Just wondering

Am I falling asleep at my desk because I ate five Cappuccino Meringue cookies or because I've reduced my coffee consumption to 4 cups a day (1/4 decaf)? These cookies are so delicious, like a Tim Horton's Iced Cappuccino in cookie form.

Would it be a bad idea to double up on the cookies and the coffee? Probably.

Latest Donnybrook review = The Fiery Furnaces I'm Going Away.

I traded my plot of land for a plane to anywhere

Henry made it to sleep tonight without choking on his own mucus. I'm sure that's success by any estimation, but I still feel really low.

I tried to work through the trough by actually working. I edged the flower beds and power washed the deck. I procured a dessert for the dinner that Henry and I had to miss. While Lucy and Cary were at our friend's house for dinner Henry ate Lipton chicken noodle soup and I had a Lean Cuisine.

Hope things look up next week.

Am I glad today is almost over!

1. Forgot to set my alarm. Not a great way to start the day.

2. Cary left for a camping trip with his friends today. There's no school for Henry tomorrow, so I'm dreading this particular long weekend more than usual.

3. Henry got off the bus with a hang dog look. Five kids on the bus had been hassling him. One of whom is a repeat offender by anyone's definition. I don't understand why the school doesn't do more to intervene. I just got off the phone with the vice-principal and was told the repeat offender would likely spend two weeks in the front seat, at which point he will resume hassling my son again.

4. I spent the afternoon driving across town to take Henry to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's, but at least I didn't have to stay for the party, or drag Lucy with me.

5. But here's the kicker: I spent two hours on the phone with my insurance company, pharmacy provider, and doctor's office trying to establish whether my insurance covers a medication. All three places told me something different, and the doctor's office would not believe me when I said I had coverage. This has been going on for about a month. I finally got the insurance company to call the doctor's office while I was on the line, and they agree to believe me, but reminded me that "all charges are still my responsibility" if and when the insurer doesn't pay them. Thank god this wasn't a life or death decision because I would be dead by now.

Reasons to be cheerful. One, two, three...

I'm feeling a little better than I did yesterday. But I've really only got two reasons to be cheerful:

First: I found my clip on sunglasses! They had fallen into the reusable shopping bags that I keep in the car and flew out today when I was paying for my groceries. Now if only I can find my health insurance card.

Second: I went to see the cranial sacral therapist and for the first time in about three weeks my back pain is non-existent. I'm a little worried what going to PT will do to my new found equilibrium.

Tomorrow I'm volunteering in Lucy's Spanish class, then I'm off to the dentist and to register Lucy for Kindergarten. Pain and paperwork, here I come!

It's already Sunday afternoon?!

I've slept the weekend away. I've had a terrible cold and have pretty much spent several hours each day completely knocked out. I hope this doesn't lead to insomnia tonight...

Our TiVo impersonators still don't work correctly, nor is the picture good enough for Cary to enjoy football. I don't even care any more, but I wish we had never bought them. TiVo made TV so much better and these things make it an infinite hassle where there is always a new problem to worry about.

I've got a couple new reviews up. I review The Donkeys' Living on the Other Side over at Venus and I review Lightbulbs by Fujiya & Miyagi at Donnybrook.

Ragweed can suck it

I think we are suffering from allergies. Here is the evidence:

1. Henry was a pleasure to be around until last Friday when he suddenly became whiny, impatient, and easily moved to tears. Fun! Benadryl was dispensed.

2. I have that dizzy, nauseous feeling which I can't shake. Beer was dispensed. (Alcohol dries you out, right?)

3. Lucy coughed all through the night and woke up sounding croupy, but it went away quickly. Zyrtec was dispensed.

All of us have been taking our allergies meds right along, so I can only guess that some new plant is in bloom and that plus all the rain is making us feel like crap.

My Takka Takka review finally surfaced on Venus.

