Society for the Preservation of My Sanity

stuff that's been happ'nin' since my last post:::

• that sunday, we went to sonny's bbq with my parents for my birthday. no, i didn't pick the restaurant. but it was okay. my sis was there, too. we had a good time. my mom gave me a cute hooded jacket thing. hard to describe, and she told me to make an eye appointment; that she was going to help pay for my glasses. says she's tired of seeing me squint at stuff. *sheesh* well, actually, that's a really great gift, cuz i can't see worth squat!
• monday, nothing ((that i can remember, that is)
• tuesday, i had an endo appointment. tommy took off work and went with me. we took the intrepid since the explorer still lacked the power steering pump. it rained all day, which sucked! but my appointment went great! i got the results from my last labs (which were supposed to have been mailed to me already!) and all the results were excellent! all my cholesterol thingies were super, my triglicers were awesome, my TSH (thyroid) was wickedly level (ha!) and my hA1c? (the blood test that checks your average sugar over 3 months) was fantastic!! it was 6.0% which is the best it's EVER been in my diabetic life of almost 32 years! gah! oh... and i'd lost five more pounds. which isn't much in 3 months, but i'll take it! that makes 13 in the past 6 months without really trying. sheesh. imagine if i'd just work at it a little? *sigh* i wish i felt like it!
  when i mentioned feeling so stinkin' tired all. the. time. to the endo, he immediately mentioned a sleep study. gah!
  i dunno if that would even be worth fooling with. i already went to a sleep study consult here in town. (hated the doc. such a jerk!) endo says they have a dedicated steep study wing right at the clinic. sheesh. i dunno. they won't even consider doing anything else until i get that blasted study done, it seems. what's a tired, tired girl to do?
  anyone else ever had one of those things???
• wednesday, d-day... the boys insist on taking me out for lunch. i don't really feel much like going. my stomach is bothering me again and *surprise* i'm tired. but i pull myself together enough to go. they take me to o'mally's and we have a very nice meal together.
  that morning, mom had called to tell us she wants us to come down for cake after supper. i tell her i don't need no cake! she already has it made. sheesh. so okay. i'm wondering what time dad will end up getting in from work and worrying about missing LOST on tv! isn't that shameful?!? lol! turns out tommy was the last to show up because, love his heart, he had to go through a couple entire stores trying to find something for me. i feel sorry for him in a way. but has such a hard time buying even simple (which it would have HAD to be! :) gifts for me because he doesn't know anything about me. sheesh! that's another post, though. lol! after cake, i did open a beautiful card from him and a gorgeously wrapped bottle of bubble bath (which i do love) and great smelling lotion (which i also love).. and the boys, God bless 'em, got me an mp3 player. now i can drown out the screaming in my ears instead of just getting jumpy and freaked out!! ;) anyhow, we end up staying past LOST time, but the boys had gone home to tape it. *whew* ;)
  
• thursday, nothing (that i can remember, although i'm pretty sure we went for groceries)
• friday, my sister took me out for lunch. we left at 11:30 and headed for chinatown. yum! except for that stomach thing is bothering me still. gah! i'm getting tired of that stupid stuff! anyhow, i'm able to eat at least a little but my stomach starts with the noises and i know it's going to get bad eventually. *sigh*
  from there, we're going to the movies, as per sis's plan. it's early, though so we stop at a vendor mall where my mom has a booth. we lollygag around there for almost 45 minutes, then head to the theater. i'm thinking we'll see something like the prestiege (it's just opened) or maybe one night with the king those are the only two matinees that interest me.... when we get there, i'm informed that we'll be seeing the escape clause: santa clause III. *sigh* i shoulda known.
  ah well. it wasn't bad. i just coulda done with a more adult movie, kwim??? oh, well... that's sis. it was fun to hear her laugh and to spend time together. since she married (a hermitcrab) we don't get to do that very much anymore. gah!

  it's about 4:30 when i get home. i'm pretty whooped already, but i can't unwind just yet! no! tonight is the birthday club dinner with my two friends! in an hour and a half, karen will be here to pick me up for a yum-n-yak at cracker barrel, the official meeting place of the birthday club. i had a really good time. karen got me a gorgeous sweatshirt, but it's too big. i'm hoping cb will have something as cool i can exchange it for! she also got me a pretty ceramic ornament. diane got me, of all things!!!! a scrapbook kit..... for tucker!!! the gift also included a bag of lifesavers (last bday get-together, i had a VERY bad low blood sugar "on" diane) and this reindeer 'costume' for tucker. it's such a cute idea! i can't wait to work on it. *sigh* just working up the courage? now that's gonna be the challenge. that, and finding some time. gah!

i had a very, VERY full birthday day!! sheesh!

what happened after that? good grief, i don't know!

• i've been fighting off a cold the whole time. it's slowly getting better, tho. S L O W L Y


• we've got the explorer fixed, better than ever and the intrepid up for sale. woo!


• my current jean size (no i'm not telling!) is getting kinda loose. some styles or maybe it's the brand, are down right baggy, but the next size down is too tight. sheesh! i guess with my stomach all goofed up and me not eating much, maybe i'll be able to make it down to that next size, but then i'll only have like one pair of jeans because i can't afford any more! lol! good problem to have, i guess. ha!


