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Monday, June 14, 2010

To sleep, perchance to dream....

Last night, I only woke up 5 or 6 times, which was a definite improvement over the couple of nights before. Yes, the dog wanting in at 2:00 a.m., the cats experiencing Feline Madness at 3:00 a.m., those were part of it. But the main problem is that I jinxed myself by telling the doctor that those hot flashes are ever so much more tolerable now compared to last year. That'll teach me!

AW: portable fan, all night long.

Perhaps because of sleep deprivation, I thought yesterday was Fathers' Day, and presented the package daughter sent from Japan. Whoopsie! But he was dying to open it anyway, so it worked out.

So, what's new with you?

38 comments:

emily said...

Remember my itchy rash--it turned into a whomping case of poison ivy. After purchasing every "so-called" anti-itch remedy in the pharmacy (none of which actually worked), I broke down and went to the dr's (on Thursday, of course, so it was too late to whine last week).

I fully expected her to tell me I was a wuss and just grin and bear it. But....she said it was a terrible case and put me on a double dose of steroids.

The thing about steroids is this--they cause insomnia and irritability (like poison ivy doesn't do that any way?). Couple that with the fact that my oldest is graduating HS this week and my parents are arriving some time (today, tomorrow? who knows, my mother seems to think we communicate telepathically) and insomnia and irritability are pretty much a given.

The poison ivy is getting better, but....I still itch. Even though, intellectually, I know I itch less than I did last week. I Still Itch! Which makes it Hard To Sleep. Which leads to IRRITABILITY. (lather, rinse, repeat)

<antiwhine>Each of my children has a weird and uncoordinated schedule this week so it wasn't as if I was actually going to accomplish much.

<antiwhine>The steroid dosage will be down by half by this weekend when the rest of the extended family descends.

<antiwhine>Poison Ivy (like lice) is much more of a nuisance than a real problem.

<antiwhine>Aveeno Oatmeal Bath (aaahhh) It's the only thing that helps. I've taken at least one bath (sometimes two) a day for the past week.

kathy a. said...

oh, emily. i put poison ivy in the real problem category, for sure. i'm getting ptsd just remembering the time my son rubbed his eyes after scratching the itch from poison oak. gaaaah!

best with all the graduation and end-of-year and parents visiting things!

esperanza said...

Emily, I am itching in sympathy.

Whines: the tummy bug is *still* hanging around. Sweet Baboo has been feeling yucky, off and on, for a week! She will be fine one day and sick the next. Repeat. Mr. E seems to be over it, I seem to be in the midst of it. It's a weird tummy bug--I am starving, but the minute I eat something, I feel gross. (Still not pregnant, before you ask this time!).

Mini has contributed by impersonating a newborn and being up THREE times last night (I'm sending her your way, kathy a. Hope you don't mind, since you're up anyway!).

AW: Developmental Pediatrician, who is awesome, not least of which because he is hyper-punctual, says that he has *no* worries about Sweet's intelligence or cognitive abilities. She's almost caught up on motor skills, is ahead of her age a little bit on receptive speech and (as we know) WAY behind on expressive speech. He validated that we are doing exactly what we should be doing to help her, and offered some extra help if we feel like she's not making enough progress come fall.

Don't even ask about the potty training. See above re: tummy bug.

kathy a. said...

antiwhine of fighting the evil corporation, in this case CVS.

my local pharmacy kind of went to hell after the takeover. the thing that pushed me over the edge was that they put family planning products in a locked case, with a big red button -- which, when pressed, announced so loud that you could hear it in the parking lot, CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE NEEDED IN THE FAMILY PLANNING DEPARTMENT. being that i do not need to inform the entire universe that I AM OLD BUT I HAVE NOT ACHIEVED MENOPAUSE YET, AND I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE BABIES, i complained, and pharmacy staff and managers threw up their hands and said they had no choice, i should contact company HQ.

so eventually i did. and eventually, a customer service district manager wrote back to say that the locked "lubricants" case would be unlocked. and boy howdy, maybe it is right that women of a certain age get "irritable," because the dudeling got some harsh words about the distinction between family planning products and lubricants.

that was saturday, and the locked case and loudspeaker button are gone today. i went to thank the employee who first told me to contact HQ, and this guy next to her said, "did you write The Letter?" he said he'd only been there a week, saw the letter, and it was taken care of. so, cluesticking works.

kathy a. said...

esperanza, great news from the developmental ped! and of course i'd love to spend some middle-of-the-night time with mini!

