Archive for the ‘The Boy’ Category
Twelve Days of Christmas
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Christmas is no longer one day a year… it is a whole season. And the heart of the season is a two week span… from a few days before the 25th to a few days after the start of the new year.
We have (like many lucky folks) been busy with family, friends and church. We have our family traditions that, although they don’t seem to change year from year, become more and more meaningful each year.
The Boy was part of the youth group’s Christmas play. This is third installment in the series; and each year we have the church potluck dinner first and then the play (nothing like dinner and entertainment, right?). They added a Sunday community performance – it’s a bit less attended, but still very nice.
There was supposed to be a Christmas party for my work, but Mother Nature and her pal Snow Storm got in the way. So even though there was no actual party, it was nice to know the bosses put the effort into the planning of it.
With my knee issues, decorating didn’t get done timely or in full swing. No lights on the outside of the house (the up side of that is – we don’t have to take them down, either!). The tree went up the week before Christmas – very late for us. I had The Boy do most of the actual hanging of ornaments. Traditionally, The Hubby is in charge of setting up the tree in the stand and putting the lights on; The Boy and I are in charge of ornaments. Since we got an artificial tree a few years ago, The Hubby’s portion has gone down in time, effort and swearing. And it’s even a pre-lit tree, so no untangling of strings of lights either. It’s pretty much get it out of the box, make sure we have the right parts in the right places, and plug it in.
I did the rest of the house decorating – but again, very light and modest in comparison to previous years. And my friend Sally give me her annual post-Christmas purchase for Christmas (she gets great deals after Christmas and gives me my ornaments in time to decorate for the next Christmas) – some nice sparkly (I guess that’s a word!) beaded ornaments.
The Hubby and I went to church the Sunday before Christmas. The Boy was doing the reading that day, and the Sunday School kids led the worship with a drama. We generally don’t go to Christmas Eve services. The early services tend to be packed with families (not that I don’t like families, but it is a small church and I like my space) and lately there hasn’t been a midnight service at our church. I did think about going to my aunt’s church – but their later service was only at 10 and I decided against it. We opened family gifts – the ones from me to The Hubby, from The Hubby to me, and our presents to The Boy. Santa came overnight and filled stockings and left more presents under the tree. We opened those around 9 or so – it is so nice to have a teenager who sleeps in and not a toddler waking you up at 4 am!!
I invited my parents over for dinner and made a chicken. I have to say, that was one of the best chickens I have ever had. I got a large bird – about 7 pounds – and roasted it in the pan I ususally use for Thanksgiving turkey. I really didn’t do much to prep the bird – just washed it out, put some salt and pepper on it and threw some salt/pepper in the cavity – then into the oven for 2 hours. I used the brand new Cuisinart hand blender my parents gave us for Christmas and whipped up some awesome mashed potatoes. Add in the green bean casserole, and it was a pretty good meal. I pulled out the banana bread, ice cream and homemade chocolates for dessert.
Friday was a prep day for our big family Christmas. I was making all homemade gifts for everyone, so I had to get cracking on the chocolate portion of the gifts. I had already made the cookies – but hadn’t had time to get the chocolates done. I was making baskets for K&E and J&S to give them on Movie Night, so I concentrated on getting those done first. It turned out we went to J&S’s early to talk with Steve about the XBox 360 and gaming, so I was really under pressure to get them done quickly. When I was ready, we headed over to J&S’s place for movie night. We were going to watch The Island (which is a great movie and I had actually just talked to someone about it), but once they heard that we had watched it, they wanted to pick another movie. Jo offhandedly said – hey we could go see The Spirit and The Boy was like “Field Trip!” and we ended up going out for movie night. I wasn’t overly impressed with the movie, but it didn’t suck completely.
