Not such a tame world....

Three Weeks Later, and I've been a Busy Girl....

Been busy with work, home, kids, dogs, cats, etc. Michael has actually been the lowest needs critter around here. And that's with shopping for a new Summer wardrobe for him for Father's Day! [Took Tab along to shop & she's even more opinionated about Dad's clothes than Dad is....Oy Vey!]     :-)

Still I've been able to keep up with my swimming & conditioning and Monday was a high point for me, quite literally .... Wahoo!

 

Back to indoor rock climbing for the first time in 18 years. Go Me!!

Been busy on the locums front.

Have my brother's boys (x2) with us this week. While we're having fun, we're all exhausted. They both fell asleep on the couch during the opening credits of this evening's movie. [Napolean Dynamite. I wanted to see what all the hype had been about. Truly, this was a flashback to the worst of the 1980's....]

Took Zoe & Sam with us to Doug's place when we went to their town for Tab's climb at Regionals. It sounded like a great idea: all the cousins & all seven dogs together. In reality, it's ended up costing me $300+ in vet bills. Sam binged on their dog food & gave himself a good case of "garbage gut" and bloody diarrhea. Just as I got him back on his feet, Zoe came down with a wicked case of "kennel cough" even though she's fully immunized. So now she's on antibiotics & steroids, but at least she's stopped sounding like a cat about to hack up the world's largest furball.

Pixel had her 13th birthday. We avoided repeating Tessa's whisker curling event from last year & skipped the cupcakes flambe for Pixel. Maybe we'll stage something later. Brie & Merlot are holding their own. Merlot likes to "slum" with the dogs. Sam & Zoe have quite the respect for his claws, but they still get to gently chew on him, so his new nickname is still "Chew Toy". Brie is spending a lot of time these days hiding under the bed & in the closet. And Tucker has rapdly gone from his robust 23# to 17.5# when I weighed him about a week ago. Over this weekend it became painfully clear that he clinically has feline diabetes. After our [my] experience of giving sub-q fluids to Milo when he went into renal failure, Michael & I have decided no more needles for the cats once they're over 10 years old. IMHO it just doesn't add anything to their quality of life to have me fighting with them to prolong their life. So Michael & I are just holding our breath until Tucker declares himself "done".

Otherwise, Summer is just flying by. Where has this year gone???

Lots of good photos so far this year. I'll try to put together an album & get this up "in my free time!"

Hugs & Purrs & Woof's

So today has not gone "according to plan"....

I was doing OK until my family decided to talk to me this morning.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a morning person. I don't ever bounce out of bed as much as I slowly ooze out the side, hit the floor, start my sit-ups and slowly wrestle my way to consciousness.

My morning routines are strictly regimented, more for my sanity, than for any other reason. So Michael & Tabitha have learned that talking to me in the morning is an iffy proposition at best.

So this morning didn't go well when Tabs came to me, all giggles & grins, to ask to borrow my house key because she had lost hers. I managed to go from barely "coconscious & standing" to "sub-nuclear" in less than 0.2 seconds.

I think she got the point that joking about losing her key is not funny. And I think Michael got a clue that if he's going to tell me that he's going to finally go to Home Depot & get copies made, then he better follow through. To quote my father "Poor planning on your part, does not create an emergency on my part." He ended up loaning her his garage door opener. [Poor choice in my opinion, since she's already lost something that's replaceable. Now you're letting her take something that's not replaceable? Yikes!] And instead of lunch today, I went to Lowe's and got 5 copies made. I figured since they were $1.50 each, I might as well get plenty of back ups. [In all fairness to Michael, the reason he doesn't have a house key was because he gave his to Mrs. K when I ended up in the hospital. Still, that was nearly 6 months ago and Home Depot is five minutes around the corner....]

So my Monday morning started with me nearly spontaneously combusting, and I never really calmed down all day.

I saw 20 kids in clinic, including "arm-boy" who has this awful abscess on his arm that I keep having to do wound care for. Naturally he's 18 months old, so he's so traumatized just seeing me now.... And naturally, the equipment that I'd asked for last week to be ready for today -- yeah, it was no-show. I was truly practicing "MacGyver Medicine" this afternoon. Oh, and by-the-way, I was halfway to clinic this morning when I realized I was also on-call for the children's home in East Texas for the next 48 hours. So truly, I was juggling so many jobs today, that I'm dizzy tonight.

If anything, the one redeeming moment today was that when I filled up the Jeep for gas, I had bonus discount point on my frequent buyer card & I got gas at $0.99/gallon. I got a full tank of gas for $15! Rock On!! That will probably not ever happen again.

Then while Michael got Tabs to rock climbing practice, I did errands on the way home. Managed to get cat food from the vet's just prior to closing. I managed to get a major Wally-world run done to restock the cat litter, kid shampoo, cokes, yogurt -- the necessities. Then I got home & discovered that Tab managed to break her one pair of glasses today at school....

<very big sigh>....

