Saturday, February 6, 2010

11 Winters

We have lived at our home for 11 winters. Folks, we have never seen snow here like this ever. Since my husband grew up smack dab in the snowbelt, he is fairly used to high amounts of snow.

Even this one surprised him.

The AM began with opening the back door and the door swept over the snow.

That has never happened.

The snow is to my knee, but drifts are to my hips. Grant you, I'm 5' 3/4", but still, that is a whole lot of snow.

It took us a half hour to dig Hubs out. Initially, he thought that he could swing it himself, but quickly he saw that he really did need me. (Side note, isn't it a great feeling when you know that your spouse still truly needs you?!) He shoveled. I shoveled. He tried to get his car out, but discovered that the little motorized snowball did need a push. I rocked it back and forth and he gave intermittent pushes until I reached the secondary road. I drove it about 1/2 block up the secondary to assure that I cleared all the yuck. (The snow was up to his bumper +.)

I'm glad to report that I checked in and Hubs just arrived. I was talking with his boss who said that since Hubs' program wasn't scheduled until 2:00 PM, he didn't need to rush. Then, Hubs came walking down the sidewalk. I told his boss that Hubs is die-hard and if he tells someone that he will something, come hell or high snow, it will happen.

So, that leaves me with three little girls eagerly awaiting a Children's Valentine Tea at the library. Surprisingly, the tea doesn't appear to have been canceled. The universities and schools in the area are. If the tea does get canceled, we will be having a tea with my mom.

The neighbor had designs on leaving, but with our road being the way that it is, his soccer mom van (a late 80's model, I believe) will not make it up the road. Period. I told him to take my truck (remember, he is the neighbor that gives us much stuff and has loaned me his lap top -- the same one that I'm writing this post on right now.) My truck is dug out, wiped off as much as I can get and wow. It'll get him where he needs to go. Right now, he is busy clearing the neighbors drives of snow.

When my computer is connected back to the internet, I'll post the pictures that I took.

In the meantime, snuggle up, have a cup of tea and be well!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Hooray!

We went to the dentist Thursday afternoon and we are both CAVITY FREE! :) For my dental challenged child who has a few fillings and has already undergone a root canal, this was music to my ears. Actually, it was music to both of our ears! :)!!!

I puddle-putzed around the house today while K- was at school and got the house cleaned, floors mopped, laundry washed and hung. The best thing was that I successfully removed all of the spilled hot chocolate off the front of one of K-'s beige uniform jumpers. Hooray!

There is a snow storm on the way. HOORAY! We love snow! I had to laugh though, they were brining the road already (we passed a brining truck at 5 PM) and the storm warning isn't due to begin until 12 noon.

I'll be taking K- to the library Children's Valentine Tea on Saturday. K- is excited since she gets to wear her Christmas dress again. It isn't specifically a Christmas dress and she was only able to wear it once since the hazmat tent fell over our home at 12:00 AM on Christmas morning.

Hubs is feeling better. He has been suffering from a cold. It was nothing major, but he still kind of felt like dirt. He said that he wouldn't have gone to work Thursday, but he had obligations.

Smiles in my day:
- Above!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

My mind is kind of blank.

But watch me ramble on.

The child that is hitting K- is Autistic. I found that out today and that helps to fill in many blanks. He wonked her again today, as he had grabbed her by the forearm yesterday. You know what? K- said that she told M-, "You are out of chances, M-." and she went and talked to her teacher about it. When he wonked her with the pencil box today, she said that she raised her hand and told the teacher.

Folks, it is hard for K- to tell on anyone. Kids are her people. Being what we call an "only but not" child gives her a weird spot to be in. She doesn't have kids at home, but she does have sibs she sees sometimes. Even so, she doesn't want to tell on her friends at school, because she thinks that they won't be her friends anymore. I'm glad that she has finally reached the point of standing up for herself.

My back is killing me, but my muscles feel better. I did forget to take my Zantac last night and was plagued by one heck of a time with acid reflux this afternoon. Don't worry. I came home and took my medicine! Hopefully, it will kick in and leave me burn free.

My husband is watching some weird movie (Oscar with Sylvester Stallone), admittedly to annoy me so that I'll be off this thing so that he can watch TV in peace and quiet.

Oh, K- and I have appointments with the dental unit in the afternoon. K- does okay with the cleaning appointments, which is what this one is. However, if they decide that fillings are needed, we are going to switch her over to a pediatric dentist that lives closer and will give her a lovely drug to calm her down. Praise God for dental drugs for the kiddies!

Smiles in my day:
- Walking to school with K- this morning. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, school volunteering/work/a pick-up for my brother on Tuesday, but it left today wide open. It was nice to be out as it was flurrying. (Yes, my own word.)
- My co-worker brought me a delicious cookie.
- My MIL gave me soup and salad for dinner last night and sent spaghetti home for me tonight. How kind!
- Despite the slow traffic, we had a nice sales day in our part of the store today.

Have a great day!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Works for Me Wednesday: LED solar work light

Pardon my not having the WFMW logo up here. I'm working on a borrowed laptop. Rest assured, you are at the right place.

