing this drivel, I still have 2 'found' hours this afternoon, so I think I'll finish my Christmas cards, and get them in the mail today. I'm WAY behind on that because of whatever this 'thing' is I've been fighting. Even though I ordered my cards early enough, I could drag myself to pick them up until yesterday. Normally, I start addressing them (all 125!) a few days before Thanksgiving, so I can mail them on Wednesday, and everyone gets them on Friday. It's kind of a running joke now with my friends and family, that mine is always the first card they receive. I've already had a handful of people call me this week to see if I was ok, because Thanksgiving was almost a week ago, and they hadn't received my card yet. Aren't they sweet?

One last thing - I suppose I'm going to attempt NaBloPoMo for December. I mean, hell, I've already got 2 posts under my belt today alone! :) But, maybe this month I'll actually do it right, and use their daily writing prompts. Then again, it's much more fun to make you read the stupid crap I decide to write about on my own. tee hee!

How ridiculous is it...

...that I've been fighting the urge to go to sleep for about 2 hours now? I forced myself to run a couple of errands right after work, including going to the majorly crowded grocery store. That really did me in. All I wanted to do when I got home was go straight to bed. But, first, I had to make the things I'm bringing to my parents' for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Then, I had to clean up the kitchen, and unload, then reload, the dishwasher. I also had to wash a sink full of dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher.

Only THEN was I able to put my jammies on, climb into bed, check email and read all my favorite blogs. Now, here I am with yet another boring post. In about 5 minutes, I plan to be snoozing away. Yes, I DO know it's not even 8 pm. What the hell is your point?!

I really wish I could shake this damn bug already. I just can NOT get enough sleep. It was hard to make it through this short, 3-day week at school. I hope after 4 days away from the Hell-Hole, I'll finally feel rested.

I'm sick & tired of being sick & tired!

Whatever it is my body's been fighting for the past couple of weeks really got me last night. (That would explain the total BS post for last night, although it did make me smile.) I never got a break yesterday, thanks to a grade level meeting, which means I never ate lunch. I didn't have breakfast, either, because I was running really late, because I had to take Stud to school, which really threw off my whole morning. Because I was running late, I didn't have time to stop for coffee. The lack of caffeine did nothing to help my lack of energy. :(

I had to run a couple of errands right after school. But, I was so hungry, I didn't even get to finish them, as I started to get the shakes. I ended up calling Bestest Friend, who then met Stud and me at our favorite restaurant. We scarfed down anything that wasn't nailed down at our table, and then I raced home because a) I was exhausted and b) I had to make sure I was home in time for the Dancing with the Stars finale.

Well, I made it home by 6, which meant I had plenty of time to put my jammies on and get comfy in bed. Yeah....big mistake. I turned the TV on, started checking emails, posted yesterday's little story, and the last time I remember checking the clock, it was 6:45. That's all I remember. I think I passed out. I didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning!! Oh, I was so pissed!

I actually just finished watching DWTS online, so I'm all caught up, but that's not the point. I suppose I should just be glad that I was able to actually get 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, right? Obviously, my body needed it. I still pretty much feel like crap today, though. I can NOT shake this cough, which like I said, I think is bronchitis. If I'm not better by Thanksgiving, I'll be going to see someone on Friday.

Holy cow, won't you be glad when NaBloPoMo is finally over, so you won't have to read all the boring details of my life?! Thanks, C, I know right now you're yelling at your computer that you LOVE reading this crap! hahaha! To the rest of you, I apologize.

How is it only Thursday?!

This is pretty much the message I got from the Universe yesterday! Thanks, Pissed Off, for this laugh. Why is that every time we have a Monday off, the rest of the week just drags on and on?

And, the warm, fuzzy feelings just keep going. Today was not much better than yesterday, except that there were 5 kids out, so that was a little better. But, my two little trouble makers from yesterday were both there, so I had my fair share of stress today. They ALL were a little nuts today. Even Ms. H. had it with them today. She said, due to their behavior yesterday, she was going to make them have silent lunch today. I made a point of walking all the way into the lunchroom with them, and reminded each and every one of them that it was to be a SILENT lunch period. I left them with Ms. H., as usual, and thought they understood. Well, when Ms. H. brought them back, she was beside herself. Long story short, I told them they would be having silent lunch again tomorrow, and that I will be sitting with them. So much for getting a break tomorrow....