Four eyes update

The glasses were much easier on my eyes the next day, so I think everything is fine. I still feel uncomfortable with them on my face all day long, but I'm pretty sure I can get used to that. Now, to look for vintage frames on eBay to make some thrifty RX sunglasses...

The mind-body problem: my version

1. I have the worst migraine in recent memory today. I am convinced if I could just relax it would be better.

2. I want to go to a memorial service on Tuesday but it is in the city of Buffalo and I have a longstanding fear of driving, particularly on highways. Maybe this will get me over it. Hopefully a kind soul will offer me a ride, or I'll do what I usually do -- get my mommy to drive me.

Also, I review CSS's disappointing second record for Venus here.

Books, bubbles, and a headache

1. For whatever reason I woke up at 3 a.m. and could not go back to sleep for two hours. Now I have a migraine. Grr.

2. On the bright side my kids have been entertaining themselves. Yesterday it was "a bubble extravaganza," to quote Henry. Parents, do yourselves a favor and buy a large hoop for bubble blowing and a tray to dip it in. My kids were making these huge bubbles, squealing with delight, and not spilling the containers of bubble stuff everywhere. Now, if I could just bring myself to throw out the rest of the scented bubbles, we would be all set.

3. Anyone been to a Scholastic Customer Appreciation sale? I highly recommend it. Most of the stuff is 50% off. Lucy and I dropped by the one near us today and now my kids are busy with all of the cheap crap I bought them (it's not all books they have craft kits and a few toys too).

Jeff Tweedy's Migraines

The New York Times continues its valiant effort to offer up comments from more famous and interesting migraine sufferers. So considering migraines and music are two of my favorite non-kid topics, I would be remiss if I didn't link to what Jeff Tweedy has to say.

After reading it myself I have two comments. No one has ever offered me Vicodin for my headaches - as he says it worked no better than Imitrex. It completely amazes me that most of his headaches are now treatable with Advil. One thing I have learned by reading these accounts is that we migraineurs are a heterogeneous bunch. Also, I have had headaches two out of the last three days.

Obligatory Henry update: Things seem to be going better. Nowhere to go but up, right? The school psychologist, who appears to be competent and helpful, and somewhat contrite, has gotten involved working with his teacher more directly. We shall see. I am not going to pat anyone on the back just yet.

My favorite Wilco song: Jesus, etc. from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which preceded Tweedy's detox.

Interesting side note - it is now easier for me to post songs than to link to what I am listening to because I can no longer open iTunes without crashing the computer after installing our router and linking to TiVo. Ironically, I can listen to all my music through my TV.

Adding insult to near injury

1. I spent yesterday morning at the park with my kids, catching up with a friend and her little daughter who were visiting from out of town. On our way out, while I was busy rinsing sand out of Lucy's mouth at the restroom sink Henry took it upon himself to pick up the hose that was available to clean up with, and (possibly accidentally) hit a grown man square in the chest with a full stream of water. The man took it better than I did.

2. Over the last two weeks both kids had a cold, which I caught. My symptoms were pretty mild until we returned from Toronto and I woke up Sunday morning with my left eyelid crusted shut. By Monday I decided I had a sinus infection. A quick trip to the doctor confirmed that I did, and I had given myself pinkeye.

3. I went to pick up the prescriptions from Target, and as I was paying for them at 5:02 p.m., the pharmacist realized that the Physician's Assistant had failed to tell me how many times a day to take the eye drops. So I had to wait while they paged my Dr. (the office closed at 5:00). This took 30 additional minutes. My mom had the kids, but I felt bad that I took an even bigger chunk out of her afternoon.

4. I came home to find that our modem had died.

5. This morning Lucy and I set out to replace the modem. After I installed it I still couldn't get reliable internet service. It turns out that we were also experiencing sporadic service outages in my neighborhood. What are the chances. But as I type all seems to be well. Sweet elixir of 1s and 0s, I cannot live without you!

