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So I get a text at work yesterday,

“Brandon is puking.”

My first thought was … “And?”

Brandon is a puker. (Is puker a word? It is now!). I think Brandon has puked more than any of us COMBINED. He has a weak stomach. Or a hyper-sensitive reflux action thing-a-ma-jig … I remember when Brandon was little and coughed at the dinner table, he would puke. And not just when he was little, sometimes he does it now, too. Though he’s better about holding it in his mouth.

(EW!)

Any sort of gag reflex, like shoving the toothbrush too far into his mouth, he would puke.

Brandon should have a t-shirt made with the slogan, “Beware – I puke.”

I called Kevin to find out what was going on and as per usual, because he’s a man, he downplayed the puking episode and advised me to stop by the store on the way home from work and buy some ginger ale.

Done.

When I got home and walked into Brandon’s room, I knew this puking episode was different.

He was lying in bed with nothing but his basketball shorts on. His skin was clammy and he was as pale as a ghost. His hair was wet from sweat and he was cuddling a mixing bowl to his chest to catch his puke. He had a bathroom towel and a wet hand towel close by. And the grossest part? The mixing bowl was pretty full.

*gag*

When I tried to ask him questions, he just grunted and kept complaining of feeling dizzy. In fact, he couldn’t walk to the restroom, across the hall, because he was so dizzy.

I’ll be honest, the dizzy part worried me the most. I don’t ever recall him feeling so dizzy that he couldn’t walk.

He puked, off and on, for HOURS. I finally got him to take a sip of ginger ale and take a few bites of toast without it coming right back up. Once that happened, I took a chance and gave him a Tylenol so he could try and get rid of his crazy headache that I’m sure was contributing to his nausea. He finally settled down enough that he stopped puking and I felt it was okay to stop hovering so he could get some sleep.

He tried to call into work this morning, (he was supposed to work an 8:30 to 3:00 shift today), but when he spoke to his manager, the manager said he couldn’t call in sick without a doctor’s note.

!!!???

Now. I don’t know about you, but we don’t go to the doctor – ever. In fact, none of us even have a primary care physician because, well, WE NEVER NEED TO GO TO THE DOCTOR. So the fact that his manager was asking him to get a doctor’s note, well, it wasn’t going to happen because we don’t run to the doctor for every little sniffle or if we’re feeling nauseous.

I was pretty furious but tried not to show it. Though he wasn’t puking this morning, he was still pale and nauseous. So the mom part of me wanted to advise Brandon to tell his boss to go F himself, but the more rational, been-a-manager-once-in-my-lifetime-and-worked-with-kids-his-age knew where he was coming from. I’m sure his employer has kids call in sick all the time that aren’t really sick so I could understand why he said that to Brandon.

So I was sort of stuck. This was a teachable moment and though I’ve always told the kids to never call in sick unless they were dying, I’m not completely heartless – he was truly sick. And he’s never called in sick since he’s worked there and has always worked the extra shifts whenever they’ve asked him so I thought his manager made a poor managerial decision considering his work history. But that’s neither here nor there.

I left it up to him. I said, “It’s your choice. I can’t make it for you. And you’re not a kid anymore, you’re your own man, so mommy can’t call in to work for you. You can tough it out and go to work, or stay home, against the advice of your manager and hope you don’t get fired. It’s your call.”

He went to work.

And then promptly came back home three hours later.

He was opening with his assistant manager and when his manager got to work and saw how pale Brandon was and how he wasn’t acting like his happy-go-lucky-easy-going self, he sent him home.

At least now his employer will know that when he calls in sick, he truly is sick and will hopefully take his word for it next time.

And I also made sure to caution Brandon not to abuse that employer-employee trust in the future.

I know it sucks to be sick but how many of us have gone to work feeling like warm death?

Exactly.

When I worked at Wal-Mart, I was feeling so bad that I finally grabbed a Wal-Mart bag, tucked myself into a corner of the office (I worked in the cash office at the time and I wanted to get out of camera range), puked my guts out and into that bag, then calmly walked that bag to the restroom, dumped it and went right back to work. *snap* Damn straight.

And recently, I must have ate something bad for breakfast because by mid-morning, I was having little throw-up-in-my-mouth episodes until I finally cried uncle and went home. I puked, felt better and felt so guilty that there were still three hours left in the work day, I WENT BACK TO WORK and finished my shift. *snap* Damn straight. I felt better. And I had work to do.

Everyone was pretty astonished to see me and I’m sure I made some people pretty uncomfortable because I was sort of setting a bad precedent for everyone else, but that’s my work ethic. If I ever leave work, or stay off work, THEN IT’S TIME TO READ MY WILL BECAUSE I’M DYING. (Actually, we don’t have a will yet but Kevin and I have been talking about putting one together – soon).

Anyway – I spent the day washing every one’s bedding. I started with Brandon’s (and won’t even tell you how nasty his sheets were since he lost his cookies on his bed at the very beginning of his sickness) and figured, what the hey, might as well wash everyone’s duvets, too.

He seems to be okay now. We had fried cod for dinner, (Kevin made it – he’s an AWESOME cook) and Bran ate his fair share so I think we’re back to normal. I have no idea what he ate that caused his food poisoning … the only thing he ate was (frozen) waffles for breakfast and then an almost entire bag of Cheetos.

We’re thinking it was the Cheetos since they had been in the pantry for a very long time. Then again, so had the waffles … so, we’re still stumped as to the cause.

I’m just glad he’s feeling well … life can resume again.

Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?

I like quotes. I’m inspired by quotes. And I like to post quotes on Facebook because it tends to annoy people and I can be all soapbox-ish without it really sounding like ME. I didn’t exactly SAY it, now did I?

But my absolute favorite quotes are about responsibility.

(UGH! I said the “R” word!)

Like this one, for example:

Because yes, we’re ALL responsible for our own lives. That includes the good AND the bad choices. Find yourself in a bad situation? How did you get there? How do you get out? By taking responsibility for your part in the fiasco and then changing it.

Want it? Take the first step to GETTING it. Waiting around for someone to hand it to you is the lazy way out.

Everyone says to work harder but to work harder you have to care more!—
Jon Gordon (@JonGordon11) January 11, 2014

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

“What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?”

Bucket list?

What bucket list? I don’t have one. I should have one, I suppose.

Let’s make one right now while we’re thinking about it. (Try and contain your excitement).

1. Publish my writing – whether it’s a short story (it’ll probably be a short story because I think I have ADHD when it comes to writing) or a novel. (*snicker*)

2. Live a ripe old age and still have my mind.

3. Take a Mediterranean cruise. (Hey, don’t laugh. Kevin and I are seriously planning for this one. It probably won’t be for a few (or ten) years, but still …

4. Take a cruise around the Hawaiian islands. (Again – don’t laugh. We’re actually planning to do this one next year for our 25th wedding anniversary).

