Stay at Home Morning

I didn't have to work this morning. Our new office is being built right outside our old office and they were delivering something-or-other that was going to entail a big crane truck. And I guess they didn't want anyone or anyone's cars to get crushed so they closed the office for the morning. So. I had the morning off. I had also had the day off yesterday, when I ran my errands and whatever and visited my Mom and sister. So I determined that I could do "nothing" and just relax this morning. I didn't get up until 8:15. Wow! And I watched Regis and Kelly/Ellen (flipping back and forth). And then I watched an old rerun of ER. It wasn't that old actually. It wasn't from way back. It was from that murky time during the 7-8-9th season when I wasn't really watching it. I am watching it now because it's the last season and I want to see all the old characters come back like they keep advertising they're going to. At 11 I wasn't sure what was on. So I flipped a bit and came upon Tyra. I NEVER watch Tyra. BUT.....she had Rosie O'Donnell on. And I always used to like Rosie. I watched her talk show every day. How did I do that? I've been working for a long time. She must have been on in the late afternoon and I'd watch her after work. And I really, really liked her show. I was sorry to see her getting weird after her talk show was over. But she wasn't weird today. She seemed to be back to her old self. She was charming and funny. When Tyra asked her for her opinion about current events (ie. the Michael Phelps scandal) she gave thoughtful and tactful answers. If she went back to doing another talk show I would totally watch it again. If it was on at a time when I could watch it. Which is now either early morning or early evening. sigh......... Anyway, back to the original reason for the story. So I stayed in my jammies all morning. Yes! All. Morning. And I did want to launder the sheets on my bed. 'Cause I couldn't really just do absolutely nothing all morning. But of course our laundry room is downstairs. And I live in an apartment building. Was it wrong for me to go down to the laundry room in my nightgown and bathrobe? That's my question. I'm not talking about cool printed pajama pants and a T-shirt. I'm talking about a bona-fide flannel nightgown and robe. No slippers. Of course the cute guy from downstairs who plays the guitar happened to come into the building as I was trying to hurry back into my apartment. And on the second trip to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer, another guy from upstairs was in the hall. I smiled and nodded at both of them and neither one of them fell down onto the floor in horror or amusement. It's a good thing my kids don't still live with me so I can embarass them in this way. Kids can be funny about stuff like that. I remember when I was a kid my Mom would sometimes have curlers in her hair. Remember curlers? Now she didn't wear them out and about to the grocery store or anything like that. But she would have them in her hair when our friends would come over to play in our pool. And we would chant in a sing-songy voice "Curlers in your hair! Shame on you!" We were such nice kids that way. The two guys who saw me in the hall in my jammies didn't chant any songs to me. But I bet my kids would have if they'd seen me.

Off to Visit

We drove down to Leominster last night to visit Stepdaughter Wendy and her Boyfriend Allan. Stepson Kenny joined us for the dinner we were supposed to have on Sunday but that was cancelled cause of weather. This is a new apartment for them....they just moved beginning of the month. The place is really nice. Clean, nicely painted and with an extra bedroom for the baby. They already had it set up pretty nicely. We had a good visit. Of course baby Noah was the center of attention. He's five months old now and a bundle of energy. He smiles easily with the big toothless grin and the drool rolling down. I got a bunch of great open-mouth, wet, mushy baby kisses. I love it! Wendy made a delicious spiral ham with mashed potatoes and veggies. It's so funny to see your "child" become an adult. Adult? She's a kid! Yea, a kid who's 23, living on her own, working, with a serious relationship and a baby. hmmmmmmm....I guess that IS an adult. But it's hard for me to see it that way. I still freak out that my 30 year old son is an adult! He talks about finances and investments and whatever and I'm like.....didn't I change this kid's diapers?? Today is my first full day off in months. (not counting Sundays.....I mean day off when everyone else is working....that's the only real day off). It was nice to sleep in and now I'm going to visit my Mom whom I haven't seen in weeks.

Still Alive

Yes, I am still alive. Unusual for me not to post for three days, but you know how it is. Sometimes you just don't feel like it. So what's going on?