All I know is that right now, 10PM seems like a really long time away. [That's when I get to do my nighttime telephone rounds at the children's home.] I am ever hopeful that after a good night's sleep, tomorrow will go better....

Great Gravy! Have I been busy....

As usual, too much to do and not enough time to do it in. So here's some highlights since the last post:

As of tonight I have 17 more days of rat poison to go. This is a good thing but also a bad thing. I'll elaborate more in a later post as I start to count down the days....

The weekend of Feb 7th Tab went to her first Daddy-Daughter dance. The theme was Cinderella and she was all about maximizing the "princess" aspects. There was the dress (borrowed from buddy also going to the dance), the tiara & gloves (bought the day before at Michael's on clearance -- WaHoo! There is no way I was paying $44 for a kid tiara.), and last but hardly least, Tab's first pair of "grown-up high heels" (i.e. we bought them in the women's size 5 aisle at Payless.). Then there was the hair-do, courtesy of Sweet & Sassy. It probably was a bit of overkill for a 10 year old's "date with Daddy", but I was feeling indulgent because I'd been putting in the hours at work and not at home, and because I never really had the chance to do something like this with my own dad. [There was one time, but it ended up not being a "warm & fuzzy experience" and I'll leave it at that....] Overall outcome was a thumbs-up from both parties, and Tab is already making plans for next year. When apparently, I will be adding "dress shopping" to the to-do list. Photos to follow later. Michael & I greatly enjoyed Tab's squirming discomfort & fear as she waited to see if Michael would pull out his award winning twist moves a la "Pulp Fiction". He behaved himself though & no lumbar spines were hurt in the process....

That same weekend my brother arrived en familia and we got to meet the newest additions to the family. And I am posting a picture now because they are too darn cute not to:

Allow me to introduce Frannie Freckles (L- the long haired Dalmatian) and Tiger Lily (R - the short haired Dalmatian). The girls were 8 weeks old in the photo and so clumsy they were impaired -- but in an adorably cuteway. I always thought Dalmatians were high-strung neurotics, but these two were Sweet, Sweet, SWEET! So of course, Tab wants one of these now....

It was a crazy weekend with four adults, three kids, four cats and SIX dogs in the house. It was all good though and Zoey finally got a clue about what being house broken means by watching her older & younger canine cousins. So that was an added benefit. The cats, well Tucker anyway, were unimpressed by the dog invasion -- as long as they left his food alone. Otherwise, having Zoey around had the rest of the cats fairly unflustered by the dogs. Apparently detente is a possibility!

Worked pretty hard last week. Saw some interesting kids and lots of flu. The Flu has hit North Texas and it has hit hard. Most interesting patient of the week was a ten day old who turns blue whenever he eats or cries. Do not pass go -- Go straight to cardiology. Turned out to be mostly normal and just the personality of this kid. I'm betting that some serious temper tantrums will be on-tap for mom in about 2 years.... Most interesting kid so far this week was the four year old who got roughed up by the three year old daycare bully. He wasn't happy with just pushing the kid down; he had to kick him in the face with a "wheelie" shoe. Patient was lucky to not have any major injuries other than a split lip, and even that wasn't bad enough for me to suture. Still, I think I made my SIL's day when I called for her expert advice on daycare regulations to pass on info to my patient's mom. [Here's a shout out to Shell!!! I got pretty lucky in the SIL department! Thanks!!]

Spent my Friday off from clinic on the go. Since I get Friday's off, I've shifted all my doctors appointments to Fridays, and then I just try to fit in errands as best as possible. Got by my doc. Got the tires rotated. Got my hair cut by "Bryan the Hair God" [Seriously, that what we call him around my house.] My "Alice hair" is still my favorite haircut to date, EvEr! Still managed to snag a quick lunch at home & get to Tab's school Valentine's party. I love kids 1:1 or 1:2, but put me in a room with 20+, all on a sugar high, with no structure, and I'd love to just crawl away to the nearest storage closet for the duration. Instead I get my camera between them & me, just for a buffer zone. I still haven't downloaded those pics yet so we'll see if anything good came out.

Valentine's Day arrived and Tabs kept calling the house to see if "Cupid came?" Apparently he's now a distant cousin of the Easter Bunny & brings gifts, etc. Beats me. I finally burst that bubble by explaining that this is one holiday that Michael & I handle on our own. Still she got a card, crocs, and chocolate. I got Michael a card & skittles. And the Michael got me my own Flip camcorder!!! Seriously! I got the white one. I'm so proud of M as he snagged this on a one day sale at Amazon.com. I'm stoked about this gift and have already played with little videos here & there. The one Michael got of Tab as a "tester" cracks me up. Unfortunately, it seems I need a software update to be able to get anything uploaded to YouTube. So bear with me for awhile as I try to get tech stuff under control. But now I have an easy new media to torture my family with.... :-)

Sunday Tab had an invite to the movies & dinner with friends, and Michael & I unexpectedly inherited a pair of tickets to a Pops concert at the Bass Hall. So Sunday he & I had a real grown-up date, complete with dinner at PF Changs afterward [I so love Chinese! It's so easy to eat low vitamin k, gluten free there....] The concert was fabulous, but I could go to the Bass Hall for screeching cats and enjoy myself, just because I love the music hall so much. I have a scrapbook page in the works, but I just haven't glued everything down yet.