5. Make a longer bucket list.

6. See a Broadway play. (If I can ever bring myself to pay the ticket price – wowsiers).

7. Be a grandma. (HAHAHAHAHAHA – that would mean our boys would have to put themselves in a situation where they MEET girls, then find one they can tolerate and marry … HAHAHAHAHA *wiping eyes* – sorry, I don’t see this one happening in my lifetime).

8. Become a grandma to grandpuppies.

9. Publish some … oh wait, I already listed that one.

Honestly – I can’t think of anything else right now. Either A. I’m super boring, B. pretty content with my life and how I’ve lived it so far, or C. too brain dead to come up with any more options.

I’ll take D: all of the above.

“Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution that you kept?”

So I went back and checked out my 2013 and 2012 resolutions – and how sad is it that they’re EXACTLY the same? And do you know why they are exactly the same?

Because I was too lazy to come up with new resolutions. That and my goals haven’t changed.

And if you’re too lazy to click over to see what I’m talking about (no worries – I won’t judge you, I’m right there with you), then here they are:

1. Manage my energy levels. (Which have gotten better, but I’ll probably never be the Energizer Bunny like Kevin – I don’t think there’s a human alive that can keep up with my husband, he’s exhausting).

2. Write. Newp. BIG huge fat fail there, too. I mean, I think I blogged a dozen times the entire 2013 year. NOT IMPRESSED.

3. Take more pictures. I’d take more pictures if I ever did anything outside of leave the house and go to work. My life is uber boring, ya’ll.

4. Travel. We have actually been pretty good about this one and I guess I’d answer the above question with travel. We have been taking a mini trip and a week-long vacation somewhere twice a year for the past several years. We went to Colorado May, June? I went back to look and I didn’t write about it. GAH! Do you see why blogging is so important to me? Because I don’t remember this crap. That’s something else I’m going to have to tell ya’ll. (My list is getting overwhelming). And then we went on a cruise to Alaska, which might I add, WAS AMAZE BALLS.

So yeah. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping our travel resolution. I’m really going to concentrate on writing more, though.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.” I have a lot of wishes. lol

Where were you last night when 2013 turned into 2014?

Kevin and I (and when I say Kevin and I, I really mean ME because watching movies has become an instant sleeping pill for Kevin – I can’t think of the last movie Kevin actually remained awake for), streamed “Serenity” last night on Netflix. In fact, we used the “Max” feature on Netflix. Basically, if you can’t think of a movie to watch, “Max” will give you three categories to choose from – then will offer several movies from that category until you find one you’d like to watch.

It’s a pretty cool feature, actually.

After “Serenity” was over, I was actually watching an episode of “Heroes” when the stroke of midnight happened. (Kevin was drooling – ha!)

Suddenly, we heard fireworks (the nearby country club, I’m betting) and Blake comes out of his room to cheer, “Happy New Year!”

I suspect the boy was buzzed on the Bud Light Margarita-style drink that he helped himself to (he’s 21 after all).

It was pretty funny, actually. He denies he had a buzz going, but Kevin couldn’t even drink half of his before he claimed to feel the buzz. I was going to drink one, but my stomach was giving me issues and I didn’t want to take any more chances.

So yeah – it was a tame New Year – but at least I stayed awake for it.

*ahem-Kevin-ahem*

It snowed another four plus inches last night – we broke a record.

The kids were out of school again today – they’ve already used up three out of six snow days this year.

But then again, why do I care? Our kids are no longer in school …

The comments people leave whenever weather like this hits and they have to make the decision on “weather” (pun intended) or not to call off school, or keep school open, on Facebook is a never ending string of entertainment for me.

The school system can’t win for losing.

Bottom line: If you don’t feel like your kid will be safe going to school in bad weather, then keep ‘em home.

Be a parent. Make the call. Don’t apologize about whatever you decide.

Then shut up about it.

Easy.

You know it’s winter when you have to put a sticker on your microwave to warn everyone in the house that they need to turn off the portable heater in the office before using.

Because if they use the microwave the same time the portable heater is on, we’ll blow a fuse.

Yes – we live in an old house.

I think I could easily become BFF’s with one of the nurses. We just seem to … hit it off. Our sense of humors are in sync and trust me when I say, there aren’t many people who truly “get” my sense of humor.

Just sayin’.

I was feeling goofy and pretty good the day this nurse started. And she happens to work for one of my favorite doctors, AND, one of the doctors that I routinely schedule for. So when I met her, I laughed and said, “You’re gonna love me, I’m pretty awesome.”

Luckily, she laughed. “I’m sure you’re right.”

I was pretty horrified at my audacity but yo, I am who I am. Take it or leave it.

Lucky for me, she took it. She’s been coming up to my window the last few days to talk about patients, but I get the feeling she just wants to talk to me and uses the patients as an excuse. It’s pretty cute, actually. I think she likes me. And I think she’s trying to get to know me better. She’s young. And pretty. And has a great personality. And she’s married to a pretty hot man, who she made a point of introducing me to when he came to the clinic several weeks back.

Funny. She didn’t introduce him to the other girls, now that I think about it.

I think we could be BFF’s. If I were looking for a BFF.

I took my Mr. Coffee Keurig coffee maker to work Friday; I was a barista for a day. The girls seemed to like it, but they only had one cup. I think they were afraid to drink any more. It might have had something to do with my “and these little cups are freaking expensive” comment.

Dude bought this … interesting figurine the other day.

I have no idea what this thing is, or what character it is from what game but … *shrug* Dude absolutely loves it. In fact, he gushed all over it when he showed me. “Just look at this shield, mom. They did such a great job painting it.” (It’s hand painted).

I won’t even tell you how much he spent on it – actually, I wish Kevin hadn’t told me how much it cost because DUDE, WHOA. But hey, spend it right now because when he turns 21? He’s gonna have to start paying for his car insurance, schooling, monthly phone bill, and saving up to move out … someday.

Reality is gonna bite this boy REAL soon.

Jazz’s court date is Friday. He’ll have to miss his 1st period class in order to stand before the judge, take responsibility for rear ending someone, and get slapped with a fine.

Boy #2 is about to get a spoonful of reality.

We’re becoming a family of realists.

Jazz also has a Jazz festival at a local high school next Friday, too. So, between his court appearance and getting out early for the festival, he’s pretty much going to miss school on Friday.

I plan on leaving work at 2:00 on Friday so that I can go watch him play.

Work can stick it.

Family first, always.

I’ll post a video and some pictures.

Of course.

The kids aren’t wearing their normal jazz band polos and khaki slacks this year – instead, they’re wearing all black: black slacks, black dress shirt, black dress shoes and a white accent. I bought Jazz a skinny white tie as his white accent. In fact, the kids played some sort of charity gig last night and he looked uber sharp. I tried to talk him into wearing his fedora, but he chickened out. I meant to take a picture, but we had to leave the house so quickly that I didn’t have time.

