The last few weeks have been stressful at our house. There have been outside factors (Dad's pacemaker) (doctor appointments)(taxes, and other scary finances) and, in a much larger way, internal factors. One of the biggest ones is the 'invisible' nature of the issues we deal with on a daily basis. Out in public, or at church, or on a simple field trip, Mayahna and Ricky appear to be (mostly) normal kids who are even 'sweet' and 'cute' a lot of the time. This is NO reflection on what we experience at home. Here at home we have constant issues with defiance, lying, 'forgetfulness' in relation to responsibility, impulsiveness, even, lately, anger, on the part of Ricky, who gets ANGRY with me, when I have to give him consequences. And with this comes 'weariness' and a perpetual state of being perturbed on the part of the other three siblings (who can blame them - it is CONSTANT!)
Many would say, ' Oh, all kids lie.' Or, 'All kids are forgetful about their chores'. But there is a constant nature and an intensity of the issues that is difficult to describe.
For instance, on the impulsiveness issue. Mayahna (she is SEVEN, remember) decided she needed to see the birdies better out her bedroom window. So she opened it, (heaven knows the glass is not clear enough) and pushed the screen out. I'm not entirely sure she didn't try to crawl out on the roof. (oh, and did I mention that this was during the time in the morning, when she is supposed to be lying on her bed, quietly, till someone gets her up?) So, she is grounded to staying in my physical presence at all times. Now, she has a tendency to use this to her advantage and be constantly demanding my attention for minute little things and at the most inappropriate moments. Which, again, is not a big deal, unless it's constant and continuous. Which it is.
I'm tired. Something has to change or I am not going to make it through the next 11 years (till Mayahna is 18 - as if that will be the end!)
There needs to be an ability for me to say to Ricky "Bring me your folder, so I can check it" and he actually shows up, in some reasonable amount of time, and shows me his folder. I need to be able to say to Tommy - 'please go empty the garbage', and know that not only does he take out the bag, ALL the way to the trash can, and replaces the lid afterwards, he makes sure that there is no trash laying around on the ground, around the trash can, and puts a new liner in. I need to be able to say to Mayahna, 'Lay quietly on your bed, until someone gets you up' and not have to listen to 15-20 'loud yawns' (reminding me that she is still there, and would like to get up).
I love table games. But I do NOT like this kind of games. I'm worn out.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
what a WEEK it has been! (and it's only Wednesday)
The girls and I had a LOVELY time in Nashville for Annie's birthday, last Thursday. I'll do a separate post for that with pictures, even though it happened before what I'm posting about here.
The storms last Friday didn't amount to much. I felt kinda bad for dragging Lon home with us, but it was sweet of him not to mention it, or rub it in that nothing actually happened.
Saturday was a little nuts. Not putting much detail up about that, here, but suffice it to say that things did not go as planned that day. But we were able to discuss it as a family and come up with some good solutions and plans. It was still an emotionally draining day. We didn't go to church, and didn't go do anything in the afternoon either.
Sunday morning started early with a phone call from Michael, the fellow who Annie is subbing for on his paper route, and will eventually take it over from him. She was supposed to meet him at 2:00ish to go help roll papers and ride along on the route to learn it. At 5:00 he calls and I don't even say good morning, I just say "didn't she show up?" he says "I dont' know if she did or not - I just woke up myself!" She HAD shown up, but got there a FEW minutes late and THOUGHT she saw him leaving his neighborhood, as she drove in, and so, didn't want to call since they have young children, and she didn't have enough gas to drive to the warehouse to see if he was there... So, she came home and he calls us at 5, wondering if the three of us can just knock out the route, because he has to be at work at his other job at 7:00. So Lon and I and Annie raced out, and ran his route. Got it done by 8:30, not bad. He usually tries to leave the warehouse by 4 with all the papers rolled. We got the papers from him at 5:30, only about 30-40 of them were rolled, and we were all done delivering only 30 minutes past the deadline. Two of us were madly rolling in the back seat while the other drove, and then, eventually we switched around and one was navigating, one throwing and one driving.
Since we were up, and running, we got home and got busy on the garden box projects, etc. Made good progress on that. EVENTUALLY I WILL get a picture up. Promise. It's raining today, so I'm not able to put the finishing touches on, as I had hoped to do.
