May has always been the craziest time of year with school letting out, graduations, summer swim, sometimes baseball, award ceremonies, banquets and end of year parties. I have never cared for May.
This year our baby is graduating high school and at the end of June will be leaving for a summer session at A&M College Station and life as we know it will be gone. No children at home, just us.
I can't ever remember not having a child to care for. No matter what I am doing in my day, there is always the knowledge of what she is doing in the back of my mind. I glance at the clock and know she will be home in 2 hours, I make the supper, leaving out the mushrooms because she doesn't like them, I throw in the dark load first because I know she needs her swimsuit for the meet. Life is going to be so WEIRD!
I want her to grow up. I want her to remember to eat breakfast and wash her own clothes and to forge forward blazing her own path in this crazy world. I want her to get a great college education and become a responsible adult and to be happy. She's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing.
So why does this make me so sad?
Pam
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wisdom
I am not in a very happy mood.
On Wednesday I had 4 wisdom teeth removed. I prepared for this by buying a lot of soft foods, watering all the gardens and flowers, picking any veggies that were ready, picking up my prescriptions, cleaning the house, stocking up on pet food, doing the laundry, sending out cards that would need to be sent, changing the sheets and basically getting everything caught up in every which way I could think of, so I wouldn't have to worry about it or concern anyone else.
Wednesday morning came and I got up and made Kimbre's lunch, made her pancakes and sausage for breakfast, fed all the animals and cleaned out the litter boxes, walked the dogs, pulled weeds for the rabbits, hopped in the shower and had JR drive me to Dr. Lovoi's office. I was extremely nervous and had to stop myself from crying more than once.
Once there, they handed JR a post care sheet he was supposed to read, but while waiting I read it, twice. They called me into the room and there were syringes and tubes and all sorts of scary looking equipment lying around. The assistant hooked me up to some machines and attached some circles to my chest, put oxygen on me and then the Dr came in and started the IV. He told me to take a few deep breaths and the next thing I knew, I was waking up. My head felt like a big fuzz ball and I was feeling no pain.
The assistant said while under I asked for Vaseline, (for my lips because I was concerned with them cracking), and she said I didn't like the shots at all. I guess I also asked where I was and he said,"You need more medication." lol I asked her if I swore because I have a bad mouth and she said no.
Everything went fine. The two upper wisdom teeth pulled right out, but one lower wisdom tooth broke when he was pulling it, (it was cracked to begin with), so he had to do a flap surgery to get the rest of it out and since he didn't want the same thing to happen to the other tooth, he did this on the other side as well. Don't ask, I have no idea what this means. Maybe that it was like they were impacted because they broke off and he had to cut into the gum to get the rest of the tooth out. This is what I'm guessing.
We waited until I was coherent and then JR drove me home. I changed out the gauze a bunch of times because there was quite a bit of bleeding, but not excessive. My mouth felt totally dry without an ounce of moisture in it and of course, I was totally numb from the shots, so I got the bright idea to rinse out my mouth. Bad idea. I shouldn't have done that.
As soon as the water hit the sockets where my teeth were, pain completely engulfed my mouth and I almost went to my knees. I was letting the water dribble out of my mouth because the information papers said not to spit for fear of dislodging the blood clot and getting dry socket and the whole sink was full of blood. This didn't help the weak knees feeling I was having.
I knew I was going to faint, so I started down to the floor, but could see cat litter particles and didn't want to touch it Then I was thinking maybe I didn't want my head to be low to the ground, so I tried sitting up with my head forward, but that didn't feel right. I asked JR for a wet washcloth because I felt like I was burning up, but it wasn't wet enough, so I asked him to get it wet again and he brought me an ice pack. I started crawling for the bed, to get off the bathroom floor and JR helped me get into bed.
I asked him to call the office and ask if the pain was normal, which pill was the strongest for pain and how I was supposed to swallow pills if it hurt that much when the water hit my mouth. JR called and yes, it was all normal and would go away with time, the Vicodin was the stronger of the 2 meds and it would hurt less as time went on to swallow the pills. I put the ice packs on my cheeks and eventually fell asleep, happier knowing it was normal to be in pain and I wasn't dying of some complication.
