Saturday, November 29, 2008

Vernacular

Main Entry:
ver·nac·u·lar
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin vernaculus native, from verna slave born in the master's house, native
Date:
1601
1 a: using a language or dialect native to a region or country rather than a literary, cultured, or foreign language b: of, relating to, or being a nonstandard language or dialect of a place, region, or country c: of, relating to, or being the normal spoken form of a language2: applied to a plant or animal in the common native speech as distinguished from the Latin nomenclature of scientific classification 3: of, relating to, or characteristic of a period, place, or group ; especially : of, relating to, or being the common building style of a period or place
— ver·nac·u·lar·ly adverb

Just in case you weren't sure, I'm apparently a bit of a Yankee. I find myself living in the south these days and I'm rather enjoying it, as I've said before. Though, it does appear that there are some words that I use that are just a little silly to these southerners. Things like sliver (splinter) and pop (soda). Apparently, crayons has 2 syllables and caramel has 3. I'm learning more and more of this southern tongue, but I'll probably always have more oatmeal in my pantry than grits.

All that said, I'd like to reveal the results of this fancy little quiz, just to prove that I'm quite possibly capable of playing for both teams!




You Are 50% Yankee, 50% Dixie



You're a pretty even split of Yankee and Dixie. You've probably traveled around a lot in your life.



Moreover, I blame the midwest! ;-)




Your Linguistic Profile:



55% General American English

20% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Hooray for me!!

I finally did it. After, literally, years of wanting to, I added a label cloud tonight.

Go Me!

Now, I'm sleepy and going to go nigh nigh.

Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving and I've just got to say, it was absolutely wonderful. I took the kids with me over to a friend's family's house for the festive meal. What a fun bunch they are! It was awesome to meet new people. To watch the boys play Wii, Elefun, the slot machine!! To see through a window into my friend's life. The growing up. The embarrassing stories. The 1st grade papers! HA!!

Good times were had by all. Thank you so much, my friend, for sharing your family with mine and making this holiday so enjoyable for us.

Monday, November 24, 2008

A real live original - from me!

Here's a first from me. A recipe!!

Tonight, I had a hankering for some onion soup and no moolah with which to purchase some delicious soup from the Red Onion. So I set about with the mission of using what I had in the house to create something delicious that hopefully would meet my need and be tolerated by the children.

The boys and I loved it. Sweetie, regretfully declined.

3 for 4 isn't that bad, in my opinion, and I love onion soup and she doesn't...so, I'm gonna share my original creation.

3 cups of water
3 cubes of chicken bullion
2 small onions chopped in big chunks
a dash of garlic and pepper
A bunch of mozzarella
1 package of small refrigerator biscuits (though not the Grands-just the cheap ones)

Here's what I did:

Boil the water with the seasoning.
Once boiling, add the onions.
When boiling again (about 10 minutes), lower heat to simmer while the rolls bake.
Bake 2 rolls in each large muffin tins for about 7 minutes at 400.

Then, I pulled the rolls out, popped them into smallish, oven safe bowls, poured the oniony soup over the biscuits and topped each bowl with mozzarella cheese. The bowls then went into the oven and baked until the cheese was a little brown. There was easily enough for 5 servings and since Sweetie opted out, I had 2 servings as did the Middle Mann.

Again, I thought it was delicious, and the boys gobbled it up!

Give it a try and tell me what you think? Maybe add some flare of your own and send me the advice!!

Friday, November 21, 2008

People! I need prayer

Alright, I'm headed out of work on Friday realizing that this is perhaps a sort of bad day. Not only is it payday, that was already fully spent, but it's also the day before vacation. Do y'all know what happens when I take vacation??

Needless to say, I'm worried. Pray for me. I'm off this whole week. Hopefully, I'll just sleep a ton. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a new trend for me. I'm totally on board for a new trend in my life. I'd love for bad things to stop happening when I'm off work on vaca.