I’ll definitely take some pictures at the festival on Friday. And according to the band schedule, I think he has to play at a home basketball game Friday night, too. If so, that means he’ll have court Friday morning, a jazz performance in the afternoon and a pep-rally-sort-of-gig Friday night.

Why does everything have to happen all in one day?

And speaking of court dates: Kevin has been subpoenaed. He has to testify in court on March 18th in the trial against the woman who hit him, head on, on his motorcycle in April 2010.

Finally, after three years, this woman is finally answering to the felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Because not only did this … woman … hit him head on, she took off afterward.

Coward. Idiot. Loser.

I could go on, but I won’t.

I plan on taking off work that morning and going with him for support. Also. This will be the first time that Kevin has faced this woman, he’s never even seen her, so I’m sure it will bring up all sorts of emotional anguish for him.

And finally … there may be a job opportunity soon. The schools are converting all of their websites into some sort of universal Blackboard program where parents can make personalized accounts and access various customized documents for their kid. I’m supposed to be invited to attend some training sessions on how to access/manipulate the program. At first, I thought, no way, I can’t take on any more responsibility right now, but then I got to thinking … what if I can somehow talk the school district into hiring me full time to maintain these school websites? For security reasons, they no longer allow non-district employees to maintain their websites and I’m only allowed to continue because I’ve been “grandfathered” in and they trust me. I mean, I love doing the websites. L.O.V.E them. I would rather maintain the websites, as a full-time job, than doing what I’m doing now. And I would “hopefully” make more money.

So. I’ve held off saying anything to the schools and I’m sort of strategizing my plan of attack here. Nothing may come of it, but then again, it’s worth a shot – you never know until you ask, right? If they shoot me down, then my plan B is to drop most of the schools and maintain two – one high school and one middle school – because honestly, it just takes too much energy and I can’t keep up with it all and work 40 hours.

I’m mentioned, a few times (okay, more than a few times), that my job is stressful.

It was stressful with two doctors … now I’m responsible for three doctors and there are days I’m quite convinced my head is going to explode.

We lost a girl this past week.

I walked into a mini-pow-wow on Wednesday. Three of us were there, one was not.

My stomach dropped. Because I had suspected, for quite some time, that my co-worker, let’s call her “Jane”, had been skating on thin ice.

Apparently, I was right.

Jane had been making all sorts of mistakes, little ones, but big enough to cause a ripple, or two, or (eleven). And then, she really dropped the ball on a patient – it was serious enough that this patient could have died.

And shortly after that fiasco came to light, she made the mistake of scheduling a patient to have a brain MRI the same day of her appointment with the doctor. And this particular doctor? Does. Not. Like. That.

In fact, he was so upset, that he ended up throwing a temper tantrum, along with his mouse and several papers. It was not pretty.

The next day, Wednesday? I walked into a mini-pow-wow and found out that “she had chosen to pursue other career choices.” That, “this, in no way, was a reflection on her job performance.”

Jane’s desk hadn’t even been cleaned out yet – excuse me, we’re not idiots.

But to be fair, this girl had been making way too many mistakes and she didn’t appear to take her reprimands too seriously, so either she was completely clueless, or didn’t care – maybe she wanted to be fired to collect the unemployment. I don’t know. I really don’t care, quite frankly. It’s a done deal now – I’m more concerned with surviving and keeping my job so I can continue to provide insurance for my family and pay for groceries.

But now that Jane is gone, we had to take on extra doctors to compensate, at least until they hire someone new. That means, I now have three doctors I’m responsible to schedule for. And I have the doctor that threw the temper tantrum. Which means, I’m walking around with pretty much all of my nerve endings raw and exposed and these past few days have been insane while we scramble to compensate, re-adjust and re-group.

And did I mention we also switched cubicles and I’m now “in the hot seat??” I.E. the first cubicle, the cubicle everyone stops at instinctively and by default, I now help the most patients on a given day.

It’s a good thing I’m pretty freaking awesome at multi-tasking.

Seriously.

So. We’re down to three schedulers. And when word got around the clinic of what happened, a few girls, from different areas of the clinic, who were interested in possibly applying for the position, picked me, ME, to sit with and “job shadow.” Well. Okay. I’m flattered. But also out of my mind with worry and new things to do … but I kept my cool and I took the time, I pretty much talked through everything I was doing, while they watched, so they would get a better understanding of what, and why, we did things.

I scared one girl off.

The other girl applied for the job.

I just hope, that whomever they choose, has the intelligence to do the job and the mental stamina to keep up with the job.

AND – related to this story, but sort of not – since I work the 8:30 to 5:00 shift and hear things I probably shouldn’t hear my boss talking about in her office when it’s quiet and she has forgotten I’m out there all by my lonesome, I think the hospital administration is looking at re-evaluating our job description. Which NEEDS TO BE DONE because OMG, we do waaaaaaay more than our “official” job description states. And if they determine that we’re doing several duties from several different job descriptions, maybe, maybe, we’ll get a pay raise.

And if that happens, even though I’m not expecting anything huge, then all of this stress will somehow be a little more tolerable.

(Notice I didn’t say worth it).

Kevin has been working non-stop; He hasn’t had a day off in two weeks.

He’s been busy training to be an Intuit Turbo Tax help guy.

So who knows? If you do your taxes through Turbo Tax, and you need help and call the help line, you might end up talking to my husband!

Just keep it tax related, please. *wink*

He’s been going in to his office at 6:30 and coming home after 5:00. He has to be online and ready to learn from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and then he stays after a bit to catch up on his regular clients.

In short, he’s been working like a dog – all of us have, actually. Kevin, me, Dude and now Jazz. Because Kevin has hired Jazz to come in and work about an hour and a half after school because yes, he’s been busy enough to keep both Dude and now Jazz busy with stuff.

The boys are really getting some pretty cool experience in bookkeeping and general accounting tasks.

It’s hard to imagine Dude working at a fast-food restaurant now after doing data entry, cutting checks, filing and whatever else Kevin has him doing on a daily basis.

Kevin is still thrilled to death with Dude’s work performance. He is impressed that Dude gets in there, gets it done and then asks for more work. He doesn’t goof off and he makes good use of his time. In the meantime, Dude is making money and learning how to spend his money wisely. (That costs $10.00?!? Um. No thanks). Now. To make him save some of that money because living on your own ain’t cheap.

When Kevin gets more clients, he’ll be able to afford Dude full time, granted Dude is out of school and WANTS to keep working with his dad. Who knows how that will pan out.

In the meantime, Jazz wants to work for enough money, at least for now, to build himself a new computer. Dude just upgraded his computer, (again), and Jazz is feeling a bit left out. Dude is going to give him his old parts (Dude is generous like that), so Jazz needs to buy a new, bigger case and a new video card, (which are not cheap, by the way).