• we have the ugliest kitten at our house. she's been here for about four days now. i'm telling you, she's hideous! but she's the lovin'est thing you ever saw. corey is in love with her. she climbs up the length of him and rides around on his shoulders, rubbing her head against him like mad. she is a real people-cat. she squawls like a banshee to come in the house, but we've made her a warm comfy place outside. tucker takes a big enough fit when she comes and looks in the doors! lol! anyhow... someone tommy works with wants her for a housecat. (yay!) but corey says no. he only gets the cat if he buys the 'trep. sheesh!
• they're talking about letting mamaw come home, but... she still can't really care for herself. everyone seems to assume, or perhaps other family members are telling the staff and doctors that my mother can care for mamaw if she comes home. but that's not true.
  my mom is not physically able. mamaw will require almost constant supervision because she can't even clean herself after going to the toilet, okay? she can barely get around on her walker unless it's first thing in the morning, or just a very good day. most of the time, she has a lot of pain in her feet and she won't follow the therapist's orders to put her feet up. she can't stand the thought that she'll miss something, so she sits in her wheelchair with her feel dangling most of the time, out in the lobby. it's her favorite place. why they don't bring a stool or put the feet rests up is beyond me, but they don't.
  anyway, my mother cannot take care of mamaw. people think just because they live within yards of each other, it'd be a breeze to just 'run check on her', but that's SO not all there is to it. mamaw treats my mother differently than anyone else. she is more whiny, more accusatory, more needy with mom. and more demanding. it's an ugly situation with everyone saying things like "i'd come take care of her if i could..." or "i know of a lady who sits with people and she only charges $$$..." as if, #1 my father is the only child mamaw has and #2 that he is made of money. she does have another, older son.
  gah. i gotta shut up. this just gets nastier the more i talk about it. please pray. it's wearing the most on my mother, who must still deal the most with mamaw just because she's doing her laundry (driving 30mi one way every other day) and all that stuff....and she's stressed about the possibility of her coming home, of what is going to be expected of her and probably mostly, what people will say. *sigh* please pray for God's intervention. thanks!

Posted by subject G~ at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

At least nobody died.

There's just something about July 19. Something that makes people want to get sick, injured or um...well, check out!

Tommy's gramma passed away on our anniversary a couple of years ago. A couple years before that is when he pulled his grand doozie and broke his collar bone. But we won't talk about that now, WILL WE?????? And then here we are... yet another two years later... with Tommy's father in ICU after the appendicitis episode.

*sigh* I don't know what it is about those people. Sheesh.

So anyhow...more stuff went on after that last post. I mean, of course it couldn't just be like a simple appendectomy, doncha know?

After that surgery was over and all seemed well with the world, he started feeling ill... his blood pressure dropped slightly, then he started throwing up blood.

Hmm... not a good sign. Of course THEN his bp dropped hugely!! Tommy had gone back to work by then, so I got the call from the hospital lady telling me that This is MM Medical Center...Is Tommy there? I'm like um, NO...what's going on? So, she explains to me that FIL is having a little trouble and MIL is a little upset and wants him to come.

I told her I'd get in touch with Tommy if I could and if not, I'd be up there myself.

Ya'll can't imagine how freaked out MIL gets over stuff. *sigh* I knew if SOMEbody didn't get up there to do Outburst Control, someone could possibly be calling security on her.

Seriously...

But more on that later....

I got hold of Tommy, so he headed up there, and I hurried to swab off the sweat and dog hairs (I'd been weeding and brushing a very hairy, shedding dog! Urgh!) and pull my sweaty hair into a ponytail and Casey and I just hurried up there too.

When I walked into the Obseravation area, he looked like a little white lumpy pile. He was in really bad shape. Turns out he was hemorraging and they were going to take him back into surgery.

And yeah...MIL was in Freak-Out City.... matter of fact, there was talk of electing her as mayor, I think.

MIL has always been this way, but in years past, I didn't have to deal with it so much. But now with so many things happening with FIL, who can usually keep her calmed down???? Ya see?? Well, it's been a whole different ballgame, but I'm finally learning to quit tiptoe-ing around her about how she's behaving.

She doesn't seem to be able to help it in one way...I mean, it seems to be her nature to just immediately start all this I'm so AFRAID *bawl with head in hands* If he dies, I don't want to live!! *bawls louder* I don't know what I'll do if he dies! *voice getting higher & shakier* She just works herself up into this frenzied state and she'll get mad if you try to stop her. She'll ask you questions geared to feed her panic fire and if you try to put water on it? She will get this look as if you've betrayed her and she'll start bawling again...

I'm telling you. She's about impossible!!!

Anyhow... their pastor was there, and I really like him. At that time, after they'd just taken him for the second surgery and she was working her way up to a full-on fit, my dad, both the boys, Tommy and I were all there, too. We'd been trying to y'know...comfort her with analogies of how God takes care of things and we're not supposed to worry. How that no matter what, God is in control and whatever happens, it's all in His hands and it's all in our best interest because God never does anything that is not for our good, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time.

So Preacher walks up (he's a big ol' country fella) and she's started that bawling and wailing again. He says it's going to be alright. She answers with wails of BUT I'M SO AFRAID!!! And he says Mm-hmm...and there you sit, a-sinnin'.

*gasp* (and snicker, too!!)

She looked up with her mouth wide open and then frowned and told him she didn't wanna hear that! (see? I told you she'd turn on you if you didn't feed her pity fire!) So he said, That may be, but I'd be doing wrong if I didn't tell you so.

