All day headache

Okay, It was Monday in the wee hours and I was trying to sleep like anyone else should have been doing, but there it was-boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, chicka boom! My head was vibrating like I was running through a minefield and hitting all the mines!If you have a headach in your sleep, it makes for a miserable night and sets you up for an even more miserable day. So that began my Monday.

By 5:50am I was awake and inhaling acetaminophen and water (possible dehydration?). At 6:05 the phone rang- my sister from Texas to tell me that mom was in a bad state and hadn't been able to awake for several days after her surgery (they took her parathyroid-don't get it done, trust me!).I am not a bad daughter-I had been calling to check on her since she had her surgery but the folks back at home don't answer or pay their phone bills (just kidding!). She seemed to be not heavily concerned, but wanted me to know what was going on. She gave me the hospital contact info and the nurse whom to talk to.

So I called the hospital and spoke with Ike- the nurse in charge of one of the most difficult patients known to man- my mother, and he told me the jist. Mom's lab work was normal and they just can't figure out WHY she won't wake up. The neurologist was on his way to check her out and do some more testing. My mom whom I spoke to the day before this surgery was unresponsive. This little woman, all of the height of a fence post and had the will and attitude of a HERD OF RUNNING BULLS was down. I told him I'd call back in 6 hrs.

6 hrs later, Ike was still there. I told him he should be at home asleep, but I was glad to speak to him. He said that she coul squeeze his hand a little when he asked her to, but still could not open her eyes. Aha! Progress!! Told Ike to have a good night sleep and I'd talk to him soon.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning- spoke to Ike and the results are in that she has had a series of mini strokes (I thought so). We have taken the steps toward getting home to be there and help Dad, who had a stroke and heart attack in April, and be there for mom. Pray for us as we are headed to Tx tomorrow and who knows what we face, but Lord give us strength to endure.

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P.S. Chloe is claustrophobic since the drive from CA to TX.

The race is on!

Well, we are home from our adventures and have walked into a pot of boiling commotion. Our travel was a bit costly, but not as much as it could have been. Getting the car back on the road nearly wiped out our extra money and what was so bad is that it could have been avoided had the car just been started and driven at least three times a month, but there it sat for 16 months, lonely and undriven. Wasps made their home under the hood and the new tires and hoses began to rot. The brakes needed replacing also in the end. But thank God after all of those repairs, "Old Trusty" got us to Texas without a single problem!! That old Volvo saved us money in the end vs renting a car or flying. We just had to get tough and ride through scorching New Mexico and Texas on leather seats with no air conditioning in 104 degree weather. We had to stop and hang out until the evening,(maybe 5 hrs), also a trip to a childrens hospital helped eat up some time-and they had REALLY GOOD AIR CONDITIONING, story to follow later, but that forced us to rest and we got to eat while not moving!

God bless good friends and relatives who let you stay at their homes when they are gone! And bless all friends that make you feel like family even when you seem to overrun them! The song says, "Give and it shall be given unto you....Pressed down, shaken together, running over, running over..." That is how good our friends and my sister have been- homes, cars, whatever we needed, it was handed to us so generously.
Thank you so-ooooooo much! I didn't know I had done the same for you before.

Now we had to get home because some of our friends from Scotland (we visited them last year), were coming to spend 2 nights with us on their annual trip to Poland. They are a family of 7 and we have known them since we only had 2 children! We also needed to get home for a couple of appointments and to see if my flowers survived,(they died-sniff, sniff). We left Texas Wednesday night, picked up a rental van, drove to Dover, spent the night, hopped on a plane at 2pm, flew to Germany, stopped at our friends house for an hour, ate lunch and got on the road to home. We crossed the chunnel and were making good time till we hit traffic in London. It took an hour and a half to drive 6 MILES!! Needless to say, we didn't get home until 10pm Friday night and our guests were due on Saturday evening. We go to bed at 1am with the knowledge that there is a LOT of work to do at our house before our guests come in a few hours. Top that with time change and jet lag and you have a recipe for--exhaustion!
So get ready, cause here they come!

It's hot

Okay, I know this is the fact around the world, but it's hot here.The heat coupled with, of all things-a SUMMER COLD, make one miserable and cranky. Yes, it's noticeable that I am cranky too. We are also getting ready for an insane road trip too. So, the intense heat of 78 coupled with a cold, add to that the packing and cleanup of my house so that when we get back, we will have guests have made me crankier than normal.

