Monday, August 30, 2010

Its that time of year!

Yep, I'm talking about school starting! Princess Bear (PB) starts tomorrow. She's so unbelievably excited its a joy to watch. I really hope that she keeps that enthusiasm for school! Now on the other hand, I'm completely filled with trepidation. The school district is so in debt that its almost comical. One of the cost cutting measures was to fire all of the therapist that PB had worked with for the last 4 years. The therapist that had been with the school district for over 30 years! They decided to bring in district therapists. You know lower paid therapists that were not as qualified, not as experienced and generally not as knowledgeable. I don't understand why when there are budget constraints that special services are the first to be axed. These kids are not the ones that should be used as guinea pigs. They need stability more than any other group. She was previously working with an Occupational Therapist. Now she will be evaluated by an Occupation Therapist once a year and then be turned over to at Occupational Therapy Assistant. By trade my mom is an OTA. I am very familiar with what she had to learn to pass her boards. It is no easy feat and I'm not sure if I was pressed if I could do it. That said it is no where NEAR what an Occupational therapist is trained in. With a child like PB who has a huge variety of skills and delays it was so reassuring to have people who knew what they were doing.

Then we can discuss the fact that 1 year and 10 months after the school caught on fire the kids are finally going back to the "old" school. Small problem- they aren't done fixing everything yet!!!!!!!!! They also assured me that with the new geothermal system that the entire school will be air conditioned and that it no longer needed to be written into PB's IEP. Well, as of registration the A/C wasn't on or even tested yet.

Then there is a the fact that we literally live a block away from the school and on Saturday I received a notice of PB's bus schedule. Um, excuse me? My child never has taken the bus for the heat issue. Its just easier for me to take her. I have no idea why they thought she needed bus transportation this year but its not happening. I also wonder why if we live 1 block from the school and school starts at 9am why she was supposed to be at the corner at 8:22 for an 8:32 pick up? Seriously, what is up with that? We could walk there and back a time or two in that amount of time!

On the flip side this summer was more successful than summers past. Although not according to my mother who felt the need to tell me that one more time I blew a summer and didn't do enough for my daughter and therefore screwed her over. Could I have done more? Yes. I will always admit that. I'm not perfect and sometimes just downright lazy. That said my daughter has mastered many more of her sight words (around 45 of the 52 that we worked on). Do I wish she was reading? Of course! I also think that by Christmas she will be. So there is the big news on this front! I just hope that the school year goes better than I am anticipating because this knot in my stomach is not a good thing!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Fun & games- Dr's visits SUCK!!!

Last week I called my pulmonologist because my asthma was pretty out of control. I figured he would prescribe prednisone and life would go on its merry little way. I didn't realize its been almost 2 years since my last office visit so the nurse called in the scrip but said I had to come in that week & see the nurse practioner. Ok. I love my Dr. He's very thorough and personable. The nurse practioner is also rather nice but a bit of a know it all. She decided that I needed to have a pulmonary function test done and it had to be this week so the prednisone would still be in my system. I could bring Princess Bear (PB) for the Dr's appointment afterwards but not to the pulmary function test (PFT). Um- hello single mom with a child still on summer vacation! My mom took the day off to watch PB for me. There are all sorts of rules to follow prior to the test. What meds you can take, limit your caffine (just shoot me now!), and don't eat for X amount of time before the test. Most of it was pretty simple but I needed my soda damn it!!!

The test itself was also pretty easy. Put a lovely little clip on your nose and insert HUGE tube into your mouth (think bad dentist visit plus some). You do some breathing exercises and it is recorded. Then you do a breathing treatment and repeat the breathing exercises. I usually use albuterol in my neubulizer and I hate it. The shakes I get afterwards are horrendous and last for hours. On the plus side it opens up my breathing & life usually gets much better. I had mentioned this to the nurse practioner and she switched me to Xopenex (a change that had been made for PB for similar reasons). I hadn't used the Xopenex yet but they used that for the PFT. I don't know how well it will actually work when my breathing is down the drain but the shakes afterwards were considerably lessened. WOOHOO!!! The test showed that my breathing functions are pretty well controlled by the meds I'm on. I then had to wait a bit to meet with my Dr. & the nurse practioner. They then took my vitals and my blood pressure which is normally fine sometimes borderline low was 180/90 and my heartrate was 103 (I've never had an issue with my heartrate before). Keep in mind that this is the medicine that I was LESS shaky on!!! I'm thinking switching meds was a pretty good thing! So that was my bit of excitement for today!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Mosque at Ground Zero

OK- ITS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are we so wrapped up on this issue???? Better yet why, oh why did the Prez feel the need to weigh in on this issue????? As if any more fuel needed to be added to that fire! The man is not doing the best job running the country so lets just stay on national issues ok Barak????