6. Our day was capped off by the sound of shattering glass, just as we were corralling the kids upstairs for bed. It turns out the light bulb above our sink just fell and broke into a million pieces for no apparent reason. Thank god I had finished doing the dishes or it would have fallen directly on my head.

7. Plus I had a piece of writing rejected from a magazine that would have sent me a paycheck. Oh well. At least they cared enough to say they weren't interested.

The Magic Position

I've had a migraine for seven days straight. A new personal best! One of the things that helps when the drugs don't is hanging out in what I've come to refer to as The Magic Position. I stole the name from Patrick Wolf. I don't really like his song, but appropriating for my own purpose amuses me.
The Magic Position's real name is the Static Back position, and I got it out of a book by Pete Egoscue. I would post a picture of what it looks like, but then it wouldn't really be magic anymore, would it?

Patrick Wolf - "The Magic Position"

Gone Wrong Miscellany

1. Kitten Update: Mo has now been officially re-christened Twoey after I admitted to my mom that my dad and I were referring to him as Twoey in private.

2. I have had migraines three out of the last four days. So, not surprisingly I have been extremely distracted by the white noise inside my own head. I now have an appointment with the M.D. neuro as opposed to the P.A. that I usually see since I no longer think that my treatment is going the way I would like. Hopefully by early July I will have some answers. But I will do just about anything to avoid another transfusion and the drugs that followed it. At least now I know.

3. Cary and I spent the weekend trying to buy a grill. Normally such an inane domestic purchase would not be worth blogging about but we are so hopelessly inept, even at shopping for something like a grill, that even though our hand-me-down grill has been broken for a year, and we have been planning to buy a grill for over a month, it still took us more than 24 hours to choose a stupid grill. We have concluded that we like getting household items given to us for free (duh) not just because its cheap but because we have so much trouble making a decision. This is why most of our furniture used to belong to someone else, and some is held together with bungee cords. It's much easier than picking out something new. Thank god they put it together for us.

4. I spent a portion of the afternoon spraying homemade insecticidal soap (rubbing alcohol, dishsoap, and water) on much of my garden because I have a pretty serious four lined plant bug infestation. It is more of an annoyance than anything else, but they were all over my asters, which were struggling as it is. Hopefully they will still bloom this fall.

5. This is the last week of Kindergarten.

Remembering the long weekend

1. After chirpily telling the neuro. that I "hadn't had a single migraine this month," I have basically had one for six days since. The pills have worked, but when it keeps coming back like this it means the headache never really goes away. This is the first old school, pre-medication headache I have had since before they started pumping me full of medicine, and I am not happy about it. I was supposed to be getting off all these pills around, oh yeah, right around now.

2. Nice weather brings out the neighbors. Maybe its good that we have basically nine months of bad weather here in B-lo. On Saturday we had the teenage version of the Michigan militia next door. About 20 teenage boys were suited up to go and play paint ball in the the woods but they looked like a freaking S.W.A.T. team, and I found all of their guns very disturbing, not to mention the sound of the guns firing. Then on Monday, after I had spent two full days putting close to 30 2 cu. ft. bags of mulch on my flower beds I look up to see my next door neighbor planting silk flowers around a tree right next to the road. Wtf! And these are just the nice neighbors that happen to live on either side of me.

3. Cary spent most of the weekend potty training Lucy. She is doing great. She actually woke up dry this morning. The whole process makes me incredibly tense though, so I am glad he is willing to handle it. I just had to take over when he went back to work on Tuesday.

Here are a few pictures from the garden. Warning: None of these flowers are made of silk!


Pic 1. Allium, Clematis, and annual Phlox
Pic 2. Sempervivum in bloom
Pic 3 Perennial Osteospermum

Mother's Little Helpers

1. Went to see the neuro today. I don't get to go off any of my migraine meds yet because, unfortunately, I am still getting headaches. Post-nasal drip, stress, and anemia be damned! So now I am going to up my dosage of one of the little pills, plus take some more iron. I may take some Claritin too, to help with the drippiness. I wanted to take fewer pills after this visit, not more. But hopefully that day is coming. I don't go back until September though, so until then I may need to go by one of those massive day-of-the-week A.M./P.M. pill organizers with an alarm on it to keep everything straight. I feel like a I should get a senior citizen's discount as well.