So, Saturday was the big family party at my aunt’s house in Windsor. I had to get seven more baskets done before noon, so I was up at 8 am starting my chocolates. I managed to get everything done (the baskets, present wrapping for the niece and nephews, and wrapping the family swap present) in time and off we went to party with the family. We had a pretty big crowd (about 40, I think) and had a great time eating and drinking and playing games. The big boys (the over 15 year olds) actually took over the Wii and bowled quite a bit. We did a present exchange – whoever you wanted to give presents to. Aunts and uncles gave to nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters exchanged gifts, etc. Then we had a Yankee Gift Swap. The basic idea is to get a gift (you set a dollar amount – we used $20) and it gets put into the pot. Whoever gives a gift, gets a gift. We had 12 presents, so the twelve of us got to pull a number to determine what order to pick the gifts in. Number one has the best deal of all. That was my Aunt Joanne this year… she got to pick first. Then the second person picks a gift and unwraps it. They can either keep it or swap it for the first gift. This goes on and on – the current gift picker can exchange the gift in hand for any of the previous gifts. But… poor Number One you might be thinking… gets stuck with whatever they first got or got stuck with in an exchange….not so quick there. Number One actually gets to pick AGAIN at the end… so clearly number one is the best number to pick. And Aunt Joanne knows how to pick them – she opened the CVS gift card first and then took it from my brother at the end!
Then we did our new thing – the family story thing. I got nominated to start first, so I shared the story about the Camaro we bought in Rancho Cucamonga. Mom went next and shared a story about her father in law and her husband when he was a boy. Aunt Joanne shared some pictures of her parents with Cabbage Patch Dolls for Christmas presents. Aunt Marilyn told us how she and Uncle Carl met in college. My cousin Elaine shared a story about her and her husband’s trip to Canada. So now Mom & I will get the pictures scanned and type up the stories for a family book of memories. I hope this is something we do every year.
Sunday was our annual Holiday Halftime party. We basically have an open house for friends, co-workers, church friends, etc. Last year we probably had over 80 people, so we were expecting a crowd. The invitation was a bit late coming out this year, so I think that contributed to a smaller crowd this time around. We had so much food!! (And we still do!) Everyone was generous with bringing something and we had the basics of clam chowder, chili, and meatballs. My dad made a venison chili which was a big hit. I actually bought a deli platter that was to serve 20 – 24 people – and it never made it upstairs to the table!! Even though it was a smaller group, we still had a great time.
And for New Year’s Eve, we will be heading to J&S’s place for a night of games and The Twilight Zone. We’re bringing a bunch of food and drinks; they are providing soup and bread and other goodies.
On Saturday The Boy is having about 10 friends over to have a Rock Bank party. So I am sure whatever food I have left by then will be devoured by Saturday night!
I hope your holiday season, whether Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa is happy, healthy and full of love and joy!
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We interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update…
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
<serious tone> Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, we interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update.
Well, I went to the orthopedist on Thursday the 13th. I had my dad drive me – I was half expecting the doctor to work some magic and then I wouldn’t be able to drive. So the doctor looks at my knee, pushes here and there, generally causes me misery and says, yup, you have a problem here. He took some x-rays in his office; I waited for 10 minutes and he came back and showed me perfect pictures of my perfect bones. No fragments, no bone bits running around in there – which is good news. He told me due the pain I was in and the lack of issues on the x ray, he was going to send me for an MRI.
Now, I was hoping he was just going to drain my knee and I could go on my merry way. But he was concerned about the cartilage in my knee, and draining would not take care of that. So the MRI was ordered so he could get a good look at the inside of my knee without surgery. (Gotta love a doctor who isn’t ready to cut you up any chance he gets!).
Of course, it is not as simple as just making an appointment for an MRI. It needs to be pre-approved by your insurance. (I hear they are kinda expensive tests, if you can believe that!). So I waited Friday (patiently), Saturday and Sunday (mostly patiently – after all, it is the weekend), and all the way up to Monday afternoon before I called the doctor’s office to check on the status. They were very helpful, but it was still “in process”. I got the call from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, calling to make the appointment. So I guessed it got approved. After setting up the MRI for Friday the 21st, I called the ortho doctor to make an appointment for 3 or 4 days after that. Unfortunately, because of his schedule and the impeding Thanksgiving holiday, the earliest I could get in was Monday DEC. 1. URGGG!! But, at least I have the MRI appointment within the week, so it really is the best I could hope for.
