Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Single Parenting and Sickness

Wow....what a day I had yesterday.

The "fun" began Tuesday night at work and carried over into last night. 

First, my poor daughter got the flu(or something). She had a headache and looked awful by the time I got her. She threw up once in the bathroom in my room at work, and then she threw up again in the car ride home. Thankfully I gave her a bag to hold on the long ride home. It's really not THAT long, but when you feel your lunch recycling in your body and are achy 25 minutes is a long ride home.

I got her home and let her call daddy. He talked to her for a few minutes and then she went straight to sleep after having one more vomit fest to really wear the poor thing out.

She slept until the following morning. 

Then the queasiness continued and a fever greeted her poor little body. Gave her some ice chips and a bath and had her lay down on the couch for a while.

Then my boys decided to argue. They were going at it pretty bad and at one point I had to intervene. As I'm trying to bend down to pick up my oldest twin son off his brother that pain in my head was moving all around. It reminded me of that leveling tool you use with the bubble in it. Moving up and down but not bursting every time you move it. I wanted to cry so bad, because I just wanted them to get along for once.  I finally got them to settle down after a phone call to their father explaining there would be no football practice for them this week if they didn't stop. I don't care how much he spent for them to sign up, they need to have some dire consequences and football was the only thing I had left to take away.

My daughter took a bath, and I gave her some Gatorade and ice chips and by 3:30 she was feeling much better.

However, I was not.

I started getting chills and aches and that's when I the headache got worse and soon I began feeling very warm and clammy. I tried to lay on the couch next to my daughter and told her she could watch her show. The boys were with dad at football practice and I figured I'd get a catnap in to fight this thing. I told her I was going to take a nap. 

That wasn't so easy. 

Because my sweet daughter has the gift of gab like her momma and she just kept talking to me. First it was about her story she wrote, then she was telling me about a special sandwich she thought up in her head that we should make some time and she started telling me all the ingredients and I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but it was making me feel even worse the thought of mayo, ham, lettuce and wrap sandwiches.  She just kept talking and I kept letting her.  Eyes closed I tried so hard not to hear what she was saying, but just listen to the words and nod and say "uh-huh" every so often.  Bless her heart, she finally stopped talking and I just laid there and then the phone rang and it was her dad telling her practice was cancelled the boys were on their way home.  

So much for my much-needed nap.



Around 7:30 I got sick. Ran to the bathroom and just stood there, you know how you do when you know it's coming and you just want it over with.  I had flashbacks to many a drunken night after hanging out with friends all night long and the clear reason why I don't drink anymore,  and soon the chicken I ate for lunch was recycling itself the other direction.

I know this is kind of a graphic blog post. I could do without all the morbid details, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't give every detail play by play.  I'm sure a lot of you can relate to my post.

I ordered a pizza around 8:15 or so and by that time my head was in excruciating pain, the queasiness was overbearing and the thought of talking about food and wings and all that made it hard for me to swallow. I barely made it through the ordering process and wanted to tell the guy, can you stop offering me a list of specials and just make the cheese pizza I wanted and send it with some theraflu and a baby sitter to watch my kids so I can sleep uninterrupted? Because I'm feeling like a train wreck here and just want to go to bed.

I got a phone call from a friend of mine apologizing for her "drunk dialing" call to me the night before. I told her no worries, she was quite the comical chick on the phone that night. She called me at 12:20 that night(morning) and we were up anyway and I explained to her that I was wide awake because me and my son were out watching the eclipse.  We hung up about fifteen minutes into our conversation.

Next thing I know the pains in my head were pounding. I felt like someone had take giant hammers in my head and was pounding them against my skull nonstop. 

Eventually I laid down on the couch, gave the kids $20 for the pizza I ordered and told them to please not fight. My oldest twin paid for the pizza and I made sure the guy gave them the right change and then my weary body passed out on the couch.  I tried to stay awake and just lay there as long as I could, but in the end, my body won that battle and told me it couldn't function anymore.

Now I'm wide awake and feel brand new. Looking forward to going into work today. 

I'm hoping this day flies by. 

I'm also hoping my boys don't catch whatever this stupid bug is.

Hope you have a lovely Wednesday. I have to go now and make some lunches.

I'll see you this weekend I'm sure.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Good Morning...

Well good morning fellow readers and passers-by.  

This is going to be a "quickie post" but I thought I'd share how my weekend went for us here at my humble little home. 

For starters, I'm back on the smoking wagon.  This doesn't mean I don't want to quit, it just means I don't want to inadvertently throw a shoe at someone or something or end up saying something I will regret later to the wrong person(basically my kids). I caved last night and bought a pack of smokes. 