And he just stood there, smiling. I coulda kissed him. ;)

Later, after one of the nurses had run out to say he was doing really good in surgery, MIL calmed down a little. I pulled her off to herself and talked to her head.

I asked her What good does it do when you do that? Does it make FIL feel any better? Whether he knows you're carrying on like that or not? NO. Does it make YOU feel any better? NO. How about God? Does it show Him that you're trusting Him? Um, NO. Now, I know that your family all reacts to things in a similar way. They like to jump to the worst case senerio and make a mountain out of a mole hill. And I KNOW, over much smaller things than a surgery!! I know that.
But you have to work on quitting that. It's not good for you. You need to start recognizing when you're getting on that 'track' and stop yourself. ......

Anyhow...she agreed, etc. But that's how she usually is, too. She'll be all apologetic about how she acted after it's all over. Then she'll do the same thing again. It just freaks ME out. I just can't quite handle someone carrying on like that. Makes me wanna just smack her sometimes, ya know? Like in the movies.... Snap out of it!!!

*sigh* So FIL came through surgery #2 very well. They'd given him so much blood that the bleeding had stopped before they even opened him up (he takes a couple of blood thinning meds, thus the bleeding, so...med-free blood helped stop bleeding) They cleaned out the hemorrage mess and reglued all the previous incisions and closed him back up.

He's been doing really well ever since. Tommy's stayed the past two nights in ICU with him while his mom went home to sleep. I have been going during the day for several hours, just to give her a break to go eat or whatever.

Going to MM Med Center? You need someone in the room to watch out for you.... If you're not mobile enough to get up and leave or whatever? You need to have someone there to take care of you or ask questions or chase down a nurse/doctor or who knows!!! *sigh* It's just not a good idea to be up there alone, okay?

We're hoping they'll move him to a regular room today and maybe let him go home tomorrow. That man bounces back from this kinda stuff quicker than anyone I've ever seen!! Pr0st@te c@ncer/surgeries, heart @tt@ck/surgery.... He just keeps on ticking.... amazing.

So anyhow...um, there was no anniversary celebration. The evening of the 18th, I stayed at the hospital til about 1:30 the next morning... I went home and left Tommy there with his dad. When I got up that morning, the 19th, I got dressed and headed back to the hospital but Tommy had already gone. He'd had to stop by work to take care of some stuff (of course *grrr*) So I didn't see him til like 4pm... he was still sleeping and I was exhausted, so I piled into bed and we slept til about 6pm. We got up, I rustled up some supper, we ate, talked to Corey, who hadn't been home from work very long, poor baby, and went back to the hospital. I stayed til about 11pm, and Tommy spent the night up there again.

So there you go. Another lovely anniversary marked by memories of the hospital ER.

Gah.

Posted by subject G~ at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

So...I got a reply from the doc about the letter. (see previous post)

He apologized profusely for offending us. Then went on to tell me that his patients' health and safety was his first concern and because of that and because of some regulations (local? state? I dunno) he had to bring up the condom thing.

*shrugs* I dunno. *sigh* Anyhow...so there's that. I did go on and tell him I still didn't think for him to say "the more important thing I can tell you is..." was the right way to go about it, and he conceded that. Gah.

I dunno. I was really upset after I got off the phone with him. Actually, I was fighting back tears while still talking with him. Not sure why except that maybe my sugar was low. A very good possibility....OR it may have been that I just felt like he was saying, "I'm sorry.....but I'm not." Ya know? Like "I'm sorry you got offended, but not sorry I offended you." kinda thing.

*siiiigh* Sheesh. I dunno. Everyone else (mom, dad, T) seemed to feel it was all appropriate, so maybe it really was just me. Granted, I did have a really bad low blood sugar later. I just don't know.

Gah.

Anyhow...just wanted to update you on that.

Later.

Posted by subject G~ at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Just got it done. Tommy's just read it over, suggested a few tweaks and it's hot off the printer.

I thought I'd share:::

Posted by subject G~ at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, so in order to bring some decorum and sanctity back to The Society after an unfortunate rash of psycho-posts, here is a list of particulars I found over at Claire's. [NOTE: several of these questions had to do with emailing and tagging, etc...I changed those, just fyi]

