The Big Update

My little sister thinks I make a funny drunk!

I've never been drunk, so today was the closest she'll ever see as to how I might act!

The drug I was given for my colonoscopy was easy to handle. It made me fall asleep almost immediately and I came out of it without the "thickheadedness" headaches that I usually suffer with when given anesthesia.

As good as I felt, the nurse assured me I was legally "drunk" and should not do anything foolish, like driving or signing important papers.

Then she handed me my discharge papers to sign!

Huh?

Buffy says I slurred my words just enough to be funny. I noticed my hand motions with every word I spoke, but couldn't control them! I must say... I do feel very good right now!

Earlier, as I waited in my vestibule for my turn in the procedure room, I overheard the nurse talking to another patient.

"Who is your doctor?"

"Dr. Ow-ee Cow-ee."

Of course, I have no idea how to spell such a name, but that is what it sounded like to me. And I found it to be an appropriate name, for a gastro-endologist!

As for the results...

2 polyps were found and removed.

She said they looked benign but I would hear from Pathology in a few days with confirmation. Removal of one of the polyps left me bleeding, so she put a tiny, metal clamp on the site, to control bleeding (I restart my Coumadin tomorrow).

It will work its way out, eventually. In the meantime, I was given a special green card to carry with me for 6 months in the event I need an MRI. This card alerts them of this tiny piece of metal in my bowels.

Larry, I was able to see the final 2 minutes of the procedure on the monitor as I awoke from the drug.

It was pretty cool. I even saw the metal clip. Though the camera made it look HUGE!

And that's it!

I was expecting to hear "something" from my kids this morning, telling me I was in their thoughts.

Hmm. Maybe I've just guilted them into sending me a text?

See you in 7 days, C!

Good luck with moving, T!

Love you both and Carlotta too!

Makes You Want One!

I've blogged before about the fun ways kids pronounce words they are learning.

Todays word comes from a 4 1/2 yr old girl named Sofie.

She loves to talk about herself and @ lunch, she told me how much she had hurt during one of her...

EAR CONFECTIONS!

Too cute!

That Time Again

On Thursday, I go on a clear liquid diet as I prepare for my 2nd ever colonoscopy.

(My spellcheck thinks colonoscopy should be spelled this way... kaleidoscope! Too funny!)

Last time I had this procedure done, I was about 33 yrs old, living in a rented condo in Haverhill w/B and 2 very young children.

I remember having to drink the nastiest laxative, mixed w/apple juice to "cleanse" myself.

To this day, I cannot stand the smell or taste of apple juice!

You'd think that a better tasting laxative would have been invented during the last 13-14 yrs! One would be wrong!

I still have to mix the laxative in a 64 oz beverage.

No apple juice thank goodness!

I was told I could use Gatorade (no red, blue or purple though) instead.

This should be interesting. I don't like Gatorade to begin with!

And I'm thinking the mixture will still be NASTY!

Thank you to my youngest sister who will drive me to & from the hospital as well as sticking around for the estimated, 2.5 hours, this procedure takes.

Why her & not B?

He has to train a group of leaders in the woods about Boy Scout stuff, for the entire weekend.

And what about C?

She won't have a day off from college, RA duties or her job at the Mall until next weekend!

And T? Well, even if she lived close enough to drive me, she remains license-less!

So, on Friday, due to my family's medical history, I must undergo this procedure.

All was well many years ago and I have no reason to think otherwise this time around!

For now, I must go make Dinner in a Pumpkin!

Yum!

Just For You, Krista!

Krista, I tried to email this to you.

Not happening! Comcast says my file is too big.

I could shrink it, I guess...

but "technological" terminology baffles me & my kids are not around to help me!

I figured my blog could handle the size of the video!

(I'll probably get comments from friends explaining how to shrink files to send via emails.

No matter how hard they explain, unless they come & SHOW ME, it's all Greek to me!)

Feel free to download it to your computer.

There must be some way to isolate just the shot of Cap'n Jack!

It was cute looking at the kittens again!

I do not have any stills of any other kittens beside Gracie & Zee, so sorry!

I'm sorry for Jim too. I know he loved that kitty!

I would be very sad if something happened to my cats, as you well know!

All Aglow!

I know, big deal! A few glow sticks! Who hasn't seen those before?

Tonight, there were no fireworks going off, no trick or treating happening, no rave...

just 3 kids with their glow sticks taking their bath in the dark!

