My SIL has several jobs. She always has at least one home based business. I think she has sold Stampin' Up! stuff for years. I believe it is only to support her own habit. She has this large book shelf in her basement that has thousands of dollars in these stamps on it. She was talking about where she was going to have to put the next book shelf because they don't fit anymore.
Point being, I stopped being able to escape buying these items. I made my Christmas cards this year and I liked it. It only cost about $150.00 for less that 50 cards!!!! Well, I didn't have any of the basics. I had to start from scratch. But still... She has a group of ladies that love to get together and they make some cards, eat, and spend money. I was able to benefit from this. I got to be the hostess of the party and I'm sure I reaped more benefit than most parties with three times the number of people there. But what the hell am I doing?? I don't need to take up another expensive hobby! What am I thinking??? I have hundreds of dollars worth of stuff coming and I believe now that I am insane.
I drove down to my SIL house the morning of the party. I had to bring all the food and get it set up before everyone got there. Saturday wasn't a good day for me. My MIL went to this party with me and I gave her a very early time to be ready because she makes you stop every 40 minutes for her to get out "for her legs." I was terribly sick Saturday morning. I woke up and I knew I was in trouble. I hadn't slept much the night before because I was getting all the food put together. I spent 45 minutes in the bathroom being sick. It wasn't just vomiting either. So I was extra worried about the drive. I had to call my husband from the bathroom and tell him to call his mother and tell her I would be late. I do believe that there was nothing left in me to come out so I made the trip just fine.
I was fine for awhile. I made it through the party great and then I got really sick again. I had bad abdominal crapping and I felt terribly, terribly bloated. It almost got so bad that I was ready to go to the hospital. It just seemed like something was not right. I was nauseated but no vomiting. My MIL and SIL dragged me shopping and I thought that was going to kill me.
All in all the trip went well. My MIL got in a pout and acted like a child for awhile on Saturday. I certainly would have liked to have felt better. It was nice to get out of town. I had yesterday and today off and I am glad because after the nonstop business of the funeral, the whole week of work, then cooking and traveling again I needed a break. I have to work now through next week without a break. I am planning a lazy weekend then!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Catching up
Boy, have I been slacking. To start. I got a phone call late on the 13th from my mom that said my grandma wasn't doing very well. (Back story: my grandma has had Alzheimer's disease for years. Her mind was completely gone. She has been unresponsive in any cognitive way for a number of years. Physically however she has been fine. So sadly, there has been nothing to do but wait for her body to catch up to her mind. We had to put Grandma in a nursing home I think nine years ago this past fall. A number of years ago she stopped being able to chew so all of her food had to be pureed and everything had to be made the same consistency for her to be able to swallow. So water or juice had to be made thicker. She had some weight loss at that time and we had some rather heated discussions on what we would do IF her weight loss continued. Mind you, Grandma was gone at this point, just her poor body remained. We had three for no feeding tube, one adamant for a feeding tube and my sister wavered back and forth). So back to the call from my mom. The nurse at the home thought that Grandma had may have had a stroke on the 9th I think. Grandma stopped being able to swallow anything at all. She would just choke. So my mom said Grandma is now dying and they weren't sure she would make it through the night. I don't know what I am supposed to do at this point. Grandma is 650 miles away.
My sister and I talked that night because she was in Nashville and was to fly home on Sunday, but where should she go now? We went to bed and waited for the update on Sunday morning. No change. My sister asks me how long I think it will take. I told her I didn't know for sure but she hadn't had any food or any sort of hydration since the Tuesday before. I said it can't be long. Even though Grandma's requirements were minimal, your body still has needs. People dehydrate so quickly, but not poor Grandma. My sister went there instead. I couldn't go because I would only get three days off of work for the funeral. It would take one day each way for the drive. My sister actually got to my aunt's house (same town as the nursing home) on Monday because of the crappy weather and another aunt got there the same day. They sat and waited. My mom couldn't take the wait any more and drove on Tuesday. (We were supposed to go together). Grandma died mid day Wednesday the 17th and the funeral was on the 20th. I left to start the drive on Wednesday after work. The plan was I would go about 200 - 250 miles and spend the night so my trip wouldn't be so long on Thursday.
I only made it 100 miles. I got hit by a deer. I saw it coming straight at me and there was nothing I could do about it. It slammed into my driver's side door then went along the rear door and back end of my car. I think the damn thing ran off then. Fortunately, the damage wasn't too bad. My side mirror was hanging by its wires though and needed to be removed. I called my father-in-law because he has lots of family in the town I was closet too. I had to drive into town with the window down to hold the mirror so it wasn't slamming into the side of the car. It wasn't 20 degrees out so that sucked. I got into town and parked in a well lit parking lot to assess the damage because I couldn't even see it before. Body damage, nothing functional but my mirror. I didn't know where to go and I called my FIL again and every ten seconds he asked me where are you now? I didn't know where to go and that is why I asked HIM! So I just pulled over into a parking lot at a motel and said you tell me where to go when you get a hold of someone. I sat there and cried. I was so tired, upset, and not feeling well. It was only a little after 6pm and I had wanted to go farther. I picked my head up and looked around. I saw a van parked in the parking lot that I recognized. It was a business vehicle and I know there is only one person that covers the entire area. I called my friend and asked her if her husband was in this town. Sure enough. At least something was going my way. This man was a groomsman in our wedding. I was so relieved to see someone I knew. He cut my mirror off for me and offered to get me a discounted rate at the motel. I wanted to go farther and went to fast food place to eat. I then called my husband (hadn't called him yet because there was nothing he could do - he was on a train in the middle of Wyoming). He flipped out and insisted I stay the night. So I went back to the motel, and did get a good rate by the way.
When I woke up the next morning and threw up of course, I looked outside and saw it had snowed. Great. The first 50 miles was hell but after that it was much better for the rest of the day. I made it to my aunts before dark, but I was so tired. That was the worry because I get so tired and take a nap every afternoon. I did stop for a long lunch or I would have been there sooner but I did need that hour break.
Everything went well. I got to see a lot of family I hadn't seen in years. Almost ten years actually. My Grandma had remarried after my mom's dad had died. This was before I was born and her new husband, who was the ONLY Grandpa I had, had a large family of his own. Two of his kids were still at home when they married and they both lived in my Grandma's house at some point (I don't actually think it was at the same time though). Anyway, I hadn't seen any of this family since my Grandpa died in 1997. It was good. I have been sad that I haven't seen them or been back to the town where my Grandma lived when I was growing up. I spent many, many summers at my Grandma's house and I have a fondness for that town.
My sister and I left after we got everything done after the funeral and drove to Omaha to spend the night on Saturday 20th. The weather was bad that weekend and my sister's flight left early that morning. I wanted to split my drive up again and it would have been a lot farther if I had gone up to my aunt's house and across South Dakota like when I came. So the weather sucked. The roads sucked. I drove from 35-75 miles/hour on the trip. Not very much of it was at 75. The worst part was my last 200 miles of interstate 80. There was so much ice and the wind was blowing very hard. I saw about 100 cars off the road and 22 semis in the ditch on my trip across the entire state of Nebraska. I was so sick the whole trip. I knew this couldn't be good for the baby, but I had to be back at work the next day. I had my first OB appointment too. The trip was horrible and I was so lucky I made it home. The last 40 miles was about the easiest of the trip and I think I cried the whole way.
My sister and I talked that night because she was in Nashville and was to fly home on Sunday, but where should she go now? We went to bed and waited for the update on Sunday morning. No change. My sister asks me how long I think it will take. I told her I didn't know for sure but she hadn't had any food or any sort of hydration since the Tuesday before. I said it can't be long. Even though Grandma's requirements were minimal, your body still has needs. People dehydrate so quickly, but not poor Grandma. My sister went there instead. I couldn't go because I would only get three days off of work for the funeral. It would take one day each way for the drive. My sister actually got to my aunt's house (same town as the nursing home) on Monday because of the crappy weather and another aunt got there the same day. They sat and waited. My mom couldn't take the wait any more and drove on Tuesday. (We were supposed to go together). Grandma died mid day Wednesday the 17th and the funeral was on the 20th. I left to start the drive on Wednesday after work. The plan was I would go about 200 - 250 miles and spend the night so my trip wouldn't be so long on Thursday.
I only made it 100 miles. I got hit by a deer. I saw it coming straight at me and there was nothing I could do about it. It slammed into my driver's side door then went along the rear door and back end of my car. I think the damn thing ran off then. Fortunately, the damage wasn't too bad. My side mirror was hanging by its wires though and needed to be removed. I called my father-in-law because he has lots of family in the town I was closet too. I had to drive into town with the window down to hold the mirror so it wasn't slamming into the side of the car. It wasn't 20 degrees out so that sucked. I got into town and parked in a well lit parking lot to assess the damage because I couldn't even see it before. Body damage, nothing functional but my mirror. I didn't know where to go and I called my FIL again and every ten seconds he asked me where are you now? I didn't know where to go and that is why I asked HIM! So I just pulled over into a parking lot at a motel and said you tell me where to go when you get a hold of someone. I sat there and cried. I was so tired, upset, and not feeling well. It was only a little after 6pm and I had wanted to go farther. I picked my head up and looked around. I saw a van parked in the parking lot that I recognized. It was a business vehicle and I know there is only one person that covers the entire area. I called my friend and asked her if her husband was in this town. Sure enough. At least something was going my way. This man was a groomsman in our wedding. I was so relieved to see someone I knew. He cut my mirror off for me and offered to get me a discounted rate at the motel. I wanted to go farther and went to fast food place to eat. I then called my husband (hadn't called him yet because there was nothing he could do - he was on a train in the middle of Wyoming). He flipped out and insisted I stay the night. So I went back to the motel, and did get a good rate by the way.
When I woke up the next morning and threw up of course, I looked outside and saw it had snowed. Great. The first 50 miles was hell but after that it was much better for the rest of the day. I made it to my aunts before dark, but I was so tired. That was the worry because I get so tired and take a nap every afternoon. I did stop for a long lunch or I would have been there sooner but I did need that hour break.
Everything went well. I got to see a lot of family I hadn't seen in years. Almost ten years actually. My Grandma had remarried after my mom's dad had died. This was before I was born and her new husband, who was the ONLY Grandpa I had, had a large family of his own. Two of his kids were still at home when they married and they both lived in my Grandma's house at some point (I don't actually think it was at the same time though). Anyway, I hadn't seen any of this family since my Grandpa died in 1997. It was good. I have been sad that I haven't seen them or been back to the town where my Grandma lived when I was growing up. I spent many, many summers at my Grandma's house and I have a fondness for that town.
My sister and I left after we got everything done after the funeral and drove to Omaha to spend the night on Saturday 20th. The weather was bad that weekend and my sister's flight left early that morning. I wanted to split my drive up again and it would have been a lot farther if I had gone up to my aunt's house and across South Dakota like when I came. So the weather sucked. The roads sucked. I drove from 35-75 miles/hour on the trip. Not very much of it was at 75. The worst part was my last 200 miles of interstate 80. There was so much ice and the wind was blowing very hard. I saw about 100 cars off the road and 22 semis in the ditch on my trip across the entire state of Nebraska. I was so sick the whole trip. I knew this couldn't be good for the baby, but I had to be back at work the next day. I had my first OB appointment too. The trip was horrible and I was so lucky I made it home. The last 40 miles was about the easiest of the trip and I think I cried the whole way.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Back
Things have not been going all that well in my neck of the woods lately. But I will go into that another time...
We had our first appointment today. We were able to hear the baby's heart beat! That was after they prepared us for reasons we wouldn't hear a healthy baby's heartbeat at just under 10 weeks. So that was exciting. We made an appointment to have our first ultrasound. I'm not sure who is more excited, me or Mike. One of my coworkers gave me a beautiful little book today that had me crying in the waiting room before I went back. She is about my age, but she is done having kids. She keeps nudging me to get into this more, but I have said I'm not ready yet, that it is too soon. I just want to make it safely through the first trimester and then... we will see.
We had our first appointment today. We were able to hear the baby's heart beat! That was after they prepared us for reasons we wouldn't hear a healthy baby's heartbeat at just under 10 weeks. So that was exciting. We made an appointment to have our first ultrasound. I'm not sure who is more excited, me or Mike. One of my coworkers gave me a beautiful little book today that had me crying in the waiting room before I went back. She is about my age, but she is done having kids. She keeps nudging me to get into this more, but I have said I'm not ready yet, that it is too soon. I just want to make it safely through the first trimester and then... we will see.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Here we are
We live in a freaking black hole. We have very few choices when it comes to technology. Cell service? We are helpless with one major company that can treat you as poorly as they would like and then a second, growing company that still has a long way to go to be competitive. Internet? Choices still suck. The services provided are antiquated and terribly over priced. I guess we have something right?? Not this week. We didn't have internet for almost a week.
It doesn't matter. I have been too sick to care. I worked with my OB/GYN yesterday and he asked me how I was and I told him I have been really, REALLY sick. He patted me on my shoulder and said in the gentle voice he has "Remember, this is what you wanted." Did I want to become better acquainted with ever toilet within five minutes of my house (because that is all the farther I will go)? No. I want the end result. I am the first to admit that I am not patient. This is going to drive me nuts.
Last night was rough. I was sick enough to pop some ribs out of place. My back and side have hurt so badly today it has been almost unbearable. (that is what I say now!) My doctor came down today to do an emergency case and I said I NEED pharmacological assistance. Of course, I had to say this in front of my charge nurse and she made some bitchy comment to someone else. I am so tired of being made to feel like I am an awful person. I had to leave my newbie alone today to vomit and I LITERALLY passed eight people that do my exact job doing nothing that could have gone and helped her. None did. Two were nice enough to check on me, but no one volunteered to help.
I sucked it up and finished my day. I apologized to those I work with and made it until the end. Then I went and got my Reglan and for the first time in close to two weeks I am not actively trying not to vomit. I mean I don't have to. Thank God!
It doesn't matter. I have been too sick to care. I worked with my OB/GYN yesterday and he asked me how I was and I told him I have been really, REALLY sick. He patted me on my shoulder and said in the gentle voice he has "Remember, this is what you wanted." Did I want to become better acquainted with ever toilet within five minutes of my house (because that is all the farther I will go)? No. I want the end result. I am the first to admit that I am not patient. This is going to drive me nuts.
Last night was rough. I was sick enough to pop some ribs out of place. My back and side have hurt so badly today it has been almost unbearable. (that is what I say now!) My doctor came down today to do an emergency case and I said I NEED pharmacological assistance. Of course, I had to say this in front of my charge nurse and she made some bitchy comment to someone else. I am so tired of being made to feel like I am an awful person. I had to leave my newbie alone today to vomit and I LITERALLY passed eight people that do my exact job doing nothing that could have gone and helped her. None did. Two were nice enough to check on me, but no one volunteered to help.
I sucked it up and finished my day. I apologized to those I work with and made it until the end. Then I went and got my Reglan and for the first time in close to two weeks I am not actively trying not to vomit. I mean I don't have to. Thank God!
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