I am bathing myself in prayer and also Chloe who burned her hands on a bbq grill yesterday resulting in 1st and 2nd degree burns on her palms. Don't ask me how it happened- I was watching the other 3 children and playing a game of Pit and had left her in her fathers care. I just know there was a bunch of commotion and people running around then Darryl came up and was holding her. There was a bowl of ice water involved and I suggested some Aloe Vera gel which must have helped a little bit because her screaming went down a few decibels upon applying it. She also had a dose of Tylenol to help dull the pain. We were at a church bbq and I suggested taking her home would probably make everyone feel better at that time. He dropped me off at home and she cried/screamed for at least another hour and a half then promptly passed out. I finally called the nurse advice line and they suggested what I thought already- take her in to get it checked on. So after the other party goers came in, Spring Chick and Chloe and I went to the ER. Met a fantastic Dr, wonderful nurses and the best bunch of techs anyone could have asked for and was in and out of the door in about an hour! Yes, less than an hour! What a blessing!
She has some Tylenol with codeine for pain and antibiotic cream for when the blisters break open, also an appt for a follow up in 24 hours.
Keep her in prayer- the hands are a terrible place for a burn and especially on an active toddler, infection can set in quickly. And you know how little people like to touch things........

Our insane road trip begins here with a lovely drive to Germany to catch a hop to California. From there we will repair our old Volvo and drive it to scorching hot Texas where we will go to a juvenile arthritis conference in Houston. From there we try to catch a plane back to Baltimore and then over to Germany. Hmmmm, sounds like a great leap of faith, so pray for us on that issue also.
So for now, I am going to pack and sweat and pray and sweat some more.

Am I crazy or what??

It's been a week since I could collect my thoughts and write something on this blog.

I've been writing alright, but it's been emails flying back and forth to America and Canada. You see I have been granted (and blessed) with some funds from the Dept of Defense to further my education on any job that is portable. Yes, free money from the government to make me smart and able to work for someone else(or myself),and get paid for it! How could one say no to that? So, I have been debating on which school I would like to go to or which online program I want to do. So much to do- so little of me to do it with!

The catch is that I am cheap and don't want to spend it all in one place! So I have been asking around about all of these careers and which fits me best. I have a stake in all three of them and they all are dear to my heart. I just can't choose. Ummm, uhhh, ahhhh. This is driving me crazy!! I can't make a major life changing decision on an empty stomach. I have to go and eat a cookie or three.. Recipe to be posted tomorrow- I promise.
So what do you vote for me to do? Catering, etiquette and protocol or master herbalist??
I'm so confused..............

A lazy Sunday afternoon

It's 7pm on Sunday and I am pooped! Yep, I can actually say it and mean it. The littlest one has been crying, clingy and just really cranky. She was sick for the last week with a feverish cold and I had to cancel a couple of appointments to stay with her. I was in the house for nearly 4 days straight! I haven't done that since we lived in Maine and the wind chill stayed below -20. I wasn't crazy back then. I had just moved there straight from Texas and hadn't experienced that kind of flash freezing before!
Now another child isn't well. Poor Elise- she has had a fever for 3 days now and I stayed home from church with her. We did our Sunday school lessons and I worked on some laundry then started on dinner. Mr and the other folks went to church and came home remarkably early. Come to find out, they were late and didn't want to make a fashionable entrance so they went to Tesco and shopped. Now whenever Mr. goes shopping, you can count on something unique coming home with him. This time they came back with some "Fentimans Botanically Brewed Traditional" drinks. He takes such pride in being a "hunter" and finding these wonderful new things for us to try. Well, we had a lovely spread for our meal- Pork chops, mashed potatoes & gravy, Dads secret recipe cabbage, homemade macaroni and cheese and for dessert, peach crisp. Alongside that meal was dads selection of exotic drinks. We ate and he made sure we all tried some of these new tastes. He and science dude (our son) were reading the labels out loud so I would know what was in there and while they were reading the back, I was carefully scanning the front for anything unusual. Holding back my laughter, I read the fine print on the front where they both failed to read. "Are you sure this is JUST SODA?", I asked. "Sure it is, says Mr." And with that I read the tiny lines they did not see,"NOT MORE THAN 0.5% ALCOHOL BY VOLUME!"
Hope your Sunday was as lazy and relaxing as his was after that drink..