1. What time did you get up this morning? Around 7 am (shock, I know!)
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, baybay. DIAMONDS!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Chonicles of Narnia
4. What is your favorite TV Show? Lost, Monk, Dirty Jobs, CSI & Mythbusters
5. What did you have for breakfast? Coffee
6. What is your middle name? Carol
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese & Suth'un
8. What foods do you dislike? brussel sprouts, canned hash, liver, clams
9. Favorite Potato Chip? Cool Ranch Doritoes
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I can't listen to music. It's constantly blaring out of 1 if not 2 of the kids' rooms. Gah!
11. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Explorer
12. Favorite sandwich? BLT or a juicy tomato & mayo sandwich on fresh bread
13. What characteristics do you despise? whiney/lazy, coniving/manipulative, dishonesty
14. What are your favorite clothes? jeans, comfy casual top and comfy, VERY comfy shoes
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? Europe
16. What color are your eyes? blue
17. Favorite Brand of Clothes? I don't do brands. If it's comfy and fits, I'll take it. ;)
18. Where do you want to retire to? A motorhome so we could travel all over.
19. Favorite time of day? evenings when Tommy's home and the kids are quiet (which means I seldom have a 'favorite' time of day!! LOL!)
20. Where were you born? Kentucky!
21. Favorite sport to watch? whatever my kid is playing!
22. How tall are you? five feet and some fraction of an inch (SHUP!)
23. What size shoe do you wear? 5.5.
24. Coke or Pepsi? If my sugar's low, gimme a Coke, please! (I prefer Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi, too, but Fresca over them both!)
25. Are you a morning person or night owl? I'm a night owl, but not hard core. Heh.
26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Hmm...possibly I have some exciting news, but sharing it? Nope. Not right now. Sorry.
27. What did you want to be when you were little? I don't recall thinking about that a whole lot. Dumb kid, eh?
28. What is your best childhood memory? getting caught out in the barn during a thunderstorm -- all of us, me, Mom, Dad & my sister. That was very unusual but so much fun. And singing in the car as we travelled.
29. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? wife, hostess, cashier, invoice clerk, bookkeeper, mom, health food store manager - in that order
30. Nicknames: Mommy-Fwommy, Gean-Gean, and honey (had to throw in a non-hyphenated name! LOL!)
31. Piercings? Two in each ear
32. Ever been to Africa? No
33. Ever been toilet papering? Nope. Although I do use it daily. ;Þ
34. Been in a car accident? Unbelievably, no.
35. Favorite day of the week? Friday because it begins the weekend when at least Tommy isn't at work.
36. Favorite restaurants? Cracker Barrel and China Town
37. Favorite flower? I love all kinds of flowers, but am partial to daisies, black-eyed Susans and Sunflowers
38. Favorite flavor of ice cream? chocolate with corn flakes--duh!
39. How many times did you fail your driver's license? none
40. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? some spamming dude. GRR!
41. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? ok, if I had the moolah to pay it off immediately? I'd go to a furniture store or an outdoor/garden store...then if there was anything left over (must be somebody else's card, huh?) I'd go to Dell. LOL!
42. Bedtime? midnight usually with an occasional 9pm and 2am thrown in just for fun. Gah!
43. What is your usual sleeping position? curled on my side, a king-sized pillow for my legs, one queen pillow and one (flat) standard pillow for my head & neck and my favorite squishy pillow to hug. (SHUP!)
44. Last person you went to dinner with? my Birthday Club gals
45. What are you listening to right now? the clicking of my keyboard, a video game, heat pump running and the constant tea kettle whistling in my ears *sigh*
46. What is your favorite color? green. I love green! (Claire! You stole my color! LOL! I love a mossy green with purple accent -- nyah!)
47. How many tattoos do you have? NONE!! No way, no how. (any idea how many needles I've dealt with in my lifetime? Gimme a press-on job, thank you very much. LOL!)
48. How many people will comment on this post? ummm....if I give a number, some smarty pants will post a bunch OR someone won't post just to keep from going over that number...so I'm gonna say....300!!!! Nyah!
49. What time did you finish this post? around 4pm
{why is there no #50?!?! how silly! I'm going to make one up!}
50. What will you do as soon as you're done here? go put on a load of laundry and clean in the kitchen..maybe work on The Giant Paper Pile...or just take a nap....

Hmm. A nap. Sounds like the best idea to me. ;)

Posted by subject G~ at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

I didn't get around to telling you all, but last week, I was alone for a brief period of time. The boys both left with my dad for a Nashville conference on Wednesday afternoon. Then Tommy left for the same conference at 5am the next morning.

Casey and my dad came back late Thursday night. Tommy and Corey didn't get back til very late Friday night.

*sigh* All the time in between was commandeered by my mother. Which was okay. It's just that I knew she was trying to fill my time in hopes of "cheering me up". That's how messed up I've been lately. Even my mom noticed.

So anyhow, we had a good time running around all day Thursday. I wouldn't have even bothered to get out of bed, I think, because that's the day my shoulders just stiffened up like crazy. But we had lunch out together and spent quite awhile just hanging around afterward and talking at our table. That was nice...and unusual.

Casey had a ballgame at 8:30 AM!!!! on Saturday, and he'd arranged for us to pick up his pal on the way. Two of their best players were not there, and they played a team who had apparently recruited a giant since the last time they played. I swear, this guy looked like he could have been 18 except that he had absolutely no facial hair. That's the only thing that kept me from accusing the team of bringing in an adult. Bah!

They lost once again. *sigh* I'm praying they can win at least one game before the seaon's over...which is in two more games. I'd hate for them to end with nothing but losses. They are the most disadvantaged team in that only two of the players have ever played on a team before and of the rest, about three of them are just not very well-coordinated.

Anyhow...Saturday was a busy day. We shopped a bit after the game, then we headed home to get some lunch, etc. We lazied around the rest of the day. I took a short nap, then we fixed pizzas for supper for the boys (the friend spent the night) and Corey, Tommy and I watched the last current DVD of Alias we had.

Fast forward to this week and I had the doc appointment Monday, then Tucker's grooming Tuesday and Tommy left for the mountains to get his continuing education hours in for work. He'll be back sometime late Thursday.

Tucker's been really whiny since his haircut yesterday. He's really wiped out today, too, even though he slept through the night.

Come to think of it, so did I!!! That hasn't happened in a long time! I remember changing positions once and maybe recall Tucker jumping off the bed one time, but other than that, I was snoozin'! Doc told me to bump up to two sleep tabs, but I only upped to 1.5 last night. I'll see how that works for me. So far, so good.

