Busy, Busy, Busy

I ran home from work, caught an hour nap on the couch and then ran out to the school for G's 2nd grade chapel program. Every year each class takes one of the chapel programs that they have every Wednesday and they perform a little skit. The first year that S3 was in one I went thinking it was just a little thing. It is a big deal. They put costumes on and do a little play. They prepare for it for months and months. They memorize lines. They have a reception afterward.

I slept through it.

I know, I know, I get worst mom of the year award. G didn't know what time it started and I asked the boys who have both been attending chapel every Wednesday for years and years and they told me ten. I got there at nine thirty and it was over. Fortunately G was getting so much attention over her hot pink cast that she didn't seem to really care that much.


After that I ran home, grabbed a shower and then E and I scooted over to a diner to meet Phil and his family for lunch. I know I mentioned Phil in another post about books but I don't believe that I mentioned that his lovely wife just gave birth to their second daughter. I was beyond honored that they took the time to visit just so I could hold the baby. She is so precious! Before I went I told Steve that either I needed to hold this baby or he was going to have to buy me a cat. E will be five this year. In thirteen years this is the longest amount of time that I've gone without being pregnant or having a baby myself. I think the plan backfired. That baby is so tiny and lovable (you should have seen the teeny diapers!). I couldn't talk Tiffany and the baby into coming home to live with me so I guess I'll be looking for a cat.

I had to cut that visit shorter than I would have liked because I had to run Ty to the doctor's office. He has been home from school for the whole week mostly with complaints of a headache. I needed to get an excuse note from the doc since he's been out longer than three days and it turns out the poor kid has strep throat. So one more day home from school and a little amoxicillin and he'll be good as new. I just can't figure out why he'd have a headache but not a sore throat.

After that I was supposed to meet up with some girls from work for dinner and a drink (and to pick up men but I was planning on skipping that part) but I ended up passing out and sleeping like the dead for the rest of the night. When I got up today I had a message on my phone from one of the girls saying they were all beat too and going to make it another night.

I think I saw Steve yesterday. I waved to him when we passed on the road when I was coming home from and he was going to work. I must need to slow down.

Sleepless in Pennsylvania

Well it's been two years and I was just laughing at my dad for getting his juror notice in the mail so it figures it's about my turn. I don't know how it works but every two years both my father and I get jury duty notice within months of each other.

So Monday I worked then went straight from work to the court house. I ran into a really nice lady in the parking garage and sorta attached myself to her. She was pleasantly chatty and that helped me keep my eyes open. There were 150 or so of us that day and they split us into two groups for two criminal cases. Luckily for me I was not chosen to serve on the jury and by 11:30 I was back in the holding tank with my jacket, fantasies of my pjs dancing in my head.

It was not to be.

The guy in charge told us to go to lunch and come back by 1:15. They were going to take the losers from our group and the losers from the other group and throw us back together to form another jury pool. That case was horrible, horrible, horrible. The stuff of nightmares. I was praying the whole time I wouldn't be picked. I didn't even want to be in the same room with the defendant. I think just about half the jury stood up at some point and said they just didn't think they could be fair and impartial. It was bad. Again luckily for me, I was not picked to serve on that trial jury. I heard later that he was convicted. I hope it helps bring peace to the victims' family.

I think I got out of there around four, picked up E from my sister's house, grabbed Ty and G and ran to Body Zone for G's first indoor game this season. They ended up getting totally creamed. The score board went up to 10. I lost track at around 15. Eventually I saw on their website that G's team lost 25 - 0. Ouch. She really played her little heart out. She is a very intense competitor and afterward she invariably falls apart in my arms, her little body wracked with sobs. Then she's ok again. It's like she has to cry out all her tension before she can move on. She even cries when she wins. Her coach said to me, "We're going to have to work on that. This is supposed to be fun." Yeah. Good luck with that Coach.

I think I finally crawled in bed around 9 pm. Nearly 36 hours awake which I think might be a record for me but I'm not sure. I've heard one can be declared legally insane after three sleepless days. I was half way there.

Here's a bonus funny story for you:

While we were at soccer E was getting bored so I pulled my mp3 player out and hooked her up. She immediately started dancing as she usually does, executing beautiful pirouettes and butt-wiggles. She was performing a particularly complicated pirouette and ran *SMACK* into the clear glass wall that surrounds the soccer field. Being the good mother that I am I immediately started howling with laughter. This sweet grandmotherly type - you know the stereotypical little old lady with white hair and cookies type - turns to me and says, "Maybe we shouldn't laugh until we find out if she's ok."

