Lap · Times

To try to keep this from running miles and miles on anyone's friends page, I'll make liberal use of cuts. 

I do have a funny story from that Jubilee performance.

( Here it goes... )

We went home on a whirlwind trip for Christmas.

( Christmas trip stories behind the cut... )

The other interesting story happened on the 31st. ( St. Louis adventures... )

Thank goodness, things have been slightly calmer since. Now Jubilee is ramping up to do a recording and starting work on our newly revamped Stations of the Cross program, so I have rehearsals with them Saturday, we'll start recording next Sunday and the Sunday after, and on Mondays we're rehearsing for Stations. It's a good thing I love these people. :)

No one has been itching or anything-- I was sitting on Ian's bed, talking to him, and all of a sudden I saw something in the short hair at the nape of his neck.  We had our backs to the bright light of the window, and I think that's how I spotted it.

Well, the boys were shampooed, nit-loosening gelled, combed, washed and blown dry.  I inspected them as closely as I can under two different light sources, and I didn't see any nits.  The rooms were vaccummed, the matresses have been, too, all the stuffed animals are put away for a week.  (Which has them very upset.) 

Lice are a big pain in the butt.  Probably doesn't help that I know I'm being a bit OCD about it.  I vaccumed their pillows, mattresses, and floors again this morning. I've held them down and combed and combed some more with a nice, metal comb, rather than the plastic one in the package of shampoo. The amount of little brown eggs (?) that came off of them was discouraging, given how long I combed and combed last night.  They are exactly the color of the boys' hair, too.  And because it's me who has had to do all the treating and combing, I know I'm going to irrationally feel like it's all my fault if we don't get rid of them. 

Besides which, all the kids in their classes hang their coats right together.  Theirs have been washed and dried on hot, so they should be clean-- but the lice had to come from somewhere, and I'm betting that's where.  I'm just cringing. 

Ew.

Current Mood:

annoyed

I sang for a funeral.

Not kidding.  (Not anyone I knew, either.) The irony was high and amusing-- the one of us who was traumatized by the big round number birthday is the one who was at a funeral today. 

It's the husband's birthday, too.  He is four years, six hours and eleven minutes older than me.

Seriously,  we got presents, we had a nice dinner, and he brought me cake at choir practice.  (Awww.)

Still, though.  Thirty.  Weird.

Boys are back in school.  So far, so good.  We found a buddy for Ian on the next block over and they've had some good times.  Our circle of houses is almost full now.  They let civilians move in, so we have three college boys in one house.  They seem like good people-- they have a lot of friends over but they are quiet.  I did ask that they not park across from my driveway, though.  Seems to have worked for tonight.  Maybe I'll take the hooptey-mobile that the husband drives and back it into one of them if they start it up again.

Sinus surgery is finally scheduled for 9/29.  I finally had to go in and sit in their waiting room until they talked to me because no one would call me back.  I got in on the last day they had open time in September, and I think it's just because I was there in the flesh.

The husband is working on his PhD candidacy exam.  It's due tomorrow at 5:00.  He says its 25 pages so far and should have another 3-4 more to go.  He's at work right now.  He's been at work a lot this last week.  Not a big surprise, but I'm ready for it to be done, especially since the boys aren't in school.  I miss him.

I don't like Ike either.  Dayton got creamed, although not as bad as Cincy did, I guess. We had gusts over 65 mph on Sunday.  One should not be hit by hurricanes in Ohio.  Seriously.  We never lost power-- all our lines are buried and I think we feed off the base.  Most everyone around us lost power, though.  They called tonight and cancelled school for the third straight day tomorrow.  The boys are annoyed.  I hope we don't have a bad winter, or we'll be in school forever.

Current Mood:

tired

I just spent awhile puttering out in my garden.  I didn't do a very good job of dead-heading my verbena, but that's because of the bees that LOVE my groundcover there.  Still, the front gardens are looking nice.  I put in some marigolds along the back of the big garden-- I finally gave up on the zinnas ever showing up in the gardening stores.  Anyway, they're not as nice as the zinnias, but they are doing well.   They're just not as tall. 