Yesterday I was weak & fell prey to Hobby Lobby. This week is what I call "wall week" - If you can hang it on the wall it was 50% off. So I got shelves for the kitchen, some art decals, the third art print I wanted for my closet [Yes. My closet is big enough to hang art in -- just wait until I put in new carpet in a cheetah pattern of course!]. Ya know. Wall Stuff. I did go look at scrapbook paper, but didn't buy any. There is one set I'm keeping my eye on. Seriously, has anyone ever gotten a physical "high" from buying scrapbook paper? Maybe that's one of those "You know you're a scrapbooker when...." signs. So last night I got busy and got some of the decor up. Still have more to do, but that will likely be this weekend.

This week is back to the clinic. I already wrote about "Wheelie Boy". Today I became the director of the local Synagis clinic and saw preemies out the wazoo. I went with the flow, but kind of felt out-of-my-element for the first few rounds of patients. By the second set of twins I found my groove and the rest of the day zoomed by.

Then tonight was Tuesday night and from 7 to 9pm, don't call me. We have started the semi-finals of American Idol and this is my third year to watch. I've already gotten my votes in for my top two contestants. Tab is playing it safe and for now is voting for the ones I like too. We'll see if she branches out later in the season. My guy, David Cook, won last year, so maybe "Mom does know best"????

In the interests of getting more than 6 hours of sleep, I'm headed to bed. More when I have a bit more time to post....

 

2009 thus far....

• Finds me completely obsessed with the Twilight series of books. And I do mean ob.sess.ed. I started them about 12/30 and for the past week have been up until 3 or 4am reading. I'm on book #3 now and I find the stories just so well written and captivating that I actually wish Edward, Bella, & Alice were real people and that they could be my friends. The whole Vampire-thing not withstanding of course.... [I may have to buy my own set of the books because I can see me reading these many more times.]
• This past Saturday, with just a few hours notice, I managed to convince/coerce Mrs. H into going to see the movie with me at the 10PM show. I thought it was fabulous & I'd go back in a heart beat. Seriously. I get all swoon-y thinking about Edward. [Swoon-y? Is that even a word? It is now....]
• In the midst of kitchen reno.Back in early November Zoe declared that the kitchen wall-paper needed to come down. Since then Mrs. K comes over nearly nightly to do therapeutic "wall-paper picking". Well. Turns out that I was right. The builder didn't prime the walls first, which is part of why the paper won't stay up. So the painters are coming tomorrow to take down the rest that will go willingly and then to go over everything with a layer of mud/primer. Then the kitchen is "Going Red" People! I painted test patches over the weekend and since Michael has now gotten the paint, looks like I'm committed to "heirloom red" by Valspar. All I can say is that once it's done -- it will be very different....   
• In the past 24 hours I have become a hot ticket in the locum tenems world. Turns out the long-term urban clinic I was at last Spring suddenly finds themselves needing a doc for three months, "Would I be available?" So I start back there next Monday. I'll also be covering telephone call for another week for the children's home in East Texas that I've been covering for since Christmas week. Should be interesting. Or exhausting. One of the two. Either way, if I needed proof of God at work & "Trust"  being at play -- this was it. The appeal of steady income over the next few months is quite high. Today I fielded calls from another couple of recruiters & it was almost painful the tell them I wasn't available again until April 1st.
• Yesterday was a tough day. It was the one year anniversary of my Nana's death, and I have been missing her terribly the last few weeks. Jan 9th will be the 1 year funeral date, and I still really haven't been able to go back to the reams of photos I took during that time. I'm glad I took them, but that was a particularly painful time for all of the family and I still feel very emotional just looking at the images. Maybe next year....
• It was sort of fitting we had a hard freeze the night before. I was so glad that I had no real plans to be "out & about" in the muck & ice. It was a bad traffic morning for North Texas.
• Meet my new little buddy: the INRatio. I'll have to think of a nickname. I should probably put more effort into the choice than picking "Spike" or "Fang", but both are involved in the process of testing my INR level by finger stick. [I am open to suggestions. Leave a comment below.]I got the box yesterday but didn't have time to open it until today. Only took me two tries to stab myself well enough to get a sufficient blood sample. Once I figured that out, the rest was pretty easy. I got a peak value tonight of 3.1 which makes me very happy. [Peak values are timed to be at the highest concentration after taking a dose. Phamokinetics-wise for Rat Poison, that works out to be 4 hours after taking a dose.] Tomorrow I'll try for a trough value for giggles. Then on Thursday I'm having a lab draw done. I'll take along my new toy and test at that time to run a set of calibration values, i.e. does my finger-stick value match the venous draw value? It should be an interesting set of experiments. I guess I should be glad that there aren't any obvious vampires around in my immediate vicinity....
• Zoe has apparently decided that she is a cat. In the evenings, she's not happy unless she's wrapped around my neck. I think she picked up on this trick watching Pixel. Fortunately she is still about 15 pounds or I'd be in serious need of traction by now. Interestingly, she doesn't do this to many other people. I'm apparently the "special" one. And now it's hard for her to just stay in my lap. As soon as possible she starts squirming her way up to my shoulders and then "Here we go again!"
• I met my hostessing requirement for my local Women's Club Bunco Group. That was this past Monday evening & I think it went well enough. We spent the weekend cleaning and I'm enjoy a clean house. I realize it won't last long though....
• I am enjoying that right now, in the short term, I am the "Godess of Texting" to my daughter. Tabs is enjoying her new cell phone & I'm loving that I get to show her how to do stuff with it, and for once -- I am the gadget guru instead of Michael. [Shhh. Only happens about once every 10 years....] This was her on Christmas morning when she had to call the phone number & she heard the box ringing from under the Christmas tree. Followed by sheer thrill. Followed by sheer attitude.... 

