movers and shakers

When I got back to work on Monday after Thanksgiving, I noticed that my lush ivy hanging basket was in the kitchen/breakroom. Then I got to my door and it was locked. Then I noticed my wall, which was protruding into the hall with a great big crack in it. Then I got the scoop. It seems that on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, the construction guys were pouring a 15 foot wall of concrete just outside my window. That is where the new elevator shaft access will be. It has been said they were pouring a little bit too fast. I don't know for sure, but it could make sense since they were trying to finish before the Holiday. I left at 4:30 a little early for me actually. At any rate as they got to the top foot of the 15 foot wall of concrete, at about 5pm, something happened that caused "shifting" I do not know if the 15 foot wall of concrete being poured into a steel frame actually shifted or if the weight/pressure of the wall caused my exterior wall to "shift". But my wall right where I sit in front of my computer mind you, shifted 6 inches in toward my desk. The wall is buckled, the ceiling is buckled. My entire office outer wall has been moved, and the movement extends outward either way from my office. The entire area will have to be gutted and taken apart down to the outside bricks so that they can see where the damage actually is, and then the have to rebuild it. Then it would seem that the may have to rebuild the 15 foot wall of concrete too. Hmm, makes you wonder if I will want to move back in right away or not. If you could have seen the faces of these construction company guys it was priceless. They had little to say, On the other hand, those folks who work in the hospital were awe struck. All the building -mainenance types were in there looking and talking about it, while I had to unload my office into a space 1/4 the size of where I was. I look like an elephant on top of a flower in horton hears a who. But no body can say I'm not in with the movers and shakers in this world.
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old ladies and their teeth

I used to laugh at and think it ridiculous that a little old lady in the hospital would take out her false teeth and put them on the dinner tray so that she could eat her meal. They were usually wrapped in a paper napkin. Then when she would forget to put them back in and the tray would get taken away she would discover later that her teeth were missing. By that time, the trays had been dumped and the teeth were gone forever. Well, let me tell you that it is not ridiculous anymore. On Thanksgiving, by some devil produced turn of fate, my lower removable bridge disappeared. This is something that cost several hundred dollars and is designed to help keep my other teeth in good alignment and improve my bite.When I got up from my nap with Chloe, I went to the bathroom to get my bridge out of its container and it was not ther. I had a sore in my mouth that was driving me crazy after lunch. I either took the bridge out in the car on the way home ( no witnesses, I was alone) or I took it out when I got home and laid down with Wayne and Chloe. (No responsible witnesses, Wayne was too sleepy to notice). If I took it out in the car, I must have put it in my lap, which is something I never do. I keep some orajel in the car console. I did not put orajel on my sore spot, so that makes me think I didn;t take it out in the car. But if I did take it out in the car and put it in my lap, when I got out of the car at home, the bridge would have tumbled out of my shirt folds. It was nowhere to be found when I went searching for it later. If it did hit the dirt earlier, the cat or the dog could have found it by the time I went looking for it. If I took it out when I laid down with Chloe, I put it on my bedside table, which is something I have been known to do on occasions when I am too lazy to get up and put it in the bathroom in the holder. So if it was on the bedside table, it went flying when the cat jumped on me then the ta ble to get to the window. Unless of course, the cat found it and thought it smelled good and took it with him somewhere. That somewhere has not been identified. So I am now counted among those not so little and not so old ladies who lose their teeth. Deng Dang It All Anyway. The worst part is that I have to pay for one again. Have to wait till the new year when my new healthcare flexible spending account goes into effect.