*I'm still sick but not hacking up a lung like I was a couple days ago. I haven't taken any cough medicine for two days. But I'm kinda congested.....and my throat is kinda tight.....and when I do cough, it's that rumbly, old-man-clearing-his-throat kind of cough. Gross. And I'm tired......just tired.

*We had my sister and her husband over for dinner Friday night. We don't get to see them except for holidays. And holidays at my Mom's house are crazy so you never get to talk. This was a nice evening. I did the old-fashioned pot roast in a bag, and we talked and ate and relaxed. I'd really like to do it more often. It's so hard to keep up with visiting everyone when you have a large family.

*Which leads me to...........Hubby got a call from his SIL Saturday night. She had been to visit Hubby's mother and Mom was wondering if Hubby was still alive. Cringe! He called her the next day and she thanked him for calling and said she guessed she'd talk to him again in another two weeks. Cringe!!

*I worked Saturday morning and then lay on the couch watching "A League of Their Own". Have you seen it? It's awesome. I've watched it seventy million times. Gena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna, Tom Hanks. Best line...."There's no crying in baseball!" I didn't really feel like doing anything.....so I didn't.

*We had planned on going out Saturday night and after some debate decided to go anyway. Hubby and I like to dance.....YES! Hubby likes to dance!!! But of course at our age, it's not easy to find a band we like. We go see The Classmates as often as we can. They play classic 60's and 70's music. You can sing along to every song. They were playing at a new place called Focaccia's. The food was excellent. We ate in the bar because that's where the band was setting up. They played their first set with the wall between the bar and dance floor closed because there was a function going on. Then between sets they opened the wall and we were able to dance. Despite not feeling great I had a ball. I think it did me good to go out.

*Sunday I got dressed only to walk to the store for my newspaper and then stayed in and vegged the rest of the day. We were supposed to have Hubby's kids over, but the weather was bad ....snow/rain/sleet/mush/crap.....and we didn't want the kids coming out in it. So we stayed home and I watched Amazing Race. The hick couple got knocked out.....good thing because they couldn't find their way out of a paper bag. Although I did feel badly for the wife when she was lost and she was crying.

*Tonight we are going to Step-daughter's house for our make-up from Sunday. I am excited to see my grand-son. I haven't seen him since Christmas. Step-daughter did send a photo though:

Apparently he's incredibly intelligent. I think I might see if he'd like to do my taxes.

I'm Sick

It finally hit me. After making it through most of the winter I finally caught something. I don't get sick too often anymore. I used to be sick all winter long.....especially when I was doing daycare. But four or five years ago I started taking Echinacea. And it's really helped.

I started on Thurday with the little cough from the tickle in the throat. Then the tickle became worse. It's weird cause my nose isn't stuffed, but there must be some post-nasal drip because I've been hacking up a lung for the past two days.

I don't usually take medicine because I'm very sensitive to medicines. But it wouldn't be great if I was hacking away at work. So I took some Robitussen with decongestant. And now I feel like a zombie. Like I could seriously put my head down on my desk and take a nap. But I'll try not to.

