Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A good egg...
This morning after breakfast, I sent all of the kids into the bathroom to brush their teeth while I sat down to catch up on a little blog reading. After a minute or so, Landon came out "crying" and gave me a hug. I asked him what was wrong and he looked up at me with his sad puppy-dog brown eyes and said, "He was a good egg." I was a little confused for a second or two, then Dakota came out of the bathroom wearing this shirt:
Apparently he doesn't share her sense of humor.Head on over to Once Upon a Miracle and link up with your true story.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Miscellany Monday 3/28/11
1.
I loved the springtime weather we had last week . It's been warm enough to turn off the heater and open up the windows during the day, but not warm enough to turn on the a/c. It 's been so nice!
2.
The bad thing about our weather, though, is that it hasn't rained in quite some time. Things are D.R.Y. around here. Which sets up the conditions for lots and lots of fires. I think my husband was out 3 evenings last week helping to fight fire somewhere. At least one of the fires was on the ranch-at least 500-1,000 acres was burning. So far, at least around our area, all the fires have been in unoccupied areas. No structure damage or injuries that I know of.
We took a drive Friday evening to check things out where the fire was burning Thursday night. It was so weird to see all the scorched and still smoldering trees. A couple of places still had some small flames burning even. We got a little bit of a misting last night and this morning, but not enough to really make a difference. There is a chance of rain most of this week, so hopefully some will make it's way to the ground soon!
3.
I go back to see my doctor on Wednesday. I'm hoping for good lab results, but I'm not really expecting them. I'm still not feeling much better. I've had a headache almost every evening this week. I'm just crossing my fingers that it's not bad enough to require another transfusion. My hands still hurt from the IV and labs from last time. I'm not ready for more needles yet.
4.
Landon has been going to his children's church class for the past couple of weeks and it has been so nice! A few Wednesdays ago, Daniel had to work late and wasn't home when we left for church, so Landon had to go with me. For some reason, he decided that would be the night he would try class again. He had a great time! Now, he walks right into class and doesn't look back. I'm so happy for him to have that time to play with some kids his own age and to learn that he will be okay without me for a little while.
5.
I have begun my Spring cleaning on my van. We are driving it to Disney World in May and I do believe it is going to take me every weekend between now and then to get it ready. It's amazing to me that we have so much room in the van and yet it's always full of stuff. I don't know how people with kids make it without a van. My van is packed with karate bags, backpacks, DS's, extra clothes from having to change for karate/church/etc, purses, Bibles, random happy meal toys, and water bottles. Every time we get home, I tell the kids "make sure you take in all your stuff" and we all come in with an armful of stuff, but still the van is full. I don't know where it all comes from! Am I the only one who has that problem?
Hope everyone has a great week!
I loved the springtime weather we had last week . It's been warm enough to turn off the heater and open up the windows during the day, but not warm enough to turn on the a/c. It 's been so nice!
2.
The bad thing about our weather, though, is that it hasn't rained in quite some time. Things are D.R.Y. around here. Which sets up the conditions for lots and lots of fires. I think my husband was out 3 evenings last week helping to fight fire somewhere. At least one of the fires was on the ranch-at least 500-1,000 acres was burning. So far, at least around our area, all the fires have been in unoccupied areas. No structure damage or injuries that I know of.
We took a drive Friday evening to check things out where the fire was burning Thursday night. It was so weird to see all the scorched and still smoldering trees. A couple of places still had some small flames burning even. We got a little bit of a misting last night and this morning, but not enough to really make a difference. There is a chance of rain most of this week, so hopefully some will make it's way to the ground soon!
3.
I go back to see my doctor on Wednesday. I'm hoping for good lab results, but I'm not really expecting them. I'm still not feeling much better. I've had a headache almost every evening this week. I'm just crossing my fingers that it's not bad enough to require another transfusion. My hands still hurt from the IV and labs from last time. I'm not ready for more needles yet.
4.
Landon has been going to his children's church class for the past couple of weeks and it has been so nice! A few Wednesdays ago, Daniel had to work late and wasn't home when we left for church, so Landon had to go with me. For some reason, he decided that would be the night he would try class again. He had a great time! Now, he walks right into class and doesn't look back. I'm so happy for him to have that time to play with some kids his own age and to learn that he will be okay without me for a little while.