Kevin is also thinking of adding his logo to the huge sign above his office. Which will look cool, no doubt, but it cost a small fortune. Maybe if he gets another client, he might go ahead with that plan. I’m trying to talk him into moving into a little bigger (nicer?) office closer to home, but he seems pretty attached to his current location (it IS easy to get to – just right off a busy thoroughfare) and he gets along with his landlord, so there’s that.

We can’t even think of going anywhere for vacation until after tax season is over. Which is fine because given my rocky work situation, that probably wouldn’t have worked out that great anyway.

Dude starts back to class on Monday. He’s only taking three classes this semester and one of them is online. I’m glad his work load will be a little lighter – he’s starting to get burned out.

We had to take his car to the garage this past week. Dude said it was acting funny and would accelerate, and then hesitate, leaving him with very little power. He also said the check engine light was on.

But the garage had it for a week, ran it through their machine thingy and said they couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

???????

I think Dude was embarrassed. But honestly, how many times has that sort of thing happened to us? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the doctor only to be looked at like I was crazy because they couldn’t find anything wrong with me.

Hence the reason I don’t go to the doctor unless I’m dying … or need three feet of my guts cut out.

We think his car troubles may have something to do with the chip in his key. We had to take the car in about a year ago to have the ignition switch replaced and, I don’t know, maybe there is some incompatibility issue with the new switch and the key. Kevin gave Dude one of his spare keys, it doesn’t have a chip, and we’ll see if that helps.

In the meantime, the guy at the garage gave Dude his card and told him if it ever happened again, to just drive to his garage and he would take a look at it. I thought that was awfully nice of the guy – that and he didn’t charge us anything because he couldn’t find anything.

In some ways, I’m sort of glad this happened. It will teach Dude that he needs to have a plan B and that when life throws you a curve ball, you better know how to duck out of the way.

Jazz continues to do well in school. This is it – THE LAST SEMESTER OF HIGH SCHOOL!!!! His last semester grades were good and we’re on the right track this semester. If the kid can keep this up, he’ll have gone through high school without one C on his grade card. Which means, his GPA is pretty decent and with his music experience, he might be eligible for a scholarship/grant.

Which reminds me, I need to start looking into that. Jazz told me he didn’t want to go to college right away. He wants to take the summer off (which, in fairness, we allowed Dude to do before starting college) and that he’s not even sure he wants to go to college. He really wants to find a job right away and start making money.

I will not discourage that route. Make that money. Get a taste of real life, by all means.

I just learned that his jazz band is not going to the Jazz festival in Pittsburgh Kansas this year. I’m TERRIBLY disappointed as I was looking forward to going. In fact, the kids aren’t doing much of anything this year. I wonder why? Jazz did tell me they are having some overnight trip somewhere shortly after he graduates and OF COURSE he wants to go … so I don’t know if I’ll have very much to report on with jazz band this year.

*sniff*

I’m cranky.

I’m starting another four-day weekend and all I want to do is stay home in my PJ’s, watch movies, maybe eat a tub of popcorn (or two), drink some Bailey’s and be a complete waste of humanity.

Instead. I’m dressed up, have on my sparkly jewelry, my false eyelashes and my new boots and am waiting to load our gag gifts into the car and go over to Kevin’s family’s house for Christmas. We’re doing it today because it’s getting harder an harder to get everyone together nowadays – all of the kids are grown and scattered all over the US …

I like Kevin’s family, honestly, I just didn’t feel like dressing up and donning my “social” face. I never choose to be social, but I’m quite good at it when I put my mind to it.

I need to snap out of this mood because it’s not fair to allow my grumpiness to spoil what will likely be a pleasant evening.

Are the holidays over yet?

My boss has asked me to write a blog at work.

*zoink*

I’m not sure how I feel about this … Flattered? Nervous?

Mostly nervous, I think. I’ve already warned him, I’m VERY opinionated. Like, almost obnoxious … well, I don’t have to tell YOU ALL this, you read the nonsense I write.

He wants me to write about the new healthcare fiasco, erhm, law, LAW (I can’t believe it’s a freaking LAW), and tips on how to communicate more effectively with people highlighting Aristole’s The Art of Rhetoric. (You know. The whole ethos, pathos and logos thing).

I can actually get on board with this. I honestly think learning this in college helped me to become a more effective communicator and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard people at work tell a patient something which makes me cringe.

The whole purpose of writing this blog is to get people talking – oh, I’ll get people talking alright, more like people screaming. He wants, and will encourage, people to comment to “start a dialogue.”

He just “sounds” like management, doesn’t he.

He’s already bugging to me to write something, but honestly, I don’t know when he expects me to write anything. I don’t want to do this at home as it will require a little research and it’s for work so I should be paid for it. But it’s virtually impossible for me to get away during clinic hours so … I don’t know, we’ll see what happens with his “idea.”

If this writing “gig” pans out, I have a feeling I’m going to surprise quite a few people as I “appear” pleasant and mild mannered on the outside…

I have a feeling I’m going to surprise, tick off, quite a few people.

Meh. What else is new.

I’m growing my hair out.

And even though it’s driving me nuts because I don’t know what to do with it, people are complimenting me again. Which tells me that it does indeed look better longer.

Kevin is happy. He has finally admitted that he likes it better long – but honestly, what man doesn’t??

My goal is to grow it out and style it like this.

Now. To get there …

Kevin’s new gig starts in a few days. He’s going to be an Intuit support guy for Quickbook questions. He’ll need to be available from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

He got his phone yesterday. I’m relieved that he has his own phone for this gig, that way, he’ll know if it rings that it’s someone needing help with Quickbooks. He can keep his regular business, and his Intuit consults, separate.

I’m not sure how he’s going to swing this and take care of his other clients, too. Though he does have Dude working with him now and he swears up and down that he’s been extremely helpful. In fact, he said that Dude is the best employee he’s ever had.

And he’s not just saying that because he’s our son, either.

So. Dude will continue to do data entry things for him leaving him free to concentrate on other things.

Dude is LOVING it. He’s making steady money, paying taxes and is finally on track to adulthood. Now. To get him to pay his own bills. Kevin told him the other day that when he turns 21, he’ll be expected to pay his monthly cell phone bill, and his car insurance.

I just want him to save money so he can move out. I don’t really WANT him to move out, but I don’t want him living with us when he’s 30, either.

It’s about time to start planning for our next vacation. We, (and by “we” I mean “me”), have been talking about taking a cruise to Alaska. I’d like to fly into Vancouver a few days early, explore Vancouver, then catch the boat to Alaska. Kevin is not terribly thrilled about the idea. He thinks you can only see so many moose/mountains before it gets old.

But too bad. It’s someplace we’ve never been and I’m a mission to see the world, one tiny part at a time, before I die.