Now here's the deal. There is no law at the local level so there is nothing that can be done to stop the building of the mosque at Ground Zero so there is no issue here folks. Now do we want to talk about the fact that building it at that location is someone insensitive and more likely borrowing trouble? Yep! I think its in extremely poor taste and a slap in the face to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. Yes, I've hear that the Imam of this proposed mosque is a wonderful peace loving individual and actually the Taliban has him on their radar. From the descriptions on the news and various shows he seems like the kind of Muslim that needs to be personified in this country. Unfortunately there is a preconceived notions of Muslims as a whole. I do think its a shame but it is what the country seems to be hung up on at the moment (you know the whole 1 bad apple thing).

I just hope that this hubbub dies down soon. There are so many other issues that we need to focus on as a country.
-Getting rid of Obamacare
-working on putting the education system in this country back together
-focus on conserving and preserving our earth and its resources
-Why have we already forgotten about the Gulf?????????? Lots of help needed there!

Of course this is just my opinion and worth exactly what I charged you for it! Have a good one!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

OK- its so easy to be anti marriage!

Now I will be the first to admit that given the opportunity & the right guy I'd love to give this marriage thing a whirl. That is my usual frame of thought on it. Lately as I'm watching my friends muddling through life and marriage I'm thinking that perhaps the single life isn't that bad (well with the exception of my clanging biological clock).

I have a friend S who I've known....forever. Its been one of those friendships that has weathered time and long periods of not being in each others lives but especially the last few years we've been close. Her mother was very similar in behavior to mine so she understands a lot of what I deal with. She was down her visiting with her 3 kiddos a few weeks ago and she took Princess Bear & I out to dinner. Watching PB with her kids was an absolute riot. One minute the were as thick as thieves and the next minute fighting like siblings. It was a great experience for PB.

I also know S's husband as we all worked at the same place around 8 years ago. For the most part their marriage was pretty good. Of course it had its ups & downs but they had pretty good communication & worked through things. He joined the Army several years ago and the kids are used to the military family lifestyle from what I've been able to gather. Now this is S's first marriage. She has 1 older daughter and did the single mother thing for a long time before becoming involved with and marrying G. I always admired the way she was able to handle the trials and tribulations of single motherhood especially with a mother that made life difficult to say the least.

Now this was G's second marriage. His first marriage produced 2 children (if you're keeping track thats 5 kids so far). Unfortunately the 2 boys from his first marriage are a complete mess pyschologically and developmentally. The boys moved in with S & G awhile back because the mothers rights had been revoked. Actually they had landed in foster care before G rode in on his white horse and rescued his boys. He then brought them home to S & the 3 girls and proceeded in becoming a father that went to work and came home and hid. S realized that the boys had some rather big issues that needed addressing and pushed G to make the appropriate appointments. These boys were a mess. Actually that is probably being kind to them. They were destructive as all get out and had no regard for S or the girls. They knew that S had no real means to make them listen and abused that fact for all it was worth. The Army was in the meantime sending G all of the green earth for training & school. S on a very constant constant basis let G know that she did not have it within her to take care of 5 children while he was gone. Now this might sound unfair but lets not forget the the 2 boys had no regard for authority and rules and were quite frankly a danger to S & the girls. Repeatedly S went to G and told him this was a BIG issue. Time and time again G ignored her.

S & G went on to become pregnant with their 4th child together which would have been the 7th in the house. They were both wanting a big family and happy about this. I remember talking to S and asking when she was going to the Dr to start prenatal care. Evidentally the Army policy is that you don't receive prenatal care until you are 12 weeks pregnant. I was horrified at that but S assured me that this was normal and in her previous 4 pregnancies she'd been healthy and had no problems so she wasn't worried. A few weeks later S had a miscarriage. I don't remember the last time I felt so bad for someone. She was having a horrid time at home because of the misfit boys and her husband was getting ready to deploy once again. Then out of the blue after 4 healthy non problematic pregnancies she miscarries. I will believe to the day that I die it was due to the stress at home from the boys.

