Cough cough HACK cough wheeze!

Yep, sick as a dog! You wouldn't believe me if I told you...
Friday Daddy calls me at about quarter to five telling me he had just left work and was going to pick up Little Man. We usually do this together after he picks me up, so of course I'm questioning him. Turns out Little Man was running a pretty high fever and the babysitter was concerned. So Daddy goes to get him and picks me up and the boy is burning up! He tells me the sitter gave him some Motrin and that it was actually going down. Going down? It feels like his skin is boiling! "Let's wait and see." Daddy says. It went down. In about fifteen minutes, the boy was running around like he never had the fever.
Great.
Fast forward to 2 a.m when the boy put his foot on my face. It was hot again. What the fuck? More motrin, half a dose because that was all that was left in the bottle. Shit. Shit. Shit. Some crying by the boy who didn't appreciate being woken up and by me because he wouldn't let me take his temp, and he didn't even want me to hold him. Ten minutes, fever was gone. GONE. 6 a.m, hot arm on my face. Remember it was half a dose? I drag myself out of bed put my glasses on, some sweat pants yes, I'm serious and go to 7 Eleven. Now here is where the drama starts. The bottle of Children's Tylenol is marked $4.99. I get to the register and the dude asks me for $7.23. I swipe my card, then stop. It's six in the goddamn morning, I can't think..."The box says $4.99. How do you get $7.23 from that?" He looks at the box where it is clearly labeled $4.99 and says it must be a mistake...but he means from my end because he's still there waiting for me to sign the slip. Oh, hell no, I still have the crust in my eyes and this guy wants to fuck with me. "Listen. It is six in the morning and you can clearly see I am buying medicine for a child. You have FOUR NINETY NINE marked on the box- on all the boxes! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CHARGE ME SEVEN TWENTY THREE FOR THIS." He went to go inspect the other medicine boxes. When I say inspect, I mean he was looking at each and every label to see if I put them there. I wanted to leave, but the closest twenty-four hour pharmacy is two towns away. He came back to the register, did the void and I paid the stupid $4.99 wanting so badly to hurt him. He didn't even apologize. So the boy gets his tylenol and I call the doctor. "Temp at 102.5, no vomiting, no diarrhea...go in at ten? Thank you."
Go to the doctor at ten just to be told I shouldn't have brought him in you're fucking paranoid if he doesn't have any other symptoms then why did you tell me to bring him in??? and just let whatever it is to run its course. I hate doctors.
Thankfully, the kid only needed about one more dose of Tylenol and he was fine.
Then last night I started coughing like an eighty year old man with a 75 year smoking habit. I sound like one when I talk, too.
Fun times, I tell you.

Leaving your car parked?

I work eight hours a day, five days a week in a cool air-conditioned office. My poor car has to sit outside in the hella-hot heat, waiting for the relief of being brought home to be parked away from the direct sunlight. I try to park my car under the one big tree we have outside of my office, but if I'm not the first one here in the morning I don't get the spot. Boo-hoo. So if and when I leave during lunch, I open my car door just to be attacked by the hotter-than-boiling-water heat that has been trapped inside and I have to stand there looking like an idiot, fanning my door trying to get that damn air out. That's with temps here reaching 96, at the most. I can't even imagine what the poor folks in California are going through with their temp reaching 116 or higher!
So there's this thing, Auto Cool Solar Powered Car Fan that helps bring the temps down in your car by up to thirty degrees. Thirty degrees might not sound like a lot, but it is when your indoor car temps are over a hundred degrees during the day. It's a little contraption that hooks right on to your car window and fans the hot air out. It's solar powered, so it doesn't require any batteries and you don't have to plug it into anything. I'm actually thinking I may have to get one because there is no way in hell I'm leaving my car windows open wide while I'm sitting inside my office, not being able to see my car. We're not in suburbia over here!

MELISSA!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Lisa!
Lisa it's your birthday!

I love that song too much.
So. Ms. Melissa, don't think I was going to forget about your birthday, I had to do this today since I'm not gong to be around tomorrow. So have a great birthday!

Maybe I'll be a nurse for the weekend

Wait, I'm the one who NEEDS a nurse.
My friend .K. called me last night to tell me a)that a cousin of Daddy's had his baby. and b) she is frustrated.
a) There are no pics of the baby yet, so I'll have to wait to show you the newest edition of the family.
b)frustrated with what?

