Life's interruptions

I have a few minutes to catch up on my blog.  Let's see... I took Little Man to the doctor last week and found that he has a double ear infection.  Oh.... hang on.... the phone is ringing.

 

 

Ok, now I'm back.  As I was saying, Little Man has an ear infection.  He kept complaining about bugs in his ears.  Yeah, I have creative children.  Oops.... there goes the door.

 

 

I'm back.  Anyway, he's doing much better these days.  Now if only I can remember to give him his medicine twice a day!  I've also been getting things ready for this big consignment sale this week.  I just dropped a van-full of toys and clothes to the sale yesterday and the presale starts tomorrow.  Oh, crap.  I can't finish this now, I have to type up something for the PTA.  Back later.

 

 

Well, that's done.  As I was saying, I have things in this big sale.  Last fall, when I participated, I think I made about $250-$300 from it.  I can't remember exactly, because I use that same money for buying clothes and things for the kids during the year.  I'm hoping for a good sale this time around, too.   I've also been spending a lot of time researching materials for home schooling next year.  Monkey and I are both excited about it.  Right now, I'm focusing on Science and History.  You'd be amazed at how much information is out there.  Well, I'll have to catch up with this in a while because I have to get some laundry done.

 

 

I only have a minute because now I have to run to the store.  Man, having a blog to keep up is a bit time-consuming.  I just don't know how other people do it.  I follow writers that post daily.  Either I'm too busy or just not that creative.  Anyway, folks, I'll do my best to keep writing.  I hope you'll have patience with me.

 

Sick day

Today we're having a "sick day."  Moms don't usually get sick days, but their kids do.  Little Man got sick yesterday.  I'm not sure with what, but he had a fever when he woke up from his nap and didn't want to eat.

 

My guess is that we were going and going so much last week that his little immune system just got plum tuckered out.  So we gave him some medicine and sent him to bed at his normal time.  We thought he was starting to feel better because he played his normal "get out of bed every 3 minutes" routine before finally going to sleep.

 

Then sometime around 2:00 am, he came to wake me up because his pajamas were wet.  My first groggy thought was his pullups leaked, but he said it was his shirt.  My second guess was water leaked out of his sippy cup.  Then I got a whiff of that harsh acidic smell of vomit.

 

Great.

 

So I get up to check his bed and discover that it's all over his pillow by sticking my hand in it.  It's no fun to stick your hand in cold vomit at two in the morning, just so ya know.  I say a little prayer of thanks that he didn't aspirate on his vomit while sleeping and, with one eye open (which is probably why I stuck my hand in vomit), I got his clothes and his bed linens changed.  I then got him more medicine because I noticed while changing him how hot his little body was and sent him back to bed, again with prayers that he wouldn't get sick again. 

 

He slept through the rest of the night.  He hasn't been vomiting again, but he still had his fever when he fell asleep on our bed this morning.  He's since been moved to his bed and he's still sleeping.

 

Oh, and I have a headache and a sore throat.  Gee, it's good to be home.

 

 

Hello world.  I have about 40 minutes left to complete this post and catch up on my reader from Sunday morning, which means there are probably 235 more entries that I won't get to read before the night is done.  You see, people, I'm visiting family and we're staying with my uncle who is still in the ... ummm ... pre-computer age?  I don't even know which decade to fill in there, but he has no computer, thus no internet. 

 

Do you have any idea how strange and frustrating it is to not have access to the internet?  I had to resort to using a phone book for goodness sakes!  And actually CALLING someone to get directions to their location, find out how much admission is, and so forth.  Wait, I think I may have lost some of you.  We're visiting family, which means we're also in a house that doesn't have anything to keep a 6 and a 3 year old entertained but the TV.  Not to mention the family driving in to visit and bringing twin 4 year old cousins to see Monkey and Little Man.

 

Thank goodness dear ol' mom had a crack-I mean-Blackberry, so that I could sorta google indoor play for children in the city where we are.  I was able to at least get a name and a number of a bounce house, although the number on the webpage wasn't the right one.  Hence, needing the phonebook.  Since I'm not all that familiar with using her blackberry, I just called the location to verify what little info I was able to get from mom's phone and get directions and such.  

 

I decided to go early to the bounce house because it was 9:30 am and I was already being driven crazy by the boy.  I grabbed my laptop on a whim and guess what?  They had Wi-Fi there!  YIPPEE!  Only, I couldn't get it to hook up to the computer right.  I still don't know what happened but it wouldn't work.  Not even on my iTouch.  Bummer.  So after a little while longer we went back to my uncle's to meet Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Aunt Pat (not her real name) who were bringing my nieces. 

 

So after lunch with the family, we went back and stayed until closing.  I'm so glad they were able to make it.  I hadn't seen them since last summer some time and so I was able to talk and catch up with them and Monkey and Little Man had great fun with their cousins and seeing their grandparents and great aunt.  

 

So, it's been more than 24 hours without internet.  Thankfully, the kids, after today's running and jumping, went to bed and I was able to escape to the local library.  I owe Hayden big time for pointing me in the right direction (thanks, girl!!).  So, while I'm able to update on my blog, time is running out and I'm having to divide my time between this, facebook, twitter and homeschool research.  I'm not sure how much time I'll have for any of these things.