You might be able to help. Pray! I welcome it. No matter your faith basis!!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What can I do?

I love text messaging. I text all the time. Text allows me to keep in contact with people I just don't have time for. It's quick. I find it thoughtful - though I know I'm somewhat in the minority on that, at least for people in my demographic. Most of all, it's easy.

Last week, I got a text from a friend of mine. I've known her since before she was in Junior High. Tonight, she texted me some pretty huge news. Huge like, life altering. hasn't told her mom. way outside the path she was on. news. I'm not really surprised by the news. Not shocked at it's existence in any regard.

Years and years ago, I was in a similar spot at a similar age and my church and the Christian community I was involved in then had very strange ways of 'being supportive' that generally involved being shut out, shunned, unwelcomed. It was horrible. I was still me. I was clearly in need of more Jesus. I was in a place of softness in my heart where I would have actually welcomed love like Jesus'. I got it from Him, just not His church. It was sad to me. Really really sad.

Fast forward a few years later and I began to understand a new idea about this sort of thing. The reactions of the Church became very clear to me during this time. At that time, my response to this new understanding was something I've come to understand as righteous discontent. The only real solution to this discontent is to actually do something about it. Something to cause change - something to right the wrong that causes the discontent in the first place.

THEN! some schtuff went down for a friend of mine. It was awful. Truly truly awful. Hearts hurt. Lives broken. You know what? The part that broke my heart the most was that there was again, someone in deep need of Jesus love and the Church didn't give love. They gave rules. They gave counsel. They gave words. They didn't give love. One person, maybe three or four once everything was said and done, loved my friend.

AND THEN!! Some other schtuff went down for a different friend of mine. The church had an opportunity to Love. The church didn't make that choice. Again. I loved my friend. I let her know, in love, that she was Loved. That it didn't make her choices right or wrong or good for her or bad for her. Those were questions she'd have to get answers for. She knows my opinion, but she also knows that I LOVE her. Even if she makes more bad choices. She's loved. Even if she hurts herself because she didn't do the right thing. She's loved.

So, about this text convo I'm in the middle of, this girl. I love her. I hate some of the things she does to herself, but I know. I've been where she is. The only person who loved me through that was my mom. Terrifying. Nearly inconceivable. 100% Lifeline. I don't know if my friend has that sort of safety net in the area where she lives. I know that I can't certainly make choices for her or walk the road of consequence for her, but my goodness! I'm sure as the sun will rise that today's modern church sure isn't going to love her. Especially not if she goes back to where she came from.

I can't be her mom. Can't be the answer. I can't be anything more than love for her. It's so hard to be love from so very far away.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

me? an award winner?

Blogging is really all about community. Shortly after I started blogging, I met a new friend. She's an awesome blogger and it's been so cool to watch her grow as both a writer and a incredible little techie. Coding blogs all over the place, she does! So impressive!!!

...and she awarded me with this awesome little award. I'm completely honored and will follow up promptly by completely all the rules associated with the award. For now though. I just can't wait to get it up on my site!

Thanks, Girl!!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

One of my favorite things

A lot of years ago, I saw a most wonderful movie. Then my daughter saw it.

We spent many many afternoons watching this movie again and again.

Today, in the midst of my not wanting to put the house back together, a most wonderful thing happened. This movie came on TV. When it started, Sweetie looked at me from the across the room and said, "You know? I used to pray that I'd get powers like Matilda." It wasn't the first time she'd told me this.

I must tell you that I'm now fully convinced of the movie's awesomeness since Mr. Busy himself - the smallest in the land - has been COMPLETELY captivated throughout the whole thing. Of course he's busy during the commercials, but as long as the movie's on, he is absolutely enamored.

As it ended, Mini-Mann stretched and proclaimed, "What a great movie that was! The last part of the movie was my favorite. Wasn't it yours?" I think I may just have to get the book for him.

Moments like that give me hope for him; for all of us!