%$*$#$% Insurance Company

I had my appointment for my physical yesterday. No...I did not get the actual physical. Last summer I decided to swtich my primary care doctor. I never liked my doctor.....he had zero bedside manner. Then he left the practice and I was left with a succession of doctors that changed every time I went there. Finally, they messed up on some tests and were very cold about it so I finally decided I'd had enough. Since I was on Hubby's insurance now, I thought maybe I could go back to my old doctor, whom I loved. Last August I called the insurance company to check and see if Dr. L was on my plan. They assured me she was so I called her office. Yes, she was taking new patients but her next opening for a complete new patient physical was February. I took it. Then I blew off my physical in August at the old doctor because I knew the insurance company would not pay for two physicals in one year. I waited until January to request my files be transferred because I couldn't visit Dr. L if I was sick until she'd seen me for the physical and I wanted to be sure I had a primary doctor in the interim. The old doctor then sent me a form asking me why I was leaving the practice, and I sent it back fully filled out with a scathing reply. yep.....burned that bridge. Yesterday was finally the day. I did my 12 hour fasting (no ice cream for me before bed) and went in at 830. They asked for my insurance card at the window and I gave it to them. And it started. "We don't take this insurance." I answered, "I called my insurance company in August and they said you did." She double-checks her list. "Oh.....it says Open Access. That means we do." I was relieved. I didn't want to have gone through all this to find out I couldn't use this doctor. They take me immediately into the back and weigh me (cringe), I pee in the cup and they bring me to the room to get undressed. The nurse comes in and sticks me for blood. As usual, my veins don't cooperate and I will have to go to the lab for the bloodwork. That's fine. I'm used to it. So I'm sitting there in my paper vest with the opening in the front which doesn't quite cover my boobs.....okay....doesn't even come close to covering my boobs.....and the paper 'blanket' that leaves my backside totally open.....when the nurse comes back in. "Honey," she says, "I hate to tell you this, but we checked again and we do not take your insurance." I just sat there in my paper attire and stared at her. "Are you kidding me?" "Nope. I'm so sorry. We can still give you the physical but you would have to pay out of pocket." Well that doesn't make any sense. Even if I paid out of pocket for the physical.....which would be insane.....I wouldn't be able to keep her as a doctor unless I paid out of pocket every time. So the nurse left, I put on my clothes and cried in the car all the way home because I was so angry and frustrated. Yes, I called the insurance company. Yes, they were sorry. They will "re-train" the girl who made the mistake so it wont' happen again. But there was nothing they could do. And now I have to find a new doctor. Soon.

Interview

My friend at Zoo Askew is interviewing people. The game goes like this.....I will answer her questions, and if you would like to be interviewed, leave a note on my comments saying, "interview me!" and I will send you my questions. What is your greatest accomplishment/of what are you most proud (besides being a mom)? Tough one because being a mom IS my proudest accomplishment....but since you said I can't use that, I guess my biggest accomplishment is finishing my college and getting my degree at the age of 45. It took a lot of determination to get it done and work full time and take care of a family at the same time. What is the most recent skill/hobby you have learned? I think that would be working in an office. I've worked in child care all my life and working with the public in an office is a whole 'nother thing. I feel like the management skills I learned in college and used on a daily basis when running my daycare has helped me tremendously. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? Did you follow the advice? The best piece of advice I ever got was from my brother John, which was, "do not go into business with friends or family." I did not follow that advice and it was the most horrible time of my life....and I lost my best friend as a result. What is your zodiac sign and do you feel like it is accurate? My zodiac sign is Gemini. A web site told me a Gemini is: A great thinker - so true, so true. Notice the aforementioned college degree A people person - very true. Seriously...I love people, love to be with them, love to watch them. An avid Reader - very much. I read several novels a week. has an affinity for word puzzles - no no no no no.....I stink at puzzles Multi-talented - sure...why not. Why do you blog and what made you start blogging? I blog as a way to stay in touch with friends and family. I like to write and this gives me an outlet. I started blogging thanks to my friend Joan who was a good friend years ago and then moved away. We stay in touch by blogging now. Would you like to be interviewed? Comment me!

This and That

Typical February in New Hampshire. Not so much going on: *The weather has actually been decent. 40 degrees out and sunshiny. We haven't had any precipitation in a while. I guess that's supposed to change tonight when we get snow/rain/mush. Only an inch or two or three.....really not enough to even mention. *My work has been getting busier. They put up a great big sign so now people know we're there. Still, when they call, we have to give directions then say, "it looks like a construction site, but don't worry, that's us....we are in the trailer mobile office." *I have a tickle in my throat. I have to do that annoying one syllable cough every two or three minutes. I'm hoping I'm not going to get sick. Everyone around me is sick....colds, flu, kids are sick, barfing, coughing, sneezing, etc. And they all come to work! So far I've been good. I'm a big proponent of Echinacea. I've been taking it for several years and truly, truly believe it boosts my immune system.

