Up and down and all around...

Before I proceed with this post, I must say this: Firefox totally rocks! Our power went out again, just as I was finishing this post and I thought the whole thing was dead and gone. I was going to post something like this: "Gak! My post was eaten by the Internet...too demoralized to regroup and continue." But. When I logged back on again and was given the option to restore my previous tabs & windows, it did so. I didn't think it would also reproduce the post, but it did. Huzzah for Firefox!

We now return you to your previously written post.

I was just fit to be tied yesterday. David made it a difficult day, although I don't think he was being malicious about it. He just continually went from mischief to mischief. To wit:

• He threw a sopping wet set of pjs down the laundry chute, which got all the rest of the clothes wet.
• He took the pool testing chemicals out of the kit and dumped almost all of one into the pool.
• He got into the pool after being told to get out.
• He found some day-glo orange paint and dripped it throughout the house.

And those are just the major naughty things he did yesterday. I was so proud of myself for finishing my housework ahead of schedule, then I spent the rest of the day cleaning up after or disciplining my son. I was not happy, to say the least.

Then, when Friend Husband came home from work, he brought me an early anniversary gift:

As explanation for those of you who have not been reading that long or for those who've forgotten, I just love the Adamses. I started with a major obsession on Abigail and, after some period of time, developed an appreciation for the whole family. I had been thinking that I needed to see if our library had this, but hadn't thought about it when I was actually online. And there it was.

I have the best hubby!

So, after a tasty dinner of broccoli-cauliflower salad and red lentil curry, we settled down to watch. It was very well-done, I thought. After the initial uncertainty about whether the actors would merge well with my thoughts about John and Abigail Adams, I really enjoyed their portrayals. I will point out (as did Friend Connie) that there is a brief scene of full frontal male nudity during the tar and feathering scene and there are some curse words as well (which we did not hear because of our TV Guardian). Anyway, I look forward to savoring the rest of the miniseries in nights ahead.

I went to bed early last night (well, before midnight) because we'd been staying up so late. It's a good thing I did because a serious storm came through at about 2 AM, waking me and the twins up. When the power went off, they totally freaked and it took a long time to calm them down and get them to sleep. Not a happy time. I have a major crick in my neck from trying to sleep with them last night, with them crawling all over me.

When I finally got up this morning (after the twins), they hauled me outside to see the damage. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out well. Two big trees got blown over in neighbors' yards and big branches down in others. Our yard is a mass of branches small and large. In fact, we had to clear a path in the driveway this morning so Friend Husband could get out to go to work. It sounds as though there is another storm that is supposed to come through this afternoon. Should be interesting.

This picture is of the two trees that are down in the next-door neighbor's yard and the yard next to theirs.

And finally, I forgot to mention that Sarah got her braces off last week. Here is a picture of her, since most of you won't be able to go over to her Xanga site and see her actual post (if you can, please go congratulate her.) Two and a half years is a long time to wear braces, but she did a great job and we're getting used to seeing her teeth again.


Sarah, in 2005, pre-glasses and pre-braces


Sarah last week

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Bad Blogger!

Ok, Julie, I will attempt to abide by the "you don't have to write if you don't want to" clause but I do feel rather bad about it. There's been a lot going on around here that I've thought about blogging about but for some reason just couldn't muster the enthusiasm. I'm attempting not to go with the immediate, "I think the depression is getting worse," reaction but for some reason I just don't give a hoot about much these days. It's weird; I hope it goes away soon.

So, I was going to do a TT about Friend Husband's endoscopy procedure but didn't. It went well but he was plenty nervous going in. He has never had a medical procedure aside from an EKG, which is, of course, not very invasive. I didn't like the idea that I wouldn't be able to wait back there with him when he was waiting to go in, knowing that he was nervous but those were the rules. Apparently, they have a speedy procedure once they get the patients back in the endoscopy area and that is good.

I sat out in the waiting room and chatted with an older couple and an older lady who was originally from England. It certainly made the hour go by quickly. It did occur to me, though, that I was turning into my late, great mil, who could and would talk to anyone anywhere and get their life story in an hour or less. Later on, as Sally (the English lady) was taking her husband (Paul) out, I waved to her and said, "Have a good time in England!" (Her daughter was having her second baby and she was going back to help out.) Her husband just looked at the two of us with amazement. Friend Husband is also always amazed at how much women tend to talk amongst themselves and what we say to one another.

