My People

My People
My matched set of grandchildren - Oliver and Cosette
Showing posts with label Italian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italian. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Check. Check. Check.

Happy Birthday to my brother Bryan. There's no way I look ten years older, right? 
I spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to put a check mark in the title of this blog. The fact that my vision is so blurry that I can't focus well enough to read instructions re-emphasizes my need for one of those check marks I earned... I made an appointment with the eye doctor! For next Tuesday!

Then Wednesday I have an appointment with the dentist to figure out my dental plan from here. My only stipulation: no more teeth come out before we put some more in. I'm chewing on one side. They can't take that away from me or I'll be living on broth and oatmeal. Also, since we've determined that I don't heal well, I don't want to pull any more teeth. I want them to take what's in there now and make it work. I realize this makes me a difficult patient to deal with but I'm living with too much pain with the things we can't fix to willing go into a dentist's office and let him cause me MORE pain.

So eye doctor, check ... and also... the financial kind of check.
Dentist, check... and another check.

I also called the library to see if they have started back up with story time so we can take Cosette. They haven't but they will soon. Cosette is really young for organized activities but... on the other hand she's a smart girl, she does good with sitting still when it's expected of her (out to dinner, per esempio - for example). She might think it's awesome or ... she might completely flake out. I think it's free, though, so ... check but no check. Austin definitely wants to take her to the library to check out books. She's a bit "enthusiastic" with turning pages sometimes so we would have to be careful what books she chooses but I like that he wants her to go to the library. Is it overboard if I say, "he's such a good daddy" again today?

As I'm writing this my mom has gone through the first procedure which she said was no problem at all. I've had interstitial cystitis since before Cody was born so any probing of the urinary kind is always going to be painful. A full bladder is painful in a way that folks without IC would not believe. I'm glad it wasn't uncomfortable for mom since she still has to deal with the gastro stuff this afternoon with a long drive down and a long drive home. The urologist sees some stones, we hope they are just the everyday kind of stones and not anything hairy scary. More wait and see on that. If there's anything else more to share from her second appointment today I'll update here and on Facebook. Based on last time, I don't think we'll know much today.

When Little Kitty snores it makes the same sound my phone makes when I have a text... just a little buzzing/hummy kind of sound. He's such a little old man sometimes... and other times he's an inconsiderate teenager. He's actually 5 years old so I don't know what that translates to in human years.

I'm still in the thick of a fibromyalgia flare. I'm not a doctor or meteorologist but I could have told you that there were storms brewing to the South without even looking at the news. As a matter of fact, I thought to myself, "this is such an unusually oppressive bout of aches and fatigue... I wonder what the weather looks like?" The struggle is real. I can tell that extreme weather is coming by my hair and my arthritis. I know, I know... those storms are way out there (at least they were yesterday)... but it already has changed the atmosphere over us. (by the way... learning Italian makes me want to misspell words like "atmosphere" to "atmosfera"- dear spellcheck, I am not an idiot, I'm just trying to be bilingual.)

 I didn't sleep well last night. I have seen three fleas on Little Kitty over the course of the past week and have been aggressively treating him - but not the carpet or furniture because I don't want Cosette or Oliver to come into contact with anything harmful to them. I comb him through carefully several times a day with a special flea removing  comb that I scrub with soap between uses. I bought the flea medicine for the back of his neck (I'm afraid it didn't get all the way through his fur like it's supposed to). I've even added a flea collar. I haven't seen a flea anywhere but on him but the thought of it is making me itch like crazy. I took a benedryl out of desperation which made me sleepy but unable to sleep.

Then the fibro / arthritis flare is ramping up my muscle spasms which... are not as fun as you might think ... so I'm having to consistently take the muscle relaxer that works great and is better at easing pain than even the strong pain meds because it loosens those tight muscles BUT the muscle relaxer makes me so sleepy. NOT... I could take a great nap sleepy. No... it is the dreaded "my eyes are too tired to focus on anything, my brain doesn't process works correctly but there is no way in the world I can go to sleep" sleepy. Which really intensifies that fibro fatigue.

I tried to go back to sleep this morning since I kept dozing off on my Italian lesson. I'm working on verbs so it's sort of easy because I know what the root word is and I just have to remember the right ending like...
I give - do
You give (singular) - dai
He gives - da
We give - diamo
You give (plural, like "y'all give") date
They give - danno
It takes a bit of concentration but it's not like learning absolutely brand new words. Unfortunately concentration was = to me falling asleep. So I put my things aside and covered up to be able to sneak a little more sleep while the house was still quiet and then.... Little Kitty took this as an opportunity to sit in my lap and groom himself. Ever tried to sleep while a cat is loudly grooming himself in your lap? The smacking and slurping... the wiggling... every now and then deciding I needed some grooming myself so I would doze off and then  BAM! sandpaper tongue slicing through my skin!

But at the moment... the house is quiet. Austin's at work and my parents are at the hospital. The cats are enjoying the midday sun on the porch and Oscar is tucked under a blanket beside me. Since I managed to check two things off my to-do list today, maybe I should add "take a nap" to the list and then check that one off too! Love and hugs, everybody! Hope you're having a great day!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

News Day Tuesday

Cody at 10 or 11 (not sure exactly) 
Happy UnMonday, Friends!

