Ways to pass the time

This is baby crack. The boys and I have been sucked on there for the last few days. We start to play and all of the sudden, it's been 3 hours.

Baby crack, I tell ya. Consider yourselves warned.

FIVE YEARS OLD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY SWEET, SWEET BOY.

I AM SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY TO BE YOUR MOM.

No words

Such tragedy. Such heartbreak. Such a waste.

Do you know how hard it is to be taken seriously in a meeting while you're wearing a Scooby Doo bandaid on your finger?

I'm just sayin.

Note to self: Buy grown up bandaids at the store.

Ugh

Too many jelly beans.

Too much egg salad.

Too much ham left over.

But most of all, too many darn jelly beans.

Ugh.

My weekend. IN PICTURES!

Can I get a woo-hoo? This weekend has been interesting, to say the least.

Let's see...how do I begin...I guess Friday is a good enough place to start, huh?





It has been an amazingly beautiful weekend weather wise. We went to the park on Friday afternoon and the boys hung out.

We were with Andrea and the girls (but of course) and then we went to their house for BBQ and bonfire. Spring in Montana!

Can anyone tell me what the heck this is? Roy's mom swears it's a dog but I'm just not too sure.

We got a little bit bored after marshmallows so Roy pulled some fun out of the closet. Oooh, that sounded dirty...

Yesterday was sunny and warm again and off we went to a giant easter egg hunt at some friend's house.


There were 3000 eggs hidden on their land. There were about 200 kids. You do the math. Each kid had an overabundance of eggs. Nothing like spoiling them rotten!



It kind of went downhill from there. Little Boy has been sick off and on for the last 5 weeks. He's had tonsillitis and ear infections two times and two rounds of antibiotics. He started acting a little bit off on Wednesday. Not wanting to play with his friends, whiny, clingy, etc. He seemed to be warm occasionally but I had never actually checked his temperature. After the hunt, he got super tired and really hot. He wouldn't turn his neck and was saying his eyes hurt. When we got home, we took his temp and it was 102.4. We gave him tylenol and put him down for a nap. 45 minutes later Joe checked it again. He was sleeping so Joe used it under his arm (remember, you have to add a degree to the temp you get). He was at 104.9. 106 degrees for a 4 year old is really not a good thing. Joe called his mom (a retired nurse) and, after talking to her, off we went to the E.R. By the time we got there, the tylenol had kicked in and it was down to 103.8.


His eyes still were hurting and they were worried about meningitis because he wouldn't move his neck. Flu test, strep test and a chest x-ray were where we started.


He was perking up little by little. Joe did a great job entertaining him. He's a good dad.


He thought the x-ray machine was fun. This picture cracks me up. After much time and a now very perky boy, we found out he has strep. So this is 3 times in 5 weeks that he's on antibiotic. We have an appointment with his pediatrician on Tuesday. I am thinking we'll be getting tonsils out soon. Poor kid.

We still had a bunch of people over to watch UFC last night.


This is a horrible picture but it shows our evening. Our very very buzzed evening.

Today started early with me singing at church. We had Roy and Andrea over for dinner and did egg hunts in the back yard.

Now I'm sleepy. And you're bored with reading. So I'm done.

Where I've been lately

Impromptu dinner dates with the guy who makes me giggle kinda rock a little bit.

And so did that GIANT bottle of Chimas Ale. Oh so yummy.

I have a post brewing about my bio-dad and how my relationship with him and who he was has affected my entire life. We'll see if I can ever get it down on paper. More ale will help with that, I'm sure.

Stupid Howard Stern

Freak boy isn't in the bottom three.

Voting public of American Idol, I am serving you notice.

The hell? Part two

What happened to Sanjaya's hair??????????????

Now I hate him more.

And Gina rocked again.

And yes, Robin, you were right. Sometimes it takes really bad tv to bring me out of seclusion.

The hell?

Sanjaya is still there? Is America tone deaf?

DUDE!

I loved Phil tonight. Tobacco Road rocked. (In my personal opinion, which I'm sure some will disagree with. Snot.)

Edited to add: Gina rocks. I love her. Her look, her hair, her voice, all of it. I love chicks who can rock.

Still very tired but all done with my long days. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow with sick Little Boy and not go into work until 10. That will absolutely rock. Rock the casbah.