Now, remember, my mind is in a fog, I should have gotten that right away.
But I didn't.
So while my son slept, I listened to her complain about her husband .S. not touching her I don't want to hear this shit and that all she wanted was some attention. I made a motion for Daddy to get me off the phone, but he was paying more attention to the pizza he was eating. Thanks, Daddy. I owe you one. Remember this when you want to get off the phone.
So I tried to give her some pointers for some attention getting.
How about getting a babysitter and going out on a date, just the two of you? Get someone not me please I need some sleep! to take baby .K. for a night and go out and reconnect...
How about playing a game? Like Dirty Minds or something.
How about getting dressed up? Like a sexy costume ? Maybe he needs some shock & awe moves put on him...
She seemed to like that idea...except for the whole "I still have baby fat" issue. So what? I still have baby fat and my son is almost two. So I started calling out options: a nurse? Or a waitress? I was trying to give her options so that she could "hide" the baby fat. Buy the right size, and you won't look like a sausage stuffed into a toothpick, and you won't be uncomfortable.
Maybe I'll buy the nurse's uniform for Daddy and he could nurse me back to health?
LOL.
Sorry.
Was it good advice? I mean, given the lack of sleep I'm surviving on right now...

"Coffee" is the only word she knows in English.

I went into Dunkin Doofus this morning, a different one, the one a block away from my job. I went IN and asked for a small caramel iced latte, extra sweet. I added an orange juice to the bill. The price came out pretty low, I mean aren't latte's usually like two and change? Hey, I must have gotten a deal.
I was handed a small iced coffee. Not sweet.
How do you get the word coffee from LATTE?? I was speaking slowly, because I'm dead tired, so it couldn't have been that she mistook CARAMEL for coffee.
I took a sip and threw it out. I guess I'll have to depend on the oj to wake me this morning,
Grrrrr.

**********

I finally got some sleep last night. Little Man and I went to my mother's house to make sure she was alright, took her to the grocery store and then back home. When we were leaving Little Man started to cry bloody murder, he wanted to stay with her. He was fighting the car seat while I was leaving the driveway, trying to get out and run to her. I saw her wiping her eyes watching him do this. He missed her, she missed him. God, I missed her. He cried so hard he was asleep before I got home. I slept more hours last night than the past few nights put together, and when I woke up this morning I realized how exhausted I really am. All the stress from her being in the hospital, the not sleeping, the not eating has caught up to me. I now have a soar throat, my whole body hurts and all i want to do is go home and sleep the day away. But here I am. Hopefully no one fucks with me today.

Going Home

My mother is being discharged as I write this. She has appointments lined up for the next three weeks with all kinds of doctors to run more tests and take all her blood.
I think the doctors were just sick of me chasing them down the hall demanding answers.
And a cup of jello.

So her potassium levels were down to 4.6 which by their account is good. Now, to see if the new antibiotics are going to make her sick.
So a sigh of relief coming from me, and a thank you to those who left comments of concern for her.

Karma and Irony must be sisters.

Let me tell you a story about why I hate the biggest donut chain in the world. (Well, on my side of the world anyway.) Every. Single. Time. I order from there they mess something up. Yes, it's obviously the employees' fault, but I blame the company for hiring incompetant idiots. I'll share the most recent incident:
There is a bagel shop right next to Daddy's job that is HEAVENLY. They make their own bagels, have the best coffee (according to Daddy, I don't do coffee) and the service is great. It's kinda like a Mom & Pop place. They also have their own sandwiches that they've named after people and places in the city. The only bad thing is: they only take cash. I don't like carrying cash on me, but Daddy and I make it a point to have some cash just so we can go there in the morning and get breakfast-on-the-go. So one day, we didn't have cash and the nearest ATM is not so near, so Dunkin Donuts it was. I went through the drive-through and ordered an egg and cheese on a croissant and a medium iced coffee, french vanilla, extra extra for Daddy. I was not hungry. We pay, we get the coffee. We wait TEN MINUTES before they hand us a bag, we peek in, there is something in there wrapped up, must be the sandwich, right? RIGHT? NOOOOOOO. When Daddy reaches in (we're already on the highway) and gets what is supposed to be his sandwich, he pulls out a blueberry bagel. He scrunches up his face and reaches in again. He pulls out veggie cream cheese. I wanted to turn around and give it back to them and ask them what the hell took so long to make the sandwich I NEVER GOT??? (and who eats veggie cream cheese on a blueberry bagel anyway?) I told Daddy that was the last time I was ever going there, never mind that I had said that the last time we had to go there.
Ready for the ironic part?
I got a hundred dollar gift card for the donut chain from hell for my birthday.

Some snippets

I'm going to offer you some snippets from today, because it seems everyone is on a quest to piss me off. Notice I've only been in the office for two hours...I will be adding to this throughout the day. Unless I kill someone. Which will probably end up happening.

**********

The Shitter walks into the office while I'm on the phone with The Other Office. He sees there is a paper on the printer. He makes a beeline for the printer thinking maybe, just maybe the paper is his.

Dude, how many times do I have to stress that you cannot telepathically print shit out from your head. If there is a paper on the printer when you just walked in, chances are IT AIN"T YOURS.

**********

We have a new agent here. I haven't been able to write about her because she is always shoved up my ass. Yes, I know you just came from anther office and you're nervous, but can I breath with out you asking me why I took a breath?