 

 

To quote Mark Twain....

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"

Just turns out that 14 days of antibiotics didn't do much to knock out this sinus infection, so last week I ended up waving the white flag, seeing my internist, and getting shot full of steroids & antibiotics. Fun. Fun. Then I proceeded to spend the weekend craving everything salty & crunchy, and desperately trying not to eat everything in sight. I finally started being able to breathe easily by about Monday, but seriously, the last two weeks are just very fuzzy. As is the case with most women & especially Mom's, I just never really slowed down enough to rest nor recuperate. So guess what -- I just didn't get better. At least not until the aforementioned interventions. I'm still not back to 100%, but the steroids have definitely given me a false sense of energy. Unfortunately, that's coupled with horrible insomnia, so I still really haven't been getting much rest. The past 3-4 years, I've ended up on steroids in one form or another at this time of year. Can't say that I'm a huge fan because they do make me feel "whacked out", but I do like breathing -- so they are a necessary evil.  C'est la vie.

In the meantime, lots of things have happened since I last posted:

• Ms. K. & I played hooky and went to IKEA for an afternoon. Had a blast! Got great stuff for the house & only spent $78. Love that place. Bought some of the cutest little jars and now I need about 6-8 more to use to fine-tune my button storage.
• Mardi gras snuck up on me this year (didn't celebrate - couldn't breathe)
• Lent started & I missed Ash Wednesday service
• I started volunteering with the senior high school kids at church. I sort of became their official photographer. (There's a part of me that always was entertained by adolescent medicine -- it's unfortunately even less reimbursed than any other part of pediatrics.)
• Tabitha brought home a mid-term progress report with 3 "C's" and one "F" -- refresher course of Mutzig Military Academy ensues.... <sigh>
• After listening to her whine about grades & homework, yet again, I try some reverse psychology and tell her that I'll do her homework - but only if she can make me. That I'll be acting as Tabitha and she gets to act as Mom. The next 1.5 hours are a riot and I struggle with keeping a straight face. Trust me. I earned a nomination and an Oscar for my performance, complete with the full bodied, flailing extremities tantrum and screaming. Scared the cats s***less, but Tab finally had a chance to see how the rest of us view her behavior. Eye-opening doesn't even begin to describe her reaction.
• Brie & Merlot turned three years old (I'm so sad -- the kittens are no longer "kittens", even though they still act that way....)
• Last Friday I had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend from a long time ago. My history with Mrs. S. goes back to my early dating days with Michael. We lost touch when I moved away for residency, and somehow just kept missing each other after I moved back. So out-of-the-blue I got a call from her and she scrapbooks and wanted me to go crop with her. So last Friday I hung out at her place and cropped. I was worried that it might be a bit awkward since it had been nearly 8 years. Instead, we got caught up on the highlights in about 30 minutes and it was just like old times after that. I am absolutely thrilled to have a new, old friend back in my life. Especially since....
• Some of my friends are taking a beating. One is having massive relationship problems and my heart breaks for her while I stand helplessly on the sidelines. Another one is likely relocating due to work and while I'm happy for the opportunities this brings her, I am so sad to think that we won't be able to see each other very often.
• Speaking of friends, "Da'Boys" all got together this past weekend for fajitas and much food was eaten by all. It was nice to get caught up since it had been a couple months since seeing most of them.
• My brother started not one, but two new jobs -- and seems to be thriving. Tired, but thriving.
• The Flu has hit North Texas something fierce and so far the three of us have managed to dodge it.
• Word of mouth about my house calls practice is spreading. Last week I was invited to join a women's networking dinner and I made 34 new contacts. One of whom I had lunch with this week and she wants to have me be a guest speaker at a few functions she hosts, also targeting women/moms. The gal who invited me to the group said she heard about me from "a friend of a friend" and I didn't recognize any of the names she gave me, so I take that as a sign that word really is getting out. I just need one more house call this month to make my March expenses, and I'm hopeful that will happen. I also donated a free house call to our church's silent auction last weekend. I was tickled pink on Tuesday to talk with the mom who purchased my house call. I'm looking forward to meeting her and I loved when she told me: "When I saw that item, I knew that I needed it!"
• Scrapbook-wise, I've gotten a few layouts mostly finished. It's the journaling that always does me in. I played with my Cricut last night and had a blast. I cut out about 15 hearts in 5 sizes in about 5 minutes. Now I just need to glue them down to the page. I'm motivated and want to scrap, but inevitably, I sit down at my desk and fatigue sets in, I get sucked into surfing blogs or e-mail, and then at 1am I head to bed.... <Sigh> Night-owls of the world, Unite! And what is so sad is that I have about 2 notebooks full of ideas that I want to do and not enough energy to follow through.
• After a few weeks, my word for this year "Truth" got converted to "Faith". I really wanted a "T" word, but it just never grew on me. I think I was trying to force it to work. But "Faith" kept rattling around the brain, so I switched to that.
• I've decided that this will be the year that my digital phots will be organized, so I've started sorting & tagging files in 10-15 minute increments. I started with 36,000+ and now am down to about 34,700+. Amazing how they all slowly start to add up. This project contributes to the lack of sleep too. Once I get started I slip into OCD mode and keep doing the "Just one more" line.