It’s time to get serious about writing again.

And reading.

I don’t think I’ve cracked a book since I started this job, over a year ago.

I really must do something about that.

Soon.

It didn’t dawn on me until the day was half over …

TODAY IS MY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!

For you long-time readers, can you freaking believe this??? It’s already been one year since I started in the healthcare field.

That just boggles my mind. And even though I’m going to leave healthcare at some point in the near future … I’m not sure I thought I’d last a whole year. The first few months were rough – REALLY ROUGH. Like I would go-home-and-cry rough. There was SO much to learn. Not only was I learning about the industry, and all the terminology and acronyms, and policies and HIPPA rules, etc., but I was scrambling to learn brand new software and terrified I was going to schedule the wrong patient with the wrong doctor (check), or a wrong test (check) or forget to put them on the Imaging schedule for a test (check) … it was nerve wracking.

It didn’t help that I had no help – AT ALL. There was virtually no training. I watched my office manager for maybe – maybe – two days before she said, “Okay, you’re on your own. Just jump in, that’s the best way to learn.”

Now granted, I’m a fast learner, but COME ON, I’m human and I was completely lost for several weeks. Slowly, I started getting the hang of it and I must say, looking back on the experience one year later, my office manager is the worst office manager on the face of the earth. She openly despises her job and she in no way ever, EVER offers to help anyone out.

It’s really quite sad, if you want the truth. She’s an alpha female (which technically, I guess you could say I am too, but I’m also a smart alpha female and I’m aggressive in more effective ways – heh) and she likes to feel like she’s in control of everything. So … she doesn’t teach anyone anything so you have no choice but to rely on her.

Meh. Whatever. She can sit on her throne and feel self-important – I could give a monkey’s butt.

So yeah, I’ve been there for one year now and it never ceases to amaze me how people refuse to take responsibility for their health. I had one lady I was trying to set physical therapy up for and she whined and fought me every step of the way. She kept complaining how she couldn’t afford it and yes, I realize it’s expensive, but this is your health we’re talking about – I’d say that’s a good investment, wouldn’t you? I’ve moved past the point where I allow people to bully me. That happened a few times when I first started, but I quickly got over that and now I know when to stick to my guns and when to compromise. I stuck to my guns with this woman and after a while, she laid her head down and mumbled, “I just want an injection.”

Yeah. I thought so.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the crux of it. People want a quick fix. They want an injection. They want a pill. They want surgery. They want the solution that requires the least amount of work from them possible. It annoys me to no end when people act this way. Or. They get upset with the doctor because he didn’t immediately suggest surgery.

First – contrary to popular belief – surgery should be the LAST option, not the first option. Our doctors put patients through physical therapy, injections and pain management programs in an effort to see if any of these conservative treatments will work. Secondly, the doctors prescribe conservative treatment because insurance companies will not pay for surgery if the patient hasn’t at least TRIED conservative treatment … and you can see why. If we all skipped conservative treatment, insurance companies would go broke paying for everyone’s surgeries.

It’s also frustrating to try and explain to patients that they are not surgical. Our doctors are neurosurgeons – if they determine they can’t help a patient, that that patient is not surgical, then we have to refer them to a pain management doctor or back to their primary care physician (PCP) because we can not help them. Patients simply do not understand, or accept, the fact that our doctors can’t help them. i know they pin all of their hopes on our specialists being able to fix them, to help them get past their pain and if surgery is ruled out, they are left feeling hopeless, scared and frustrated because now what? The quick fix is no longer an option and CRAP, they are going to have to start taking responsibility and make lifestyle changes – exercise, lose weight (which is about 85% of the problem, if you want the truth), stretching, etc. …

It’s really hard to NOT lose patience with people sometimes. Most of the time, I’m pretty sympathtic, even empathetic because my back goes out sometimes and I get it – I GET IT. But there are some patients that you can’t just get through to … and it gets so bad, our doctors refuse to see them back for whatever reasons.

And trust me when I say, you really don’t want to get to a point where your doctor “fires” you and yes, that happens more than you think.

So the next time you go to the doctor and he/she prescribes conservative treatment remember three things:

1. He/she is trying to avoid an invasive procedure.
2. Insurance companies demand conservative treatment options first
3. It’s a process of elimination and if the doctor can rule out certain possibilities, then he/she can come make a more accurate diagnosis.

And the ultimate goal is to feel better, right?

I avoid doctors at all costs – both the ones I pay to look at my various body parts and the ones I work for. It’s a game really. I’m a peon – and I’m COMPLETELY okay being a peon. I wouldn’t want to be a doctor. Doctors get a bad rap, you know, but have you ever stopped to think about how much responsibility doctors have??

The brain doctors I work for quite literally have the patient’s life in their hands. Would YOU want that much responsibility? And because having that much responsibility comes with MASSIVE stress, don’t you think they DESERVE to be paid well to endure all of that on a daily basis?

Of course you do. Don’t be a jerk and say no.

My doctors are intimidating. I don’t really talk to the doctors. In fact, any time I have a question, I avoid the doctors and go straight to the nurses.

But once in a while, when I have to leave my desk and go back to the clinic area, (where the exam rooms are), I run into a doctor. And I have no choice but to address my question to them because, well, it concerns their patient.

Most of the doctors are pretty cool. Their answers are always short and concise because they have so many things running through their very intelligent brains at any given time, but a few of the doctors are not personable at all and scare the hell out of me, quite frankly. One doctor never addresses me directly – I will be standing not five feet away from the man and he’ll answer my question THROUGH the nurse, who in turn looks at me and repeats what he just said.

It’s sort of insulting.

This tends to bother some people but me, meh. I honestly don’t care. I think it’s sort of amusing, actually. I mean sure, the man has several intelligence points on me, but he’s not any better than me as a human being, he’s just more accomplished and way more successful than I am. And he’s in his element – I’m sure if the man tried something I was good at, he wouldn’t hold a light to me, either.

(Or maybe he would).

At any rate. Doctors have Texas-sized egos. It just sort of comes with the territory. And I suppose they sort of HAVE to have this arrogant, confident attitude so patients will trust them. Who wants to turn their health over to a man who can’t complete a sentence or who acts like he’s scared of his shadow?

Exactly.

And I’m proud of our doctors – like mama bear proud. These men are amazing human beings. They comfort people. They fix people. They SAVE people.

Case in point:

This patient checked out with me today and he talked my head off. Sometimes, I get impatient with patients who feel the need to tell me their life stories because I’m thinking in the back of my head of all the things I need to get done in the next few hours, but then I take a breath and force myself to slow down and listen, really listen, to what they’re saying.

People have incredible stories. If you ever think your life is hard, you should try listening to people who have health problems. It’ll put you in your place pronto.