OK, technically, this photo was taken AFTER their bath, but if you could see their smiles, you would see how much fun they had.

BTW, bubbles on a glow stick looks like cotton candy so if you have a young one & try out this idea, BEWARE! They may conduct a taste test!

After the bath, we turned off all the lights in the house and for an hour,

I felt like I was IN a Star Wars movie!

Complete with sound effects!

One of the light saber wielding heroes came too close to me.

That was when my own Princess came to my rescue!

I think.

"Don't hurt her! She is just an innocent..."

"Oh, thank you...." (because I thought she was done speaking)

"... old lady with no glow stick!"

Thanks Princess!

What A Baby!

I was going to do a whole blog on a funny incident of what happened when the mom of the new kids saw a bug on her wall today. It was preciously funny!

BUT...

then, I came home to a 6" garden snake basking in the sun on my walkway!

The only thing that kept me from being a bigger baby than she was?

I was carrying a dozen or so new cans of veggies that I didn't want to dent!

But in my mind...

I was running full tilt down the street,

screaming like... a baby girl!

So I have no business writing about someone else's silly phobias!

But trust me, it was funny!

Uncle!

"Uncle!"

When I was younger, "Uncle!" was what one said to quit a fight. Usually, with a sibling who had the upperhand. Oft times, the fight began again after I was released from a chokehold.

Once in a while, when restrained by someone larger than myself, the only hope of winning was to call "Uncle!" and restart the fight with a surprise attack. Since I had a reputation of attacking this way, eventually... my cries of "Uncle!" fell on deaf ears.

So, I resorted to, "I gotta pee!" which 9 times out of 10 would work! And yes, I'd re-attack while they had their defenses down. Thankfully, these fights were usually friendly, with no punching, kicking or biting allowed.

Today, at the home of the new kids I care for, we were wrestling, gently because of my age.

I had the 4 year old somewhat pinned with one hand, while the 2 year old attacked my other side. I quickly gathered her in when I heard her little voice say, "I da baby!". She doesn't pronounce words very well yet, but she knew "I da baby!" clear as a bell!

I released her.

And, just as I would've done years ago, she re-attacked me!

Whenever I got the upperhand she would scream, "I da baby!"

What is she going to say in a few months when she is no longer, Da Baby!?

More Yummy Food

I made some homemade Chicken Parmesan with Lemon Herb Green Beans

(want the recipe? Let me know)

for our Monday night get-together with our friends. Combined with their diabetic friendly apple pie & ice cream... it was another good meal!

Yeah!

No matter who I'm teamed up with... I never seem to win at the Hand-Foot card game! Good conversation may be their ploy to keep me distracted! Or they're good @ cheating (ahem, B!)

We are currently losing our 2nd week of Fantasy Football.

The Giants defense picked up a live ball (due to an incomplete LATERAL pass) and ran it back for a touchdown killing any realistic chance we had of catching up, like we did last week! Oh well.

Go Pats!

SQV

I went to "snoo" today for a SQV with my daughter, C!

SQV means Super Quick Visit! The visit lasted about 10 minutes.

Her sneakers had broken & she wanted me to ship her a different pair, from her room.

Shipping would have cost about $12 to travel 22 miles!!

So, I used a gallon of gas instead & delivered them myself!!! I also gave her my old People magazines to read. We love that "fluff" magazine!

She looked tired, but what college student doesn't look that way! She is doing well in her classes. She has also returned to her job @ the nearby mall. So, with her job, her RA duties & classes, she is a busy kid!

Pats play the Chargers on Sunday! Oh, NO! I want the Pats to win, of course... but our fantasy football teams quarterback is Philip Rivers of the Chargers!

I'll still cheer for the Pats, though!

New Words

I've blogged about silly, fun pronunciations of words by the young folks as they learn the English language. It's fun to hear them attempt words.

Today, I learned some new 2 yr old words such as: "wa-wa" means waffle, "I wanna night" means I want a drink and Deedee means Sofie (though it meant T when C was learning to talk!)

But, the best (funniest) new word/phrase I learned today...

"creation sickness"!

The 4 yr old I now watch LOVES to do craft projects. She has wiped out my glitter supply & has put a dent in the new glitter her auntie gave to me!

But today, she may have had too much with the crafts!

As we were working on our THIRD lunch bag puppet, she proclaimed that she thought she may have caught "creation sickness."