In the meantime, I continue to pay the bills by doing insurance exams. Michael bought me a GPS, and after being lukewarm about the gadget, I now firmly adore my new toy. It's got its quirks, but really, who doesn't?

Tab & I have started to chip away at Spring cleaning, so that it doesn't attack us all at once. We try to take advantage of the 70 degree days like today, because there are still 32 degree days like tomorrow. The garage needs help, but that will need to wait for more warm weather.

Michael & I continue to ponder the idea of painting the ceiling in the living room. In theory it seems like a great idea, but with 12 foot ceilings, that reality may be more than we bargain for.

So I think that summarizes the past two weeks. At least the stuff that's worth mentioning....

The new news....

So Friday night found Tabitha at a sleep-over, Michael & I at Wally-World purchasing "Ocean's 13" and a drive though at Sonic for dinner & a movie at home. The weather was miserable by Texas standards; low 30's and rainy.

Saturday, I worked & then snagged Tab for a surprise lunch with my Mom. The three of us then headed to Petsmart for some "field research". For a while this weekend it was looking like we were actually going to get a ferret. They're more closely related to cats and Michael's sister has hand's on experience with that kind of critter. She & her DH had three many years ago. We used to take Tessa over to their place to visit and she would have fun playing with them. [In her own mind she's an only cat, but she cavorts with ferrets -- Yeah. I don't get it either....] But after Tab had a chance to actually hold a hamster -- she was giddy & madly in love. So hamster it will be. Her research continues and yesterday she brought home a book on hamster care. Based on the fashions in the book, I'd say it's early 1980's genre. She had to call our vet yesterday to find out if they see hamsters. They do. For about $60. At that price, I can see that when one dies, it's easier to go spend $15 and buy a new one. We'll see if Tab takes after us and wants to go to extreme measures in veterinary health care.

Sunday was quiet, but not long enough to get all the chores, etc done.  Yesterday I started my Christmas shopping. <Sigh> This year is so getting away from me.

Tonight was the PTO Christmas Concert. Tab was an elf in the choir. She hammed it up well. Michael & I both went. I manned the still camera & he had the video camera going. We got there nearly 35 minutes early & still ended up in the back row. Between the location & the heads in front  of him, and that all the kids were dressed alike -- Michael had an "oops" moment & recorded some other child for about 5 minutes until I pointed out where Tab was. According to Mrs. H & Dr. K -- that's a common Dad mistake. I just think it's hilarious!!

Then we got home. Finished watching Santa Clause III, and I headed to my study. Originally my plan was to do some photo management & blog a bunch of photos, but this was on my desk & my plans were derailed....

This is my late anniversary & early Christmas present. Wa  Hoo!! So it maybe awhile before I surface....

Happy Cricut to me! Happy Cricut to me!! I have a criiiii-cut! Happy Cricut to me!!

We're still alive....

In spite of very little blogging.

It was an action packed weekend since it was that ever rare weekend when I did not work on a Saturday.

Friday night was the 70's disco/slumber/birthday party next door. Tab had a couple of false starts but then had a fabulous time. Saturday she & Ms E. played super well together -- we thought -- Note to self: just because the kids are being quiet - doesn't necessarily mean that they're being good. In this instance, Ms E (whom I'm certain will grow up to be the VP of Organizing for the Container Store....) and Tab played in her room for a while, and then started playing school in the kitchen. Makes sense. I have an enormous white board left over from my med school days & it's hung at kid level in the kitchen for their amusement. Through out the day I had run errands and was doing housework. Spent 5 hours cleaning Tab's room, closet & bathroom. During this time the girls decided to "help" me by rearranging 3 or 4 drawers in the kitchen. About the time I discovered this, I was also fairly ticked because I had just discovered that Tab had been saving her gum by sticking it in the medicine cabinet in her bathroom. And I don't mean small pieces. I'm talking about boulders of gum created from two or three sticks all chewed together. I was so not a happy person at 6:45pm on Saturday night. Tab & Ms E were summoned back to our house to have the house rules established, very clearly, in no uncertain terms, with consequences clearly spelled out. Ms. E, God Love Her, pretty much tried to leave Tab flappin' in the wind, but her Mom caught up with her later. Tab ended up having to use her fingernails to scrape all the gum out of the cabinet & then scrub it down & then scrub her hands. Pretty much, she's gotten the point not to make that mistake again.