This patient I talked to today had a brain bleed – two bleeds, actually. And he passed out whacking himself on the head so much hard that his brain swelled. He was out for two days. One of our doctors fixed him. And he was fully functioning, and speaking clearly and it was really a miracle that he was alive.

And he was sitting in my chair telling me about all of his near-death experiences in his life.

And how he praised God for protecting him and helping him through every single incident.

It’s stories like that that make health care worth it.

And patients like that that make me feel proud to be in a position to help them.

At least, according to my husband.

SEXY, RIGHT?? (Kevin routinely “compliments” me like that – I’m used to it. Also? Tough. My hair. Deal).

I got a trim and a color this past Saturday. My hair is even shorter than it is in my profile picture you see in the right-hand column. It’s my fault, really. I allowed the stylist to talk, and talk, and talk and whack, whack and whack and by the time I really noticed how much she was taking off and on the verge of saying something, she stopped, stepped back and said, “Is that short enough?”

I nearly shouted “YES” back at her.

So yeah. It’s short. And it’s dark. Like almost black. At least, it feels that dark to me, but really, it’s pretty close to my natural hair color. Which is what I wanted, actually. The stylist used a different type of color on me this time – it’s supposed to cover gray better. *shrug* I don’t know, I can’t really tell a difference, but everyone I worked with today said something to me.

They liked it. And they thought the shortness (because I can’t really say the “length” since there isn’t a “length” to it) looked good on me. One gal thought my new “do” made me look younger.

I’LL TAKE IT!

Let’s put it this way, my hair is SO short, that the stylist had to use an electric haircutter-razor thing to shave off the tiny hairs on my neck.

I know! But you know? I like it. It’s super easy to take care of and it’ll last me a good seven, possibly eight weeks before I feel like it needs another trim. (My hair grows insanely fast. Nearly every stylist I go comments on that).

So I went to work feeling self-conscious, but left work feeling pretty good because so many people made positive comments. I have no idea if they really felt that way, but … DON’T CARE. It made my day.

I have a public service announcement:

Healthcare clinics are not emergency rooms.

I talked to a patient’s husband today, and he was concerned about the amount of pain his wife was in.

Understandable. This is especially hard for men because it’s an instinct for them to “fix” things and they want to make everything better. When they can’t, they get frustrated.

I get that. I understand that.

However. We are a clinic. Our doctors are certainly in the business of fixing people, but if it’s an emergency and requires immediate attention, that’s what an emergency room is for. We schedule patients and our doctors rely on this schedule when they see patients. They rarely, RARELY, work patients in because they are in extreme pain.

Everyone who sees our doctors are in pain – get in line.

I try not to be annoyed with people who throw an absolute hissy fit about not being able to be seen the next day, but let’s be real – we’re not an emergency room. If a patient goes to the emergency room and our doctors take a look at whatever test they do in the emergency room and determine that the patient needs to be seen in the clinic, trust me, WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.

But the norm? Is to make an appointment for people who are in equal, if not more, pain.

I had a patient ask me how she was supposed to KNOW if she needed to go to the emergency room.

No one KNOWS when to go to the emergency room, there’s no hard and fast rule, everyone is different. Every situation is different. Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. You just listen to your body and you usually know, deep down, when something is not right. If you’ve reached that deep-down part of you that knows something is wrong and you feel scared because it FEELS wrong, then for the love of God, go to the emergency room.

That’s why it’s called an emergency room – it’s an emergency. We can’t do much for you in a clinic setting, we’re not physically equipped to handle emergencies – we’re equipped to provide a setting for the patient to speak with the doctor about a standing issue and nothing more.

I can understand why doctors become de-sensitized to the whole process … because there’s just so much of it. EVERYONE is in pain. EVERYONE wants to be fixed. And though our doctors are awesome, not everyone CAN be fixed surgically. Many patients can be fixed if they are just willing to make some lifestyle changes.

But alas, society today relies too much on quick fixes – whether that’s a pill, or a surgical procedure to correct whatever is wrong or not working properly.

So please. Do not treat clinics like your personal emergency room because it’s not that we don’t want to help you, it’s because we’re not physically equipped to do so.

He helps perfect strangers whenever their car breaks down near our house:

After I posted my last blog entry I started to panic. Life is passing me by! And I haven’t been blogging about it! Life is too short not to document it!

So. I’m going to try and post a day-by-day post-entry paragraph every day this week. Just a little something-something to tell you about my day. It’s the little things that are worth remembering and now that I’ve been working for one year (my anniversary is the 19th!!), I feel like I’ve done a pretty poor job of documenting my life this past year because my job has sucked so much mental energy out of me.

Life is about so much more than working, am I right??

I’m giving my secret pal, (did you know I’ve been playing a secret pal game at work since March?? SO MUCH FUN), this dachshund coin purse tomorrow:

*squee* Cute, right??? You can find more cute dachshund stuff at their Etsy store. I’m also giving her a $5 gift card to a pet store – she has two dachshunds and LOVES her doggies.

I LIVE for this stuff. I LOVE shopping around and trying to find cute (relatively cheap) stuff for people. It’s a challenge. I overheard my secret pal the other day comment on how AWESOME she thought her secret pal was.

Well DUH. Was there ever any doubt?? HA!

My secret pal, on the other hand, has forgotten about me. It’s not the gifts that I miss, but the simple recognition.

Oh well. I have more fun giving than receiving anyway. We’re supposed to reveal ourselves when we have our Christmas party in a few months. I have no idea how much money I’ve spent on my secret pal, but I don’t care – I’m having too much fun with this game.

I have been so tired today!! I didn’t take my supplements today and I’m feeling it. (I take them during the week, not on the weekend). I don’t think I’m tired because of the supplements though, I really think I didn’t get enough sleep this past week. I’ve been hooked on this new TV series “Parenthood” and have been streaming about three shows a night on NetFlix.

I can’t help it – after a stressful day, it feels so good to just zone out in front of the TV.

It’s official. I’ve become a couch potato.

Blech.

I’m not a baseball fan. Heck, I’m not much of a sports fan, period. But if we happen to score FREE tickets to a local sporting event, I’m not likely to turn that down. (Did I mention the tickets were FREE??)

The son of the bass player in Kevin’s band took over our local sportscaster’s job, and he gave Kevin two free tickets to our local minor league baseball team – the Springfield Cardinals. They built this nice stadium in the middle of our sagging downtown area and I thought they were a little crazy putting it there, actually. But it’s worked out for the best because it gave our downtown area a much needed economic kick in the pants.

Anyway. I’ve never been because did I mention I’m not a baseball fan? (And no offense to those of you out there that are? But *YAWN* – baseball is so boring, and long, and drawn out … show me the highlights, I’m good). But Kevin wanted to go, so okay, we went.

I must confess, the stadium is pretty nice. And though the day was overcast and I was convinced we would get rained on (we didn’t), there were actually more people there than I thought there would be, given the iffy weather.

