Just Get Over It

Hello everyone!! This'll be short... I've gotta go pick up Bee from Mr. and Mrs. Music's house where she is playing with Dora and then head home to put everyone in bed, do some laundry, and clean-up the house a little before my mom comes over tomorrow. The laundry is once again an issue. I feel like a broken record.... I gotta do laundry, skip, I gotta do laundry, skip, I gotta do laundry... I'm in a slump right now and can't get out. I don't want to clean my house. I don't want to do laundry. I don't want to pack lunches. I don't want to get out of bed. I need a long winter's nap, but don't have the time to have one. I can't seem to get the "gumption" up to get anything productive done though. Help.... what's wrong with me!! My hair needs cut really, really bad. I look like a slob right now no matter what I do with it. I finally made an appointment to get it cut on Friday afternoon a few hours ago. It's a new person... actually it's our children's minister. She's a licensed beautician and does hair on Friday's. My shoe has a rip and I can't afford to get new shoes and a haircut. And I havn't spoken to either of my best-friends or Cleanin' Cuz '75 for days now..... Okay, shutting up now!! I love you guys and I thank you for allowing me this safe place to vent and be annoyingly whiney!!

Bad Quote of the Day

"Some people are like slinkies... although they serve no real purpose.... they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs."

Isn't that horrible? I still laughed when I read it though!

Yes, I'm Still Here

Man I've missed everyone. My computer is officially dead so I'm having to do all my computer stuff at church right now. I've been trying to read everyone's posts, but just don't have time to post myself too. Hopefully we'll be getting our settlement money from the wreck soon and I can get a new one then.

Anyway, we're all better. Prophet and D.K. went back to school yesterday. Prophet and Bee are still coughing, but that'll probably last for awhile, especially Prophet's cough. He'll hack for a few more weeks yet. He's at basketball practice with Smart Guy right now, hopefully he's not hacking up a lung while he's running around.

It's freakin' cold here. The wind chill was around seven below when we got up this morning. It snowed during the night and has continued to flurry really hard, wierd I know, all day today. It so windy that walking outside is miserable. I just have to keep reminding myself that I love my mom dearly and I really do love living back in the midwest rather than the much more comfortable Alabama. Although I hear it's pretty durn cold down there for them right now too. It's supposed to snow more tonight and tomorrow night. It seems like it's snowed alot here, but we hardly have anything on the ground because the wind just keeps blowing it away. I'm gonna feel really cheated if I don't get a good snowstorm this first winter back in the midwest.

Last night we were in Toys R Us exchanging a toy that D.K. had gotten for Christmas because he already had it. We were the only ones there, I've never seen the place so quiet in my life. Anyway, we walked down the Disney princess aisle and Bee saw a package of princess makeup... ya know, the little nail polish's, lip glosses and such. She looked at it and said "Mommy, I soooo totally need that for my birthday." I about busted-a-gut laughin' at her. Then she turned around and there sat the Little Mermaid kitchen that she's been pleading for for months. I have told her no several times because she already has a little tikes kitchen in her room. When she looked at that, she said, "I sooo don't have room for that in my bedroom." I'm sooooo totally sure she's spending too much time with the teens. She's hilarious.

We spent an hour in there and D.K. didn't get anything with his money from the exchange. He's like his mother, he has to make sure it's just the right thing for the right money and he doesn't wanna have to regret spending his money. Prophet on the other hand, took his money in and spent it on some crazy spy-gadget thing that'll probably break in a week or so anyway. I tried to talk him out of it, but he went back to it 3 times, so I finally gave in. It's his money after all. Could be a tough lesson learned though.

I'm having a colonoscopy and a gastrocopy (sp) both next Monday. So basically, I'm having a tube stuck in both ends of my digestive tract. Sounds like fun doesn't it!! The best part is the sedation, it's very relaxing. The worst part is the prep the day before. The stuff you have to swallow is horrible tasting and I've never managed to keep it all down without throwing half of it up. Somehow though I always manage to get everything cleaned out of there so the doctor so can see what he needs to see. Oh yah, the other fun part about the colonoscopy is the air they pump into your colon so the tube can go in. Well, putting the air in isn't much fun I guess, but the ginormous release of air the first time you sit on the potty afterwards is hilarious and very relaxing. LOL!! I know I'm wierd.