Jenevieve said...

Rapidly losing the will to live. I have 4x20 minute oral exams on Weds, and 4 on Fri. Gahgahgah.

kathy a. said...

chocolate to Jeni, STAT!

esperanza said...

Jeni, you can do it! But it does sound heinous. Chocolate for sure.

Unknown said...

katy a: could your next corporate fight with CVS be about the razor blades, which are also locked up and also blare for customer help when you push the button to get a freaking pack of blades. WHY, CVS, WHY?

Jeni, you need much chocolate and STAT.

esperanza: we also had that tummy bug and it did just as you described, come on every other day, just to trick you into thinking you were better. Stupid flu.

AW: My daughter dun graduated frum hi skool. She is rilly smaht. I am so proud.

AW: I never ever have to set foot in our public schools again. I'm not going to advocate there due to a conflict of interest, and so it's buh bye forever. YAHOO.

W: We found an apartment but we have not yet gotten said apartment. It's not gorgeous, but it's cheap, in the next town and my daughter will deign to live there. It's on a lake. The current tenants are filthy slobs and the entire apartment needs to be gutted. It's THAT bad.

W; Nobody in this house will even discuss packing, so I'm going to have to hire the movers to do it. It sucks but I can't even get them to clean the garbage out of their rooms. We're leaving about half our belongings behind. They won't fit in apartment or are too crappy to bring.

W: Daughter's ex boyfriend brought over a nice cough. My son caught said cough. And then gave it to me. Our house now sounds like a tuberculosis ward.

AW: Daughter being courted by a NICE BOY who is in college, has a job, is responsible, is a tribesman, and has nice parents. It took long enough.

W: Said daughter thinks that I should fill out all her college papers and make her placement appointments for her. Um.... I think not.

W: Still no working car. Drunk neighbor seems to have disappeared and I do not have his insurance information and police will not give it to me over phone. Even though I have no way of getting to other side of town except for a taxi that costs $20 each way.

Otherwise, finances suck, but I'm keeping my chin up.

emily said...

(((Jeni)))

For oral exams do not despair,
Just imagine your tormentors in their underwear!


Sending chocolate and cookies!

emily said...

kathy a.--You are not to informing the entire universe that you are old but don't want babies, you are informing the entire universe that you are hot and still getting some! :-)

Good work with the cluesticking!

Sue said...

Jeni - oral exams *spits* - I hope they go well for you. I hope the emergency chocolate helps.

emily - itching for you!

esperanza - Boo to tummy troubles and unfortunate incidents of any pookable nature.

margalit - sorry about the money stuff (boy, do I hear ya on that one today!) but congrats on the family grad.

kathy a. - You? Rock the catbox! Way. To. Go. Keep fightin' the man, that's what I say....

Whine of Desperation and Possible Sheer Stupidity: I have an appointment tomorrow at a local clinic that does Botox treatments. The only reason I'm going is that I know the medical doctor that runs the place - I used to work with him at the hospital I was at for my first career. One of his nurses at the clinic is from the hospital too.

Anyway, the consult is free, but if he finds a good reason to inject for headache relief (as well as the crease between my eyebrows that gets deeper with every headache - my niece calls it my credit card holder - ya, she cracks me up too) - it's going to cost a LOT of money.

Hence, the whine. Money? I don't have so much at the moment. Hubby's quarterly taxes paid last week, and no paycheck until the 25th....much of which is already tagged for other expenses. Ack!!!!!

Whine: I get tired of the hope/disappointment rollercoaster, but this is a "back door" way to see another doctor in town as well as an actual proven therapy. It really *does* work for some people. Who knows? Maybe this is it.

I won't know until I try.

Sue said...

Note: The reason I'm freaking out about paying for this is that I am SO unaccustomed to paying for medical services. It just feels odd and somehow wrong.

On the other hand, Botox is mostly used by people who want to get rid of lines and wrinkles, so it's more like going to the salon, right?

I'll fill y'all in tomorrow night.