I slept for almost 4 hours and woke up asking JR for the next pain pill, which was given in 4 hour increments. The bad thing was I was supposed to keep ice on for 20 minutes, off for 20 minutes for the first 24 hours and while I was sleeping, I didn't do that, so the following morning I woke up looking like a chipmunk, even though I kept my head elevated and used ice for a good portion of the day. I switched to taking turns with moist heat and ice packs for some of yesterday, which made the swelling feel better.
That first evening, 2 of our cats were tearing around the house chasing each other and ran right across JR and I in bed, scratching JR deep enough to make him bleed. He got up yelling, of course, and started after the cats and I told him to just shut the door. I was trying to sleep and I didn't want a hurt animal on my hands, so JR shut the bedroom door. A few hours later, the cats are scratching at the door to come in and since we have the litter boxes in our bathroom, I got up and let them in. Good thing I didn't just have 4 wisdom teeth pulled that morning.
I'm not sure if we're keeping the cats out of our room at night now, but if so, a litter box has to go out in the hall and the gate has to go on the outside of our door to keep them from scratching, otherwise I'll be waking up throughout the night when I hear them. The fact that I am not feeling that great and have to deal with this nonsense is ridiculous.
JR was very helpful getting my ice packs for me and bringing me my pills when I asked for them on the first day. He also took care of all of the animals the following morning before work, went to La Madeline for tomato soup for me and bought himself some soup for dinner because I wouldn't be cooking and Kimbre was at a dinner party.
I could see it was wearing on him trying to take care of everything and go to work, so I got up this morning and fed the animals, cleaned out the cat boxes, walked the dogs and fed the rabbits and vacuumed before falling back to sleep for another 3 hours. Lord help me if I ever get really sick.
I feel better today, stronger, but still have no appetite and am very tender in my mouth with some swelling. I have been keeping up with the salt water rinses and antibiotics and trying to drink at least one Ensure per day to get the vitamins in me. This morning I had some Greek yogurt, which was good, but I'm not sure I'm ready for anything heavier for awhile.
And this has been so much fun!
Pam
On Wednesday I had 4 wisdom teeth removed. I prepared for this by buying a lot of soft foods, watering all the gardens and flowers, picking any veggies that were ready, picking up my prescriptions, cleaning the house, stocking up on pet food, doing the laundry, sending out cards that would need to be sent, changing the sheets and basically getting everything caught up in every which way I could think of, so I wouldn't have to worry about it or concern anyone else.
Wednesday morning came and I got up and made Kimbre's lunch, made her pancakes and sausage for breakfast, fed all the animals and cleaned out the litter boxes, walked the dogs, pulled weeds for the rabbits, hopped in the shower and had JR drive me to Dr. Lovoi's office. I was extremely nervous and had to stop myself from crying more than once.
Once there, they handed JR a post care sheet he was supposed to read, but while waiting I read it, twice. They called me into the room and there were syringes and tubes and all sorts of scary looking equipment lying around. The assistant hooked me up to some machines and attached some circles to my chest, put oxygen on me and then the Dr came in and started the IV. He told me to take a few deep breaths and the next thing I knew, I was waking up. My head felt like a big fuzz ball and I was feeling no pain.
The assistant said while under I asked for Vaseline, (for my lips because I was concerned with them cracking), and she said I didn't like the shots at all. I guess I also asked where I was and he said,"You need more medication." lol I asked her if I swore because I have a bad mouth and she said no.
Everything went fine. The two upper wisdom teeth pulled right out, but one lower wisdom tooth broke when he was pulling it, (it was cracked to begin with), so he had to do a flap surgery to get the rest of it out and since he didn't want the same thing to happen to the other tooth, he did this on the other side as well. Don't ask, I have no idea what this means. Maybe that it was like they were impacted because they broke off and he had to cut into the gum to get the rest of the tooth out. This is what I'm guessing.