I said, "Right now I can't see anything through my tears of laughter anyway."

By the by, she was ok. A little embarrassed but ok. Just don't tell her I told you this story.

Holiday Party

Here's another thing I can share with you now that we know that Steve will be staying with his current employer... This year marks his tenth year of employment. The HR director called me a month ago and asked me what Steve would like for his ten-year gift. She gave me a dollar amount and told me it was supposed to be a surprise. Well there's no way I'm going to pick out his ten-year gift without his input so together we decided on a cantered hutch for our dining room made by our friends, the D's. They own a furniture store in a nearby town. We helped them in very little ways when they got started several years ago as friends are wont to do. Ed has said that he'd like to give us a dining room set as a thank you but Steve and I were never really very comfortable accepting such a lavish gift. As it turns out when we ordered the cantered hutch, Ed happened to have a return on a table. He is insistent that we accept the table and four chairs (we'll have to order a couple more to fit our family) and he's finishing my cantered hutch to match the table and chairs. So in a round-about way we're getting a whole brand-new dining room set! Now I'm trying to talk Steve into restoring our floors while all the furniture is out. At the very least I've talked him into redecorating the downstairs rooms.

What does all this have to do with the Holiday Party? Well that's when they'll present Steve with his "surprise." It's a fun party with good food and a DJ and I get all dolled up. Unfortunately we didn't know what his employment status was going to be so I did agree to work the weekend of the party but I'm going to see if I can get that night off and if not we'll at least go for the dinner part. He doesn't really like to dance anyway.

I did get a dress today. Steve drove so he could give me his opinion and I took four dresses with me into the dressing room. The first one I tried on was acceptable but not fantastic. The second dress, he wasn't crazy about the stuff at the bottom but when I put on the third and stepped out of the dressing room his eyes lit up. He really liked the third dress and when I said I was going to try on the fourth he said, "Don't bother." It's nice to be able to make your husband's eyes light up like that.

A Huge Answer to Prayer

I thought maybe it was a little too sensitive for the internet at the time it was happening so I didn't blog this but we were having some major drama over here. Just before Christmas when Steve was in Italy he got an email from work. There is a buy-out going on with his company and the new owners wanted him to sign a contract that basically said if he left or was fired from this company he couldn't work for another in this industry or for any of their customers for a year.

Well I don't know if you've noticed or not but he's married, has four kids, a mortgage, two cars and three private school tuitions to support. Not working for a year is not an option.

Adding that to the amount of work and stress and the lack of financial expressions of gratitude for all the work and stress and Steve was ready to walk. I fully supported that and maybe even encouraged it but secretly I wanted to vomit. By Christmas we had no idea if Steve would even have a job in January so when one of the girls on 11-7 broke her foot and full time hours became available we decided that I should take them just in case we needed to live off my salary for a while.

I'm pleased to say that Steve has managed to negotiate everything to an extremely satisfactory level on both salary and contract ends and we are not going to have to sell our youngest child to be able to pay the mortgage this month. It's a good thing too because she's really cute. I'd hate to have to give her up.

Thank you for your prayers for our unspoken request. Jehovah Jireh!

God's Blessings

One of the girls on 11-7 broke her foot and my scheduler called and asked me to pick up her full time hours. The timing of the request was good but I worried about S3. This is the last month of basketball games and while I would still be able to come to home games, it was much more doubtful that I'd be able to get to the away games. His away games are at schools that are several hour drives away and I'm not sure I'd get home in time to make it to work. So before I accepted the hours I sat down with him and made sure it would be ok with him if I missed half his games this month. He said it was ok and I accepted the hours.

Last night I got my schedule and put it all in my Outlook calendar. It turns out that every night he has an away game, I do not have to work. Work overlaps a few home games but I can still go to those and make it home in plenty of time.

Although I never made a direct request to God to be able to make those games, He knew the desire of my heart and made it so that I can still go. I'm overwhelmed with the demonstration of His love.