More people than I thought, but not nearly full … as you can see by this picture I took of Kevin.

We had great seats. We were on the fourth row nearly behind home plate. It was the best seat at a sporting event I’ve ever had. And I admit, I enjoyed myself. Our team slaughtered the visiting team. We left at beginning of the seventh inning, right after the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” song. (We had to go to Kevin’s mom’s birthday party). And after being there for two and a half hours, I was ready to leave.

That was the first baseball game I’d been to in … years. And most likely my last for years. But I’m glad we went. Life’s too short not to take advantage of those free deals.

Issac brought us rain. It rained two days straight. We desperately needed it. This has been a long, dry, hot summer and our local water reserves hit the 60% levels – we were on the verge of declaring water restrictions. (And we may still depending on how much rain we get in the next few weeks).

I read something interesting on Facebook the other day … it went something like this:

God answers our prayers – are you paying attention?

We’ve been praying for rain for weeks now. And suddenly, we have rain coming. But it’s not just an ordinary rain storm that finally breaks our drought, it’s in the form of a hurricane that could have hit the coast at any other point, or followed a path around us, but it didn’t.

And don’t you find it interesting that the storm was named Issac? The name of an important man in the Bible? Why not Bob, or Dale, or Greg? Nope. Issac. It was God’s way of letting us know that he answered our prayers.

God works in wonderful ways, doesn’t he?

This past week was crazy at work. We had four doctors every day, except for Friday. I have never focused more, or juggled more things at once than I have this past week.

And that was just ONE WEEK. Nearly every day my job challenges me on levels I never dreamed of. I am constantly being pushed to my limits and though I come home mentally wiped out, it’s accompanied by a deep sense of satisfaction.

I can honestly say that after working this job? There is really NOTHING I can’t do. If I can tackle an industry that I know nothing about and not only stay above water but consistently tread it, then I can do ANYTHING.

I’ve been polishing up my resume. I don’t really have anything specific in mind, but I do have my eye on one company I think I’d like to work for. I’m going to do my homework though and make sure this is what I want to do before just holding my nose and jumping in again. I’m not sure I’m really qualified to work for this company, but I’m going to give it a shot.

Like I said, if I can handle the crazy world of health care, I can handle anything.

Notices have been going out about registering for the flu shot. If nothing comes along before the end of October, then I’ll be getting mine in order to buy myself more time to find another job. As we all know, jobs aren’t exactly falling off trees right now. (Thanks to you-know-who).

I’m waiting until the end of October just in case it makes me sick and I have to miss anything. I can tell you this, if that poison makes me sick, I’m going to be PISSED.

The boys are living their lives. I barely see them anymore. We all meet up for dinner, but being boys, they aren’t exactly spilling their guts about their days.

I’ve retired my taxi mom hat. Dude has been driving himself places for a few years now and Jazz has been driving himself to school and band practices. It’s weird and I miss it, but it’s also strangely liberating. Now … if the boys would just get jobs, I think I could breathe a little easier.

My children have graduated into roommates and it’s a strange feeling.

This three-day weekend has been awesome. But strangely, I’m ready to go back to work.

There’s clearly something wrong with me.

Jazz drove to band practice, by himself, for the first time last night.

FOR. THE. FIRST. TIME.

I hate the first time solo driving. H.A.T.E. I.T

I’m a nervous wreck. My imagination goes crazy and until my boys text me to tell me they arrived safe and alive, I’m pretty sure I forget to breathe in that time period.

When Jazz arrived, he sent me this text:

“Had a nice relaxing drive over here.”

haha! I smiled. I chuckled. I savored my proud mom moment … and then I got to thinking, Wait. Was that really code for – I nearly got T-boned three times on the way over here??

See? My imagination is really a curse.

At 9:00 p.m. – I started watching the clock. It was time for him to come home and I was praying that we had practiced enough night driving for him to know how to handle it on his own. I started cursing myself for not taking him out night driving more often.

I was watching “Fringe”, (freaky series, by the way), when I heard the garage door open. (Kevin has been driving his car, instead of his truck, to save on gas, and he’s been parking in the garage. When Jazz starts driving to school this fall, he’ll park his car outside next to Dude).

I smiled. My chest swelled and I went out to meet him.

He was home safe and sound – I could begin breathing again.

Jazz got out of the car, smiling from ear-to-ear. He LOVED it. I knew he would. He’s like me in a lot of ways and I KNEW the moment he got a taste of freedom … it was all over. We have crossed that childhood/man threshold. One part of me is sad, two parts of me is ecstatic.

He said he got a lot of attention from his band members when they found out he drove himself to practice.

I said, “of course you got a lot of attention. I’m betting there were quite a few girls” (actually, two specifically come to mind because I’m pretty sure they have a crush on him) who immediately thought, “‘Oh COOL. Jazz is driving, which means he has a car, which means we can go out on a DATE!’”

He blushed, ducked his head and began to chuckle.

I knew by his reaction I had hit the nail on the head.

Now I’m a bit worried about his senior year .. haha!

I came home from work yesterday and Dude was gone.

My first reaction is to always freak out because Dude? NEVER goes anywhere unless he has somewhere to go. I knew class had been over for hours and curiously, his car was still parked in the driveway.

When I asked Jazz where he had gone, some friends had come by and picked him up.

Dude doesn’t have a lot of friends; Dude has a few GOOD friends.

His friends dropped him off while we were sitting at the dinner table.

We asked him some questions and Dude answered them – he never elaborates, so we have to ask him creative questions in order for us to find out anything.

He had hung out with his friends and had a good time.

Swell.

And then, just in casual conversation and in passing, Dude says something about going to a Japanese-style restaurant for lunch.

I don’t know why this shocked me, but it did.

Did he have money?? Was my first thought and yes, he had some money on him (his own money) and he paid for his own meal.

I was so proud of him. I know it’s silly, it’s lunch out, but it was with his friends and it was totally planned by him. I had absolutely nothing to do with it – I didn’t even know about any of this until after the fact.

And this is how it should be. I’m just proud because … he’s becoming his own person. He’s slowly coming out of his shell and exploring the world on his own.

It’s sort of exciting, to be honest.

I had a Gyno appointment yesterday. My doctor

Hold up, ya’ll … guess what I just got talked into …

Yep. My first 5K.

*high fives the monitor*

Oh yeah. I’m walking (cause who are we kidding, I don’t run, okay, maybe I run a little, and by a little, I mean about 20 steps) the 5K. Which, I just found out today, works out to be about 3.5 miles and NOT five miles like I first thought it was. Ha! (And you only THOUGHT I was an idiot!)

When I found out it was only 3.5(ish) miles, I was all like, “I’ll do it!” Cause I walk 3+ miles now whenever I do the treadmill thing.

Easy peasy.