I'm not going to feel bad about it either.

This was an addiction that had me for over 15 years. It's not going to cure itself over night. I will say quitting cold turkey made me a mean, ugly person and even my kids were saying to me, "Mom go smoke, we're tired of you yelling at us all the time."

They had a point. 

And it made me angry that I got angry so there I was, coffee cup in tow this morning with a Camel light attached to my lips out on the patio.

This quitting thing sucks.  It sucks because I want to quit, but the way I did it made me a horrible, nasty person.

So I will wean myself off these stupid things. 

Those who choose to throw judgment in my direction, go ahead, because you're the one with the real problem and obviously no friend of mine. 

The rest of you, thank you for your support and encouragement. 

Went to see a movie with my kids yesterday.  It was pretty good. I won't share any spoilers, but I will say I'm curious about a few things that happened during the movie.

We saw Noah.

Now I read an article that was fluttering around Facebook about how some folks were apparently in a frenzy due to the fact that Noah was either Directed or Written or Produced(can't remember) by an Atheist.  Not sure if it is true or not, and to be quite honest I don't really care who directs/stars/produces or writes a movie, if I want to see it, I'll go. Ozzy Osbourne supposedly ate a bat head at a concert circa 1970 something and I still love his music and always will(and I think his wife Sharon is awesome).  I wanted to see this movie prior to the review, but naturally, the little rebellious soul in me wanted to see it even more after reading that review. And the kids really wanted to see it so we went.

Part of me was bummed I had read that review. Because all throughout the movie I was finding "Atheist-based" things that maybe aren't even Atheist at all, but just one writer/director/producer's version of how they perceive the biblical story of Noah.

For instance, (and no there are no spoilers here) in the very beginning(no pun intended...ha ha).... of the movie that is....they showed these Transformer-like Rock things that I wasn't sure what they were. Of course Noah eventually explained to his son Shem that is was, in fact, Watchers(i.e. fallen angels that God had punished and turned into stone..you'll have to see the movie to understand why  they were turned into stone. Guess it beats being a pillar of salt and disappearing completely, eh?).  These Watchers were against man and so the story of "Noah" began....


Now call me crazy, but I don't recall any such story of any angels being turned to stone. Nor do I recall any castaways on Noah's ark.  I also can't remember twin girls being born. Maybe my biblical recollection is a little hazy or maybe my brain is just so fried I've forgotten all these events prior to the big flood.

I also noticed they only referred to God in the biblical sense once during the whole movie. The rest of the time he was called "The Creator". I realize according to biblical stories he is the creator, however, in the bible I believe they still refer to him as "God, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth".

My kids and I were literally on the edges of our seats during some of the "battle scenes" and my poor daughter was leaning forward so much so that I thought she was going to grab popcorn out of the bucket of the older gentleman and his wife in front of us. I had to gently coax her back into her seat in an upright position. 

She grabbed my hand twice.

We all jumped once.

And for a moment, we almost cried.

It was a good flick.

Well worth the admission fee I paid at the box office, despite the forty dollar price I paid for the giant refill bucket of popcorn and keg o' sodas that were five bucks each. Yeah, five bucks for a damn $1 soda. Call me crazy once again, I paid it for all four of us.

Do the math and figure out just how much that bucket of cholesterol laden buttery popcorn actually cost us.

After we got home from the movie I decided to go ahead and try to get some cleaning done. My daughter was outside tending to her fairy garden(pics to follow in next post) and my boys were outside. The sun was setting and I was on the couch when I see my son run in the door and grab something. I ask him what he is doing. He says the neighbors locked themselves out of the room.

Huh???

So I venture out the door behind him, and he zips into the apartment downstairs and I soon follow. Apparently the door they have for their bedroom locks from the inside only.  Not exactly child-friendly locks in my opinion. After they tried breaking into the bedroom window, using a credit card, screwdriver and butter knife to open the door from the inside, I told them I had an offset-spatula they could use to maybe pry it open. I ran upstairs, retrieved said spatula and returned.

After about 20 minutes of getting to know my new neighbors and their girls the man managed to pry open the door and it popped open.

Applause from all of us and cheers of relief.


Not only does tragedy bring communities together but so do locked bedroom doors.  They invited my kids over tonight to play with their kids.

Nice people.

Well, I went a little overboard here, but hey, at least I got a full blog in today.

Have a wonderful Monday folks.



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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Hanging In There....For Now

The week is just about over.

I'm so glad. 