Can you tell I've had wine? I love wine. And to whine. Whining is good too. And I'm tired. Oh so very tired. Too tired to really sleep. And that just sucks. But, on the up side, I'm american idolin' it and going to watch Bad Girls Club next.

Can I get a woot woot? Or whatever.

Stinkin Tired

Worked 13 hours today.
Have to work 13 hours tomorrow.
Slept 4 hours last night.
So stinkin' tired.

I have so much to say! About houseguest moving back to Cali on Thursday...about our weekend plans in Spokane...about St. Patricks Day (with pictures!)

Just too tired to say it.

Be back soon. Hopefully Wednesday???

I just don't know

I feel like I need to write something just to get that last post off of the top of the page. (makes you happy, doesn't it, Robin? I know you had it out against Sundance from the very beginning!

If only I had voted. Perhaps it would have made a difference.

Things are crazy busy at work. I feel like I'm meeting myself coming and going without a break in between ends. It's just going to get busier through the next week though. We have a huge event coming up March 19 and 20 and our secretary is out all of next week. My boss actually pulled me into his office and apologized for approving her vacation today. AND he hired a temp for next week. That was super nice. It's nice to be appreciated where you are, you know?

Joe and I went on a surprise date tonight. The boys didn't want to go to dinner with us so we left them home (oh the joys of them being 10 years apart!) and went by ourselves. It was nice. I had a bottle of wine and he had the huckleberry cheesecake. Priorities, you know.

Spring is springing up all over the place here in Northwest Montana. Everyday I'm more and more blown away by the fact that I get to live in this amazingly beautiful place. I know others would agree with me too. It is astounding and I'm more and more flabbergasted the older I get.

Best friends birthday is coming up in 2 weeks. We have a weekend away planned. In Spokane.
Which is the nearest big city type place we can find. We're not sure what to do over there though. With Joe being an alcoholic, going to a bar or dance club is out. But Andrea, Roy and I all still like to drink. He is ok with it, just not in a setting where that's all anyone does. So I need ideas. What is a good night time grown up without the kids activity that isn't only a bar? Help, please?

Sundance rocks.

It's official. I'm either voting for Sundance, the beebopper (how do you spell that?) or Chris. Or I would...if I actually voted. But I dig Sundance. (hahaha..I just typed "I did Sundance"...which I totally would have before I met Joe...but ANYWAY) Jeremy's spoken? Which Gen X'r doesn't remember that video????

Uncle Al is not doing well. The found out today that the cancer is on both lungs, his liver, his adrenal glands and his brain. It is an aggressive cancer so hopefully it will respond to chemo too. I'm hoping and praying anyway. He's the one, you know? I'm having a harder time with this than with my own bio-dad's death. Maybe because my dad died due to liver failure because of alcoholism and cancer is such an evil disease? I don't know. All I know is that when my dad (who I did love very very much) wasn't there for me, Uncle Al was. Anyway. I've told them how much I love them and how much they mean to me. For now, that's all I can do.

Ooooh, I know...I'll let you in on a little trick...you should buy really big wine glasses. Then, if anyone asks, you can say that you've only had 1 glass. Of course, it was 1/2 bottle but they don't need to know that!!!

And on that note, I'm out. Jessie's got more wine to drink and more photos to edit.

No real words

I just got a phone call. My Uncle Al was admitted to the hospital today. He has been suffering from a cough and, last week, after an xray, they told him he had a spot on his lung. He was scheduled to go in tomorrow for a cat scan. He had leg pain today bad enough that they took him to the hospital. They did the cat scan. He has lung cancer and it has spread to his brain. He has a brain tumor. That's all we know.

He and my grandfather are the only constant father figures I have had in my life. Even though they live 1000 miles away from us, he has always gone out of his way to make me feel special. Important. Loved. He has been married to my mom's oldest sister for almost 50 years. They were high school sweethearts and have one daughter. She lost her husband tragically 1 1/2 years ago. She has 2 sons. My aunt and uncle sold everything they had, my aunt retired from her job and they moved 300 miles to live 1 block away from their daughter. They thought it was important that the boys have their grandfather around and that they be there to help with Janelle. I am heartbroken. We don't know anything else yet. Just that it doesn't look good.

