Tomorrow is my last day in Spanish class...for now. It's with a fair amount of relief that I put it on hold after 72 hours of instruction and the average of two hours of homework every night. It's been extremely helpful and I know I've improved a lot - especially with my comprehension of the spoken word. My vocabulary has jumped up too...can't wait to put it to good use! My instructor is from Bolivia and is absolutely wonderful. She's been great about filling me in on some details of my future life.
The kids are looking forward to our move but first we're going to have quite the busy summer! Somewhere in there we're going to find time to relax...really!!! Promises, promises!
This week alone, I booked 9 flights and three nights at hotels. Thank God for eCredits and Delta Skymiles! All together, I think the flights cost around $150, not bad at all!
This weekend is a memorial get together, two banquets and an end of season lacrosse party. No rest for the wicked!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Stress Reduction
Ahhhh. Blood work was perfectly normal. U/S showed a possible polyp but no ovarian cyst. John's home. My kitchen, living room and bedroom are clean and there's a load of laundry in the washer.
The kids scooped. John's cutting the grass...much needed, knee high grass. My Spanish teacher is leaving on holiday at the end of next week so I'm ending my tutoring two weeks early instead of continuing with a different tutor...doing that felt like twenty tons of stress was lifted.
Still a huge pile of things to be done and planned over the next two months but...for now, I am feeling capable of handling it all! :-)
The kids scooped. John's cutting the grass...much needed, knee high grass. My Spanish teacher is leaving on holiday at the end of next week so I'm ending my tutoring two weeks early instead of continuing with a different tutor...doing that felt like twenty tons of stress was lifted.
Still a huge pile of things to be done and planned over the next two months but...for now, I am feeling capable of handling it all! :-)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
My Aching Head
I've been behaving rather impatient lately. This big city living is annoying. Plus, I'm having some health issues that are making this stressful time even more stressful and I don't need inept people being unhelpful.
Yesterday I had some blood work drawn to check my thyroid and today I had an ultrasound to check if I have an ovarian cyst. Neither is very concerning, just more stuff to deal with. Okay, a little nerve wracking but we should have all the results by the end of the week. Now all this crapola has caught up with me and I have a brutal headache.
Lisette answered the phone at 4:15 this afternoon and it was a lady wondering if I was going to show up for my facial (at 4!) - oops! To me, a facial is better than a body massage so I jumped in the car and zipped over there, headache and all. It's right beside a drugstore so I bought some Advil and figured between ibuprofen and a facial, I had this headache beat. Not so much.
Now I'm going to go lay down and wish John wasn't away getting prosthetic work done. He's my favourite nurse.
Yesterday I had some blood work drawn to check my thyroid and today I had an ultrasound to check if I have an ovarian cyst. Neither is very concerning, just more stuff to deal with. Okay, a little nerve wracking but we should have all the results by the end of the week. Now all this crapola has caught up with me and I have a brutal headache.
Lisette answered the phone at 4:15 this afternoon and it was a lady wondering if I was going to show up for my facial (at 4!) - oops! To me, a facial is better than a body massage so I jumped in the car and zipped over there, headache and all. It's right beside a drugstore so I bought some Advil and figured between ibuprofen and a facial, I had this headache beat. Not so much.
Now I'm going to go lay down and wish John wasn't away getting prosthetic work done. He's my favourite nurse.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Jake's Surgery
A success! He did great - as usual I only lost it when they wheeled him away from me, but by then he was happily on the "happy juice" and couldn't care less where he was going! I actually didn't quite lose it but it wasn't easy to keep it mostly together. Ya know?
He doesn't remember much after watching the happy juice get injected into his IV. He was a real trooper with the IV placement...they injected some lidocaine to freeze the site and he hardly flinched. Big boy!
The surgeon said the hole (again, similar to a defect found with hernias) was almost big enough for her to put her thumb into. He's lucky no intestine had found its way through. His incision site is about 1.5-2 inches long and is glued shut. So no more lacrosse for him this season!
He took some Motrin when we left the hospital at around 3 and then again before he went to bed last night...and hasn't needed any since. He's done amazing!
Thank you for thoughts and prayers! I'll post our pre-op picture of him in his hospital gown!
He doesn't remember much after watching the happy juice get injected into his IV. He was a real trooper with the IV placement...they injected some lidocaine to freeze the site and he hardly flinched. Big boy!
The surgeon said the hole (again, similar to a defect found with hernias) was almost big enough for her to put her thumb into. He's lucky no intestine had found its way through. His incision site is about 1.5-2 inches long and is glued shut. So no more lacrosse for him this season!
He took some Motrin when we left the hospital at around 3 and then again before he went to bed last night...and hasn't needed any since. He's done amazing!
Thank you for thoughts and prayers! I'll post our pre-op picture of him in his hospital gown!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I'm Writing a Letter!!
Our response when someone totally pisses us off - most of the time we don't end up writing this letter but this one involves the DMV...ha!