I have two big pots on the back porch.  I put a daisy-ish plant in each one along with a white superbell. (Think cascading petunias with smaller blossoms)  They went opposite directions.  One of the daisies is a nice, compact plant, but it doesn't blossom as much.  The superbell is nice, but held in check by the bigger daisy.   The other daisy went very tall and rangy looking, with lots of smaller blossoms.  The superbell had lots of room, and it is HUGE.  It's climbing on the daisy now.  Probably will kill it eventually, but it's such a gorgous plant that I'm not sure I care, 

Anyway.  The point is, I had time to putter in my garden.  In the morning, so I'm not scorching hot.  The kids are in day camp!  Hooray!  

OK, Sean's just in morning camp, but it is still nice to have a quiet morning.  I've been trying to do fun stuff with him when I pick him up.  Preferably fun stuff near the kids' museum the camp is at, so I don't  have to drive so much.   Monday we stayed at the museum until Ian got out.  That was fun, but it was three and a half hours.  Granted, we spent some of it eating lunch and watching the planetarium show, but it was also a lot of climbing in their four level play area.  It's definitely not built for people who are 5'6"-- I have bumps and bruses from running into things-- especially one very twisty tube slide.  Every time my feet catch, something new bumps into the wall.  Yesterday wasn't as much fun.  I had originally planned to have a healthy lunch at Subway.  When we got there, the Subway turned out to be right next to a Little Ceasars.  I'm a softy, and I have no will-power when it comes to pizza.  We got one of their always ready $5 pepperonis, found a park and had a picnic.  Then he had to go do grocery shopping with me.  (The not so fun part.)  Today, I think we'll play at the museum for a little while after lunch, and then when the sun is less intense we'll go to the water park near the museum.  I've been saving that for these last hot days.  

Not sure about tomorrow.  Friday, Sean doesn't have camp.  Ian does, and they are taking a field trip to a cave nearby.  I think we might pack a lunch and go down to the aquarium in Cincinnati since we have all day. 

They're doing more camp next week.  (Hooray!)  Then we have one full week before we're hoping to go down to TX.  We're roughly thinking the 6th-ish through the 16th-idh.  As always, depends on the flights.  It also depends on my mom's impending knee surgery.  It's an arthroscopic procedure, so the recovery time isn't supposed to be too bad.

Must go move the hose.  I'm trying to water the backyard a bit before it gets too hot.

Ouch.  I went to the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic today on the referral from my primary care doc.  He thought that the eternal cough/drainage/yuck I've had is acid reflux.  Apparently, this is common, even when you don't have any heartburn. 

The ENT stuck a tube up my nose to see what was up.  He put some Afrin/Lidocaine spray up there first, but it still hurt enough to make me squirm and cry.  I still feel sore.

Apparently, it's all very swollen up there.  He pointed out that the spray should have made the tissues go down, so it was probably much worse beforehand.  What amazed me was that it was still that bad after being on Flonase for two months.  (He knew about that, of course.)  Huh, maybe that's why I've had a headache for a year and a half.  Actually, the Flonase has been very helpful for the headaches.  Hasn't done a bit for the drainage-- in fact, I think it might be worse. 

Oh, and apparently I do have signs of reflux, which makes it a chicken-or-the-egg type of deal.  Is the reflux causing my sinus problems, or are the sinuses causing the reflux?  I'm inclined to the latter, because there have been times where the extra drainage from a cold has made me vomit.

Thus, I get to irrigate my nasal passages twice a day, keep taking the Flonase and the antihistamine, and now I get to take Nexium in the morning to see if that helps.  I have a CT scan of my sinuses scheduled for Friday morning and I'm supposed to go back on 7/25 to see if the medicines help. 

I want something to help now.  I'm tired of coughing.  I'm tired of headaches.  I want to be able to exercise again without sounding like a consumption patient.  I want to be able to sing and not worry about whether I'll have to leave the church and cough up crud for the next half hour.

And man, the scope up the nose thing is really lousy.  I really, really hope something helps before I have to go through that again.

</self pity>

Two pictures here:  One of me, all dressed up, and one of Sean's birthday pictures.  He's very cute. I look OK.  It was very windy, so my hair is blowing, and I'll admit to blurring a big wrinkle out of my skirt.  :) 

He's much cuter than I am. 