We waited until I was coherent and then JR drove me home. I changed out the gauze a bunch of times because there was quite a bit of bleeding, but not excessive. My mouth felt totally dry without an ounce of moisture in it and of course, I was totally numb from the shots, so I got the bright idea to rinse out my mouth. Bad idea. I shouldn't have done that.
As soon as the water hit the sockets where my teeth were, pain completely engulfed my mouth and I almost went to my knees. I was letting the water dribble out of my mouth because the information papers said not to spit for fear of dislodging the blood clot and getting dry socket and the whole sink was full of blood. This didn't help the weak knees feeling I was having.
I knew I was going to faint, so I started down to the floor, but could see cat litter particles and didn't want to touch it Then I was thinking maybe I didn't want my head to be low to the ground, so I tried sitting up with my head forward, but that didn't feel right. I asked JR for a wet washcloth because I felt like I was burning up, but it wasn't wet enough, so I asked him to get it wet again and he brought me an ice pack. I started crawling for the bed, to get off the bathroom floor and JR helped me get into bed.
I asked him to call the office and ask if the pain was normal, which pill was the strongest for pain and how I was supposed to swallow pills if it hurt that much when the water hit my mouth. JR called and yes, it was all normal and would go away with time, the Vicodin was the stronger of the 2 meds and it would hurt less as time went on to swallow the pills. I put the ice packs on my cheeks and eventually fell asleep, happier knowing it was normal to be in pain and I wasn't dying of some complication.
I slept for almost 4 hours and woke up asking JR for the next pain pill, which was given in 4 hour increments. The bad thing was I was supposed to keep ice on for 20 minutes, off for 20 minutes for the first 24 hours and while I was sleeping, I didn't do that, so the following morning I woke up looking like a chipmunk, even though I kept my head elevated and used ice for a good portion of the day. I switched to taking turns with moist heat and ice packs for some of yesterday, which made the swelling feel better.
That first evening, 2 of our cats were tearing around the house chasing each other and ran right across JR and I in bed, scratching JR deep enough to make him bleed. He got up yelling, of course, and started after the cats and I told him to just shut the door. I was trying to sleep and I didn't want a hurt animal on my hands, so JR shut the bedroom door. A few hours later, the cats are scratching at the door to come in and since we have the litter boxes in our bathroom, I got up and let them in. Good thing I didn't just have 4 wisdom teeth pulled that morning.
I'm not sure if we're keeping the cats out of our room at night now, but if so, a litter box has to go out in the hall and the gate has to go on the outside of our door to keep them from scratching, otherwise I'll be waking up throughout the night when I hear them. The fact that I am not feeling that great and have to deal with this nonsense is ridiculous.
JR was very helpful getting my ice packs for me and bringing me my pills when I asked for them on the first day. He also took care of all of the animals the following morning before work, went to La Madeline for tomato soup for me and bought himself some soup for dinner because I wouldn't be cooking and Kimbre was at a dinner party.
I could see it was wearing on him trying to take care of everything and go to work, so I got up this morning and fed the animals, cleaned out the cat boxes, walked the dogs and fed the rabbits and vacuumed before falling back to sleep for another 3 hours. Lord help me if I ever get really sick.
I feel better today, stronger, but still have no appetite and am very tender in my mouth with some swelling. I have been keeping up with the salt water rinses and antibiotics and trying to drink at least one Ensure per day to get the vitamins in me. This morning I had some Greek yogurt, which was good, but I'm not sure I'm ready for anything heavier for awhile.
And this has been so much fun!
Pam
Monday, May 9, 2011
Family, Music and Trash
What a great weekend! I'm supposed to be cleaning and doing the laundry, (book club tomorrow morning), but I'm using ADD as an excuse. Besides, I just sprayed diluted bleach on the bathroom shower tiles and it needs to soak a bit. I wouldn't want to get asphyxiated.
JR has been building a new dock in Giddings for about...um...2 years? The water is down, the water is up, the money is tight, the water went back down, so we're, meaning he is back at it again. This dock is HUGE! Here's a peek at the unfinished project.