And the potential when I got up Saturday morning was so high for the day. I had actually planned on making sugar cookies & decorating them with the girls -- Didn't happen.

Sunday, after church, fed Tab & Ms E lunch and then I hit the trails for 4.5 blissful hours of scrapbooking with the girls. Made some serious headway on Doug's baby book / X-mas gift but it'll be later this week before I'm done. I've never met a deadline that I truly felt compelled to keep -- at least that's what it feels like. So the girls got a fresh start on Sunday & Michael got to deal with them. And I escaped for a much needed sanity / play break.

Today has been a typical Monday. Have started going into work mid-morning but I'm still not getting home until 7:45pm. Before leaving, this morning was a flurry of activity, cleaning up. I end up putting away cereal, fruit, etc from Tab's breakfast and lots of other chores. Work a mentally taxing day, and now I've gotten body slammed by the fact that it's nearly mid-night & I really wanted to crawl into bed about 9pm.... What is wrong with that picture?

Stay tuned -- same time, same channel, more tomorrow....

My life as an "I Love Lucy" episode....

This morning started well enough. Got Tab to school on time -- always a struggle since I am so not a morning person. Michael is worth his weight in platinum since he usually makes sure she's awake & get her breakfast started, I finish breakfast & supervise getting to school.

Got home & decided to "freshen up" my hair color. Everything was going along OK while I was rinsing the color out in the shower, and then {dun, dun, dun, dun...} completely on auto-pilot I started shampooing my hair and realized after the fact that I was washing the fresh new color right out. I'm sure my rapid scramble to get the shampoo out as fast as humanly possible was really funny, but at the time it didn't feel like it. All's well that ends well though. I'm not all washed out looking like Caspar the ghost right now, but I'll definitely not be getting a full month out of this bottle of Nice'n Easy. (As a side note, I've been coloring my hair with #112 for nearly 20 years now. My natural color is a paler strawberry blond that leaves my skin totally washed out. Although, if I followed my mom & brother's pattern, I've started going prematurely grey -- we'll just never know because I'll keep coloring my hair until it is completely ridiculous to do so....)

Got oodles of household puttering done; changing light bulbs, hanging wreaths, finishing framing on two pieces for our gallery space, cleaned my office & dining room, got Tab's school stuff organized, lots of laundry & dishes done. Overall a very productive morning.

This afternoon's plan was to snag Tab from school early & get her hair cut & styled, go find a Santa somewhere & get a portrait done as a surprise for Michael on our anniversary next week. OK, so that was the plan. Here's what really happened:

• School would not let me get her 10 minutes early so I ended up sitting in the cafeteria at the YMCA program waiting for her to turn up. She apparently is always one of the stragglers and she was late true to form this afternoon too....
• Got to her hair cut appointment 25 minutes late. She refused to let Miss Charlotte cut her hair, but she was cool with a style session, so she got her hair straightened. Looks fabulous on her, but I'm pretty hair challenged so who knows if I'll be able to tackle this tomorrow. Miss C. did finally convince Tab to let her trim the split ends, so that was a huge step. With Tab's hair straightened, the resemblance between her & me is so gosh-darn spooky that it isn't even funny. I feel like I'm looking in the mirror at a mini-me. I really do like her hair with some curl in it though she's not convinced.
• Got to the mall and decided to stop at the Children's Place to check out their 30% off sale. Really she looked like she'd been playing baseball & sliding into every plate the whole game, so I just wanted a clean outfit for the pictures. She loves that place, but shopping is a tactile event for her & so it was 30 minutes of touching every item in the girls' section before she could focus on our actual goal. Needed to replace some jeans, a jacket & a couple of shirts so $80 later, we had the clerk cut the tags off & she wore some of her new duds out the door.
• This mall is shaped like a giant donut. And if you take a wrong turn you are just screwed. So naturally, we turned left when we should have gone right. We ended up walking the full circumference of the mall (> 1 mile) and when we got to Santa, a) he was "taking a nap" b) wouldn't be back for 35 more minutes and c) had a really lame background & set up.
• Through out this endeavor, my phone was ringing like never happens & while I'm fielding calls, Tab is getting bored, bor-ed, b-o-r-e-d & board-er.
• Once we realized that Santa wasn't happening today. We beat feet out of the mall & headed to CiCi's pizza for her school night.
• Got caught in 5pm traffic at nearly 6pm. Michael must love us a-l-o-t, since he waited about 30 minutes for us to get there.
• Walk in the door, get blasted from 4 different direction by Tab wanting her plate for the dinner buffet, Michael trying to talk to me, Tab's teacher Ms B. trying to talk to me, and the cashier screaming my name at the top of her lungs because I'd dropped my paycheck on the counter when I had my wallet out to pay for dinner. Completely befuddled doesn't even start to describe how crazy that all was.
• Get through dinner & actually started & finished a conversation with Michael -- the joys of an air hockey table keeping Tab occupied.... The gig was up about the Santa picture since one of Michael's first questions was "Why did Tab tell me Santa was taking a nap?" There is really no easy way to explain that one so I 'fessed up.
• She decided to ride home with Michael, since lets face it, I'd just dragged her all over town without any real results and definitely no Santa, so Dad looked like a better option.
• Got home & couldn't get the garage door to go up & stay going up. Turns out that every time I was hitting the remote, so was Tabitha & she kept canceling me out. Finally she stopped & we got in the house.