She just came to me to say she had gotten photos e-mailed to her for a property she listed but "I don't want to open the photos, so I am going to forward them to you and we can open them together and we'll see what we will do with them."

OH.

MY.

GOD.

Forward me the photos and I will upload them, I don't need you asking me what I'm doing and why. I know what the fuck i'm doing, I've done it enough times. I've got some good stories about her. I can't wait till she leaves me alone long enough to share them.

**********

A guy walks in asking the price on a house he drove by.

You should have just called the number asshole, because what I'm about to say to you is not going to make you happy. Ready?

"well, the listing agent is the only person who can give you the price on the property, and he's not in the office right now. I can give you his card and you can call him on his cell phone or you can leave your info with me and he can call you back."

He got this look on his face.

I told you you weren't going to be happy.

"I just want to know the price of the house I don't want to waste his time."
Well, you're wasting mine seeing as how now I have to repeat everything I just told you.

So I repeat what I just said.

He got pissed and left.

Why is it that people can't understand that the law in this state does not allow me to give anyone the price on a house? I don't even know why! I just know that's the way it is! Don't get all pissy with me, i didn't make the rules!

**********

New Agent: (I really have to come up with a nickname for her)"Can you teach me how to use the microwave?

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!

So you're looking for a Realtor, huh?

This woman called the office while I was busily typing away the meme I just posted. She is getting a personal post from me because she had to have been the stupidest person to call here in a long time.
Her: "Is The Shitter in the office?"
Me: "No he is not, would you like to leave him a voicemail?"
Her: "Well, can I have his cell phone number, I would really like to speak to him."
Side note: The Shitter does not allow me to give his cell phone number to anyone who calls, he would rather be the one giving his number out. So...
Me: "Well, if you left him a voicemail he could call you right back as soon as he gets the message."
Her: "Well, I just saw an advertisment for his Realtor services on my home thing and I wanted to talk to him."
My home thing? What home thing? A magazine? A post card?
Me: "Well, as I said he is not in the office right now-"
Her: "Listen- he is advertised on Myhomething.com and I want to speak to him."
Oh! That's a website! You couldn't just say that? Why didn't he tell me he was advertising there so I could be aware of the phonecalls that would come in for him?
Me: "ma'am, I do apologize, but he has not gotten into the office yet-"
Her: "Well, why is he advertising if he's not going to be in the office? I mean, I saw his page on the site saying how he can help me find a home and he's in my area...now he's not around."
This lady is crazy. Are agents only supposed to advertise during the hours they are in the office? They would never be able to advertise, half of them work from home!
Me: "would you like to try calling him in about an hour? He might be in the office then."
Her: "hmph. I thought I could speak to him. The advertising he has says he can help me with finding a home, home improvements and financing for those things. I guess I'll call back later."
click.
I swear...

It only took me like two months...

...but I did it. Zach and Brie's mom had tagged me ages ago...


I WANT: to go home.
I WISH: I could take a vacation.
I HATE: the way people drive in this state. Ugh.
I MISS: sleep.
I FEAR: death.
I HEAR: the non-stop hum of the AC in my office.
I WONDER: what's next?
I REGRET: NOTHING.
I AM NOT: the one to get nasty with when you call my office pissed at someone else. (just happened) (bitch)
I DANCE: with my son. To Elmo's Song. And the Bear Cha-cha-cha.
I SING: in my car so I won't damage anyone's ears.
I CRY: when it becomes tooooo much.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: bitchy. Though it seems that way.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: lots and lots of good food. I looooove cooking.
I WRITE: a blog. And lots of letters for my bossman.
I CONFUSE: everyone with my crazy train of thought that goes in five different directions at once.
I NEED: a stiff drink.
I SHOULD: be working...but I don't wanna!
I START: my day AFTER I smother my son with kisses.
I FINISH: my day smothering my son in kisses.

I'm going to see if Jay and Dennis want to play along...let's give the Daddies a minute in the spotlight...

wait and wait and wait

Last night her potassium levels went down. They had to pump her stomach and give her like four bottles (no lie) of laxatives to get THE ANTIBIOTICS out of her system. Yes, the antibiotics they sent her home with after the ordeal with her arm MADE HER SICK. So now she is connected to an IV once again, with more antibiotics (different ones) and we have to wait. The potassium levels were up again this morning, so we have to wait for them to go down. And then from there they have to determine what the hell is going on, which means more waiting. She sounded better when I spoke to her, she said her tongue didn't feel heavy anymore and she was hungry. (I would be too if they pumped my stomach and then made me drink four bottles of laxatives. Shit.)
So that's it.
We just wait.

What NOW???

My mother just called me.
"I went to the doctor again because I had a funny taste in my mouth that wouldn't go away. They tested my urine and now I have to go to the ER again. I think they found protein, but they won't say yet."
She only has one kidney.
So if this one fails her, then what?
Can I give her one of mine?

