The Hat Trick and I visited my brother's grave today, on what would have been his 45th birthday. He shares it with my dad, who turned 73. We gave Daddy Appaloosa, a Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, a pack of Raisinets and a bag of in-the-shell peanuts. (He also got a new central heating unit after the heat pump gave out earlier this week -- $7,000. My mom joked she doesn't know how she'll top it next year.)
We left white sweetheart roses on Ben's footstone.
Today: I lost my wedding ring petting my parents' dog but I found it. I had to have my foot x-rayed five times to find out that stepping off a curb onto the side of my foot and rolling my ankle with my full weight behind it is, well, bad for that foot. It's been two years since that incident, and I now have a nasty bone spur that hurts. A lot. All the time.
The 14 pills a day I'm taking to kill off H. pylori bacteria are awful but my blood pressure medication is working. I will be glad when I'm back to three pills and a multivitamin a day.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Well, whaddya know?
My bloodwork came back, and I have Heliobacter pylori. I was first treated for it in June and I don't know if it came back or never left. I will start a new round of antibiotics and stomach medicine Monday, but I'm not certain whether I'll have to have an upper GI.
I took Curly Sue to the allergist last week because she's been running a low-grade fever and having headaches and tummyaches for a few days, off and on. He spent about three seconds looking at her, very shortly said, "She's got a virus" and told me to make her drink liquids. I started to ask him about some literature I've been reading about wheat and dairy intolerances and their cumulative effect, intending to see if he thought there was a connection between that and her symptoms over the last few months, but he cut me off and said, "You'll have to ask your pediatrician about that." I like the other allergist better but his attitude is much the same, so I have gotten the name of a naturopathic doctor a few towns over, and I hope to have him check out the children.
It's tough when I know *something* isn't right but can't put my finger on it, especially when a doctor blows me off like that!
I'm leaving in a little while to meet up with some of my high school girlfriends. I can't wait to catch up with them and see what they're doing now. I'm sitting in total silence -- Geddy took The Hat Trick out to lunch and to run some errands, so I had a lovely, long, hot shower with no interruptions. (I joke that I haven't been to the bathroom by myself in 13 years, but truthfully that's not far off the mark.)
My friends and I are meeting at Olive Garden, and because the children are staying with my parents and G has a work dinner, I may actually visit the mall for awhile before heading home. An hour or two by myself at Borders, and maybe a tall coffee, will be heaven.
Tomorrow I start lesson planning for the rest of our school year. I needed a few things to round out the littles' schedule and quite a lot (cost-wise, at least) for Larry. I ordered Wordly Wise for all three; Sequential Spelling, The Complete Writer and Horizons Math for the littles; Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, Apologia Science and Latin Road to English Grammar for Larry. He will pick up in Sonlight 6 for writing, literature, history and geography. I will be glad to be back in control of our schedule!
I took Curly Sue to the allergist last week because she's been running a low-grade fever and having headaches and tummyaches for a few days, off and on. He spent about three seconds looking at her, very shortly said, "She's got a virus" and told me to make her drink liquids. I started to ask him about some literature I've been reading about wheat and dairy intolerances and their cumulative effect, intending to see if he thought there was a connection between that and her symptoms over the last few months, but he cut me off and said, "You'll have to ask your pediatrician about that." I like the other allergist better but his attitude is much the same, so I have gotten the name of a naturopathic doctor a few towns over, and I hope to have him check out the children.
It's tough when I know *something* isn't right but can't put my finger on it, especially when a doctor blows me off like that!
I'm leaving in a little while to meet up with some of my high school girlfriends. I can't wait to catch up with them and see what they're doing now. I'm sitting in total silence -- Geddy took The Hat Trick out to lunch and to run some errands, so I had a lovely, long, hot shower with no interruptions. (I joke that I haven't been to the bathroom by myself in 13 years, but truthfully that's not far off the mark.)
My friends and I are meeting at Olive Garden, and because the children are staying with my parents and G has a work dinner, I may actually visit the mall for awhile before heading home. An hour or two by myself at Borders, and maybe a tall coffee, will be heaven.
Tomorrow I start lesson planning for the rest of our school year. I needed a few things to round out the littles' schedule and quite a lot (cost-wise, at least) for Larry. I ordered Wordly Wise for all three; Sequential Spelling, The Complete Writer and Horizons Math for the littles; Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, Apologia Science and Latin Road to English Grammar for Larry. He will pick up in Sonlight 6 for writing, literature, history and geography. I will be glad to be back in control of our schedule!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Welcome back to normal
Well, here we are. New year, new schedule, new goals.