I woke up in the middle of the night last night because I couldn't breathe. All day today, my sinuses have been doing that delightful little dance that goes, "Stuffy nose, runny nose, stuffy nose, runny nose, 1, 2, blow, blow, blow, 3, 4, breathe through your mouth..." You get the picture. So, in addition to dealing with my little darlings and their poor behavior, I was dealing with my nose issues and a head that felt like it was literally going to explode. Oh, and don't forget the friggin' 8th grader I got to babysit all damn day!!

Thank God tomorrow is Friday. I was really tempted to stick around after school and prepare a sub folder, and just take tomorrow off. I'm sure this is just the beginning of my misery with this cold, and it would probably serve me well to have a whole day to stay in bed and rest tomorrow. But, I just couldn't bear to stay long enough to put the folder together, plus it's just more a hassle than it's worth to take a day off. Besides the time it takes to prepare the folder, 95% of the time, the sub ignores the damn folder, and doesn't do anything I spell out in my lesson plans. Plus, they usually let the kids run wild and destroy my room. On top of all that, Ms. H. doesn't work on Fridays, so the sub would be alone, which spells certain disaster for my classroom. If Ms. H. was going to be there, I just may have taken a sick day. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. And, no, I'm not referring to the snot running down my face.

The Last 24 Hours

• Got a phone call from a friend letting me know that another friend (and former coworker) had fallen ill. Some sort of degenerative brain thing. It doesn't look good, they say she probably has less than 2 weeks to live.

• Drop Stud off at school at 7am. Came home, got dressed for work. As I was leaving for work, got a phone call from school, had to go pick up Stud cuz he's sick. When I got there, I was greeted by an incredibly rude school nurse. She shrieked at me that "I TOLD HIM ON FRIDAY THAT HE NEEDED TO GO SEE THE DOCTOR!"

• Arrived late for work. Play a rousing game of text tag with CSJ all day, as we tried to arrange to get Stud to the doctor's office. Finally received a text saying we had a 2:30 appointment. Too bad I work til 2:45.... Luckily New Principal agreed to let me leave at 2:00.

• Got a call from a different friend (my friend at work in the room next door, who used to work with me at my last school, too) to let me know that our friend had taken a turn for the worse this afternoon, and isn't expected to make it through the night.

I don't even know how to wrap my brain around this news. My friend, BJ, was my first kindergarten partner. We had the best gig ever. My last school was severely overcrowded when I was there, and we rented out a small 6-room school from the church down the block. Four of those rooms were used for preschool, and the other two were kdg. We were the first two kindergarten teachers to use those rooms in ages when we opened them up. It was seriously one of the best school years I can ever remember. I had the most wonderful partner, and it was glorious to be away from the main building! Our kindergartners were the Big Fish in our wonderfully small pond! There is a park about 2 blocks from this building that we used to walk the kids to for recess several times a week. There were so many other wonderful things that we were able to do together. We both started at that school at the same time, and even after I left there 5 years later, we stayed in touch.

Sadly, I hadn't seen BJ in person in a very long time. Over the past few years, we played several games of phone tag. We were lucky if we actually had a conversation more than once a year. But, we never gave up trying to stay in touch.

When I got the call last night, I was floored. The friend who called only knew limited details, and she knew I'd want to know since BJ and I were so close when we worked together. When my other friend called tonight, I was even more blown away. We know now that BJ contracted Mad Cow, but we don't know how. I'm having so much trouble wrapping my head around the fact that by tomorrow, she probably will no longer be with us.

As I called a few friends who used to work with us, I kept having the same conversation over and over. All of us feel so bad that we let life get away from us. We always SAY "we need to get together," but then life gets in the way, and it doesn't happen. BJ and I must have said that 100 times. Now, I'll never get the chance to do that, and it's just so very sad.

I think I'm still in a state of shock about the whole situation, as my emotions have not really taken a hold of me yet. However, I'm dreading that next phone call from one of my former coworkers/friends, because I know it won't be good news.

I'm having yet another Pampered Chef party in a couple of weeks, and BJ was, naturally, on my guest list. I had no idea that she was sick and in the hospital. Now, in some strange way, I'm feeling guilty about sending her the invitation. I want to go get it from her house, so her mother and sisters won't see it. In some way, I feel like it shows what a bad friend I was, that I didn't even know she was sick. One of my friends had a different take on it, though, and said it will show her family that she had friends that missed her and cared about her. I don't know what to think. This whole situation is just so surreal. I simply can NOT wrap my brain around it yet.