**Edited to add- I just talked to her. It's 4 p.m, she is still waiting in the ER for her docs to attend to her. (I hate ER's, you could die waiting in a chair and they don't give a shit.) Anyway, she told me they said something about her pottasium levels being too high, which is bad for the kidneys. After more tests I'm sure she is going to end up on another IV. Thank you for your well-wishes. I would totally give her one of my kidneys if we matched up, if it came to that. Will update as soon as I hear something.

For Jen

Everyone go and wish Jen a happy birthday, it's her Golden Birthday, 24 on the 24th!
Here, I have a song for you Jen, watch as I get it stuck in everyone's head...
Does everyone remember the Simpsons episode where "Michael Jackson"* was in the looney bin with Homer? It's an old episode. Anyway they got "Michael Jackson" to sing Happy Birthday to Lisa? (Hope you don't mind being called Jenny! It goes with the song!)

Jenny, it's your birthday
Happy Birthday Jenny!
Jenny, it's your birthday,
Happy Birthday Jenny...

*Michael is in quotes because it turned out it was just someone impersonating him...and that was why he was in the looney bin...am I the only one who remembers this episode?

Tomorrow

Phew-

So he's got a bite...not a mosquito bite, but a bite. (Maybe the stupid ants that are in my house?) Anyway, we didn't get to see his doctor, but the Nurse Practitioner says that the bite has a secondary infection so he was put on 14 days of antibiotics and I have to give him a bath with baking soda twice a day.
At least we're not in the hospital.
So thank you guys for thoughts, prayers, and rain dances. I'm not usually a paranoid person, but like I said he is my life. If anything were to happen to him...
Anyhoo-back to normal. Maybe I'll have some Fun Friday Stuff today, it looks like it's going to be a slow day in the office.

I still have questions...

My mother is home. (YAY!)
BUT! What they have said about this leaves me with more questions...
They say she had a staph infection. I've been reading up on it, and I can't find anywhere that says that a mosquito bite can cause this. So maybe it wasn't a mosquito?
I don't know.
Here is the kicker-today I'm bringing Little Man to his doctor's office. He has developed these little bumps that LOOK like mosquito bites on his back (but under his diaper area, can you picture where I'm saying? I took a picture but it shows his ass and I don't think I want to post his ass here.) and they hurt to the touch. Now I'm shitting myself because if he has this same infection, there will be hospitalization. I'm not afraid of hospitals, I'm just afraid of anything happening to my son.
So I will be leaving my office at noon to go and bring my baby in and hopefully it isn't anything serious, and if it is, well, wish us well. Pray for us. Do a rain dance. Anything. He is my life.

Want some free grant money?

I have been thinking about going back to school for some time now. I only have a semester in college under my belt, because during that semester my old job said "Hey, we're going to give you a hefty raise and let you wear jeans to work but you have to come work full time." And I said okay. And then a year later the stupid store closed and I was left hanging in the air not knowing what the hell to do.
So I have been thinking about what I want to do, except I don't have any money. My mother works for the state college here, and they can give me some assistance, but that assistance doesn't cover books and lab classes and many extras, and I don't see myself using my rent money for that.
So my mother tells me about this web site she has heard some students use: http://www.FreeGrantSearch.com'>Freegrantsearch.com. From what I saw when I looked at the site, they provide you with free grant money that you won't have to pay back. I didn't think she was serious, but I looked around and saw some grants that they offer, like $20,000 for a down payment on a house for first time buyers. Who doesn't want to own their own house? And not have to wait ten years to save the $20K? They offer money that you can use for anything, whether it be renovating your house, starting a business or going back to school. So my homework assignment is to go on a mission to find out how much I can get so that I can go back to school so when Little Man comes to ask me for help with his homework I don't have to sit there with a blank look on my face. I mean, I like giving my Famous Blank Stare, but only when people ask me stupid questions...

Who says we never make the news?

Last night Daddy, Little Man and I went out to eat with a friend of ours. Driving back home one of Daddy's cousins calls us to tell us he was stuck on the highway. Apparently thunderstorms broke out in our city (we were in another at the time) and the highway he was on was blocked by fallen trees.
Me: "Are you kidding me? When did the storms start?"
Cousin: "Just a few minutes ago, but the lightning is striking non-stop and everything is getting hit. I can't even see in front of me, the rain is so thick."
Me: "Well, it's not raining here yet, but we're heading into the city now so obviously we're going to hit the storms."
More like the storms are going to hit us...and HARD.
We were on the highway and Daddy commented on something orange in the distance.
Friend: "Something's probably on fire."
We didn't know how right he was until we got home and I turn the t.v on to see this on the news.
That was some scary shit. I was following the story until the t.v ended up getting knocked off the signal.
Thankfully, no one was injured.