I thought I'd never survive it, nor did my friend/coworker "D".  It has been one crazy ride this week at work let me tell you. Fun times and let me just say, that when I say say "fun times" that is sarcasm at it's finest. 

I've been smoke free now for four days. Three more days will make a week.  I just keep picturing myself thinner, healthier and happier. I look at myself in the mirror and think "Damn, underneath all those layers is one hot chick."

The layers I might add, are extra pounds not clothing.

But it's not like they will be there forever...at least I hope not. I hope my healthier outlook on life has some positive effects. 

So I went to the grocery store this evening.  I managed to get in and out of there with about three, maybe four days worth of food for...get this...$107.10 in 35 minutes.  Yeah, that's right! I got steaks, spaghetti o's, Pizzas, lunch meats, and snacks for lunches, fruit for lunches for me and the kids, ice tea, gravies, and potatoes and others odds and ends we need to get through the week until after payday next week.

As I was getting the last few items in my cart and was walking down the front of the main aisle to get to a register this old man, who I swear was about 70 something give or take a few years, was zipping in and out of aisles. He nearly clipped my cart with his cart as he barreled out of the side aisle into the main aisle. I tried to maneuver my cart a little quicker just to get away from him and headed to the chip aisle....swear to God that guy teleported himself and was in the potato chip aisle with me just as I turned around to get out of the aisle after I threw my snack size chips for the kids lunches in my cart. 

He scared the hell out of me.

Then it seemed like every time I turned around there that little old man was.

Creepy.

I got to the checkout line and got all my groceries paid for and as I walked to my car all I kept thinking was "Please don't let that crazy old man be on the road the same time I am."  Just as I unloaded the last bag and pushed my cart to the side(yeah, I didn't use the cart return shame on me) I see that old man darting towards his truck.

As I got in my car and turned the key though, something in my mind changed.

I had a different thought.

Not that this old man is crazy....but....

*maybe his wife is dying and she really wanted some chocolate ice cream; or some of those milano cookies or Pringle's chips. 

*maybe his daughter is sick or his granddaughter and he wants to be with them and bought some chicken soup with crackers to feel better.

* Maybe he had a movie he really wanted to watch and it came on around 8 and he missed the first five minutes.

and on a less serious note:

*maybe, just maybe he met a hot-looking 30-something year old at a bar last night and the viagara finally kicked in

*SHRUGS*

Well Grey's is on(and Vikings an hour later) and I just missed the first two minutes.  

Did I mention I turned the A/C on?  Did I also mention it was near 90 out today?

Hope all that snow melted back east.

I'll be back later....

Maybe.





Sunday, April 6, 2014

Tomorrow's Monday....Booo!!!

Well, I blinked and my weekend was over. 

It's already after nine here and in just 10 hours I'll be back at work again. (*booooo!!!!) I hate Mondays. Unless someone comes knocking on my door with a big fat check for me to cash on a Monday, I will always hate them.  

Perhaps hate is a strong word.

I despise Mondays.

There, that's a much better word.

I did the cardinal sin of all shopping sins today. I went to Wally World to return a pair of pants that didn't fit me and ran around to do a bit of shopping($60 worth of shopping to be exact). Anyway, I was strolling around at the front by the registers and I noticed there wasn't much of a line going on at the 20 items or less counter. My cart wasn't full, and I wasn't about to count all my items so I went there.

A kid who I shall just call "A" was working the register. As I started pulling the plastic eggs and foam art projects from my cart and the yogurts and string cheese and wash cloths and paper towels and Cadbury eggs I realized as I kept digging that I did, indeed have more than twenty items. 

OOPS!

This guy behind me was with his son. I could feel the glares from him and some other guy behind him. I didn't care. And I tell you why I didn't care in a minute.  So, instead of being rude to him, I simply said, "You can go ahead of me." He starts rambling all these excuses telling me, "It was the guy behind me rolling his eyes" and "I didn't say anything", as though I cared.

I didn't.

He only had one item and I wasn't about to make his poor kid stand there, probably away from his World of Warcraft game(or whatever kids his age play these days) any longer.  So I said to the guy, with a smile upon my face, "You can go ahead of me, I'm in no hurry."

He kept rambling on with whatever reasons(probably feeling guilty for rolling his eyes at me and giving the deep sigh he didn't realize I had heard) and thanked me for letting him go ahead of me.