About mid-way through the day Sarah was holding her cat, who has not been feeling particularly well the last few days. Just a tummy bug of some sort... we had thought to take him in on Friday, but were not sure he needed that, then after the vets had all closed, I googled what might make a cat start going poop other places than the litter box and what I read made me rather nervous - it said it could be a Urinary Tract infection which can progress quickly to life-threatening, particularly in young kittens. So, we kept a close eye on him. Sabbath - at about 10, I was thinking, well, our vet DOES have Saturday hours, maybe I should call, and see what she says. Turns out their hours are 8-10 and I called three minutes after they closed. So, Sunday, she went, at one point, and picked him up, from where he was resting, to cuddle him a bit, and he was SO limp and unresponsive I dropped everything and we ran him to the Emergency vet. $350 later and 20 minutes of sweating bullets that he might have FIP too, like Elliot did, he was diagnosed with a 'fever of unknown origin' and given a fluid infusion and some antibiotics and we took him home. Scary.
Oh, and I didn't mention that about 30 minutes before all of that hit the fan, Tommy started BALLING up in his room - apparently his hamster had died. No idea why for certain, but probably WAS a UTI on that one though. Poor guy - he took it pretty well, though, really, he was not that close to his hamster, it was not a very tame one. Still sad.
There was a gal posting on Craig's list that she had river-rock that she wanted removed, and we could have the rock. We need some, for the cob buildings, so we went and drug home three loads of rock. The little kids were AMAZING - Lon and I could not keep up with them, carrying the buckets they filled, to the truck/van. We got three loads. Probably $150-200 worth of river rock. YEAH!! Only bad thing was, apparently on the last trip home, Lon hit a critter of some sort. No one could see whether it was a fox, or a cat or a opossum. But the kids were kind of upset anyway.
Then we ran to the store to get a few things for the garden boxes and THANKFULLY Lon and I both went. When I ran my card it got declined. I checked the balance on my phone and it was FINE, so I figured my magnetic strip was just going bad. Lon had his card, and it ran fine. Still got that panicky feeling in my gut though.
On our way home from that trip, Annie called and said "Can you hurry home, Logan seems to be crashing again" - she thought he was not responding, etc. We were almost home anyway, and by the time we got there, he was fine, so apparently they had just woken him up, and he was just groggy. But I still got another shot of adrenaline in my gut. There were FAR too many of those that day!!!
Went home, and CRASHED. Slept WELL that night.
Monday was a tad crazy. When I checked my phone in the morning, I saw that there was a message from the credit union. Apparently fraud protection had shut my card down when someone was trying to use it in California at the same time that I had used it in Alabama. GRRRR. (glad for the Fraud protection people though!) and I would need to go to the bank to order a new one. Bother. So Lon and I ran into town, and got a few more things we needed to finish up the garden boxes and I went to the bank. We did get a lot done in the evening, but that meant that we missed the classes we typically go to on Monday evenings. It was good to get things done though. We were out on the deck, working on things, till quite late, and fell into bed exhausted again.
In the midst of all the business that was the evening, I apparently missed a phone call from my folks. Dad had apparently gone to the doctor for a routine appointment of some sort, and the Nurse Practitioner that saw him was concerned about his low heart rate. She called in the Dr, who happens to be a cardiologist, and he ordered an immediate (next morning) pacemaker insertion.
So, Tuesday morning, we were driving up to Nashville to take Lon back to work, since he left his car there, when he came home with the girls and I last Thursday. We made plans to go to the zoo, since it's a down week this week, from book work, and the kids have been wanting to go back when it wasn't so HOT. Lon was driving and I checked my messages at one point and saw the message from my folks. I called them immediately and caught them before they left for the appointment. He was supposed to be there at 8:00. Apparently they thought it was going to be a day-stay thing, I don't know, our conversation was interrupted by the poor cell coverage between here and Nashville. I figured I would check on them later in the day and see how things went.
We had a reasonably nice time at the zoo. And on the way home, I tried a couple of times, to reach my folks and see how things went. No answer at home. When we get home, I post on facebook, asking if I should be concerned or not, that they are not home yet, and several people say "it's usually an over-night stay thing" - oh. I tried calling their cell phone, but they probably had to have it turned off, particularly if he is in a cardiology unit. Mom did eventually call, and let me know that things went very well, that he was resting well, and would come home in the morning.
I spoke with her already today and she said she had spoken with him on the phone already and he sounded SO much better. He is having very little pain and seems to be in very good spirits.
