Memorial Day 2010

A day in pictures..........

When it rains it comes down in buckets and buckets and buckets

Ryan has been complaining about his wisdom tooth. Or maybe it was the molar next to it. No the wisdom tooth. Well, maybe the molar......... Nope feels ok today........no it is the wisdom tooth......

Both him and Todd said the dentist said the wisdom tooth was coming in perfect. Ok. Well. I guess everyone has their own pain level and Ryans seems to be low, I guess. It did seem he was complaining a long time about it too. But I cannot remember how my teeth came in or how long it took for that matter. I don't remember any pain but I do know some do. Oddly Ryan is the type of kid who would run into the tree in the backyard, get up, wipe the blood off his face and go off running again. That really should have been my 1st clue.

The other day he asked me to look to see if he had a cavity. Ryan has been blessed with not a single hole in his head! Which surprises me every 6 months as he has to be my worse tooth brusher in my household! But he has escaped visit after visit with nothing more than a finger shake on brushing better. So, thinking maybe his time had come, I got a flash light out and took a peek.

Nothing. Not a hole. A dark mark. A red gum. Nothing. But that wisdom tooth looked odd. It was still only 1/2 way in and looked smooth. I know molars have pits and such in them but was readily told by Todd and Ryan the dentist said it was fine when I questioned its appearance.

My mothers intuition said otherwise. I make the dentist appointment against Ryans wishes and off he went. And my mothers intuition was correct as I am proud to say it usually is. (Big mental ego back pat there!) The tooth is coming in on its side. The part I could see was the side of the tooth and the top of it was facing the molar in front. Hence the discomfort and smooth look.

And we are off to the oral surgeon............again for the 2nd time in a month!
Me think I am going to be paying for the drs. very nice vacation on an island somewhere this summer! We might not be able to afford one but it will make me so happy to know that someone will benefit out of this deal!

Too bad I didn't know last week. Maybe I could have asked for a 'two for' deal???!

Hey Delaney, go water the flowers!

*&#@^#(@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't he just cute?
Well that cute critter is on my snuff out list!

I have lived in this house for about 7 years. And have had a terrible time keeping shrubs and plants alive. I thought it was me and my lack of a green thumb. So every spring, I trudged off to HomeDepot and bought replacement things for my flower beds, all the time thinking I got the wrong things or didn't water them enough.

It wasn't till last year when I found a huge hosta plant sucked into the ground that I realized it was NOT me but that cute, fuzzy little rodent above! I spend hours upon hours in those flower beds. I plant and water and weed. I spend tons of money each spring to ensure my flower beds are nice. And, in fact, I am actually supplying those little things with an open gourmet buffet of yummy treats.

We put in poison pellets which seemed to work last year. I think we lost only two hostas before they decided it wasn't worth the fight.

The newbies coming in this year are tougher though. We got the beds up and going again. And started a new one in the back yard. Four days later a plant was gone. We poured more pellets in the hole and around the bed and ran to HomeDepot and got a replacement. Three days later it was gone!
So for $24 I paid for the lunch of that cute little pest twice! I am not happy!

I envision myself like some Elmer Fudd cartoon and standing on my front lawn with a gun aimed in the hole and saying some not so nice words that I don't believe I ever heard about a waskaly wabbit. The only thing that holds me back is the fact that I don't want my neighbors to know that I am slowly going insane over these stupid things! I am. I just don't want them to know it!

Wack-a-mole kinda comes to mind at this moment.

I am so mad and frustrated right now. I am NOT going to be beaten by some rodent!
So it comes down to me or them. And I will win! I have more to lose! Those plants are mine and I refuse to give them over on a platter for them to munch on! I don't know how. I don't know when. But I am going to take them DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates

Well it looks like it has been a week since I last visited and didn't want anyone to think I had fallen off the face of the earth or joined the circus or something!

In fact it has been a combo week where I bounced between pain and having to suck it up and do things no matter my issues. There is never much time for Mom to sit on the sofa and whine about a hole in her head. I had work to do and kids to chase and things to get done. So I drugged myself up on pain killers and Advil and moved ahead.

Still, a week later, I have a hole in my head. The site has not fully closed up. And I think I ended up getting the lovely 'dry socket' because come Friday it felt like my gum was going to explode. Lortab became my new bestest friend! But, in truth, I was able to keep the pain down with the pain killers and Advil and since the dentist could do little else to actually heal the site, I opted to suck it up. I still have the hole. But am not in as much discomfort as this weekend. It is what it is and life goes on.......