5.
I have begun my Spring cleaning on my van. We are driving it to Disney World in May and I do believe it is going to take me every weekend between now and then to get it ready. It's amazing to me that we have so much room in the van and yet it's always full of stuff. I don't know how people with kids make it without a van. My van is packed with karate bags, backpacks, DS's, extra clothes from having to change for karate/church/etc, purses, Bibles, random happy meal toys, and water bottles. Every time we get home, I tell the kids "make sure you take in all your stuff" and we all come in with an armful of stuff, but still the van is full. I don't know where it all comes from! Am I the only one who has that problem?
Hope everyone has a great week!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday Five-3/24/11
After being postponed for a little hospital detour last night, I'm finally getting around to posting this week's Thursday 5! Go on over and link up with Nicole and the others to join the fun!
Outstanding
Outstanding
Proud
Energized
Splendid
Wonderful
The nurse that took care of me at the hospital last night was outstanding. She was so nice and very professional. I only wish she would have been there when it was time to start my IV and draw labs. I had lab drawn at the clinic, lab drawn at the hospital, and an IV. Should have had 3 sticks. Each time, they missed the first one and had to stick me again so I ended up with 6 sticks instead. A couple of them REALLY hurt today too. Boo!
I am so proud of my husband. He has been working lots of extra days and hours lately to take care of our family. I'm so thankful that he sees the value in having me and the kids home.
I'm hoping the 2 units of blood I got last night will help me feel more energized. I really have been feeling rather tired lately, but I just thought it was a combination of age/weight/stress/keeping up with kids. Time will tell, but I'm looking forward to feeling good again.
Since we had to be in town during lunch time yesterday, we got to eat out. We haven't been doing much of that lately, so it was a special treat. The food and service were short of spectacular, but the company was good, so we had a splendid time anyway.
One of the most wonderful things in the world is hearing my kids laugh and play when they don't know I'm listening. A couple of days ago, Sierra disappeared into her room to play. When I hadn't seen or heard from her in an hour or so, I assumed that she had fallen asleep and went to check on her. As I got closer to her doorway, I saw her moving around on the floor of her closet. Then, I heard her whispering. She had her dolls and Barbies in the closet playing. She was having such a great time that I didn't want to disturb her, so I just stood there for a few minutes and listened. I love to hear them play when they're in their own little worlds.
I am so proud of my husband. He has been working lots of extra days and hours lately to take care of our family. I'm so thankful that he sees the value in having me and the kids home.
I'm hoping the 2 units of blood I got last night will help me feel more energized. I really have been feeling rather tired lately, but I just thought it was a combination of age/weight/stress/keeping up with kids. Time will tell, but I'm looking forward to feeling good again.
Since we had to be in town during lunch time yesterday, we got to eat out. We haven't been doing much of that lately, so it was a special treat. The food and service were short of spectacular, but the company was good, so we had a splendid time anyway.
One of the most wonderful things in the world is hearing my kids laugh and play when they don't know I'm listening. A couple of days ago, Sierra disappeared into her room to play. When I hadn't seen or heard from her in an hour or so, I assumed that she had fallen asleep and went to check on her. As I got closer to her doorway, I saw her moving around on the floor of her closet. Then, I heard her whispering. She had her dolls and Barbies in the closet playing. She was having such a great time that I didn't want to disturb her, so I just stood there for a few minutes and listened. I love to hear them play when they're in their own little worlds.
We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to bring you...
...a blood transfusion.
I'm not going to have my Thursday Five up until this afternoon/evening this week. I kinda ran out of time yesterday.
I went in for a scheduled appointment with my doctor yesterday afternoon. I've been having some issues with anemia because of the blood thinner that I take to prevent me from having another pulmonary embolism. So before I went in to see the doctor, I had to stop by the lab for bloodwork.
As I sat in the exam room waiting for the doctor, my nurse came in to put something into my chart on the computer. Another nurse was with her and she asked me, "Are you feeling okay? Are you tired or do you have a headache or anything?" I said, "Not any more tired than usual, I guess." "Oh, well some of your labs came back a little off, so I just wanted to make sure you're feeling okay." Then, they left. That made me kind of nervous because the last time I had labs that were "a little off" I ended up in the heart hospital for a week.
