The boy is back from Perul

He's at least back in the states.  He has to drive home from Mississippi tomorrow. 

Whew.

Okay, a little.

The kids got a little cleaning done.  I was useless on that front because my mom lost her purse and a lot of my day was taken up looking for it and going and getting replacement keys and finally mom's caregiver found it, but then I had to have some time for myself to work through some sadness that I have over my mom's Alzheimer's.  I wish I was one of those people who clean when I am upset, but I am not.  After that, I decided to go do my volunteering, which was a difficult decision because I really feel that I probably should have gone to see mom again because she's been feeling lonely.  However, going to mom's drains me and going to the hospital refreshes and renews me so I chose to put the oxygen mask on my own face first, renew my spirit a little and I'll go see mom today. Meanwhile, I'm going to see if Medicare will pay for her to have more services. 

We still haven't heard from the oldest.  That is seriously stressing me out.  His phone goes to voice mail.

I'm trying to work and not think, but obviously, not having too much luck. 

Now I just got a call that my mom's purse is "lost" again.  Mom's apparently hiding it to keep it from thieves or something and then not being able to find it.

Today we clean?

We keep saying that and honestly, we have not gotten as much done as it may seem like on the blog.  After the kids got their own rooms clean, things seem to have stalled.  I think we were just lazy Monday  (I can't remember) and then Tuesday we had that big field trip.  Yesterday, my work was only slowly trickling in so I was working off and on until 10:00 p.m. last night and during the middle of the day had a ferocious headache and needed to lie down for a little while.  I thought the kids were cleaning because they had asked for 'clean and screen' time, but it turns out, they only had time for the screen time (watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and no time for cleaning.  Grrr.  That brings us to last night when both of them were still up at 3:00 a.m. reading and and this morning they are  not going to want to get up at a decent hour.  So while last week I was overjoyed with their cleaning, this week I am annoyed with them and today they are going to have to do makeup cleaning to make up (so to speak :-) ) for yesterday's slacking.  We need to get this done!   I've made a deal with myself that I will not swim until the cleaning is done and the pool is beckoning ...

Need a win.

I was watching "How I met Your Mother" and they were having a race and talking about how in their own way, each character "needed the win".  I thought about the stuff I'm having to deal with and I feel like I 'need a win".

My mom is talking about selling the home I grew up in and moving to an assisted living facility.  I agree that she needs to but this makes me very, very sad.

My son is in Peru and has been for 9 days and I have only heard from him once.  He borrowed someones phone to call me the first night but has not been able to do that again (I assume) and has not called.  He also did not take a device to access the internet.  So no news.  It's kind of stressful.  Also, I haven't seen my son since January.  :-(

I have experienced a betrayal of my trust by someone who should have my back.

A dear friend is moving away to another state.

The kid's spring cleaning involved getting rid of some childhood things and I'm not ready for their childhood to be over.

I've been gaining weight lately and boy did I feel it yesterday on the hike.  :-(


So yesterday's "win" of a great field trip that I arranged for our group really helped. 

I could use a few more things going in my favor though, some emotional balance.  

Great Field Trip.

A couple of years ago, we took the kids on a program they run at a local forest called "Bring a Book To Life."  The first time it was based on the book "My Side of the Mountain".  They also offer it for another book, "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, so we took the class again and this time, it was even cooler.  The 2 rangers took us through the forest, pointing out wild edibles, telling us how to tell by the sun, which direction is north and how to further tell from that based on shadows, what time of day it was and therefore, how many hours until sunset, in case you are stranded and need to build a shelter before nightfall.  Then of course, they took us to build shelters and they had the kid builders get inside and poured water on the outside (hilariously pretending it was raining and cracking jokes the whole time) and a few of the builders got a little bit wet.  It was funny.  Then, we went to another area and learned how to start fires with flint and steel and a couple of other methods and learned how to boil water in a paper cup complete with demonstration.  Then, to another area where the kids got to try and hit target pictures of birds like the ones Brian hunted in the book with first a spear and then an atlatl.  So cool.  The atlatl is mentioned in one of the book series we have read, Brotherband Chronicles, so we had heard of one, but never seen or used one. 

All this for 6 dollars a kid.

Priceless.

In honor of my dogs

who crack me up every morning running into the house and sliding all around the kitchen, I designed a new dog T-shirt for Cafepress.

I should explain.

B is for baby and also because I'm too lazy to search for another image.

When I said that the NICU trusted me to take care of this baby the other night, I should explain that it is a tad more difficult than changing a regular baby at a regular house.  First I needed to know where all the clothing and thermal blankets were stored, then I need to get the baby's diaper changing materials ready, then I needed to scrub, gown and glove up, put the side of the isolette down, change the little guy around his EKG, respiratory and oxygen leads and his hospital ID anklet with gloves on (this is hard!), apply his diaper cream, then take off the gloves and rescrub, change him into his shirt, rescrub and then swaddle him, pick him up and rock him to sleep.  Then when he is asleep, I need to put him back in his isolette, put the side back up and hook his leads back up to the monitor or get the nurse to do it. 

Did you ever?

Did you ever feel like you were at the right place at the right time when you didn't really mean to be there.  I felt like God used me yesterday.  My mom called and asked me to get her a cake to take to a family reunion she's going to today and since I have her car on near permanent loan right now, I couldn't say no.  Our family needed cheese (emergency!) and I needed to get sign making materials at Lowe's.   So I went to Lowe's first.  I went in, got my sign, came out and walked confidently though mistakenly to the right in search of mom's car, even though I had parked to the left of the exit and really I knew that.  (I almost always note carefully where I park).  Anyway, as I was walking in the wrong direction I heard someone call my name.  It was a very dear friend who is going through some awful stuff lately and she needed to talk and there I was, ready to listen.  :-)