Bee's MRI for yesterday has been rescheduled for Feb. 9. She's still coughing and they can't do it when your coughing because you'll just ruin the pictures. Hopefully the cough will be gone by then.

Well, Smart Guy and Prophet will be back soon and we're gonna go get pizza. It's family night at our Pizza Hut. The kids eat free, get free ice cream, they have a clown who makes balloon things. It's alot of fun in a mommy and daddy sort of way. Hopefully I can get back on here tomorrow some time, if not I'll catch up as soon as I can. 'Til then, I love y'all and miss chatting alot!!

Have To Share

While I was browzing around the internet earlier, Bee was in and out of the room playing and talking up a storm. After awhile she said "Mommy look they all have blue eyes." I turned around not knowing what she was talking about. She had brought in 10 dolls and sat them all up in a straight row. She's right, every single one of her snow white dolls has got blue eyes... how observant of her... I had never thought about it before.

On the Mend, I Think

Hello!! Yes, I'm still alive, just fried!! D.K. seems to be on the mend. He hasn't had a fever since last night and his coughing has pretty much stopped. He says his throat hurts a little and he's still hoarse, but at least he's not hackin' up a lung. Bee hasn't had a fever since last night, but she's still coughing... some of it for the simple drama of it all. She's still a little hoarse. BTW did you know that it's really irritating to have an almost four year old with a hoarse voice when she thinks it sounds cool to talk with her hoarse voice. She was doing things like saying her abc's just so she could hear her weird sounding voice. Yep, she's officially strange, but then again she's my child so she doesn't stand much chance of being completely normal.

That leaves Prophet. I thought his fever was gone as he hadn't had one since last night even without motrin or tylenol. Then around 7:30, he curled up in a semicomatose ball wrapped in a blanket in one of the living room chairs and started hacking up his innards and gagging. I felt him and knew he was running a temp again, although he didn't feel as warm as before. It was 100.4, so it's not as high as before, but still there. His first basketball game is tomorrow morning. He's not going. Even if his temp does come down, all he'd do is cough as he runs around, so he's skipping his first game. I feel so bad for him. Grannie and Pa were even gonna come over and go to his game. The kids didn't want me to call and tell them he wasn't gonna play and just let them show up to spend the morning here at the house. I called anyway. They're still coming to see us and have lunch before they go home.

I have to say, the flexibility of my job at the church has been great this week while everyone's been sick. I can stay home with them all during the morning and early afternoon and then Smart Guy comes home and stays with them while I go to the church and clean for a few hours. It's really worked out pretty well.

Normally I work while the boys are in school during the day, so there's always other people in the building. At one point late this afternoon, I realized that I was alone in that huge building. I think I've mentioned before what a huge chicken-little I am... Yah, I got a little freaked out and convinced myself that if anyone came in and tried to get me that the Windex in my hand would be a great weapon if sprayed into someone's eyes. I know, I'm crazy, but in my defense I never claimed otherwise.

Growing up I attended two churches. One until I was in fifth grade and the other (where I met Inkling, Farmwife, Silver Belle, and Queen Mother) from then until I got married. Both of those buildings were broken into and robbed. The one that I went to after fifth grade actually wasn't broken into. If I remember correctly, (Queen Mother or Silver Belle can correct me if my kid memory is wrong) they believe that the person was in the building when everything was locked up for the day. The office area was always locked up separately from the rest of the building, but whoever broke-in went up thru the ceiling tiles to get in and take stuff. Creepy huh!!

