Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Long Memorial Weekend Working

We planned on putting together a BBQ party on Saturday and relax drink eat and enjoy our friends and neighbors.. No one around here likes to leave the neighborhood on Memorial weekend... Way to many accidents from the tourists who don't' know how to drive where they not use to... So I always like to throw something together. I did lots of preparations on Thursday & Friday. Besides, cleaning house, laundry, cooking what I could ahead of time, shopping, using neighbors fridges for stuff.. made 100s of Jello shots of the adults and virgins ones for the kids.



First I had to finish laying patio bricks, about 75 of them!! woooo is that some hard work digging in the ground and making them level... I think I did a fine job too if I say so myself!! Seriously I was commented on them by several people men included!!

here's more of them...

Then I bought my DH a grill of all grills for the deck! It's a combo birthday (next week), anniversary (last month)& Fathers Day present Besides the beautiful stainless steel it has 5 burners, ceramic grill top, if you look closely a bottle opener to the left, and check this out

inside a light and built in smoke box to the left

a condiment holder


the accessories that came with it too the ice bucket or trash can & the complete deluxe rotisserie kit!! All fit under the cabinet which also has a shelf on the inside door and hanging things.. Woohoo also has a couple spare outlets in the back as well.... check out the BBQ turner spatula..... I had to get that for the new grill from Pampered Chef of course... It's a defiantly must have to anyone who like to BBQ.. It has a beveled front edge, serrated side edge, piercing corner, a bottle opener and also comes with a protective cover... They sell for $15.50 plus shipping if anyone is interested in one let me know....DH loved it!

then of course spread lawn seed, feed & weed killer, then more seed. Then I had to spray some caterpillar stuff and then the ant, spiders and whatever other bug killer stuff as well. I HATE bugs this time of year, the town sprays everywhere but our area, one because we to close to the ocean.
Then to top it all off sprayed rosemary essential oil over the entire yard, house, fence, drive & walk ways too..
a great mosquito killer from what I've learned I also like to add a touch of peppermint oil with it, together the yard and outside of the house smell as good as inside...heeheee

then back to Home depot for plants and lights. I need to paint my statue when I get the energy and patience too


DH bought me a fire pit too.


Everyone had a good time! No one left hungry thats for sure..

Sunday we drove up to New Hampshire to see a cousin of ours we use to go camping with, they had bought a million dollar home. Absolutely Gorgeous!! Had lots of fun in the heated pool, riding quads, eating & drinking again....lol

Monday we went to a friend of DH who lives right up the road not even 5 minutes for a last minute BBQ.

At least I'm enjoying my week off before more DRs, surgery & appointments start up again like crazy!!

the rest of my week off I will continue to do more yard. Home Depot has a great deal on Ceder Mulch 5 of the HUGE bags for $10!! Then maybe a little R&R is an order..
Oh BOY my poor achy body hurts! and I've been totally exhausted as well!

Oh btw my children had a great time and my son has been pretty well, some meds are giving him some unsettling side effect issues that are next to impossible to deal with, (a story for another day) but other then that he had a nice weekend overall!

Friday, May 18, 2007

More updates!

Well my daughters recovery at home didn't go as planned neither has my son's illnesses, they both ended up back admitted to the hospitals, of course a huge inconvenience too at 2 different hospitals one is our normal pediatricians admitting hospital and the surgeon at a different one of course, nothing in my life can be so simple....
I had to spend time at both places because of course both cry for Mommy but when I'm there they cry for Daddy. That was fun!! NOT!!!
When my daughter got sent home were were so excited how she was doing and insisted on taking her home before we could see the DR because that'd be another day or 2... phewww! They got a hold of the DR and I spoke with him so I was able to do so... Thank goodness! Well it couldn't go as planned of course.. On our way home coming off the highway off the ramp I was at a stop sign because of oncoming traffic and a very young girl rear ended us!!! Ohh lucky us...
A few small dings on the car and because I have a fairly new car 2 years old this year.... It has those locking seat belts that when you have your foot on the brake they lock!! Well of course they did their job but at the same time gave me multiple bruise immediately! The downfall is there no play in them so you don't' go flying but they HURT! So after exchanging information and stuff, called my husband who wanted me to call the police. I couldn't put my daughter through any more trauma of the police showing up with ambulances for us, that would mean flat boards & neck braces and a ride to the hospital that would frighten the witts out of her especially if we couldn't be together.. She wasn't hurt as bad because the should strap she put across her chest instead because it digs into her neck.. She had bounced back into the seat and was stiff against the seat scared out of her mind asking me what had happened!
I told here we were hit by another car an accident and not to move until mommy checked her out.. When she did gracefully.. She's so good! She had some redness and was very sore... If she didn't complain of her neck I most likely would of not gone tot he hospital. The girl who hit us was so worried especially after finding out I had a young child in the car with me.. She kept apologizing up and down. She meant to slam on the brake and punched the gas instead of break to slow down on the off ramp!! Geezzz I had to think fast here I have a teenager who drives.. She was of course upset and I didn't want to send her off driving in that state of mind.. I checked her and her car made sure the hood could open and everything was in working order.. Told her not to worry to much thats why they call them accidents, a police car drove by us and she started jumping up & down to flag him to stop.. Of course not , not around here...I'm mean no one is committing murder of something... I did call them on my way to the hospital and they said to go online to get accident reports and drop one off that we didn't need a car.. So much for there job titles to SERVE AND PROTECT!!! They forget to care about the serve part I guess there to busy cruising around and parking to read the daily papers...Who knows.....Whole other subject there...

When arriving at the hospital and finding out we had the accident, of course stretchers and neck braces ... My daughter started freaking out in the emergency room and refused So I told her to just lay with me on mine.... The nurses wasn't to pleased but I told her she just had a traumaticing experience and we just left about an hour ago. She looked us up in the computer and said looks like your daughter is still upstairs the paperwork hasn't gone through or updated and her record was still on the floor which we had to wait for them to retrieve those before we could be seen.. They took us in right away under the circumstances so that was good. We spent most of the night there didn't leave until well after midnight after a full range of X-Rays on me!! My daughter had 101 questions to the radiology tech's... Tooo funny!

I can't believe how many views they needed to take. They wouldn't take off the neck brace which of course was digging into the bruises from the seat belts.. OUCH!

They gave me drugs and finally took it off after finding nothing broken but lots of pulls, bruising inside/out, some swelling on the side of neck & shoulder, strains, sprains and whatever she said basically all of the above...
same with my daughter... Good things.. We can go home and sleep in our beds for a change! My daughter was just being weined off the codeine and now they said to give her some more for a few days...


After a day and half rest the appointment and follow ups have started up again. Good news she got to go back to school today! She s so happy to see her friends again at school!! I spoke with the teacher to let her know first, she expected the class to be a little disrupted by her return....
My son doesn't have structural damage which is the good news but still not much for answers and alot of I don't' knows and more tests to come ..I had a follow up with my surgeon and he wants to take my gallbladder out next week the 30th!! It's about time and a long long time coming too.. I've had so many attacks and stones sludge,infections regularly for a few years now and more recently for the past year it's not emptying and contracting properly!! So this is long overdue for sure just bad timing!! I got it scheduled into June to give me a little break with stuff and before my sons tests come up. So June 5th DH 40th birthday, pre-op for breast reduction, June 11th if scopes, lots of biopsies for colon cancer I'm a very high risk and removal for polyps... Last day of school that day too for my daughter and then June 13th is the gallbladder surgery. June 16th DH back yard party, a neighbor/friend is helping me with her DH is coming home from Cuba that week (for a couple months then has to goto Iraq) so it's a combination party. June 17th Fathers day & my son's friend's birthday party

All I can remember at the moment without looking at all my appointment cards and calender.. YIKES!! So I need the next week and half to rest up... Oh and of course the 18th summer camp starts 9-12 Mon -Thurs and so does my son's tests and specialist start too. We even need to see another neurologist/neurosurgeon as well in-between sometime...

In the meantime I'm excited about the Tea Swap 3 I signed up for... Zeneedle is my partner!! We have so much in common this will be a piece of cake....heeeheee I can have a little fun in my life this year!! YIPPIE!!

So this is the short version of my life, I'm sure I've forgot some highlights but how can one manage... I'll never know, I'm so numb it isn't even funny!

I haven't touched any knitting in so long, I sure hope I remember how to... I'm still working on my STR Hippy Crunch socks, see this is how far I got a few months ago....


I really like the colorway I just hope I can figure out where I left off in the pattern.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Some updates

First I'd like to thank everyone for their concern and the supporting comments left on the previous post. Much appreciate all the support prayers & well wishes.. Certainly am becoming a true believer of prayers!! It's sad but nice to read..Of course I'd love to call you Amy or Mandy.. I do have free call plan on my home when... When I'm home for a conversation. feel free to email me!

Well it's been a while since I've been able to sit at the computer for anything. this is breif on what my life has been, To say the very least I've been HIGHLY stressed to say the very least not sure if I'm coming or going half the time, walking around in a trance yes sir no sir state and can't even remember what yarn/fiber feel like anymore..
My sons EEG went ok. I got an immediate call from the neurologist to tell me that in fact yes he has a seizure disorder and that is effecting his entire brain more so on one side then the other. It wouldn't be surprising to see a few different types of seizures based on the findings and we're scheduled to have a MRI on Sunday Mothers May 12th to see if theirs any structural damages. He has been started on anti seizure medicine twice a day to prevent future occurances. Now the other thing is that the type of seizures he's been experience that have been witnesses by both his pediatrician and myself and a few others are not consistent with his diagnosis and the DR has no explanation or answers for this. We are going to be having a second opinion during the summer with a completely different set of eyes.

Over the past several weeks both my younger children have been blue.. My little girl got very DK blue through her wrists, hands, fingers, and my son's mouth face chin.. I almost broke down at the pediatricians office both my little ones looked like smurfs and freaking me out!! The DR kinda laughed a little to lighten up the situation for me, made me feel so much better and told me exactly why...phewwww! The feeling so helpless and seeing them like that has to be the absolutely one of the worst feelings a mother can experience... My daughters heart rate was racing because the heart had to pump more and harder to keep the flow of oxygen going though her body. She was put on antibiotics and back to school. My son on the another hand has asthma flare ups so badly that the combination of drugs hasn't' been to effective, he turned blue 3 or 4 times since my last post at least anyway that I could tell maybe more grey at times as well. He's out of the woods with the asthma still on very high dosages for a 5 y.o double of what I'd be using. Steriod shots daily has helped tremendously!! Hate them but what a wodner drug for him. only 3 hospital stays over the past month or two.. Of course he also developed phenomena & croup 3 times as well, virus's etc. Non specific viruses I can't stand..
My son has been in/out of the hospital for sometime now. He's been currently sick with all kinds of issues and difficult to treat
Now I'm questioning c-diff (because of all the different antibiotics he's been on/off the past couple months) he's been at the hospital this past week or so, my DH came to relief me yesterday afternoon and is still with him.. Thank God I needed a break, certainly LONG overdue!. Poor little guy is so petheitc too with the IV and getting blood work all the time. He's been hanging in their like a tropper though. He wants to come home so badly....He's lost about 7 pounds over the past couple weeks since not eating alot of getting his nutrition though the Ivs.
My daughter had emergency surgery on her tonsils & adnoise because in result of the racing heart rate and blueness she was quickly becoming septic because of her tonsils....The DR & OR nurses couldn't believe how LARGE they actually were could tell from examinations . they we're alot larger then golf balls they kept telling us and on the septic scale or something #2.....She's home resting comfortably, SO I had enjoyed a nice quiet evening with her last night and sleeping in my bed.. oh WOW!!! The little things you miss....!! WOOHOO! a few days ago at a different hospital about 45-an hour away from each other (of course the way) It's been difficult to be at both hospitals, since both kids keep whining for mommy all the time. and we've had my 19 y/o daughter around alot more helping so we can trade places with the little ones being alone at any given time.
another HUGE worry is the thousands of dollars that unexpectedly are needed for co-payments, scripts, not to mention the bills that will be rolling in soon!!


When my son comes home we have so many appointments to try to keep up with in between hospital visits that my life has been totally insane.. Of course my daughters follow ups. My daughters will be home for the next couple weeks from school. Still on frozen pops will be graduating to ice cream later today or tomorrow, she's still having difficulty swallowing. She's also a trooper! With our son the DR did mention that their been be a question of an un-operable brain tumor on the MRI which wouldn't be too surprising but treating systems and prevention is the key to have him live a normal kids life.. Now how is that normal?? Poor kids doesn't have a clue and doesn't remember any episodes.... I guess from the DR we should be seeing some stroke like symptoms if they last more then 2-3 minutes to get immediate medical attention.. I guess it's time to make nicey nice with the fire dept......The fire chief did tell me to make sure we're all certified in CPR & first -aid which I am and my oldest daughter is. DH learned over 20 years ago in the service and thinks thats good enough...errrr! He's also still in some denial too according to my mil. I even had the DR put everything in writing for him too...errrr! Frustrating and a whole other story another time... Last night has been the first time he was even willing to stay over at the hospital with him...


On another note I'm looking forward to joining the next Knitters Tea Swap Suzie is hosting again. (thank you for the invite) Defiantly something fun to look forward to when my life slows down and both kids are home.



Also a huge Thank you Laura for the beautiful book and letting me be part of it.. Woohoo!! Way to go Congrats on yet another wonderful sock pattern book. 'Friendly Socks A-Z Book 2' So many neat patterns....Wish I had time to knit, my needles miss me, I touch them in passing...