So anyway, they let me back in with Friend Husband. He was asleep and a little pale, but other than that, ok. I put my hand on his arm and woke him up. He saw me standing there and had this very sweet smile come up on his face. Then he said a few endearing things that were more effusive than normal but not out of the normal range of things he says. You see, I was waiting to see if the stuff they gave him for twilight sleep would make him super-goofy. He was a little different, but unless you knew him well, I don't think it was evident. It amused me greatly though.

One of the funny things happened when the nurse came in and asked him what he wanted to drink. I advised him not to drink water, which is what he usually drinks, because of the effect that cold water can have on an upset stomach. He took his Coke and kind of looked at it like he wasn't sure he should be drinking it. After I encouraged him to do so, he took a few sips and asked the nurse why it was ok for him to be drinking it. I don't remember exactly what it was that she said but the gist of it was that they wanted to make sure he was ok and he needed some more fluids. Then she walked away. He asked me a couple more times why it was that he should be drinking now when he couldn't drink earlier this morning. I was in the midst of explaining to him that they probably wanted to make sure he wasn't going to barf (oh yeah, the nurse said something about that earlier) and probably wanted him to get some sugar going in his blood so he didn't pass out and he said, "Well, why is it that I can have this before the procedure? They wouldn't let me have a drink from the fountain as I walked in, why is it ok now?"

I looked at him with a puzzled look and said, "The procedure is over. Now they want you to go home."

His look of utter disbelief started me laughing again. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No."

"You are kidding. I haven't had the procedure yet."

"Um, yes you have. I talked to your doctor, saw pictures of your guts, you've had the procedure."

"When did you talk to my doctor? You have got to be kidding."

Of course, I'm used to Friend Husband being right in most things (it's sometimes an annoying trait but then it can be useful as well) so I started doubting that he'd had the endoscopy. Then I did the logical progression thing and said, "No. I am not kidding. You are finished. They'll probably let you go here in a little while."

This just floored him. He spent a lot of time rehearsing what had happened but he clearly didn't remember anything after their telling him to lie on his side in the OR. He spent a lot of time rehearsing this. The main effect that whatever drugs they gave him was that he had no short term memory. I told him many things over and over again last Thursday. I should ask him now what he remembers. It was amusing but exhausting. After all, I already have David, and to a lesser extent, Keziah to rehearse daily happenings ad infinitum. This is not a new thing around here.

So, he's fine, just a little acid reflux, which his current meds seem to help. I hope that his esophagus heals up and he's just as good as new.

What else is going on? I got caught up on my grade-entering on last Saturday. It took FORever. I won't even fess up to how far behind I was. It makes me feel like even more of a slacker. My plan is to keep up now, which shouldn't be too hard in the month and a half we have until camp.

I also finally got to start planting my garden. It's been so wet here so far this spring that it's been impossible to work the ground. So everything is going in about a month late. Story of my life. I just got the sugar snap peas in the ground before I had to stop. I'm hoping to get some lettuce and snow peas in the ground today.

I guess that's it for now (and since the twins are rampaging upstairs, I'd better split). Have a good day, everyone!

Nothin' sexier than a man who cleans...

It's not too hard to imagine that I've been in a funk this week. As I reminded myself, sometimes that happens and it's no reason to panic that the funk will deepen and last for years. Still, it's a bummer, in more ways than one.

One of the bummerations of my recent life is the fact that, as soon as I bulldoze one area of the house, another is in chaos and entropy. This is generally due to the tender ministrations of Entropy Boy (aka, my son David) who lives to mess things up. So I've pretty much given up on certain areas of the house, like the family room. Unfortunately for me, there were a fair number of strangers traipsing through our family room this week, in preparation for drilling a hole in the house through which to run our new gas line. I half-heartedly tried to pick up but I'm strange in that I feel no motivation to pick up what will be tossed again in a matter of hours.

Then Friend Husband stepped in.

This is where you hear the heroic groundswell of music.