We are all feeling like we dodged a bullet here. There is likely blood pooled at the bottom of his heart because it has been beating so in-efficiently, and it very easily could have thrown off a clot, causing a pulmonary embolism or a stroke He's on blood thinners, now, too. I told her to make sure he hears the Dr's instructions regarding 'takeing it easy' for the first few days until the meds can do their work. I'm afraid he will be feeling so much better he will want to get active, and if the blood has not thinned out yet, it could still cause a clot to break loose - so I got to play parent to my parents for what I believe was the first time, and I was telling Mom to make sure he LISTENS when the doctor tells him what he can and can't do. I suggested SHE ask the doctor to explain the risks, etc. And ask how long it will take for the blood thinners to have their full desired effect.
We are all hoping that he will have more energy now, and feel better. Life can sure take some interesting turns and twists. That was very unexpected!
Today is a rainy day, so we are relaxing. The younger three kids have dental appointments this afternoon, other than that, we are chilling today (and catching up on the blog!) (sorry that was such a long post!) I keep dozing off and dreaming that I'm driving the paper route and dozing off while driving. Perhaps I should catch another nap, here, before we go to the dentist. So, so, SO glad that this was already planned as a 'down week' from school work!!
The storms last Friday didn't amount to much. I felt kinda bad for dragging Lon home with us, but it was sweet of him not to mention it, or rub it in that nothing actually happened.
Saturday was a little nuts. Not putting much detail up about that, here, but suffice it to say that things did not go as planned that day. But we were able to discuss it as a family and come up with some good solutions and plans. It was still an emotionally draining day. We didn't go to church, and didn't go do anything in the afternoon either.
Sunday morning started early with a phone call from Michael, the fellow who Annie is subbing for on his paper route, and will eventually take it over from him. She was supposed to meet him at 2:00ish to go help roll papers and ride along on the route to learn it. At 5:00 he calls and I don't even say good morning, I just say "didn't she show up?" he says "I dont' know if she did or not - I just woke up myself!" She HAD shown up, but got there a FEW minutes late and THOUGHT she saw him leaving his neighborhood, as she drove in, and so, didn't want to call since they have young children, and she didn't have enough gas to drive to the warehouse to see if he was there... So, she came home and he calls us at 5, wondering if the three of us can just knock out the route, because he has to be at work at his other job at 7:00. So Lon and I and Annie raced out, and ran his route. Got it done by 8:30, not bad. He usually tries to leave the warehouse by 4 with all the papers rolled. We got the papers from him at 5:30, only about 30-40 of them were rolled, and we were all done delivering only 30 minutes past the deadline. Two of us were madly rolling in the back seat while the other drove, and then, eventually we switched around and one was navigating, one throwing and one driving.
Since we were up, and running, we got home and got busy on the garden box projects, etc. Made good progress on that. EVENTUALLY I WILL get a picture up. Promise. It's raining today, so I'm not able to put the finishing touches on, as I had hoped to do.
About mid-way through the day Sarah was holding her cat, who has not been feeling particularly well the last few days. Just a tummy bug of some sort... we had thought to take him in on Friday, but were not sure he needed that, then after the vets had all closed, I googled what might make a cat start going poop other places than the litter box and what I read made me rather nervous - it said it could be a Urinary Tract infection which can progress quickly to life-threatening, particularly in young kittens. So, we kept a close eye on him. Sabbath - at about 10, I was thinking, well, our vet DOES have Saturday hours, maybe I should call, and see what she says. Turns out their hours are 8-10 and I called three minutes after they closed. So, Sunday, she went, at one point, and picked him up, from where he was resting, to cuddle him a bit, and he was SO limp and unresponsive I dropped everything and we ran him to the Emergency vet. $350 later and 20 minutes of sweating bullets that he might have FIP too, like Elliot did, he was diagnosed with a 'fever of unknown origin' and given a fluid infusion and some antibiotics and we took him home. Scary.
Oh, and I didn't mention that about 30 minutes before all of that hit the fan, Tommy started BALLING up in his room - apparently his hamster had died. No idea why for certain, but probably WAS a UTI on that one though. Poor guy - he took it pretty well, though, really, he was not that close to his hamster, it was not a very tame one. Still sad.
