my elbow story

i woke up in the middle of the night with Z's coughs; it was a dry cough so i got up to get him a cup of water. when i was in the kitchen i heard the fish tank making excessive noise so i went over to it, one of the pumps had come apart.

the stream of bubbly water was going down but then it all surfaced, that was the noise. bc i was already up, i knew i would hear this from the bedroom & wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so it couldn't wait for morning.

i was 1/2 asleep so my 1st attempt was to simply force both pieces back together...that doesn't work so well when a stream of water is pushing the pieces apart. not only that, i hadn't thought about the fact that the water, the streaming water, would have less distance to rebound from thus having a stronger current & closer to the surface....ie, a water fountain, all over the place.

then i figured out i should unplug it, so it's easier, but i'm still wrestling with it because it's in an awkward position for my height & i have to reach up & over the light fixture then down into the tank.

[i don't know why i was still futzing with it, it was unplugged so the noise was stopped however it didn't even occur to me that i didn't have to continue with this. so onward we go....]

the container came out much easier now that i didn't have to fight the water stream, that is until i got to an adjustment screw & it didn't fit through the open space. so i twist, turn, angle it this way & that & lift the top glass/light fixture a bit & finally, finally get that darn thing out of the water.

YAH!

remember, it was the middle of the night, i was sleeping not that long ago, still pretty out of it & i'm working with only the small light from the kitchen sink area.

by now my arms are jello from holding them up & over & down & the container is heavy bc it's still filled with water. i pour the water out & get some relief, then bring it up & over to me, happy & relieved i'm done, knowing in just a second my aching arms are going to get some fresh blood flow, i bring them down with quite a bit of force.

left arm is happy, right arm came down & whacked the top of a chair.
hard.

i stood there, dazed, trying to take it in without making too much noise & once i was able to compose myself & remember my original intent was to get Z a cup of water. by now the coughing spell is over & he's in deep slumber, but hey I GOT UP FOR THIS.

i'm holding the cup in my right hand & using my left hand to try to rouse him awake. i call him & shake him a bit...no response for awhile so i probably should have stopped, but NO.

i shake & call out some more & he moves! he brings his knees up....hitting my right elbow...AGAIN...& bc it was in rough shape from being previously whacked on the chair i dropped the cup on water on my sleeping child.

i frantically reach & grab...haha, yeah right, i'm still somewhat asleep & honestly who, who i ask has reflexes that quick? not me. thankfully only about 1/2 of the cup poured out on his bed & it landed pretty much sitting upright, so it wasn't the entire thing.

i told B about it later & then he said something to Z along the lines of "at least i don't pour water in your bed while you're sleeping"...thanks, prior to that Z didn't remember!

today's breakfast

man, have i been failing at blogging or what?
before i made this post, i needed to go back for some back-dating & um, i didn't make the post, hence no point of reference, so now we totally have to wing this shit...

ok, i don't remember which came first either St Patrick's day or Dr Seuss's birthday...but one of them happened & Z asked me if he could have breakfast at school that day.

why? bc he wanted to have the green eggs of course.
the green "eggs" were a scary sight & not bc they were green but bc they were obviously not eggs, honestly i don't know what they were....powdered? tofu? whatever it was, not egg by any stretch of the word.

so for whichever the 2nd one was [as in SPD or DSBD] i made the boy green eggs at home [with REAL eggs] & yes, he agreed, these were much better.

today i cooked some bacon & asked Z if he wanted some eggs or toast to go with it & his response was:

"i want a green scrambled egg with bacon bits in it & toast on the side" [is he my kid or what??? i'm surprised i didn't get spec's on the toast - lightly toasted or heavily? butter, jam, or cream cheese?]

he only wanted 1 egg & i put in 2 drops of green food coloring & those were some GREEN eggs alright! he said they tasted good though.

end of an era

the boy has decided he's done with all my pet names for him.
no more:
sweetsweetbaby [derived from me singing it over & over to him]
or udgybudgy [one of his weird baby sounds that somehow stuck]
or shuppaduppa [another baby word, shuppy = strawberry & they were his fav when he was a toddler. he would repeat "shuppashuppashuppa" over & over, a first sign of ocd maybe? note to self add another $50 to the kid's mental health fund. who needs college?]

i thought i was doing well bc pumpkinbutt [as in puffydiaperedbutt] had been shorten to just pumpkin. & i try really, really hard not to call him pumpkin at school; there i call him sweetpea or darlin' that's more grown up right? shouldn't that be acceptable?

neight.

the other day in an attempt to not call him a nickname when the p-one was slipping out of my mouth & i stopped but i was mid-way through it, so "pumpk" came out but he heard "punk" & then i get lip bc i'm calling him a punk. no honey i wouldn't call you that, a pain the *ss maybe but not a punk...

he doesn't even want to be called Z anymore, he says to call him:
Alex

next time i get a call from school about Z having discipline issues, i'll tell them they must have the wrong #, bc i'm alex's momma.

remember the boy who couldn't read?

not only can he read now, i had to do something i've been waiting for, something other parents have had to battle with for sometime i hear....

i had to take away the nightlight
bc Z wouldn't stop reading in bed.

squeal!

what's for dessert?

we don't normally do dessert around here, mainly bc i'm not into sweets & B is always trying to watch what he eats. lately however, i've had a sweet-tooth that just won't die! usually i can either bake or buy something, i'll have one serving & i'm done, i got my fix & the boys will eat most of it, then i end up throwing the tail end of it away. not this time; i've made cakes, bought big boxes of ice cream & other treats & still, it is there. i still want more.