We are withdrawing from Georgia Virtual Academy, effective immediately. We stuck it out for a semester instead of a year. We all really tried to make it work, but for many reasons it just...didn't.
Larry is growing up fast. In the past few months, his voice has deepened and he is showing other signs of hitting the teenage years. Unfortunately, that means that the ADHD we've kept under control with behavior modification all these years has become a blazing problem. We are adding supplements, organizing differently and turning to a gluten and dairy-free diet for relief.
Today, we plan to pick up our paperwork from the school board and tidy our school room. We have allergy shots for the littles and need to return our books to the library, along with a promised trip to Target to spend some Christmas cash. We are looking forward to a calm day in which we ease back into our schedule.
Oh yeah, and I am going to learn the Cha-Cha Slide today!
We are withdrawing from Georgia Virtual Academy, effective immediately. We stuck it out for a semester instead of a year. We all really tried to make it work, but for many reasons it just...didn't.
Larry is growing up fast. In the past few months, his voice has deepened and he is showing other signs of hitting the teenage years. Unfortunately, that means that the ADHD we've kept under control with behavior modification all these years has become a blazing problem. We are adding supplements, organizing differently and turning to a gluten and dairy-free diet for relief.
Today, we plan to pick up our paperwork from the school board and tidy our school room. We have allergy shots for the littles and need to return our books to the library, along with a promised trip to Target to spend some Christmas cash. We are looking forward to a calm day in which we ease back into our schedule.
Oh yeah, and I am going to learn the Cha-Cha Slide today!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Happy 40th birthday to me...belatedly
This tattoo is what I gave myself for my 40th birthday. It only took four months to work up the courage. It's not very pretty right now. Apparently it takes awhile for the haze to clear up and I only got it done Friday. It's not anywhere "private" -- it's on my back near my left shoulder so I can either show it or cover it.
The "B" is for my brother Ben, who lived out his 43 years not caring too much what other people thought of him.
Did it hurt? Hmmm...hard to describe. It's like a cat constantly scratching you while you're being massaged. Odd. Pretty sore for a couple of days. I had my nose pierced at the same time, which pinched a little at the time but has not been sore since. I like it even better than the tattoo.
Yes, I know -- you're fainting from the shock. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth until it passes.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Christmas pragmatic
If you're still on the lookout for an unusual gift with a philanthropic twist, wander on over to TOMS Shoes. For every pair of shoes purchased, a second pair is donated to a child in need.
Christmas new
For many years, Geddy's parents and brother joined us for Christmas. That changed in 2006, when Mama Lois was too sick from late-stage cancer to make the trip. We kept our date last year, though Mama Lois celebrated Christmas in heaven without us.
This year, Pop will be traveling and we will be on our own. We've never attended a candelight Christmas Eve service or midnight Mass at a Catholic church, and those are two things I've always wanted to experience. Maybe that will be on our list this year. Maybe we'll stay at home and cook a big dinner together with everyone's favorites. Maybe we'll have pizza and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas" and "Elf."
Change isn't easy but inherent in new circumstances is tremendous potential for new growth and abundant blessing.
One of the conscious changes we've made is to volunteer in the children's department at church, where Curly Sue and Moe learn each Wednesday and Sunday. At the Lord's prodding, I left a fun, all-adult fellowship ministry to serve with the children, helping with fifth-grade girls. Geddy and Larry help with AV. For the first few weeks I was sure I was completely in the wrong place, overwhelmed by the...well, the fifth-graderiness of the girls.
Little by little, without my even noticing, I fell fiercely in love with my girls. Tonight, the other leader and I are sponsoring a slumber/Christmas party with them and I am absurdly excited to participate, as opposed to being horrified at the very thought back in September.
That's what I mean about change. I was sad to leave behind my sweet friends in the kitchen to immerse myself in children's ministry, especially when my main "job" is to educate my own three children, all day every day. God definitely had a lesson to teach me, suprising me with a capacity to love and serve that I had greatly underestimated in myself.
I will look at our first Christmas without company with wistful nostalgia but also with some anticipation of the abundant joy promised to us. After all, the few precious years we have with our children is something to be celebrated, and what better way to build great Christmas memories than to create traditions that bring out our unique family traits and interests?