So now we're home, homework's done, laundry shuffled, book report for Thursday is half way done -- got some for tomorrow. I got happy mail from Big Picture scrap booking for a correct guess on a quiz they did. So now I have a brand new spiffy mouse pad & happy faces bubble gum. :-) And I'm falling asleep typing -- always a sign that it's time for bed. Just thought I needed to detail a day that didn't go quite according to plan....

A case of the Thursday Happy's....

Well today didn't feel like it was anything special, but it has ended up being a happy day - for me at least, in spite of the evolving bruises and aches & pains....

• Got to work and did not get pulled over by the motorcycle police for speeding (not such a happy day for some folks.)
• Had a productive day at work: saw some kids, talked with some parents, caught up on charts, started to review charts for Saturday's clinic and still headed home about 3pm. Miss B, our nurse, told me today that I had another family ask if it'd be OK if they asked for just me on their future appointments. (Super big Smiley face!)
• My friends had good days too. Kirsten had a happy trip down Sentimental Lane and Heather stayed balanced on a challenging day.
• And I'm a Scrapbooking Blog Junkie and one of my favorites is Stacy Julian. Friday she and her family will be meeting her new daughter from Korea for the first time. International Adoption successes make me very Happy!
• Was organized enough to accomplish getting to the bank, the dry cleaners & the grocery store on the way home. Almost everything that I actually needed was on sale. (Love That!) Although, Michael if you're reading, your chocolate donuts were full-price, but I know you love them.
• Got twenty pages read this evening - Acid Base problems, Electrolyte problems. Ask your favorite science junkie - tedious stuff at best & excruciating at worst. Going to hit that again tomorrow, also do a super crash review & major questions practice.  Attitude is probably everything at this point & I'm trying to maintain some calm with confidence - but I'm mostly praying A LOT. Also going to start packing to be away from home so that I don't freak Tab out tomorrow
• Oh, back to the grocery store - did make an impulse purchase for dessert tonight. Tabitha has recently discovered the world of Oreos and now knows their name. She calls herself the Cookie Monster too (Although her Grampy will probably contest that claim!) so when I saw the Halloween Oreos, I relented and bought some. She was so excited she was wiggling around the kitchen when I pulled them out after dinner. She wanted 10 cookies and we finally bargained down to 3 each. Of course, now that she's asleep, I can always get more! <Evil laughter inserted here.... >

• Had a great bible study class tonight. I've been a slacker & not getting the reading done since I'm studying for the boards, but I do enjoy seeing the Beth Moore videos. She's so down-to-earth and makes scripture so relevant to everyday life. Nearly half our group was absent tonight so it was only 7 of us and we had quite a discussion after the video and I truly enjoyed that experience. This is the first time I've ever had a "church home" and I'm getting more familiar with it by baby-steps.
• And then, just in case I needed a sign for this week - Look at what I saw in my sandwich for dinner last night. I was talking on the phone as I was fixing my BLT and completely not paying attention to what I was doing - so this honestly is NOT staged - just happened. But really how cool is that????

Just an ordinary, average...

Regular kind of day really. Wasn't needed at work today, so....

Got up, got Tab to school. We both ride our bikes. (Note to self: I'll have to get Michael to take pics of that!) Since I was still under the influence of anti-cough medicine due to this bronchitis I've got now, I went back to bed.  Three hours later I surfaced.  Much to the chagrin of Brie & Merlot. They are seriously into helping me nap & making sure that I get it right. Happiness is snuggling with a warm purring Tonkinese....

Once I was up & moving, was productive around the house.  Kitchen cleaned, hot-spots mostly dealt with. I'm still chipping away, little bit by bit at the flaming inferno hot-spot in my kitchen.  One day there will be clear surfaces.  It's just easier to keep my medical books handy to the kitchen table to study.  UPS left a De-lightful box at the door containing my new digital camera, a Canon EOS Rebel.  Long story short, Michael had noticed problems with my Nikon & when an acquaintance of his mentioned selling their Rebel and 18-55mm lens, Michael knew a good deal and got it.  Arrived today and while I was talking to my friend Kirsten, I opened the box.  I was so bummed b/c I couldn't find the battery or charger.  Turns out it was in the box (that I thought I'd emptied) but under some bubble wrap I hadn't quite gone though.  I'm still going to get the Nikon fixed b/c it has some features I adore that no other camera has -- But I'm really going to enjoy playing with this Rebel too.