Which brings me to my lovely daughter, Delaney. She moved her circus act from her broken bed to the trampoline and learned to do flips! Saddly, she also happened to find the little 3in. opening in the netting and decided to go for a flight! Out the opening. On her face. In the dirt! She came out with a knot on her forehead and some lovely brush burns from her forehead to her lip for her effort. But nothing was broken and we iced her up, gave her some Advil and she was out and running in no time. And I have a feeling it did little to hinder her obvious dream of being a trapeze performer!

I ordered the beds for the girls. I found a steal of a deal with 97 cent shipping for the price I allotted for one bed. I could not refuse the sale poking me in the eye and calling my name! And since Megans bed was the bottom 1/2 of the broken bunk, I decided to go for it. So both girls will be getting a new bed come this weekend sometime.

And, to end up with the big finale, Megan is off to the ortho surgeon tonight. She has had some pain in her knee for a good 8 months. She went about two weeks ago because it had gotten worse and was sent for physical therapy for tight ligaments. By the 2nd week her knee cap had dislocated. The PT won't touch her now. And she is currently on restriction and an Advil regimen of her own! So tonight we take her to see what is going on with that knobby knee.

Perhaps I should start taking stock in Advil!! I am thinking, lately, our family could really keep that company afloat!

Toothless smiles and cotton candy

Well I did it. I survived D-day! Or should I say T-Day!?

I woke in the morning with my stomach churning. And about cried while I waited in the chair for the dr to show. But he was nice. And before I knew it I was totally out and they were waking me to tell me to get the heck out of the office so they could attack the next customer! Just like that pretty much. "Time to wake up". 10 min in the chair and out the back door you go, walking like a drunk and squinting at the sunlight with a bunch of gauze in your cheek and wondering what just happened! Todd got a good laugh though. I was so glad to be his entertainment for the day!

I came home, popped a pain killer, ate some chocolate pudding and curled up with my ice pack and blanket. By evening I wanted a huge steak but had to settle for mashed potatoes and canned greenbeans. I am sure the commercials for Outback and Applebees plaguing the tv doesn't help.

Today I am doing fairly well. I have my drugs which makes me want to cover my head up with a blanket and shut out the world. BUT I can't. I have to work. My jaw is killing me. The kids are irritating me. I have a hole in my mouth and all I want is steak. *sigh* Right now I am not much of a happy camper.

And in about an hour I have to leave to take Delaney to the circus. This should be interesting. But I am mom. I have a job to do. I shall put on my toothless smile and go! And a little bit of drugs won't hurt either!

Lets just say that I will be glad to have something better than chocolate pudding soon. And you know I must be desperate to say that!

Trials of parenting

Most of you know I am a mother of three. But, if I should count my husband, I guess that would make four. And I would remiss to exclude him when sometimes he acts no different than the children!

Oh I know he reads this. And he will probably get a good laugh but I find the need to tell this mornings story.

Today I walked into the spare bathroom that my husband just left and found on the floor about 5 folded up tissues surrounding the trash can. Now Todd is the only one in the house that folds his tissues. I don't understand the habit. Most just crumble and toss. But Todd folds the tissues in 1/2 to blow and then continues to fold them in a neat little square before tossing. So the evidence is in the tissue alone.

I notice them all on the floor and go out and tell my 40 something 'child wanna be' to pick up his tissues before he leaves for work. And his comment?

"But they aren't mine!"

I am not sure which I find more disturbing. The fact that they obviously are and he threw them on the floor, only to deny it. Or the fact that he saw them, his or not, and still did not pick them up because.........."But they aren't mine!"

Seriously!

I have no further comment on this story! But you may conclude its ending yourself!

And then there is my lovely teenage dramas. Who needs soap operas when you have teenagers!

My son is upset because his friend in school shows 'affection' to his girlfriend in the form of a hug in passing. So he is currently dealing with friendship vs. 1st love and all the lovely and exciting things it entails. The suspense. The drama. The possession. The ' I am going to tear him up' whole story line. And so he got the learn to control your emotions and the no girl is worth fighting over lecture this morning. What I told him was that if it upset her, she should go to the office and complain about his friends 'public show of affection' and surely that will get rid of him with a nice old detention!

How I know this to be a fact is because Megan has detention for the exact thing! Yes, my lovely 12 year old daughter is going to detention for public displays of affection! Now I had to ask the teacher emailing me what exactly was his definition of 'public displays of affection' because I know that the schools definition and mine are somewhat different in the OMG-I-am-going-to-kill-my-child factor!

Holding hands on the way to class.........not such an OMG!
Swapping spit in the halls or placing hands on private zones............totally an I am going to kill my child moment!