When we lived in Winchester, KY I was the last one to leave the building on the Sunday afternoon before V.B.S. started the next day. I was directing that year and had a bunch of us up there decorating for the week. The office area in that building had a hallway that led to all the offices and it had a door that was always shut and locked when no one was there. I turned off the light to walk down the hallway, past the office hallway door, to go out to the parking lot and noticed that the office door was open, but not all the way. It was never left in this particular position as you couldn't get into the hallway unless it was pushed all the way open up against the hallway wall. I remember thinking it seemed odd and started to reach into the hallway to grab the door and shut it, but I got spooked and started running for the door just to get out of the empty building. The next morning when the administrative assistant got there to open up the building, all the offices in the hallway had been broken into with force. Whoever did it pried all the doors open and stole the petty cash, witch wasn't much. I always believed that whoever it was that did it was probably standing behind that half-open door already, having come in while the doors were unlocked, because there was no evidence of anyone breaking into the building. The thought that if I had stepped inside the hallway to grab that door and close it I might have spotted that person still haunts me to this day and that was five years ago.

So, anyway, my point is that I have reason to be somewhat skittish in a huge empty building all by myself. I'm not totally crazy.

I haven't said much about it, but I love the job. It's working out great for us. Bee has a toybox in her daddy's office now full of stuff just for when she's at the church with me. She likes to follow me around with her baby in her doll stroller. Sometimes she colors. Sometimes she uses a rag and "cleans" the walls in the room I'm working in. Sometimes she curls up in the chair in Smart Guy's office to watch a DVD on the portable player and falls asleep. And like I said, this week it's worked great. Of course Smart Guy's job is also flexible so that has helped this week too.

Bee has the MRI on her eyes next Wednesday. They have to knock her out so she won't move, which means an IV. That's not fun. She hates it and usually ends up climbing the walls for a few seconds while they put it in and then tells me about it 30 times before they put her to sleep. She can't have anything to eat when she wakes up that morning until after the test, which is always fun. At least she's a little older now and I can talk to her. When she was a baby, she just knew she was hungry and wanted to eat. Please pray that all goes smooth and that the tumors have either stayed the same size, shrunk, or even disappeared altogether. If they've grown, we'll have to start discussing what our options are for her in the future and I really don't wanna have to do that.

The temp outside was a little warmer today. I actually didn't even notice that the heat was still set at 62 until 7:00 this evening. We spent most of our day upstairs and it doesn't get as cool up here and the sun was shining in the kitchen keeping it warm during the day. But after the sun went down, it got cold down there.

Ruby emailed me pictures of Miss HDYST yesterday. She's gorgeous and looks like her daddy. I have to get out the baby pictures of Missy Moo Moo (trust me when I say I've got almost as many of her as I have of my own children), because Ruby says she looks like her as a baby. I need a reminder. I have a mental image of Missy Moo Moo as a three month old or so, but not newborn.

Well everyone, I've got to get to bed a little earlier than the last few nights. I hope I can fall asleep earlier tonight than the last few nights. Good night!! I love you all!!

Another "Two" Bite the Dust

I went to the visitation for the gentleman who died over the weekend this evening. We stood in line for 45 minutes. He was a very loved man and there were many, many people who showed up for his wife and kids. When I hugged his wife I told her I was so sorry and her response was "It was fun... it was short, but it was fun." The strength she showed tonight amazed me. When I told her that Smart Guy wanted to be there but couldn't because all three kids were sick, her response was, "Everyone else's world doesn't come to a stop because my life has a blip in it." I love this woman. She's a wonderful example of a woman of integrity. I admire her strength and courage.

So yes you read that right... ALL THREE OF MY CHILDREN ARE NOW SICK!! Everyone is coughing and running fevers. D.K. joined Prophet this morning with a 100.4 temp and Bee joined them this evening just as I was leaving for the funeral home with a 101.6 temp. As I was walking out the door, I told Smart Guy to give her one teaspoon of nighttime cold and cough triaminic and one teaspoon of motrin. When I left for the funeral home, I left a very lethargic, hot, grumpy, and coughing Bee. When I came home however, she came bounding down the steps laughing her head off like a wild woman. I asked Smart Guy what he had given her and her said "Robitussin". NOOOOOOOO!! I told him to give her Triaminic nighttime, not Robitussin. That stuff makes my kids and myself bounce like Tigger. He gave it to her at 7:30, it lasts four hours. She just fell asleep since I started typing this. It lasted almost exactly four hours. I've got the alarm clock set for 1:30 so I can get up and give everyone another dose of medicine to keep their temps down and keep their coughs under control so they can sleep. I'm not worried about Bee and D.K., their little bodies get over things pretty easy. Prophet is another story. With his rough beginnings, he has always gotten sicker and stayed sicker longer than normal. Hopefully tomorrow will be the last day of being truly sick for him... we'll see. So, anyway, one more day of everyone home from school. Bee's gonna be ripped when she realizes that she's missed the pizza shop field trip that she's supposed to go on tomorrow. She so excited about it, but she has no concept of time yet and thinks it next week. I haven't wanted a meltdown, so I haven't told her any different as she talked about it this evening while high from her Robitussin. I'll break it to her gently next week sometime.... maybe she'll forget about it... hmmmm doubt it!!

