Essay

As you are well aware of from past posts, Jman hates writing and normally does not finish his assignments on time. This assignment he did finish on time at school (a miracle in itself), and his teacher thought I should read a copy of it (it was a benchmark test essay, so the original could not come home). I've copied it verbatim, spelling errors and all. I believe the topic was "Where is your favorite place to go?"

J's response:

"My favorite place to go is home esspecaly after a long day at school or a bad camping trip. The reason is, you always know that somebody or something is waiting for you at home. If you're out in the cold for awhile it is always relaxing to warm up by the fire. It's just great knowing there is a room made just for you to rest in. But after any long dreary day there is no place better than home."

It warms the cockles of my heart.

Cold morning, warm hands

When we bought our car, the salesman couldn't help but push every extra feature that our car had, one of the being heated seats. We poo-pa'd him about it, saying we live in Texas it is always warm

Today it is 39 (cold by our standards) and my butt is nice and toasty. My hands too since the steering wheels heats up as well.

Vacation

Woohoo - I get to go visit my sister after Christmas! We finally both have vacation time at the same time. I can't wait to see her and my nephew. Jman is excited too - he's been mentioning for several weeks how we need to go see the little guy.
It is a relatively short visit - 4 days- but that should be enough time for us to catch up but not get on each others nerves. Plus, I'll be able to show hubby and Jman some of the prime tourist spots while we are there.

Lovely Locks

In the last few months, Jman decided to grow his hair long (much to the chagrin of his father). In the past he has had a "high and tight" military style haircut, which was easy to care for, no work at all. With the longer hair we've had to be on his case, reminding him that he actually has to brush his hair now that it is longer than an inch.
When I woke him this morning, I casually tousled his hair and noticed that it felt very oily. So I asked him if he was shampooing his hair or if he was using bar soap to clean it (he's done this in the past). He assured me that he was using the shampoo in his shower. My next question, "are you getting a good lather?", since he sometimes rushes his hair washing. His answer was no. OK. I told him to get out of bed and I would show him how to get a good lather. As we are soaking his head, he mentions that he did not realize he has to WET his hair first. What?!?!? He's been showering with no help for 5 years, has he never washed his hair in this time?
After his shower tonight, I checked his hair again - still not clean. What the heck is going on? Why is his shampoo not lathering? I inspect the bottle (who's label has come off) and notice that it is conditioner. When he last ran out of shampoo, whenever that may have been, he grabbed a bottle of conditioner from my vanity. Luckily, after careful questioning, we determined that it was not that long ago when he did this. We got a new bottle of shampoo out - his hair is squeaky clean now.

Holidays

This time of year usually I'm in a grinchy mood - I don't want to decorate or shop, bake or go to holiday parties...however...this year is different. I am so excited about Christmas, I'm in the mood to celebrate. I don't know why, since nothing is different. Well, I am to appreciate the beauty of the holiday more this year due to the trials and tribulations of this past year. The peaceful spirit of Christmas is filling my soul, and the excitement of it is too! Maybe because I can take a step back this year and really observe those around me. My son's joy and excitement is always to see...nine year olds are so sweet when they are in awe.
Hopefully I will continue this good cheer through the season. We shall see.

Thanksgiving food

Thanksgiving is almost here and that means lots of yummy food. We'll be at a friends house, traditional Texans, and our meal will reflect the blend of cultures.
They'll be antipasto, perhaps eggplant parmigiana, artichoke bake, broccoli salad, butternut squash, turnips and carrots (if hubby has his way), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cornbread stuffing, regular turkey stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham, turkey, pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.
Can you guess who is making what?

How's it going?

Hi there, how's it going? I'm finally able to come back to the world of blogger now that the fall festival is over. I went to bed at 9pm last night and didn't get up until 8am this morning. I needed the rest - I calculated that in the 48 hours before I had slept a total of 8 hours while the other 40 were literally spent on my feet. Woowee those were long hours for poor feet...they were swollen to twice their normal size and covered with blisters.
The festival itself went off quite well - at least that's what folks tell me. I was running around so much that I didn't get a chance to enjoy it. I was even manning the cotton candy machine for awhile - talk about a funny sight: short little ol' me standing next to a whirling dervish of a machine that was shooting threads of crystallized sugar into the air. I had one fellow look at me, look at me again with a slight tilt of his head, then comment that I was "all pink and sparkly".
At least it is done. All that is left are the letters to our sponsors and donors. Piece of cake.

Quote of the day

Be extra kind to people you see
because everyone is fighting some
kind of battle.