I only have af ew minutes to post this morning, because I'm supposed to be at mass soon and I need to roust my husband out.

Still, too cool to pass up.

Got on the scale today and was .4 pounds under my goal weight.  That means I've lost 46 pounds, and three clothing sizes. 

No kidding, I went shopping at the Ann Taylor Outlet last weekend and everything I bought was a medium or a size 8.  Whoa.  I figured anywhere that sold a size 00 would put me in a 10, but no, it was an 8. 

Current Mood:

accomplished

I think I've proved beyond a doubt that I am a huge liturgical music nerd.  

I found a website that has a pretty decent selection of music from church.  I've spent the last two days (and I'll bet you more to come) downloading hymns I love, choral pieces I enjoy, burning them on to CDs for the car, and putting them on my own personal mp3 player.  

I'm enjoying it, though!  I suspect the husband will be spending some quality music nerdness time this weekend.  

First run of performances for the litte group I direct is done, and it was good.  One more run next week.  

As of this week, I've lost right about 45 pounds.  Its nice that my clothes don't fit because I'm too small for them (rather than them being too small for me) but it's still a pain the butt that my clothes don't fit.

Current Mood:

amused

Background:  I want a referral for Ian to go to private speech therapy (and specifically a facilitated social group) during the summer, since he can't get services through the school.  I called and made an appointment to see his primary care doctor for today, because no matter whether the next step was a stop at the developmental pediatrician or a direct referral, I had to see her first.

I got there at 9:07 for my 9:20 appointment.  No problem.  We get checked in and go look at the fishtank in the waiting room. 

All of a sudden, the PA system starts broadcasting that there is a fire emergency reported in the hospital.  We are to evacuate through the nearest door.  One of the medical assistants tells everyone which way to go, so all the staff and patients congregate outside the building.  Then a Master Sergeant shows up and tells everyone we have to walk half the way around the building to another parking lot.  Off we go.  We get out to the parking lot and sit.  And sit.  And sit some more.

Funny moment: As we were parading along the sidewalk, I said something (I don't remember what) to Sean.  Ian said, "Mom, don't talk.  Only staff are allowed to talk during a fire."  I guess he remembers his fire drill etiquette. 

Once we finally get back inside, we pretty quickly get the preliminary height/weight/blood pressure/temperature check done and go back to an exam room. 

At this point, I'm still genial and cooperative.  No one can expect a fire situation, after all. 

And we sit.  And sit.  And sit.  And sit.  The door to the room is open.  At one point, I asked one of the staff where the bathroom was.  They knew I was there.  Unfortunately, that information didn't get to his doctor.  She was in her other exam room, expecting the staff to bring the patients back to that room.  Eventually, the airman who did the prelim stuff on Ian noticed us, did a doubletake and found the doctor.

Now I have to explain that I want this referral.  This would not be too much of a problem, except that Ian's doctor has left us in the hands of a brand new resident.  I don't mind this, I know people have to learn, but she is struggling with the computer system.  So, they tell me I have to go to the developmental pediatrician.  This is fine.  He should probably see Ian at some point anyway.  It just hasn't been pressing since his needs have been met through the school. 

How do I set up the appointment?

Oh, go to the referral center, they'll have it in the computer and make an appointment.  He works out of the adolescent clinic next door.

No, wait.  You don't have to go to the referral center, you can just go over to the adolescent clinic.

No, they call you.

OK, we'll call them.  (And we wait some more)

When she comes back, she says the developmental peds is at Dayton Children's today, but his clinic says he's booked through May and they don't have his June schedule yet.

I politely explain that isn't going to work.  I'm trying to get him services for the summer-- that's the entire point.  Sure, it would be nice to keep it going in the fall, but the real purpose is to help him keep the skills he's learned this year.  School is out June 5th.  If I have to wait until some unspecified time in June to see him and then wait for the referral to be processed, it's going to be almost July or even into July, which makes the whole point moot. 

They decide that since it will be more than 30 days until I can get an appointment with their doctor, they can refer me out to Dayton Children's.  Ok, that's fine, whatever. 