Sarah at ratatat said...

Wow Sue, no headaches and no wrinkles. Sounds almost too good to be true. Hope it is true.

Yay Kathy! Wow. They lock things at your CVS? Even when we lived in the local city I don't think they locked things. No chance they'd ever help you unlock it, so just as well. I stopped going there after they filled a prescription for me in my son's name. No, he did not have a Rx at the same time.

Go Jeni go!

Margalit - happy moving. Congrats on the new grad.

Esperanza - ooh, that stomach flu sounds bad. Hope it moves soon. And what a nice ped. visit. The nice thing about expressive language delays is that they respond so well to therapy, at least it did for my oldest.

Emily - hang on. perhaps the doctor can add in some valium. it would make the whole week less stressful? Poison ivy is definitely major.

Anti-Whine: day 1 of my oldest's summer camp was a success. Last summer's camps are when she started flaring in anxiety. So I am deeply relieved.

Whine: Thank god, because the soonest child psychiatrist appt. I can get is July 26th. That seems crazy far away. Filling out the questionnaire they sent...yeah, I guess they won't turn us away.

W/AW: took the 6 year old and the toddler to the doctor today. I knew it was a cold, but they both were complaining of "funny" ears. And I am OK with the watchful waiting - they aren't in pain. There is fluid built up and if it gets dramatically worse, he'll know what's going on. Thankful for good insurance and doctors I can see easily.

esperanza said...

margalit, my sympathies on packing and moving. yuck, yuck, yuck

Sarah, we are grateful that her delays are treatable. But we've been doing speech therapy for...uh, her whole life. And she's gotten further behind, not caught up. It seems to be a oral motor skill problem and will just take time and motivation to fix. Ped's primary recommendation was regular preschool, to provide positive peer pressure. She responded very well to 2 day-a-week preschool this spring, so we may expand that this fall. We're changing therapists in October (when she turns 3), so hopefully that will make a difference too. She's making progress, it's just sloooow. and probably no one but me can tell.

Madeleine said...

Busy. Crabby. Holding it all together, but barely.

W: Raaaaaaain on our camp-fun day.
AW: Fewer mosquitoes, and the rain cleared in time for afternoon fun.

Hugs to all.

Sue said...

Whine: Obnoxious people who leave the planning of their wedding until 3 WEEKS before the date, working of course on the following assumptions:

1. I will conduct the service wherever they want it. (I won't. Only in the church folks. No exceptions.)

2. There will be no cost to them. (Wrong again sweetie - my time is WORTH SOMETHING)

3. I will drop everything else I'm doing this week to accommodate them. (Nope. Booked up 'til next Tuesday)

4. Assume that a Sunday morning wedding won't be a problem. (Um. We have this thing called WORSHIP you idiot.)

WTF????? I despise this woman already.

Liz Miller said...

AW: I walked over 11 miles in The Relay For Life.

W: I pulled something after mile five (getting water out of the cooler. I KNOW). I didn't think it was that bad, and that I'd just, y'know stretched it, and I just kept walking.

And walking.

And walking.

W: I am really not very smart.

W: And then, Sunday, Aunt Flo came to visit.

AW: Rest has made the leg much better.

AW: Our area's Relay for Life raised almost $200,000.

AW: It was a lot of fun. Except for the leg. But still.

kathy a. said...

sue, isn't that special? someone we might both know is collecting bad wedding stories; sounds like you might have an entry.

liz, GO TEAM GO! glad the relay was so successful. hope the leg is better soon!

W: another friend has cancer, and is seeing the surgeon today. crossing fingers. AW: my lovely daughter left behind an "emergency" stash of origami cranes, for good wishes; the stash has been duly raided, once again.

Madeleine said...

Yes, I've got a pre-teen on my hands. Evidence:

-Tying up the phone line.

-Request to download music from a filesharing service. (No.)

-I don't understaaaaaand (because I won't pay for the legal download when she has her own money).

-New favorite song on autorepeat. Same singer as last time, but now instead of blaming her unplanned pregnancy on reincarnation, she's mooning over someone else's boyfriend and getting her instrument damp.

Liz Miller said...

MM's got that album on repeat too.

Sarah at ratatat said...