Sometime early in the week, he decided that he, personally, had had enough. So he picked Thursday as the day when we would clean up the downstairs. You see, when I tell the girls to pick up the living room and dining room, they do it, but the family room was a mess of epic proportions. It was not something I could honestly look them in the eye and tell them to fix. And it clearly was not something I was willing to fix. But all of us working together were able to fix it up, although it took more than a few hours. That should tell you something right there about how messed up it was. I was told to go off at the end of it, feed the twins, and get them to bed, so I did not see how it looked at the end. When I walked downstairs, it was a lovely surprise. I almost got all teary.

The room was picked up, the trash was hauled out, the books and videos were put away. There was nothing on the floor but things that needed to be vacuumed. It was beautiful. It was peaceful. I thwacked myself upside the head for not realizing how overwhelmed I feel when my surroundings are so very messed up.

Seeing as I had also shoveled out the schoolroom, I anticipate being able to actually do school downstairs, all together, as I have always intended. Perhaps we can even keep on schedule better. All because of a clean room that was due to the wonderful and very talented Friend Husband. And being overwhelmed also meant that I could actually take a good look at him and realize how handsome he is and what a cute little hind end he has. And that, children, is how a man who cleans all of a sudden becomes majorly sexy. Who needs candy and flowers? Bring me some pretty yarn and clean my family room and I'm all yours. If your name is Friend Husband.

So Friday was a better day. Not better enough that I felt like blogging or doing anything beyond what I absolutely had to do but it just seemed cheerier all around. I had the energy to make blog comments for the first time in ages. I also had the wherewithall to call our local newspaper and place a found ad for Elof. It starts running tomorrow, so perhaps his people will find it and come get him. He's a sweet boy but we just don't need another dog who escapes.

I finally got hold of David's nephrologist yesterday as well. He must have been working overtime because he called me way after business hours. David's having another relapse of his nephrotic syndrome due to the cold that we're all passing around right now. Poor little man, his face is all swollen again and he looks like the Micheline Man. Anyway, now he's back on more than double the amount of steroid that we had just gotten him weaned down to. Once he gets down to a normal protein level, we get to go back downtown to Children's and figure out what next to do, since the steroid doesn't seem to help so much when he's in the throes of a virus. The things you don't know about children that you learn when you start parenting!

Today, Friend Husband and I were talking about Lucy and Elof and what to do with these jumping dogs that we've got in our back yard. I think he'd really like to be relieved of the responsibility for Lucy because we don't get too much enjoyment out of her. I can understand that but I'm not going to take her anywhere else. It just thrashed me when I had to take Sam and Frodo back to the pound and there was even good justification for that.

So anyway, I got to thinking about Lucy and remembered the place we took Sam & Frodo to obedience classes. After perusing their website, I noticed that they now teach a remote collar obedience class, which is something we had discussed doing with Lucy. While looking at the site, I saw that they were having a volunteer orientation this morning at 11:30. I have wanted to volunteer there for years but with the twins and all the inherent adjustment when you add new people to your family, I had shelved that idea. Today it was unshelved and dusted off, with a vengeance. I went through orientation and am now a volunteer out there! Woohoo! I stayed longer than the other volunteers today, did some filing, and then got to play with a couple of the puppies. It was nice to get a puppy fix without having to commit to dealing with them 24/7. The puppies I got to play with and walk were here. I know the one that I walked was Coastal (scroll down to the buff-colored puppies whose mother was Vella) but the name of the other one I don't know. It was one of Coastal's siblings. It was a lovely time and I'm so glad that I managed to get myself up and out of the house to do that.

After Circle Tail, I met Friend Gina at Starbucks for a little knitting and a lot of yakking, which was also a boost. By the time I got home, I was flying pretty high. And that's when I decided that the funk must be a temporary setback, which made me feel even better.

So, after all this business, there's not much to say. Not one of my more inspired blogs, to be sure, but there it is. My life is not all that inspiring, but it is my life and so I write about it. I wonder what my children and grandchildren will think about this in years to come? I wonder what I will think about it in years to come.

I leave you with well wishes for a beautiful new week. We're supposed to get some sort of arctic blast (wind chills to zero) and perhaps some snow. Time to break out my lined cloak for church tomorrow. Toodles!