Sunday, August 10, 2008
Social Flurry
We've been living a social whirlwind this weekend, not quite our usual style! Every night we have had dinner at someone's house or had someone here. Today it was a circumstantial event: we were at the beach and the clouds rolled in, so they rushed us through all the festivities: the egg toss, the three-legged race, the balloon toss, and the pool races. Megan and a few friends made up a 'family' for the family relay and they won it by a slim margin over the Favorite Boy's family, which was a legitimate family of four. This is the second time she has been in the winning family, but the last time she was in the Favorite Family.
Once the rains came, we all packed up and headed home, then went over to the Favorite House for dinner with some other friends from the beach, and watched the unfortunate events that befell the US gymnasts at the olympics. Somehow, I left my phone at their house.
And so tomorrow is the big visit with the neurologist. I went to church today, but almost regretted it when I saw that the regular priest wasn't there. There is just one woman who speaks when he is not there, and speak she did. We used to be thrilled when she was up, because she'd just read off of a prepared speech and be done with it. Not any more. She must have had some sort of epiphany, but unfortunately it did not involve the ability to tie her thoughts together. So I listened as best I could, until the Lord stepped in and took away her voice. Seriously, this is what I believe happened. Even her bottle of Pepsi couldn't bring it back.
In other news, Kevin is still on vacation. Tomorrow marks the first official day. Megan is having her birthday lunch and shopping trip with Kevin's mother, and her beach dryland workouts with the team start tomorrow night. That means I get to take my strolls along the boardwalk in Long Branch, and follow them with a cheeseburger and nice glass of wine, straight out of the box, at Stewart's.
Once the rains came, we all packed up and headed home, then went over to the Favorite House for dinner with some other friends from the beach, and watched the unfortunate events that befell the US gymnasts at the olympics. Somehow, I left my phone at their house.
And so tomorrow is the big visit with the neurologist. I went to church today, but almost regretted it when I saw that the regular priest wasn't there. There is just one woman who speaks when he is not there, and speak she did. We used to be thrilled when she was up, because she'd just read off of a prepared speech and be done with it. Not any more. She must have had some sort of epiphany, but unfortunately it did not involve the ability to tie her thoughts together. So I listened as best I could, until the Lord stepped in and took away her voice. Seriously, this is what I believe happened. Even her bottle of Pepsi couldn't bring it back.
In other news, Kevin is still on vacation. Tomorrow marks the first official day. Megan is having her birthday lunch and shopping trip with Kevin's mother, and her beach dryland workouts with the team start tomorrow night. That means I get to take my strolls along the boardwalk in Long Branch, and follow them with a cheeseburger and nice glass of wine, straight out of the box, at Stewart's.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Staycation
Well, here it is 3:56PM on Friday, 08/08/08, the day of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and the first day of Kevin's two weeks off. To his great relief, the bank has decided NOT to confiscate the crackberries from the addicts on their two week hiatus(es?) from work. Their email will be shut off and they won't be allowed to communicate with the office, but they will still be able to use their phones etc. Maybe I can get some more 'gotcha' shots of Kevin on his when he should be doing something else.
We'll have to spend the first week getting ready for E, I plan to try to have her room all set up by the end of the week, and then we can play a little before she gets here. I don't know what we would play, having no money left after the Fresh Air visit, and then the trip to Maryland. Anyway, we might want to take a quick trip once she arrives, maybe show her Cape May as well.
We started our doctor's visits today with one to the dermatologist; luckily, it was pretty uneventful and we were out in record time. We ended up arriving about 20 minutes early, but thank goodness we did, because the "emergency" cases were pouring in (was their skin falling off?), and we got taken before they did. We were the third ones to be seen. I didn't ask about my brown spot ... I plan to agonize over it for 20 more days instead. How else can I keep my mind off of other medical issues? I'd rather think about that than chiari - and once the neurologist is cleared I have to face the pediatrician, which I always find sort of redundant once we endure the neuro exam from the boss.
Yesterday we went to the water park with some friends and their Fresh Air visitor, who was really cool. She talked, and even had ideas of her own! But they seem to be tiring of filling the days, so we're going over there for dinner tonight, to help keep them all company. And Megan may do her first ocean mile swim of the year tomorrow, down south of here a bit. So I hope all the jellyfish are gone!!!