So I had The Hubby drive me to the hospital for the MRI. Now, MRI’s are not invasive – no needles, no medication – so I didn’t necessarily need him to drive me. But I knew I would feel better if I knew he was out there for me if I needed him. Plus, I didn’t know how tired out I would be from holding so still for 30 or more minutes in what I assumed would be a difficult position for my knee.
So we go through all the paperwork junk and are in the waiting area for the MRI. It turns out the MRI is actually in a semi trailer attached to the hospital. It’s my turn to go in (there was someone before me) and I hobble into the enclosed room. Now, since this is a giant magnet, they don’t want you to have anything metallic on your person or in your clothing. I was prepared – yoga pants, sports bra, tshirt, no jewelry or watch – so I laid down on the table and the technicians put my knee into a tube (cut in half horizontally), put a support under my knee, put the top half of the tube on, re-adjusted my knee, wedged some foam in between my knee and the tube and then was put inside the MRI tube.
They told me there would be loud noises, gave me a set of headphones to listen to the radio, gave me the “panic” button if I was in too much pain or freaking out, and left the room. They were right – it is definitely loud. It reminded me of the sound diesel trucks make while they are just waiting at stop lights or parking lots. Then there would be a different set of noises – just as loud, but different, like tapping.
I practiced my tai chi breathing. I breathed in slowly, felt it move up from my feet to my head, and then down again as I exhaled. It was a little distracting with the noise, but not horribly so. My mind wandered a bit – I started to think about things I had to do and how my knee was hurting. Every time I thought about my knee, I refocused on my breathing. About halfway through the MRI, the tech came on the headphone set to tell me it was halfway done and that I was doing fine. It was about this point that I started to have the strangest sensation. I felt my knee muscles twitch. I was sure they were going to tell me to stop moving – but I didn’t hear anything from the techs. I kept feeling the muscles move – spasm is probably a better word for it. It didn’t hurt – it was just like an involuntary muscle movement. I just kept on breathing and picturing my first tai chi section.
So I finished up the MRI, put my shoes back on (man was it chilly in there! my toes were getting numb!) and hobbled back to The Hubby. We drove up to his office, I dropped him off and I ran a few errands before going home. Once I got home, I seemed to have a burst of energy. I cleaned up the kitchen, made the taco meat for The Boy, and made a batch of Rice Krispie treats.
Now, to make the rice krispie treats, I had to go downstairs to get the marshmallows. I have been wanting to bake for over a week now, and I figured rice krispies would be simple enough, but I never got around to going to the basement to get the marshmallows. So I got down there, did some re-arranging of the stockpile, and brought up some things I had been wanting – including the marshmallows.
I got myself set up on the couch to start my work for the day. I generally have my knee up while I work on the couch. The Hubby moved a small table behind the couch and I have the printer, my Scan Snap and a basket of office supplies on it. There is room for the laptop when I am not using it, plus a little spot for a glass if I am thirsty. Overall, it works (but I sure do miss being in my office). So, I got started on some work stuff until The Hubby called and asked me to pick him up at lunchtime. We were going to go pick up his car from getting the oil changed. So I ran up to his office, then up to the car dealership, and then back home.
The afternoon was nothing special – some more work and The Boy came home and then went out with some friends. After dinner, I took him to another friend’s house for a party and he got a ride home from that. We went to bed kind of late (11:30 or so) because we got sucked into our new Netflix account (more on that later on sometime).
I slept for 6 and 1/2 hours straight! NO dogs, no cat, no snoring woke me up. I only woke up because I needed to go the bathroom – and then I fell back asleep for another hour until the dogs woke me up. I can’t remember the last time I slept that long without interruption! It felt so good.
When I did get out of bed, I noticed my knee didn’t seem to hurt as much. I took a closer look, and it doesn’t look at all swollen today! It still hurts to walk on it or bend it, but the swelling seems to be gone (for now anyway!). I can almost see the light at the end of this tunnel – and it may not even be a truck ready to run me over!