We went to IKEA about a week and a half ago. My 6 year old daughter's only request was for a "lamp so that I can read books in my bed." A fairly practical item to request. I mean, it's not like she asked for a toy or anything (a typical request) and reading? We like to encourage that.

We got to IKEA, navigated the store and finally arrived at the lamp section. There were halogen-- too hot. There were CFL lamps. The lamp was 7.00, but the bulb costs 9.00 and was still hot to the touch.

I found an LED lamp that was also solar. Score! Hubs initially though the lamp was a little spendy. It was 19.99, but when we considered the heat, the potential of knocking the lamp over in bed, having a cord, an expensive light bulb to replace, the LED solar lamp seemed to be the way to go.

Y'all, we love that lamp. I charge the solar pad in my garden window every so often and we are good to go.

No batteries to replace. A nice, bright light to read by. Easy to turn off. If it falls into my child's bed, it won't burn her up to a crisp.

It works for us!

Smiles in my day:
- Hubs had the day off work, so he was able to rest and try to get rid of his sore throat. He said that he watched movies and played video games all day.
- My friend with the lump in her breast from yesterday went to have things checked out. The doctor didn't seem like it was a problem, found an area in her other breast that needed a bit of help, but he also sent her for a just-in-case mammogram.
- Handing books out to 550 children today. :)
- Having the principal of K-'s school thank me for writing a response to an article written in the local paper about K-'s school being rebuilt in a year. I was surprised that he knew it was me since all I had on the identifier was "Amy."
- Getting to speak to the principal at length and getting to know him a bit more.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tales from the Trenches: Pharmacologically Funky

I tried to ignore it.

I figured that it would go away.

It didn't.

Y'all, my body has ached for weeks. First, I figured it was a PMS problem. That came and went and the problem didn't get resolved. I had picked K- up, all 55 pounds of her, and figured that perhaps I pulled something. But, things kept getting worse.

My rib cage ached.

My back ached.

My hips ached.

My thighs ached.

Then, I started getting weird muscle spasms in odd places-- my jaw, my hip and my ribs. Hmmm. My soft, not yet flappy area between my neck and chin felt weird-- not numb, not tingly, but weird. Understandably, I started to get concerned. Long gone were my plausible excuses of PMS and muscle pulls.

I looked up Lipitor, as I recall hearing that "if you have muscle pain or weakness" statement on the commercials on TV. After looking the Lipitor site up, I decided to give the doctor a call. I made an appointment to see him Monday AM, but in the meantime, I was to stop taking it to see if I felt better.

Thank the Lord in heaven, I feel a lot better.

I went in to speak to Dr. W-. Hubs went with me, since he was at the office for his nurse visit shot anyhow. Turns out that it can be the Lipitor. It could also be a virus that just made everything funky. The general cholesterol blood work was done, as well as blood work testing muscle enzymes. He expects nothing grand to come from the results of the muscle enzyme blood work, but at least he'll have it so he knows. The plan is to take me off of Lipitor and to take nothing until my muscles are fully back to their old selves again. Then, to confirm it was the Lipitor, I have to go back on it again. He said that the 5 or 6 pills that I have left will tell us whether or not the Lipitor was to blame.

Knowing what the answer was going to be prior to asking it, I asked Dr. W- what he thought about non-medicative ways of lowering cholesterol. "FANTASTIC! I'm all for it! However, . . . " He said that "pharmacologically, you can't deny genetics." He said that my LDL is sitting at about 173. Apparently, that's not good. He said that if it was 120, he could consider telling me to give it a shot, but he said that it is of the very smallest chance that it would even work for me. I've tried diet and exercise before to try to lower my cholesterol. I couldn't get the total number down under 220, and I have no idea what my LDL number was. I've always gone by the total number.

Better living through chemistry, right?!

Prayers in my day:
- I have a friend, C-, who confided in me about a lump that she found in her breast this weekend. She found one in her other breast about a year ago, which turned out as nothing. This one feels "completely different. Hard and seems like it is anchored to something." She goes in the morning for an appointment to her doctor.

Smiles in my weekend:
- A borrowed laptop is taking me where I need to go right now. The neighbor upgraded the internet connection that we share and it booted us. Apparently, the fix is just another antennae. So, he and his computer friends are online searching for the best deal for us right now. In the meantime, I'm on a laptop, not used to a laptop and feel like I'm back on roller skates for the first time in 20 some odd years. It is great to finally post, though.
- K-'s seat was moved in class to keep the M- situation a little more controlled. I suspect that K- was moved over M- because of his behavioral problems. It is easier to move K- because I think that it would disrupt the delicate balance that M- might have in the class. K- was fine with it and K- and M- had a good day.
- It is RIF book day at school on Tuesday and I love helping to hand out 550 books to kids. They really get excited about being able to pick a book to take home, read and keep for themselves. It is a fantastic program that I'm so glad we've been able to offer as a school.
- Rachael and Lily got their snow!

Have a great day!