Year: 2007

At the end of the day

On Monday, when I realized I still didn’t feel fit to live and was sure the end was near, I called Mimi and essentially threw myself on her mercy and pleaded with her to take Caroline for the night. She is lucky I called first because a part of me just wanted to pack Caroline’s little bag and show up at her door so we could look extra desperate and pitiful.

I live for the drama.

Anyway, she was more than happy to do it and I was more than grateful. I came home, took a hot bath, put on my pajamas and got in bed. It was 5:30.

Had I not felt so sick, it would have been lovely. But even so, it was pretty nice and I woke up this morning feeling like a new person ready to face the world and solid foods again. Except for crispy beef tacos. They are dead to me.

Mimi brought Caroline home around 10:00 a.m. and when I asked what time Caroline had woken up that morning she told me that I didn’t want to know. Seeing as how I knew Bops had left for the airport around 4:45 a.m., I had a pretty good idea. Needless to say, my girl was tired.

We made a much needed trip to the grocery store and then I told her she had to take a nap in her room as opposed to just resting in my bed, otherwise known as letting the television entertain my child so that Mama can take some deep breaths and recover from the morning and enjoy the quietness of the quiet.

She fought me for all of 5 minutes, which means she was about to fall asleep standing up with her lunch hanging out of her mouth. Pretty soon, it was quiet from her room and I knew she must be sound asleep, because if she weren’t, she would be coming out at 3 minute intervals to inform me of all the sounds she was hearing, or all the things she might need in her bed, or that she wasn’t tired AT ALL.

After a 2 hour nap, she woke up and we had a wonderful afternoon. We had snacks, we looked for caterpillars, we practiced letters, played games, and then it was time for me to start getting dinner ready. She asked if she could help me cook and I said sure. She pulled up a stool and I started measuring out spices for her to dump in a bowl. While she was pouring, she stopped, put her arm around my neck, and said, “Oh Mama, we are the bestest buddies!”

I don’t mean to sound like a total sap (too late!) but I got so teary. It seems like this year of being 3 has been tough on both of us. She is so independent, so headstrong, so determined to fight me on everything, but in that moment we were bestest buddies and it made me feel like at the end of the day I must be doing something right. It made me remember how much it means to her when I let go of my OCD tendencies and let her help me do things, and convicted me that I need to do it more often.

After dinner was ready, she helped me set the table and then we all sat down in the dining room as a family, which we hardly ever do, because she usually goes to bed so early due to the non-napping. She was so excited and seemed so big to me as she blessed our food and chatted away at the dinner table about who she likes to hug at school and who she doesn’t like to hug. Then in mid-sentence, she stopped, looked up, and said, “Oh Mama! We have VERY sparkly lights in here! Are these new?”

And it reminded me that so much is still new to her, even simple things like the way the chandelier lights look in the dining room after dark. I don’t want to be so busy getting through these days that I don’t stop to appreciate all the magic they hold for both of us.

She has a measuring stick hanging on the wall in her room and her new favorite thing is for me to measure her “ON THAT SCALE, MAMA!”. At least once a day we have to go in there to see if she’s gotten any bigger and in the last week, she hasn’t.

But it’s just a matter of time.
Girl, put your records on

I feel certain there are only so many times I can tell y’all about my stomach illness before you just click away, while yelling at me to get over it already. So, I will spare you the details, but sufficed to say my stomach bug decided it wasn’t quite ready to leave me and so I spent most of yesterday feeling sick.

And no, I don’t think I’m pregnant…because I know that’s what some of you are starting to think.

I woke up a little while ago and while I don’t exactly feel like a bright ray of sunshine surrounded by happy bunnies, I don’t feel like ripping my stomach out of my body anymore. I keep telling myself that I’m just getting ready for swimsuit season with a steady 4 day diet of 7Up.

So, while I could discuss at length all the various anti-nausea medications I have tried in the last 36 hours, I’d rather ask y’all a question that has nothing to do with being sick or 7Up. What song is your favorite song on your iPod right now? And if you don’t have an iPod, what song would you listen to on your 8 track player?

Oh, I’m kidding. I’m not an iPod snob. In fact, truth be told, I probably wouldn’t even own an iPod if my old company hadn’t given me one as a gift. I’ve never been one to jump on new technology, so I feel certain if I hadn’t been given an iPod that I felt forced to figure out, I would watch iPod commercials while shaking my head and thinking that there’s no way it could ever be better than my Sony Walkman. After all, it had a AM/FM radio AND a cassette player.

Plus, I’m the same girl who told my friend Hite in college that the “whole email thing” will never take off.

Prophecy is obviously not my gift.

Anyway, since Caroline will be taking swim lessons starting next week, I’ll have an hour each day to sit by the pool in solitude and listen to my iPod. My favorite right now is “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani. What are y’all listening to?
Calling for ralph

I spent most of Friday morning filling out health insurance applications, and then in an incredible twist of irony, spent Friday afternoon coming down with a stomach bug. Caroline and I were playing outside Friday afternoon when I began to get the feeling that maybe an alien was trying to escape through my stomach, so I told her I needed to go inside and lay down.