It's definitely a season for growth. How incredible it is that we get to combine it with this Christmas season!
This year, Pop will be traveling and we will be on our own. We've never attended a candelight Christmas Eve service or midnight Mass at a Catholic church, and those are two things I've always wanted to experience. Maybe that will be on our list this year. Maybe we'll stay at home and cook a big dinner together with everyone's favorites. Maybe we'll have pizza and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas" and "Elf."
Change isn't easy but inherent in new circumstances is tremendous potential for new growth and abundant blessing.
One of the conscious changes we've made is to volunteer in the children's department at church, where Curly Sue and Moe learn each Wednesday and Sunday. At the Lord's prodding, I left a fun, all-adult fellowship ministry to serve with the children, helping with fifth-grade girls. Geddy and Larry help with AV. For the first few weeks I was sure I was completely in the wrong place, overwhelmed by the...well, the fifth-graderiness of the girls.
Little by little, without my even noticing, I fell fiercely in love with my girls. Tonight, the other leader and I are sponsoring a slumber/Christmas party with them and I am absurdly excited to participate, as opposed to being horrified at the very thought back in September.
That's what I mean about change. I was sad to leave behind my sweet friends in the kitchen to immerse myself in children's ministry, especially when my main "job" is to educate my own three children, all day every day. God definitely had a lesson to teach me, suprising me with a capacity to love and serve that I had greatly underestimated in myself.
I will look at our first Christmas without company with wistful nostalgia but also with some anticipation of the abundant joy promised to us. After all, the few precious years we have with our children is something to be celebrated, and what better way to build great Christmas memories than to create traditions that bring out our unique family traits and interests?
It's definitely a season for growth. How incredible it is that we get to combine it with this Christmas season!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
All four eyes on you
Well, it was bound to happen. Geddy and I both needed corrective lenses beginning in our young teen years, so we started taking the children for annual eye exams when Larry was 11. Oddly enough, it is Moe that first needs glasses. Odder still, he's not even nearsighted like his dad and me but needs them for schoolwork, reading and computer work. They're adorable and he's very happy because he thinks he looks like Dad in them.
Larry is on a tear with the drums right now. It is absolutely incredible to see this child I carried inside me do amazing things I never could dream of doing. I always thought I'd be sadder to watch him grow into a young man, but he is just so interesting as a person separate from me and I so much enjoy learning with and from him that I forget to miss him as a baby. He wants to chase tornadoes and play drums in a Christian band and engineer warning sirens and make movies -- to watch the world unfold in front of his eyes is a gift. (That, and no messy nappies.)
Miss Curly Sue had a week she'd rather forget. G took the children to the lake to play last weekend and was teaching her to shell sunflower seeds in her mouth like a baseball player, only one went down her throat sideways and -- we thought -- scratched enough to make her throat sore. All three children came home to me full of stories about the fantastic hill down which they rolled repeatedly, but no one noticed the spider Curly rolled over on one of her trips down. Clearly offended, said spider took a bite at Curly's arm and left a nasty abcess.
Curly griped about her throat until I took a peek and discovered that the sunflower seed shell never made it down and instead was lodged firmly in her right tonsil. New doctor, awkward explanation of odd injuries, prodding and gagging, 10-day antibiotic...you get the picture. She's definitely off sunflower seeds now.
Today's lovely fall day that we spent picnicking, playing soccer and baseball, exploring and rolling down hills, almost made up for our aborted plans two weeks ago. G took three days off, the first to accompany us on a field trip and the others to visit his dad and drive up to a little alpine village in north Georgia. Pop's lady friend cooked us a tasty lunch, and we got ready to follow them to the village. I realized I'd had a grumpy headache most of the day, so I thought I'd swallow a couple of ibuprofen pills to ward off anything nastier.
It was too late. We'd only been in the car 10 minutes when we had to pull over because a migraine had taken hold and nausea was setting in. We made it the other 20 minutes, parked by the river and prayed the Advil would hold.
It didn't.
I sent the lot out into the village while I tried to tame my head with fresh air and a nap in the van, but they had only been out of sight five minutes when I lost my lunch and Advil plus some right there on the riverbank. It figures. I'd been wanting to visit and show the children the town for six months, and it was a perfect autumn day, and I was barfing all over the bushes. We had planned to stay overnight and mosey our way home Halloween afternoon in time for the festivities, but instead I wound up in a walk-in clinic for a phenergan injection so I could get home to my own bed, where I stayed three days. I missed trick-or-treating with the children and didn't even get to see them dressed up.