He has added more posts and more cross beams and even put a few 12 ft boards on top since this photo was taken last week. You can see from the photo how low the pond is. At it's highest, it is about a foot under the top of the new dock. There was also an old dock setting right beside this one, that he hauled up to the top of the hill with his tractor and we'll be bringing to the dump unless JR wants to haul it back to League City for a guy I know who recycles metal. Oh heck, here's a photo of the old dock:
JR was going to use the old dock as a base for the new dock, but a week before he started on the project, we were both on it, looking at the pond, and it collapsed. I was like the wind and off of that thing so fast all you saw was a blur. JR just stood there in a slight crouch like a ninja. Needless to say, he changed his plans and started a new dock from scratch.
We have record low rainfall, meaning NO rainfall for a very long time and the pond keeps lowering, little by little, so we have been making extra trips to Giddings to work on the dock. Last weekend he did a lot, plus changed the jack on the camper and some other stuff.
This weekend my sister, Tonya, was singing about an hour and a half away from Giddings at a winery. So I suggested to JR we bring the trailer to Giddings, stop for more dock supplies, drop off the supplies in Giddings, then head to Austin, (Dripping Springs), to hear Tonya and possibly hook up with Morgan before returning that evening to Giddings where we have a camper. This was taken right after a trip to the car wash where it got squeaky clean.
So we loaded up the FJ, hooked up the trailer, stopped at Home Depot in Brenham where JR bought more wood for his dock, probably the most expensive dock in Giddings, and I found Amaryllis bulbs for 1/2 off! What a find! They were even red ones that I have been looking for. I was tickled. We made a very quick pit stop in Giddings, then headed to Dripping Springs. It's a real nice town. Very pretty. Population said 1,500, but from the way it was built up, I would think it needed a new population sign from the census bureau.
Tonya spotted us right off and came over for a quick hug and to say hi and then she went back to singing while we listened for a bit before I popped inside to taste some wine.
JR has been building a new dock in Giddings for about...um...2 years? The water is down, the water is up, the money is tight, the water went back down, so we're, meaning he is back at it again. This dock is HUGE! Here's a peek at the unfinished project.
He has added more posts and more cross beams and even put a few 12 ft boards on top since this photo was taken last week. You can see from the photo how low the pond is. At it's highest, it is about a foot under the top of the new dock. There was also an old dock setting right beside this one, that he hauled up to the top of the hill with his tractor and we'll be bringing to the dump unless JR wants to haul it back to League City for a guy I know who recycles metal. Oh heck, here's a photo of the old dock:
JR was going to use the old dock as a base for the new dock, but a week before he started on the project, we were both on it, looking at the pond, and it collapsed. I was like the wind and off of that thing so fast all you saw was a blur. JR just stood there in a slight crouch like a ninja. Needless to say, he changed his plans and started a new dock from scratch.
We have record low rainfall, meaning NO rainfall for a very long time and the pond keeps lowering, little by little, so we have been making extra trips to Giddings to work on the dock. Last weekend he did a lot, plus changed the jack on the camper and some other stuff.
This weekend my sister, Tonya, was singing about an hour and a half away from Giddings at a winery. So I suggested to JR we bring the trailer to Giddings, stop for more dock supplies, drop off the supplies in Giddings, then head to Austin, (Dripping Springs), to hear Tonya and possibly hook up with Morgan before returning that evening to Giddings where we have a camper. This was taken right after a trip to the car wash where it got squeaky clean.
So we loaded up the FJ, hooked up the trailer, stopped at Home Depot in Brenham where JR bought more wood for his dock, probably the most expensive dock in Giddings, and I found Amaryllis bulbs for 1/2 off! What a find! They were even red ones that I have been looking for. I was tickled. We made a very quick pit stop in Giddings, then headed to Dripping Springs. It's a real nice town. Very pretty. Population said 1,500, but from the way it was built up, I would think it needed a new population sign from the census bureau.
