Yes, it's true...even the teacher looks forward to Spring Break! AND, here it is!!!!!!! SO - aside from a mountain of paperwork staring at me from my desk, and a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, I don't have to "work" until next Monday...YEAH!!!!!!!!!
In the meantime, I'm a full-time Mom for the week. It used to be that this would entail day trips and hanging out, but M is getting older, so we're all about playdates this Spring Break. In fact, as I type, she's upstairs with a friend playing.
Tomorrow we are heading to Salem for hair appointments and lunch with the cousins, then M is going home with them for a sleepover. Tuesday they will bring her back in time for dinner, then we will possibly keep their daughter over nite if the girls aren't all done being with each other. Wednesday will depend on if P spends Tuesday nite or not - M and I will either take her home to Salem, or we will hang out here in town and find something fun to do here.
Thursday and Friday are currently unbooked (SHOCKING!), but M does want a playdate with another friend, as well as a trip to visit her former daycare for a day, so we'll just have to figure out which falls on what day.
Luckily, at this age, playdates mainly mean listening for loud thumps, screams/crying, providing nutritious snacks on occasion, and being an adult on the premises for legal purposes. COOL! I do have to say, that a couple years ago a sleepover went VERY wrong, so I learned to keep a little closer eye on the girls than I did in the past - or at least not to allow them access to scissors...
The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind for us of work and meetings and other craziness. My job has kept me on the go as always, so this week was a much needed break for us. Unfortunately D is not in the teaching profession, so he still has to work this week, but he has the option of setting his own schedule to a certain degree, so theoretically could take time off. Although, I can't imagine why he would voluntarily assist with play date supervision! In fact, he volunteered to run errands today to get out of it. I told him we could "rock, paper, scissors" for it, and he said, "let's just assume I won and I'm going on the errands". Hee Hee!
Speaking of loud thumps...gotta go!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
A trip to remember
We returned home last evening from out trip to CA for my nephew's birthday. All in all it was a pretty good trip, with a few "moments"...
FRIDAY - the flight down was uneventful, which is amazing for us since when the 4 of us travel together, there's often drama. No major drama on this one. Got in and I went to get the rental car. We'd decided to go with a "full-size" this time rather than a mini-van or SUV so we could cut a few costs on the trip. Well, they were all out of full-size, so we got a free upgrade to a luxury model. woo hoo??? We were cruising in a black Mercury Grand Marquis all weekend. I called it a gangster car, we also called it the squad car as it looked a bit like an unmarked police car. We had some fun with new names for us (I think I was Starsky, D Hutch, M Huggy Bear - had to do with her fuzzy lined jacked, and Mom the captain). The car was very nice, but very big!
SO - we arrive at my sister's house at 8ish where we are greeted by her and her boyfriend and their 4 collective children. What fun! She escorts D and I down to the house where we'll be staying (our "room" at her house is now her (not) soon (enough) to be ex husband's room, so not available for D & I to use). Part of their parenting plan so far is this bird nesting deal where they share custody of the kids and the house, so on the off days, they have to find another place to live. One of their neighbors is a weekender, so she uses their house when she is unable to be in her own house, which was where we stayed. Confusing, I know, but that's the way this whole divorce is going...
Had some dinner, hung out, said goodnite to BF and his kids, then all of us hung out a little more, then went to our respective beds. AND, that's when the fun began...
D was icing his knee when I went upstairs to bed, but apparently started having intense pain that ended up keeping him (and me) up all night - not in his knee, but related to a kidney stone being passed (we were pretty sure that was it - unfortunately, we have 14 years and endless stones worth of experience in the realm of kidney stones). Well, this pain was way worse than ever before and therefore, very concerning to both of us. Apparently he did ask me to take him to the ER at about 4am, to which I responded by snoring, but I obviously don't remember that. ANYWAY - it was obviously a rough nite for us.