Poof, She's Gone

Sorry for the disappearing act. Steve's in Genoa, Italy and I've been working. I keep having experiences that I think, "Oh I should blog that," but by the time I get the chance, I've forgotten what happened! I hope I'll be back later this week but for now I'm just trying not to go under. I think this week my kids have spent more time at my parents' house than home in their own beds. Thank God I'm off tonight.

After all this time, last night I had my first fall. Some of the residents tend to roll out of bed at night or they'll try to transfer themselves without calling for help and they'll fall when I'm not in the room but last night was the first time I was actually in the bathroom with my resident when he fell. He's the sweetest man who says the funniest things but because he tends to fall, he has an alarm and when he's not in bed, someone has to be with him. He'd finished using the facility, had washed his hands and had pitched the towel toward the trash can but had missed. The same thing had happened when he used the toilet at midnight too and so I started to say, "Mr. L, don't worry about it, I'll get the towel," which is what I'd said at midnight too. Unfortunately I didn't even get the "Mr. L" part out and he was falling forward and about to crack his head on the counter. I tugged him back onto my legs and he and I managed to slowly lower to the floor without injury. Luckily for me the med nurse was down my hall so I hollered out to her that we were on the floor and she came in and helped me get him back up on his feet. It was a pretty scary experience. I always wondered if the time came if I'd be able to lower someone onto my own body the way the textbooks instructed or if my reflexes would be too slow. I really thank God for his protection last night. I believe otherwise my reflexes would have been too slow and also we'd have been in a real pickle if the med nurse hadn't been nearby since Mr. L's room is all the way at the end of the hall and the other aides were down their halls doing their rounds.

This morning the kids had their six month cleaning at the dentist. I believe I had mentioned in a previous post that our last dentist has retired so this was our first visit with this dentist. Ironically before we left my mother's house this morning she asked if E would be ok in the car since she'd had breakfast (E tends to get carsick very easily - we have a bucket in the car just for those moments) and I had replied that she'd probably be ok since we'd be on all highways. G and Ty went first for their cleanings and E danced around me the entire time asking when it was going to be her turn. Finally the dentist called her back and about twenty minutes later she came back to me with something brownish and wet staining her shirt and pants. This poor dentist! He said he sat her up so she could get a sip of water and she just spewed all over. He was amazed that it didn't faze her at all and she was indeed running around playing as if nothing in the world odd had happened. Well I guess for her spewing up her guts isn't that unusual but OMG that poor dentist. Can you imagine that surprise? HA! I feel bad for laughing but I just keep replaying that scene in my imagination.

Steve called a minute ago. He says Genoa is gorgeous. He told me to picture that scene in one of the Star Wars movies (I think it's the #1 movie, fourth one released) when the ship is landing on that planet that the queen is on - can't think of her name either but she is Luke and Leah's mom - and the way the city is on the cliff side with the sea below and that is a lot what it looked like when he flew into Genoa. So far he said he had a stromboli for dinner the other night and he could tell the cheese, mushrooms and ham were all really fresh. He's hoping to get over to Christopher Columbus' home at some point but since he forgot to take the digital with him, it'll be a while before we get to see any Italy pictures at all.

And last of what I can remember I wanted to tell you, I know one of the things I'm getting for Christmas! Before he left, Steve and I were in the mall looking for a gift for Ty and passed by a Kay jeweler. On a whim we stopped in and they happened to have the anniversary ring I've been wanting for three years (since our tenth) and it was 40% off. Yay! It not only looks fantastic next to my somewhat unique wedding band but also I can wear it to work. There are no prongs so there's no worry that I might accidentally scratch a resident with it. I'm very excited.

Ok friend, I'm off. I have a basketball game in Lansdale to watch. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow! Ciao!

Phew!

Wow, I suddenly and surprisingly became very busy these last few days. It's amazing how these things pop up so quickly. Tuesday was the last day I posted. Wednesday morning I drove to KOP to meet a friend who had flown in from Ohio for a business meeting. She and I had breakfast at the Corner Bakery (and I burned the stink out of my tongue!) but wow was it expensive! On the way home I stopped at a couple of stores including the grocery store to pick up a few things I'd been needing when my phone rang. Nancy, the scheduler at work had a call off and asked me to pick up that night.