It's wet and cold outside today. Well, actually, it's cold IN HERE too. At least I think it is. The boys aren't complaining, so it must just be me. I'm tired of feeling so cold all the time.

I used to always say that being too cold was better than being too hot because you can always put on some more clothes....but there's only so much you can take off. But I'm beginning to wonder. If I put on much more clothing, I'm not going to be able to walk!

So...Tucker's all smooshed up behind me in my computer chair. He's stuck to me like glue since picking him up yesterday. I wonder if he's getting sick on me or if he's just off kelter because of the grooming + Tommy being gone + all the confusion of last week....??? Who knows?

Okay...boring. I know. Sue me. *heh*

Have a lovely day!

Posted by subject G~ at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Person 1: *forgotten, generic smart remark to Person 2*

Person 2: You'd better watch it or I'll hit you with my purse!

Person 1: *smirks*

Person 2: I mean it. I'll hit you with it and send you to the hospital, buddy.

Person 1: No you couldn't. You couldn't even swing it that hard.

Person 2: Oh yes I could. If I get it swinging round and round fast enough, I'd knock you into the next county.

Person 1: Yeah right.

Person 2: Yeah, you bet! I could sling it around like one-a them shot putters.

Person 1: A WHAT?!?!?!

Person 2: You know. A shot putter. One-a them guys that throws the bowlin' ball-lookin' things?

Person 1: Oh yeah. .....but you couldn't do it.

Person 2: You want to try me?

Person 1: No. We're in W@lm@rt now and I'm going to electronics.

Person 2: Well, okay. I'll call you when I'm done getting groceries. But I'm showing you that purse thing later.

Person 1: Yeah, whatever Mom.

Posted by subject G~ at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The title has nothing to do with butts (I know, you're disappointed OR relieved, depending upon who you are) OR any illicit drug.

It has to do with school. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to a free college planning financial aid thing. We had full intentions of going. Then we found out it was going to be a 45 minute drive instead of about 10 minutes.

Urgh. Well, we'd still go, we decided.

Saturday was Casey's ballgame at 8:30am, then two pals of his came home to do the paintball thing. Tommy and Corey played too since we had never had the one boy over and didn't know how "nice" he'd play paintball. We've had some nasty incidents with boys getting carried away with the paintball guns. Anyhow, it went fine and they played til about 4pm.

Then Tommy worked from midnight Saturday til about 3am Sunday morning. It was the only time this dairy/milk processing-packing place is shut down, so it had to be done during this timeframe.

It was windy and rainy and yucky, so he was completely wiped out by the time he got home. Then he woke up about 7am going, "Oh crap! Oh crap! I forgot, I forgot!" and holding his forehead. I thought for a minute he'd um....soiled himself, but after a preliminary sniff, I decided that wasn't it.

He'd forgotten to issue an advisory for the area affected by the work that night. He'd have to drive to his office across town and do it. I offered to go with him.

*sigh* So we got dressed and headed out. During the getting dressed he came up with the idea of going out for breakfast, too. I dressed faster. Heh.

We haven't gone out together like that in quite awhile, so it was nice. Casey beeped me about an hour after we'd left. I hated to tell him the plan and was telling Tommy we could just stop by the grocery and pick up a tube of cinnamon rolls and they'd be happy.

But Tommy told Casey our plan and Casey was like Good. You never do that kinda stuff. I'll fix me a bowl of cereal and go back to bed.

LOL! My kids are pretty amazing sometimes.

Anyhow, so we went to Cr@cker B@rre! and took our time having a nice breakfast, then headed home. I made him go straight to bed and I settled down in the living room to finish watching Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, you read that right. I'm slowly making my way through the classic DVDs on Bl0ckbUstEr. But, alas, I kept drifting off myself, so I just went and got in Casey's bed to sleep.

So, we'd been planning on going to this financial aid thing. I couldn't get Tommy awake enough to go, so I decided that Corey and I would just head over there.

He pulled out his high school planning binder and we started looking over the stuff there...and we began thinking that maybe it was a bit premature to attend this thing.

Corey doesn't want to go straight into college after he graduates later this year. He wants to stay with the ambulance service and get his EMT-b license, which he'll be much better prepared for if he sticks with this program. And it will give him a fairly high chance of employment anywhere he goes while also counting toward college credit in certain classes.

So today we've been reworking "the plan", reevaluating what he wants to do and how fast he wants to accomplish things. Same for Casey, too. And it makes me SO glad to see them putting so much thought into their own education! You can't imagine!! A homeschooling mom spends a lot of time second-guessing her choices. When you get a glimpse of fruit coming from those choices, it sure makes the load a bit lighter!

Along the same line, we have all our tax documents in, so I must also begin sifting through the mountain of papers and trying to translate them into useable info for the Eye-Are-Ess, otherwise known in our house as Idiots Reign Supreme. *siiiigh* Don't ask. I can't talk about it right now.

Urgh.

Hope you're having a beautiful Monday!

Posted by subject G~ at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is my mom's birthday. Yeah. She was a peekid New Year's baby, weighing in at barely four pounds. (is it any wonder she's too skinny for her own good?!)

She's impossible to buy for, so I bought a couple of cards for her at H@llm@rk...one from me and one from the boys and a bouquet of flowers. I think Sis and I will try to take her for lunch in a day or two. I have yet to go down and see her. I'm sure she's stewing at me for waiting so long.