SATURDAY - party day! D was still in a lot of pain as well as tired and cranky from a sleepless nite. I wasn't in pain, but definately tired and cranky from the evening. BUT, we headed over to the house to head off for the party. WOW! This place we went was way cool! It had a jungle theme with a huge play structure, bumper cars, games, and laser tag (we didn't do laser tag). It was arranged really well with the seating area in the middle so parents could keep an eye on things as the kids ran amok...woo hoo! D chose to chase kids along with sister's BF, while us girls hung out and chatted. All in all a great party - all kids had a blast and we were there for probably 4 hours. During that time D was still in a lot of pain and decided that after the party he did in fact want to go to the ER to make sure that this was a kidney stone and not something else. I tried to get our doctors up here to call in an Rx down there for him for some pain meds to help out, but they can't do that over state lines. DAMN! SO - after the party, my sister dropped D off at the ER and met us at home (Mom and I brought 3 girls, D went with sister and BF and 2 boys). I headed over to the ER in time to go in and see the doctor. He was very nice, they ran a quick test that determined that 99% sure it was a kidney stone, but gave us the option of more tests and such to gain that extra 1%. We opted to go home with drugs and follow up here in town (did I mention we had dinner reservations?)
OH - didn't mention the whole ER experience...what a great place to watch people! There was a guy with an IV hanging out who kept tripping over garbage cans, a newborn baby with his parents, a family with 2 young boys who were VERY interested in D's backpack full of video games and candy, and then, there was feral child. Before I got there, feral child was drumming intensely as if performing with an 80's rock band apparently. So sorry I missed that one! To give you an idea - s/he looked like the "bee child" from the honey commercials - wild, crazy hair, apparently no joints in body based on how it flopped around, and otherwise crazy looking. By the time I got there, feral child had apparently worn itself out by all the vigorous drumming and was now collapsed in the chair "sleeping". Occasionally s/he would readjust itself and flop to another position, but with eyes still closed, so freaky as hell to watch. My quick diagnosis would be mental illness like maybe schizophrenia, or possibly autism. It's "handler" made a call at one point and said that it had calmed down quite a bit since they got there, so I'm thinking group home or something. ANYWAY, feral child kept us entertained during the ER waiting room experience.
SO - the adventure to find an open pharmacy began as we headed toward the steak house where we were meeting everyone else (no kids - got a sitter for them!). NONE WERE OPEN! It was so frustrating! There were rumors of a 24 hour Walgreens in a town about 20 minutes south of where we were. We planned to head down after dinner.
Dinner was very nice - a wonderful steakhouse - great time was had by all. D had mellowed out a lot knowing that he didn't have some strange disease, and a couple Guinesses later, was almost back to his normal self.
After dinner we resumed pharmacy search. My sister gave us directions, but the exit she named didn't exist by that name. Thank goodness for my sense of direction and vague knowledge of the area, coupled with D's phone's GPS system. We eventually found the Walgreens and began the hour long wait for the meds. OH JOY! I couldn't believe how long it took. There were tons of people there wandering aimlessly waiting their meds as well - guess when you're the only pharmacy open after 6pm on a Saturday nite, all kinds of fun happens. Finally got the drugs and headed back about 10pm, just in time to say goodnite and head back to our house for the night.
D took 2 Percocet and 1 Flomax (relaxes things to help with flow) and was a happy camper for the rest of the nite!
SUNDAY - picture day - D took 2 more Percocet and passed the stone in the morning! YEAH! It was a good sized one, too. He was a bit zoned out from the drugs, but felt very little pain, so was much more fun to be around!
Headed to mall with 5 kids to get family pictures taken. That went fairly well, even though one boy was a giggle puss, the other wouldn't smile to save his life, M was trying to tell the photographer what to do, how to pose them, etc. AND, sister and I were ready to strangle each and every one of them! Thank goodness the guys brought us Starbuck's, then took the kids to the play area while we chose pictures. They came out really cute, actually, and we even got Mom to sit in on one of them and it came out great! May scan/post one when we get them in - they had to be ordered, so will have them in a few weeks.
Had lunch, let the kids run amok in the play structure, threw coins in the mall fountain, ran amok some more, did a little shopping (while kids ran amok), then headed home. Sister made yummy ribs for dinner, we hung out and chatted while kids played and napped. Pretty low key day.
MONDAY - sister and kids had to leave at 7am to get them to school on time, so we got together to say goodbye, then watched them drive off. M laid on the couch watching TV while Mom, D and I got packed up, cleaned house since ex was taking possession that day, and got ready to go. Headed out about 9:30 to visit my great Aunt who lives (conveniently) very close to the airport.