Atco

Alternate Title: The Day I Almost Passed Out From Dehydration, Stress, and Missing My Baby Too Much.

I will have to write this in bullets because way too much happened and you would be reading for hours.

• Most disappointing thing first: I didn't get to eat my White Castle.
• We got on the highway at 2 a.m, should have arrived at Atco by 8, the latest. We arrived at NOON. TEN FUCKING HOURS TO GET THERE. Because we got lost. Because one of the cars in our three-car group blew a tire. Because another car in our group decided to just stop working. We dropped the car off at my friends house in Connecticut (fate broke the car down right at her exit) and squeezed the three fat guys into the other two cars. Fun. Smelly. HOT.
• As I said, we arrived at noon. At 11:30 my mother left me a voicemail that she was being admitted into the hospital, did I have anyone else that could take the baby? Call my SIL, she says she will take the baby as soon as she got out of church. My mother leaves Little Man with her friend until SIL can get him.
• Start worrying about my mother. Consider getting dropped off at the nearest train or bus station and go the fuck home.
• There was no phone service in the track. I kept having to go outside to call my mother, SIL, and to check messages that they might have left.
• Watch a few races.
• Drink a bottle of water without stopping. 16 oz in one sip, gotta be a record.
• Two hours later notice that my SIL has not called, or left messages. Consider hiring a hitman to kill her for being an idiot. If you couldn't pick Little Man up, you should have just told me, not just stopped answering your phone. I told you where I was, I told you what was happening, have some fucking consideration. I could have used this time to find someone else to go get him. And don't ask me for any more fucking favors. As a matter of fact don't fucking call me, I won't answer. (Mind you, today is Tuesday, we still haven't heard from her. But as soon as she needs something she will call and expect us to jump for her. Fuck her. I hate his family.)
• Consider the bus/train again.
• Call his regular babysitter who is more than willing to take him, and I know he will be good to her. Sigh of relief. At least my son is in good hands.
• Watch a few more races.
• Leave the track to call my mother for the 40th time. She is still connected to tubes.
• Drink a Gatorade in one sip.
• Feel faint, go sit on the stands using the shade of the people around me to get away from the sun.
• See lots of dress dont's, want to take pictures but the stupid camera is, well, STUPID. Got no pictures. Of anything.
• I put about five pounds of sunblock on the whole time I was there, and still felt like my skin was sizzling. Maybe this trip was a bad idea? Consider the bus/train again.
• Feeling really faint, eat a burger (blech!) and drink two more bottles of water. Notice how I have not mentioned once that I went to the bathroom? My body was not trying to let go of any fluids for fear of turning to dust.
• Leave the track to talk to my mother and the doctor. They keep stressing she's fine. Then why is she IN THE HOSPITAL IF SHE"S FINE????????
• We left about 4:30-5 p.m I call the babysitter "I should be home by ten or eleven, I'll go and pick him up as soon as I get there." Have I not learned that I jinx myself when I say things like that???
• We are now down to one car- the one Daddy and I were in- which is actually a minivan, packed like sardines because the other car load of people decided to leave earlier.
• We are on the correct highway this time and hope to get home ASAP.
• We hit traffic in NY. Surprise, surprise.
• THREE HOURS WORTH OF TRAFFIC.
• We take the detour to my friend's house in CT to get the other car started and get it home. The boys tinker with it while I sit on the steps with my friend's dad and chat. (My friend was stuck in the NY traffic I just got out of coming back from Six Flags with her kids.)
• The car gets running, though it is smoking A LOT, but who cares? Let's GO!
• The driver of the minivan starts getting sleepy. I think he fell asleep a few times and I was yelling at him to either wake up or pull the fuck over before I throw my sneakers at him.
• I was serious.
• He went over the ridges they have on the side of the highway (to wake up sleeping drivers!) TWICE, and finally pulled over to let someone else drive.
• We get pulled over by the cops because of the smoking car.
• We finally got home at FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. My son stayed at the sitter's and we went home to sleep for two hours before having to get up to go to work. That made the trip home twelve hours.
• I don't think I'm ever going to Atco again.

That was the trip. I didn't have fun because I was thinking about my mom the whole time. But the races that I got to see were great. Puerto Rico beat the US 8-0, all of PR's cars were breaking seven seconds on the quarter mile. US didn't get under eight seconds. I will have an update on my mom tomorrow because when I went to see her yesterday the Dr. wasn't around. I should be able to talk to him tonight.