So yeah. A bunch of us at work are going to do this and I can’t wait, actually. I don’t plan on hanging out with them the entire event, but it’ll be fun to start off with them and then talk/laugh about it later. And I LOVE walking outdoors. I’ll have my iPod playing some sweet walking tunes and it’s going to be fun zipping through all of the other walkers as I pump my arms and speed walk my way to the finish line.

(I’m one of those dorky walkers who pumps her arms … you know the ones I’m talking about. And don’t even tell me you don’t snort with amusement when you see them cause honestly? It does look pretty stupid. But it’s a GREAT workout for your arms).

Now I just hope it doesn’t rain cause this thing is a rain/shine sort of event.

I’m excited. I’ve been wanting to do one of these for a long time and now I have an excuse to do it. And it’s for a good cause. We’re raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network, a charity close to my heart (Dude was a preemie), and we’re raising money for the CARE mobile specifically, which is a mobile unit that doles out free health/dental care to about 10,000 children in surrounding areas every year.

Sweet!

I’ll be writing more about my experiences later. Stay tuned!

Yesterday was Administrative Professionals’ day. I had no idea. It’s not like I have that day clearly marked in red on my calendar and make a point of counting down the days until it arrives.

*ahem*

No really. I had no idea the day even existed until one of the nurses I work the closest with came up to me and said, “What type of topping do you want on your ice cream sundae?”

“Come again?”

“What do you want on your sundae? We have ….”

“Who’s paying for this?” I asked. (Cause nothing’s free, remember??)

She mumbled something, but I didn’t catch it. I learned from other people what day it was.

So, it was fun to be served by my boss.

I could get used to that.

I could get used to having free ice cream sundaes, too.

We had a meeting at 7:30 today. I wish they would get off the meetings kick. Meetings are okay, about once a month. But this bi-weekly thing is just annoying.

Especially when your boss calls in sick and doesn’t even make it in after she made a point of sending everyone a reminder email the day before.

And when we all sit around and stare at each other because there’s no one there to lead the meeting and we really don’t have anything to talk about.

TALK ABOUT ANNOYING.

Hey. I got an hour overtime so I’m not complaining … too loudly.

But still. I’m lobbying for monthly meetings from now on because I would rather sleep in an extra thirty minutes, quite frankly.

So we all voted on our next color. F

I went to bed at 8:00 o’clock last night …

… actually, it was 7:58. I hadn’t slept well the night before and I was BRAIN DEAD. Wednesday was pretty crazy at work and it took every last brain cell (which, I only have about 15 to begin with), to get through the day.

You know how you can tell about how many hours of sleep you need in order to feel “good”? Well. I think ten is MY magic number.

If I only had TIME to get ten hours of sleep a night …

The bathrooms are coming along … more slowly now, but we’re getting there.

The sheet rock/tile guy came yesterday and worked on patching up our walls. He’ll finish patching the walls today. He also put the backer board down in the back bathroom and will likely tile that room today. I imagine he’ll put the toilet in as well so he can take the toilet out of the front bathroom and put the backer board down in that room. (They HAVE to leave us at least ONE toilet, right??)

The plumbing has been rerouted and everything has been switched around. So, the hard part is done (I think). Kevin got under the house this past weekend and rerouted the pipes to make a vent in the front bathroom – it looks like he’s going to have to get under the house again this weekend and fix the back bathroom vent. Apparently, the floor vents weren’t part of our contract. *sigh*

We’re going on two weeks now and I’m SO READY TO HAVE OUR BATHROOMS BACK. However, we’re pretty pleased with how they’re turning out and I’m looking forward to the “beautifying” stage.

Dude seems to like going to college. He’s taking three classes: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. His first class is at 9:00 and he’s usually home around 1:00. (I’m assuming, since I’m never here). He also picks Jazz up from school every day. And he took Jazz to the dentist yesterday to get a wire clipped. I really appreciate his flexibility as it takes some pressure off me and Kevin. I do worry about them running around, but honestly, I just try not to think about it.

He’s been selling a lot of books in the book store. He also sold a piece of electronic equipment that my dad gave him to list on eBay. So he’s been busy packing up stuff – he’s also been busy upgrading his computer equipment. I sort of lectured him about saving his money instead of spending it, but then Kevin sort of vetos my lecture with, “it’s his money, he can spend it as he sees fit.” Which is true, but he’s also a 19-year old man who needs to start thinking about getting a steady job and MOVING OUT at some point. I love my son, but I refuse to support him the rest of his life – or well into his twenties, whichever comes first.

We have a scheduling meeting at Jazz’s school tonight – SENIOR YEAR HERE WE COME!!!!! I can’t believe he’s going to be a senior. There are about three classes/credits HE MUST have this next year in order to graduate. I don’t think these particular classes are offered in the summer months, so HE MUST have these classes. I hope he gets into them, otherwise, I’m going to have to talk to his counselor and make it happen.

As it stands now, Jazz will NOT have to take any summer classes this go around. He’s taken summer classes for the past two summers now and I know he’s really looking forward to NOT taking classes this summer. I hope it works out that way.

Crap. It’s now 6:44 and I haven’t even taken a shower yet. I need to get moving – I have a LOT of work to do. (As Kevin likes to “affectionately” tell me on a daily basi

This little guy has nothing to do with a turkey, but he's cute and who cares.

Actually. We got our vouchers for a free turkey last week.

I went and picked up the CERTIFICATE today before I went into work.

Now. I get to cash that certificate in and get a free turkey from Price Cutter.

Why my company didn’t just give us the certificates to begin with and skip the voucher stage is beyond me.

I suppose they wanted to make us come up to the hospital so they could make a fuss over us. Which. Okay. But I was in a hurry to get to work and I felt sort of silly being made a fuss over, so I simply walked in, switched out my voucher for my certificate (silly, I know), and left with a smile and an “excuse me.”

It was a nice gesture, though. My company had some gifts displayed that you could buy along with food and even a Santa that you could have your picture taken with. (And to my complete surprise, a few of the people actually took advantage of that. Call me crazy, but watching grown women sitting on some “old” man’s lap seems a little pervish to me, but I’m a prude, so …)

I have no idea what we’re going to do with a turkey. I mean, we’ll EAT it, of course, but Kevin and I are already talking about different left over ideas for all of the turkey we’re sure to have left over. Sure. I have two teenage boys, but they’re not exactly vacuums in the food department – evidenced with their anorexic appearances. (Not eating disorders, just over-active metabolisms. They actually inherited that from me and Kevin. I know. It’s hard to believe I was EVER as skinny as a bean pole but yep, once upon a time … in the land before children …)

Kevin and Dude are hitting the town tomorrow. We need five gag gifts. We’re having Christmas at my folks’ house on Saturday and we have nothing to offer.

Other than our sparkling personalities, of course.

I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with. They mentioned something about hitting the flea markets …

If you’re reading this and happen to be a member of my family … be afraid. Be very afraid.

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