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Happy Birthday!
Monday, July 14th, 2008
It’s is The Boy’s birthday today. He is officially 15. As I pointed out to The Hubby last night, we now have 365 days of peace of mind left – that is, until the day he gets his drivers’ learners permit!
I expect he will be a pretty decent driver – but it’s a bit nerve-wracking to think of.
Just 15 short years ago (the days are long, but the years are short!) I was lying in a hospital bed, so tired that it took actual effort to hold on to the baby! And now he is just one year away from starting his real independence from us. You know, when he can get into a car and leave us, all on his own.
Next thing you know, he’ll want to move out, go to college, meet a girl (or two, or more), find the right girl, get married, have babies and wonder where the hell time went as his 16 year old drives off.
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Summer Schedule
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Ok, summer schedule is definitely here.
You all know how it goes… during the school year, you have your “regular” schedule. You get the kids off to school, go to work, go to the store, etc., etc. – pretty much the same thing all the time. Every once in awhile something pops up – hey, let’s go to Jo’s for dinner! – but really, you live your schedule.
Then, out of nowhere – well, actually, out of May – it starts. There are half days of school. End of school trips and parties. And before you know it, summer has hit you. Now you’ve got the little kiddie(s) with you ALL THE TIME.
Gone is the … hmmm, I feel like having a nice light, small lunch at 1:30. I am running my errands whenever I feel like it (anytime before 3 anyway!) It’s ok if my stop at my parents takes 45 minutes instead of 5 minutes.
Nope… it’s: hey, mom, I’m gonna play video games while you are working. And when is lunch? And how come it’s so late? And I don’t like what you’re having. And when will you be back? And when are you going?
Now, don’t get me wrong. The Boy is great, he really is. I think we have raised him to be pretty self sufficient. He doesn’t pester. He has learned to clue me into his plans early so I am not surprised by them and if I am not happy about them, we have time to discuss them.
But, the “carefree” days are gone. Summer Schedule has hit.
But there is an upside. We get to talk about stuff more. He isn’t rushed with school work so he’s got plenty of time to be social with me during the day. He really hasn’t come down with that teenager attitude of “no way am I talking to my parents”. Of course, since he doesn’t have siblings, who else is there to talk to at home?
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T shirts
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
The Boy ordered some shirts a week or so ago. Here are two of his new shirts:
Got to love the Star Trek reference. I, of course, do not think he is expendable, but I love his willingness to wear make fun of the Ensign Ricky syndrome.
I am not sure if he got this because of the Star Trek: The New Generation introduction of the Borg (“Resistance is Futile”) or if he gets that it is an electrical thing with the “if less than 1 ohm”, or if he gets that it combines the two geeky parts for a super-geeky whole.
So this is how the Next Generation spends its’ money – tshirts with silly sayings on them. (Like I wouldn’t do the same!)
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A busy week
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Well, it has been a busy week.
Hubby and I went to Boston on Sunday and stayed through Tuesday afternoon. He had a seminar to attend and I decided to tag along. The Boy stayed at home (with grandma & grandpa next door) – although he has been so busy that he was hardly home either.
It was a nice trip. I worked in the hotel room while he was at the seminar. I did take a walk around abit – found a computer store and looked at laptops for The Boy. I walked next to the Charles River. I forgot how windy and cold it gets around the river. I couldn’t imagine being these ladies:
Our hotel was very nice…except we got the Steven King room:
Yes, we were in Room 1408. I have to say, it was much nicer than the one John Cusack was in – if for no other reason than it wasn’t haunted or drive us insane.
When we got back on Tuesday night, we picked up The Boy at his play rehearsal. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty typical – except i was getting ready for our church’s Trivia Night. I had to buy the soda and candy and get organized. I had to call my help to make sure they were still available and double check on those who had signed up. I was thinking we would have about a dozen groups playing; we ended up with seven.