Finally, the doctor came in. She also asked me if I was feeling extra tired lately. I said, "Well, lately by 9:00, I'm ready to go to bed. That's kind of unusual for me." (all this time, I just thought it was age getting to me, so I hadn't worried about it). Her response was, "Well, if my counts were as low as yours, I would be crawling across this floor because I wouldn't be able to stand." She then informed me that I needed to get over to the hospital to get some blood because they needed to "pump me up."
So, Daniel and I dropped the kids off to Grandma Debbie and off we went. Because I use the Choctaw Clinic, I had to go to the Choctaw hospital-Choctaw is a Native American tribe, for those who didn't know that-which is an hour away. When I asked the doctor how long it would take, she said "a couple of hours," so we were thinking an hour there, 2-3 hours at the hospital, and and hour back. We left town around 5:15, so that would put us home around 10:00pm.
Of course, we didn't account for the hospital parking lot being under construction and having to walk all the way through the building to get to the ER. Or stopping to ask someone how to get to the ER and then having to walk all the way back through the building a different way to get there. Or getting to the ER and being told that we actually needed to go check in at medical/surgical and having to walk all the way back over there-only to find out that's where we had stopped to ask directions originally (always happens to me). I also didn't realize that they would have to draw more labs to type my blood and we would have to wait for that. Or that it takes a while to get the blood prepared. Once all of that it done, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours per unit and I was getting 2 units.
Poor Grandma Debbie, didn't know she was in for an all-nighter. :)
I'll spare you all the fun details, but I ended up getting poked by needles 6 times yesterday. Fun, right? And now, I have two units of someone else's blood pumping through my body. That's kind of a weird thought. We finally rolled out of there-literally, they wouldn't let me walk out-around 12:30. We got into bed around 2:ooam.
When my mom dropped the kids off this morning, she asked me how I was feeling. I said, "like I went to bed at 2 in the morning." We'll see how I feel in the morning after I actually get a full night's sleep.
So, now I've gotta go get the kids started on their schoolwork for today. We didn't get much done yesterday before we left for town (Landon went to the doctor yesterday too) so we've got some catching up to do. Hopefully, I'll be back for Thursday Five at lunch time or after school's done.
I'm not going to have my Thursday Five up until this afternoon/evening this week. I kinda ran out of time yesterday.
I went in for a scheduled appointment with my doctor yesterday afternoon. I've been having some issues with anemia because of the blood thinner that I take to prevent me from having another pulmonary embolism. So before I went in to see the doctor, I had to stop by the lab for bloodwork.
As I sat in the exam room waiting for the doctor, my nurse came in to put something into my chart on the computer. Another nurse was with her and she asked me, "Are you feeling okay? Are you tired or do you have a headache or anything?" I said, "Not any more tired than usual, I guess." "Oh, well some of your labs came back a little off, so I just wanted to make sure you're feeling okay." Then, they left. That made me kind of nervous because the last time I had labs that were "a little off" I ended up in the heart hospital for a week.
Finally, the doctor came in. She also asked me if I was feeling extra tired lately. I said, "Well, lately by 9:00, I'm ready to go to bed. That's kind of unusual for me." (all this time, I just thought it was age getting to me, so I hadn't worried about it). Her response was, "Well, if my counts were as low as yours, I would be crawling across this floor because I wouldn't be able to stand." She then informed me that I needed to get over to the hospital to get some blood because they needed to "pump me up."
So, Daniel and I dropped the kids off to Grandma Debbie and off we went. Because I use the Choctaw Clinic, I had to go to the Choctaw hospital-Choctaw is a Native American tribe, for those who didn't know that-which is an hour away. When I asked the doctor how long it would take, she said "a couple of hours," so we were thinking an hour there, 2-3 hours at the hospital, and and hour back. We left town around 5:15, so that would put us home around 10:00pm.
