Who Am I?

Thoughts I'm willing to share.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Wise Words (cute at least)

Emma has been talking quite a bit in the car the last few days. Yesterday she was talking about the fact that she didn't have school today (Memorial Day).
Mom: That's because it's Memorial Day. That's a day that we can remember our country and remember all of the people who have died in the wars."
Emma: That's easy. Just think of the Lord of the Rings.

Today we were playing a guessing game. One person gives the clues and everybody else guesses the mystery noun.
Emma's clues: We eat there sometimes. Loredana gets chicken. They serve toys.

Anyone, anyone?

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Old and BORING.....

This morning I did a last minute favor by driving my 14 year old niece to church. It was very last minute and my hair wasn't combed and I was wearing my "Nerd Twin T-Shirt", some plaid cotton shorts and sandals.
Ashlea got in my car dressed in regular teeanager jeans and a t- shirt, but she immediately opened her regular size backpack and started taking out and applying makeup as we drove. I realized that my car was silent because if I am driving alone I very often like quiet and when I do listen to the radio it's usually TALK RADIO. I was thinking about how old and boring I must seem to her. I was remembering back to when I was 14. I would have loathed an adult like me-so boring and UNcool.
She spent the entire 15 minute drive (that's right, I drive slow in my 4 cylinder outdated model minivan with no music playing) putting on makeup and fluffing/adjusting her hair. When we were almost to Canyon Ridge she pulled down the visor and asked if there was a mirror under the CD storage. I said there was so she took our CD storage thing off to reveal a mirror only slightly larger than the hand held mirror she had been using. She adjusted her hair a few more times and then replaced our CDs. Right before she got out of the car she put on her shoes, obviously not a high priority in the getting ready schedule.

Note to self: Hair first, makeup second, shoes last. If I had that schedule Ashlea still wouldn't be at church, lucky for her, I'm old and boring.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Not that there is really any Necessary Stress, but....

I feel like my life is full of unnecessary stress. I consider unnecessary stress things that just don't happen in a "normal" world-which they obviously do because my world is basically "normal".
Here is the list of stupid things that currently stress me out:

1. The front driver tire on the van is constantly getting "low"
2. Jack keeps on losing ONE of his sandals at stores (he's on his 3rd pair of sandals for the summer)
3. My computer just erased our printer for some reason so I cannot print anything-nor can I figure out how to reinstall it.
4. Getting Jack buckled into the car seat-he fights as I smash him into the 120 degree car, then he scream cries.
5. I don't have a job for next school year yet. I have two interviews next week, but one of them is a full time position. I don't really want to work full time.
6. My brother and sister in law have a pool. My kids will be spending the weekend there next weekend.
7. Our truck doesn't have air conditioning.
8. Kids making very loud noises in the car.
9. The laundry is never actually done. Everyone is always wearing something.
10. There isn't enough time to hang out with everyone I want to hang out, spend tons of time with my kids AND sit around and do nothing.

Okay, I sound very lame complaining about such insignificant things. I think things are bothering more because I am very much looking forward to spending NEXT weekend on a cruise with some friends and my hunky husband. R & R sounds like the cure for my "unnecessary stress".

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

32

When you're 32:

you always get enough sleep
you always wear clothes that are comfortable AND look good
you know who your real friends are
you know who you are
you are wise and people know it
you never treat people poorly
you kids know every second just how loved they are
you are very organized
you're old enough to have fun
you're young enough to have fun
you don't overcommit yourself
you don't drink too much-except on cruises
you don't eat too much-except on cruises
you have time to enjoy your hobbies
you have enough time for all your kids and all your friends
you are creative
you are funny
you are clever
you are an adult, not "young", not "middle age", not "retired", not "senior citizen"
you are you

I turned 32 today. I'm looking forward to a great year!

Saturday, May 14, 2005

"We Should Be Thankful"

Yesterday Loredana had her annual Horror Fest that the medical community has named VCUG. First she gets an ultrasound-the best part. Then she goes and changes into a hospital gown (filled with oodles of horrible memories from her two hospital stays and 3 previous VCUG's). Then they strap her to a table put in a catheter to fill her bladder up not empty it. While they are filling her bladder they take a series of x-rays to see what her body does with the fluid in her extremely full bladder.
So yesterday, as soon as we walk into the room where the bladder part of the test takes place she says to us, "I don't need to do this. I don't need it." She had memories rushing back to her. Then, they put the catheter in, emptied her bladder, strapped her legs down so she couldn't dislodge the tube and LEFT HER THERE FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES with nothing to do, but cry until the doctor came in. So they finally did the test-she is the same as last year, no improvement so I am pretty sure the urologist will require us to take some medical action now because she is almost 4 years old and potty trained, two things that made it possible for us to "wait a little longer" before. At the end of the test, they have to x-ray the bladder as it empties. So the doctor told Loredana to pee. She said, " I don't have to go." We were looking at her bladder on the TV monitor. It looked like a hot air balloon. She kept insisting she didn't need to go. They poured water for her, nothing. But she was screaming because she was uncomfortable. The nurse said, "Wow, she's a tough one." They had to hook up another bottle to the catheter to make her pee-not fun.

We stopped and got a Slurpee on the way home. When we were at the Rainbow Curve, Loredana says to me, "Can you hurry us home because I need to go to the bathroom really bad!" All she would need at this point after the torture of the afternoon is to have an accident in the car. So I pulled over to Borders and took her to the bathroom. Only to find out that she had blood in her urine. That had never happened before. (sorry, Kelly, my tenses are all over the place!) I called the testing center for advice, they tried to convince me that it was just irritations from the catheter, not to worry, it will slowly become less and less. I spent the next five hours worrying about whether or not I should take her to the emergency room. After several phone calls with my Pediatrician's office I decided not to take her in for more medical violations. This morning everything seems to have returned to normal and she seems to have recovered PHYSICALLY-the mental and emotional results are harder to heal.