I'll tell you one thing, though. I will no longer feel bad for having so many parties, Pampered Chef or otherwise. I sometimes feel bad that I'm always inviting my friends to something. It makes me feel kinda like a pest at times. But now, I'm going to focus on the fact that every party is an opportunity to get together with the people I love, and every invitation they receive is a reminder of how much I love them and love to spend time with them. So, let the Drunken Kitchen Fest commence!!! (my last few PC parties turned into just drunken messes! gee, could it have anything to do with my new-found bartending skills?)

Please send thoughts and prayers for BJ to have a peaceful passing, and for her family to be comforted in this time of sorrow.

I can't end on such a sad note, so let me tell you that Stud was diagnosed with a sinus infection. The doctor prescribed a Z-pack and an antihistamine. AND, I made sure I got a note saying that he is cleared to return to school so Nurse Nasty can stick it up her.....ok, take a breath.....ooo, she was so nasty! If I wasn't already late for work, I would have gone straight to the principal to let him know about her pleasant bedside manner! My only response to her screeching was, "Oh, I wasn't aware that you saw my son on Friday." I mean, seriously, WTF? If you feel a child is sick enough to go to the doctor, perhaps you should contact a parent. Why would you tell a child to go see a doctor, and expect something to happen? Ugh! Anyway, I hope the note is enough.

OK, it's time to get the brownies out of the oven that I'm baking for New Principal. She was wonderful today when I had to ask to leave early. I thought for sure I would get a bit of an attitude, given that I came in late already. But, she couldn't have been more accommodating. I suppose that's one of the benefits of having a working mom for a boss.

A few quickies

Did you miss out on your daily dose of tears? Well, then check this out. They'll be happy tears, I promise!

One of my little darlings, JC, has a fairly severe stuttering issue. He really struggles to get out his words. Sometimes it's just painful to witness. He gets these little "hiccups" or "hics," I guess, as well as doing these gasp-like breaths. It's so hard to watch him struggle. But, then sometimes, he has a string of words just flow out of his mouth.

Anyway, while we were standing in the hall this afternoon, taking our bathroom break, he stepped out of line, came over to me and says:

JC: I had a dream about us last night! (This sentence literally took about 45 seconds to get out.)
Me: You did? What was it about?
JC: We were in the Land of Milk and Cookies! (This was accompanied by a HUGE smile!)
Me: Really? That sounds cool! What were we doing?
JC: We were exploring!

Too cute! Later, when it was gym time, I had to take the kids myself because Ms. H. didn't come today. This is the first time so far this year that I've had to make the hike up to the 4th floor. It nearly killed me! Anyway, there was still a class in the gym when we got there, and they were a bit noisy, to say the least. Of course, MY babies started to complain about the noise (hmm, where would they get THAT from?!) and some covered their ears. One of the boys, CS, says, "It's too noisy!! All this noise is making my brain bleed!" I was cracking up! I repeated what he said, only to find out I heard him wrong. He repeated what he actually said, "All this noise is making my brain beat! You know 'beat, beat, beat'!" This was accompanied by some helpful hand gestures near his head. Either way, it was funny.

OK, that's all I have the strength for tonight. I know I've been slacking, but I'm still fighting this nasty bug. Plus, I started my new grad school program over the weekend, and I'm already thinking of dropping out. :( How can I already be overwhelmed, when the class didn't officially start until yesterday?!

I dot a code in my node...

I feel worse today. I can't breathe, my head is KILLING me, and my lips are completely chapped from mouth breathing. Even my eyes hurt. I'm pretty sure I was running a fever this afternoon. I had to take Buster to the vet and it almost killed me. I was dizzy and felt like I was burning up. I came home, made some soup, and now I'm going to put my jammies on and go to bed. I just hope I can stay awake long enough to watch GLEE (my newest obsession!!)

Oh, and just for shits and giggles, I got an automated phone call about 5 minutes ago from Stud's school letting me know that there are currently 13 students with confirmed cases of H1N1. Greeeaaattt.... I bet Stud brought these nasty little germs home to me! That rat bastard!