2. Both kids said things today that made me laugh out loud. First, Henry asked me for a slice of ham when I was making Cary's lunch. Then he said, "Ham is my favorite kind of Turkey, you know." Then when I was waiting for coffee at the drive-thru, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel to a song by the Veils, Lucy said, "Stop dancing mommy! I'm trying to sneeze." That's the kind of help I really need to get through the day.

General Crumminess

1. I was concerned that Lucy's walking pneumonia had returned, but it was just massive constipation. Don't ask me how I confused the two.
2. Henry's folliculitus has returned but I have been to overwhelmed to do anything about it. As long as it doesn't look like chicken pox, nobody gets hurt.
3. A bunny ate portions of one of my favorite new plants and then just left the evidence there, as if the plant wasn't even worth chewing once bitten. OK, Bunny, then why did you keep chewing after the first bite?
4. I bought a replacement corded phone today and learned upon setting it up that the only thing wrong with the "broken" phone was that it wasn't plugged in.
5. The Sabres. Another game tonight. This series is killing me, and everyone else in town. They will seriously need to put Prozac in the water supply if we lose tonight.
6. I went to the doctor today and learned that I am vulnerable to mumps. Hmph.
7. We are supposed to go see Tapes 'n tapes tomorrow but Ticketmaster has still failed to deliver the tickets. Cary has instructed me "not to worry" and to schedule the sitters like we planned. I can't help wondering how we're going to get into the concert.
8. I just read that Violent Femmes are coming back to Thursday in the Square this year either things are getting pretty weak for Gordon Gano and co., or they actually enjoyed that particular gig.

Cutting out, Cutting off, and Coughing it up this weekend at our house

1. Friday night we had dinner at my in-laws. As I was helping the kids put the toys away, or rather putting the toys in spite of the kids, I got a sliver from the bookshelf. It was immediately decided that my father-in-law, who is a physician, would remove it for me. None of this let's just rip it out with an old pair of tweezers when we get home stuff for me! The next thing I know he and I and Lucy are standing in the half bath and he is using a hypodermic needle to poke under the first layer of skin to dislodge the tiny piece of wood while Lucy says, "Mommy touch wood! I watch, I watch!" After the third try he got the thing out, and Lucy cheered "Yay Grandpa" then I needed to sit down and put my head between my knees, while he said to my mother-in-law, "Eh, take her, leh, I think she is going to faint." Fortunately I recovered my level headedness. I was going to need it.

2. Saturday night we had dinner at my parents house because my brother was home for the weekend. Henry scarfed down three or four hot dogs for dinner. At the time I thought this was fine because he had a swimming lesson that day and he is usually starving all day long afterwards. In hindsight, I should have cut him off at two.

Sunday morning he came into my room and woke me up to tell me that he threw up. "Mmm. OK," and rolled over to go back to sleep. He seemed fine and I wasn't too worried. I thought he coughed up mucus and neglected to get a tissue. I could not have been more wrong. Actually, he woke up. Grabbed the blanket that Lumpyhead's mom crocheted for him when he was a baby. Vomited into it. Dropped it onto the floor. Vomited onto his comforter. Dropped that onto the floor. And went back to sleep. His room was vile. He has now received a lecture on the importance of chewing his food before swallowing it. Before I had even washed my face that morning I gathered up the soiled laundry, and tried to remove as much of the nastiness as I could before I washed it. Amazingly, everything came out of the laundry looking completely devoid of what it had just been through. But I may never eat another hot dog again.

3. I am taking Lucy to the doctor this morning for the following undiagnosed conditions: low-grade fever, extended crying, food refusal, croup-like cough, wheezy breathing, repeated nocturnal bowel movements, diaper rash, perpetual indigestion, and vegetable phobia.