Trial by Train

The Christmas Train was in Pineville today and we took The Girl. The train was fine. The engine was covered in lights. There were 6 cars, 3 of which you could tour through. They had toy trains set up in diaramas that were cool, to say the least, Everything from tiny ice skaters to hamburger stands to movie theaters. The only thing we really couldn't figure out was Leroys Grass Shop. We don't know if he cut it, sold it or grew it. There were hundreds of things to look at inside the train, all set on a CHristmas or toy train theme. It was Holiday Overload and then some. As it turned out, The Girl was a pretty good sport, seeing as how the line was 3 blocks long when we got there at 5:15. We finished the train at 8:15. Ye Gods and little fishes, that is a long time for anyone to wait, including Mawmaw and Pawpaw. Thank goodness the line passed the only store on that side of town, There is no telling how much money they made tonight. At 7:30 there were no chips left in the store, the line to the bathroom was as long as the line to pay for items and there was very little other snack items left. There is no telling how many people were there. As it turns out, Santa came out of the train and started walking up the line. He would pick up little kids, kneel down with some, and stand with some to have their picture made. It was pretty cool. This made the line go faster, since kids were not stopping inside the train to sit on Santa's lap. It probably saved Santa's life too, since it was relatively cool outside and NOT COOL in the train cars. Sheesh. They didn't even have fans to blow. How the elves tolerated it in there flannel and felt suits I do not know. We got a great picture of Chloe and Santa together, and she can tell you "I not scare". We had to go back and see him the second time because she forgot to tell him she wanted a Barbie. So we took care of that chore too, and it just looked like we busted in the line. I did ask first and then started talking to Santa. So if someone felt we were barging in, they didn't say, and we only took 30 seconds and we were gone. Then on the way to the car we met three policemen and looked at their car and motorcylcles. She liked that too. WHen she realized that PawPaw was going to drive his truck home and not ride with us, that set her off. She cried almost the whole way home. She felt better after a brief bath and some Dora noodles in the bed with me. Then we played Baby Jesus with 3 different babies at once, till I convinced her to rock one of them, and as she rocked the baby, I rocked her. Night Night soon followed. She told me to be sure and wake her up in the morning.

no baby yet

We have no baby (half) sister yet. The Girl does not seem to be obsessed by it today. She was more interested in being the teacher today. She had fun in Dance Class. Her dad slept the whole time she was awake. She was whiny tonight right before she let me rock her to sleep. Such a sweet child most of the time.

imagination

The Girl is very observant. She has been pretending for some time about going to the hospital, whether it is herself, the dog, the baby doll, the rabbit statue, whatever. Usually the sick one is bleeding and needs a shot. Sometimes they have to stay overnight. She is very in to Curios George Goes to the Hospital. George has swallowed a piece of the new puzzle and has a tummy ache. He goes to the hospital and has xrays, has surgery and has a funny recovery. We sit there and say " Don't do it George" but he swallows the puzzle piece anyway, or he gets in the go cart anyway. He just doesn't listen. She compares him to two boys in her class who also don't listen. When we are getting ready to go to sleep, she pretends to be the teacher and fusses at the two boys for not going to sleep at nap time. She also tells me "I'm not tire" or "I not sleepy" and I say, OK, just lay down with me while we watch our show. The quieter I am the sooner she goes out. She sometimes tells me " I had a good nap" or "I had a bad dream". She says she dreams about bad guys with knives that go to jail. Her Daddy puts the bad guys in jail. Her mama told her about jail. She is tired of waiting for the baby to come. We were told the baby was coming today, but alas, the plans have changed and supposedly the doctor wants the mama to keep going till the water breaks. Appearantly he doesn't want to induce now. Funny how he did last week.,,,. makes you say HMMM. Any way, her mama wants us to continue to keep her till Thanksgiving evening like we have planned because she is just too tired to take care of her!!!!! Good thing there is someone here to help out. Anyway I digress. We go to dance class today, That always makes her happy. She does better each class.

Almost a big sister.

The time is very near for THE GIRL to become THE BIG SISTER, even if it is really a half-sister. She is anticipating the arrival of the baby. I hope she gets through the transition ok. She has been getting in the baby bed and is delighted to be able to do so. She seems to have the idea that it really is for the baby, but she was thrilled to be in it, play with the blankets etc. The baby will be induced on Monday if she does not arrive before that day. Her brother did not handle the transition well, and seems to still not tolerate her very well. She is the same age now that he was when she was born. She is better adjusted that he is. Let us hope it sticks.

I am now told that the other grandmother plans to keep her some of the time right after the baby is born. Too bad I wasn't notified. She hasn't wanted to keep her much at all, and now when we thought we would have her more, she wants to help out. Ouch. Then there's Thanksgiving. I bet they plan for her to be over there...hello, could we discuss it please. Not that The Girl has a clue about Thanksgiving, it's just that we are always second in line for consideration.

