Miscellany and Musings

Since I have more friends online than offline, I'm sharing this here.  Joey's doing one of those fun run things at school, and asking $1 per lap he runs.  To make it simple, the organizers have set up a website so people can pledge with a credit card. While I'm worried about him running all the laps, he said he is excited about it, and whatever gets him excited about school is something I will support.  You can click the link below and do a flat donation (which is easier and cheaper).



Here's the link to donate if you can.

Yesterday was a very interesting day for me as a parent.  I spent the day cleaning up and doing laundry and going to almost 3 birthday parties but only went to 2.  I was trying to tell Joey the importance of working together when it came to chores.  "If you pick up your toys and clothes from the floor, I can get the garbage and sweep and we'll be done twice as fast!"  He seemed to think we had to first pick up clothes, then pick up toys, then garbage, like each thing had to be its own separate event.  He saw 4 things to do while I only saw 2.  I had to explain to him that his laundry basket and toy box were in the same room, that's why he could take both at the same time.  He couldn't seem to grasp that though.  Then I had to remind myself that's only (almost) 4 years old.  Deep breaths and all that jazz.

Then once I got the house in order, I discovered we would run out of dryer sheets before I could finish the laundry, and also that I needed some 'monthly pads'.  So we go to Walgreens on the way to one party (was at work, our 1st anniversary of being out of the mall, big sale and cake and everything) and he sees me pick up the pads and asks what they're for.  So I tell him- "When girls get old enough to have babies, they bleed once a month from their coochie and these keep their underwear from getting dirty."  The look on his face was utter panic.  "Mom!  I don't want you to die!"  I explained to him that the blood came from my belly, not from the blood in my veins and that I wouldn't die.  He wasn't convinced.  He told the checkout lady that I was going to die if I didn't get those pads and thankfully she just smiled and said "I think if you give her lots of chocolate and quiet time, she'll be okay!"  Must've had some experience in this field lol.  I thanked her and we went to the party at work...

Where it was CRAZY.  We were giving away $50 gift cards and brownies and it was just a madhouse.  The floor was jammed with people (and they'd wanted me to work those 3 hours the party was going on!)  We finally wriggle our way back to the break room and have some cake and split a piece of pizza, and we didn't stay long because no one was really able to come to the back and hang out.  And my coworkers all adore Joey but they didn't have time to say hi and he was kinda upset his buddies couldn't talk to him.  He kept saying, "But they know me, they couldn't say hi?"   He was really hurt, even though I tried to tell him there were just too many people to be really friendly.

So we came home and he moped a little, then Walt came home and cheered him up, and then we met his friend and friend's mom at Golden Corral for supper.  Joey is afraid of the friend because he's tall and weighs like 450- super large dude, but nice as can be.  One of the only friends Walt has that I genuinely like.  And the guys mom was AWESOME.  She reminded me of my grandma. Joey liked her a lot too.  He even went and sat in her lap and gave her kisses and showed her how to play Bad Piggies on his tablet. (She was a PAC-man champion in Nashville at some bar she used to frequent)  We were there for almost 4 hours.  But we had a great time and Joey made a new friend lol.  When we got home and I got him cleaned up and ready to sit down and get sleepy, he said, "Why is Ma Bolin so nice and Kenny so scary?"  I tried to get him to tell me what was so scary about Kenny but he never would say, but he would smile and say "Ma Bolin is so nice, Mom!"

Today he's convinced because we went to a buffet that he's going to be a 'whole eench taller!'  And he already asked me if I had enough chocolate so I won't die from my 'belly bleeding'.  Poor thing.  Learning about menstruation has traumatized him.

My little Pea...  I took him to the doctor on 1/13 because he'd woken up in the middle of the night the night before screaming that his ears were hurting and running a really high fever.  The doctor put him on Cefdinir because I suspect he's allergic to penicillin (he broke out in a rash like chicken pox that went away after I stopped giving it to him).  A week later, there was no improvement in his ears and he now had a bad brochitis like cough so I took him to the immediate care center (the pediatrician's office was closed because of weather).  His throat also looked very streppy and his tonsils looked like they were touching each other O__O.  They put him on Bactrim, and today I took him tot he pediatrician again because this throat is not improving at all and the cough is just awful and not getting any better.

Dr says his ears are still infected, that she's pretty sure that though the rapid test didn't show it, that he's got strep.  But he doesn't have a fever so we're both scratching our heads.  He doesn't have pneumonia thank heavens, but when I asked her "Well then what does he have?"  She was quiet a moment, then asked what his age was, then thought a moment more...  She thinks he could have mono.  I had mono when I was 4 1/2 and almost died, so now I'm extremely worried about him.  She tells me not to worry, that she will do the long test for the strep and for now we'll let him finish the bactrim and look in his ears again after he's finished with that.  She mentioned tubes in his ears if the infection doesn't go away.  I'm an emotional mess right now.