Tonya spotted us right off and came over for a quick hug and to say hi and then she went back to singing while we listened for a bit before I popped inside to taste some wine.
The woman on the left was hilarious and that was before I got a buzz on.
JR and I went back outside and I took a zillion pictures of Tonya singing. She is amazing and if you ever need a softer rock, country, folk type singer for a wedding, party, graduation, birthday, funeral, etc., her name is Tonya Tyner and she is for hire. I was thinking what I could have a party to introduce her talent to my friends and acquaintances. Thinking. Thinking.
JR and listened to Tonya and played a game where you throw golf balls on strings at a stand with 3 different bars. JR won. At this point I had consumed almost a full bottle of wine on an almost empty stomach and I was feeling no pain. We did run to a place after Tonya finished called The Barber Shop. The woman's husband in the picture above told us about it. It sold oodles and oodles of different kinds of beer. I don't even remember what I drank.
.We went to Tonya's apartment, met CJ, her boyfriend, and let out her dog, Kettle, then went to a restaurant called The Shady Grove.
Morgan met us with her friend, Drew, and I don't know where my camera went, but I wish I had taken some photos. Morgan looked really pretty in her new glasses and the outfit she had on.
JR drove the hour and a half back to Giddings while I practically snored the whole way. Once there, we went to sleep with me waking up every 15 minutes thinking I heard mice. It was horrible. I even woke JR up to check the floor by my bed to see if he saw anything. I definitely need a fan on for noise the next time we sleep there. I am not much of a country girl when it comes to thinking I hear rodents. EW! It could have been a leaf on the roof for all I know, but the thought...yikes.
We woke up and JR started in on his dock after our walk around the property and a quick breakfast of granola and Greek yogurt. I was planning to wash my hair and read a bit, but while coming back from the dock, I looked over at our property line which touched our neighbor, Tim's, and saw his trash all over the ground on our side of the fence.
I got a few plastic grocery bags, a pair of gloves, and walked over to the trash and started picking it up. Tim's burn barrels had disintegrated in huge areas on the can, so they were tipping over. You would think he could use one of the 50 barrels he had stacked up further along the fence, but he continues to put his trash in the holey barrels. Nice. We had cans, glass jars, plastic bags, bread bags, dressing bottles, styrofoam plates, you name it, all on the ground and stuck in the cedars that were growing there. I told JR we need to put up some chicken wire to stop his garbage from blowing over to our side and he agreed.
The funny thing is I don't think Tim even notices his trash blowing around. He has so much crap on his 5 acres that he is running out of room. I was thinking of taking a photo, but thought that would be too mean. :) Since the pond was so low, I took another empty bag and walked around the perimeter. In front of Tim's place there were cat food cans, aluminum pop cans and broken bottles. I don't think they realize how bad that makes everything look.
One day about a month ago, our property had cat food cans all along the edge of the pond. They were empty and just sitting there, so we grumbled about people leaving trash and picked them all up. Is that a way to catch something? Once you catch whatever you were hunting, wouldn't you come back and pick up the trash? If not, stay off our section.
One highlight of our trip:
Look at all of those pigs!!! I think there are 5 babies and 3 adults. You can click on the picture to make it bigger. It makes me shiver! LOL
Then there was a deer:
There was also a raccoon, more pigs, coyote, deer, fox, and I think I saw a chicken. I will never sleep in a tent there again. LOL We moved the field camera to a place we call the "cabin spot", so we'll see what we see next time.
Morgan drove up in the afternoon Sunday and JR took us for a boat ride in the pond and I walked her around to the cabin spot and my babbling brook spot that are my favorite. we then grilled brats, ate, and all packed up for home.
It was a GREAT weekend and I enjoyed myself thoroughly! When I got home, Kimbre had a card for me and Tressa had stopped over with a BIG spinach artichoke pizza from BJ's. YUM! I love that pizza! I immediately ate some and tried to figure out how I could manage to eat the whole thing before I get my wisdom teeth pulled on Wed. I don't think it's going to be a problem. lol
Til next time!
Pam
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