Somethin's a'brewing 'round heah

I think there's this little something that's been brewing in me for a few days. I've been trying to avoid it, but the reality has pretty much hit me between the eyes.

I've got the flu.

I've been working on a fever for about 4 days. Achy back since Monday. Coughing. Sneezing. Snotty head. No energy. Crabby. No motivation.

I greeted the day officially rather late. Oh sure, I was conscious ever since the smallest boy woke up. Answering parental questions. Giving permission for things that wouldn't cause permanent damage to the children or the property.

Now that I'm up and the coffee's brewed, I'm looking around at all the wonderful goodness my Mini-Mann crafted up this morning. It's gonna take most of the energy I have to make things right in here.

I really look forward to feeling better very soon.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

AV

I woke up awful early today, on my day off. It ended up being a good thing. A very good thing.

I was slated to spend the day at an audio conference at church. However, when I signed in, I discovered that I was, in fact, signed up for the video portion of the conference instead. This was a bit nerve wracking at first, but it ends up that I actually know quite a bit about video, too.

During lunch, several of us were sitting around, talking about why we enjoy working in AV. The conversation then turned to the unusual phenomenon of the high school AV club and how there were never any girls in that club. Most possibly because girls didn't "get it" back in the day and the boys who were in it were weird, geeky boys with few social skills.

We then, collectively, determined that those awkward boys probably ended up being the most successful graduates in our respective classes. Then we all laughed at the idea that perhaps we are just trying to ride on the coattails of those AV high school boys in hopes of fantastic financial success. It was a fun conversation and a great conference. I was challenged creatively and I pulled off a decent showing.

Yay ME!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wednesday

Today is the wild and crazy second Wednesday of NaBloPoMo.

I've gotta say that this year's gotta be about the hardest on me to keep up with. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I post, but I seriously have so very little to say, it's just hard.

I got a call today, on my way to the gym, asking for my help at church tonight. I mixed sound for the youth band. It was a nice change of pace, but I really do miss that I didn't get a workout. The endorphins, I've found, have become a dear friend of mine. My brain has come to rely on the reality of relief that those chemicals provide to me. I so prefer the self-medication of endorphins to any other form of self-medication, including those silly little anti-depressants that I still find myself in need of.

Last week, while Middle Mann was in the hospital, I forgot to take my meds as I so often do when there's tons of stuff going on. I mentioned to a friend later in the week that sometimes it seems like it would be better to be diabetic than depressed. At least that way, it would be obvious to those around me when I forget my meds! This person indicated that probably wasn't a good idea; that he'd had a friend die because of that.

Fine. I'll stick with depression. Ugh!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

G'bye Momma...

So sad, I am tonight. I drove my momma to the airport and bid her farewell.

I can't say enough how much awesomeness she brought with her to my home this past week. She was completely amazing.

And now, I have the arduous task of trying to keep the laundry up and the floors clean and the dinners made just like she did!

Monday, November 10, 2008

something

It's crazy! Here it is, only the 2nd week of NaBloPoMo and I'm running out of steam. I'm sure it couldn't be that there's been a ton of stuff going on. It couldn't have anything to do with sleeping in weird places or awkward positions. It couldn't have anything to do with the lack of a real schedule since pretty much the beginning of the month.

I'm with Zoot! Writers block has set in!!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

...the rest of the story

From where I left off:

After the CT scan and the x-rays, a couple of things were determined. It did appear that his ventricals were a bit dialated and it also appeared that the tube for his shunt that runs down from his head to his tummy was broken. They weren't 100% convinced that his shunt was failing so they decided to do a little procedure to determine for sure if that was the problem. When they initially did the tap, his pressure measured 18 mmHg. After they did some draining and lowered his pressure to about 10, he started perking up. It was good to see him coming around. They drained his pressure down to about 3 and he was definitely feeling better. He was given permission to eat until midnight and it looked as though he'd be able to hold down the first food in more than 24 hours.