They are on the move

There is a married couple that works here (worked? They are leaving now...) that would usually work out of their home. They were really nice and never did anything to piss me off, which is why you've never read about them. They just gave my boss their notice and came into the office to start tying up loose ends. They were an interesting couple, always finishing each other's sentences, it was like they WERE one person and not just in the married sense. This move seemed kind of sudden to me so I asked them if something was wrong. They started to tell me about complaints that some of their clients had about their office being located in {my city} instead of {their city}. How can people complain about that they work from their home anyway? It's not like they ever tell clients to meet them in our office, they always meet them in their (the clients) home, and if that's not convenient I don't know what is. Really, people will find absolutely anything to complain about. So they told me they made a "business decision" to 1)Open up their own office and 2)Have the office in {thier city} so the clients won't complain.
They told me that since they needed an office space sooner rather than later they went to Offices2share.com and got a nice office space until they found something more permanent. In case that link doesn't work here is the picture of the building they are going to: Nice, eh? I'm not such a big fan of big office buildings like that, but they showed me pictures of what it looks like inside (they had those, I got this one off the website) and it's niiiiice. (Actually, the website itself is really cool. If you are making a move to another state you can browse the different spaces they have available without having to travel and search. They provide you with the pictures, like the one I have, so you can see the area and the building. They also give you all the contact information so you can call to ask any questions you may have.)
So two (or one? since they are the same person...) of the agents that I like here are going away. I wished them well, of course. It was a business decision on their part and my boss understood.
I will miss them. They were funny, I liked when they came in.
So long Mr. and Mrs. OnePerson, come visit me sometime, 'kay?

Before I write about the races-

I want to say I'm afraid.
My mother is in the hospital.
It's not even such a big deal, because we know she is going to be fine...but I'm still afraid.
My mother is diabetic. She got bit by a mosquito at my cousin's wedding, she thought she had killed it before it got to bite her, but I guess the stupid thing had already started feasting. Obviously it got a little swollen, but then on Monday she told me it was still getting a little bigger. Mom, what are you talking about, you're probably scratching it too hard. Don't scratch it.
I always have to minimize my mother's reaction to things by 75% because she has a tendency to exaggerate things a bit much. So on Friday when she told me it looks like it's infected and she was going to get it checked out by the nurse in her building I felt like the biggest ass ever. Why didn't I just tell her to get it checked out sooner? So imagine how I felt when the nurse told her she had to go to the ER to get it drained and cleaned, because IT WAS infected. Just stamp Super Asshole on my forehead. I took her to emergency on Friday after work and she told me she was in pain after the procedure. (They opened it, drained it, cleaned it, put two stitches to close it back up, and bandaged her arm. Diabetes= NO OPEN WOUNDS.) She was sent home with a script for antibiotics and a re-check on Sunday.
She went yesterday to get it re-checked and it was infected again. So they admitted her into the hospital and have her on IV antibiotics.
So yesterday while at the races I was freaking out because I was SEVEN hours away when she called to tell me but she said "Don't worry. Don't come back here, I will call you to keep you updated." But you're my mother, and you're in the hospital and I'm so far...
As of this morning she is still on IV antibiotics and they are still keeping her for observation. They might have to open it again, but they still haven't.
Now, what I'm afraid of is this whole my mom is sick thing. She has her diabetes under control, she eats well and never has problems with it so it's not like a big deal. But I see others-like one of my aunts who has recently had one of her legs cut at the knee because of gangrene...the father of a friend who is now almost fully blind...and I can't help but think will this be my mother? Will she get that sick?
*sigh*
Just thoughts. I just called her and she was watching talk shows and waiting for them to serve lunch. Waiting for them to decide how to go about treating this in the least invasive way possible...

Sometimes you can't find the right words...

I was perusing the internet for quotes on Saturday (instead of blogging! THE HORROR!) in need of something wonderful to put in a friend's birthday card. (Just saying Happy Birthday is not enough!) I haven't seen her in a few years (as is the case with most of my old friends. But this one had moved to Oregon to live with her boyfriend, so it's not like I just stopped calling...anyway...) Now, I should go into some kind of agreement with Google, because they are the most wonderful search engine, they should pay me to advertise for them...
Back to the point, I found this website called Online Discount Mart where they have a huge selection of quotes that you can use for greeting cards, speeches, to use to make inscriptions on gifts...and I started reading their quotes...and I couldn't decide which one to use for her card because I liked so many. (I ended up using "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake." ~Bob Hope. Hehehe)
Being the sap that I am I started reading the Love Quotes, thinking maybe I can get Daddy a nice card "just because"... and I'm going to share the quote I'm going to use for his "just because" card. Are you ready?
"Grow old with me. The best is yet to be."~Robert Browning.
Sappy Sigh.
I love it, what do you think?
Yeah, I'm a dork! I will be the first to admit it.

How about I sleep in your crib...

