I know, 8-10 hour drive to see those Grebber's again? They must have a pretty nice house or good coffee or something... Maybe it's the accents, I do love the accents.
Christmas night we drove up to the NC and hung out with Jason's Dad and two of his sisters. I have yet to meet the third, elusive sister... We had a lot of fun, hiking the first day and hiking the mall the second. We also played about half a game of Scattergories! Oh what fun it is to write, twelve things that start with S.
Coming back to reality after our quick jaunt to NC. Patrick had the kids for about 5 nights, which is unusual. Of course he had to cause some chaos, it was just too quiet... Nora has battled congestion practically all of her life. After being told it was a cold that would just not go away, I took her for the millionth time to the doctor. I was like, this can't be a cold! I described the congestion etc and the Dr listened to her and said it was not asthma, but most likely allergies. That fits with her history. The Dr said to give her Zyrtec before bed every night. Well, it worked wonders. She cleared right up and was finally getting good sleep most every night. That went on for a while until I was noticing that she would come back from Patrick's all congested. They obviously weren't giving her the Zyrtec. Okay, they aren't there that much so whatever. Well, I get back from NC and Patrick has taken Nora to the hospital at 4am cause she was coughing and the Dr. diagnosed her with asthma. This Dr. who has never seen her or her history, only going by what crap Patrick is telling him, diagnoses her with asthma. Gives her a shot of steroids and prescribes an inhaler to a two year old. YEAH. That's gonna work.
I make an appt with her regular Dr and Patrick takes her and the Dr there also says she has Asthma. Fine. I pick her up from Patrick's tonight and she's congested. Of course. She threw up all of the crap the ER doc forced on her, so what gives? She sounds a little worse than what she usually sounds like after coming back from Patrick's. They acted as if she was gonna die. I have followed Dr.'s orders and given her the two inhaler's etc. But what she prob just needs is a good night's sleep and her ZYRTEC! Agh! Save me from the hypochondriac!
Some people think you are nuts when you start mentioning environmental allergies, but my house is cleaned with natural stuff. I rarely use anything with dyes or perfumes, as natural as possible. Nora is highly sensitive, she has always been highly sensitive and even had eczema as a baby. Patrick's house is like living in a perfume bottle. The kids literally reek when I pick them up of detergent, fragrances, whatever. Trish also smokes. It's like they bred Nora's congestion and expect to take care of it with an inhaler for the rest of her life. I plan to call and talk to the Dr. tomorrow explaining in more detail Nora's actual environment, not the babysitter's and figure this chaotic mess out.
*have been calling the doc all week, but he has not bothered to call back. I may have to make another appt and take her myself. 01/02/08
I pride myself on having a very peaceful home and lifestyle. This is impossible during the Christmas season! Holy crap, like SOMETHING every single night. Shopping, or parties, or getting the tree. I can't wait to go back to the routine we had, though I think the kids enjoy a little bit of chaos now and again. I have decided to go after me A.S. in Office Management, although I will have to venture to Ybor twice a week. I have registered for 16 credits. Ybor is a little strange I guess because it is a much bigger campus. Here is my life for Jan- May of 2009: Mon Ybor 930a-1230p, Tues Plant City 8a-930a, Wed Ybor 930a-330p, Thurs Plant City 8a-930a, Friday I will work a full day and Sat's for 4 weeks will be spent in Ybor from 8a-12p to earn one of my one credit classes. Plus an online class. I haven't yet done an online class, but it's an intro class, so hopefully it will be cake. *PHEW* I'm already tired and I haven't even started yet! :o) But. It's a good tired.
Although things have been crazy, I was able to buy a good amount of presents for the kids and some for Jason too. I was a little worried, but I have been able to work a lot since I am not in school right now. This is the first Christmas that I have looked forward too since as long as I can remember, prob the Christmas before we moved to Oregon (2000). Jason and I will be heading to his parents house Christmas night to spend a few days with them. I look forward to seeing his family. I am so very proud of his sister, Sheena, for passing her Boards to become an RN! :o)
Update on Patrick and the Army: The military is a stickler for paying your debts and he owes child support, so he is using that as an excuse not to go... Anyway.
School.
I gotz A's and B's, yo. 3.5 GPA :o) That last week of school hurt my brain. By my last test I was so done, hoping that I would actually have a break during my break, if you know what I mean. It's been about a week and I can definitely say that I will be ready for my next term.
I am signed up for 3 classes at the moment. I want to write, but have learned that those passionate dreams soon fade into a realitic view of skills and abilities. Providing for my family while still doing something I enjoy becomes the compromise.
ElectroNerdz is growing. I started out very part-time, filing and answering the phone, no big deal. It was much the same as what I was doing at Perspectives. Little by little my task list has grown and I am learning new programs and making a place for myself, especially in the office. Jason (and then Bobby) mentioned recently about me taking a few classes that would benefit the company and ElectroNerdz paying for it. Although, I think Bobby secretly hopes I will major in Marketing, I am thinking more along the lines of an A.S. degree in Office Management.
The classes are accounting, office and business related and I would not need anymore general education credits (like Sociology). They even have a Forms class. About designing paper and electronic forms! Sigh, I love forms... :o)
Although I would probably still take fun classes like creative writing, I am thinking I may take the A.S. route.
more animals
Kitty plz, kthxbai.
My life has been the same for so many years and the holidays are no different. Except for this year. This year is definitely a year of changes. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I can't really say why except for the fact that I get to cook and I love pie. Oh, and I get to spend time with my loved ones. :o) That time was not always great. It's not that Patrick was so bad, but he didn't like my family and it was hard to enjoy the day when it was filled with tension and endured for as short a time as possible. We were with my family for as long as it took to eat and then we were outta there. That's just how it was. This year I invited, and my family welcomed, Jason to the table. He gets along swimmingly with my family! I think they may even like him better. ;o) The kids were well behaved and the day was enjoyable. We dropped the kids off after lunch, so they could enjoy dinner with Patrick and went back to my aunts. We played Croquet and Scrabble and ate turkey sandwiches for dinner. We didn't leave until almost 9pm! I don't think I've ever stayed that long at my aunt's house. I knew the first year of holidays would be different. For me and the kids. It was such a wonderfully enjoyable, peaceful day and yet I am left with a strange feeling. Do I miss the tension? No. Do I think I don't deserve happiness? Possibly. I find myself questioning...that's it? Are you sure? No subtle jabs at each other and rudeness? No whiny bratty kids and dirty looks from across the room? Not that I would choose that over the day we had. I guess I'll just have to get used to smiling so much. My mother mentioned that I was certainly in a better mood this year and hugged me several times. That has got to be a good sign.
 |
| Thanksgiving 2008 |