I have mixed feelings about it – it is a lot of fun and really not that much work – but it doesn’t seem to make alot. We only made about $220 for the Mission Fund at church. We do get a few groups from outside the church that come – so it’s not just regular church members. Everyone has a good time, so i guess i should be happy with that and not worry about how much it did or did not make.
I have a few things exciting coming up for next week (I hope!).. so stay tuned!
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Busy, Busy, Busy
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Yes, I know it has been a while since I last posted. It seems to have been a very busy stretch of time. I also haven’t felt much like writing – and I’ve noticed I haven’t been cruising around the web so much lately.
So, anyway…
we had a karate graduation at the end of April.
So here is The Hubby and The Boy (it’s nice when they graduate together!). Hubby is now going to be wearing the blue uniform; The Boy will be getting geared up for his brown belt test. Everything went well during graduation – although it was awfully quick! I didn’t get my camera ready in time to tape them doing their kata, so I got to watch and enjoy it.
Then later that day….
The Boy had to go to a friend’s house to work on a school project. This is how well that went:
Yes, that is a sprained ankle, propped up on a pillow. He was playing football (he was forced to, you understand) and got tackled and pulled and stretched and twisted. We made him suffer through on Saturday, and then when it wasn’t feeling at all better on Sunday I made the family go to the emergency room and get xrays to make sure it wasn’t broken.
Now, I have broken my ankle (so badly that I needed pins inserted!) so I know that if it is broken he is going to be crying and be absolutely miserable until it is cast. I was pretty sure it wasn’t broken, but I wanted to make sure that there were no hairline fractures. Plus, if he was going to be on crutches, I wanted him to have a doctor’s note to make life easier at school.
So I ended up having to take him from his high school to his arts high school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That wasn’t too bad. It was the picking him up on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that really threw me for a loop. That sucked up so much time out of my day! And I hate driving in the city – I have no patience for it. So I was a bit cranky about it. But I knew that he would be more miserable on the crowded bus – and possibly hurt his ankle again if he got jostled around. It was only three days – so I could live with that.
Except…
his arts school had their prom on Thursday night. So, on the day I didn’t have to drive him to school, I had to drive him to his prom at the school. At pick him up. At 10 o’clock at night. In the city.
And then…
Friday rolls around and he is convinced I have run away with his black binder that has his school play in it. I, of course, have not. He can’t find it anywhere. I make him call his high school to see if it is in the lost and found there. It isn’t. The arts school is closed on Fridays and I know for a fact that no one is there that day. I can see him try to figure out how to convince me to go up there so he can look around. He offers that it may be in the building across the street where he takes his yoga class. I have him call; no answer. I have no pity (he must think, anyway). But I tell him to call again, this time after lunch hour, and he gets a receptionist. They do have a key to the room, so guess what? Yup, for the FIFTH day in a row, a drive to the city. He does find his binder (black binder on a black box – no one saw it there for 2 days!) and is happy as a clam (how happy are clams, anyway?).
So… I just have not felt like writing much, even though there is plenty to write about. And that’s just part of my exciting week or two off from posting.
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Ever have a day…
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
That isn’t horrible, not necessarily bad, but things just don’t go the way you want them to?
Yesterday was a day like that. I think most of my problems stemmed from the fact that at lunchtime I went to the grocery store and when I came home, I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat lunch. Everything was mostly ok – no big issues or problems – until I had to go to the city to pick up The Boy from school. Normally he goes home on the bus, but he had a play to watch and wasn’t done until 5 pm, so no bus for him.
I hate driving in the city.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour and then not be able to find parking near the school.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour and then not be able to find parking near the school and then when I do find parking, it is next to impossible to get OUT of the parking space to get The Boy when he calls to say he is ready.
And I’m hungry.