Today has been quite quiet for me. I did a little dog-sitting this morning while my mom was visiting the urologist. I worked on my Italian. I watched some YouTube videos. I did a little Pinterest research for toddler activities (Austin is very much into planning things for Cosette to do because he is an awesome dad, as you all know!) I did not do anything on the to-do list from yesterday so... boo hiss on my organizational aspirations. I'll get there eventually.

My parents got something marked off their to-do list today - they hired a guy to do yard work! Austin has been doing it since we moved here and his perception of a perfectly groomed lawn is somewhat different from my mom's perception. She's always just kind of done what needed to be done to bring it up to snuff as she enjoys working in the yard but she really can't physically do that any more. With Austin working so much and having Cosette on one of his days off every week, he doesn't have the time to put into it that he once did. AND... the riding lawnmower quit working about two weeks ago and we haven't been able to figure out how to get it going again. I say "we" as if I had anything to do with it. Trust me, I don't.

Following up on my recent interest in that YouTube series on a visit to North Korea, I watched a video on this guy who defected to North Korea in 1962. I believe there were a few others but this guy was the first. His name is James Dresnok. It was very interesting to see how deeply indoctrinated he has become during his time there. His reason for crossing the border was ... stupid, if you ask me ... his marriage had ended, he had forged a superior's signature on a pass while stationed in South Korea and ... he just figured, why not? Suicide by crossing the DMZ, I guess. He became a propaganda piece for North Korea as did the other men who followed him around that time. He has sons who were born there and who speak English with a Korean accent. It's pretty bizarre because the accent doesn't match the face. The documentary was called, "Crossing the Line" if you're interested in seeing it. I watched it on YouTube.

I'm hearing that the Pumpkin Spice Latte release is September 1st, as in DAY AFTER TOMORROW! I'm wondering if Cosette is old enough for her first PSL as she'll be with us that day... Just kidding. Mostly.

For my first "Autumn themed flavor test" I tried the pecan pie m&ms that I bought last week. They aren't BAD but they are awfully sweet. They taste as if you dipped an m&m in maple syrup. So... maybe if you don't like super sweet things you would want to skip them. I'm a fan of sweet and salty so I think I would like peanut m&ms dipped in maple syrup but you can't make pecan pie with peanuts so...

Me & Bryan circa 1980-ish
Today is my middle son, Cody's birthday and tomorrow is my brother Bryan's birthday! I can always remember Bryan's age because he is ten years younger than me. His birth that occurred in the middle of the night. Jim was 12, I was ten and Michael was 3 so my Aunt Ginger and Uncle Carl came and stayed with us when my parents went to the hospital. At some point during the night they opened my bedroom door and turned on the light and said, "you have another brother!!!" And my ten year old/only girl response was, "turn the light off.". I did grow to love him, as I love all my brothers. Although I always wished for a sister, the ones I gained through marriage have been pretty awesome. Some of them are real awesome and some are not awesome so it balances out to be pretty awesome. (Bryan picked a real awesome one) At any rate... Happy Birthday, Bryan! I've always been proud of your accomplishments but I'm even prouder of seeing you as a husband and father!

Tomorrow is also my nephew Caleb's birthday. We haven't seen him in awhile but we love him dearly and are thinking about him on his ... yikes... 12th birthday!

Tomorrow my mom has two procedures to try to get more information on her health situation. I'll share more when we know more but keep her in your prayers tomorrow. And also, keep my dad in your prayers as he is not great at waiting and he'll be doing a lot of it tomorrow. Praying for comfy waiting rooms and long naps for him. I'll be Oscar sitting so pray for the cats (LOL!). Sometimes Oscar is friendly with the cats and sometimes he isn't. We are anxious to know what my mom is facing. I just keep trying to remember that God knows already and has been working to prepare us all for whatever news comes... and of course you never know anything right away so it's really more the beginning of waiting than it is a resolution. Her first procedure is one I've had before and it's uncomfortable all by itself but then she has a long drive, another procedure and another long drive to face afterwards.

Lots of my news for today is really about tomorrow and the next day, it seems... it's all part of being a daily blahhhhger. Some days are just dull. I haven't watched much actual news today. I said I'd go back to the 24 hour news cycle after the Olympics and I really haven't. It's on in the background with the sound mostly off while I do my Italian lesson in the morning. I check online news periodically throughout the day and I leave it on the news channels during the night in case there's something big breaking, I'll see it on one of my multiple bathroom breaks during the night. I'm still so aggravated with the political situation in our country. I feel like we've dealt with so much legitimate tough stuff as a family this year with my mom being sick and the custody stuff and it just makes me angry that people like Anthony Weiner are in the news because he is such a massive pervert and that Colin Kaepernick doesn't have enough human decency to stand for the National Anthem. Our country may not be perfect but it's done an awful lot for him. There's so much more in life that MATTERS. It's just easier to keep my blood pressure under control if I don't watch much news. Does that make sense?

End of anti-news rant on News Day Tuesday.

I'm catching up on my DVR'd shows this evening and maybe watching a few more episodes of Drop Dead Diva. We had a great dinner - chicken and rice. I'm having a peaceful, easy evening and I hope you are too! Just two more days until Pumpkin Spice everything! Love and hugs, y'all!