A sad birthday and a cut throat!

Okay, May 22nd was Mr's birthday. I hadn't really planned anything special since I was shamed two weeks ago because I though he was turning 45 and he was actually turning 46! Somewhere I lost some time , I guess. I was shocked that I got it wrong and if I were him I should have been flattered to have lost a year from "Ye Olde Lifeclock."

So anyways, it just happens that "Spring Chicken" has been having repeated bouts of tonsillitis this year,(So far a total of 6 bouts since January) and I took her to the pediatric clinic a gently demanded that they get rid of those pesky things since she was missing school at least a week out of every month with fevers and all. "No protesto" from the Dr and we were headed out with the referral to the Ear Nose and Throat clinic within 10 minutes. (Just hold on- there is a correlation with this and the birthday thing, trust me!)So one week later, we are sitting at the ENT clinic waiting for this mysterious Dr whom you have to go through hell and high water to see and he was running late. Not 15 minutes late, no, ONE HOUR late. I was slated to go to an appt when the first appt was over, so Darryl had to reschedule that and to top that I had "Action toddler" with me! Now she roamed the hallways looking cute (as my mother would say), and we went up and down the elevator a dozen or so times and once she nearly jumped out right as the doors were closing, but mom is still quick, you know! Dad was on his way to get her and bless him, he was running late too!
Time was a'wasting and I had things to do. So I disappear with "Action toddler" and when I come back, April, aka "Spring Chicken" is gone!! The techs see my distress and show me my daughter who is waiting (yes, still waiting) in an exam room. More to explore for Chloe aka "Action Toddler"! Lord, give me strength- I can't do this much longer! Then is walks the Dr-A fellow who looks about Darryls' age with braces on(which April says makes everyone look younger-is that a hint, April?) and a BIG smile. He says April is a prime candidate for tonsillectomy and he will be gone for most of June so they will call us for an appt at the end of June. In walks Mr, he grabs Chloe, says "Hello" to the Dr and out the door he goes! So Dr explains a bit more of the procedure and what to expect when it happens and asks if we have any more questions. "Hmmm",I say, "not really but if you can squeeze us in before you leave, then please do so". "Okay", he says and then off he goes a'smiling and on to his next patient.
So we go to the front desk, hand over the request for the tonsillectomy and ask her to call us if they get a cancellation.
Surprising us, 48 hrs later we get a call saying she can have it done on the 22nd of May if we want to. Umm, you don't have to ask me twice!! YEESSS!
In my thoughtless moment, I was only thinking of April who during this last bout of fevers looked at me with red eyes and a 103 degree temperature with big swollen tonsils and said" Mom, they have to take my tonsils out, I can't live like this being sick all the time." I momentarily forgot that Darryls' birthday was on the 22nd and the prom was a week later and she wasn't supposed to be around a large group of people,and the last few weeks of school were happening, didn't take into account all of the social implications of having this surgery right now. SO WHAT! My child was sick and she needed this done ASAP! I prayed about it and had such a peaceful feeling that this was the right time and place for it to be done. That other stuff dosen't matter even if it has cost a lot of money, sniff, sniff.

Now back to the whole point of this- She got her tonsils and adenoids out on my poor husbands birthday! It was a rough morning, but we were done and home by 12:30 and the birthday party seemed to drag on all day after that, but he had some really funny birthday cards and a really delicious dinner of strange and exotic Indian foods and it all was topped off with a chocolate mayonnaise cake that had the most divine butterscotch icing on it. We laughed and cried and most of all we were thankful to be together and have him for however many years he has been here.

The downside to this all? Poor April sitting at the table watching us eat it all.
She will get hers as soon as she recovers- we all know how that girl loves to eat!

I'm BAACCKKKK

Okay folks, I know I disappeared from the face of the earth for several months now but there are many reasons for that. First of all there was a personal struggle with myself, then my husband, and then my father became ill to the point of death and he wanted to die but God had other plans for him. Then to top all of that off, I had to go to the states and I'm back but now there are serious ongoing medical problems with my 7 yr old. So that was a brief update on my life and I think I am ready to get blogging again.

So keep us in your prayers and I'll blog to you soon!