Let me tell you a story about me being hungry. This is when Hubby and I were first together – not yet married. He got a promotion and had to move from CT to CA. This was a temporary job for 3 months, until the company and he were both sure he was a right fit for the job. They put him up in a hotel, paid his expenses, all was grand. They were even generous enough to pay for my ticket to visit him for 2 weeks. So, I went out to visit him. I had absolutely NOTHING to do every day for two weeks during the day. I went for walks, looked around the local area (I didn’t have a car, I think), watched tv, played cards, etc. Hubby was busy all day working hard to turn around the plant into a well run machine (as opposed to the hell hole it was) and was tired when he got “home” to the hotel room. We would usually go somewhere close and quick for dinner.
One night, either he was late or I hadn’t eaten much, but he got home and just wanted to chill out and relax – he was in no hurry to go dinner. Well, I was hungry and bored and cranky… I practically was in tears (and probably did cry) waiting for him to get ready to go for dinner. Poor guy – he had no idea how bad and horrible I felt inside until I pretty much exploded into tears and sobbing. He was so good to me, said he was sorry, said I should have told him that I really needed to go eat, etc., etc. (He is a very good Hubby that way).
So now we have a family joke that if I say “I’m hungry” in a certain tone of voice, we drop everything to go get something to eat.
Well, I should have paid attention and gotten something to eat before I left to pick up The Boy. Driving was a nightmare, parking was a nightmare and it was all worse since I was hungry.
The Boy and I stopped at a Dunkin‘ Donuts – one of the worst selections and service I’ve had in a while, but it was something to eat.
I got home, Hubby was already home, and we just relaxed in the bedroom. We needed to get dinner going, so I listed off the choices. One of the choices was sloppy joes. It turns out I did not have seasoning packet for it, so I jumped on the trusty web and looked for a recipe. I found one that looked good, that I had the ingredient for, and had gotten positive reviews.
Let’s just say it didn’t go over well. Cereal came out as the backup dinner.
So much for the trusty internet!
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One More For…
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
The Boy was at his Karate class Friday night. He actually had two – one was the class where he student teaches and then he has his own teen class. I dropped him off and decided to grab dinner with Hubby before picking up The Boy. Hubby & I went together to pick him up. We went into the “little room” – which is where the karate school expanded and took over a Curves that shut down. There were about 8 or so kids there that night – about average.
We watched as they practiced their katas. I love watching katas… you have to remember certain moves in certain sequence… it looks like a dance, but very quick and with the intention to defend or attack. We watched for a bit and then Hubby decided to go next door to the main building to chit chat with the staff. The class was wrapping up and the instructor was getting ready to have them do the ending exercises. They generally do sit-ups, push ups, crunches, and things of that nature. Depending on what belt they are, they will have to complete more or less of each thing. That night the instructor had them do the same amount of everything…they did 15 crunches, 15 sit-ups and 15 push ups. The push ups were last. When everyone had counted off and completed the 15 in unison, the instructor asked them: “can you do one more for your mom?” and the kids replied: “Yes, sir!” and they went down to start the push up. As he was going down, The Boy said in a loud voice: “This one is for you mom – I love you!” and then completed his push up. The other parents and siblings laughed and I admit I laughed too. It was such a complete spontaneous moment – I knew he meant it and he didn’t care if all the other kids and parents knew it too. I really wanted my husband to be there to have heard it – it was one of those things that in the storytelling loses its meaning – you need to be there to remember it the way it should be remembered.
Next the instructor said: “Now do one for your dad” and they did. Since Hubby wasn’t there, there was no love for him. The instructor gave The Boy a bit of a hard time – “don’t you love your dad too?”, knowing that he does and that dad had just walked away.
Next the instructor said: “Now do one for your grandparents.”. The Boy did four – one for each grandparent he has.
Then the instructor started to have the kids say who they should do “one more” for – brothers, sisters, friends, pets, school vacation, the instructor, Christmas….
Finally the instructor let them stop. He asked if the kids knew how many push ups they had actually done. The kids were laughing and really hadn’t been keeping count… so no one had a real answer. The instructor told them they did at least 15 more push ups using the “one more for” method. He talked about how they got motivated by using that “one more for” as a way to keep going and focus one the goal, not the activity of getting to the goal.
I guess we all need to remember that sometimes… we can do just one more.. to get to our goals.
Let me know what you think.
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