I just said, "Have a nice day!" and kept unloading my items (maybe 25 items) out of my cart. I even put some stuff back....Easter Grass that I had for my kid's art in class this week and one thing of plastic eggs. I will pick it up tomorrow after work instead. This trip to that stupid store already cost me an arm, leg and half a toe for the miniscule amount of items I got. Four bags filled with nothing but lettuce for my salad tomorrow, shrimp scampi for dinner this evening and the other items I mentioned earlier. There was other items, but I can't remember what they were. 

I get my items rung up and thank the kid (by name) and told him to have a lovely day as well.

I get home, unload my groceries, start making my dinner, take a shower, do some laundry and call a few folks then I decide to finish unloading the rest of my bags to see what needs to go to work with me and what stays here.

Low and behold the damn string cheese is in the bag with the plastic eggs. And my peach chobani yogurt is in the bag with the washcloths.  Dude, learn proper bagging procedures and put all the dairy/perishable items in one bag next time. I had to throw out my string cheese too. 

I was not happy at all.

Thing is, last week I went into Wally World to get my kids some clothes. When I did, I spent almost ten minutes in a line with no cashier. My kids were going crazy and were driving me and everyone else behind me crazy as well. Fighting and playing with an Etch-a-Sketch they found someone who I'm sure some else whose kids went crazy opened.

This woman told me to stand in this line as her register was down and she couldn't help me. She directed me and a few others to go to this line with an imaginary cashier that wasn't there. I saw a manager walk by talking to another associate, I saw another cashier walk by and that woman, who directed me to that lane, went to another register all together three lanes down.

I was like, "What the hell?!"

So, today was my day to not give a damn either. Screw you Wally World, I'm going to take my 25 items through your twenty items or less lane and my apologies to those behind me who I piss off in the process.

I did feel bad for the poor guy with the Rubbermaid three-drawer storage container. But I just wanted to get the hell out and go home.

Because see, prior to that visit, I had stopped to wash my car and that was enough to wear me out. My car doesn't even look like I washed it. I didn't use that brush they have at the car wash place, I only used the "super rinse" cycle on the sprayer and the "Mega soap up your vehicle" sprayer.  I vacuumed it out too. I could have made a snack bag from all the Cheetos crumbs and pretzels and whatever other crumbs were all over my car floor. I even found a smashed brownie(my son sat on it during an argument between him and his brother) behind the front passenger seat.

I tried to clean that car as best I could for the five minutes my $3 worth of tokens would allow.  There was still dust on that car of mine after it dried and more spots than an African leopard. 

Didn't care though. 

I know I cleaned it. That's all that matters. I'll deep clean it another day. My tires need a good washing too, but I didn't have time for all that. It was already after three, almost four when I finally decided to go to begin with. 

I was just lazy today.

I also decided to quit smoking. So if my posts here for a while get a little nasty/snarky/rude my apologies. But I have to have an outlet somewhere and I don't feel like beating up some kid who didn't bag my groceries properly just because I decided to give up nicotine.

Not his fault I was a smoker since I was 19.  Not his fault that I quit for five months about 2 years ago and started up again...like an idiot.

So yeah, my posts should be really fun the next few weeks. If I don't drive off my one and only follower/commenter it'll be a miracle. (hang in there "Eb" ha ha)

I will share a funny story here though. Just to lighten the mood a bit around here. Last week, I went to the grocery store and my usual "friend"(i.e. acquaintance) was working customer service. We were talking about being single and I said sometimes I'd love to have someone just for "cuddle time" on a bad day, and she looks at me and says, "I can get you a vibrating man if you'd like."

I felt my self turn five shades of pink.

She sells adult toys/lotions etc on the side. I just started laughing. I'm not a prude, clearly I have seven kids so they didn't just pop up in a tank full of water and grow food like sea monkeys, I know how that happens, but she said it in front of a store full of people walking by and it caught me off guard.  

I told her "No thanks, I'm good."

She grinned at me and said, "If you change your mind you know where to find me."

Oh lordy!

Then one of my students asked me "Do you have a husband?" I said, "No." He said, "Why not?"  I sat there and thought for a moment to choose my words carefully (he's a very inquisitive child) and I said, "Well, I have just enough love for me and my kids I don't need any more."

And he said, "Oh."

***waiting for more questions***

there were none...

Whew! *wiped brow and breathed a sigh of relief*

Anyway, that's all I got for now. 

I'm feeling a bit sleepy and it's almost 10 here. Time for this chicky to put the last load of laundry for the day into the dryer.

I hope whomever reads this has a very lovely start to your week.

I'll try and come back to post more if I have the time. But with spring here, I've been trying to get my apartment organized and my mind off smoking. I have two smokes left and then I'm done.

Tomorrow I hope won't be a stressful day.

I'll keep ya posted.