B's been no help, instead of telling me to stop it's like a fricken competition on who can eat more....& we're running neck & neck! the other day he made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread; a mix that we've had for probably 2 years but never really bothered to get around to making, but now 1 loaf wasn't enough.

to top it off i called my mom & got her recipe for carrot cake frosting. you know, cream cheese & walnuts? yum!! what i didn't know is it also had butter, too thin it out of course! cheese, butter & sugar all the food groups right? i should have added chocolate bits, that was missing...

lately although B & I are in the midst of our consumption extravaganza the boy is not eating. maybe he's afraid to put his hand in the middle of things? the allergy meds mess with his appetite so although the little guy can not afford to miss a meal, he's been living off snacks lately.

the darn health-nazis at school aren't helping matters either, he's afraid to eat anything fattening. no joke, i've had to have serious discussions with him about how it's ok to have a little fat like a pound of bacon or container of sour cream daily maybe? in one's diet to a 4ft1in 50lb little boy.

what's a mommy to do when her little one isn't eating?
bribery of course.

i told Z once he ate a good lunch he could have x, y or z for dessert & yep, he finished his meal & came over for his dessert. i asked him what he wanted?

his answer "a chicken wing"

i was at a loss. i don't remember offering a chicken wing. i don't think Z would choose a chicken wing for dessert options. i might, hot & spicy = yum!!

i digress...

then i get it:
a drumstick?
you mean a drumstick ice cream?
that's different from a chicken wing....

hack hack cough wheeze sneeze, repeat

on thurs afternoon when i picked up Z he complained about having a runny nose & throughout the evening he sneezed a couple of times = he was coming down with a cold. i figured in the morning we'd evaluate where he was at to decide if he was up for school.

2am - he was sneezing & i heard the barking cough
4am - he woke me up bc he was thirsty. he was wheezing, so i opened his window to get some cold air in his room & got the humidifier out & on for him.
5am - still wheezing, gave him an inhaler treatment
7am - got up, still wheezy, no school, i'm wiped & i'm not the sick one

thankfully i was able to get in to see the dr at 9:30, she asked about the allergy results & if Z was exhibiting any signs at either of the visits [nope], but here we were only 4 days later & Z was in the throes of it. she agreed at almost 8 years, this is really unusual & they did a breathing analysis thing.

they had a breathing tube attached to a monitor; he had to take a deep breath in, put the tube in his mouth, blow out as hard as he could, breath in as hard as he could, then remove the tube. all those moving parts for the kid were too much to handle; thankfully the nurse was really patient bc seriously it took like 20 tries & girlfriend didn't lose it at all.

next they gave Z an abuterol breathing treatment [he looked like he was smoking a hooka].
every time i see a nebulizer it reminds me of when cousin C was just a little girl & i was taking care of her & i didn't know how to use her machine, she was probably 3 or 4 & she was showing me how to turn it on & how to break the glass vial to put the medicine in the dispenser.

then round 2 of the breathing analysis; he was finally primed for the whole evolution but we had to retrain him bc now they only had to measure blow out, so that was probably another 15 tries. that nurse will probably run & hide if she ever sees us again.

results finally - initial readings were in the 70/80s, after meds 80/90s = yes, he has asthma

the interview

last week i went on an interview; one i didn't want to go on. i know that doesn't make sense, but i inadvertently applied for a position that was title 'finance blah' & in the fine print it said 'works with people'....uh, that's not me.

however, it's at a place that i want to work at, so i couldn't blow them off, i couldn't tell them i already had a job & i've already been told if i want in, i have to start at the bottom. which for the most part, i'd be willing to start pretty low but that whole havingtotalktopeople thing & they don't mean office gossip leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

so i went to the interview & of course bc i wasn't nervous i was awesome. [oh how i wish i could bottle that & save it for another time.] really, i was good, know how i know? bc yesterday they called to get approval before checking my references.
damn!

"so can we call f18 people?" - yes

"what about noems?" - um, yeah [this may be my way out, maybe old boss will give me a bad referral???? not likely, but maybe something will fall out of his mouth before he can stop himself, or his tone might say it all as well...come on old boss, bring it!!!!]

"the golf place?" - all my work peoples are gone, so not a very good source

oh, & there's more to the dislike part, it's a temporary job, only 10-12 weeks. i'm in the works about finding/figuring out how that affects my unemployment but as of right now, it's looking like not a good thing.
although i asked a string of questions trying to figure out how it would work i got one answer being "old claim would end, new claim would have to start". so a new claim based on a short work period at lower pay.

yah for me - as in who can screw things up beyond belief?

judgement day

so i cleaned some on easter, cleaned some more in the morning & trust me, i was a peach to be around with all the stress about what things were going to be like once my mom showed up, A PEACH!