Well she was holding hands and hugging. Not my best OMG moment if you ask me! Normally it would have gotten a shrug. But this conversation was not just about one boy. Three names were brought into the text by the time we were done talking. NOT that she was doing anything with three boys. But I thought she liked one boy. She was hugging this other boy. But then last night another boy called to ask her out. NOT cool with mom! She is 12. And the boy who she got in trouble for I do not feel is a good boy next door kinda guy. The teacher confirmed that with me! He had already had a talk with her about staying away from him!

Ok I was 12 once. I was making eyes at boys at that age too. BUT not with three. Not with a troublesome kid. And it was contained to the school hallway. A little kiss or hand hold in passing between bell rings. A phone call on the house line that mom stood just out of ear shot and then told you 20 min later it was time to get off! A note with hearts on it, passed at lunchtime.

Not meeting someone at a friends house (yes Megan......I know about it!). Or the unsupervised world of texting, emails and IMs (Yes Megan......I know about it!) This all opens doors that a 12 year old should not always be experiencing. At least not MY 12 year old.

So tonight I officially get to become the worst mom in the world as we have our little chat about boys, cells and public shows of affection at 12 years old. I am sure one day she will look back on it and thank me............

It might take till she has a 12 year old herself but it will come. It WILL come!

Surprises and girlie tools

Today I thought it might be best to take down the broken bed before Delaney decided it was time to practice her circus act again. Only this time it was pretty much a guarantee that she would end up breaking more than just the bed!

I thought my biggest challenge would be to take it apart myself. But I was wrong.

1st there was the pile of surprises UNDER the bed. Toys. Deflated balloons that had seen better days. A farm with a few stray horses. A ball that looked like an elephant sat on it. A couple tissues that I wasn't sure if I should touch or not. A lost hair bow. A faded-not-so great-looking m & m. The pull out drawer that held her pj's. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Ok no. Not really but it wouldn't have surprised me!

Out they all came.

Then the next challenge was finding the tools to take the bed apart. Now you would think this isn't such a hard task. But in my house, trying to find a tool is like trying to find a crumb of cheesecake at the weekly Weight Watchers meeting. Todd puts NOTHING back in place. I even asked last year for a pink tool kit figuring that a girlie color would deter him from taking my tools and losing them, never to be found again! I should have known better that pink does not stop a man in desperate need! He could care less that he is using pink girlie tools when he can't find his own in a pinch!

I tried and hoped I might have a stash of workable something or other in my junk kitchen drawer. But no such luck. Off I went on the hunt for tools.................

An hour later, a good vacuuming and few not-so-nice words got me to this temp. solution.

At least she won't break her rump while doing her circus act.

And we can take our time trying to find something.

Now to find a home for the under bed drawer..........

Where, oh where, is my money tree?

Well I just wanted to say how much I LOVE dealing with insurance companies. They always seem to find a way to add some spice to ones life! Of course, I shouldn't complain. I could have none. I could be paying out of pocket. But I still cannot understand the thinking sometimes.

I got a call yesterday from the dentist who told me that my insurance would not cover the anaesthesia for just one tooth. So I had to pay that out of pocket and it would be about $400. BUT they would, in fact, pay for all 4 wisdom teeth to be pulled. So I got out my calculator and my 20% end of the deal would be......about $400.

She then asked me if I still wanted to do it. Well.....let's see. My options are:
#1 I pay $400 for one tooth and pay for the anaesthesia myself.
#2 I pay $400 for four teeth (even though only one is having an issue) and the insurance company pays for anaesthesia
#3 I do nothing and wait for the tooth to fall out of my head

Hummmmmmm.....gee let me think a second on that one! Cause that is such a hard decision to make!

Which one do you believe I picked?

But will look at it from the bright side. I could have no insurance and be paying the full $915 out of pocket.

It still doesn't take the sting out though, does it?!

And on the same day of this lovely phone call, my youngest daughter decided that she was part of a circus or something and was practicing her trampoline work. On her bed. She jumped. She leaped. She sprang to her glory! She went so high she almost touched the ceiling! And then...... fell and busted the side rail of her bed!

This said bed is part of a bunk bed set. The other 1/2 is in her sisters room. So now I am looking at a good.........can you guess?.........$400 or so to replace the bed and add a boxspring since the bunk bed does not use one!

I am wondering when Todds playing of the lottery is going to finally hit big?

Think it might be by Monday?

My adventure

I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seat and waiting to see what happened with my oral surgeon.

Well here goes.......

Nothing.

I prayed on the way there and did some Lamaze breathing exercises. Smiled at the receptionist. Didn't throw up on the waiting room floor. Read my book. And then they called me back.