In other news, the roofer guys are gone, but their sign is not. The pool is all cloudy from all the debris. Kevin put the vacuum in and ran it for hours, but forgot to zip the bag shut, so that was a waste of time. Not much else of note has taken place, this is sort of the calm before the storm. So look for more excitement in the days to come. If nothing else, we have a big day at the beach club on Sunday!
We'll have to spend the first week getting ready for E, I plan to try to have her room all set up by the end of the week, and then we can play a little before she gets here. I don't know what we would play, having no money left after the Fresh Air visit, and then the trip to Maryland. Anyway, we might want to take a quick trip once she arrives, maybe show her Cape May as well.
We started our doctor's visits today with one to the dermatologist; luckily, it was pretty uneventful and we were out in record time. We ended up arriving about 20 minutes early, but thank goodness we did, because the "emergency" cases were pouring in (was their skin falling off?), and we got taken before they did. We were the third ones to be seen. I didn't ask about my brown spot ... I plan to agonize over it for 20 more days instead. How else can I keep my mind off of other medical issues? I'd rather think about that than chiari - and once the neurologist is cleared I have to face the pediatrician, which I always find sort of redundant once we endure the neuro exam from the boss.
Yesterday we went to the water park with some friends and their Fresh Air visitor, who was really cool. She talked, and even had ideas of her own! But they seem to be tiring of filling the days, so we're going over there for dinner tonight, to help keep them all company. And Megan may do her first ocean mile swim of the year tomorrow, down south of here a bit. So I hope all the jellyfish are gone!!!
In other news, the roofer guys are gone, but their sign is not. The pool is all cloudy from all the debris. Kevin put the vacuum in and ran it for hours, but forgot to zip the bag shut, so that was a waste of time. Not much else of note has taken place, this is sort of the calm before the storm. So look for more excitement in the days to come. If nothing else, we have a big day at the beach club on Sunday!
Monday, August 4, 2008
wartime (copyright 5/31/01)
(reposted without permission)
dear thinmintsmeg: you ask was i in a war what did i do. here is the reply. it is not an easy question to answer because it was long long ago and some things i can't remember and some others i have quite forgotten. after america was attacked by other countries we were enemies. nearly everyone had to serve in the army, the navy or the marines or work in factories that produced ships, airplanes and tanks and guns. I was signed up to be in the army air corps. I had to be trained to be a member of that, how to march and salute and stuff. I was in the army almost 4 years of which almost 2 years were overseas. There I became a transportation officer. we had squadrons of airplanes. They looked something like the planes that the airlines of today have but they weren't jets because jets weren't invented at the time, we carrid freight such as gasoline or spare parts for trucks or planes or food or even jeeps. my job was to see that the right things got loaded and to sign them out. it was in places called england, france, ireland, germany. do you know where that is? you have to sail across te atlantic ocean which is the same ocean that is at the trade winds beach club, but way out in the middle it got very dark at night and do you know that lots of big sparks that look like fireworks jump up from the sea but in the day time even that far from the shore there are seagulls that follow the ships hoping that leftovers or garbage would be thrown out which they would like to eat. do you remember the big one that stole your hot dog in cape may heh heh. well so many strange things happened after that i just can't tell because i would have to write a book maybe i will do that.
the book will be called "the gods across the river" so far all i have written is the title. But at least I came to my old home in Philadelphia and it was good to be home and to be a civilian instead of the army but things didn't go right and many troubles and woes awaited me but I then had a stroke of good luck when I first met Cat (Bond). Then Father time sent me great new people such as you, Megan, and also Beans, Kevin and Bryan and that has made me happy in the end. Two more things I have to say. one. Do you know there is such a thing as voice lessons (singing) I would like to sing well and sing on the stage with a microphone and a band an an audience or sing in a cafe. would you like that? two. please get better right away. we don't want you to feel bad one more minute. love love love hug hug koke.
dear thinmintsmeg: you ask was i in a war what did i do. here is the reply. it is not an easy question to answer because it was long long ago and some things i can't remember and some others i have quite forgotten. after america was attacked by other countries we were enemies. nearly everyone had to serve in the army, the navy or the marines or work in factories that produced ships, airplanes and tanks and guns. I was signed up to be in the army air corps. I had to be trained to be a member of that, how to march and salute and stuff. I was in the army almost 4 years of which almost 2 years were overseas. There I became a transportation officer. we had squadrons of airplanes. They looked something like the planes that the airlines of today have but they weren't jets because jets weren't invented at the time, we carrid freight such as gasoline or spare parts for trucks or planes or food or even jeeps. my job was to see that the right things got loaded and to sign them out. it was in places called england, france, ireland, germany. do you know where that is? you have to sail across te atlantic ocean which is the same ocean that is at the trade winds beach club, but way out in the middle it got very dark at night and do you know that lots of big sparks that look like fireworks jump up from the sea but in the day time even that far from the shore there are seagulls that follow the ships hoping that leftovers or garbage would be thrown out which they would like to eat. do you remember the big one that stole your hot dog in cape may heh heh. well so many strange things happened after that i just can't tell because i would have to write a book maybe i will do that.
the book will be called "the gods across the river" so far all i have written is the title. But at least I came to my old home in Philadelphia and it was good to be home and to be a civilian instead of the army but things didn't go right and many troubles and woes awaited me but I then had a stroke of good luck when I first met Cat (Bond). Then Father time sent me great new people such as you, Megan, and also Beans, Kevin and Bryan and that has made me happy in the end. Two more things I have to say. one. Do you know there is such a thing as voice lessons (singing) I would like to sing well and sing on the stage with a microphone and a band an an audience or sing in a cafe. would you like that? two. please get better right away. we don't want you to feel bad one more minute. love love love hug hug koke.
Bang Bang Bang went the Roofers
Woof woof woof went the dog...ring ring ring went the telephone ... as Kevin called repeatedly asking what was going on.
Anyway, as it turns out, the local roofer who is so reliable that he personally shows up every day at every job has yet to turn up at our house. Not only that, but the guys that he does have working, although they may be doing a fine job, speak so little English that I think they barely understood me when I said, "hi."
So I guess they are not quite done. Megan had to work at the school today, and I spent the day getting things out of that spare bedroom. What a mess! I can't believe we ever even moved here with some of that stuff, let alone held onto it for two years. However, I have had some good finds, such as an Easter card from days gone by, handmade by Megan, which included several coupons. I have used two of them already! A free dog walk and a loading of the dishwasher! And there are all sorts of things left for me to cash in on! (uh oh .. Kevin says the dishwashing job was under standard...)
Another good find was a letter to Megan from her grandfather (Koke). I guess she must have been not feeling well. I'm going to repost that as a different blog entry in a minute.
We are really loving having the computer desk in the living room. It is such an improvement! And I can't wait until the guest room is set up as a guest room for E - although she prefers not to think of it as a guest room. She says that she will be living in it for a year, so she would like to make it "her room" for that year. So I am just putting the basics in it, and I'll let her add her own touch.
In other news, Brian is going to swim team tryouts at the Y tomorrow. He understands now that he needs to find a way to strengthen his upper body, and there is just no way I'm letting him lift any weights with his chiari and syrinx. Swimming is the perfect all-over conditioning, plus he needs to build up endurance. I just hope they can manage the pool this year. They will have a new aquatics director, and the last time that happened, the pool just fell apart. I remember one time they roped off the deep end of the pool and held classes only in the shallow end because the water was so murky they were afraid they'd lost some swimmers. That just didn't seem right to me.
(disclaimer: post not proofread)
Anyway, as it turns out, the local roofer who is so reliable that he personally shows up every day at every job has yet to turn up at our house. Not only that, but the guys that he does have working, although they may be doing a fine job, speak so little English that I think they barely understood me when I said, "hi."
So I guess they are not quite done. Megan had to work at the school today, and I spent the day getting things out of that spare bedroom. What a mess! I can't believe we ever even moved here with some of that stuff, let alone held onto it for two years. However, I have had some good finds, such as an Easter card from days gone by, handmade by Megan, which included several coupons. I have used two of them already! A free dog walk and a loading of the dishwasher! And there are all sorts of things left for me to cash in on! (uh oh .. Kevin says the dishwashing job was under standard...)