When I asked her what that was, she likened it to getting carsick or seasick.

Now I understand what it was that I was feeling during many of the Enrichment classes I attended over the years!

I had creation sickness!

Exciting News!

Just kidding!

My day was fairly UNEVENTFUL! More like... BORING!

Got out of bed, used the bathroom, fed the cats, let the cats out, made the bed, started some laundry, are you bored yet? No? Well, I fed the fish, paid some bills, mailed the bills, mailed some packages to T & C, bought some diet Mountain Dew & a newspaper. Still not bored? I swept the floors, emptied the litter boxes, checked my Facebook page, called Comcast to reduce phone service by $20, did the crossword from the paper I bought earlier, took a shower, dressed, watched some news on the TV, packed my daycare bag w/different activities for tomorrow.

I'm bored as I write what I did all day!

Bleech! It was too hot & muggy to do any yard stuff, like I wanted to do!

My evening was spent watching my former charges. Getting them fed, then into bed. They ate ALL of their supper, brushed their teeth w/little complaining and were all in bed by 8pm.

It took 70 more minutes before ALL 3 were finally snoring! I was back @ home by 10:30pm.

Boring! ps, but I loved it!

FOOTBALL!

I'm happy the NFL's lockout is over & I have football to watch this fall!

Yes, I'm a female who enjoys watching professional football. Deal with it!

My favorite player?

Wes Welker, of the NE Patriots.

He's a little guy, as far as NFL players go, but he's scrappy!

I often hear commentators describe him as "slippery".

He's a lot of fun to watch!

B & I, once more, co-own a Fantasy Football team... the Virginians.

Why the Virginians?

We were fantasy football "virgins" 3 years ago and made a play on words.

We've kept the name but it has new meaning for us now...

It lets T & her family (they call VA, home) know that we think of them, often.

Or at least during football season! LOL!

This year, we have to pay our own dues since I no longer receive the little perks from watching the commissioners kids.

I think that's good though!

It'll feel better when we win the jackpot in February!

So how did we do on this first week of Fantasy Football?

Down by almost 63 points just before kickoff last night.

We had 4 guys playing in the Pats vs Dolphins game and believed we would be unable to make up the deficit.

Enter...

MY MAN, WES WELKER!

He scored TWO TDs (one of them 99.5 yds!) to give us enough points for a WIN!!

Aaron Hernandez and the Pats defense helped out a little too.

As did Bess from Miami.

So to recap... We won our 1st Fantasy Football game, Pats won their season opener

and my man, Wes, is... AWESOME!

Ten Years

9/11/01

I remember where I was when I heard, on a radio, about a plane crashing into one of the towers @ the World Trade Center in NYC. I was punching in for work @ Off Price furniture store. I was still there when I heard the news about a 2nd plane hitting the other tower. I was there when the towers collapsed, killing thousands of people & first responders.

I didn't hear about the plane crashing in Pennsylvania or the plane that hit the Pentagon until later that day.

Shortly after the towers collapsed, I received a frantic phone call from the middle school. T was in the office, sobbing. She was worried about B and his safety. He had left the day before to go to New York. Only I thought he was in Albany NY, so I tried to calm T by telling her he wasn't anywhere near the tragedy. She asked me to call him, just to be sure.

I called him, no answer. I left a message. He returned my call quickly & said he was on his way home. Turns out, T was right! He was in NYC, not Albany! Thankfully, he was several miles away, already on his way home. He could see the smoke from his car.

I called the school back & assured my daughter that all was well. I asked the nurse to go to the elementary school & let C know that her father was OK. I was unsure what the teachers were telling the young kids, but if T knew her Dad was in NYC, maybe C did too.

The principal of the elementary school was able to discreetly pull C from her classroom and assure her that her dad was fine & on his way home. All of us remained where we were, doing our daily routines, until the afternoon, as usual.

When we got home, we gathered in the living room, very relieved to be safe & knowing B would be arriving home at any moment. We began to watch TV and see the news footage for the first time that day. Heart wrenching pictures!

Then, there was a huge explosion down the street. We lost power! The girls were terrified. Turns out, a transformer @ the very end of our street had blown. A normal thing for transformers to do, but in the moment... scary!

Ten years later, our country remains at war. About 4-5 months ago, our Navy SEALS were able to locate & kill the man believed to be responsible for plotting the attack. I feel sorrow when I think of the families that lost loved ones that day. I feel pride when I think of the first responders who ran into the burning buildings. I feel relief knowing my own little family was safe. I have many other feelings too. But my blog is already long enough.

