Too Much Squawking

I've been avoiding writing a blog note because it would mean too much venting/complaining but it's time to catch everyone up on what's going on.

The house is nice and quiet although Buddy is snoring behind me. Lisette is at Theater camp (you have to say "Theater" with an upper crust British accent for some reason), John is hopefully picking up his travel orders finally and my lazy youngest two are still sleeping!

While I was back home we were informed by the school in Bolivia that Jake was denied admission due to "serious concerns regarding his behaviour" ...John and I both about had a stroke. Jake had a hard time adjusting when we first arrived in Buenos Aires but he's improved by leaps and bounds since, especially considering we're moved this 8/9 yr. old child twice in the span of a year.

We've received some awesome support from the government and now the school is willing to reconsider his enrollment if he is cleared through a psycho-educational evaluation and emotional/ developmental testing. His testing takes place this Thursday and Friday. Meanwhile our collective breaths are held.

On the job front, I'm to have an interview over the phone tomorrow morning. Just another reason to pop my blood pressure through the roof. However, on the stress scale, it's rather low. I've always interviewed well and this job isn't the most important thing right now.

The icing on the cake? I'm having a hysteroscopy (read that carefully!) on July 2nd. Oh, and John is expecting to depart for Bolivia shortly thereafter. Life does keep us on our toes. If it doesn't kill us... you know.

My Lasik eyes are doing great. My kids are wonderful and I have the best friend/husband in the universe to lean on when life is totally una vida loca.

Now Jake is up and eating his scrambled eggs. He gave me a big good morning hug. Now I really don't have anything to squawk about. It's a beautiful day! Hope the sun is shining where you are too!

Plugging Along

I can see! Thanks to Lasik surgery last Saturday...it's amazing! It also happens to be 1/2 the price back home in Ontario so I stuck through feeling very unsure, did some research and went ahead with it. My vision is now about 20/15...this after being legally blind without correction. I heard the horror stories (actually, not really horror, just disappointment) and I heard the "it's so fabulous!" stories. I'm presently in the "it's so fabulous" category. :-)

We're waiting to hear if we're still going to Bolivia. There's been a big glitch in the plan but since I seem to be grumpy about one thing or another in this blog lately, I'll keep that story quiet until I can let you know the final outcome. Just say a prayer that things work out well...one way or another, but as long as it works out well!

It was great to see my family. I miss them so much and feel so isolated so much of the time. Always a billion miles away. Don't get me wrong, I love the adventure in our life but it doesn't stop me missing my friends and family. Eight days wasn't enough! Somehow I think John feels I was away longer than he'd have liked! He did just fine with the kids - even attended quite a few end of year events with the schools!

There was a murder on our street while I was away, a young man was shot in the driveway. That was freaky! They've had a memorial every night since, including last night. They aren't too loud but Jake needed to move into our bed to fall asleep...it's horribly sad. It's a Muslim family, I wish I knew an appropriate response to send/bring over there. Not sure if flowers or a meal or a plant would be okay... we certainly don't want to somehow offend at a time like this.

Today is the kids' last day of school. Happy day for them! Pseudo-happy day for mom and dad! :-)

Job Application

Me! I'm applying for an Embassy nurse job. Scary. Very, very scary. For some reason AOL doesn't want to send my resume out...is it trying to tell me something? :-(

Plugging Through Spanish

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!

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! :-)

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.

Looking a little more nervous - on the way to the OR - we loved how the cap matched his eyes!