She was all for that. “Okay, Mama. I’ll go get my doctor bag and I’ll take care of you.” And I was all for that plan. So, I went and layed down on my bed while she ran to her playroom to get her medical supplies. After about 5 minutes, which is the time it takes her to dump out every single bin in her playroom while finding what she’s looking for thus ensuring maximum mess potential, she came crawling up into my bed holding her cash register. I said, “I thought you were going to bring your doctor stuff and take care of me” and she replied, “I am, but you need to pay first.”

And with that statement, my morning came full circle.

Since I was only feeling a little queasy at this point, we went ahead with our evening plans to go eat Mexican food with Bops. Once we were in the restaurant, I knew I must be on the verge of death because I was not even tempted to eat one chip. This has never happened before in the history of my existence. I constantly crave Mexican food. I could eat it for every meal of the day and, back in my wilder college days, it was the only real cure for a hangover. I have never in my life faced a stomach trauma that couldn’t be cured with chips and salsa…until Friday.

I began to feel increasingly bad and finally, went to bed around 10:00 hoping to put myself out of my misery. I fell into a deep sleep until I woke up at 1:15 and ran to the bathroom knowing that the moment I had been dreading was upon me. False alarm. So, I spit in the toilet a few times for good measure and headed back to bed.

2:00 a.m. found me running back to the bathroom and this time there was nothing false about it. As I threw up everything I have eaten since 1985, I knew that I had never been this sick before. And it’s safe bet that I won’t be eating crispy, beef tacos for a long time since that’s what I’d had on Thursday night. We violently parted ways around 3:00 in the morning on Saturday.

It was not a pretty breakup.

I finally cleaned myself up and crawled back into bed. P never said a word, so I knew he was either in the deepest sleep known to man or playing possum in fear that I might ask him to come hold my hair for me.

I fell back asleep and woke up to Caroline crawling into bed with us at 6:20 a.m. She snuggled up next to me and said, “Oh Mama, you smell like the throw ups. Did you throw up?” I said, “Yes baby, Mama’s real sick”, and she said, “I wish you would have waked me up so I could see your throw ups.”

I live with sensitive, sympathetic people.

The good news was that P had already planned to take Caroline to the ranch for the day on Saturday, so I was able to spend the day resting and throwing up all by myself, which would have been glorious, except for the throwing up part. I did have a temporary break in my illness that allowed me to go get my haircut because I made a vow to my hair that I would take care of it in sickness and in health and I’m not about to break it. Or maybe that was the vow I made to P. Anyway, although I was a little concerned about possibly getting sick all over the floor of the salon, I was more concerned about the shape my hair was in and decided it was worth the risk.

After my haircut I was feeling better, so I drove to Sonic to treat my poor stomach to a Diet Coke poured over their miraculous, health restoring crushed ice. It was like little drops of heaven until about an hour later when it came back up with the fury of hell.

Obviously, I had overestimated my intestinal fortitude.

So, with Diet Coke literally out the window or, you know, in the toilet, I showered, put on my pajamas, crawled into bed and watched episodes of Oprah, including one with Sarah Jessica Parker’s new fashion line that included some high waisted gray jeans which almost made me throw up again, and then fell asleep for about 3 1/2 hours.

Seriously. Gray jeans. That can’t be good for anybody.

I woke up when Caroline and P walked through the door and managed to get her bathed and into bed with some help from P, and then fell right back asleep. When I finally woke up Sunday morning, I felt at least some semblance of decent again. And by Sunday evening, when I started thinking about eating something fried, I knew the worst had passed.

Thankfully, this experience didn’t require a trip to the doctor or the hospital, because I still haven’t finished filling out those insurance applications, which is an entirely different story that is causing me pain in an entirely different area.
How I’ve spent my weekend

All I have to say right now is stomach illnesses are of the devil.

If I can keep anything down and if I survive, I’ll be back someday.

I have always prided myself on my strong stomach, but this has brought me, literally, to my knees. I have no doubt it would have killed a lesser woman.
I who have nothing

I’m going to be totally honest with y’all. This is one of those posts that I debate whether I should post at all. Not because of any controversial content, but because of the lack of really any content at all. However, due to my OCD, I start to go into withdrawals if I don’t post something. I apologize.

1. One of the highlights of my week this week was when I saw NBC’s fall schedule and realized my prayers have been answered. Friday Night Lights is on the fall schedule for, appropriately, Friday nights at 9:00 central standard time. If I have said it once, I have said it an obsessive amount of times, but it is THE BEST show on television. If y’all haven’t watched it, then I can safely tell you that your enjoyment of life is not all it could be.