Ruby and Miss HDYST are home from the hospital. The baby was sleeping while we talked and Missy Moo Moo was wanting to love on her. She's seriously intrigued with this new little person. I can't wait to see pictures of her. Ruby says she looks like Missy Moo Moo did when she was a baby. She was adorable. By the time she was about three months old, she had rolls on her rolls... all from momma's milk...nothing else. It was awesome!! Of course I was impressed, all of my babies have always been skinny things from birth on. They all eat like horses, they just stay skinny!! I'm trying to come up with a cheap and quick way to get out there to see them for a couple of days without any of my children. Wish me luck!! BTW, Mr. Debonair actually has six weeks of PAID paternity leave. Isn't that amazing? We certainly never had that. Smart Guy was back at work within a couple of days with each one. Churches just don't do the paid paternity leave thing!! I'm glad for Ruby, it'll be nice having him home for awhile!!

Well, it's late and I have to dose medicine in about an hour and a half, so now I must sleep!! Goodnight everyone!! Tomorrow!!

We Are Bad Parents

Well, we broke a major parenting law tonight... at least one in our house. If you are too sick to go to school, if you live in our house that means you are too sick to do anything in the evening. Unfortunately this evening was Prophet's first basketball practice of the "season" (6 games). I told him this morning that if he stayed in bed all day under the vaporizer and if he was feeling better, that we'd let him go to practice. So he did, and we did. We all went along to cheer him on.

He's actually playing in the 6, 7, and 8 year old league. The next league up goes from 9-12. He's actually 9, but he's only in second grade and he's the size of most first graders, so they're letting him play with kids in his grade. I'm glad they let us do it. He at least has a chance with these kids. Not only would he have not been able to keep up with the older group, he also would have gotten seriously hurt. Even in this younger group, there's still bigger kids out there playing.

He's such a fun and happy kid. It's very hard to get him down. He got hit in the head with a stray ball three times tonight and then hit the gym floor at least three times and always smiled afterwards. He's a tough little turkey. I guess if your brain can take a grade 3 hemorrhage and hydrocephalus, heal itself with no intervention other than therapy, and still come out relatively okay, a simple knock to the skull with a basketball is nothing.

Anyway, he played his bahooney off and didn't really cough all that much, which really shocked me. He started dragging the last 10 minutes, but never came off the floor. I had told him that if he got too tired, he could come sit with us for awhile. He never did. He was too excited. It's been a long time since last years season ended.

We ate a late dinner at 7:00 or so. Then everyone headed upstairs to get on jammies, read books, pray, get doped up with nighttime cough meds, and go to sleep. Hopefully he doesn't cough all night. Last night, D.K. ended up on our floor because Prophet was keeping him awake coughing. Sometime during the night Bee also joined the party in our bedroom. Poor Prophet was the only one of the six of us, not in our bedroom by this morning. Anyway, Smart Guy is downstairs watching the State of the Union. Or to be more exact, rolling his eyes at most everything that comes out of the man's mouth. I was watching it, but after the third time I was about to hurl all over myself, I decided to come upstairs. I'll watch the stuff afterwards to hear what he said. Even if I don't agree with it, I can handle it better from someone else's mouth. Just looking at Bush is too much!!

Well, goodnight everyone!! Love to you all and lots of cyber hugs!!