trunk or treat

We took The Girl to a Halloween gathering at church, actually in the church parking lot. There was me, pawpaw and Daddy and the Girl. She was a ballerina - fairy - princess all in pink satin and feathers. She was quite shy at first, but after a little while she was in to it big time. She went up and down the parking lot with her daddy, getting candy and lots of oohs and aahs. She played some bean bag toss games and won some prizes, like a blue skull ring. WHen it was time for the costume contest, she did not win, but the judges thought she was so cute, she got a prize anyway. Of course, we know the judges very well, and we hadn't seen them in so long, I guess the just HAD to give her something. She made a haul with candy. and ate a little of it. She is saving some for her Daddy's fiancee's son.

shopping with two young women

I had fun tonight shopping with two young women. One I have known since before she was born. She is my favorite (ok and only) neice. I love her very much. The other I have known for 4 years, but very well for the past 7 months. She is my almost one day daughter in law. I love her too. It was interesting to see the two of them interacting and shopping and seeing what they like. They seemed quite at ease with each other. We were looking at some holiday gift items set up in a market as a fund raiser. It was a good concept, able to move around and see lots of stuff. Talking to one and then to the other, then both of them together. These two girls are really cute and funny and smart. They are very different, but alike too. I had fun, hope we can do it again.

an angry moment

It is not good to get aggravated near the end of a frustrating day. At least not good for me. I got so angry this afternoon, but now thinking about it I have had some time to process the situation. I sent my monthly report up the line to my two superiors. Of course, like happens EVERY MONTH, they have questions and want to change what I am reporting. They only do this the day before the big committee meeting. Last time we had the meeting, I prepared my report but it was presented by someone else because I was off that day. There was not mention of needing to change the report form or details in the report. So after I worked the report up today and sent it in for their approval. The report had been worked up by me and my co worker who is smart and pretty savvy. After quitting time, while I am handling a problem, in comes my first level superior who tells me that she and the next one up have some questions and concerns about the report. SURPRISE SURPRISE. The problem is they don't know what they want reported until they see what I am reporting, then they want to change it. Could they possiblly think about changing it right after the last meeting so there will be time to make the changes and gather the appropriate information in a snesible manner. EVIDENTLY NOT. And WHY do I get upset about it when I know it is coming? Why do I let it bother me? Why don't I just say "OK" change what they want and move on.....Sounds like a head shrinking question to me.

getting ready for Christmas

It is well past time to start getting ready for Christmas. Financial constraints of late have hindered me a great deal. Things should be better with my next paycheck. I am pondering what on earth to get for The Girl. Books, creativity items like crayons and stickers and scissors...she loves to cut and glue. There is an interactive pad that hooks up to the TV that she would dance on. That sounds like fun. I want to make her some dance outfits. I want to have a family photo made and I want some portrait shots of her in her Christmas clothes. Perhaps she will be in the mood to dress up and be still (HA) this week end. ..Then when my brother comes down at Christmas time, we can also get a whole family photo. Time is running out to arrange these things, so the smart thing to do would be to schedule these instead of worrying about them. Speaking of family photos, we should take the opportunity when presented to take photos. and I see that we as a group are not doing that....maybe too much going on to think about the camera. So I have to put that on my list of things to do too.

time flies

How could it have so many days since my last posting. Time flies whether you are having fun or not. And as I get older, it seems to go faster, I guess because of the perception that there is only so much time left in my life. Not that I am ready to pack it in. I have a lot to do before the medical students explore my innards. The Girl was with us two days this week. We missed dance class because we were at the doctors office till almost 5pm for a 3:30 appointment. It was a short notice appointment because she has developed a cough since we brought her back to her mom.(One day) and when I chastised her mom about still not having had the followup appointment from the tonsillectomy and ear surgery IN AUGUST, she called for the appointment. The doctor visit went well, we got 2 presciptions and got her started on her meds and she has cleared up quite well. Time goes even faster when she is with us. She is a busy bee with lots of imagination. She had her PawPaw helping her take care of her babies the other day. Too Cute. "PawPaw, your baby is crying for you", "PawPaw your baby is hungry" She also LOVES to play Mary and Baby Jesus. She is almost always Mary, but sometimes she is Joseph. She also likes to be Baby Jesus, depending on her mood. But she LOVES to be Mary, with any kind of cloth on her head and shoulders, usually a small baby blanket. We nod our heads back and forth like they do on the Wiggles Crhistmas CD's when we sing the various songs that go along with the Nativity.

tap shoes

The GIrl wore her tap shoes to day school on Wednesday. Evidently she did not have another pair to change into either. I had asked her mom to let me take the dance clothes home after class so that we would have them for the next Tuesday, but alas, that didn't happen. So I will get them Saturday when I pick her up. I would prefer that the tap shoes stay in the dance class bag or in the dance studio so as not to mess them up, and next Tuesday she will come home with us so we will have some say in what happens to the shoes and the rest of the stuff.