Happy Halloween

The costume that J-man is wearing is the same type of costume which frightened him terribly when he was 2 years old. He ran into older kids on the street and they made the costume "bleed" - he took one look at them, one look at me, and started bawling. Once we got home, he did not want me to open the door for any trick-or-treaters.
Now he is out scaring other kids....

Camping favorites

So, each member of Jman's scout den have an assignment for their pack paper to write a paragraph about their favorite thing about camping. He's going to write about roasting marshmallows. I thought I would write a paragraph about my favorite thing.
Waking up, just past sunrise, I zip open the tent,the cool mist still clings to the ground. All that can be heard are the birds and a squirrel or two. There is a scent in the air of dry decomposing leaves, and moist earth, and one more scent - the bitter acrid scent of coffee cooking over the warming morning fire. That first sip, scalding the roof of my mouth..I truly enjoy that part of camping.. and the fact that hubby gets up first to make it!

Doctor's visits

I got to spend all day (8:30 am - 3:30pm) at several doctors' offices today. Lucky me. Well, the first was a dentist (my teeth are good - no cavities or gingivitis) which was relatively quick, although the dental assistant was already saying how she had to work until 7pm and was not going to do any extra work...I feel bad for her clients at the end of the day.
Then off to the gynecologist - men, stop reading here - where I spent the rest of the day getting several parts of my body prodded, scanned and squashed. Unfortunately, chronic pain that I have been experiencing in my lower right quadrant was determined not to be the ovarian cyst I thought it was. In fact, the doctor said she could feel no inflammation...this was during the exam as I was crawling backwards off the table in pain. An ultrasound revealed nothing as well...so that leaves me with pain without a reason. I liked it better when I thought it was a cyst - it had a reason for existing...now it is a mystery.
Once I get all my test results back, we'll determine what the next step will be. I just love waiting for test results...

I finally said "no more"

I finally said "no more" to this fall festival thing. I got together with the PTO presidents and explained that I was unable to physically and mentally make it happen, that I was more than willing to continue helping out, but that I could not manage the whole thing by myself, not if they expected to have anything at the festival.

I tell you, once I spoke up I felt much better. This certainly was not worth my health. I know my limitations, I am not superwoman; but I also am not a quitter. It was very difficult to step up and say "I can't do it". However, they were very understanding about it and immediately stepped up to ask what they could do. I think the fact that my physical appearance gave its own story was a helpful tool .

fall festival

My son's school is having a fall festival, something I was roped into chairing. An event that normally takes months to plan, I get 1 month to plan it. It has so overwhelmed me that it is making me ill. Folks at work have sent me home early, because I look so bad. I've lost weight, my appetite, and have a knot in my stomach that effects me as soon as I think about going home.
I have no problem helping with it, but trying to organize it is beyond me - I am so over my head it is not funny.
The festival is Nov. 10 and I probably won't be blogging much until after that date - I won't have forgotten you, I will just be incredibly busy.

Come and gone

Well, our visitors came this weekend, without too much chaos; although one did miss his flight going out - the time had been changed from when he originally booked the flight. So, when he logged on iSunday morning to print his boarding pass for the afternoon, he was told that his plane was leaving in less than an hour and that he couldn't print his pass. This posed a wee bit of a problem, since with no traffic and breaking several speed limits, we live over a 1/2 hour from the airport. Luckily, we were able to get him on his way on a new flight without too much delay.

My father-in-law was not able to make it at all - his sciatic nerve was causing him trouble. He couldn't possibly sit for 4 hours on a plane. Well, he could but then he would not have been able to get off the plane and airlines frown upon that.

While our guests were here, we took in a ball game. My son has been to one other professional ball game, but that was 2 years ago and he was not interested at all. This year was a different story. once he figured out which team he wanted to root for, he was able to enjoy himself. The only problem he had was that the security guard kept standing in his line of vision of the big screen so Jman could not see the replays. I kept reminding him that if he watched the field, he would not have to see the replays - he is so used to seeing games televised that he had trouble with the concept that the game was right in front of him and that he did not need to watch it on a screen.

Although it was a "rushed" visit, it was good to see the family. I loved watching Jman bound with his great-uncle. Jman sees him maybe once every 2 years, so anytime together is precious time.