B wasn't going to be here, which was both good & bad, good bc that meant i wouldn't have to be in the middle of anything but bad bc i wouldn't have his support.

my mom was bringing a friend, which also had good & bad points - my mom wouldn't go completely batshit crazy in front of her [i don't think anyway] yet this person has probably heard my mother's completely fictional tirade & OMG how am i supposed to look this person in the face when they think i'm a complete f-ing monster????

Z would be here too [off for spring break, it's not "easter break" anymore bc nobody believes in god] & it's good for him to see his grammie no matter how crazy she is.

mom's dr appt went fine & they showed up about 11:30. i got my mom some coffee & we sat at the dining table & talked for a bit. a little while later she said she was ready to eat so i served the abondigas soup my mom had requested. she hadn't tasted my version soup before, she said "it was good, but not as good as her's".

seriously.

even her friend said "come on, this is really good" & my mom said "it's good, it's just mine is really good". so her friend asked her what was different about her recipe - she fries the onions first....well that makes ALL the difference in the world doesn't it?

i did my best to stay in the conversation, yet not say a lot, so to her soup comment i just smiled. she also told me the dog looked fat; although last time she was worried about the dog's dish not having food in it at all times.

all in all, things went well, it was a painful step in the right direction.

easter 2010

i'd put off calling my mom all week; you know a holiday....most families get together, so i was at a loss at what to do....
do i invite? [only to be turned down]
do i not invite? [she's told me she doesn't want come over but i'm a b*tch if i don't at least offer right?]

woohoo, fun times alright!

i was off the hook though, she had a medical thing to prepare for & couldn't leave the house on sunday.

deep exhale [& feel the 400lb monkey fall off my back]

then when i explained to B that she wouldn't be over on sun for easter, but was coming over on mon after her dr appt it all went to hell again. [he has class all day]

good times...
seriously, can't win for losing sometimes.

then to top all that sh*t off, i was recovering from a migraine [why couldn't it have been a hangover?], so the easter bunny was late ok?
the confetti eggs were colored, but not confettied & obviously not topped & the potato salad was still just a thought nagging at the back of my head.

Z got to open his box from grandma C - lots of yellow grass, candy, camouflage eggs [?] & a science kit with polymers [water absorbing thingies]. my mom sent a card with some cash, thankfully she clued it $50 was a bit much & only gave him $10. then when i was able to, B & I filled plastic eggs & went out to the backyard to hide them.

then Z came out & caught us red handed.

i told him the easter bunny hid some of the eggs, but he was in a hurry & had to leave so he asked me to finish the rest of them. [wasn't that a good lie? i'm totally getting better!]

he totally didn't buy it, so i told him if he didn't go inside easter was canceled.

once we finished with the eggs i brought his basket inside & put the other things in there i bought for him & we went out for the hunt. Z was pissy about having to actually hunt for eggs, the best one was a yellow egg B had placed sitting on top of a tool with a yellow handle. it was really hard to see it & Z even moved the tool & it wasn't until the egg fell down that Z found the egg.

we didn't get to the confetti eggs until after dark, it was still fun, but so much more fun when there are other people around. the boys pretty much went after each other, then Z of course had to get Lady...any chance to mess with the dog!

easter dinner didn't happen.
we had tons of leftovers & it just didn't make sense to prepare everything.

glazed ham, potato salad & asparagus were had on tuesday afternoon though...we're professional procrastinators, novices need not apply!

movie news: clash of the titans & a lil avatar talk

on sat we went to go see clash of the titans. we actually saw it in 3-d, something i'd been afraid to do. after that one time we went to movies when i was pregnant & i got nauseous & had to leave, well, i'm still antsy about it. i know, i know, the boy is almost 8 YEARS old, but seriously, who wants to puke at the theater?

not me

when we went to see avatar, B said "who wouldn't want to see it in 3-d?"

um, hello, your pukey wife...

so we didn't see that one in 3-d, which ended up being a good thing bc in one scene where the guy falls off a tree limb while walking through the forest, well i fell with him. honestly, i almost fell out of the chair & it wasn't even 3-d.

i'm an awesome date
yeah, & B's a lucky man

so, the movie though, um, clash of the titans one as i realize i'm all over the place, yeah, it was pretty good, the 3-d effect worked & was pretty neat & i didn't fall off the chair once. they stuck a lot to the old 80s story line, although they left out some parts that were missed the beloved mechanical owl-wth?.

before we went to the movies i thought i'd give Z an idea about what it was about so i was explaining greek mythology, their stories, beliefs & gods, etc when suddenly he decided he didn't want to go. we got him to change his mind & when it was over he said he thought the movie was going to be like going to church & they were just going to talk about god....

we're excellent parents

so as further punishment we're going to rent the old version, i have to be sure to wake up Z early on sunday morning to watch it. do you think i should make him get dressed in fancy clothes too?