Another good find was a letter to Megan from her grandfather (Koke). I guess she must have been not feeling well. I'm going to repost that as a different blog entry in a minute.
We are really loving having the computer desk in the living room. It is such an improvement! And I can't wait until the guest room is set up as a guest room for E - although she prefers not to think of it as a guest room. She says that she will be living in it for a year, so she would like to make it "her room" for that year. So I am just putting the basics in it, and I'll let her add her own touch.
In other news, Brian is going to swim team tryouts at the Y tomorrow. He understands now that he needs to find a way to strengthen his upper body, and there is just no way I'm letting him lift any weights with his chiari and syrinx. Swimming is the perfect all-over conditioning, plus he needs to build up endurance. I just hope they can manage the pool this year. They will have a new aquatics director, and the last time that happened, the pool just fell apart. I remember one time they roped off the deep end of the pool and held classes only in the shallow end because the water was so murky they were afraid they'd lost some swimmers. That just didn't seem right to me.
(disclaimer: post not proofread)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Cleaning House
So we have to get the house ready. Today we got a strong man to come over and help Kevin, and they got the giant desk from the second floor bedroom to the living room, where it probably should have been in the first place. The idea of having an office was nice, but in reality it became a clutter-filled, furry, never-vacuumed room with a giant desk and a card table, and a bunch of boxes in the closet. I think I now see what drove me to host an exchange student in the first place. It was the need to finish the unpacking we started two years ago!
Anyway, the desk really does look much better downstairs, and we moved the bookcase up because the modem and wireless router will need to stay in that room where the cable is connected. The next step is to separate the bunk into two separate beds, and then we just need to pick up a student desk and a chair for the desk in the living room. We're using the chairs from the kitchen table and they seem really comfortable, so maybe I'll just order one more of those.
Kevin was anxious to get to the beach (so was Megan) so we dropped everything around 1:30 and headed over. It was beautiful. The jellyfish seem to be gone, and the weather was perfect. A few biting flies blew in around 5:30, but that was about when we needed to be packing up anyway. On the way home we decided to have dinner at Carrabas, so we called the Doll, and she met us there. Always a pleasure; and way too much food. :X
But tomorrow I should face the added pleasure of the roofers' return. Megan has to work in the morning anyway, so if we were to go to the beach it would be late. It's going to be strange not having to take her to swim team practice at all. She won't have to go anywhere for two weeks or so, when he will start the dryland practices down by the ocean. I always enjoy those, just bring an ipod and take a walk along the boards.
In other news, still gearing up for those doctors appointments coming up over the next couple of weeks. I went to update my CarePage and I am so unhappy with what they have done to the site! They made some changes a few months ago, and I thought those were great. Now whatever they have done seems to be nothing but setbacks. It's a more unattractive welcome page, most of my favorite features don't work, and it isn't recording new visits to the page, so I can't even tell who's been following along. I posted a comment and several people have followed suit. Nobody seems to like it. I can't even imagine who in the world considered these to be improvements. I hope they change it back, or at least, fix it.
Anyway, the desk really does look much better downstairs, and we moved the bookcase up because the modem and wireless router will need to stay in that room where the cable is connected. The next step is to separate the bunk into two separate beds, and then we just need to pick up a student desk and a chair for the desk in the living room. We're using the chairs from the kitchen table and they seem really comfortable, so maybe I'll just order one more of those.
Kevin was anxious to get to the beach (so was Megan) so we dropped everything around 1:30 and headed over. It was beautiful. The jellyfish seem to be gone, and the weather was perfect. A few biting flies blew in around 5:30, but that was about when we needed to be packing up anyway. On the way home we decided to have dinner at Carrabas, so we called the Doll, and she met us there. Always a pleasure; and way too much food. :X
But tomorrow I should face the added pleasure of the roofers' return. Megan has to work in the morning anyway, so if we were to go to the beach it would be late. It's going to be strange not having to take her to swim team practice at all. She won't have to go anywhere for two weeks or so, when he will start the dryland practices down by the ocean. I always enjoy those, just bring an ipod and take a walk along the boards.