She gave me an order for bloodwork but I'm not sure where in the hospital I have to take it, I will ask her tomorrow when I call her for the results of the strep test.  cornerofmadness could you translate for me?  It says:

EBV profile, CBC
cmv799(maybe 'qq'), cmv 7gm
re: pharyngitis

Deep breaths.  Everything is curable Sammy says.  I will do a healing ritual at the altar and say some prayers.  Everything will be fine I'm sure but man I hate crying in the meantime.

Joey wanted a Plants Vs Zombies cake.  I combed the internet looking for cake things and couldn't find anything.  So I made my own with some cardstock and toothpicks!! And they're all printed on both sides.  I added party hats and presents and balloons in photoshop and I am squealing at how well this turned out!! Had to share!

I did not want to roll out of bed this morning, not when it had been the first night I'd slept more than four hours in about a week.  But I did get up and go to work, and it was a good thing I did because it was FREIGHT DAY!!! I fricken love freight day!  I get to put the radio on in the back and jsut open boxes and sling clothes everywhere.  And I can go pee whenever I want and not have to do bra fits on sweaty fat women or perverted men pretending to be trannies (I waited on four REAL transgender women [or is it men?] today and all of them were super awesome... the perverted guy was not...)  Wanna see a pic of our back room?

exciting I know, but when I can listen to Led Zeppelin and Def Leppard and NOT Pit Bull and Beyonce, it doesn't much matter what I'm doing. (though I will say working out on the floor gave me a love for Ke$ha and Rhianna)

When I got off work I went to the new job and filled out some paperwork.  Today I went to location #2 of 5 (2 are across the street from each other, this was one of those 2).  The guy who hired me is so freaking cool.  Have I told you guys about him yet? my memory....  Anyway, in addition to being head of like 13 stores between Cincinnati, Louisville and Evansville, he plays in a band and teaches karate.  He saw my tattoo on my wrist that says "カ" and he laughed, saying, "Do you even know what that means?"  And I replied with a smile, "Yes, chikara means strength and power. I got it after I gave birth."  then he says something in Japanese and I stop him and tell him I know lots of words but no grammar or sentences apart from Hajimemashite.  He also went on to ask me if I knew the name of the band who had had カ written all over their drum kit and I todl him of course I do because I'm a Lt. in the Kiss Army.  My new boss high fived me and told me I was awesome.  We also talked about the difference between drywall and particleboard (which evidently it what is used for walls in storage units!!) and talked about my clogged tub drains (which are now open and draining perfectly HALALUJER!!!)

Came home (it was snowing and super cold and super windy) and was able to convince Joey into a nap.  we slept til almost 7:30, then Cliff treated Joey and I to dinner at O'Charley's.  When we got back I got Joey into the tub for the first time in over a week.  While he played and hung out, I finally decided on what to get from Adam and Eve so I could redeem my free coupon thingy.  I ended up getting THIS because I haven't found the right ben wa balls I want yet, and the coupon expires on the 28th.  I think I'll like it, and it will definitely be something I can use in combination with other toys I have, so I'm pretty pleased.  After all this, I'm slowly gathering up all the stuff I need so I can go down and get daycare assistance tomorrow.  Finding a center that's 7 days a week will be the trick though.  I know they're out there, but how far away are they and how GOOD are they are the main concerns.

More pics! 

Joey saw the Easter bunny and was so excited while we waited in line, but when we got up to him he became very shy and this was the best pic of the whole 10 clicks.

Flop seems to enjoy creeping around the tub.  I noticed kitty prints along the side when water was standing in there the other day, so no surprise that he was sitting and watching Joey in there.

Super easy super yummy cake!  1 box of angel food cake mix, one can of crushed pineapple.  combine and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, enjoy.

I haven't made any effort to force anime on Joey. I decided when I was pregnant that he would be able to choose most of what he wants to watch on tv. Today he asked for 'Chin Chan' over 'Dinosaur Train'. His favorite part of it is Hima and Whitey lol.

But that's not even the best part. I taped FMA Saturday night and I made some popcorn and asked if he wanted watch it and he said yes, then when Greedling appeared on screen he cried out 'GREEEEEED!' Then he pointed at Ed and identified him, and also did that with 'Woy'.so without any prompting from me, he knows some of the characters!

OH! And as we settled into bed, he brought me Game of Thrones to read as a bedtime story. I'm a little overwhelmed with feels right now *wibbles*

I've been rewatching FMA with a friend online and Joey heard "Let it Out" and he started dancing and clapping his hands, so I rewound the music, grabbed the camera and tried to capture it. Of course he didn't want to clap when I got the camera out, but he did dance for me!

At some point I must've held the camera funny because the sound goes a little muffled, but
it does eventually clear up.  And bonus on getting my camera shy dog Bruno in there for a bit lol.