But, GOOD NEWS! NBC will start reruns of Season 1 on Sunday, May 27th. Set the DVR and get caught up. It will be like an early Christmas present with a stocking full of chocolate and money.

2. I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I cried like a baby when I watched the series finale of Gilmore Girls. It hasn’t even been very good this year, but it was like saying goodbye to an old friend.

And when I say I cried, I mean I cried like I was afraid my eyes might be puffy the next day. Something tells me that as much as I loved Lorelai and Rory, some PMS might have been partially responsible for the excessive tears. At least I hope so…otherwise, I need to get a life that doesn’t involve being overly attached to fictional characters. There’s a term for people like that, and that term is CRAZY.

3. Grey’s Anatomy…I just don’t know what to say. While last year it was my television BFF, this year it has not been able to compete with Friday Night Lights ( I realize I am obsessed). I thought the season finale was good, but honestly, all the drama is making me a little tired.

I am over Mer and Der. Let’s just move on.

4. This has nothing to do with what has become a T.V. themed post, but last night, P got out of the shower and he called for me to come in the bathroom. I walked in and this is the question that came out of his mouth.

“Did you know there was poop on the bathroom floor?”

Oh, yes. Sure I did. I just figured I’d let it sit there and it would find its way to the toilet eventually. I hated to waste a Viva paper towel picking it up.

And this is why, in real life, Mer and Der would never make it. Because at some point in every mature relationship that leads to marriage and child raising, a time will come when the love of your life asks if you knew there was poop on the bathroom floor.

It just doesn’t make for good T.V.

Let’s be honest, it barely makes for a good blog post.

Y’all have a lovely Friday!
To market, to market to buy a bargain-priced fat hen

Since I am no longer gainfully employed, I have been looking for ways to cut back on our monthly expenses, because the funny thing about not having a job is the paycheck fairies quit direct depositing goodness into your checking account. Who knew? And since we have not only lost a source of income, but acquired a car payment and insurance payments, it is time for a few budget cuts.

I have never been one to live on a budget as my daddy would be quick to tell you. In fact, he received so many overdraft notices from my bank in college letting him know that I had overdrawn my account and they had covered the indiscretion by kindly taking money out of his personal account, that he referred to these notices as love notes. It was just my way of saying hello and really, all the money came from him anyway, so what did it matter whose account it was technically in? It’s semantics.

However, with the realities of adulthood, I learned to be a little wiser about money. However, we have never run our household with a pie wedge budget, although if I could figure out how to pie wedge stuff, I would totally do it. Nothing would make me happier than to have a nice, color coded wedge to help me allot our funds, but I’m afraid it might require math, so I’ll do without.

Anyway, we have figured out a few ways to cut some expenses here and there. Obviously, we let Cata go which means we’ll save a bundle in Grab-its money alone. But what I’m really struggling with is how to save money at the grocery store.

While I was still working, this was a typical trip to the store for me. I’d always start in the produce section and pick up about six avocadoes, never paying attention to the price because you can’t put a price on guacamole. Then, I’d buy a few bags of Sour Patch Kids because they are an essential. Organic chocolate milk in a cute glass bottle with a cow on it? I’ll take two. It’s more than worth the money to see that cute bottle in my fridge.

Then, of course, I had to buy the delicious pre-marinated HEB brand fajita meat, brand name dog food (because when the dogs aren’t busy licking their rear ends they have very discriminating tastes), Viva papertowels, Charmin Ultra better-than-a-bidet toilet paper, Dixie paperplates, Ziploc baggies with the super-patented ultra lock seal of death, Blue Bell ice cream, and oh my goodness, they sell OPI nailpolish at HEB, so I better get at least 2 different colors right now.

I’m also partial to Biolage hair products, Kashi trail mix bars, Ghiradelli chocolate chips, Starbucks ground coffee and making sure I purchase the latest People, US Weekly and InStyle because after all, a girl has to stay current. Needless to say, initially, it was fairly easy to cut back on some things that MAY fall under the category of NOT NECESSARY, although if I were stranded on a desert island, I would totally need the Biolage shampoo and conditioner because nothing damages your hair like salt water and sun.

So, after my initial cutbacks, I was still trying to come up with some other things I could replace with cheaper items. I decided to go with cheap paper towels, which I purchased in bulk. Let’s just say that going from Viva to Brand X is the paper towel equivalent of going from a luxurious spa resort to a camp out on the beach. Hellish and scratchy.

P has now forbidden me to buy cheap paper towels and toilet paper.

My question today is how do y’all save money at the grocery store? Don’t tell me about Costco because, honestly, buying in bulk makes me itch. I already have 600 pounds of elk meat in my freezer and I don’t have enough storage to put an 80 lb. bottle of laundry detergent somewhere. Also, don’t suggest generic peanut butter because that is just sick and wrong.

So, within those parameters, what are you willing to cut costs on and what are the items you absolutely will not sacrifice even if it means your children will go to college on student loans?