Visitors

Hmm...I've noticed something...it seems every time we have visitors due to arrive, hubby goes out of town the week before their arrival date. Now, I am sure it is not on purpose, since he does not set the date of the events he attends and the relatives don't contact us asking which dates they would like to come ( they contact us with the dates they are coming, and ask "is that OK?"); but it is an odd coincidence.
Our visitors are coming next weekend and hubby left today for his week long trip. This drives me crazy. I still have to work, but I also have to put the house into "visiting" status, which means: finally clearing those piles of papers that are on the tables, going through stacks of books, really noticing that Jman's toys have spread into every room and need to be picked up, getting new towels and sheets since ours have become rather worn since the last visit 3 years ago.
I also have to figure out where everyone will stay - instead of one at a time, the relatives come in groups. So father-in-law gets our bed (it's a sleep number one, so it will be good for his back), uncle gets the extra comfy futon (we bought it as an "extra bed for company"), cousin gets Jman's bed, and we sleep on the floor, which means finding an air mattress without a hole in it (seems that every time we bring out the mattress the day company visits, it has a hole - I'm testing it early this time).
Since they don't all come in at the same time on Friday (this includes hubby), I have to figure out how to pick them up and how to be home for the bus for Jman. There also happens to be a company luncheon that same day, partly being held in my honor, so I need to attend that too.
Plus I'll have to have a special dinner waiting for them...sigh...I'm tired just thinking about it all.

It will be nice to see everyone, I just hope I can relax long enough to enjoy seeing them!

Fall is here

Hooray! Fall has come to the central south of the US, which still means temps. in the low 90's but the air has dried out! Whoopee!!! We just spent the afternoon on a nice bike ride/run to the the park. I love this time of year (although I would like it better if our leaves changed colors). This is the time of year where I am most thankful for living here and for living in general. My mood perks up and I am impossibly cheerful - which tends to get on the nerves of some family members and coworkers..heheh.

Go-Karts

J-man and I went to race go-karts tonight; it was a blast. I wasn't sure how he would react - he does not like loud noises, and you have to admit that 5-10 lawnmower sized engines being raced does produce a bit of racket. Luckily, we were not on the adult track, but on the "junior" track. It was just 3 of us - the other person being one of my young co-workers who wanted an excuse to go to the race track.
J-man has never driven any vehicle before, so I was unsure as to if he would enjoy it. He went out of the starting block a little hesitantly, but got up his courage and maintained a steady speed for the whole race, getting stuck only once, and that time on a sharp turn. My co-worker and I raced around him and we could see the huge smile through the over-sized helmet he was wearing.
I'm glad I was able to be the "fun" parent tonight, that my son is still willing to share this kind of adventure with me.

Cancer

One of the events in my life that has thrown me for a loop is that my identical twin sister was just diagnosed with cervical cancer, and not the type caused by the HPV virus. It looks as though they will be able to treat it, but still...there are several reasons why this struck me hard, some selfish, some more obvious than others.
First, she is my sister, my twin. She is not allowed to get sick - I need her to stay alive so that if I need an organ transplant, I can have one of hers! Seriously, she's been through a lot and to have to go through this, it is not fair. Her medical insurance will not cover the surgery, since she has already exhausted it for the year due to other problems, so she will be in a financial bind, which, again, is not fair.
Second, she is a single mom with an almost-three-year-old. If something happens to her, I will have custody of him. How could I summarize her life for him? How would I ever be able to truly describe his mother? My point of view of our childhood is one of nemisises fighting each other - my memories are certainly slanted.
Plus, her son has a multitude of health problems, some of which they are still trying to get to the bottom of - would I be able to care for him sufficiently?
Third, she is my identical twin, we have the same genetic make-up and therefore suffer from the same ailments - is cancer in my near future too? True, this give me a "heads-up", but I'm not sure if I really can appreciate it. I think it's made me more paranoid than anything else - is that low grade fever I've had for the past week just a virus...or something else? My stress levels have increased, so I'm certainly not a pleasant person to be around, especially at work when dealing with one of my "smackazoid" co-workers. I recognize that I should not bring my personal problems to work with me, but I can't help it.
OK, enough self-pity for now. There are others who are not as lucky as we are, and do not have a support system to rely on. It's just tough to shake off the sadness.

Bad things come in threes

Sorry I have been negligent in my posting; my life has been preoccupied with a series of less-than-positive events. I may go into them at a later date, at this point I'm just trying to wrap my head around them.

One of the less serious ones is Jman's cholesterol. He had his yearly check-up, and my dear 9 year old's cholesterol levels are back through the roof. He has a history of high cholesterol but we had had them decreasing, and our hopes were that he would "grow out" of the bad cholesterol. Unfortunately, this is not true. His fasting Cholesterol levels: 211; TRI 66, LDL 139, HDL 59. Not good. Of course, the nurse spouts off about diet - but we've already changed our diets, eat leafy greens, fiberous foods, and lots of chicken. I'm at a loss as to why his levels increased this year. I don't want him on medication, but I also don't want him to have plaque-filled arteries as well.

Quote of the day

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross