All Hell Breaking Loose....

Okay I know I said "next weekend" or something like that. But I've been a little busy. You know. Life and kids and stuff. But I'll make like Paul Harvey and give you the rest of the story now....(I'm sure that this is full of all sorts of mistakes and grammatical errors that I will compulsively go back & fix later, but I'm going to bed now...) PART 1 click here

So, yes my instructions when I left the hospital after having the baby factory removed and almost bleeding to death were simply to rest and to go to the ER if I started running a fever. Well, I wasn't sure how long those instructions were for. Because, I went home on Sunday. On Tuesday or Wednesday (it's all a little fuzzy), I started running a very low grade fever. I SO did not want to go to the ER. But after some prodding and close to downright shouting from my mom & FB friends, I did phone the GYN on call and she said to take some Tylenol, that I probably had a UTI and to call my regular dr in the morning, which I did. He sent me to pee in a cup & put me on antibiotic which did NOT agree with my digestive system. I kept having the fever but just took Tylenol. The lab results came back I and I did NOT have a UTI and since the antibiotics were making me sick and unable to eat, the dr said I could stop taking them. This was Friday, I think.

The weekend was fairly uneventful. Like I said before the kids got to spend time with their dad. My uncle and cousin came by for a visit, I got out and walked a bit (per doctor's orders)....things were okay. Mom was even contemplating going home. My tummy was still a little upset, so Mom thought she'd stay at least one more night & get the kids off to school. Sunday evening, my stomach was really bothering me. ***Here's where you need to stop reading if you have a delicate constitution*** I felt really gassy & couldn't seem to go to the bathroom. I went for a walk and the stomach cramps about overtook me. I made it back into the house and to the bathroom in time to toss everything I had eaten that evening. And then everything I had eaten that week. I was doubled over and couldn't stop throwing up. Finally I was just throwing up bile. Mom called the clinic since I could barely speak and the doc on call said to take me to the ER. So, a wonderful friend came over to stay at the house with the kids since they were all asleep - and help me walk to the car (Mom seriously considered calling an ambulance, but I didn't want to freak out the kids or the rest of the neighborhood).

We got to the ER and Mom ran in and asked for a wheelchair since I couldn't walk. Evidently I was moaning pretty loudly and got triaged right back to a little ER room (there was a 3-4 hour wait otherwise). I kept calling for my "Mommy." (Amazing how we revert back when we are at our most vulnerable, isn't it?) And she just held me as best she could and yelled at those people to take care of me. Seriously, you don't want to get crosswise my mom over one of her kids. She will make you wish you were dead. They gave me lots of drugs and I finally stopped puking. Of course I also stopped being lucid at all. They took me for an x-ray. Then they wanted to do a CAT scan - can I just say that there are few things nastier than barium, especially when you've been throwing your guts up. I do remember trying to choke that crap down. I guess I didn't have any bleeds anywhere, but my fever had spiked to over 104, so they thought it might be a good idea to admit me. I have very little memory of being moved to my room. One of the nurses who was there said that they had to lift me because I was barely conscious enough to slide over. Evidently, I was in serious condition and there was talk of putting me in the ICU. Yeah. As it was I was on IV fluids, three different IV antibiotics and lots of pain and anti-nausea meds. And I was bloated up like a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

EVIDENTLY, I had developed an infection at the site of the repairs made in the second surgery. One of the abscesses was big enough that it was blocking off my bowel, essentially trapping all of the gas and *ahem* everything else from coming out of my body. That was making me a little queasy...and nearly septic. Because it was cellulitis. Which is really bad from what they tell me and to have it INSIDE is extremely rare. The doctor was a little freaked out.

My mom was keeping my friends & family updated on my condition and let them all know that I had cellulitis of the vaginal cuff. One of my friends later called to tell me "Um, your mom sent me a text about your vagina." NICE.

I stayed knocked out on pain killers and nausea meds for the first few days. By Wednesday, the first offending abscess had gone down enough for my bowel to be able to, um, deflate. Yeah, that was pleasant. Especially for the housekeeping staff. There are some great stories that could go with that day, but they are better left untold. In the meantime, doc came in every day and did a pelvic - oh, yes, just as awesome as you can imagine it would be. I also got to go for another x-ray, an ultrasound - both external and internal. I was wheeled to the sonographer by a lady who was very insistent that I wear those lovely hospital socks with the grippy things on them. She told me all kinds of stories about why this was important. Evidently it is crucial. Whatever.

Every few hours, they came to take blood, take my vitals, change one thing or another on my IV, give me medicine or something or just aggravate me. The good nurses (read: the ones I liked) would turn on the least intrusive light possible. All the hullabaloo and they changes in my meds had given me one doozy of a migraine & I wanted it as dark & quiet in there as possible. There were some terribly cheerful nurses who would burst in in the mornings and turn on all the lights and open the curtains - I had a corner room so I had two windows. I hated those nurses. The nurse I had the biggest problem with was a night nurse who kept insisting that I should take a shower, it would make me feel better. I had already taken one shower and learned that those were the worst showers in the history of ever. There was barely any water pressure and you had to rotate yourself to get completely wet. I was cold the whole entire time. One of the GOOD nurses had brought me some of those cleansing cloths to use so that I didn't smell like a lumberjack and I really didn't care what my hair looked like. Nurse Ratchet tried to blackmail me and tell me that she would take my blanket away if I started to run the slightest fever. I asked for the charge nurse and never saw Miss Smarty-Pants again. I may have been known as a pain in the ass but I just really don't give a flying flip.

My friend came to visit Wednesday night and as he left he told me I was hot. I laughed and said "Oh yeah, I'm hot. I look fantastic after laying in this bed for three days." He cracked up and said, "No, you are burning up, I'm going to go tell the nurses before I leave." Yeah, my temp was back up over 102. Super.

By Thursday afternoon, I was still running a pretty good fever most of the day. (Though I was no longer bloated so that was good) All of my blood cultures had come back clean. Nobody knew exactly what was making me sick. But I still felt like shit. I had another CT & it was decided that I was going to have a drain put in me to try to remove the infection from my vaginal cuff (I know, sorry). I thought I had a vague idea how this particular procedure might go. I was very, very mistaken.

The next day, they wheeled me off to CT and had me lay on my belly and zipped me in and out of the CT scanner dealio while the radiologist, Dr DeSade, inserted a tube from my right butt cheek through my lower abdomen to my (close your eyes) vaginal cuff to drain the infection.** BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...while he was in there he took samples of the fluid to send to the lab to see if they could identify the bacteria that was trying to kill me. For the record, they could not. The little collection bag just kind of hung out there off the skinny little tube which was about 12 inches long or so. Surprisingly, once the tube was in, it really didn't bother me at all except that it was a little awkward trying to find a place to hold it when I went to the potty. It was good for freaking out visitors, though.

**Yes, I was awake thru all of this, but I did have some pretty good drugs on board to make me relax. Plus I did that breathing that they teach you in the childbirth classes. Nice that THAT finally came in handy!

The drain seemed to do the trick. By the next day, I was off all IV antibiotics (still taking two oral antibiotics, though. One for colitis which I developed at some point in there and made things even more fun.Good exercise though!) It was good that I was off the IV since most of my veins had been blown - all of them in both lower arms - and my last IV was in my upper arm near my left shoulder. Actually that was the only one that didn't leave any lasting marks AND it was the easiest to manage. You can still feel the knots in my lower arms where the veins have scarred. It's super-creepy. One of the nurses told me that one of the reasons that I blew so many veins was because of all the Phenergan they gave me for the nausea for all those days. And you know what? TOTALLY worth it. I hate feeling nauseated. SugarPlum says I was pretty funny on phenergan, too. Mom & I evidently had whole long conversations of which I have absolutely no memory. Same goes for phone conversations & actual in-room visits with several friends. So if you called or came by & I don't remember it, sorry. And, if you DIDN'T call but want credit for calling, you can say you did and I will have no way of knowing you are lying.

Mom brought they kids up to see me nearly every single day. I did let them open the window shades because there were pigeons nesting on the window sills and occasionally they would have eggs. They named one set on the birds "Coco & Loco" and one of their eggs was "Yoko" (get it? Yolk-o....they thought it was hilarious). Sadly, we never saw an egg hatch.

By Saturday I was SO READY to bust out of there. The doctor seemed inclined to send me home, too. Except that I still had that damn drain in and he wanted to leave it for at least 24 more hours. He actually was going to send me home with the drain. I was somewhat opposed to bringing a bag of bacteria home to my three children. He let me stay another day. Sunday, he came in to remove the drain. He had the little kit and as he got started, he honest to Doogie said "I think the radiologist said to cut right here...." The nurse and I both had the same look of shock and dismay on our faces. Then, with absolutely no warning, he just pulled that sucker right out of me. HO.LY. CRAP. He asked me if I wanted any pain meds for home. Uh, yeah. So he wrote me a few scrips for that and for antibiotics and I don't know what else and shortly after I signed all those papers, my Mommy took me home.

Oh, and they never did figure out what was making me sick. Every single culture came back clear. All of them. I had some mystery bug that tried to kill me. I am either Dr House's dream patient or his biggest nightmare.

All in all, I was in the hospital the second time for eight days, not counting the night in the ER before they admitted me. I lost about 20 lbs. Nothing at all tasted good. I read about four books. Thank goodness for having Kindle on my phone. I updated my Facebook statuses in the moments that I had the energy & could see straight. And I never did wash my hair. I know. EW. Shut up. The first thing I did when I got home was take a shower and climb into MY bed. That bed never felt so good.

Little by little I have been getting my strength back. I am still amazed at how tired I am and how much I MUST nap. I mean, it's been two months. But the doc keeps telling me to give it six months before I even approach being my old self again. I have gained back all the weight - I really didn't have much that I could lose - thanks to Girl Scout cookies and Haagen-Dacz. I managed to pull an 'A' in the class I was taking last semester in spite of my prof sending me home my first week back because I "looked frail" and I was "making her nervous." I sported the whole "heroin chic" look for quite some time - skin & bones, sunken eyes, tracks & bruises all up & down my arms. I looked terrific.

Bear still tells me almost every day that he is glad I'm all better and home. I hug my babies a little tighter and try to fit in some extra snuggles every day. Bless their hearts. In one week, their Dad deployed to SW Asia and their mom was suddenly back in the hospital at death's door (although they don't really know just HOW sick I was). SugarPlum has been amazing, as always. She is an astounding caretaker, especially for a 14 year old, and she is fiercely protective of me. And I have discovered some truly wonderful people in my life. I am honestly blessed beyond measure. I have realized who and what really matters.

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

Now, where was I?

Oh, hi! Fancy meeting you here! Someone reminded me recently that I did, in fact, at one point in my life, maintain a blog. Since it has been so long since I was here, I had totally forgotten about that. Imagine!

Okay, no, not really. But life has been wild lately and as much as I love you people, posting here hasn't been as big of a priority as, say, my marriage. Or my children. Little things. Crazy, I know, but true.

Oh, yeah. And I went on a cruise with four friends to celebrate my friend Matt's 40th birthday. (Just for the record, I have had a crush on Matt since the 7th grade. Unfortunately for me, his partner, Andy, won his heart. So, instead we sat on a ship to the Bahamas together last weekend and evaluated the hot guys. And drank Pina Coladas. All in all, that was pretty cool.) Anyway...yes, went on a cruise, didn't get a sunburn, didn't get rip-roaring drunk, got enough sleep, didn't gain a single pound (I know, right?!)...I was the very picture of all things in moderation. I realize that this DOES officially make me an old person. But you know what? I don't care. I got to have a fantastic time and then come home to my family and not be wiped-out exhausted and on the verge of illness - as I might have in the past.

I guess that the last time I woke up the morning-after-the-night-before saying, "I'll never do THAT again," I really meant it. Some people can wake up with a hangover, take some aspirin, drink some coffee and get on with the day. For me, a hangover is a three-day affair. On the up side, I usually end up losing about five pounds. On the downside, as soon as I can keep water down, I gain it right back.

So, I was careful about my consumption on this trip. It was only a three day cruise, so if I got drunk the first night, that would pretty much have ruined it for me. And then, I would have been PISSED. Because I had been looking forward to this trip for months. Also? I got a new bikini and I look HOT in it. If I do say so myself.

The only crappy part of the whole thing was not being able to call home. As much as I looked forward to some totally kid-free time, I missed the little buggers. And their daddy. My bestest friend CRB missed her hubby and kiddos, too. Especially the cutest baby in the world, my Buttercup**. So when she decided to dash it all and phone home from Nassau, I looked pitiful until she handed me her cell phone and let me follow suite. It was like a junkie getting a fix. Hearing my babies voices made it all better. Especially since I would be home like, 24 hours later. I'm so lame.

This was my first cruise. And it was fun. I mean, laying on a private beach, under a palm tree, with a frozen drink in my hand and a warm breeze blowing across me and is pretty much my idea of heaven. It was the first time in a long time that I have been totally relaxed. But I could have dealt with a bigger room. An 8'x10' cabin for three women is asking a lot. The whole "rocking boat" thing I could have lived without. I think I'm more of an All-Inclusive Resort kind of girl. I really dig the beach part & would have like to have STAYED there. But if anyone else wants to take me on a cruise for free, I certainly won't say no.


**If you scroll down to about the third post or so, you can see a picture of Buttercup with her Aunt Buffi - the person who loves her the most!

All's well in Candyland

I know, I know. TWO WEEKS. Two weeks since my last post. Crazy, right?

I'm fine. Everyone is fine. Things were a little tense around here, but nothing too extraordinary. I have just been trying to re-prioritize since things have gotten a little out of whack. We went to visit my parents for a few days. Then we all went to the lake for a couple of days and even rented a boat! A good time was had by all.

Now I am focusing on spending time with SD and the SugarBabies since school starts next week. I am reeeaaaalllllly happy that school is starting next week. But it is also a little bittersweet. I am looking at all the time I wasted when I could have been taking the kids to the water park or the library or the park....or just spending time enjoying them more. I hate that. Fortunately, they had each other to play with (and fight with).

All three kids are SO excited about school starting. SugarPlum starts jr. high and is just beside herself. Last night she went to the Candyland Junior High 6th grade skating party. She had a blast and got to see her buddies and meet a few new kids, too. She is growing up so very, very fast. I'm torn between being proud and being sad, once again at how time flies. She gets her schedule and locker, etc Thursday evening. She is really looking forward to it. She's been speculating on what classes she will get and who will be in them. I remember not being able to even imagine what jr high would be like. She seems much less apprehensive than I was. But she has always had such amazing self confidence and maturity, so I'm not surprised.

Bug starts Kindergarten and is about to burst with excitement. Candyland Elementary only has one Kindergarten class, so we already know his teacher (who is NOT the old biddy who was Bear's kindergarten teacher, thank goodness!) and he loves, loves, loves her. And she seems to already be pretty fond of him. This is such a relief, considering what a hard time we had with Bear's teacher. Mrs. Kindergarten sent them all a postcard a couple of weeks ago and he was over the moon! I'm really looking forward to this year with her.

Bear starts 2nd grade. He seems happy to be starting, but I think a lot of that is that he is just so bored at home! I'm a little concerned for him because he just doesn't seem to be able to focus lately. And he seems too quick to freak out over things. His teacher last year loved him and really tried to find ways to help him learn. She recognized that he is highly intelligent and she worked with me to figure out his learning style. I am hoping that his teacher this year will be as accommodating. He is such a sweet child but can be really, very frustrating. Right now, I am having him work on handwriting because his somehow got worse by the end of last school year. I may have a new ulcer by the end of the week.

So....that's what's going on. I'm going back to my babies. I should be posting more regularly once everyone is settled into the school routine. Until I find a job anyway. We'll see. Thank you to all of you who have checked in on me, emailed, called, Twittered. I am so happy to have you. People who don't blog just don't get how I can have these friends from all over the world who I love like I do you all. That's too bad for them. You all are wonderful.

She's 29! Again!

Haaaaaappppppy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday...

Chiquita Rosita Banana (who is NOT Yvonne's daughter!!!)

Hhaaaaaaaaapppppppyyyyyyyyyy

Birthday to YOOOUUUUU!!! (cha cha cha) <----- this is from Bug)

Happy Birthday my beautiful, precious friend. You have seen me thru years and years and years and years (okay, I'll let it go now) of joy and pain. I can't imagine my life without you! I love you soooo, much.

No funny today

I just received some sobering and devastating news. And it's making me count my blessings at a time when I have really been feeling less than blessed. God has a way of smacking you upside the head, sometimes, doesn't he?

Not long before we moved to England, a good friend of ours who was already stationed there, lost her husband in a one-person car accident. He had just returned from months of fighting in Kosovo and they had two small children, one was two and the other about four months old. It was life shattering to say the least.

But my friend moved back close to her home where there was an Air Force Base, and began to rebuild her life. A couple of years later, she met and married a lovely, sweet man who was a doctor. He was the perfect husband for her and a wonderful daddy to her children. He was a blessing to their lives.

In order to move up in his chosen field, my friend and her new husband moved their family to a place where he could receive training and become even more accomplished in his field. They had another baby, giving them, all together, four kids. They were very happy.

Then this precious man learned he had cancer.

Through a mutual friend, we were kept in the loop about how this sweet man and his family were doing and lately, it wasn't looking good. And today, I got an email from my friend the her husband passed away yesterday. I can't fathom the pain that she feels. She is only 34 years old and has buried two husbands. Her kids have lost two daddies. How do you explain that to yourself, much less an 11 and 9 year old?

My heart aches almost more than I can take for my friend. And I feel petty and ridiculous about the complaints I have had with my life considering we are all healthy and vibrant.

Please keep my friend Kim and her family in your prayers. And go hug and kiss your kids and husband or wife. Be sure you say I love you. Because you never, ever know when it will be the last time.

IRATE (warning:profanity laden post. read at your own risk)

To the Motherfucking Asshole "gentleman" driving the pickup on I-35 Saturday:

Dear Dickhead,

What the fuck is your problem? I am nobody to lay much fault on someone for accidentally rear-ending another person while driving. But I STOPPED and accepted the consequences. What kind of asshole runs into someone and then LEAVES?? And especially when it was patently obvious that there likely was a baby in the minivan that you bashed in? Who drives off without at least making sure that everyone inside is okay?!! Fucker.

I will tell you that that was my sweet Buttercup in that van. My precious godbaby. And her big sister, my other god-daughter. And my oldest, dearest friend. You hit her van with enough force that it shattered the rear windshield and glass was found as far forward as the middle row - IN THE BABY SEAT. Bless their hearts, they were all freaked out. Thankfully, everyone was okay NO THANKS TO YOU. Moron.

I suspect that you are:

a) an illegal alien
b) uninsured
c) a felon out on parole, afraid of going back to jail
d) any combination of the above

Guy, you had better hope that I never EVER find you. Because I will tear you to pieces. I hope that you are experiencing some terrible guilt. I hope that you end up having an ulcer and chronic migraines over this. Mostly though, I hope that nothing like this ever happens to you. Because the pain, anxiety and trouble that this has caused for my dear, precious friend is something that I cannot ever wish on anyone.

Should you wish to get in touch with the victim of your unconscionable act, you can get in touch with me and I will let her know. Until then....GROW A CONSCIENCE.

Sincerely,
SugarMommy

PS To all of the other people on I-35 in Dallas Saturday who failed to stop and help a woman who CLEARLY needed help or to even give her the license plate of the asshole who hit her: You should be ashamed of yourselves. You all saw what happened and you all chose to keep flying right past her. It's almost as bad.

(There really are not enough profanities in the world, or this post about you would have been much longer)

Buttercup in Bloom!!

Yes, my secret mission is complete and I now have a new sweet, precious, beautiful god-baby! She is perfect. Just perfect. She went through quite a bit to get here -- and her Mommy went through even more -- but she is so gorgeous that I think it was worth it. You'll have to ask her very exhausted Mommy to be sure, but I'm almost certain that CRB would agree!

I will share the whole song story soon. But we have much too much to do before leaving for Gray Gray and Gram's house tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Longest Baby Shower EVER

The baby shower was a huge success. If success can be measured by how long the people stay. If that is indeed the case, then I AM the hostess with the mostess. Because I finally got everybody out of my house at 1:00 this morning. AND? THEY CAME BACK. For brunch.

Seriously. This was such a strange situation for a shower. NONE of the people at the shower - other than the Sugar family - lives in Candyland. It just worked out that of the possible venues, my house offered the shortest average drive for everyone invited. Consequently, everyone who attended the shower (with the exception of two) stayed the night. Not at my house. Only the Mommy-to-Be (CRB) stayed here. Everyone else stayed at a nearby hotel. For a few hours anyway.

For everyone staying here in Candyland, SD and I prepared my world famous Kick Ass Fajitas for supper. And they were fantabulous, if I do say so myself. Then we all had a great time singing while SD played the piano. Well, we are a big bunch of choir geeks, you know. By 1:00 my head was pounding, Matt was falling asleep, SD had already been in bed for an hour.

Everyone returned this morning. Hungry again, of course. They are insatiable. So, SD, bless his heart, fixed Belgian waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. He is so worth every penny I pay him.

We all had a blast. Especially watching Buttercup as she did the macarena in Mommy's belly. That little baby can bust a move. Much to CRB's dismay. We all can't wait to meet the little angel. I tried to talk her into being born here in Candyland last night, but she wasn't going for it. So inconsiderate. Everybody finally headed to their respective homes by about 1:30 this afternoon. And we are all wiped out. At least I didn't have to drive three hours!

NOW? Well, now, we prepare for PopPop to get here on Tuesday. This involves washing sheets, cleaning bathrooms, and...well, I suppose I should go to the grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner stuff. *sigh* When did November get here? And what the hell happened to it?

If you're blue and you don't know where to go to.....

So, we are back from our weekend of partying (she said, tongue firmly placed in cheek). This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend, spent visiting friends and family. Instead, like always, it felt hectic, over-scheduled and somewhat disappointing.


Now, to those of you I visited this weekend, don't get me wrong. I had an absolute blast seeing everyone and don't regret a minute I spent with you.


For everyone else on the planet (high expectations here), I went home for the 20 year reunion of all my high school friends. Confused? Well, you're not the only one. With one or two exceptions, my best friends from high school all graduated a year before me. So, when it came time for their reunion this year, I was delighted to have been invited to the reunion by a friend who thought it would be nice to have the gang back together. I had every intention of attending all of the reunion events. But over the summer, my grandmother was diagnosed with lymphoma and started chemo. So, I tweaked my plans some and decided that we would still go to Candyland West this weekend, but I would just go to the dinner and the get together with all of the choir gang on Sunday. Those plans were further altered when several of us realized that the dinner was going to cost $120 per couple. For barbecue. As much as I wanted to attend that dinner, I really didn't want to spend that much. For barbecue. So several of us decided to go out to a nice dinner at one of the better restaurants in Candyland West.

I was really looking forward to this trip. I was so excited to see some of these people I haven't seen in years. And some I hadn't seen in weeks. But Wednesday I started feeling nauseous and it didn't go away all weekend. I don't think I ate more than three bites of anything for several days. On the upside, I lost a few more pounds, so at least there was a silver lining. Of course the cloud inside that silver lining included the migraine that wouldn't die. I'm not sure which the cause and which was the effect, but I had either a headache, a tummyache or both all stinking weekend. Ugh.

THEN! We awoke Saturday morning to the dulcet tones of barking coming from the boys' room. More specifically, from Bear's bed. Crap. It's croup. While SD steamed up the bathroom, I found some benedryl and motrin in the medicine cabinet at Gram's house. Had I brought the nebulizer? No. Of course not. It's summer! He doesn't get croup in summer! Also? I never even thought about it. The steam seemed to help (no ER trip!), so I decided to pull myself together quickly and get up to my old high school for the tour.

I don't recommend this. A high school can change a LOT in twenty years and not all of it will make you happy. By the time I got there, the tour was headed out to the gym. Which has been expanded a great deal and is now two gyms plus a lot more stuff that I didn't see. We started to go into the "old gym" - the one we all remembered - but there was a volleyball game going on and we couldn't go in. But the poor little Student Council (class of 2009!) rep was happy to show us the new gym! Um, yeah. But that is not a part of our past. It's not where we had our pep rallies and saw our beloved basketball team get trounced time and time again.

Back inside. We go through the door back into the school, look to the right and see that the dance studio no longer exists! It appears to have been turned into a janitor's closet. Sacrilege! Then? We learn that the gymnastics gym? Is now the new library. What is wrong with these people. The gymnastics team was the only team we had to brag about!!! And little student council rep/tour guide? Seems PROUD of the fact that the gym was ripped out to make their new state-of-the-art library! FOR SHAME! Why look at all those computers! Back in my day, we had to make an effort to do a research paper. We didn't have computers to look up stuff. We had do dig through microfiche and plow through the stacks to find the articles and books we needed to get that one perfect quote! These kids today have it so easy....

::deep cleansing breath::


That's better. { /rant}


We made our way up to the choir room. Sure that that would satisfy what we came for. But it was locked! Oh! The disappointment. We were all so pathetic standing on tiptoe, peeking int he little windows on the doors. Noticing the what changes we could see. There was much sadness. Luckily, we all made our way down to the auditorium, which still looked and smelled the same. That was happy. We climbed up on stage and forced out significant others to take photos of us as we tried in vain to remember the words and steps to some of our show choir numbers. I think little student council boy was very impressed! You know, if a bunch of old people singing off key and fumbling around on a high school stage is his idea of impressive.

Other tour highlights:

~ Student Council boy telling us how the bell tower is haunted since a person was murdered up there in the mid-80's (you know, waaaaaaaaaay back in the 80's). We told him that we thought we probably would have remembered that.


~ They have elevators now. We reminisced about how we used to sell "elevator tickets" to clueless sophomores. "Now where are the elevators?" "Right next to the swimming pool." Oh, yeah. We were clever.


After the tour, the rest of the gang (read: the people who actually graduated in '87) went tot he picnic. SD and I planned on going over to visit my grandparents, but a wave of nausea gripped me and turned me green and I decided that I didn't need to expose Maw Maw to that or to Bear's cough, given that she has zero immune system after two rounds of chemo. I promised that we would go over Sunday, after the choir gathering.


Dinner Saturday night was good. And, if SD's veal chop alone hadn't cost $42.95(!), it might have been less expensive than the reunion dinner. But the conversation was great, and they had amazing creme brulee which made one of our group declare, "This is what the gods bathe in!" We had a lot of fun, so I suppose it was worth it. Sadly, later that night, my stomach rebelled again and I didn't get to enjoy the fun at the hotel with everyone. This also precluded any visits to see my grandparents Sunday. Much, much sadness.


Our choir party was even more fun than I had hoped! I was happy to see everyone who showed up. I am proud to say that among us, we have the most beautiful, well behaved, smartest group of children in the world. It must be something in the water in Candyland West. It makes for good genes to pass down!


Meanwhile, back in Soccer Land.....SugarPlum played as a guest player for one of the uber-competitive club teams in our town. They have been pursuing her for a while, but she hasn't wanted to make the commitment that the team requires. She had a lot of fun and the team won second place in their tournament. SP is thinking that maybe she would like to play for them next season. I'm not AS opposed as I once was. They only practice twice a week and they are a great group of girls. The parents are pretty cool too. I suppose that the only thing holding us back will be whether we can get a second mortgage on our house to pay the astronomical fees that are required to be on the team. Plus the tournament fees, travel expenses, etc. *sigh* She's ten. I don't know if I'm ready for this. Seem like it's gonna happen whether I'm ready or not.

So..how was YOUR Labor Day??

Randomness

Ugh. So, we went all weekend with no phone (well, except cells, but STILL) but, more importantly...when we have no phone, we have no internet. Dang. I hate that. I had just posted Friday when my modem looked at me and said, "Well, that's about it for me. I'm done." When I asked the phone about it all it had to say was "ppppsssshhhhhkkkksshhhthtt." Which I interpreted as, "Hmmmmm? Can't hear you! On strike as a show of solidarity with the DSL."

I suppose I should thank the blog gods or something that it was right after I posted and not before. Then I would have been really cranky. As it was all I could think all weekend was, "I just posted and now I won't be able to see my comments for DAYS." Yes, I really am that shallow. Of course, my family enjoyed it. I actually spent time with the children and stuff. What a concept. After a couple of days though, I started going through withdrawls and it wasn't pretty. You may see me on an episode of Intervention soon. I'm sure it will be...enlightening.

The AT&T guy finally showed up at like 7:15 last night and, as it turns out, the phone line is approximately as old as the house. It had weathered to the point that there was a hole in it. Which, in case you were wondering, does not create the ideal conditions for DSL to work. Not to mention you know, phone calls. Phone guy replaced the line and lo and behold - INTERNET! I could have kissed him. Except that he was like 60. EW.

In other news....I finally got my hair chopped off today. I think I like it. It's just weird going from one extreme to another. It's really short. I had lunch with a friend who said that it looks good. We'll see. SugarPlum really likes it. She says that it makes me look older. I'm telling myself that that's a compliment from a ten year old. Don't disillusion me, please. I think it will be good while we are at the beach next week, anyway.

YES! We are flying to Virginia on Friday and checking into our beach house on Saturday. Friday night the Queen and I are taking SugarPlum and the Princess to a Harry Potter thing at a bookstore . Then? The beach. For seven days! WHEEEE! Anyone live in or near Virginia Beach? We'd love to see you! Of course there will be margaritas and other assorted snacks. Or maybe pina coladas. OOH! Or sangria! Decisions, decisions.

That said, I suppose I should finish up the laundry so that I can pack and stuff. Minor details. Happy Tuesday!

A Buttercup by any other name...

I recently found out that my oldest and dearest friend, CRB, is expecting a baby! She was the second friend to get married last year - Memorial Day Weekend - and she and her husband are tickled beyond belief. Nobody saw this coming, least of all the Mommy and Daddy. CRB is the mother of my two precious godchildren, who are now 11 and 15. Talk about your unexpected blessings! Though, I did have to point out to CRB that she and I are quite possibly the two most fertile women on the planet and that we really shouldn't be THAT surprised that this happened.

Daddy-to-be (D2B from here on out) is thinking that he doesn't want to find out the sex of the baby, he wants it to be a surprise. Which I find totally selfish. Because I NEED TO KNOW what this baby is and has she forgotten that it is all about ME?! (With the obvious exception if that one special friend of ours who shall remain nameless because he/she reads here regularly & will be PISSED if he/she knew that we spoke of him/her that way. Hee hee.) I need to know whether to buy pink or blue because while it seems like a good idea to just get green/yellow/purple stuff for the baby, once the little bundle of joy arrives that unisex stuff always looks far too masculine or feminine for your precious angel.

AND I do believe that you have HAD your surprise D2B!! How about when CRB said "I;m pregnant! SURPRISE! Yeesh!

Also? We need to name this baby. Before its birth. Although with CRB that can backfire. When she was pregnant with her son, the firstborn, she had decided to name him Joshua. For months we all "talked" to Joshua and sang to him and talked about Joshua and anticipated his arrival. About two weeks before he was born, CRB decided that they would name him after her father instead. It took me YEARS to get used to calling that kid by his actual name. To this day, I sometimes slip and call him Joshua.

So the rule I have made (because remember whom it is all about!) is that once this kid has a name, it cannot be changed. And if you do change it, I will always use the originally agreed upon name.

As a result, I have decided that until this baby has an actual name. I will be calling it Buttercup. Of course, CRB's daughter, A, thinks that Buttercup is far too girly and wants something more gender neutral. She decided upon Peanut. CRB, forever the diplomat, thought that perhaps we could all be happy by combining the two names. Which, leaves us with? Peanut Buttercup!!! So you know now that the name, boy or girl, has been decided. We are calling this kid Reese.

In the event that that name doesn't work out, here, in alphabetical order are my suggestions for alternatives. You make the call.