I should be doing my homework, or writing that letter, but here I am venting on my blog instead. Healthier, I don't know. It started out as my fault, I took the girls to get their learner's permits (transfer of Lisette's and a first for Nicole) without checking on what we needed to bring. ID of course but what else do you need? Let me tell you, everything but a pint of blood. So I called John up to bring their passports or birth certificates plus one of our utility bills showing our Virginia address. Lots of Californians coming to get a Virginia license just because...oops, make that a Virginia learners' permit. John shows up about 20 minutes later with all of the above...except our utility bill says "John" not "Juan" which is on his ID. Obviously this is the cable bill of some impostor Juan...can't be thinking outside the box now can we!
We go back and forth, bring in an insurance card from the car with "Juan" on it but cards aren't acceptable, only bills - and make it original, not to be confused with a download from the Internet - might be fraudulent!! I'm starting to pull my hair out - Nicole has her permit (the John-thing slipped through before Capt. Sugar for Brains jumped on it) and is anxious to show me. "Put that thing away!" whisper I in a panicked voice. Five minutes later John announces, "I guess this means Nicole has to give back her permit too" - my eyes bugged completely out of my head...and I sent Nicole the heck out of the building. They did try and retrieve it later - I told Lisette to tell them Nicole walked home, seeing as how we LIVE in Virginia.
Meanwhile, since we were getting nowhere with this lady, I asked to see her supervisor. She responded with a glare down her nose and a "I AM the supervisor"...crap. I was losing my temper so decided it would be best to wander out, leaving John to get a refund for Lisette's permit and retrieve his ID. That's when she asked for Nicole's permit but I left the building permanently with Nicole and Jake in tow.
So as John is talking with this other lady and retrieving funds/ID, she suggests that he could speak to the manager, that "he" is in his office. Oh, really!!! Yes, he would like to talk to the manager...the supervisor scoffs - "He knows everything that we're talking about already" - that's okay, John/Juan would still like to talk to him. Within fifteen seconds into the conversation Mr. Manager suggests John have our insurance company fax them a copy of our insurance bill directly. Two minutes later, it's done. Two minutes after that, Lisette has her permit and I'm no longer on the run with Nicole. Bummer, that was the exciting part!
Ms. Supervisor denies lying to us - "She asked for a supervisor" - John says, you lied, it's going to get written up. Goodbye.
Some people's kids.
I should be doing my homework, or writing that letter, but here I am venting on my blog instead. Healthier, I don't know. It started out as my fault, I took the girls to get their learner's permits (transfer of Lisette's and a first for Nicole) without checking on what we needed to bring. ID of course but what else do you need? Let me tell you, everything but a pint of blood. So I called John up to bring their passports or birth certificates plus one of our utility bills showing our Virginia address. Lots of Californians coming to get a Virginia license just because...oops, make that a Virginia learners' permit. John shows up about 20 minutes later with all of the above...except our utility bill says "John" not "Juan" which is on his ID. Obviously this is the cable bill of some impostor Juan...can't be thinking outside the box now can we!
We go back and forth, bring in an insurance card from the car with "Juan" on it but cards aren't acceptable, only bills - and make it original, not to be confused with a download from the Internet - might be fraudulent!! I'm starting to pull my hair out - Nicole has her permit (the John-thing slipped through before Capt. Sugar for Brains jumped on it) and is anxious to show me. "Put that thing away!" whisper I in a panicked voice. Five minutes later John announces, "I guess this means Nicole has to give back her permit too" - my eyes bugged completely out of my head...and I sent Nicole the heck out of the building. They did try and retrieve it later - I told Lisette to tell them Nicole walked home, seeing as how we LIVE in Virginia.
Meanwhile, since we were getting nowhere with this lady, I asked to see her supervisor. She responded with a glare down her nose and a "I AM the supervisor"...crap. I was losing my temper so decided it would be best to wander out, leaving John to get a refund for Lisette's permit and retrieve his ID. That's when she asked for Nicole's permit but I left the building permanently with Nicole and Jake in tow.
So as John is talking with this other lady and retrieving funds/ID, she suggests that he could speak to the manager, that "he" is in his office. Oh, really!!! Yes, he would like to talk to the manager...the supervisor scoffs - "He knows everything that we're talking about already" - that's okay, John/Juan would still like to talk to him. Within fifteen seconds into the conversation Mr. Manager suggests John have our insurance company fax them a copy of our insurance bill directly. Two minutes later, it's done. Two minutes after that, Lisette has her permit and I'm no longer on the run with Nicole. Bummer, that was the exciting part!
Ms. Supervisor denies lying to us - "She asked for a supervisor" - John says, you lied, it's going to get written up. Goodbye.