Oh esperanza, how frustrating that the speech isn't helping. I will add it took my oldest getting therapy from ages 2 until 8 to get all the sounds. (Don't get me started on the year she was 3 and they school district refused to continue the therapy because she'll "outgrow it." She never improved on a single sound without dedicated therapy.) Interesting to hear peer pressure doing some good. Sorry if I was insensitive, now that we're on the other side of that long frustrating process.

Sue - wow! She's a doozy. Did they just get engaged or is she that dumb to think she didn't need to arrange this all...

Liz - happy resting.

Kathy - cancer always gets the BOO! Hope the cranes help.

Madeleine - you're scaring me. I hope we still have a year or two to go before I can join you in chorus.

AW: Day 2 of daughter's class - no tears and willing to go tomorrow!

emily said...

Sarah--the valium is a great idea, but I think my DH (who has been dealing with me) needs it more:-).

emily said...

Sue--I didn't know clergy had to deal with bridezillas--so sorry!

esperanza said...

Sue, chalk one more up to the "rather do a funeral than a wedding" list. Ugh. I'm sure *I* wasn't like that.

Sarah, no worries. The "long" part of the process just gets to me sometimes. Sorry if I was snippy. And yay for a good Day 2!

New whine: Sweet Baboo had a very hard day. If you cry when your mother turns the oven light off, it's just a bad day. It has also been a long day for Sweet Baboo's mama. Thankfully Mini Baboo has been relatively cooperative.

Madeleine said...

Liz, you get to listen to the whole album? I get one song, over and over.

AW: She's not a full-on teenager. After the crying and tantrumming she went back to being Snuggly fairly quickly. I got my bedtime I love yous.

I have the same question for Sue -- if she's that set on what she wants, wherefore the three week planning stage? (I planned my wedding fast because I didn't want to spend too much energy on it, and for a few other reasons, but that meant four months, not four weeks.)

Madeleine said...

{{{esperanza and Sweet Baboo}}} That sounds like a very tough day in the two-year-old department.

Liz Miller said...

Oh, I get to listen to the whole album (except track 5) because I'm in charge of the cd player in the car.

On special occasions (totally non-whiny cooperative mornings) I'll put track 6 on repeat for the trip to school (three repeats)

Sue said...

Yup, we get the full-on bridezilla treatment. The worst part is that the clergy/church part of the planning is just about ALWAYS the LAST thing on the bride's "to do" list. Pretty ironic, since they can't be legally married until I sign the papers.

This piece of work has been engaged a while but "just hasn't gotten around to this part of the planning". Argh.

Anti-whine: A male colleague of mine had the honour of taking his 12 year old daughter and three of her friends to a full-house 'tween concert last night. Apparently the performer is popular among that crowd. He fb'd the whole experience. Imagining him sitting in the auditorium with 2000 screaming girls is still making me giggle this morning. Oh, the fun!!!!

Not-So-Sure Whine: The Botox people were really nice. I have to see another doc for the medical injections, but that shouldn't be too much of a wait. In the meantime, the doc at the centre said it might help to inject the creases between the eyebrows anyway because it will mean that I can't "wince" so severely from the pain. Even wincing can keep the pain cycle going, so this is good for the interim.

Whine: Why don't I look like Kate Winslet this morning? Or Catherine Zeta-Whatever?

Jenevieve said...

Thanks, guys! Madeleine and Liz, I'm morbidly curious about this album, It sounds so... wrong.

AW: 4 exams done!

W: One of them was on "so let's say you decided to do spinal surgery in this dog. Discuss your planning." WHAT. When would I ever, ever do spinal surgery? In anything? Ever?

AW: One was "pretend X is a client and she's said she wants to spay her cat. Talk to her." Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

W: 4 more on Friday. Dooooom.

AW: Matt has been delightfully nonjudgemental about the amount of chocolate I'm consuming. :)

Liz Miller said...

Jenevieve, I'm sending virtual bars of Godiva Dark Chocolate.

AW: my leg is almost all better today. It is just twingey enough to keep me walking at a slow pace, but it's not what anyone could call painful.

Sue said...

More virtual chocolate for Jeni is on the way!

Way to go Liz!

Whine (sort of): They said to give the Botox 24 hours to "set" and it has done just that.