 

Isn't it amazing how much we have come to rely on the internet?  Not necessarily for social stuff like social network sites and blogs, but for simple things like finding something to do or getting directions to a certain place.  I was shocked, and a little ashamed, that I was so lost without internet access today when I was trying to think of something to do on a rainy day.  I admit, I'm an internet junky.  This week just goes to show me how much I've come to depend on it.  I follow my friends on social network sites, read status updates and blogs and use it for simple information retrieval.

 

So, could you go without the internet?  And for how long?  Well, I have to go.  They're kicking the library patrons out - it's closing time....  (oh, and Hayden, when I have more time, I'll come back and link to you ;) ).

 

Decisions...

I have a decision to make.  It's not an easy one but it's one that thousands of people face.

 

I have an old dog.  She's 14 and a half years old which is very old for her size and breed.  She has something going on with her hip and she doesn't bear much weight on her right hind leg.  X-rays would be too expensive and would only serve to confirm that she has a problem.  Even if it was "fixable" through surgery, I would not put her through that.  She's just too old.  

 

She's on medication for the pain now, and I do notice a difference.  She's more comfortable and a little more like herself, although she still has an obvious limp.  So while the medicine may be helping, it's not getting rid of the pain altogether. 

 

The problem I'm having with all this is that I would like to know what's actually going on inside her hip.  Is it cancer?  Is it arthritis?  Is there a bone spur?  What is it?  Knowing what it is isn't really going to solve the problem, as I said before.  It's just that I want to KNOW.  I want to know if it's cancer or arthritis.  But that would just be satisfying my own curiosity.  It wouldn't really help her.  My knowing what's causing the problem isn't going to fix the problem.

 

So we're in a holding pattern now, giving her medicine to help her stay comfortable and less painful.  She's still getting excited about eating, so I know she's feeling better, but at what point am I medicating her for me?  Where is the line that delineates my wishful thinking and her quality of life?  At what point will I KNOW that she's ready to go chase bunnies in the sky?

 

I'll be gone for the next week, visiting family (so I may not be here often) and she isn't coming with me and the kids.  She's hanging out here with Trey and the puppy - who still irritates the snot out of her - so I'm hoping she'll be able to maintain until I get back.  The last time I left town for a long trip without Trey, our very old cat died.  That's not setting a good precedent.

 

But still, having that decision hanging over my head.... It's no fun.

Do you remember...

photo by lachicana

 

  Do you remember.... 

 

rotary phones?

 

when record players had 3 speeds? 

 

dual cassette decks?

 

cassette tapes and cassette singles?

 

8 track tapes?  (A good friend of mine had one in her room when we were kids - shout out to e.s.!)

 

life before microwaves?

 

when cable only had 40 or so channels?

 

when you could play outside until the street lamps came on?

 

teachers could still hug their students in elementary school?

 

when TVs were in black and white?

 

or when TVs were those big consoles?

 

when VCRs and Beta players were competing?

 

cd's were the "new thing"?

 

when you could buy laser disc movies?

 

life before the internet?  and cell phones?

 

crank windows in cars (did you know they still make cars with crank windows???)?

  

when gas was $0.79/gallon?

 

cartoons were only on TV on Saturday mornings? 

 

when MTV actually played music videos?

 

 

I know there's an email floating around with a lot of these, but these are all from my own experience/childhood.  I know if I had more than a few minutes to think about it, I'd have more to add, but I have chores waiting for me.  So, what do you remember from your own childhood that isn't part of the "norm" any more? 

 

He's improving his aim

Potty training a boy is a completely foreign thing to me.  I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I don't pee standing up, but that's beside the point.  He's been in underwear for a little over a month now and it's gone much more successfully than it did last summer when we tried it.  I'm sure it helps that he's older and his buddies at school are also in the middle of potty training.

 

Little Man has gotten to where he doesn't want me anywhere near him when he's in the bathroom.  He yells at me to "get out" whenever I try to go in there with him, so I just stand by the door, usually, to make sure he's actually going.  The last time I did that, I heard him going, but it didn't sound like anything was hitting the water in the toilet.  Let's just say his aim was a little off.  Maybe we need to throw cheerios in the toilet again, for target practice.

 

I'm sure it's payback for me laughing at a friend of mine whose son was training last year.  He had a tendency to "mark his territory" whenever he was going to the bathroom - even at our house.  Needless to say, I keep the bathroom pretty clean out of necessity since Little Man is still working to improve his aim.  Which is ironic since I don't like to clean.

 

But just the other day, I didn't stay by the door.  He has closed it so he could have his privacy and I was sitting on the couch playing solitaire.  I heard the toilet flush, he stepped out, closed the door loudly behind him and pronounced to the world "I'm a BIG boy!"

 

I laughed.

 

So it goes, so it goes.  

 

A new parenting tip

When the kids have way too much energy from staying inside all day long when the weather is nasty outside, it helps when you or your spouse has been through boot camp.

 

Tonight, the kids have done:

 

suicides

 

wind sprints

 

push ups

 

mountain climbers

 

leg lifts

 

squat thrusts

 

arm circles

 

jumping jacks

 

And like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going and going and.....