After the initial test and the bad news results I was upset in the parking lot. I told Doug that I just keep waiting for this to be over and it keeps going. The thing is, this is a relatively mild problem. It can be fixed and as long as we keep her on antibiotics and well hydrated it is not life threatening. It could be worse. She could have terminal cancer-I don't know how people handle that, I would completely LOSE IT! "We should just be thankful."

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Tolerance

(Disclaimer: Here I go opening cans of worms again)

So Emma read me a book she checked out from her school library tonight. It is called the Family Book-that's the actual title. It goes through and says things like, "Some families look alike, some families look different, some families are small, some families are large, some families live close, some families live far away...etc....." So one page says, "Some families have two moms or two dads" My mind quickly flashes to the Christian hype and how absolutely HORRIBLE it is that a book like this would be available to children. I mean really, that is straight out ACCEPTING homosexuality. Especially since the last page says, "There are lots of different ways to be a family. Your family is special no matter what kind it is." There you have it The author and publisher of this particular book are trying to make children think that just because they have a stepmother or a single mother that they can have a valuable family experience-what are they trying to do-the nerve! Maybe I should march up to the school and demand that the book be removed. Maybe, but I don't think I will. You see, one of the pages of the book says, "Some families live in a house by themselves some families share a house with other families" I like that Emma heard that from an outside source, because even though she has never mentioned it-she is completely aware that most people including EVERYONE in her first grade class, live in a single family home with a single family. She can kind of relate to the child of a homosexual couple in the fact that their family/home life is different and maybe not accepted by the general population. God has placed us here with an extended family. It's certainly not normal but I would hope that my children would not be UN accepted because of what God has called us to. I like tolerance. I think a lot of people could learn a lot of things.

So I won't be protesting this book, in fact Emma is sharing it with her class tomorrow.

This reminds me of a scene in the great movie classic "Footloose". The radical Christian townspeople are burning books from the library and the reverand of the town stops them and says, "Satan isn't in these books. He's in here. He's in your hearts. After you burn all these books, what are you going to do then? Who appointed you to be the saviors of everyone's souls in Beaumont? Go, and sit in judgement on yourselves. "

And in honor of my husband, from Star Wars, " Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." We fear what we do not know and do not understand. We don't have to agree or adopt the things we learn about. But we can't love someone if we don't know or understand them. The way I understand the Bible is, we were taught to love God and love each other. That sounds like a little bit of tolerance would be necessary to me.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Mother's Day

I had a very good Mother's Day thanks to my wonderful husband and kids. I slept in, had breakfast in bed, got some charms for my charm bracelet from Christmas, watched my family outside as Doug mowed the grass and the girls pushed toy lawn mowers around and played on the slip and slide, watch Pollyanna with my girls while we painted our nails, and played the Mommy Game-a homemade game Doug made with the girls where they have to do things for me like turn on Music I like or make my bed. I enjoyed my family today.

Everyone should watch Pollyanna. Watch and be glad!

In other news.....
I happened to be on the other side of town yesterday and decided to drive by the old Central building. Some church appears to have bought it. I am glad for them. It is a good building despite the mold, bugs, smothering heat, and odors. I hold those memories dear. It was a good time. I wished I would have enjoyed it more at the time.

I saw a shirt the other day that said, "losing faith in humanity, one person at a time". It reminded me of my aunt-I'm not exactly sure why. She was just here to visit and I didn't really get to see her that much because my kids were sick.

Happy Mother's Day-I hope you enjoyed your family as much as I did.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Trivia and Stuff

It takes 14,000 situps to burn ONE pound.

I doubt I've done 14,000 situps in my life. Obviously I need a new exercise routine- hahha.

Loredana quote: There's a bug in the bathroom and it's NOT a ladybug.

Loredana is learning some things about dinosaurs at preschool. She was telling us all about meat eaters on the way home one day. Her speech therapist said she is making good progress and I heard her say "spoon" perfectly today. How great it will be when we can understand every sweet, wonderful, creative thing that comes out of her mouth. So long Loredana-ese.

Jack just came and yanked my hand off the keyboard to give me a high five. 4:20 today he crawled into my lap crying and pulling on my shirt. He hasn't nursed at all in a week. Poor Sugar. Jack had the notorious Citizen well check yesterday: 10-25 % for weight, 10-25% for height, 75-90% for head circumference. They get those heads from their dad!

Emma is a planner. She was just telling me today about the Fourth of July and how it's her favorite holiday (that's because it is the NEXT holiday). Sunday she was raving: May Day is SO fun- I'm not making that up!!!

Doug went to Wal Mart last night at midnight because the Soundtrack for Episode III came out today- can you say "obsessed"?- I called him when I woke up at 1:25 AM and he wasn't home yet. He had to send some poor soul to the stock room to find it because they hadn't shelved it yet. 8:00 this morning- too late or something, I guess. It's the last movie. That's sad.

It's Teacher Appreciation Week. I actually got presents from parents this year. That has never happened before. I don't know how parents are supposed to even know it is Teacher Appreciation Week. It was very nice though. I am LOVING this cool weather. I know it is supposed to be hot already, but I prefer crisp breezes, so I will enjoy it as long as it lasts. It will be 110 before we know it, then I'll have to start counting down to Halloween with the Parker boys.