I felt like the little kid being calling into the principals office sitting in a huge chair where my feet didn't touch the floor and waiting in silence.

Then HE came in. He seemed nice. I think he could tell I really did not like him very much. I also hope he understood it was nothing personal. I am sure he was a very nice man. It was just all that he stood for that I had an issue about!

I think he might have laughed at me when he said "lets take a look'. I am not sure why but I am thinking it might have been my nervous and tiny voice when I said 'ok'.

Then he asked if I wanted to have all the wisdom teeth done or just the one. Silly silly man! Now WHY would you ask such a question? And of course I said 'If you are asking ME, just the one!". He laughed again and said it was no problem and that he would be there later if need be. Not sure what that meant but I really didn't like that!

His next question was just as silly...
"How do you want to do this? A shot? A................."
Yep, I cut him off right there and told him what I told his receptionist...
"I don't want to see, hear or feeling ANYTHING!"

He smiled and said that was fine. We understand each other.

Then I drove home and cried. Not because anything really happened. But because of the stress of it all building up and the relief that I was able to go home and not gum my food this day!

My doom day? Monday, May 17th.
And the count down begins............

Dentist

I know I have mentioned my insane fear of spiders. I would love to say that is about the only thing that makes me almost pee my pants. But I would be lying.

I am totally and completely afraid of the dentist too. I could probably say that I would rather have a spider crawl on my hand than to go to the dentist. Probably. Cannot say for sure because I have never tried it. And probably won't. But the thought sounds better than sitting in the dentist chair. So I will go with it.

Probably years of a not-so-nice-dentist growing up has me sick to my stomach just thinking about an upcoming cleaning. Oh I try and be brave. I walk in the door with a smile on my face and a cheery "good morning" for the receptionist behind the desk and walk casually over to take a seat and read my book. But what I am feeling is the need to throw up on the floor, sweaty palms and trust me when I say that I do NOT read a single word in my book! I am listening. To the drill. Trying to not pay attention to the antiseptic smell of the office. And talking myself into not running when I hear the nurse coming cause I KNOW she is coming for me!

Cleanings will have me so worked up that I make myself sick. So one can only imagine when I actually need dental work done. And I usually do. I have a mouth full of fillings and two caps. Hence my obvious fear of dentists and why. Most were done when I was younger. But some have popped up in my later years. The caps are a new addition to my family. And I can say that my new dentist who did them has given me no reason to be afraid. He is actually quite sweet. I like him alot. And all his other dentists that work there and support staff. But memories of days gone by are hard to overcome and forget.

Well now I can add a tooth pulling to my list of dental woes. My wisdom tooth is slowly chipping away and about to break completely. I sat there in a panic, with two small pieces of tooth in my hand and actually debated in how long I could stall doing what obviously must be done! The thought of living on creamed soup and icecream did sound appealing for a while vs. the call I knew I would have to make.

The weekend came and during which I noticed that the rest of what is left of the tooth had a nice huge crack. When that broke, the filling would come out and it would be down to my gum. I knew what must be done and I hardly slept this past weekend because of it. It might have been from hunger. But it was probably more so because I did not want my tooth pulled. I have been worried sick over it!

Well I did it. I made the call for the oral surgeon this morning. The thought of my tooth breaking completely off in my hand worried me more so than being drugged and the tooth pulled!

During my call I said to the receptionist "I do not want to hear, feel or see anything! I AM calling the right person, correct?" In which she laughed and said "They will knock you out". I am glad we have an equal understanding of my needs!

So tomorrow I have a consultation. I was totally assured they would not touch the tooth during tomorrows visit. It was just a consult and to get information. I will take her at her word and drag me heels in the door........with the assurance that I will go back home with everything I came in with!

And I shall return, dragging my heels in the door........with the assurance that there will be drugs and I feel no pain, hear and see nothing! Then and only then we might become friends!

(And in return.......maybe I won't throw up in his waitingroom! )

Upon request

Here is a clip of our bell choir during a practice

Not our most exciting piece but the only one I have taped!

(turn down music on side)

A weekend at a glance

This weekend was just plain NUTS. We had our annual bell choir concert this weekend. But we did it with three other churches as well and did a mass ringing. Throw in some soccer, swim, eating, sleeping, grocery shopping and we were on the run for two days, non stop!

So here it is, as simple as I can make it.........a nutso weekend all wrapped up in a nutshell!

Delaney finally made it up to Ray in swim class. And so she began her next level swim class 1st thing Sat. morn............

Off to soccer...

Grabbed lunch on the go and off to out bell practice...........

The concert.......

Dinner out and a icecream treat..........

And passing out after one mighty long weekend!