God Bless America. I know he's blessed me & my family.

My School. by Kaya

There is a computer, with 2 chairs.

There are so many books!

They have Play-doh AND real clay!

Everyone has their own cubby. I put my backpack in there.

Today was a pizza party so I didn't have to bring my lunch box.

We sing songs, but not real ones. Little kid ones.

The bathroom has a key and it is close to my classroom so I can't get lost.

There is a playground. I don't feel like going on the slides though.

My teacher is nice. She's chubby, like Miss Jen. But she doesn't have gray hair.

I have 4 friends. One of their names is Isabella.

Our class has a blue fish named Blueberry. We had 2 gerbils, but one died.

Our classroom is going to have new paint on the walls soon.

I don't like nap time. I told my teacher I didn't like it. She told me to call it resting time instead.

We have to sit on our mats, with a pillow. I can bring my blankie & a stuffed toy if I want.

I'm glad Miss Jen gave me a new stuffed hippo. Mommy helped me make a bracelet I can wear to help me remember that my family loves me.

And that is what Kaya remembers about her first week of school!

1st Day of Kindergarden, Miss Jen!

I just got off the phone with a VERY excited little girl, who is almost 5 yrs old!

She went to her FIRST day of school today and wanted to tell me all about her experience.

"Hi, Miss Jen! I went to Kindergarten today!"

"How was it?"

"It was great! I made 3 friends and my teacher wears glasses."

"What sort of things did you do there?"

"We had to take a nap."

"Oooh, you haven't taken a nap since you were 2 yrs old!"

" I know. I didn't like that part."

"What other things did you do there?"

"Well, I read a book."

"What was the book about?"

"A girl on her 1st day of Kindergarten."

"Did you do projects or coloring?"

"No."

"Do you eat lunch @ school or with Mommy?"

"At school."

By now, I heard the boys in the background. They turned on a movie & her original excitement & interest in answering my questions was fading.

Several times I said, "Hello? Hello?" before she remembered I was on the line!

"You can tell me all about Kindergarten when I see you on Friday night?"

"OK, Miss Jen. When will you be here?"

"On Friday."

"Friday?"

"Yes."

"OK, Bye"

I sure do miss those kids!

The newest ones are good too, so far!

At the Movies

Labor Day.

A day to remember those who labor to make our country great & strong. Or, a day off from work! Either way, it is a good day! Kids go back to school tomorrow so, there's that too!

B and I will be joining friends @ the movies this afternoon. We are seeing "The Help". We have read the book as did C & enjoyed it. Now, we will see the movie & be able to debate the often asked question...

WAS THE BOOK BETTER THAN THE MOVIE OR VICE VERSA?

Going to the movies is a rare treat. DVD rentals or On Demand movies are more our speed & price now. We seem to avoid going to the movies now that both girls have moved out. I realize now... we only went for them.

Enjoy Labor Day! Remember, Christmas is right around the corner!

Well, What Do You Think?

My new blog header/format was created by my daughter, T!

What do you think about it?

I love the purple background and the black silhouettes of the cats. The fish skeletons will take some getting used to, but it's growing on me.

Thanks T!

Do you want to see more of her talents?

Hey T... where can people view your work?

Distracted

My cats have been trained to go into their screen tent, on the deck, if they want to be outside. Returning back INTO the house has proved a little harder for them to learn.

Especially, Zee! I continue working on that issue.

When it's time to come back indoors, Zee wants to wander and visit all the places on the deck where she had seen the critters, bugs or blowing leaves while safe in the screen tent. Thankfully, she has to sniff everything, so catching her & redirecting back indoors is easy.

As I opened the door to let them out this afternoon, for their nap in the sunshine,

Zee almost got away!

Zee was following Gracie into the screen tent, when a dragonfly flew right in front of her!

Zee immediately went for the dragonfly! All of her desire to nap was gone!

My reflexes sprang into action!

(Apparently, I still have some reflexes at my age so that was good!)

I grabbed her, just as she was about to chase the dragonfly off the deck.

Now, she is safe, indoors & sleeping on the sofa.

Life can throw us distractions, trying to turn us from where we desire to go.

I'm grateful to have friends and family in our lives with good reflexes to help keep us from making mistakes. Or at least, too many of them!