Spent a couple hours there - another cousin and one of her daughters and granddaughter came to see us as well, so had a great visit. We don't get to see my aunt and uncle often enough, but try and see them as often as we can when we're in the area. This aunt is my grandfather's baby sister, so she's only a few years older than Mom and her sisters, so while "technically" they are aunt/niece, they grew up more like siblings. She's way cool, too - very crafty, very modern for a 70ish year old woman, very easy to talk to. Sure wish I could see her more often.
Left there about 1:30 to head up to the airport. At some point Mom's panties got in a bunch about something (still haven't figured it out) and that set the tone for the rest of the trip. Returned the ganster mobile, and took a shuttle to the terminal. Had a little time to hang out before our flight, then it was off. They said that we were expecting a real bumpy take off b/c of the wind and such, but it wasn't bad at all. I slept the whole flight, which made it go much quicker (and much less drama!).
After we got to Portland, M and I stopped to buy a bottle of wine to send to the owner's of the house we stayed at while D and Mom went for the luggage. A quick dinner at Red Robin, then the drive home.
Have to say, I miss my sister a lot when we're not together, but boy oh boy do I like coming home!
FRIDAY - the flight down was uneventful, which is amazing for us since when the 4 of us travel together, there's often drama. No major drama on this one. Got in and I went to get the rental car. We'd decided to go with a "full-size" this time rather than a mini-van or SUV so we could cut a few costs on the trip. Well, they were all out of full-size, so we got a free upgrade to a luxury model. woo hoo??? We were cruising in a black Mercury Grand Marquis all weekend. I called it a gangster car, we also called it the squad car as it looked a bit like an unmarked police car. We had some fun with new names for us (I think I was Starsky, D Hutch, M Huggy Bear - had to do with her fuzzy lined jacked, and Mom the captain). The car was very nice, but very big!
SO - we arrive at my sister's house at 8ish where we are greeted by her and her boyfriend and their 4 collective children. What fun! She escorts D and I down to the house where we'll be staying (our "room" at her house is now her (not) soon (enough) to be ex husband's room, so not available for D & I to use). Part of their parenting plan so far is this bird nesting deal where they share custody of the kids and the house, so on the off days, they have to find another place to live. One of their neighbors is a weekender, so she uses their house when she is unable to be in her own house, which was where we stayed. Confusing, I know, but that's the way this whole divorce is going...
Had some dinner, hung out, said goodnite to BF and his kids, then all of us hung out a little more, then went to our respective beds. AND, that's when the fun began...
D was icing his knee when I went upstairs to bed, but apparently started having intense pain that ended up keeping him (and me) up all night - not in his knee, but related to a kidney stone being passed (we were pretty sure that was it - unfortunately, we have 14 years and endless stones worth of experience in the realm of kidney stones). Well, this pain was way worse than ever before and therefore, very concerning to both of us. Apparently he did ask me to take him to the ER at about 4am, to which I responded by snoring, but I obviously don't remember that. ANYWAY - it was obviously a rough nite for us.
SATURDAY - party day! D was still in a lot of pain as well as tired and cranky from a sleepless nite. I wasn't in pain, but definately tired and cranky from the evening. BUT, we headed over to the house to head off for the party. WOW! This place we went was way cool! It had a jungle theme with a huge play structure, bumper cars, games, and laser tag (we didn't do laser tag). It was arranged really well with the seating area in the middle so parents could keep an eye on things as the kids ran amok...woo hoo! D chose to chase kids along with sister's BF, while us girls hung out and chatted. All in all a great party - all kids had a blast and we were there for probably 4 hours. During that time D was still in a lot of pain and decided that after the party he did in fact want to go to the ER to make sure that this was a kidney stone and not something else. I tried to get our doctors up here to call in an Rx down there for him for some pain meds to help out, but they can't do that over state lines. DAMN! SO - after the party, my sister dropped D off at the ER and met us at home (Mom and I brought 3 girls, D went with sister and BF and 2 boys). I headed over to the ER in time to go in and see the doctor. He was very nice, they ran a quick test that determined that 99% sure it was a kidney stone, but gave us the option of more tests and such to gain that extra 1%. We opted to go home with drugs and follow up here in town (did I mention we had dinner reservations?)