There was a gal posting on Craig's list that she had river-rock that she wanted removed, and we could have the rock. We need some, for the cob buildings, so we went and drug home three loads of rock. The little kids were AMAZING - Lon and I could not keep up with them, carrying the buckets they filled, to the truck/van. We got three loads. Probably $150-200 worth of river rock. YEAH!! Only bad thing was, apparently on the last trip home, Lon hit a critter of some sort. No one could see whether it was a fox, or a cat or a opossum. But the kids were kind of upset anyway.
Then we ran to the store to get a few things for the garden boxes and THANKFULLY Lon and I both went. When I ran my card it got declined. I checked the balance on my phone and it was FINE, so I figured my magnetic strip was just going bad. Lon had his card, and it ran fine. Still got that panicky feeling in my gut though.
On our way home from that trip, Annie called and said "Can you hurry home, Logan seems to be crashing again" - she thought he was not responding, etc. We were almost home anyway, and by the time we got there, he was fine, so apparently they had just woken him up, and he was just groggy. But I still got another shot of adrenaline in my gut. There were FAR too many of those that day!!!
Went home, and CRASHED. Slept WELL that night.
Monday was a tad crazy. When I checked my phone in the morning, I saw that there was a message from the credit union. Apparently fraud protection had shut my card down when someone was trying to use it in California at the same time that I had used it in Alabama. GRRRR. (glad for the Fraud protection people though!) and I would need to go to the bank to order a new one. Bother. So Lon and I ran into town, and got a few more things we needed to finish up the garden boxes and I went to the bank. We did get a lot done in the evening, but that meant that we missed the classes we typically go to on Monday evenings. It was good to get things done though. We were out on the deck, working on things, till quite late, and fell into bed exhausted again.
In the midst of all the business that was the evening, I apparently missed a phone call from my folks. Dad had apparently gone to the doctor for a routine appointment of some sort, and the Nurse Practitioner that saw him was concerned about his low heart rate. She called in the Dr, who happens to be a cardiologist, and he ordered an immediate (next morning) pacemaker insertion.
So, Tuesday morning, we were driving up to Nashville to take Lon back to work, since he left his car there, when he came home with the girls and I last Thursday. We made plans to go to the zoo, since it's a down week this week, from book work, and the kids have been wanting to go back when it wasn't so HOT. Lon was driving and I checked my messages at one point and saw the message from my folks. I called them immediately and caught them before they left for the appointment. He was supposed to be there at 8:00. Apparently they thought it was going to be a day-stay thing, I don't know, our conversation was interrupted by the poor cell coverage between here and Nashville. I figured I would check on them later in the day and see how things went.
We had a reasonably nice time at the zoo. And on the way home, I tried a couple of times, to reach my folks and see how things went. No answer at home. When we get home, I post on facebook, asking if I should be concerned or not, that they are not home yet, and several people say "it's usually an over-night stay thing" - oh. I tried calling their cell phone, but they probably had to have it turned off, particularly if he is in a cardiology unit. Mom did eventually call, and let me know that things went very well, that he was resting well, and would come home in the morning.
I spoke with her already today and she said she had spoken with him on the phone already and he sounded SO much better. He is having very little pain and seems to be in very good spirits.
We are all feeling like we dodged a bullet here. There is likely blood pooled at the bottom of his heart because it has been beating so in-efficiently, and it very easily could have thrown off a clot, causing a pulmonary embolism or a stroke He's on blood thinners, now, too. I told her to make sure he hears the Dr's instructions regarding 'takeing it easy' for the first few days until the meds can do their work. I'm afraid he will be feeling so much better he will want to get active, and if the blood has not thinned out yet, it could still cause a clot to break loose - so I got to play parent to my parents for what I believe was the first time, and I was telling Mom to make sure he LISTENS when the doctor tells him what he can and can't do. I suggested SHE ask the doctor to explain the risks, etc. And ask how long it will take for the blood thinners to have their full desired effect.
We are all hoping that he will have more energy now, and feel better. Life can sure take some interesting turns and twists. That was very unexpected!
Today is a rainy day, so we are relaxing. The younger three kids have dental appointments this afternoon, other than that, we are chilling today (and catching up on the blog!) (sorry that was such a long post!) I keep dozing off and dreaming that I'm driving the paper route and dozing off while driving. Perhaps I should catch another nap, here, before we go to the dentist. So, so, SO glad that this was already planned as a 'down week' from school work!!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Flexibility Required
People are seeing news tonight, about the storms in Oklahoma, and checking in on us already. We had a trip to Nashville planned for tomorrow, to celebrate Annie's birthday, but I think we will likely end up staying home. Unstable weather is due in tomorrow and I do NOT like leaving anyone at home alone on days like that, nor do they much care for it to happen, either. Especially as far away as we would be.