I am dreading questions from her, like How come you all weren't at church? [because Corey's car is leaking both transmission fluid and anti-freeze and Tommy didn't feel like working on it yesterday] No, I'm not going to tell her that. Do you know what kind of grilling I'd get over that?!?! She'd just worry herself sick and drive me nuts in the process. She'd spend hours coming up with what, in her opinion, would be solutions to the problem....except that she never fully understands the problem.

But she does try. She's generous and worry-wartish to a fault.

As batty as she drives me, you can't help but love her. So Happy Birthday to my mom. I love you in spite of us both!

EDITAGE: Went to Mom's and had a really good visit. Had I known a little bouquet of flowers would make her run to wave them in Daddy's face saying I got some flowers, I got some flowers, Looky! Looky! in this funny singsong voice, I'd have brought her a bunch every day! *smile* Dad was even in good humor and all of us had a nice time just catching up and chatting.

Guess that's what I get for being so pessimistic, huh?

Posted by subject G~ at 06:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Gah! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We did, but nothing on Thanksgiving Day went the way I'd thought it would. It was all good, yes, but different.

For starters, we ended up painting the ceiling before going down to Mom's. Yes. I said we painted the ceiling on Thanksgiving Day!

The dumplings were almost made by the time I got down there. I was kinda floored, not understanding why they'd started so early. I didn't ask questions, but just jumped in helping do what I could. Later it came out that Mom had told all of us 6pm but had in mind (and told dad) 5pm...but forgot to inform the rest of us Good grief! Is it any wonder I'm a basket case most of the time?!??!

So, we had a good time, but Dad vows never, ever to have Thanksgiving so late again. Seems his digestive system gave him a good talking-to afterwards. Urgh.

Mom was wiped and basically didn't go anywhere for the next two days. *sigh* I hate it when she does that. She'd also tried a few new recipes, which is unusual for her, and most of them kinda flopped. Not horribly, but she was pretty torn up about it and had to warn everyone what was "awful". Sheesh!

{WARNING: RANT AHEAD} We didn't get home til about 11pm because the boys started a M0nop0ly game as soon as the table was cleared. My inlaws love board games. My family pretty much doesn't. We never played games much when I was little because it was nearly impossible to keep my sister focused enough. Even when she was old enough to play the games, due to her epilepsy, she just couldn't stay focused, so we always just kinda pretended to play games. That pretty much ruined me for being very competitive or even agreeable to most games.

I especially dislike long drawn-out games. I get SO tired of waiting for the M-game to be over when it inevitably gets dragged out at Christmas at the inlaws!!! Every one of that family plays like it's the real thing. Drives me absolutely nuts!

This time, though, it kinda made me mad. The area where the dining table was set up is kinda over in a hole to itself anyhow. So here they all are, my guys, hubby and the inlaws, and they're all bugging the snot out of me to play.

I did for awhile, but had to leave for a bathroom break. When I came back, Mom was hunched over the sink trying to do dishes with her back hurting. I jumped in and started helping her. When they hollered that it was my turn, I told them I was busy!!!! When Tommy realized what I was doing, he took my turn for me and they didn't yell for me again.

Mom kept shooing me away, but I wouldn't quit til everything was put away and washed. Then we sat down in the room beside the big game room and talked some. At some point, they needed me to come make some decision about my assets and such. Apparently, I'd amassed quite a sum and a couple of red-hot properties. Since it was obvious that I didn't want to play anymore (like me saying I don't want to play in the first place wasn't clue enough!?) they wanted me to liquidate. After a lot of begging and such from Tommy, I divided up my money and properties between the boys, and gave Tommy the $60 that was left over. He wasn't too happy and later blamed his losing the game on me.

Anyhow, it's not like the inlaws are very socially graceful people anyway. I mean, sometimes it's hard to figure out how their minds work. Like sending me that birthday bouquet the other day...after 20+ years of ignoring my birthday altogether?!?!? Just WEIRD! So then when Tommy joins in and drags the boys with him instead of visiting, it kinda burnt me up. I mean, we had all talked about Sis's boyfriend coming with her, but they couldn't even come up for air long enough to say more than Hi and 'Bye, let alone visit with Mamaw or my parents. It just seemed terribly rude to me. {END RANT}

*sigh* I'll get off this subject before I get upset again.

Back to the rearranging....on Friday morning, we didn't something we'd never ever done before! We went to one of those after-Thanksgiving-day sales!!! Yep. Tommy, Casey and I got up at 4 in the morning and drove to W@lm@r+!!! The boys had seen a tool box they wanted to get their dad for Christmas and it was in that big sale. Corey was going to have to work and didn't want to get up that early, etc...and there was no way I was going to attempt to go with just Casey and myself, not after how my sis described the pushing and fighting in past ATD sales! I was afraid by that time!!!

So, we told Tommy about it and he was willing to go. He didn't seem to understand the concept of "The early bird gets the goods" and we arrived with like 5 minutes to spare. He let Casey and me out at the door when we got there and saw all kinds of people running into the store. We went straight back to tools to find a whole gang of people all bunched around FIVE tool boxes!!! I just about freaked! I guess the lady standing next to me saw my expression and said, "They have more in the back and will give you a ticket to pick it up." Sheesh!