Of course, we didn't account for the hospital parking lot being under construction and having to walk all the way through the building to get to the ER. Or stopping to ask someone how to get to the ER and then having to walk all the way back through the building a different way to get there. Or getting to the ER and being told that we actually needed to go check in at medical/surgical and having to walk all the way back over there-only to find out that's where we had stopped to ask directions originally (always happens to me). I also didn't realize that they would have to draw more labs to type my blood and we would have to wait for that. Or that it takes a while to get the blood prepared. Once all of that it done, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours per unit and I was getting 2 units.
Poor Grandma Debbie, didn't know she was in for an all-nighter. :)
I'll spare you all the fun details, but I ended up getting poked by needles 6 times yesterday. Fun, right? And now, I have two units of someone else's blood pumping through my body. That's kind of a weird thought. We finally rolled out of there-literally, they wouldn't let me walk out-around 12:30. We got into bed around 2:ooam.
When my mom dropped the kids off this morning, she asked me how I was feeling. I said, "like I went to bed at 2 in the morning." We'll see how I feel in the morning after I actually get a full night's sleep.
So, now I've gotta go get the kids started on their schoolwork for today. We didn't get much done yesterday before we left for town (Landon went to the doctor yesterday too) so we've got some catching up to do. Hopefully, I'll be back for Thursday Five at lunch time or after school's done.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
True Story Tuesday-a rough day
After I had my PE (pulmonary embolism) in September, the Dr. put me on a blood-thinning medication called Warafrin. It's very sensitive to adjustments in dosage, food you eat, etc and has to be monitored very closely to make sure it stays within a certain concentration in your blood. So, depending on how my levels looked at the last appointment, I have to go in to the clinic every 1-4 weeks for monitoring.
It's kind of a pain because the appointment is always in the middle of the day and throws a kink in our routine. By the time we're done, there are still a couple of hours to kill before the kids have to be at Tae Kwon Do but not enough time to justify using the gas to go back home (we live about 20ish miles from town). So, usually we go hang out at Grandma Debbie's for a while in between.
A couple of weeks ago, it was my clinic day. We did as much school work as we could get done for the day, had an early (for us) lunch, got everyone dressed, tae kwon do uniforms packed and ready, and headed out the door. The kids got into the van as I grabbed the last of the things we needed from the house. As I went out, I turned the lock on the inside of the door knob and pulled it closed behind me. For some reason, it didn't want to close on the first try and bounced back open. I pushed it closed again, a little harder this time to make sure it was closed good and checked to make sure it truly did close and lock.
I walked over to the passenger side of the van and tossed in the stuff I was carrying. Then, I went to get into the driver's side. I opened the door and reached into my pocket for the keys. But, I found a cell phone. Huh? Checked the other pocket, no keys. Grrr. It was then that I realized that my keys were still safely in the bowl in the house.
No big deal, we had been opening windows all week to let the fresh air in. I'll just find one that is still cracked open and send one of the kids through. I didn't realize that my "other mother" daughter had taken it upon herself to make sure that every window in the house was closed-and locked-before we left. After circling the house checking windows twice, I had to accept that she had not, in fact, missed even one window.
Still, no big deal. My husband had a key on a nail on the electrical pole somewhere. So, I called him to find out exactly where it was. Guess where it was? In the same bowl that my keys were in-inside the locked house! Apparently he had used it once and never taken it back outside. Nice.
I circled the house a couple more times thinking that maybe God would decide to zap one of the windows open if I just kept looking (He could do that if He wanted to, you know) but that didn't happen either.
I still had one last hope. My husband drives his work truck during the week and doesn't always carry his personal keys with him. He's been know to leave them in my van sometimes. So, I called again and asked him if he knew where his key to my van was. "Yeah, it's right here in my pocket." So much for that.
After a few minutes, he called me back. I had forgotten a little secret about his truck. It's possible to start it without a key. Woohoo! So, I piled the kids into the truck (which I had never driven before and hopefully won't have to again) and off we went. If I didn't get behind any slow drivers (or tractors) on the way and all the traffic lights cooperated, I would still be able to make it exactly at my appointment time.
