Tuesday's Teachings!

So, once again, it's been a while since I've chimed in with any of my much loved musings! Life just doesn't seem to slow down or is it that I just don't seem to slow down long enough to put in a few words here or there? Hmm....

I think the real problem is that I NEVER get enough ALONE TIME at the computer! I've ALWAYS got someone in here with me....and who can muse with this one needing this and that one needing that and the other one just plain irritating for no good reason??? "WHO?" I ask you, "WHO?"

Summer's almost over and while I've enjoyed the time with the kids TODAY I was wishing school was IN SESSION....it was bill payin' day here in the Arthur house and while I tried to do it last night... after a 9 hour day of strenuous hygiene work on mouths that have OBVIOUSLY lacked a relationship with a toothbrush and toothpaste... let alone floss, I got home and settled into the office for a nice, long night of number crunchin' and BAM! MIGRAINE! Not so easy to number crunch when all you can see is a squiggly pulsating visual aura.....so, I decided to slip myself a MaxAlt and headed to bed early. After dry heaving for about 10 minutes-SUCH FUN-I drifted off to a deep, deep sleep. I woke up this morning with a "bruised" brain as I call it.....you migraine sufferers know what I'm talking about...... and a bit of a hangover from the MaxAlt.....man was I cravin' some greasy Taco Bell this morning when I woke up.....that stuff really kicks my butt (the MaxAlt)!

After breakfast I headed to the office to conquer the bills. I do much of my bill paying on-line and so the first thing I start with is my little piece of paper with ALL of my account #'s, log-ins and passwords that I have had FOREVER....I mean I've had it so long that it resembles a Kleenex with writing on it! And you'd think that since I've had it forever that I would be able to remember what was on it but NO! too many accounts, too many numbers and too many requirements for each and every password. Panicked I call Matt.....like he's gonna know where it is.....DUH!?! But worth a try....of course he DOESN'T know where it is but did mention that it could've gotten mixed in with some of the papers that he and Berkleigh shredded the night before.....admission of guilt or just trying to help? HMMMM? Frustrated at yet another set back in getting the one thing I hate most accomplished I pull up the list of account information that I have on the computer knowing that it hasn't been updated in FOREVER! Basically I have to pull up all of our accounts and reassign each account a new user i.d., password and in some cases security answers.....it took all morning just to get that done and there aren't that many accounts! Factor in that I would have to leave the computer every 5 seconds in order to play referee, nanny, nurse, direct tv guy, referee, chef, phone man, whirlpool man, referee, tent builder, weather man, umpire, maid.....AKA.......MOM! It was a long DAY!

As you can see my day hasn't ended...Matt's playing poker tonight so I've had a LONG, FULL DAY with the kids...we watched Lemony Snickets or Lamony Snickers as Caleb calls it and made some banana "cake".... both children have found their way to the office AFTER putting them to bed, Caleb for the second time..... so I'm about to FLIP MY LID.....these children can negotiate like you would not believe....LOVE THEM but JUST GO TO BED ALREADY!!!

So Tuesday's Teachings would be.... KEEP YOUR INFO. LIST UPDATED AND STASH A COPY IN A SAFE PLACE!!! ............ D U H ................!

Wii's missin' my BABES!

Well, it's another Houston work week for this temporary Hygienist and boy am I glad that temporary is the adjective describing my work! I'm exhausted and BOY DO I MISS MY BABES!



It's been especially hard this week because I didn't see them all weekend either! I had to take Caleb to the Dr. AGAIN! Yes, again.......it started Sunday night when he woke up crying b/c his ear was hurting. He had been swimming that afternoon so my first thought was swimmers ear...I "cleaned" his ear out with alcohol and dropped a few drops down in the ear canal followed by a dose of Motrin and a warm rag....off to sleep he went (in my bed)! I woke up early Monday morning and headed to work...on the way out I stopped by my bed and gave all three of my sleeping angels a kiss goodbye (yes, all three in my bed where there should really only be one) or two if I were lucky enough not to ever have to work again...or get up a 5:00 in the morning to go to work!!! UGH....anyway, kissed Caleb and checked for fever....no fever, no worries, swimmers ear! Got home on Monday night and all seemed to be fine, still no fever....no worries BUT A LOT of drainage coming from his ear.....called Grandma to find out what she thought about all of this drainage as she is officially and expert after dealing with Matt and his cigarette patched ears in his childhood years and she seemed to think that he might have ruptured his eardrum. Immediately got on the INTERNET to investigate....hmmmm could be a ruptured eardrum.....what do you do.....nothing.....it will heal on its own....BUT Caleb has had ear tubes and is actually sportin' his second pair.....can you rupture your eardrum if you have tubes? Ahhh this child is killin' me and my bank account! Tuesday, Wednesday.....no fever, no worries.....the boy hasn't slowed down or shown any sign of not feeling well aside from a stuffy nose....THURSDAY....stuffy nose, cough and copious amounts of drainage.....call doctor....come in.....OF COURSE....glad I did b/c my boy has a severe middle ear infection.....so severe that the doctor couldn't even see his eardrum b/c of all of the gunk.....it was DISGUSTING....I mean, I have a pretty strong stomach but when he stuck that Q-tip in his ear and then used his little "loop" to extract that GUNK out of Caleb's ear I thought I was going to lose it! It was gross! And then the doctor says it ...... again ......ANTIBIOTIC ..... ANTIBIOTIC again? He just finished his last round for his second case of strep......oh - the doctor forgot to put EXPENSIVE in front of antibiotic.....the darn ear drops were $45.00 and the Augmentin was $10.00......I've got to figure out how to start making this stuff at home....I mean if people can make meth at home surely I can concoct an antibiotic!!! I'll bet there's some growin' in my veggie crisper as we speak!