What I am about to show you should come as a warning to new mommies thinking about co-sleeping. Note: I'm not bashing it, if you like it good for you, but I'm not for it. I'm forced into it. By my son. He is a dictator-in-the-making.
See, I would be all for co-sleeping if he would stay in the position he fell asleep in...all night. But he doesn't.
Last night he fell asleep later than usual, but still on his own. He no longer wants to cuddle with Mommy, he doesn't want Mommy patting his butt, he doesn't want Mommy even laying next to him. Daddy is allowed to lay next to him but there are restrictions. This is how he looked about five minutes after he fell asleep: Notice how he strategically placed himself in the dead-center of the bed preventing any chance of Mommy and Daddy even touching. Mommy and Daddy have to lean over him to kiss good-night. (yeah we do that, sappy I know. Leave me alone.) Daddy went off to shower and Mommy laid down, feeling so tired her eyes may have closed the second her head touched the pillow.
Let me remind you that he moves. A LOT.
Here is the photo of what Mommy and Daddy's bed looked like this morning before Little Man woke up: He somehow totally kicked (well, pushed, because kicking would require feet, right?)Mommy all the way to the wall leaving minimal moving space causing discomfort in her back region. (I have woken up many times at the very foot of the bed...) He also managed to get THE FITTED SHEET off the mattress. He has one foot in Daddy's armpit and one resting on Daddy's chest.
This is a Queen sized mattress.
We have officially decided to put him in his crib tonight since we can risk the loss of sleep because neither one of us works tomorrow. I will report on that come Monday. Wish us luck.

*I also wanted to point out Daddy's elbow in the picture. See how dark he is, my cinnamon-colored wonder? Now I'm not dark, but I'm not light either. (My joke is that I'm fish-belly yellow. Go ahead, laugh it up.) Our son is white. You've seen the pictures... He has the same skin tone my mother does...the point is that we get the funniest looks when we go out together, people never think he is our child. We are a mis-matched family.* Okay, back to wishing us luck...

Let's go racing again

Pack your bags and take the weekend off with me...
HA! I wish I was going the whole weekend. I wish we were renting a hotel room and packing my Little Man up and going. Instead we are dropping Little Man off at my mother's Saturday night and leaving for Atco at about 3 a.m.
More racing!
And there is a competition between Puerto Rico and US for the championship! (Can I spoil it by telling you that the US never wins? PR usually has the fastest race times...
Here...some good news...are you ready???
*whispering* We get to eat at White Castle. Atco Raceway is in Atco, New Jersey....and I already did a google search, there is a White Castle not too far from the track...so Tuesday Girl, you don't have to worry about shipping them out. I get to satisfy my craving by actually going myself and saving us both shipping costs.
Hopefully this time I can take pics and post them here. (Left my camera when we went to the last races in NH, did I mention that?)
Whatever...let's go racing!

Fashion...?

Kristen over at Mommy Does It All just wrote about what people are calling fashion these days. Seriously, she hit the nail on the head when she said that these "fashion designers" are making clothes for the anorexic-looking models, instead of shapely women.
I CANNOT WEAR SKINNY JEANS! I've got thighs, and an ASS!
I CANNOT WEAR LEGGINGS! Even under a skirt or dress. (I really am not a big fan of that look to begin with...make up your damn mind!)
She asked if we would be wearing leg-warmers and hammer pants again, too? Really, how long before someone thinks it's a good idea...
But wait, I had to add...what about tight-rolled jeans?

Have you heard anything?

The mailman just came to pick up the mail from the mailbox right outside my office wearing rubber gloves. The last time I saw a mailman wearing rubber gloves was when we were having the Anthrax scare. Is there sometihng we should know about?

Oh the possibilities!

I was talking with my girl Supermom in NY, okay not talking but e-mailing...whatever...and she asked me what I would do if I won the lottery. She mentioned this new show on NBC "Windfall".
It's about some twenty people that won the lottery and the different reactions they had and different ways they decided to spend the money. I couldn't even begin to answer. So we decided to ask everyone: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY? Fun part: either answer in the comments or post it on your page and link back to us in the comments so we can all read each other's answers.
My answer: First off- I would pay off all my credit cards that went to hell the day I got fired for being pregnant. I would buy my mother and sister a house and a brand new car for each of them. I would buy Daddy, Little Man and me a new house as well. I would take care of my mother's and sister's credit issues. I would donate money to the Cancer Society and the AIDS Foundation because these are two issues we need to help with on a regular basis. I probably wouldn't have any money left after that.
I'm writing on my calendar to watch that show tomorrow night, because it sounds it will be an interesting watch. (If anyone has seen the show, let me know-is it good? Are you hooked?) I hear Luke Perry is on it, and I don't know about you ladies but I had a huuuuuge crush on him in 90210. I think I was drawn to the Bad Boy image he portrayed. (Lynanne-there goes one of my celebrity crushes you were talking about the other day!) If anyone else would like to join me in watching the show tomorrow night, let me know. We can probably discuss it here.
Do you guys see how much I've been posting today? Can you tell the office is dead today? I know you guys don't mind...especially if you're on the East Coast with this crappy weather we're having today.

D'Oh!