Had a great chat with Kirsten too.  Since we don't work together anymore it's much harder to see her, but we still try to talk often.  She was having a pretty darn good day & needed to share.  Seems like we could talk together for days and still not run out of stuff to talk about.  And she is so patient with me and my quirks.  When we were at the antique store a few weeks ago & I spotted the printer's type for sale, she totally did not disown me, when I sat myself on the floor and literally dug through each and every piece to find my initials (as seen above in my header).  Love friends like that!

Got Tessa & Molly to the vet for their 6 month check-ups.  For 12 yrs & 10 yrs respectively, they're holding their own.  Molly is actually doing a bit better & gaining back some of the weight she lost this past spring. Seems that her breathing is helped by the theophylline, and for $10 a month that's cheap to keep her comfortable.  Michael & I already know that we won't do chemo or surgery or other highly invasive treatments, so we've made the decision to not pursue further testing to determine an exact diagnosis.  Tessa is holding her own.  She has days of being harassed by the others, and from past experience I know that happens when the others sense she is not entirely well & they're challenging the pecking order. The tumor in her belly waxes & wanes, but for now her quality of life is good, so we are just grateful for each extra day that she is with us.

Got back from the vet & decided to get Tab from school.  Headed to our local Hobby Lobby to buy her a Christmas tree for her room this December.  Some background as to why: As part of my Big Picture Library of Memories Class, I've spent my summer sorting 10+ years worth of photos (just the real photographs - I haven't even gotten near the digitals....YIKES!) Turns out that I go nuts at Christmas with the camera.  So for the past month or so, I've been working on a couple of X-mas albums.  One I finished that's an 8x8 that just gives an overview of what we do for the holidays.  The bigger 12x12 one is a compilation of years worth of pics so that they can be enjoyed.  I'm getting there, but it's slow -- I'm currently up to 1995.  I did the 8x8 first so that I could use it to start showing Tab what to expect for the holidays.  She loves looking at my scrapbooks & pictures, and she particularly likes this one because her name turns up in several places in the journaling.  And she really likes seeing her name in print. So for the past 10 days she's been saying that she wants to decorate her room for Christmas.  She didn't really have a mental picture of what she wanted other than a tree & lights, so since Hobby Lobby had both on sale this week, we went & picked.

It was soooooo much fun watching her go bonkers in the Christmas section.  Everything she likes she runs up to and calls "my favorite!" Then she moves on to the next thing.  The volume of choices is plainly overwhelming and the more there is, the more she becomes a ping-pong ball.  So we'd venture over to the Halloween aisle for a break and then back to X-mas.  I was surprised because I thought for sure that she would want a pink tree.  She didn't!  She wanted a standard green one, that's about a 3-footer.  We got multi-color lights, but I'll keep an eye open for pink.  If you see them anywhere, let me know! That she would love.  She bounced around so much that I really don't know what colors she wants for her tree, but she did find some cats, ballerinas and angels she liked.  So I may end up designing it myself and she gets a mix, or she gets a girly-girl tree.  Who Knows????  All I know is that I can't wait for the holidays this year!!

We got home shortly after Michael.  Whipped together this awesome Chicken Parmesan. Thank you Dream Dinners! I can not say enough good things about how tasty the food is, or how nice it is to defrost something & go.  Yum!! Then while Tab & Michael unwound with Lilo & Stitch I headed to church for the first night of my Beth Moore bible study class.  I'm going to really like it.  Beth Moore is so totally down to earth that I think I'm going to learn lots and not be intimidated.   Growing up I never formally studied the bible, and in my recent adulthood that's something I've wanted to do.  Just didn't know where to start. So I was really excited when this opportunity came up at church. So Thursday nights at 7:30pm you'll know where I am.

Got home from that & Michael was playing with the new camera.  Had him help me get Photoshop Elements 4.0 installed on my computer.  I had it do a "search & retrieve" of my digital images.  Well 1.5 hours and 25,802 images later.... It'll take a while to get that all straightened out.  Studied about 15 minutes today, but my heart wasn't really in it.  I'll try again tomorrow. After work! Been puttering around with the computer and trying to cough a lung up.  I sound like I am a cat with a serious hairball.  Took more drugs over an hour ago but no relief yet.  I may soon be in search a medicinal shot of Jegermeister.

It's not really a blog entry without a photo, so here's one from Tuesday night.  Tab did her homework at school and was super helpful with chores after dinner, so for a treat we went shopping for her Halloween costume.  That was a very hard 45 minutes of trying to decide exactly which princess dress was the one.  I'll post the winner tomorrow....