the she devil reigns

I want to pinch that witches head off sometimes. She neglected to tell me that plans had changed yesterday and that she would not be at her mothers going through baby clothes when it was time for us to bring The Girl home from a birthday party. There was no answer at her mother's house and there was no answer at her house ( not unusual,,she frequently doesn't answer her phone) So when I drove up to her house to see if she was home, Shawn answered the door and said she and Caleb were taking a nap. I said what am I supposed to do? Are you going to watch her now? He said, I can see you are upset that Brandi didn't tell you about the change of plans. I said no she didn't tell me and there is no answer at her mothers. Brandi got up from her nap and was ugly, telling The Girl to come on in the house. I hated her at that moment. Too damn lazy to call me and ask me to keep her till after her nap. She'd rather let me drive her all over town. Today she blamed The GIrl's fussiness on the fact that she has been with her father. What a load of crap. I reminded her that she has been fussy since the surgery and that I have talked to her about it on more than one occassion. THen I brought up the fact that it could be a number of things, such as the fact that Shawn is in and out of the house all the time she hung up on me. I called back and left her a message she may or may not listen to tell her that unless we heard differently from her, Wayne would pick her up for dance class and then bring her back to her house as previously arranged. I truly hope that what goes around comes around in her case.

take care of your teeth

How many times did your mother have to tell you to brush your teeth before you would do it? Don't tell me or I may be required to haunt you later. As a kid, my dental health was generally left to me which means it was neglected until the day in Junior HIgh that we had a dental class. We paired up and examined the partners mouth for teeth health. I failed my exam and a form was sent home with me. My folks hit the ceiling. I started going to the dentist regularly at that point. It was not pretty. I was scared to death and he was not the most compassionate person. I have a vivid memory of him trying to pull a tooth when I was younger, a baby tooth perhaps. He wanted to give me a shot and of course I wouldn't let him. He snuck up behind me, yanked my hair which jerked my head back and my mouth open. He jumped in and pulled the tooth. Good Lord. If someone did that to my child or grandchild I would have smacked him on the spot. Of course, today there is a whole different way of dealing with the diffifcult pediatric patient. Anyway, after the Junior High exam, he was appalled at the condition of my teeth and told me I would have dentures by the time I was thirty. He was wrong, thank God. I did have to continue to see him for quite some time. There is no telling how much it cost my parents for the work he did. Once a developed a swelling on the lower jaw between the teeth and the cheek. It started out quite small and hard and by the time I got in to see him, it was pretty big and fluid filled. Without deadening it, he sliced the thing open to drain it. I don't remember the rest of the treatment. I have been to a few dentists since then. One that I thought was pretty good, but as I have been told lately, was not doing the best work that could have been done at the time. He also would jimmy the insurance information to get the best response, which put me in a bad postion. His partner went out on his own and we followed him. The point is ....if you don't want to be writing something like this in a few years, take better care of your teeth.

a whirling dervish

A whiling dervish is something to behold. In my opinion, it is a person who is working like a madman, causing a dust storm to whirl up as the arms and legs are moved at an alarming pace. The said dervish in my mind is a brightly clad bearded man of Indian heritage, brown arms outstretched as his bare feet move him in a circle at whirl wind speed. There is music in the background, the onlookers are amazed at the sight. And the feat is accomplished in record time. I worked like a whirling dervish today and enjoyed it. I got so much done. I was helping my sister unload boxes and get rooms ready during her move to a new house. We started at 8 this morning and worked until 3pm. The only regret is that I could not keep going as I had another pressing matter to attend to. With the help of my son's fiancee' we got the quilting room together, cleared up some space in the spare bedroom, got more organized in the kitchen and continued to do laundry and organize the laundry room. I can continue to help her out in the evenings this week if she needs me. It is amazing what we can cram into our lives. We are people of STUFF. Stuff for this and stuff for that, and stuff we may need one day. She will be looking for some of her stuff for a while, since she (my sister) could not be everyplace that someone was working on putting stuff up. I expect to get calls from her such as "Do you know where the spare light bulbs are" or "Did you see my so and so yesterday?".

My dentist

My dentist is a dream. She (yes, she) is so kind and compassionate. I have been having some dental problems lately and what was going to be a little cavity repair under a permanent bridge turned into fitting for a removable bridge and the extraction of 3 now useless teeth, two that were very old root canals that had turned to rubble and one that lost the chance to be the anchor tooth of the new permanant bridge I couldn't pay for. The extractions happened on Friday. On Saturday I helped my sister move into her new house. I did pretty well with the medication the doc had given me. But on Sunday morning when I went to get another pill, the bottle was there but the pills were almost all gone. They had been whisked away by a person whose identity I am sure of but remains unproven. The sad part is that I had fooled myself into thinking that activity of this nature was in the past. More about that later. So Sunday was not as good a day as it could have been. I still managed to help my sister and keep up with The Girl...she "washed the dishes" at the new house for at least 30 minutes and she played with Bud the huge dog and she mad tea for me and her baby doll. This morning, I didn't feel so hot, but because I was going to the dentist at 1pm, I went in to work. I progressed to feeling icky and had a face/jaw/sinus ache. I took my one remaining pain pill and left about an hour later for the doc. When I got there, I told my sad tale of not feeling too good and having some really sore spots, etc. My dentist listended and looked and got busy. I had 3 dry sockets. I did ok with the irrigation and snipping of necrotic tissue, but then she had to pack the 3 sockets. Ouch, ouch, triple ouch. I thought I would shudder. Once the packing was in place, it began to feel better as it contains an anesthetic as well as antibacterial agent. We talked about how to take care of the packing and so forth. We talked about the missing pills. We talked about drug abuse/addiction and how the person who uses hurts themselves and everyone around them to one extent or another. She did not condem or judge the situation, at least not to me. Her focus turned to getting me taken care of. I was comforted. Her worlds had quite an impact on me. I must say that since the office visit and the start of 3 new medications, I feel much better. I also feel a little better about the world in general.