October 29, 2008

They'll Be Turned Into Pumpkins At Midnight

I woke up today and my migraine was gone, thank the Lord! I'm not sure if I could have handled another day of that. Today has actually been a decent day. So far, I haven't had any bad news. It seems that lately, bad news of some sort has been a daily thing. Everything I think is going to work out, seems to be heading the other direction.

So about a month ago we lost CBS on our cable system. They had some sort of contract and one side wouldn't agree on the contract and the other side didn't agree on the money and so CBS pulled their station. Well, you'd think that wouldn't be a big deal but there are only a handful of shows that I actually remind myself to watch at a certain time. One is The Young and the Restless (daily) and the other is CSI (Thursday nights). Both of those show are on CBS.

Luckily we have rabbit ears in our kitchen, so we just took them out to the living room and used them as needed. Except that got annoying because every day at 12:28, I'd have to remember to unplug the cable and hook up the rabbit ears so I could watch Y&R. Then, after that was over, I'd have to unhook the rabbit ears and hook up the cable back up. No, it was not the end of the world, but it was a nasty reminder each time I did it that I do NOT clean behind my tv often enough.

Anyhoo... I'm laying in bed this morning flipping through channels and I stopped on Rachael Ray. I haven't ever really cared for her, but she was making some sort of turkey sandwiches that were suppose to taste like sour cream and onion potato chips, so yeah, it caught my eye... anyway, I'm sitting there and it struck me, HEY... this is a CBS show!! Oh my gosh, we have CBS again.

I knew at that moment my day was off to a great start. (Nope, I don't have much of a life, but thanks for caring.)

T2 is having a friend spend the night tonight. On a night that I need to be in bed at a decent hour because I have to work in the morning. What was I thinking?! I guess I was thinking that I've probably given my kids so many other things to put them into therapy when they grown up, that I didn't want to add "We never got to have friends over, that's why we're serial killers!" to the list.

I've already given them strict orders that all the wrestling and running around will cease at 9pm and at that time they can watch movies, play video games or TP the neighbor's house - just as long as it's quiet. (And how much noise does toilet paper make?!)

They also know that they are to be in bed, lights out and mouths shuts no later than midnight. This time was of some debate before the actual sleepover was set, but I'm thinking if Cinderella had a time frame at the ball, this princess has a time frame to be in bed.

Wouldn't want anyone to turn into a pumpkin...

October 28, 2008

Migraine

Yesterday was busy. Normally my Mondays are low key. I missed that. I had to be up early for an appointment in another town, then that appointment led to another appointment at another office and I got back home a lot later than I wanted to.

My parents were here to stay with the boys and my mom cleaned up the whole kitchen for me. Awww, how nice, huh? Don't you wish she was your mom.

Last night I started getting cold, because the weather started getting cold. When I start getting cold, I start feeling sick. Before bed I had a headache and a stomachache. Of course I did what I always do (and always regret) and thought, "oh, I don't need to take anything, I'll just go to bed and when I wake up my headache will be gone". You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now, but noooo. So, I went to bed and by 6am my headache had turned into a migraine and hurt so bad the pain woke me up. I got up and took some Tylenol and had to prop myself up on pillows to try and get back to sleep.

I got up at 8am for work... and the Tylenol hadn't done jack.

I am miserable. I'm not sure I can tolerate the last two hours of my work day. And on top of it all, my sweet little daycare girl ran and fell straight into the corner of the wall and got a scrape and huge goose egg. I felt SO bad! She cried for about a minute and then was running around, but it had to hurt! Since her mom works real close to my house, I called her and asked if she'd come down and take a look at it. By the time she got here, the little girl was running all over, going down the slide and laughing. We both agreed she was ok, but her bump looks horrible. She ate her lunch fine, so I think she's going to be ok. I hate it when kids get hurt at my house.

My Tuesday feels like a continuance of my Monday. :(

October 21, 2008

Working Together

Homeschooling is back in session. Well, more regularly anyway. We took a short break to work on the house. And yes, I DO call that schooling.

T2 got his own room and I moved back into the master bedroom and we all helped each other move dressers, beds and junk we don't need and grandma came over and helped paint (because she is so good she doesn't even have to use tape!).

Meanwhile, the boys learned responsibility, what it means to help each other and creativeness. T2 got his room painted and then the boys decided to repaint their bathroom. They worked together, decided on a color together and painted it all on their own.

Now before you think it was all sweet candy sprinkles, oozing love and big hugs over here, it wasn't. But that wouldn't be learning now, would it?!

Nonetheless my crap is still all over one side of my room and about every 3 days or so Mr. R asks me when I'm going to put that stuff away. I have a nice little path going through it, I don't know what he's worried about.

When Mr. R was in Texas last week, he bought me some sweat pants at Aeropostale that are quite possibly the most comfortable pants I've ever worn. Lucky for me, when I was in Muncie over the weekend, I just happened to go into another Aeropostale store and they had the same pants AND they were on sale for $9.99. Mr. R got mine for $19.99 which proves that things are bigger in Texas - including their prices.

(That had nothing to do with the subject at hand, but it was important anyway.)

Carry on.

October 18, 2008

Ben

Last Friday my grandpa was taken to the hospital by ambulance because my grandma found him to be unresponsive. My mom left immediately. Saturday morning sometime between 7 and 9 am he had a stroke. (Or possible a few strokes?) My cousin Jer drove up to my house on Saturday and we left Sunday morning to go to Michigan to the hospital. His mom had left Friday to go too, but since we didn't know how bad it was (or was going to be), everyone else just waited.

Walking into the hospital room I was not prepared to see what I saw. My grandpa was laying there like a fragile little hurt bird. I'm not sure why I thought of a bird, but I did. I immediately began to cry and couldn't even go over to his bed until we got back from lunch. Then I just tried to tell him who I was, that I loved him and just rubbed his forehead. The boys didn't want to get close and I didn't make them.

There ended up being 10 family members in the room that day. Each one took their turn at different times going to his side and talking to him. Sometimes he would laugh or answer with something that didn't make much sense, but just to see him make the effort was nice.

We all fell apart at different times (and perhaps for different reasons) but there was always someone else to hold the other up, to give a hug, or make them laugh.

We left later that afternoon and said our good byes. Maybe just for that visit, maybe for the last time. The boys did end up hugging him good bye. On their own.

Besides the stroke that will never let him walk again, he also has Alzheimer's. Not a good combo. He's out of the hospital and in a rehab nursing home, but he will never go back to his own home. I can't imagine what my grandma is going through.

The truth is, we lost him a few years ago. Watching his mind go was very hard, but watching his body go is just as sad.

He's my grandpa and I love him, but I can't fathom what my mom and aunts are going through. This is their father. Their only living parent. They lost their mom at a very young age. I'm sure it hurts just as bad now as it did then. I don't think it matters how old you are when you lose (or are losing) a parent. You'll always feel like a child inside.

My grandma calls him Ben. His name is Cliff.

Here's to you Ben... this song has always made me think of you. I know you'll get to where you're going.