This time of year one learns to be flexible. We'll just have to go up next week instead. As long as nothing 'ugly' comes in then... roll with the punches, I say. What other choice do we have? I also think it's good that the kids are learning to roll with the punches now, while they are still young, it's a good characteristic to have.
addendum: We ended up going, we left early, and got home early, it's 8:30 now, we are home, safe and sound. Lon came home with us, we are looking at some potentially ugly storms tonight between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. I was nervous enough I asked him if he could work from home tomorrow. His boss ok'd it - and we also got to meet the nice lady who hosts him, on the nights he spends up there. Her husband was not home from work yet, so we didn't get to meet him, but she was a very sweet gal. It was nice to meet her finally.
This time of year one learns to be flexible. We'll just have to go up next week instead. As long as nothing 'ugly' comes in then... roll with the punches, I say. What other choice do we have? I also think it's good that the kids are learning to roll with the punches now, while they are still young, it's a good characteristic to have.
addendum: We ended up going, we left early, and got home early, it's 8:30 now, we are home, safe and sound. Lon came home with us, we are looking at some potentially ugly storms tonight between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. I was nervous enough I asked him if he could work from home tomorrow. His boss ok'd it - and we also got to meet the nice lady who hosts him, on the nights he spends up there. Her husband was not home from work yet, so we didn't get to meet him, but she was a very sweet gal. It was nice to meet her finally.
Need to start calling ATT every day!!
Last time I called, they figured out a way to save us $20-30/month, by combining Lon and I into a shared Data plan (and I was calling to complain about repeated bill reminders, which I had already scheduled a payment for, and they also credited me $50 for my 'trouble')
Today I called, just to ask about the possibility of getting Annie an i-phone, since her i-pod button quit working several months ago, and Lon tried to fix it, and apparently made it worse in the process. We sent it in, to get it fixed, and they called today and told us it was going to be closer to $120 to fix it than the $30 we were expecting (planning to 'give' it back to her, for her birthday tomorrow)
So, I'm thinking, an i-phone wouldn't be THAT much more than that, and then she would have a phone, too... and so many more features!
So, I called ATT - the lady was AWESOME - first she says, WHY do you have TWO plans? Last month, when they changed Lon and I to shared Data, they apparently set up a new plan for the two of us, and left the girls on our old plan. She said that combining them would save us about $50/month. I'm good with that! Then she said that she would check and see if there should be a credit, if they had done it back when they combined our bills. I was thinking, it's only been a few weeks, so I doubt it would be much - turned out to be $142!! That will show up as a credit on next month's bill.
So, then we go shopping for phones, there's a re-furb, but the new one we could get, if we just add a new line, is only $50 more. So we add a line for Em, and the new phone will be Annie's and we will switch the sim's at the ATT store, after it gets here (she said it COULD even be delivered today!) And the total bill, even WITH a new line, will be less than what we WERE paying, before we added it.
Annie is helping to pay the difference between what we would have spent to repair the i-pod plus what we would have spent on her birthday, and the total (about half of the cost). And she will be paying the difference in how much it costs to have another smart phone on the plan. She has a job now. What a difference that makes in EVERYTHING.
I really think I need to just start calling ATT every week or so, to see how else they can save me money!
Today I called, just to ask about the possibility of getting Annie an i-phone, since her i-pod button quit working several months ago, and Lon tried to fix it, and apparently made it worse in the process. We sent it in, to get it fixed, and they called today and told us it was going to be closer to $120 to fix it than the $30 we were expecting (planning to 'give' it back to her, for her birthday tomorrow)
So, I'm thinking, an i-phone wouldn't be THAT much more than that, and then she would have a phone, too... and so many more features!
So, I called ATT - the lady was AWESOME - first she says, WHY do you have TWO plans? Last month, when they changed Lon and I to shared Data, they apparently set up a new plan for the two of us, and left the girls on our old plan. She said that combining them would save us about $50/month. I'm good with that! Then she said that she would check and see if there should be a credit, if they had done it back when they combined our bills. I was thinking, it's only been a few weeks, so I doubt it would be much - turned out to be $142!! That will show up as a credit on next month's bill.