When Steve is gone typically I don't like to work. It's just hard on me and the kids to schlepp all our things for bed and school and etc all the way to someone else's house and then all the way back home the next morning, not to mention the imposition on that person. Four kids tends to make a large crowd but it comes down to money doesn't it? When I am called in at the last minute like that I am paid extra for the inconvenience. So I figured if my parents were available to babysit I'd do it and if they weren't then that was a good reason to say no. They were ready, willing and able so I agreed to pick up even though I'd been up since 5:00 AM to be able to get to KOP and my friend that morning. It was a looooong night, let me tell you. I have some stories about work I could tell, oh my!

Anyway after all that it took me most of the day Thursday just to recover. I think I could have slept for the rest of the week, I was that tired. We had the craziest dinner Thursday night because I didn't have the energy to plan anything so the kids ended up eating BBQ chicken wings with garlic bread.

So here it is, TGIFriday. Steve is home but he and S3 are going to a 76ers game tonight with some friends. Saturday T has a candy making party for his Sunday school class and then a pool party for a kid on his soccer team. G is going to Lancaster for a Build-A-Bear party. I promised S3 I'd take him to GameStop to trade in some PS2 games and then after that I think I can breathe again.

Phew!

That's It. I'm Convinced.

I had a new resident last night. Everyone warned me about this man. They said he's nasty. They said he throws punches. They said he's confused and makes no sense. They said he spaces out when you talk to him. He did none of these things for me. He was lucid, he was pleasant and he even kissed me on the cheek when I left this morning.

I'm 100% convinced now that it's all in the approach. Some of these aides treat the residents like dirt. It's horrible and sad and then they wonder why the residents get mean. Well they're never mean to me, ever. Even the really bad ones are usually pretty good for me. I think it's because I move slow and I speak to them with respect.

I know because they're so helpless that it's easy to think of them as manipulative children rather than the 80, 90 and even 100 year olds that they are. I also know that there aren't enough aides and rushing to get done is part of the job. However I usually let the resident set their own pace and I still manage to get my work finished. And I usually get a smile, a thank you and a hug for my efforts. For me, that's what makes the job worth having.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.

Amazing News About "Dilbert"

One of the gals on my playgroup board linked me to Scott Adams' blog. He has an amazing story about losing his voice. It's longish but fascinating and well worth the read. For those that don't know, S. Adams is the creator of the office cartoon, Dilbert.

A nurse friend of mine (also on the playgroup board) said many people after having a stroke are only able to speak in rhyme and because the people around them don't understand what is going on, they think the person is just babbling. I have noticed many of the residents where I work tend to like to rhyme and some only ever rhyme. One woman I occassionally take care of has had a stroke and can still speak although she stutters sometimes in the effort to get her words out. But at the end of every sentence, she rhymes. She says things like, "I want to go to bed, head, red."

The brain is a fascinating thing.

Bug Hunt

My eldest child, a handsome boy of 12 years, has a particularly nasty school project coming due here soon. A bug collection. 25 bugs. At first I was flabbergasted that there even are twenty-five different bugs (keep in mind that a moth only counts once even if they're different kinds of moths) but now I realize that there are bugs everywhere. Ok, I have to stop thinking about it now.

Anyway, whenever I see a bug, I try to be brave for my child's sake and capture the creature to later be stored in my freezer (oh what a joy to go for some ice cream and have frozen bugs in ziplocs cascade out toward you). Last night at work I found a large black bug skittering down the hallway. I grabbed a plastic cup from the med cart and dropped it on the bug. Later the med nurse handed me a lid and I managed to swallow down my bile and scoop up the nasty little bugger. The med nurse said to me, "It's always interesting working with you Sara." Well I tried to keep this bug cup stored inconspicuously back behind the nurses' station but everyone at some point noticed and commented.

The family of one of our residents brought in a delicious Amish Friendship Breadfor the caregivers on 11 - 7 (which was incredibly thoughtful because we are the most forgotten shift) and I was shocked as every single one of my coworkers stated that they did not know what Amish Friendship Bread is. Shocked I tell you. For pity's sake, most of them grew up around Amish country. So I explained that it is a type of bread batter that is kept in a baggie or a bowl and it is fed every so often. After a few weeks, the bread batter is divided into three - one part to keep, one part to bake and one part to give to a friend. My friend C laughed and said, "You feed it? What on earth do you feed bread?"

Straight faced I answered, "Bugs. Why did you think I wanted to collect that one over there?"