UPDATE: Lucy has walking pneumonia, poor thing. According the the Physician's Assistant we saw at the Pediatrician's office today, the diagnosis explains all of her symptoms, except of course the vegetable phobia. So he prescribed an antibiotic, and a probiotic (lactobacillus powder). We will see how this ying-yang regimen works on Lucy's long-suffering system.

Yesterday

1. I made coffee but forgot to put the pot under the coffee maker. By the time I noticed there was coffee everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
2. At that same moment I realized our last two working electrical outlets in the kitchen had given out. Coinicidence? Maybe. Two hours and $200 later all of our outlets worked, so I'm not sure I care..
3. I had also decided it was time to visit the Doctor because my cold had gathered new strength. Diagnosis: Sinus infection.
4. After picking up my amoxicillin RX, I returned home from the Doctor to learn that Henry's birthday cupcakes were expected at school the next day. His teacher isn't fond of advance notice, nor is she flexible (I was worried it was Friday or no b-day party at all Also, I had sent a note in asking what day she wanted to snack on MONDAY but got no answer).

So I decided to scrub my hands thoroughly and go ahead and bake them. Henry had requested red frosting, but at 9:25, when I started to frost them, they were undeniably pink, no matter how much food coloring I used, or how much unprocessed cocoa I snuck into the frosting. On a whim I had purchased star-shaped cup cake cups, that we were going to decorate with tiny M+Ms. Now that I had pink star-shaped cup cakes inspiration struck, and I tried to salvage the pink frosting the only way I could, by turning them into Patrick from Sponge Bob.They are pretty abstract, but Henry liked them. He said, "They look red to me."

The Ca-cough-ony is slowly dying down...

Happy Valentine's Day!
What went wrong today: We got so much snow last night that most of Cary's clients cancelled their appointments. So he was home to go pick up Henry when the school nurse called to say he was in her office after "one of his gagging attacks." At least Lucy and I didn't have to trudge out in the semi-blizzard to collect him.

WWR illness recap:
Henry's coughing/gagging/vomiting continued over the course of the last week. He missed five days of school. Next week is school vacation week. It will be a very long week off. The only thing we have planned is a dual trip to the dentist for both kids. Yay!

Lucy had trouble napping Monday and was up most of the night Monday night, so I was too. She was asleep in our bed for awhile but then it became obvious that Cary wouldn't get enough rest before work, so around 4 am we got up and watched TV. Tuesday was a long day in all senses of the word.

I took her to the doctor and she has a double ear infection. She and Henry are now both on amoxicillin and seem to be improving. I am regaining my voice, which definitely makes parenting easier. I only have to scream "Put that down!" once instead of saying it hoarsely several times, never to be understood.

I am losing count of what went wrong today

1. I have nearly lost my voice.
2. I was supposed to go to dinner and out for drinks with a couple of friends tomorrow night, but that is probably not going to happen since it interferes with my 9:30 bedtime.
3. Henry started complaining of an ear ache last night, just after the doctor's office closed.
4. Henry had to stay home from school again today.
5. Henry has an ear infection.
6. Henry is on his second course of anti-biotics in as many weeks.
7. Henry's teacher sent home his homework via a neighbor in his class. This is standard practice as if he is going to miss so much vital Kindergarten work that he must not fall behind! Included was what she termed a "fun" counting exercise. I have learned from past experience that the woman does not know fun.
8. He was required to count out 100 little somethings (popcorn, macaroni etc.) and put them in a baggie, held by a paper bear.
9. I admit, this was even hard for me. OK, we are both sick, but come on! I would think, was that 28 or 27, and then they would roll away. What a hassle. He can count to 100 without a problem, but when you add keeping track of these little chip thingys, it was not fun at all.
10. Cary is coming home for 15 minutes and then leaving me for the evening to see Leon Redbone.
    
11. I am a little down today.