Tommy came in just before the melee started so I hurried over to the other side of the store to get in on another great bargain. Turned out it wasn't nearly as ferocious as Sis had let on...but then again, I wasn't anywhere near electronics or toys, which are the main areas of Sale Madness. I heard reports of toy-throwing and name-calling.

Good night. I've heard it all now.

We got home and piled back into bed. Later we got up and got Corey off to work and started on the bigger room. We'd moved everything except a china cabinet out on Wednesday night, so we were ready to start on the walls.

It took us most of the day to get it done, but we did. EVEN the trim! We also went ahead and painted the kitchen part of the wall. The middle wall of the big room runs right into the kitchen and there's NO good place to break it since the doorway of our bedroom sticks over into the big room by about 4 stinkin' inches!

We got in bed at about 12am that night. Saturday morning was more of the same. At this point, my feet were protesting loudly, but they weren't swelling. After rubbing them down with straight peppermint oil and a quick foot bath, I had them quieted down enough to start getting busy.

Tommy already had the paint tape up and was getting the floor ready for wax and buffing. We got that done about 5pm and started moving the biggest part of the furniture in. I found some furniture mover jiggys at Wm@rt the day before and those things are lifesavers!!! They moved the two 6-ft bookcases and the double-wide 6-ft cabinet fully loaded!! We took the computer and components all apart and cleaned them. The piano was the killer. Tommy and Corey LIFTED IT and carried it into the hardwood room. Sheesh! I'm just glad Tommy didn't tear his back up. Corey never even complained of being sore, but Tommy is feeling the after-effects. Thankfully ibuprofen and menthol patches are keeping him from being immobile.

I absolutely love this color and if not for being unbelievably tired from the effort, would happliy paint the rest of the kitchen and the other room and hallway this color!! And we may do that yet!!

As it stands, the paint in the front room was lots worse than I'd hoped. Since we had the walls almost completely covered with furniture, it was hard to tell. But it was plain to see once we started moving stuff out of there. That room has to be painted.

*sigh* I would be happy to do it the same color, especially since the open arched doorway joins the two rooms and connects to the hallway, but the guys are against it. So, I'll probably go a few shades darker and tell them to suck it up! Tommy thinks he can get the ceiling done tomorrow night, then I can work on the walls and trim on my own. Well, except for the middle wall which is 12ft high.

The carpet is horrible, but sadly, it's not much worse than I figured it was. GAG! It took staring at it in broad daylight for Tommy to even take notice. Forget that I've been telling him for years that it was horrible. NOW he says We need new carpet. Sheesh.

But that will have to wait. For now, it'll be all we can do to buy the paint for another room! I just don't think I can stand it til after Christmas, though, so we're going to jump in and tackle another room.

That's all for now. I have tons and tons to do to finish up things that have been moved into this room (including the computer!). Bookcases to clean and sort, cabinets to organize, and garbage to tote off. Gah! Not to mention the unreal mountain of laundry that's accumulated in the past 4 days. ARGH!

What? Pictures?? Yes. I have pictures. Just be patient. I'll have to get them uploaded and show them to you all at once...or maybe I'll put them up on flickr and post the link here.

Just gimme time!

Thanks for all the well-wishes on the rooms and the Happy Thanksgivings. :) Hope you all had a blessed holiday too!!

~hugs~

Posted by subject G~ at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

...my parents were married.

Phyllis and Bill
married November 15, 1963

Funny how similar their marriage has been to my own with regard to timing.

My mom was sixteen when she got married.
I was seventeen. (do you have annny clue how incredulous both of these facts make me when I consider that Corey is now 16.5???)

My dad was nineteen.
Tommy was eighteen.

They were married four years before having their first child (me!)
We were married almost four years before having our first child.

I was four when my only sibling was born.
Corey was almost four when his only sibling was born.

They lived with Dad's parents for a couple of years from just before my birth til shortly after I started walking.
We lived with my parents, in the same basement where they'd lived all those years before, for a couple of years just after Casey was born.

They moved just a little ways up the road from my grandparents.
We moved just a little ways up the road from our kids' grandparents.

Sometimes I don't know how they do it, holding it together for all these years. But then, sometimes I don't know how we do it, either. It's at that point that I know it is the work of the Almighty and nothing we do ourselves.

Mom and Daddy, even though I know you'll never read this at all, I wanted to share your accomplishment with the internet. I'm so proud of you!

Love,
Geannie

Posted by subject G~ at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

I am totally unable to think of a title today.

Lemme try to get ya up to date on all the dazzling array of things going on here in G-ville.

Tommy had to work AGAIN late into the night Friday. I swear! When it rains it pours. He's tried and tried to get free to do some hunting with Casey. All they've been able to manage are some short trips up on the ridge behind our house. To say the least, the pickin's are slim up yonder.

But there have been various vehicles to fix and pages to answer so any real days of hunting have not come to pass. Tommy has actually said to me that he's not really interested in going. That, my friends, is truly amazing! But Casey wants to go, so Tommy's tried to take him.

After two days in a row of working so late, he took him Sunday morning early up on the ridge and then again to another place that evening.

No luck, of course. The thing I hate most about hunting, other than how it makes most hunters go completely braindead, is the whole government regulation of it all.

Yes, I understand that it keeps animals from being hunted to extinction. I realize that. But of course, getting the government involved means it's gonna cost you out the wahzoo.