I called one of the awesome ladies we go to church with and asked if she could come to the hospital to hang with him while I ran home to get a change of clothes and pick up some dinner for the boy. She came with a friend and hung out with him. I completely appreciated her willingness and availability to relieve me for a little bit.

I got back to the hospital and he chowed down on the food I brought him. He ate until he was FULL. The ladies left and the anesthesiologist came to do his intake for the surgery. He'd just finished asking all of his questions and got ready to start his exam. It'd been about 2 1/2 hours since the shunt was tapped and just as he got ready to check my boy's vitals, Dude got a look on his face that sent me grabbing for the bucket. Lo and behold, he lost every bit of his dinner and started to feel the head pain again.

Within another hour, he was in a room in the PICU and hooked up to some serious monitors. Very quickly, it became quite clear that the shunt malfunction was very detrimental to his basic functions. His pulse was in the low 40's and his blood pressure had dropped into the very low range (70/35). She called for a neurosurgeon to come and check on him as well as to review the admission orders since no pain meds were noted on his orders.

Two residents arrived in short order and once again began to tap his shunt. They drew off about 5cc's of CSF. At that point, the resident began to struggle with the draw. He started manuevering around inside the shunt valve trying to get more fluid off, to no avail. At that point, my little guy said in perfect form, "uh...ya know...my head would probably feel better if you'd quit digging in my brain..." It was the Classic Middle Mann sort of comment and the residents stopped trying. His vitals recovered nicely with even the minimal release of extra fluid.

It was recommended that I get some sleep while I could. It was about 2:30 in the morning.

Around 5:00 am, his alarms started going off. His breathing had begun to slow to the point where he wasn't taking a breath once every 25 seconds. The monitor is hard coded to sound at that point. I think the sound of the alarm is intended to either wake the patient or the parent. Once I was woken, I sat up quickly and touched him - recommending he take a breath. He did and we slept this way for about 30 minutes with a reminder to breathe every couple of minutes or so. The nurse came in with some pain meds for him to try and take off the edge since he was really starting to get uncomfortable with the headaches again by this time.

Neurosurgery came through for rounds around 6:00 and examined him. His vitals were scary low and the shunt tapping was only relieving his symptoms for about 3 hours. He was scheduled for surgery at 1:00 pm which would have meant 2 additional taps before surgery. After their exam, the team met to discuss the plan. It was decided that because of his condition, it was in the best interest of everyone that the entire surgery schedule be shuffled and he was taken to surgery first at 7:00 am instead of last at 1:00 pm.

He made it through surgery with flying colors. It ended up that they only needed to replace the tube from the valve to his tummy, where the break had been seen on x-ray. This was the best possible outcome with the least risk for additional complications.

Because there hadn't been any invasion of his brain during surgery, the only requirement for his discharge was that he needed to pee. This turned out to be quite a struggle for the sweet, post surgical boy. He tried and tried and tried some more. Around 10:00 pm, the nursing staff finally agreed that he'd tried enough and they "went in" to relieve him. Just as the catheter passed through the place where success is no longer an option, he announced, "Whoa! It's gonna work!" We stayed that night, and apparently, while I was sleeping, the nurse came in the middle of the night and accompanied him to the toilet for his first successful pee since before surgery.

Upon waking, breakfast was served and discharge commenced. Wahoo!! We got to go home!!!!

My mom had arrived on Tuesday evening and greeted us nearly rested when we got to the house. She's definitely been a huge help and I'm so glad she was able to come and help me during this time.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

After surgery


After surgery
Originally uploaded by Everyone's crazy
This was the best smile he could muster in the recovery room following his unexpected, but very necessary shunt revision surgery.

Friday, November 7, 2008

A much better day...whew!

Well, today ended up being a much better day than yesterday.

It was certainly busy and filled with much to think about and ponder and consider and contemplate about. I'm going to make it though. The pink eye in Middle Mann's right eye is looking much better. Mini Mann isn't going to die anytime soon - even with threats of bugs in his room if he doesn't clean it up. Sweetie experienced her first consequence of being a driver and forgetting to turn your lights off. AND Grammie got to see the mall in our town and she was impressed!