That was only my second migraine, but I remember my mom having awful "sick headaches" and my grandmother has told me she had headaches so bad she prayed to die. Wonderful. Next thing you know, I'll be having my bladder tacked up as well.
....
Last Thursday was the anniversary of my brother Ben's death in a car wreck. My parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews gathered at his grave Saturday afternoon to remember him with stories about his life, a song Bubby wrote, and some messages we wanted him to hear. It was beautiful and painful. Afterward, we had a bonfire at my parents' and missed him some more, even as we were all enjoying being together. After a whole year, I still can't get out of the habit of looking around for him at family gatherings or look for his number on Caller ID or e-mail him something interesting. The grief has turned into something duller but ever-present, like a pulled muscle that pains sharply with a sudden turn of my head. Still, we are the same old clan -- loud, loving, emotional -- that we have always been, just with a gaping hole in our midst.
Larry is on a tear with the drums right now. It is absolutely incredible to see this child I carried inside me do amazing things I never could dream of doing. I always thought I'd be sadder to watch him grow into a young man, but he is just so interesting as a person separate from me and I so much enjoy learning with and from him that I forget to miss him as a baby. He wants to chase tornadoes and play drums in a Christian band and engineer warning sirens and make movies -- to watch the world unfold in front of his eyes is a gift. (That, and no messy nappies.)
Miss Curly Sue had a week she'd rather forget. G took the children to the lake to play last weekend and was teaching her to shell sunflower seeds in her mouth like a baseball player, only one went down her throat sideways and -- we thought -- scratched enough to make her throat sore. All three children came home to me full of stories about the fantastic hill down which they rolled repeatedly, but no one noticed the spider Curly rolled over on one of her trips down. Clearly offended, said spider took a bite at Curly's arm and left a nasty abcess.
Curly griped about her throat until I took a peek and discovered that the sunflower seed shell never made it down and instead was lodged firmly in her right tonsil. New doctor, awkward explanation of odd injuries, prodding and gagging, 10-day antibiotic...you get the picture. She's definitely off sunflower seeds now.
Today's lovely fall day that we spent picnicking, playing soccer and baseball, exploring and rolling down hills, almost made up for our aborted plans two weeks ago. G took three days off, the first to accompany us on a field trip and the others to visit his dad and drive up to a little alpine village in north Georgia. Pop's lady friend cooked us a tasty lunch, and we got ready to follow them to the village. I realized I'd had a grumpy headache most of the day, so I thought I'd swallow a couple of ibuprofen pills to ward off anything nastier.
It was too late. We'd only been in the car 10 minutes when we had to pull over because a migraine had taken hold and nausea was setting in. We made it the other 20 minutes, parked by the river and prayed the Advil would hold.
It didn't.
I sent the lot out into the village while I tried to tame my head with fresh air and a nap in the van, but they had only been out of sight five minutes when I lost my lunch and Advil plus some right there on the riverbank. It figures. I'd been wanting to visit and show the children the town for six months, and it was a perfect autumn day, and I was barfing all over the bushes. We had planned to stay overnight and mosey our way home Halloween afternoon in time for the festivities, but instead I wound up in a walk-in clinic for a phenergan injection so I could get home to my own bed, where I stayed three days. I missed trick-or-treating with the children and didn't even get to see them dressed up.
That was only my second migraine, but I remember my mom having awful "sick headaches" and my grandmother has told me she had headaches so bad she prayed to die. Wonderful. Next thing you know, I'll be having my bladder tacked up as well.
....
Last Thursday was the anniversary of my brother Ben's death in a car wreck. My parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews gathered at his grave Saturday afternoon to remember him with stories about his life, a song Bubby wrote, and some messages we wanted him to hear. It was beautiful and painful. Afterward, we had a bonfire at my parents' and missed him some more, even as we were all enjoying being together. After a whole year, I still can't get out of the habit of looking around for him at family gatherings or look for his number on Caller ID or e-mail him something interesting. The grief has turned into something duller but ever-present, like a pulled muscle that pains sharply with a sudden turn of my head. Still, we are the same old clan -- loud, loving, emotional -- that we have always been, just with a gaping hole in our midst.
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