Parenting sucks sometimes.

Teenage Boy has gotten himself into a whole crapload of trouble. EVERYTHING out of his mouth is a lie. He has a 35% in his English class. He has skipped detentions because he didn't tell me he had them.

He has lost his cell phone.

His mp3 player.

His computer.

His swimming lessons.

He is in the process of cleaning out his room. All he will have in there is clothes and his bed. We're hoping that hitting rock bottom will wake him up. This sucks. And he doesn't seem to give a rip. He cried at first but it just seems to annoy him more than anything.

Why am I more affected by this than he is? I want so badly for him to do well. I want so badly for him to feel pride in himself. To be a man of integrity. To have his yes' mean yes and his no's mean no.

When I wake up tomorrow, could they both be happy, well adjusted grown men, please?

Am I a freak?

So how normal is it to have a crush on your children's doctor? I mean, I've heard of other women afflicted but... I never thought I would be one of them. Maybe it's just because they are so good with our kids? So knowledgeable? Can make them feel all better? Who knows. Even though the boys' doctor is NOT my type at all, I find him strangely hot.

Little Boy had his FIVE year well child check up today. Did you hear that? That's the sound of my ovaries exploding. He's almost FIVE years old. What the? Where the? What happened? The good news? He is on the growth chart! For the first time since he was 6 months old, he's on the growth chart! Woo-hoo! Sure, it might only be in the 4th% for weight and 10th% for height but he's on there! That so rocks! Look! Blatant abuse of exclamation points! Get your bad grammar here! Woot! The not so good news is that we are now scheduled for a hearing test on Monday afternoon. Dr. J sat and talked to Little Boy for 20 minutes. Just talked to him and listened to him. (You see why I think he's hot? He wasn't required by blood to listen to a four year old's stories! But he still did!) ANYWAY...redirect... Little Boy had to have ear tubes twice by the time he was two. Part of his Celiac Disease showed up in chronic ear infections and other things. The last time we had his hearing tested (before his 2nd set of tubes was placed) his right eardrum was completely non functioning. After hearing him talk, Dr. J wants to rule out permanent hearing damage. His speaking pattern is indicative of hearing loss. Nothing too major though but it would definitely explain some things! So we'll see on Monday.

Other than that? Not much exciting. He got 3 shots, which sucked. He looked at the nurse and asked her, through tears, why she kept hurting him. He's such a goofball. That made me tear up. He's a goofball, I'm a wuss. Teenage Boy is at a Junior High Boys lock in with our church. Playing in hot tubs and Nintendo all night. Joe is teaching a Taekwondo belt test. He's on his way home now. I'm on my 2nd glass of wine. All is good.

Everyone have exciting plans for the weekend?

Didya miss me?

It seems like I haven't posted in a long, long time. I guess it has been a few days. We've just been so busy with re-entry and stuff. Joe is still unbelievably jetlagged. He's slept maybe 3 hours a night since he got home. It was an amazing experience for him. He's ready to go back today. I've set him up with his own flickr account so if you're interested he's one of my contacts. He hasn't added any descriptions yet but you can kinda tell what you're seeing. Lots of smiling babies faces.

It's actually been really hard having him home. I hadn't realized how used to being alone I had gotten. I feel like the boys and I got into a good pattern and now that dad's home again, it threw a wrench in it. Ah well...we'll get back to where we were. It's been hard for the boys too. More so than I thought it would be. For the first time in their lives, I'm the one they want! Woot! Joe and I are going to go away on Saturday night. Not far, just to the next town. We rented a suite in a hotel and we're going to go out to dinner. It will be nice to have some alone time.

Almost there

2 1/2 hours to go until we head for the airport. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. We were supposed to be picking him up right now but the travel agent screwed up. The itineraries that we have show them confirmed on a flight that only flies during the week. How that happened, we have no idea. And the travel agency is closed on the weekends. Anyway, 2 1/2 hours.

Woo-hoo!!

A little bit hyper today

So I had a HUGE coffee this morning. From Star*bucks. (and I loved it, Slinger!) We just got our first Star*bucks and I'm quite happy with it...

Best friend and I are going out tonight. I am so freakin' excited I can't even see straight. We just have so much fun with our girls nights. And the boys get home tomorrow! Woo-hoo!

That is all.