Her husband deployed in Feb for a year and from the beginning it was a very rough deployment. She was dealing with the emotional and physical effects of the miscarriage. Then there the misfit boys as well as her oldest daughter about to graduate from HS and 3 girls 6 and under. That is a WHOLE lot to deal with. Her POS husband was distant most of the time and when he was around he was argumentative and hostile. Not at all sympathetic or caring like a good husband should be.

Time has been marching on and he has still been a grade A a$$hole. S was sure that most of this behavior was due to his diagnosed but untreated PTSD. In spite of it all she still really loved her husband and looked forward to him coming home so they could work on things. Throughout everything she stood by him, loved him and was willing to do the work needed to get things back to a happy and livable place for all involved.

I'm not sure when I started asking her if there was a possibility of him cheating on her. Since I'm very well acquainted with both sides of that story and everything she told me had warning bells ringing in my head I was pretty sure that was the case. S repeatedly defending him saying that he would not do that. Not only would he not do that to his wife but to his kids either. You see his father had been a cheating bastard and he knew what that was like. Now his father has gone on to have a family with the woman he stepped out with and G is now close to them but never forgot what his father had done.

Lets fast forward to G's R & R (for those of you not familiar with the military this is a break in a soldiers year long deployment for some Rest and Relaxation). S was waiting for G to get home on R & R so they could have a few weeks to work on their relationship. She maintained her thought that given time and work she & G could put their marriage back on track. Shortly before coming home on R & R G informed her that he would be taking the boys to live with his mother (another wonderful family trend as his mother is now raising all of her grandchildren). While S was somewhat relieved to not be dealing with the boys on her own she knew this was a bad sign for her marriage. At this point G came home on R & R and things went from bad to worse. He was completely distant and a really jerk. Again I asked S if he was possibly cheating and again she assured me that he wouldn't do that.

Guess what? He is doing that. The exact same thing that he thought his father was such an a$$hole for doing to his mother he has done to his wife and girls. Not only has he been cheating but he is ENGAGED to this other woman and is in marriage counseling with her. HELLO???????? Wouldn't go to marriage counseling with S who asked repeatedly but is going with someone who he isn't even married to????

There is more to this story and I'll try to tell it at some point in time but PB just woke up so I need to try to get her down. I just look around at my dear friend S watching her life implode around her and her soon to be ex and new fling flaunt their relationship and I can't help to wonder if maybe marriage is overrated.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Random ramblings!

Well, I'm not quite sure what I did today but I was up and going all day (ok took a 20 minute nap!). I did a lot of driving. Drove my mom to work. Picked her up 2 hours later to take her to the Dr. and then back to work. Then home for a bit and then to my sisters to watch Tyler. It was going pretty well until my sister told me to bring the kids up b/c the baby needed a diaper change. Princess Bear opened the safety gate at the bottom of the stairs & she & Tyler went on their merry little way. I was right behind them but my sister still freaked out 30 different ways. Which lead to my parents & bil freaking out. I'm sure the bottom line is that PB & Tyler will not be allowed to see each other for awhile. The part that really sucks about that is they are extremely close & completely adore each other. Ugh!

I register PB for 2nd grade tomorrow. I'm so ready for summer to be over but I hate what the school year always does to her. Double ugh!

I took around 30 scrabble necklaces to the salon that I sell at in town. The owner was thrilled and loved them to death. Dumb me forgot to take any pictures before dropping them off! I'm also waiting for a shipment of the actual chain necklaces I bought to use with these. I emailed the seller on etsy but haven't heard back from her. Ugh ugh ugh!

On the plus side of things I had my once in every 3 months visit with my pyschiatrist yesterday. I haven't seen him since November (some 3 months, huh?) He agreed that my insomia was pretty out of control and wants to get that situated before messing with any of my other meds. I've also lost 10 lbs since I was last there. Not a lot by any means but a start to be sure!

So that is life on this side!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ok- is the world crazy??????????