Before leaving for Houston I called Grandma to see if she MIGHT be interested in watching the kids for the weekend.....we were headed to Houston to see the doctor and were in desperate need for a babysitter Friday and Saturday night.....OF COURSE she said she'd love to have the little angels for the weekend which meant Matt and I had a whole weekend to ourselves! It was really nice just hanging out and actually getting to have an uninterrupted conversation...and we'll leave it at that! Sunday came soon enough and off to Houston we went to pick up the off-spring....we met Grandma, Randy and the babes at the new Chuy's on 290....yummy! Matt's birthday was Monday so this was his early "birthday dinner"! I decided that a Wii would be a great gift for Matt's birthday...a perfect way to create some family time! Grandma agreed too and said she go in half with me so a Wii it was!!! What a great surprise! Did I say SURPRISE???? Unfortunately NOT! Grandma decided that Caleb could keep a secret.....ugh.....he's six.....with an unintentional BIG MOUTH....she pulled the Wii out so that she could wrap it and it was all over after that! Needless to say as soon as we called Matt to tell him goodnight on Thursday the word "Wii" flew out of Caleb's mouth! He didn't exactly say....Dad wii got you a Wii for you birthday. Instead he said....Dad when wii were at Target wii were looking at the Wii's.....looking at the Wii's? What were you looking at the Wii's for? Oh! Wii got a game to play at the Fitzpatrick's!!! Quick thinking I might add but unfortunately Matt's a little quicker!!!! Laughing hysterically - I tried to play along with Caleb but in the end MATT KNEW! Whether hii knew or not wii are having a blast with the Wii!!! Such fun - you should try one!

Allergic to Fire Ants....what's a boy to do?

So, as most of you know, Caleb is severely allergic to fire ants....yes, fire ants! After our last episode when he woke up with his eyes swollen and the first episode including an overnight stay at Texas Children's we decided, without question, the we needed to visit the allergist again! What a day that turned out to be...an all day ordeal of poking and prodding my six year old and scaring the crud out of me....he had his first blood draw since birth and another series of allergy tests.....we had to watch another video on the correct way to administer the EPI-PEN Jr. if needed and strict orders to do this before that and that before this.....poor guy! After a full day in Houston going from the office to the lab and back to the office we got in the car to head home and all my poor boy could say was...."Mom, I am warned out!".....and my reply...."me too!" -- though the news about his severe allergy was expected I didn't foresee that we would have to make an hour drive once a week for him to get allergy shots....as no doctor here in town will administer them nor did I realize that we might have to sell Berkleigh in order to afford them! I've come up with a solution to the problem....sell the house and move North where it's too cold for these pustule formin', edema causin', pain in the A$$, pocket book breakin' DAMN FIRE ANTS!


P.S.

He's allergic to horses too....you think we might sell the horse too?!?! Uhhh....NO!

GO ASTROS!!!!!!!!

We finally made it to an ASTROS game....of the major league variety, that is, and a great family time was had by all. It was the beginning of our 4th of July vacation series and what a great way to start it off....We met Matt's cousin, Russell, and his family at the stadium and though OUR seats were undesirable (as this was a very last minute idea) Russell's seats (or should I say the seats behind Russell's seats) were just to the left of home plate!!! Score!!! As soon as the coast was clear we headed down! The stadium is just awesome and we parked right across the street! It really was pretty easy for us to all go and enjoy ourselves without it being such an ordeal as it often can be when trying to attend such entertainment. It was especially fun to see the kids get so excited!!! They really had a great time! We all scored a little ASTROS lute thanks to Grandma....we've actually worn our ASTROS caps quite regularly since we got them...especially Berkleigh! I think the actual merchandise is cheaper than the food...The kids wake up every morning and request that their cereal be served in the Astro Cap bowls that came with a mound of ice cream in them that cost a whopping $6.00.....WOW!.....$6.00? You can get a 1/2 gallon of blue bell for $4.89!!! And water? Well, $4.00 for a bottle of water is just ridiculous.....needless to say there wasn't a whole lot of snackin' goin' on at the game or we wouldn't have had any money for the remainder of our vacation! Good grief!!

Anyway, as I said this was the first part of our 4th of July vacation series....I'll send more pics and humor at a later date!