All in all, I'll take a Friday over a Thursday anyday!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Days like these...

Some days, you'd think I actually have the world under my control. Things fall into place and questions aren't asked.

Today was NOT that sort of day. Work was STRESSFUL! Home was STRESSFUL! That whole other thing that's not at home anymore, but is sort of like an infection that you just can't kick? STRESSFUL!!!

Ugh! Today would be a perfect day to have one of those islands to escape to. I completely wanted to jump off today on more than one occassion.

Though, I suppose that without days like today, I'd probably appreciate Fridays a whole lot less.

Hooray! Friday is tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Does Twitter count?

Whew! What a few days it's been.

I came home from New York last Thursday and on Friday, my middle mann came home from school and said he had a pretty bad headache. He rested and took some ibuprofen and felt better, but then he felt worse again...we cycled through this all day Saturday and Sunday, but on Sunday at church, he started with the throwing up. Although, he reported that his head felt better following the puking, (doesn't that sound just like a migraine?!) when he asked for some food, he threw that up too! (doh! hrmmm?)

When he woke up Monday and threw up just because he greeted the day, and then snuggled with me for an hour and threw up just because the minute changed...I had a sneaking suspicion that we were dealing with a little more than a cluster migraine.

I took him to the pediatrician. He threw up there a couple of times and they sent us off to the University hospital. He was very well cared for and after a few hours in the ER, a CT scan, and a couple of x-rays, they decided that indeed he would probably feel a lot better if his shunt was working. He was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning and admitted.

There's a little bit more detail to the whole surgery story, but I'll end this post by saying, he's MUCH better. Its failure was the best sort of failure a person could hope for and the surgeons didn't need to go into his brain at all. They were able to replace just the tube that runs from the shunt valve down his chest and into his tummy.

We came home this morning and he's nearly back to 100%.

I hope I get NaBloPoMo points for Twitter. :-)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Some people...

I live. I breathe. I'm sure there are things that I think that other people don't agree with. Thank goodness for diversity. That said? What is the deal with some people?

I'm discovering that it's as though there is a large segment of the populous that gives off an air of perfection to those around them. As though, the opinion housed in their mind is the ONLY opinion about anything and everything.

I would like to find a way to tactfully reveal to people like this the error in their perspective. To open their eyes to the reality that exists for the rest of us - where my opinion is exactly that. Mine. Not anyone else's. I'm happy to admit that my opinion may not be correct, but at least I'm willing to own it and not fuss about the fact that yours is perhaps diametrically opposed to what I think or believe.

Goodness! I'm pretty sure the rules of life are pretty simple. Love God and Love People. Pretty much? Those small minded jerks? They need to learn a little more about love and step off their nasty little soapboxes of hurtful opinions. Ugh!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Help a sista out!

So, here's my first Craig's List posting. Perhaps you remember how much my sister loved crafting. Stamps and cards were probably among her favorites.

Well, if there were stamps of hers that you loved, let me know and let's see what we can do. It's time to spread her love for stamping and maybe make a little money in the process.

I'll be putting up additional listings on Craig's List with pics and I'll probably put together some sets in the coming days. There's so many stamps here, I just don't know how best to market them all.

Feel free to comment here if you'd like to hand pick from all that's here.

NaBloPoMo

It's that time of year!! Hooray and let the pressure begin!

I'm soooper glad it's November 1st. Happy Blogiversary to me. This is the 3rd 11/1 I've spent in blogland and also the 3rd NaBloPoMo I've participated in. Right now, I'm planning on participating rather silently on the off chance that failure ensues, I'll only have myself to disappoint. My Lappy has kindly agreed to help me out in a new way; blue screening upon boot. gotta.love.it. NOT!

So, until I return to work on Wednesday, I'll be borrowing Sweetie's lappy to make my posts from.