Except that when they call the referral center, the referral folks tell them that they need to explain the situation to the clinic and have the doctor look to see if he can fit us in.  If not, then they will refer us out.  Mind you, he's out today.  It's almost 11:00.  The kids are slowly losing it.  They're hungry and bored.

Supposedly, his primary care doctor is going to see about the appointment and call me back with a time.  That can't happen until tomorrow, because he's off at Childrens.  You know, where they're giving me crap about referring to? . 

We finally get out of there.  I find a phone book at the hospital information desk and look up the number for Ian's school.  It's past 11:00, and I'm not sure when lunch is for the first graders.  If lunch is over, obviously I need to take him to get some food.  If not, I'd rather get him back into his routine ASAP.  Of course, they're eating lunch as I call.

I got them both a chicken nugget happy meal..  At least they get the apples instead of the fries, right?  They eat in the car while I drive Ian to school.  As we're pulling up to the school, I realize I don't have Ian's backpack.  It's 11:35 now, and I'm not going back for it.  I have to bring Sean back (the preschool is across the parking lot from Ian's school) for his class at 12:15.  It's way too early yet to wait at the school, so I take advantage of the time to get backpacks.  

At least he got back into the swing of the day without getting in trouble.   

Needless to say, they haven't called today.  I'm going to call them back in the morning. 

The IEP meeting was fine. Good to hear how well he's doing. 

Current Mood:

frustrated

I've been playing phone tag with Ian's Occupational Therapist leading up to his IEP meeting this Thursday.  Since we keep missing each other, she said on the last message that she thinks he is doing so well that he can "graduate" out of the OT program.  If something changes, we can always go back and add in OT at another time, but right now, she doesn't feel he needs it anymore. 

Woo! 

Then I talked to his Speech Therapist.  She said that ever since he was moved up to first grade, he's suddenly met all of his IEP goals in one big jump.  She was calling me to figure out what we could put down for a speech goal next year for him.  (My answer was negotiating with other kids in situations where he wants to do something and the person he's playing with wants to do something else.  Right now, he's having a hard time coming up with some sort of compromise. He just gets upset.)

At any rate, she is really impressed with his progress as well.  He's going to go down to having speech every other week instead of every week, because she wants to keep him from being dependant on her.

Woo hoo!

So: sum total, Ian is doing very, very well.  The move up to first grade has been really good for him, which is a load off my mind. 

This is the first time I'm going to an IEP meeting without a tension headache and that sick feeling in my stomach.  It is an interesting experience. 

Current Mood:

jubilant

Survived Easter.  Finally.  I'm tired, and I'm frustrated-- not with the music, but with myself.  I need to take a step back from the music and get myself back on the right page.  I've been spending so much time, especially during this week,when I should  have been the *most* focused, trying to be all things to all people.  I missed the first reading on Holy Thursday running about to get people candles for the procession later.  Same thing at Easter Vigil-- we needed candles for the Exsultet, and I ran all over looking for some.  I would have much rather been out watching the vigil start.  Last night and today, I've been trying to help out our poor bell newbie-- she' s been tossed all over playing different bells, and she's a bit overwhelmed.  She also doesn't read music well, which makes life much harder.  I felt badly for her.  

Anyway, most of the vigil was good.  The lectors did a beautiful job, I didn't screw up my psalm too much, and the baptisms and confirmations bring back good memories for me of the Vigil when I went through Confirmation, lo, these almost ten years ago now.  (Wow.  That makes me feel OLD.) 

I need a break from the music, though.  I've been singing in church choirs for lo, these almost ten years now, except for six months or so during the transition into military life.  At Kirtland, the music ministry was so small that if I wasn't there, it was a big deal.  Here, there are enough people that I don't think the average parishioner will notice.  Seriously, though, I got here on Saturday, and sang in the choir at St. Helen's on Sunday.  I've been going non-stop like this for a long time.  Doing Stations with Jubilee this year reminded me that being part of the music could be a spiritual enhancement, instead of a distraction.  It's become a job to me.  (And I'm not getting paid, obviously.)  

I'm just worried that people are going to think that I'm angry or frustrated at them.  The directors have gone out of their way this week to thank me for all the work I did with the bell music.  It really made a difference for Easter-- our rehearsal time was so much more productive that we sounded better than I think we have while I was here.  That made the work worthwhile to me.  