In other news, still gearing up for those doctors appointments coming up over the next couple of weeks. I went to update my CarePage and I am so unhappy with what they have done to the site! They made some changes a few months ago, and I thought those were great. Now whatever they have done seems to be nothing but setbacks. It's a more unattractive welcome page, most of my favorite features don't work, and it isn't recording new visits to the page, so I can't even tell who's been following along. I posted a comment and several people have followed suit. Nobody seems to like it. I can't even imagine who in the world considered these to be improvements. I hope they change it back, or at least, fix it.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Home Sweet Home
We're here at last, back in the Land of Cats and Dog. Everyone survived, but Molly is still panting a lot, especially at night. I'm afraid to take her to the vet because I know it could mean, at minimum, a chest xray and blood work. I was worried because our pet sitter left a message, but it turned out she was just telling me that the roofer had shown up and started ripping off the roof! We were not expecting him, didn't know when he'd be coming, because we had asked him not to come during our Fresh Air week, and he just never called again. He did stick a giant sign on our lawn, though, about three weeks ago.
I guess it's better in a way - we missed out on two days of banging and flying debris, but today will be another big one.
So the week was fine, not really where you would choose to go on a vacation, but Silver Spring was an interesting place. There was a lot to do near the hotel, but they had only valet parking, so you had to tip the guy every time you wanted to take the car out, so we used that sparingly. And Megan swam OK, about how she would have been expected to swim with the amount of practice she has had this summer, and the pools she's been swimming in - half of them not even long course pools.
Brian had the two teeth pulled right before we left, and they have healed without incident. In two weeks, he goes back for the spacers in those two gaps. Starting next week, we have all of our doctor appointments. I'm taking them both to the dermatologist for various things, then we have the neurologist on the 11th and on the 12th the orthodontist. E arrives on the 21st, and Megan and Brian both have their check-ups on the 26th (happy birthday to Brian) and I have my dermatologist appointment on the 28th - if I can make it that long. I have been panicking over a small light mole on my cheek, because it sits on a bed of age-spot looking skin.
In other news, I heard from the guidance counselor regarding Brian's 504 plan for accommodations. He didn't really want to be bothered making any changes to it, but I don't really think three C's on a report card are a good sign, especially when they are there mainly due to lack of studying and failure to turn in assignments. So I want to see what else we can work out, or what we might be able to put in there. If I can't get any input from the doctor, I might seek out someone who specifically helps with these modifications, like a child psychologist or neuropsychologist. I'll talk to the pediatrician too, if I don't really make progress with the neurologist. He seemed happy enough to wait it out when we talked to him in February. But maybe we have waited long enough.
I guess it's better in a way - we missed out on two days of banging and flying debris, but today will be another big one.
So the week was fine, not really where you would choose to go on a vacation, but Silver Spring was an interesting place. There was a lot to do near the hotel, but they had only valet parking, so you had to tip the guy every time you wanted to take the car out, so we used that sparingly. And Megan swam OK, about how she would have been expected to swim with the amount of practice she has had this summer, and the pools she's been swimming in - half of them not even long course pools.
Brian had the two teeth pulled right before we left, and they have healed without incident. In two weeks, he goes back for the spacers in those two gaps. Starting next week, we have all of our doctor appointments. I'm taking them both to the dermatologist for various things, then we have the neurologist on the 11th and on the 12th the orthodontist. E arrives on the 21st, and Megan and Brian both have their check-ups on the 26th (happy birthday to Brian) and I have my dermatologist appointment on the 28th - if I can make it that long. I have been panicking over a small light mole on my cheek, because it sits on a bed of age-spot looking skin.
In other news, I heard from the guidance counselor regarding Brian's 504 plan for accommodations. He didn't really want to be bothered making any changes to it, but I don't really think three C's on a report card are a good sign, especially when they are there mainly due to lack of studying and failure to turn in assignments. So I want to see what else we can work out, or what we might be able to put in there. If I can't get any input from the doctor, I might seek out someone who specifically helps with these modifications, like a child psychologist or neuropsychologist. I'll talk to the pediatrician too, if I don't really make progress with the neurologist. He seemed happy enough to wait it out when we talked to him in February. But maybe we have waited long enough.
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