Some people's kids.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Endings
The kiddos finished up...almost everything this week. Last Tuesday was Nicole's final soccer game - undefeated season, 14-0! Jake had his final lacrosse game today and almost scored a goal! Lisette had her final show of "Kiss Me Kate" and was offered a scholarship to a theatre camp this summer! Amazing kids. Proud parents.
I'm scraping through my list of things to do. Can't say it's been smooth sailing. My stress level is still on orange but John's starting to recognize the danger signs and has pitched in a bit! LOL
Jake is quite the eco-conscious guy sometimes. He was just discussing with John (yes, at this late hour) that they need to design boat motors that propel with air instead of gasoline. John told him that there are boat motors like that, Jake's response was immediate, "Well, they should make...(pause) more" - wise munchkin.
I'm scraping through my list of things to do. Can't say it's been smooth sailing. My stress level is still on orange but John's starting to recognize the danger signs and has pitched in a bit! LOL
Jake is quite the eco-conscious guy sometimes. He was just discussing with John (yes, at this late hour) that they need to design boat motors that propel with air instead of gasoline. John told him that there are boat motors like that, Jake's response was immediate, "Well, they should make...(pause) more" - wise munchkin.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Official Stress Test
I just looked up some stress tests online to see what I might score. They're full of crap.
Here's my list of things to do...
1. Doctor appointments for the kids and I
2. Dentist appointments for the kids and I... (don't have a dentist!!!!!)
(#1 and #2 need to be done ASAP so we can get John's orders)
3. Eye doc appointments for Lisette and I...(don't have an eye doc!!!!!)
4. Start Lisette and Nicole in driving course
5. Prep Jake for surgery next Thursday
6. Complete kids' applications for new school - includes teacher and counselor recommendations, medical screening, report cards from last three years, immunizations
7. Prepare house for three moves - express, household goods and storage
8. Buddy's International Health Certificate within 30 days of his move (June 20thish)
9. My Spanish homework
10. Get my haircut (hasn't been done in 6 months! Can you see why?)
11. Call the garbage company for the FOURTH time to replace recycling bin that was stolen
12. Place commissary (grocery) order in June so it will arrive by the time we get there
13. Plan university-visiting trips for Lisette and Nicole
14. Plan trip to Hamilton
15. Change over kids' and my immunization cards to the yellow International cards.
Going s-l-o-w-l-y insane...
But since I haven't lost my job, the tests don't see much stress in my life. I'd like to see them tell my that to my face!
Here's my list of things to do...
1. Doctor appointments for the kids and I
2. Dentist appointments for the kids and I... (don't have a dentist!!!!!)
(#1 and #2 need to be done ASAP so we can get John's orders)
3. Eye doc appointments for Lisette and I...(don't have an eye doc!!!!!)
4. Start Lisette and Nicole in driving course
5. Prep Jake for surgery next Thursday
6. Complete kids' applications for new school - includes teacher and counselor recommendations, medical screening, report cards from last three years, immunizations
7. Prepare house for three moves - express, household goods and storage
8. Buddy's International Health Certificate within 30 days of his move (June 20thish)
9. My Spanish homework
10. Get my haircut (hasn't been done in 6 months! Can you see why?)
11. Call the garbage company for the FOURTH time to replace recycling bin that was stolen
12. Place commissary (grocery) order in June so it will arrive by the time we get there
13. Plan university-visiting trips for Lisette and Nicole
14. Plan trip to Hamilton
15. Change over kids' and my immunization cards to the yellow International cards.
Going s-l-o-w-l-y insane...
But since I haven't lost my job, the tests don't see much stress in my life. I'd like to see them tell my that to my face!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Español
I've been busy taking private Spanish lessons. My wonderful teacher Liz says I'm doing great but I feel like I have a sponge for a tongue when I'm trying to think up a sentence. Sometimes the words just do not roll off right. I'm in class four hours, four times a week. It's only been two weeks and I've missed a day a week - therefore I've only had 6 lessons, the kids' fault of course. Next week I'll miss another one because of pre-op for Jake, the following week is his surgery so I'll miss another day, maybe two. Sheesh, I'm never going to hablar. :-)
My beautiful sister is turning the big 5-0 this month and she's been stressing since last year. I happen to think Kim is a beautiful lady who absolutely everyone adores. We all think the world of her and I sure wish she'd feel better about celebrating what is just a number, and be as thankful as we are to have her in our lives. We love you to the moon Kimmy - though I'll certainly stoop down to that level and tease you ferociously in a few weeks!
As Nicole's plaque in her room says,
"I smile because you're my sister,
I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it!"
My beautiful sister is turning the big 5-0 this month and she's been stressing since last year. I happen to think Kim is a beautiful lady who absolutely everyone adores. We all think the world of her and I sure wish she'd feel better about celebrating what is just a number, and be as thankful as we are to have her in our lives. We love you to the moon Kimmy - though I'll certainly stoop down to that level and tease you ferociously in a few weeks!
As Nicole's plaque in her room says,
"I smile because you're my sister,
I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