OH - didn't mention the whole ER experience...what a great place to watch people! There was a guy with an IV hanging out who kept tripping over garbage cans, a newborn baby with his parents, a family with 2 young boys who were VERY interested in D's backpack full of video games and candy, and then, there was feral child. Before I got there, feral child was drumming intensely as if performing with an 80's rock band apparently. So sorry I missed that one! To give you an idea - s/he looked like the "bee child" from the honey commercials - wild, crazy hair, apparently no joints in body based on how it flopped around, and otherwise crazy looking. By the time I got there, feral child had apparently worn itself out by all the vigorous drumming and was now collapsed in the chair "sleeping". Occasionally s/he would readjust itself and flop to another position, but with eyes still closed, so freaky as hell to watch. My quick diagnosis would be mental illness like maybe schizophrenia, or possibly autism. It's "handler" made a call at one point and said that it had calmed down quite a bit since they got there, so I'm thinking group home or something. ANYWAY, feral child kept us entertained during the ER waiting room experience.
SO - the adventure to find an open pharmacy began as we headed toward the steak house where we were meeting everyone else (no kids - got a sitter for them!). NONE WERE OPEN! It was so frustrating! There were rumors of a 24 hour Walgreens in a town about 20 minutes south of where we were. We planned to head down after dinner.
Dinner was very nice - a wonderful steakhouse - great time was had by all. D had mellowed out a lot knowing that he didn't have some strange disease, and a couple Guinesses later, was almost back to his normal self.
After dinner we resumed pharmacy search. My sister gave us directions, but the exit she named didn't exist by that name. Thank goodness for my sense of direction and vague knowledge of the area, coupled with D's phone's GPS system. We eventually found the Walgreens and began the hour long wait for the meds. OH JOY! I couldn't believe how long it took. There were tons of people there wandering aimlessly waiting their meds as well - guess when you're the only pharmacy open after 6pm on a Saturday nite, all kinds of fun happens. Finally got the drugs and headed back about 10pm, just in time to say goodnite and head back to our house for the night.
D took 2 Percocet and 1 Flomax (relaxes things to help with flow) and was a happy camper for the rest of the nite!
SUNDAY - picture day - D took 2 more Percocet and passed the stone in the morning! YEAH! It was a good sized one, too. He was a bit zoned out from the drugs, but felt very little pain, so was much more fun to be around!
Headed to mall with 5 kids to get family pictures taken. That went fairly well, even though one boy was a giggle puss, the other wouldn't smile to save his life, M was trying to tell the photographer what to do, how to pose them, etc. AND, sister and I were ready to strangle each and every one of them! Thank goodness the guys brought us Starbuck's, then took the kids to the play area while we chose pictures. They came out really cute, actually, and we even got Mom to sit in on one of them and it came out great! May scan/post one when we get them in - they had to be ordered, so will have them in a few weeks.
Had lunch, let the kids run amok in the play structure, threw coins in the mall fountain, ran amok some more, did a little shopping (while kids ran amok), then headed home. Sister made yummy ribs for dinner, we hung out and chatted while kids played and napped. Pretty low key day.
MONDAY - sister and kids had to leave at 7am to get them to school on time, so we got together to say goodbye, then watched them drive off. M laid on the couch watching TV while Mom, D and I got packed up, cleaned house since ex was taking possession that day, and got ready to go. Headed out about 9:30 to visit my great Aunt who lives (conveniently) very close to the airport.
Spent a couple hours there - another cousin and one of her daughters and granddaughter came to see us as well, so had a great visit. We don't get to see my aunt and uncle often enough, but try and see them as often as we can when we're in the area. This aunt is my grandfather's baby sister, so she's only a few years older than Mom and her sisters, so while "technically" they are aunt/niece, they grew up more like siblings. She's way cool, too - very crafty, very modern for a 70ish year old woman, very easy to talk to. Sure wish I could see her more often.
Left there about 1:30 to head up to the airport. At some point Mom's panties got in a bunch about something (still haven't figured it out) and that set the tone for the rest of the trip. Returned the ganster mobile, and took a shuttle to the terminal. Had a little time to hang out before our flight, then it was off. They said that we were expecting a real bumpy take off b/c of the wind and such, but it wasn't bad at all. I slept the whole flight, which made it go much quicker (and much less drama!).
After we got to Portland, M and I stopped to buy a bottle of wine to send to the owner's of the house we stayed at while D and Mom went for the luggage. A quick dinner at Red Robin, then the drive home.
Have to say, I miss my sister a lot when we're not together, but boy oh boy do I like coming home!
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