I've been trying to get Princess Bear (PB)to start sleeping in her own room. The other day she made it to 3am! WooHoo! I also have given some thought of putting bunk beds in her room. The plan was a twin over a full bunkbed with steps instead of a ladder. My child falls at will on a very regular basis so I really don't think a ladder to bed is the best idea ever. One small problem- those bad boys cost a lot! I also thought about one of the fancy dancy castle or cottage beds. I saw one many moons ago that had a bed underneath with lights inside and then there were stairs going to the upstairs play area. At the base of the stairs there was a little picket fence toy area- just darling! Unfortunately when my computer crashed so did my info on it :( I did look at some beds in the same family thinking that possibly I could come up with some cool ideas and then find plans somewhere on line. That is when I stumbled upon this site. I had difficulty saving the pic so I could go to photobucket & share with you but here's a LINK
Um- am I misssing something? This bed is most definitely cool! I think most little girls would LOVE it but what parent is going to spend over $15,000 on a bed????? It reminded me of the Say Yes to the Dress I saw this past weekend. A 23 year old had a custom made wedding dress for $27,000. Um, ok I'm not sure about her but at 23 I was ready for marriage & wouldn't hold out tons of hope for it. Then lets discuss the fact of what $15k or $23k could actually be put to good use for.

Man, I can spend money with the best of them. I can blow money in a way to put some people to shame if and when I have the money but seriously???? What am I missing????

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Weekends

Ok- maybe its just me but at what point in your life to weekends become more chaotic than something to look forward to???? I'm not sure when this transition took place. That said I can also say that I'm incredibly bummed because my friend Steve said he'd go see The Expendables with me (I love Jason Statham!). Well, of course Steve is a bit flaky but I haven't seen the movie & I haven't heard from him. :( Men are truly such PITA's aren't they? I'm also getting to the point of looking forward to summer being over. Although the garden wasn't what I had planned on and there is still a month or two of growing time left I'm already looking forward to next years! School needs to start again although I'm beyond worried about this year. One of Princess Bears (PB) best friends isn't in the same room this year- something I'm so thankful for! PB still isn't reading yet which I had hoped would kick in over the summer but no such luck. Then the whole therapist situation is literally enough to make me sick to my stomach.

I had one more go round with my uncle over the cell phone. Its getting so completely old and I'm sure he feels that way as well but seriously do what you say & most of the problems would disappear.

I spent about an hour and a half with PB in her room today. Its perfectly cleaned up now. Things have been pretty good since I did the major gutting in July but she was slowly but surely not being picked up as well as it should have been. Sometimes I just doen't want to fight with her but why is picking up such a hassle? Honestly she spend and hour and a half in what could have been done in 15 minutes. My daughter has become quite the drama queen too. Her new line is that "______ is ruining my life" Sometimes blank is me sometimes my mom. Whoever she's grumpy with. Its so damn funny when she does it!

Well I'm off to finish up and order for the boutique to drop off. Hopefully I'll stick with this. It is an awfully nice release!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Ack- lets try this again!

Yes, so once again I've fallen off the face of the earth. I have more posts rambling around in my head but didn't actual do them. I did realize that a lot of it was generally ranting and then I realized that it perfectly acceptable. As a matter of fact thats what this basically started as. So I'm going to try to blog on a consistent basis and not bitch too horribly much! Since it is late I'm just going to do a brief rundown of life in these parts.

-I am the proud aunt to another nephew. Luke is so cute and for the most part a very chill baby (unless you're changing him that is!) He had some big issues with jaundice and still is. He goes back to the Dr tomorrow & I'm worried that he's going to be re-admitted to the hospital because the kid is freakin' yellow! I don't mean a bit yellow I mean holy crap yellow down to the whites of his eyes!!!!!!!!!!!

-My daughter has had a pretty good summer all in all. It was more productive than some of our other summers but as usual per my mother I haven't done enough (ugh!)

-I'm starting to do scrabble tiles for the boutique I sell at. I'm dropping off the first set tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I really do need some money!

-I'm still as, or perhaps even more, on my quest for sustainable living. Our garden is still doing well & I'm going to try making homemade ketchup this year!

-Apparently we're moving. This is with mixed feelings. My parents have lived in this house since I was 18 months old. Although things are not the best now it was always a place that was here to come back to. The neighborhood has seen a decline but my folks still were ok with it. Then our neighbor who literally has been like a grandmother to me my entire life told us she's moving into assisted living. She is truly one of the most amazing people I know. Princess Bear (PB) wants to go there daily just to visit. It would be impossible to log how many hours I've spent sitting on her front porch talking. Well now that she's moving my parents feel theere is no reason to stay. They wouldn't have moved and left her here but thats no longer a consideration. I did find the almost perfect house for all of us. It has a 20' x 46' garage with an attic. In addition to parking for 2 vehicles it has a workroom and 2 offices. In all but the worse weather I figured that 1 office could be a playroom for PB and the other a craft/ work room for me. Then we'd be out of there hair most of the time.