Choices

How can a three year old know enough to make choices? We have tried to teach her by example and by talking that she can make choices sometimes, like what to eat or wear, or to behave appropriately, etc. How do they learn it and how do they process their thoughts and emotions. Yesterday was Sunday. The Girl had been with us since Friday afternoon. She asked me is she could go to her mama's house. I of course said yes. Then asked her if she wanted to call her mama on the phone. No she wanted to go see the baby bed. She had remembered that her mama was getting the baby bed put up this weekend. The baby is due any day now. I told her we could go later & did she want to stay there or come back here. Our original plan was for her to stay with us through Monday morning when I would take her to day school. She wanted to stay at her mama's house. She would become distracted for a few hours but would ask again. Her mom called about 5pm to check on her and to see when she was coming home. I told her we had planned to keep her till school time, but that she had asked to go home to see the baby bed. She said that it was up and she was available so I asked CHloe again about going home and she still wanted to go. I felt a little odd about this. She was choosing her mama over me!! Of course, that is not actually the case, she was choosing the baby bed over me. Still she was making a decision based on her wants and needs. She has always opted to stay with us before and has easily cried when she would go home. WHen we did get to the house, she told her mama hello and went straight to her mama's room to look at the baby bed. She came back in the living room to get us and we went to go see. It is her baby bed redone with precious pink linens bought by MawMaw Becky. Her mom put her in the bed and she was delighted. She checked out all the blankets and started laying down and covering up with them. She told her mama she was going to sleep there. She almost fills it up. She was giggling and talking all about it. Her mama said, You crack me up. and she laughing again said, Mama I quack you up. Her mama had to con her into getting out of the bed to take a bath etc with a promise that she could sleep in it if she was good. I left her in a happy mood with her mom. I should be happy about that. It was good to see her so happy since she has seemed so unsettled in her moods when we tak e her home lately. I hope that this continues through the birth and transition to being big sister. Her safety and security and well being are utmost in our priorities. She made a good choice. What an accomplishment.

Time to decorate

The Girl told me this evening that it is time to decorate OUR house for Christmas. I said yes indeed you are right. I said we can get some lights and put them up. She said We need a pink Crhistmas tree. too cute. I told her we had a tree, but I thought it might be green. We told PawPaw it was time to start getting our stuff down. He groaned. but he wil get over it. If this makes her happy and gets her thinking about Christmas, then why not. The Girl is having some kind of anxiety in her life as she has started to suck on her fingers and or clothing. I think it is too close to the new baby's arrival and her mother has been a little crazy lately and it is showing wear and tear on the girl. I know she can sense when things are not right. I talked to her mother about the sucking, she said, oh yeah that is her newest thing she does. End of statement. I asked about her speech impediment and when was the last time she had been to the dentist. We need to see if she is tongue tied. Well her mother knows everything because she worked in a pedi dentists office for about a year. She says she will b e able to take her soon. We'll see. Just lke she didn't go back for the followup with speech therapy. But don't get me started on that. Back to decorateing, we have to take down our black and silver ghosties and get ready to put something else up.....no tellikng how much stuff will go up this year since she is interested in it. And we will get her to make some things, that will be way cool.

when will they ever learn

I assume that every generation asks this question about the younger generation, whatever the age of either. My son has again messed up the good that is going on in his life. He has actually spoken the words, Yes I ----'d up and I am sorry.... so that is a step in the right direction, but of course it is too late. Had he thought about his actions first, the ordeal would not exist. Drama junkies don't even know they thrive on it. It puts them into an alternate state... Mental illness will never be fully understood, but this is part of it. Mother nature screwing with your head. The inner turmoil and pressure that it causes in the person helps to perpetuate the issue of not needing medication to control the feelings that plague the person. "I'm not crazy" is their motto and their reason not to be medicated by a health professional. Self medication is rampant, but of course that is different. I started to write God help us all... but that brings up another question....

Halloween continues

Halloween was good for The Girl. She had a party at school, was able to wear her costume to school, there were 5 Cinderellas in all, a Tinkerbell, a Woody, an Astronaut, I can't remember the others right now. Then she went to dance class with her PawPaw. Then we went to Grandma's, the favorite and only neice's and the only aunt on our side. She wanted to stay at each place and not go with her mom to a big shindig. We coaxed and diverted until we got there and she saw her other PawPaw. Things got better then. When her 6 year old half brother saw her, his face turned to a thundercloud. He told his mother he did not want her there. I don't trust him at all. I fear that he will hurt her if he goes into a rage. Her mother won't discuss it. No telling how he will feel when the new baby comes. At any rate she was ready to have a big time with her other PawPaw when we left. THe finace' could not get her mother to answer her calls so that she could be with her son. Typical passive aggressive behavior on the mother's part. All in her plan to put a wrench in the plans over and over. That is another whole kettle of fish/