And it does. It's getting so that you have to be a rich guy to be able to hunt at all. Then there are the poachers who pressure the natural wildlife so that they change their habits or move to other grounds. Then there's all the hunting shows and all the gizmos that suddenly you HAVE to buy. It's become just a business now. I guess I just think that for landowners should have more rights over their own property and able to hunt their own farms and such.

Of course, then you'd have people buying up lands just to hunt or charge others a fortune to hunt.

*sigh* I know this can be a touchy subject, but all in all, I just wish it didn't have to be such a hard thing for my husband to take our son for a stinking hunt! Buying one license and set of tags is bad enough. Not completely outrageous....but on the other hand it is. But when you have to buy more than one to even be out with your hunting equipment? It's just crazy.

Guh.

So anyhow....Casey's team won its soccer game Saturday. They only have two games left. They've been undefeated so far except for week before last's game. And that one was infuriating. First off, both teams had stand-in coaches (Tommy's "co-coach" for our team) and both were a little unfamiliar with things and maybe a little nervous. (I KNOW Tommy was!) Then there were the referees. GAH!

I realize when you have to depend on volunteers to do things, you can't be too choosy, but one of the two gals is so sorry, I don't think she'd strike at a snake. Then there was the whole thing of them not agreeing on some calls. Or one calling something she was too stinkin' far away to have even seen. THEN there was the fact that for at least two of the six quarters the other team had an extra player!!!

Gah! See, we had two players absent and they did, so we were going to have to play all the kids the whole game. Somewhere along the line, a sixth kid showed up for the other team, but since a couple of the kids on that team were wearing jackets that weren't their jersey colors, well, I guess that's why no one noticed before we did.

Anyhow, they stopped the game when OUR team had control of the ball...when they holler "Stop, stop!" and the kids are confused about what's going on...the ball rolled on and was stopped by the other team. When the extra player was removed, the stupid ref started the game back....with the other team now in control of the ball. That wasn't the only time that happened. But none of us felt sure enough about arguing it to make a stink.

Also there was quite a bit of pushing and roughness from the other team that was NEVER called by the refs. The kid who was mostly responsible was truly apologetic and I don't think he was trying to be mean. BUT I know his coach-slash-father trains his team that way. He is really competitive and pushy. Gah.

Makes me sick for an adult to be that way. So, in the end, our kids lost by one point in a game that was grossly unfair.

*sigh*

Corey's worked pretty much a full week for the past several weeks. This week is no different. He's trying hard to save up money for a paint job for his car.

Speaking of the Trep, it seems to be doing fine now. Praise the Lord for that!

Tommy's work has been even more stressful than usual after one of the workers coming to him with some disturbing news. It seems that one of the crew chiefs had done a maintanance thing with this worker the week before. Normally, this work is done by a different couple of guys, but this chief was needing extra time so he could take a trip his mommy was going to pay for, so to help him out, Tommy let him do this job with this particular worker because the superintendent wouldn't let him use sick time for it since obviously, he wasn't sick.

Turns out that this chief LIED about how much time they worked (the job is done during the night, from like 8pm - 1am) AND not only that, but he'd skipped a bunch of the sites that were supposed to have had maintanence done, but signed off on them as done. And it gets only worse....the chief, as he passed by a site without doing the maintanence would look at the other guy and say, "You're not gonna tell on me, are ya?" GAH!

What makes it worst of all is that this guy proclaims to be a Christian. Most of the workers have long since learned that he's a liar. Things like saying he'd be somewhere, then not showing, or he'd bring something that he'd never bring, etc. The guys all knew that you couldn't trust what he said. But for him to lie about these kinda things? And encourage someone else to lie for/with him. AND after Tommy making special effort to help him?!?!?

GAH!

The chief-liar-guy was on his trip all last week and after Tommy having to work SO much and be SO tired and stressed...he's having to deal with this guy today.

He and the superintendent had been discussing what should be done about the situation. Tommy and I think the only option, unless the guy confessed right from the start, would be to fire him.

The super had said at the very least, he'd put him off a week without pay and take his company truck. But even after this guy comes back...well, everyone's going to know why he was off and they're going to be really resentful of having to work under him after knowing he's a big blow and all he got was a week off work.

I dunno. But I have just been praying that Tommy would have wisdom and energy today. He was out last night AGAIN on a pager call til after 3am.

My poor husband is in such need of a week off himself!! Gah!

Me? I'm doing fine. Just fretting about my hubby. I sent in my papers and money to go to the class reunion. *sigh* I guess I'll be glad I did. But it's too early to say right now. ;)

I haven't heard anymore from ex-hosting person. I dunno if she's given up or just found someone else to express anger at. Who knows? I did have to explain to Dad what had happened. Boy, he was hot! I told him the circumstances and he was just as angry as I had been. He couldn't understand at first how someone else had had access to his files. When I explained the details, he was furious saying how there should be some sort of law against destroying another person's property even if it is a set of files.

Sheesh. I told him I've already been all over this and back again. *sigh* Anyhow...at least I got a construction page up with his contact info.

Tonight is soccer practice so I'd better git. I hope Tommy's going to be able to come home in time...he's supposed to deal with the first 30 minutes of practice on his own because Coach isn't able to come til 7pm. (they had to move the time up a half hour because it gets dark too soon!)

I'm pooped after working up nine packed shopping bags full of greens! Gah! I'll be glad...later. Right now, I'm too tired!

That pretty much catches you all up. Boring, I know. But that's the best I got to offer today.

Posted by subject G~ at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)