Boy Names
Adolf
Beelzebub
Cecil
Diego
Ernest
Francisco
Gilligan
Harvey
Ichabod
Jimbo
Kermit
Leroy
Melvin
Norbert
Osama
Percival
Raul
Saddam
Turk
Ulysses
Vladimir
Wally
Xerxes
Yakov
Zebulon


Girl Names:

Appolonia
Bertha
Cora (heh)
Desdemona
Elvira
Fancy
Gypsy
Hortense
Imogene
Jamocha
Kimono
Lolita
Mildred
Norma
Octavia
Prunella
Roshanda
Shaquanna
Thelma
Urania
Velma
Wanda
Xaveria
Yvonne (heh)
Zsa Zsa

So, there you go. Choose wisely, my friends. I shall be having onesies monogrammed shortly after the ultrasound!

**Please don't be offended if I mentioned a name that is yours or that of a loved one. Some of these names, you would have to know their last name or their personalities to understand why they are funny!

Rachel, don't read this...

I need help. (hush) I am hosting a bridal shower for a good friend (and the best babysitter in the history of the world!) in a couple of weeks. I am at a loss as to what sort of things to do at the shower. There will be quite a mix of people as it will be at our (Baptist) church which is the church her grandmother attends. There will be college students, grandmothers and everything in between.

My favorite shower activity is to write down what the bride says while opening gifts and then read it back as what she will say on her wedding night. "Oh, wow! I was hoping for one of these!" "WOW! It's bigger (or smaller) than I thought it would be!" "This is so wonderful." "I'm not sure what to do with this.."

However, I'm not sure how well this would be received by the "grandmother" portion of our guest list. Which, quite honestly, makes up a large percentage of that list.

When I host baby showers (which, in the Air Force is quite often), I always have the guests decorate onesies and/or cloth diapers (to use as burp rags) with fabric markers. I was thinking maybe having guests decorate dish towels or cloth napkins. Would that be dorky? Or helpful? And, since this is largely an older crowd, would it be fun to have embroidery thread and have guests embroider the towels? I'm at a loss.

So, do you have any great ideas? I want this to be a nice shower without being boring OR offensive to anyone. HELP!!!!!

My favorite email exchange so far this year....

Just a little fun between friends.....


From: CRB
To: Buffi
Subject: fyi
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007

for your information

PPPPPLLLLEEEAAASSSSEEEE

should I ever piss you off to the point of ending our friendship you must promise to continue to update me on the children somehow...see

i am sick and tired of getting really attached to my friends children only to 'lose' them when said friends bail (ie G & R)

and in return I would extend the same offer to you although totally unnecessary since you haven't pissed me off since 1989...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffi wrote: IF you piss me off that much, I shall punish you by sending my children to live with you. Whether or not you choose to update me on their lives is entirely up to you.

I love you!!! hee heee heeeeeeee!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

~B

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CRB wrote: Bravisimadear!!!

Spring Breaking

We are at Gram and Gray Gray's house for the last few days of Spring Break. Internet connections are spotty and weak (as they are pirated wireless signals) at best. So I will make this brief (mercifully) in the hopes of it actually getting posted.

All is well. The kids and I were going to go to the science museum for the "Elephant Encounter" where you were supposed to get up close and personal with live elephants. This would have been really neat for all of us. Unfortunately, about 100,000 other people thought it would be cool as well. Given Mommy's aversion to crowds, we (and when I say "we" I mean "the driver of the vehicle and the person who would have to pay $9 apiece to stand in a crowd of millions just to see an elephant from two miles away") chose to go to the National Ranching Heritage Center instead. SugarPlum has been studying TEXAS!! history this year and Bear's class did a unit on cowboys last week, so this outing was both timely and meaningful for all.

They really seemed to enjoy seeing the old pioneer houses and barns, etc. Bear declared every tiny dirt-floored one room shanty to be "beautiful." The favorite part, I think, was the old train depot complete with steam engine and cars. Although, the boys were quite disappointed that the train didn't move. Oh, well.

My mom worked at this particular museum when I was a child, so I grew up there and gave tours in period costume at times. I was surprised how much I remembered about those old houses. I had one daddy and his little girl following us for a while so that they could listen to what I told the kids. And of course, I did that "I remember when that wasn't here" thing that we all do when we get old. *sigh* SugarPlum was SO embarrassed. Which made it totally worth it.

Today, I am helping CRB and friends go evaluate her house (that her ex-husband lives in with their son) and decide what all needs to be done to make the thing "sale-able." Should be a big job. (see above: ex-husband/teenage son) But I love her, so whaddaya gonna do?

Tomorrow, we head back to Candyland. School starts Monday and I will have to start getting up waaaaaaay before the 10:00 I have become accustomed to here at Gram and Gray's.

Pray for me.

so much for this being short.....sorry