Anti-Whine: Unlike some celebrities we've seen, I can fully express emotions with my face.

Whine: Despite looking FABULOUS without my frowny forehead lines, I have a headache. Yup. The nice nurse didn't promise otherwise, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Anti-whine: This result gives me hope that properly injected into the right trigger points, this Botox stuff might just help. Yay!

Sarah at ratatat said...

More chocolate for Jeni and fingers crossed for 4 more tests.

Glad to hear you'll be out and about again soon. Liz.

Ooh-la-la - Sue we love you with or without forehead creases. Just hope they kill the headaches.

Whine: my daughter's camp is messing with us. They decided today to go on a field trip tomorrow. In one of those 12 passenger vans, which makes me slightly nervous. (our area had a fatal crash involving kids in one of those vans a few years ago. Altogether different, but...) So I am not enthused and my daughter is torn. It might be fun; she might get car sick. It might be lame; but there will be chocolate at the end. Now of course bedtime is all headachy and anxious. Bah!

amy said...

Sorry to whine late, but I was too tired last night after work to do it then, and this last week has been feces. Absolute pook.

*Tater, who used to sleep through the night, hasn't been. He also will no longer go down for a nap in his crib. I have to hold him or he has to nap in the car.
*The tot finished K-garten this week (an emotional roller coaster for us both) AND this is the last week of dance class, which means dress rehearsal and a recital and MUCH saying "good-bye" to people all over the place.
*My crackberry died, and the last time I backed up my data was May, so I effectively lost my calendar, my contacts, and my memo notes. The most important memos would be my walking training log and my list of all the money I've collected in cash donations for my walk, with names and amounts. Why didn't I back it up in all that time? Because I am stoopid and thought that data was stored on my memory card, which NEEDS TO BE BACKED UP ANYWAY. *sigh*
*My car died while my husband was driving it. Looks like it needs: a head gasket, a radiator, timing belt, water pump, and a kitchen sink. It will cost around $1300 for all of that. The car is a 1998 Escort with 190,000 miles on it. Everyone (nearly) is telling me to fix it, but I couldn't sell that car for that much money, so why am I doing this? Also, I don't want to spend this money right now because...
*My walk is getting closer and I need to raise more money, but I don't even have time to train right now.
*I found a carpenter I trust to do the necessary work in my sun room to render it safe for living beings to pass through, and I hired him back in April to do the work in July. Guess what? It's gonna cost a ton of money that I would have if it weren't for my Escort problems. I'd love to postpone it, but he's moving away in August.
*As for counterargument to my "We should not fix the Escort" thesis, my husband draws my attention to the fact that if we ditch the Escort, we need to sell our clunker minivan and get a reliable car, so either way, we're about to dump money on a car.
*I have two sets of papers to grade and no time to grade them.
*I owe people cookies from my bake sale, including Kathy A. and Redzils.

I just want to hide in a cave. Has anyone got one I can borrow?

JenR said...

hugs to everyone

I am off work in 4 hours to start the first of three consecutive extended-family visiting weekends. It's bound to be both fun and frustrating.

My SIL's niece is out of the ICU and complaining about hospital food being icky. That's good sign I think.

Liz Miller said...

Amy, so many hugs.

Bring your Crackberry back to the store. I bet they can get the data off of it (and start using Google calendar...it's accessible everywhere).

My suggestion on the car is this: Ask the mechanics how long $1300 will keep the current car going. If it's longer than a year, do the repair and start researching the next car and saving for it.

Liz Miller said...

AW: CRAB CAKES IN THE CAFETERIA!!!

W: Still no ice cream.

Sue said...

Whine: Head still not great today. Pain right now (at noon) already at 6, which is odd. I usually hit 6 around supper time. On the other hand, it's been a bit of a stressful work week.... whatever. Bleh.

Anti-whine: I'm taking 4 hours of overtime this afternoon. Think I'll get me some ice cream. :)

Funny story from our house: I'm eating my cereal this morning and hubby says to me "What???" I said, "What, what?"

His response: "I don't know, you just looked so....surprised or something."

Yup.

Botox.

This stuff is cracking me up. (I'm going to have to wait a few months to get the medical kind of Botox for the headaches, so I may as well enjoy the cosmetic part until then).