Blonde Moment Number 1,936,964: I left my purse at work yesterday.*
This morning I realized my car was in the red zone in need of gas. Hmmm...I found TWO DOLLARS in my ashtray (or should I call it my change tray?) and a bunch of pennies. I have to get Daddy to work and Little Man to my sister's house and then bring my self to work...

Took Daddy to work, still in the red zone. Stopped at the gas station next to his job, got my two bucks and Little Man out of the car. Get to the counter and ask the guy if he wants to laugh. He smiles. I hand him the two dollars and tell him about my purse. "This should get me to the sitters and to work, right?" He smiles again and nods. I sigh. Picture how much my needle moved putting two dollars worth of gas when a gallon costs $3.05 at that station...

Hell, I made it to work.

*I am the keeper of the money in this family. Daddy would spend it on car stuff and car magazines. So I'm "The Responsible One" when it comes to our money, our debit card, our checks...you know I'm not going to hear the end of this one, right? LOL. Oops.

Hmmmmm, White Castle...

(say the title like Homer Simpson...drooling and all, that's how I'm saying it!)
Can I tell you how much I looooove our friends .K. and .S. right now? .K.'s family is originally from New Jersey (shout out to Latteman! And Tuesday Girl!) so she and her husband .S. took their 6 month old son for a visit with her family back home. They were gone for five days, and they made sure to call us to make us jealous of all the fun they were having. The reason that I love them so much right now is that when they came home last night they brought me and Daddy a bagful White Castle burgers. Some of you may be saying " Big deal, a bag full of burgers..."
You don't understand.
They are WHITE CASTLE BURGERS (aka Slyders.)
Tiny little burgers (they kind of look like bar burgers) that are just sooooo good. I don't even know what it is about them that is so addicting, but they are. Daddy and I both used to live in NYC when we were kids (no, we didn't know each other) and we at least could get to a White Castle to get some, but now that we live here (five miles off the edge of the Earth where there is No White Castle) we miss those tiny burgers. I did find them in the supermarket...but they sell six in a box for like $4 and you have to microwave them, it just isn't the same. They are sold at the restaurant for $0.59!!!
I'm going to have to add that place as one of the reasons I should go back to NYC.
Sigh.

Are you ready for a list?

Here is a list for you: Things The Shitter Does. (Besides Shit)*

• He calls at 9 a.m, 12:00 p.m, 12:30 p.m, and 4:55 p.m "to check his messages". For the past two weeks our back line (which the agents use to check their messages so as not to call me fifteen times a day) has not been working. The calls were okay, until the line was fixed. I started noticing the times he was calling and I came to realize he is checking up on me.
• When he comes to my desk "to get an envelope" or "use my stapler" (he has one on his own desk) he is peering at my computer screen to see what I'm doing.
• He walks up to my desk when I am on the phone to listen to my conversation. (Thank goodness I don't make personal phone calls here, or he'd be all up in my business.)
• If I leave the office to go to lunch he chases me down the hall to ask me when I'll be returning. He never gives me any work to do- why ask?
• If he hears our door open he runs to the front to see who it is. Literally, he RUNS. Which doesn't matter, because if he's not the agent on the calendar, he doesn't get the client. Period.
• I think he looks through the papers on my desk. I have a way of leaving my desk so I will always notice if someone has been touching anything, and I've been noticing things are different when I come in the next morning.

*I am making this list to show how annoying he is. Because really, my own BOSS-who signs my paychecks- doesn't do this stuff. More will be added. I just wanted to get some of this out before I snap at him.

How about...

Things that dont belong in the washing machine? A sister story to my toilet stories...
Momisnutz-we should talk about making a separate blog for these things!

Remember when I asked about ads?

Well, Supermom from Snow White had told me to check out a few sites she uses to generate some money. One of the sites she told me about was payperpost.com. Now, I haven't tried them yet, but she told me she was making some money so I signed up for it. What can I lose, right? Their requirements are:

• that you are at least 18 (we have established that I am over 18, not by much, but I am.)
• Your blog has to be at least 90 days old. (Mine is about 240 but who's counting?)
• You have to have a paypal account. (Daddy has ordered from e-bay. We're good.)

You choose which product or service you want to blog about, and they let you know what is required. They provide you with hyperlinks to put on your page, as well as photos of whatever you might be blogging about. And they pay you. So you can save money (because you know I'm always saying we don't have any.) or have extra money. Or pay some bills. So I'm going to do it. I'm going to blog for money. I'm not a big-dog like some other bloggers out there, but I would like to have some money saved up in case of an emergency or something. You never know.

This is a good opportunity for anyone who would like a little money for doing what they do anyway...BLOG! The vendors on the site are not only looking for positive feedback, they want honesty.

I already told Supermom (in NY) that I would let her know how it turns out, and if you guys try it, let me know.

Will you guys still love me?