So, then we go shopping for phones, there's a re-furb, but the new one we could get, if we just add a new line, is only $50 more. So we add a line for Em, and the new phone will be Annie's and we will switch the sim's at the ATT store, after it gets here (she said it COULD even be delivered today!) And the total bill, even WITH a new line, will be less than what we WERE paying, before we added it.
Annie is helping to pay the difference between what we would have spent to repair the i-pod plus what we would have spent on her birthday, and the total (about half of the cost). And she will be paying the difference in how much it costs to have another smart phone on the plan. She has a job now. What a difference that makes in EVERYTHING.
I really think I need to just start calling ATT every week or so, to see how else they can save me money!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
An Unexpected Storm Watch
I'm keeping a private blog with two dear friends, where we do book clubs together and right now, we are also counting 1000 things we are thankful for. Thought some of you might like to read this one... (the numbers are the counting thing, to 1000 - as you can see, we have only just begun a few weeks ago...)
37-45) Stormy day - but mostly over now and no big storms (well, not BAD ones) we knew there were thunder storms headed our way, that had made ugly stuff in Mississippi and Arkansas, but it seemed to be fizzling on the 'severe' aspect of things. Then, suddenly, at about 11:00 this morning, they put us on watch. (#37 - much as I hate it, I DO appreciate - am THANKFUL for - the warning system) So, instruments went in the closet, shoes were found, just realized now, we TOTALLY forgot about Jackets... anyway, all the precautions were taken - well most of them. But, I had to take my student home, get groceries and take Em to a Chiropractor appointment. The main squall line was not due here till around 2:30 or 3:00 - so I called the Chiropractor to see if we could move her appointment up a bit. They said no, Dr was out till 2:30, and the schedule was packed. But a few minutes later, they called back and said there was a cancellation (#38) and we could come at 2:15, so she could get her traction and see the Dr. as soon as he got back from the dentist, at 2:30. So we raced out the door, dropped off my student, and grabbed groceries - of course with a storm on the way, the grocery store was not your typical 'early afternoon quiet' - there were lines, and I knew we only had about 20 minutes to get to the Chiro's office. But we managed to get to the car with more than enough time to get there, in fact we got there early. (#39) and then the Dr called and said his Dentist appointment had gone bad and he was not coming in for the afternoon - too much pain. We could do the traction, but she would not get adjusted. They didn't even charge me for the traction (#40) and we got home WELL before the storms arrived (#41) (I do NOT like leaving the kids home by themselves on days like this - I even considered taking them all WITH me, but didn't feel that was the safest route to go!). There were several warnings NEAR here, that really put me on edge, the storm was approaching from the same direction, and on the same path as the big ones did two years ago (though, honestly, they ALWAYS come from that direction - well, almost always) though it was clearly less 'organized' and less severe than that day. There were reports of a funnel cloud sighting about 30 miles from here. THAT made me nervous. But I couldn't turn the TV on to see what the damages were, because Tommy freaks out, and because we had everything unplugged due to the lightening. Then we went on warning. It was a 45 minute long one!! (usually they are about 20-30 minutes) We crammed ourselves into the shelter, pets and all, and started sitting it out. They ended it early (#42) at about 4:30, and we came out, nothing had happened. A few trees were down, way down in the FAR south part of Huntsville, other than that, not much took place. (#43) We are all safe (#44) And we can re-schedule the TaeKwonDo testing that was supposed to happen to next Wednesday, and skip Pathfinders, so we have a quiet evening ahead of us (#45) (other than prep for the garage sale, tomorrow, but I'm not going to stress about it, what will get done will get done, and what doesn't won't.)