I think I'm going to edit myself out of bells for the fourth Sunday of Easter, and that will enforce a break for that long, at least.  Maybe a month is all I need.  We'll see. 

Now, how do I tell the directors?  I'm afraid an email won't come across like I intend it.  Hmmm.

My parents are coming in this afternoon.  They rented a car, so I don't have to go get them at the airport-- it's a good thing, because they would have been sitting around for a while, since their flight arrives at noon and Sean's school starts at 12:15.  It's about 20 minutes to the airport, too. 

We had our last Stations of the Cross performance yesterday.  On one hand, it's been taking up a lot of time.  On the other, I'm so sad, because I loved getting to sing with these people so often.  We have a few more performances lined up, though, so it's not completely over.  

I really have a ton of stuff to do, and I"m procrastinating-- sort of.  I wanted to get one more vegetarian recipe for dinner.  We decided to go meatless through the Triduum, just because.  Good Friday is the only official day of abstinance, but hey, why not?  We have some other plans to start Easter traditions with our family, now that the boys are old enough to understand that Easter is more than bunnies and egg hunts.  We're throwing things at the wall and seeing what will stick.  

OK, must go make grocery list and head to the store.  My parents (well, more my dad) are picky eaters.  They won't be here too long, though, so it's not too hard to plan for-- I just need to pick up a few things.  Sean needs a tub of cool whip for school today.  

Ugh.  My stomach hurts.

Monday,  3/10, A capella choir for holy week rehearsal, bugged out early to go to Jubilee rehearsal.  Got home about 9:30.

Tuesday,  3/11, Skylarks rehearsal, 9:30-11:00 AM.  

Wednesday,  3/12, Bells, 6:00.  Choir, 7:00.  Will probably be home around 9:30.

Thursday, blessedly, is off. 

Friday, 3/14, Jubilee at St Luke's.  Matt is coming so he can videotape it.  Dinner afterwards.

Oh, and I have a houseguest all week.  He leaves on Friday.

Saturday, 3/15, Matt is playing for church.

Sunday, 3/16, is Palm Sunday.  Bells and choir at 10:30 mass.  Rescheduled (snow!) Jubilee performance at 4:00.

Monday, 3/17, Cantor rehearsal, 5:30.  A capella choir at 6:30.   Mom and Dad coming.

Tuesday, 3/18,  Skylarks.

Wednesday, 3/19, Bells and Choir.

Thursday, 3/20,  Maundy Thursday service, 7:00 PM.  Mom and Dad leave.

Friday, 3/21,  Good Friday services, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM

Saturday, 3/22,  Easter Vigil, 8:45 PM

Sunday, 3/23,  Easter Morning mass, 8:00 and 10:30.  

Monday: Breathe.  Resume normal existence.  

Did I mention I have three brain cells left until Easter?  Yeah.  This is why.

Current Mood:

tired

Right on:  Ian has thoroughly enjoyed being in the first grade.  Good behavior reports so far this week.  He comes home in shock and awe that they do things like read their library books in class. 

The only difficult thing is when he comes home with homework that has pretty sketchy instructions, where it's obvious all the other kids have been doing it while Ian was in the other class. 

He told me last night that he tested up another reading level to 3.1.   :o  His IEP goal was to have him reading at 3.0 by the end of the year, so I'm pleased with his progress.  (OK, I'm really proud of him.)  He's also taught himself cursive letters, so I bought him a couple of workbooks so he could learn to put the letters together correctly.  Otherwise, I fiigure he's going to get into a bunch of bad habits we have to break later.  The problem with that is both the husband and hated cursive and haven't used it other than signatures in forever-- so our cursive looks like about a fourth grader's.   :)  Perhaps not the best example for him.  I should have my mom send him a letter-- her cursive is gorgeous.

We're working through a teach-your-kid-to-read book with Sean off and on as he wants to do it.  We stop as he runs out of attention span or gets frustrated.  I wouldn't care that much, but he gets so annoyed that Ian can read and he can't.  He's doing well, though.  The other night, he read an entire first level Bob book to me.  Woo!  (The first level ones are things like "Dot has a dog.  The dog has a hat." but hey, he's three.)

My kids are cool.

</bragging>