As we were driving, I happened to glance down at the fuel gauge. Let's just say it wasn't what I wanted to see. Okay, so I'll just stop and get like $5 worth of gas to make it there and then I'll fill up when we get done. I reach over and open up my wallet to get my bank card ready, but it's not there. Oh yeah, I had it in my hand the night before with my keys. It's in the bowl too! I had no cash either. But, I did have a $10 Wal-Mart gift card. I could get gas there. Only, it's not on my way and I'm already going to be pushing it for time. I decide to take my chances-I can always call AAA if I really need to. I say a little prayer and tell God that if He could feed the multitude with that little bit of food, I knew He could make the vapors left in my gas tank last long enough to get us where we needed to go.
Thankfully, He did. We arrived at the clinic one minute after my appointment time and by the time we piled out of the truck and got in, it was five minutes past. I wasn't sure they would see me because they ask that you arrive 15 minutes early to check in. I was happily surprised when the receptionist sent me on to the waiting room rather than back out the door.
Normally, we sit in the waiting room for 5 minutes or less so I was really surprised when 10 minutes passed with us still sitting there. Chris, the pharmacist who takes care of my meds and monitors my levels, kept coming out and getting other patients but he never called me. I assumed that they were just running behind for the day. I was relieved that my being late hadn't caused a problem because they were already behind before I got there. After waiting a little longer, I finally heard my name being called. Only, it wasn't Chris. It was a lady at the counter calling me to come up there. I thought she was going to explain why it was taking so long, but instead she said to me, "Mrs. Harmon, Chris said that he can see you today if you need him to, but you have an appointment with him NEXT week."
Don't you just love days like that?
This is my new favorite song. I can definitely relate!
It's kind of a pain because the appointment is always in the middle of the day and throws a kink in our routine. By the time we're done, there are still a couple of hours to kill before the kids have to be at Tae Kwon Do but not enough time to justify using the gas to go back home (we live about 20ish miles from town). So, usually we go hang out at Grandma Debbie's for a while in between.
A couple of weeks ago, it was my clinic day. We did as much school work as we could get done for the day, had an early (for us) lunch, got everyone dressed, tae kwon do uniforms packed and ready, and headed out the door. The kids got into the van as I grabbed the last of the things we needed from the house. As I went out, I turned the lock on the inside of the door knob and pulled it closed behind me. For some reason, it didn't want to close on the first try and bounced back open. I pushed it closed again, a little harder this time to make sure it was closed good and checked to make sure it truly did close and lock.
I walked over to the passenger side of the van and tossed in the stuff I was carrying. Then, I went to get into the driver's side. I opened the door and reached into my pocket for the keys. But, I found a cell phone. Huh? Checked the other pocket, no keys. Grrr. It was then that I realized that my keys were still safely in the bowl in the house.
No big deal, we had been opening windows all week to let the fresh air in. I'll just find one that is still cracked open and send one of the kids through. I didn't realize that my "other mother" daughter had taken it upon herself to make sure that every window in the house was closed-and locked-before we left. After circling the house checking windows twice, I had to accept that she had not, in fact, missed even one window.
Still, no big deal. My husband had a key on a nail on the electrical pole somewhere. So, I called him to find out exactly where it was. Guess where it was? In the same bowl that my keys were in-inside the locked house! Apparently he had used it once and never taken it back outside. Nice.
I circled the house a couple more times thinking that maybe God would decide to zap one of the windows open if I just kept looking (He could do that if He wanted to, you know) but that didn't happen either.
I still had one last hope. My husband drives his work truck during the week and doesn't always carry his personal keys with him. He's been know to leave them in my van sometimes. So, I called again and asked him if he knew where his key to my van was. "Yeah, it's right here in my pocket." So much for that.
After a few minutes, he called me back. I had forgotten a little secret about his truck. It's possible to start it without a key. Woohoo! So, I piled the kids into the truck (which I had never driven before and hopefully won't have to again) and off we went. If I didn't get behind any slow drivers (or tractors) on the way and all the traffic lights cooperated, I would still be able to make it exactly at my appointment time.