37-45) Stormy day - but mostly over now and no big storms (well, not BAD ones) we knew there were thunder storms headed our way, that had made ugly stuff in Mississippi and Arkansas, but it seemed to be fizzling on the 'severe' aspect of things. Then, suddenly, at about 11:00 this morning, they put us on watch. (#37 - much as I hate it, I DO appreciate - am THANKFUL for - the warning system) So, instruments went in the closet, shoes were found, just realized now, we TOTALLY forgot about Jackets... anyway, all the precautions were taken - well most of them. But, I had to take my student home, get groceries and take Em to a Chiropractor appointment. The main squall line was not due here till around 2:30 or 3:00 - so I called the Chiropractor to see if we could move her appointment up a bit. They said no, Dr was out till 2:30, and the schedule was packed. But a few minutes later, they called back and said there was a cancellation (#38) and we could come at 2:15, so she could get her traction and see the Dr. as soon as he got back from the dentist, at 2:30. So we raced out the door, dropped off my student, and grabbed groceries - of course with a storm on the way, the grocery store was not your typical 'early afternoon quiet' - there were lines, and I knew we only had about 20 minutes to get to the Chiro's office. But we managed to get to the car with more than enough time to get there, in fact we got there early. (#39) and then the Dr called and said his Dentist appointment had gone bad and he was not coming in for the afternoon - too much pain. We could do the traction, but she would not get adjusted. They didn't even charge me for the traction (#40) and we got home WELL before the storms arrived (#41) (I do NOT like leaving the kids home by themselves on days like this - I even considered taking them all WITH me, but didn't feel that was the safest route to go!). There were several warnings NEAR here, that really put me on edge, the storm was approaching from the same direction, and on the same path as the big ones did two years ago (though, honestly, they ALWAYS come from that direction - well, almost always) though it was clearly less 'organized' and less severe than that day. There were reports of a funnel cloud sighting about 30 miles from here. THAT made me nervous. But I couldn't turn the TV on to see what the damages were, because Tommy freaks out, and because we had everything unplugged due to the lightening. Then we went on warning. It was a 45 minute long one!! (usually they are about 20-30 minutes) We crammed ourselves into the shelter, pets and all, and started sitting it out. They ended it early (#42) at about 4:30, and we came out, nothing had happened. A few trees were down, way down in the FAR south part of Huntsville, other than that, not much took place. (#43) We are all safe (#44) And we can re-schedule the TaeKwonDo testing that was supposed to happen to next Wednesday, and skip Pathfinders, so we have a quiet evening ahead of us (#45) (other than prep for the garage sale, tomorrow, but I'm not going to stress about it, what will get done will get done, and what doesn't won't.)
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Another Busy Sunday
Started the day with some upset boys who had been asked to clean their room before breakfast, and when it came time to sit down (nearly two hours later) they were disappointed when they got sent upstairs to DO the job before they ate! They threw a 10 minute fit, and after an 'attitude adjustment' got the whole thing DONE in less time that THAT. Humph. Anyway, hopefully they learned something from the process...
The rest of the day way ubber productive! We made a list of 20 things
that needed to be done, and divided it out, so that everyone had
something to do. Mayahna and I cleaned the Garage - oh MY - does it
look GOOD! The boys were busy moving dirt for the cob project and
moving leaves into the burn pile. Lon put new motors in for the vent windows of
the van - that took WAY longer than expected - installing the motors
themselves was not that hard, but getting the interior panel pieces back into
place when he was done was a BEAR. Emma cleaned/tidied in the utility
room. Annie and Sarah spruced up (deep cleaned) the screened porch,
since spring has finally arrived and we will want to be out there more
now. And when we were done with the garage Mayahna got busy with
putting all the cardboard into the back of the truck, to take for recycling, and I got busy
with a building project that I've had materials for for almost a year -
three planter boxes for the back deck, with benches in between them, so
that we have seating around the fire pit, and space to plant some
zucchini and cucumbers. Annie lit a fire in the fire pit, just before
dark, and we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows as a treat after a long
productive day.In the end, there were 9 items not done on the list, but two of them are well on the way, and several other things that were not on the list, got done too, (like securing the screen on the girls' bedroom window so that the cats can't push it out. They did that, today, and it landed on Tommy's head - fortunately the SCREEN part was what hit him, not the edge - or the whole day would have gotten side tracked by a trip to the ER for stitches, I'm sure!!) (and did I mention that securing the screen involved a trip to the church to pick up the ladders that were still there from way back when the truck broke down?) (and I also got my basil plants in their big pots, and ready for some tasty pesto this summer)
So we go to bed, tired, but happy and with that awesome 'We got at TON done today' feeling - and - I'm SO happy with the planter boxes/benches - I can't wait to get the dirt into them and the plants planted!
Monday, April 1, 2013
A little April Fools Day Fun
So, Lon wanted to do some fun prank on the kids for April Fools day - I found this idea, and while it wasn't exactly a prank, it was fun, and cute, and we are having a lot of laughter popping up, throughout our morning, as the kids find the various things that have 'come to life'. April Fool! (PS - don't buy googly eyes at Target - they have a wax-paper-like backing on them that does not stick to the glue dots - had to make a quick run to Walmart last night at about mid-night, to get different ones that, thankfully, worked!)
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