COMMENTS ARE DISABLED NOW BECAUSE OF NASTY, DESPICABLE SPAMMER SNOT-PEOPLE!!!!
so...should you want to reach me, please do so in this manner:::
me [at] geannie [dot] com
(you know what to do, right?)
please lemme know whassup wif you, uhkay?
i'll try my bestest to get some sort of post up reeeeeally soon! promise!!
*muwah!*
test, test
well, i'm here folks! not moving so fast and quite worn out, but happy and full of not only good food, but an abundance of blessings and happy memories!
...and especially faahnt-say news!
first big doin's for us here at home was having linda and crew over... or corey's sweetheart and her family over fer dainties (bwah-ha-ha! roughest looking dainties you ever saw, eh, linda?)
anyhow... after having a few wrenches thrown in the week-long clean-up plan (like that thing w/my mil... who is doing TONS better now, praise God!) i was panicking as usual and we'd all kicked into overdrive saturday morning. i barely had time to put everything together (with much!! help from my boys!) before the lindas began to arrive!
they were naughty (heh) and brought a box full of wonderful goodies they'd made..jellies and jams and salsa and cookies cut and painted to be the nativity... i mean, we got a ton-a stuff! even though....the agreement was that the only gifting was to be between the kids *ahem* ...the kids leave it to linda to break the rules. *sheesh*
so we had this ridiculously fun time playing Christmas charades! turns out that some people had never even played charades before....
and even...i say, EVEN linda played!!! i mean it!! i am dead serious. cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my thigh! lookit---
and yes, yes... i did charades too. but since i was taking snapshots, no silly pix of me were taken and even if they had been, they wouldn't ever be published abroad because i know where you live. corey made up the list of thingies and my casey ran the video camera (we dug out our honkin' old one we've had since corey was a baby! woah!) and yeah, tommy did some too, but i didn't have any funny ones of him and besides...i need to get on with things here before i get tired and pass out.
after all the hubbub of charades, when we'd all but given up... corey finally gave melissa her Christmas gift.
*ahem* yes. *clink, clink, clink* yes, dear blogdom... it is with great pleasure that i share with you the engagement of my son corey to linda's daughter melissa.
it's about more than i can absorb right now. well, especially right now. but slowly, slowly i'm grasping the reality.
now, before you start making comments or sending me panicky emails....they will be having a long engagement. corey has college. let alone, um high school to finish! lol! he just felt strongly about this and like a wild horse, there was no stopping him. (bwah-ha-ha...how many ways can that be taken? hm?)
okay...i'll save the rest of this weekend for another post, uhkay? i'm just realllly, reallllllllly tired now for some reason.
gah! ;)
ps: [fyi::: in the ring pic above the kissy one...that is this little ornament with a little solitaire around those little packages on the little seat of the little swing. this was all corey's own little idea which shows he did get a little something from me. *grin* go corey!] *pththt*
later----------
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.
....the images that come to my mind today--- courtesy of googly images.
Okay. So Mrs. Diamond has subtly repremanded me for not being all mushy about today and well...about life in general, I guess.
I mean, she's not like hounding me, but I was a bit callus about her lovey-dovey posts, and I didn't mean to be. But I was honest about my lack of mushiness. Heh.
So, here's not a Valentine's Day post, because I'm just not really into V-day. I hate the big push for spend, spend, spending to impress someone who may or may not even want to talk to you tomorrow. And for us married folk? Well, it's a bit like invalidating the importance of expressing our love to each other every single day!
The thing that really drove it home this year? Running into Casey's bball coach, who is in a second marriage...or whose wife is, I'm not sure....in W@lm@rt, with an armload of Valentine candy and other fluff. He really was a strange sight. He told us he'd just taken his wife to get her nails done and he had just thirty minutes to get his shopping done. He was headed over to women's clothing and then to the checkout.
Gah! It looked as if he was like covering all the bases to avoid some nasty wrath. To be fair, I don't know the woman, but everything I've detected from talking to him and her son, she's a pretty high-maintenence gal. Sheesh!
Anyhow, I guess in all honestly, I have to tell you that in the past, I have been a big "supporter" of Valentine's Day myself. I would always get a card and if possible a gift of some sort for Tommy.
Thing is....Tommy's never really been big on Valentine's Day himself. He's been known to forget certain people's birthdays, for goo'nissake! Not often, mind you, but it has happened. And not just that, but the second V-day we celebrated while dating...he showed up at my house to pick me up....late....and walked in, tossed a stuffed pink bear and a card in my lap, plopped down on the couch beside me and with my dad sitting there he announced, "There. I got a ticket getting that stupid thing."
Oooooooh. Yeah. Major silence going on out there in cyber space. I just KNOW it!!
But we did (obviously) get past that...seeing as how we've been married 20+ years. For a long time, it was one of those "things" between us, but I finally grew up and got over it.
I still always 'celebrated' the day as I said above. Most ot the time, Tommy worked such long hours, there was never a dinner out. Sometimes it was because there was just no extra money to go out. Sometimes it was simply that he was so tired, he would most likely fall asleep during any dinner or movie. It was a waste of time.
He's brought me flowers many, many times. Sometimes, even for NO REASON whatsoever....so I can't complain about that. Well, once I finally got him to stop going to the florist and spending OUTRAGEOUS amounts for the flowers he brought home. Gah! That really bothered me for him to spend $30 on a few flowers in a plastic vase with some tacky doohickey stuck in it ... that would be dead within three days!
I know that sounds ungrateful, but we didn't have the money to spend like that! SHEESH! I finally taught him to get flowers, NICE, PRETTY, HEALTHY flowers, out of the cooler at the grocery!!! Ahhhh, now those, I really love getting!! Special-feeling makers for a fraction of the cost! LOL!
So...he's mentioned the big day several times this week. I dunno why. I was in need of some unmentionables, and he insisted that I get several of those along with a cute pj set...something I never buy. Unless it's on sale or in the unlikely event that I need nice ones to go somewhere, I don't buy jammies. I'll wear Tommy's sweat shirts or gowns I've had for eons right up until they fall apart.
Now I have this pretty jammie set and some new...erm...unmentionables. I figure that is my "valentine" gift. And that's great.
But Tommy is hinting that he'll be arriving at home with something else. Flowers, I'm guessing. (and let me be clear that I always love getting flowers....something about that makes me feel so special!)
But....I didn't get anything, not even a card, for him. Partly because it's slipped my mind with all the headache crud, and partly because it just hasn't seemed really important to me. Normally, I'd have bought the thing several weeks ago. That's how I do things. Tommy waits until the last possible moment. (I don't know how he stands that!)
So...I feel bad. I plan on trying to have a good suppoer ready when he gets home and I've typed him out a letter on mushy-type stationery. But I feel like I've failed. Again.
Again.
I feel like a failure most of the time these days. And especially when it comes to Tommy and the house and the kids and....
*sigh*
Okay, so....here's to the day:
And here's hoping you mushy it up in whatever way you enjoy most.