As we were driving, I happened to glance down at the fuel gauge. Let's just say it wasn't what I wanted to see. Okay, so I'll just stop and get like $5 worth of gas to make it there and then I'll fill up when we get done. I reach over and open up my wallet to get my bank card ready, but it's not there. Oh yeah, I had it in my hand the night before with my keys. It's in the bowl too! I had no cash either. But, I did have a $10 Wal-Mart gift card. I could get gas there. Only, it's not on my way and I'm already going to be pushing it for time. I decide to take my chances-I can always call AAA if I really need to. I say a little prayer and tell God that if He could feed the multitude with that little bit of food, I knew He could make the vapors left in my gas tank last long enough to get us where we needed to go.
Thankfully, He did. We arrived at the clinic one minute after my appointment time and by the time we piled out of the truck and got in, it was five minutes past. I wasn't sure they would see me because they ask that you arrive 15 minutes early to check in. I was happily surprised when the receptionist sent me on to the waiting room rather than back out the door.
Normally, we sit in the waiting room for 5 minutes or less so I was really surprised when 10 minutes passed with us still sitting there. Chris, the pharmacist who takes care of my meds and monitors my levels, kept coming out and getting other patients but he never called me. I assumed that they were just running behind for the day. I was relieved that my being late hadn't caused a problem because they were already behind before I got there. After waiting a little longer, I finally heard my name being called. Only, it wasn't Chris. It was a lady at the counter calling me to come up there. I thought she was going to explain why it was taking so long, but instead she said to me, "Mrs. Harmon, Chris said that he can see you today if you need him to, but you have an appointment with him NEXT week."
Don't you just love days like that?
This is my new favorite song. I can definitely relate!
So, what's your true story this week? Click on the True Story Tuesday button at the top to join in.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Miscellany Monday
1.
We got a surprise on Thursday night last week when Daniel got to come home early from Texas! I didn't tell the kids he was coming, so they were really surprised to see him. He was back in OK for 16 hours and then had to leave for Texas again. Happily, he came back last night and shouldn't have to go again for at least a few weeks.
2.
When we were driving to Tae Kwon Do yesterday afternoon, Sierra randomly said, "When I'm asleep, it feels like I'm in outerspace in just my pj's...and a helmet." She cracks me up with some of the things she says! That girl can always make me smile.
3.
We have been working so hard on not eating out since we've moved and we've been doing really well. For at least the last month or so, we've only eaten out on special occasions. Other than those few times and the times we've eaten at Grandma's house, we've been cooking at home. But last night, I just couldn't bring myself to cook (mostly I REALLY didn't want to do another load of dishes), so Daniel picked up pizza on his way home. Since we hadn't done that in a while, it was sooooooooo good! I like that eating out is a treat again rather than just another meal.
4.
We're still trying to decide whether to keep the internet service we have or switch to something else. After all the trouble we had with it, they sent a tech to fix it for free and also extended out trial period. It has worked well since the tech was here, but I'm still not sure. It worked great before until 4 days after the trial period was over. Not sure I want to take that chance again. I'm not going to be happy with having to call a tech to come every time the wind blows hard. We live in OK, so we'd have to have one permanently camped in our front yard.
5.
I have started working on revamping our homeschool schedule for the rest of the school year. We've had so many random days off here and there and days that we only got to half of our work for the day that we're way off track time-wise. If we continue to do just one day of work each day, we will finish our curriculum sometime in the middle of July! While I do want to continue with some schooling through the summer, I don't want to still be working on the same curriculum we started in September. So, we're going to start doubling up some things and working some on the weekends. I know we'll have more than our required number of days by the middle of June, so I'm hoping to wrap up this first year's curriculum by then. Then, we'll work on some unit studies and fun stuff for the summer and start back with the new school year after Labor Day.
6.
I just looked over at the couch and noticed a yellow-green crayon peeking out from under the edge of it. Surely this is not the same yellow-green crayon that has been there since Friday? I'm sure that I told at least two different children at two different times to put it away. Hmm...Maybe there's just a whole bunch of yellow-green crayons under that couch and they're making their way out one-by-one. Does this happen at anyone else's house?
Okay, I'm off to get these kids some breakfast so we can get our school day started. My evil twin came over yesterday when we were getting ready for church and promised my kids that we would have chocolate chip pancakes this morning since we ran out of time yesterday. I've got to remember to take her key away. She always gets me into trouble. :)
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