*Last night I went out with my Girl scout leader friends for our monthly dinner. We ate at New England Seafood, which was delicious. We had a nice time visiting and catching up.

*Speaking of Girl Scouts, my husband bought cookies from a guy at work.....or I guess really from his daughter. The kind I like used to be called Samoas. Now they're coconut caramel something or others but whatever you call them, they're delish.

*Tonight was supposed to be babysitting night for Emily. But DIL just called to say they are staying at her mother's house for a few days. They have a guy putting a new floor in the kitchen and the project has taken over the house. The refrigerator and kitchen table are sitting in the middle of the living room. There's no place for the baby to be and no place for son and DIL to sit. I told her maybe I could call this weekend and visit so I don't have Emily withdrawals.

*I have my annual physical tomorrow. I'm going to a new doctor. The old one really ticked me off. It's a long story. Oh....you want me to tell it? Here's the short version. I had a problem last summer with blood in the urine (sorry...I know...TMI) so they sent me for tests. Then they sent the results of those tests to me in a letter, rather than the doctor or anyone else at the office calling me.....including the letter that said, "suspicious mass in your kidney." I was quite furious. After lots of tests it turned out to be a fluid filled cyst in my kidney...totally benign. I had no allegience to this doctor's office anyway because doctors went in and out of there like a revolving door, so when I got the chance to go back to my old doctor ....whom I'd reluctantly left because of a change in insurance.....I decided to go back. I hope she's as nice as I remember her. The other doctor made the mistake of sending me a "patient exit interview" asking why I left them. I filled both sides, front and back.

*I finished my secret project and shipped it off today so now I can finally begin Noah's birth announcement cross stitch. Here's why I don't like kits: They send all the pieces of thread with no names or numbers on them! I spent two hours last night sorting the threads and trying to figure out which color is which. Some of the colors are just the tiniest hair difference from the next one. On this pattern there's Pale Terra Cotta, Light Terra Cotta, Terra Cotta and Dark Terra Cotta. They all look the same!

* The new seasons of Survivor, Amazing Race and American Idol have started. I am in heaven!

A Gastronomically Delightful Weekend

Yes....we ate our way through the weekend. It wasn't purposely because of Valentine's Day, but it worked out well that way.

Friday night is always a good night to eat out. The end of the week and we're both tired. Sometimes it's not worth fighting traffic and lines to actually go out to eat ......that's when we get take-out.

But this weekend we already had plans. On Friday as I said we went to an Open Mic at The Stagecoach Inn. After singing our set I had some very yummy stuffed mushrooms for my supper. They are so filling, that's all I needed.

On Saturday night we went to another open mic. This one is the in Fitchburg, MA where Hubby used to live and is called The Boulder Coffeehouse. So........since we were in Fitchburg we had to go to my all-time favorite place to eat: Boston Market. I don't know what they do to their chicken but it is soooooooooo delicious. Yes, Hubby took some flack for taking me to Boston Market for Valentine's Day, but he knows what I like!!

And finally, on Sunday we went to our very favorite breakfast place Parker's Maple Barn. It closed just before Christmas and re-opened this weekend, so it was busy. We waited 40 minutes for a table but it's worth it for their delicious stuffed French Toast. We didn't eat again for the rest of the day.

And now it's back to our normal routine of cooking and eating supper at home every night. sighhhhhhhhh........

Singing! Tra la la!

Hubby and I were "special guests" at an open mic last night. We jokingly call it "special ed guests". Special guests means you get about a 1/2 hour worth of songs. We were the Featured Guests once before a couple of months ago. I didnt' feel we'd done very well at that open mic. But for some reason, last night I feel like we rocked the place. The Special Guests perform first so there weren't a tremendous amount of people there, but the ones who were there were familiar to us from doing the open mic circuit.

Our songs are mostly originals and the people who were there had heard some of them before and were familiar enough with them to sing along on the chorus. cool! There's something very satisfying about hearing everyone sing along and clap their hands because you know they're enjoying themselves.

After we sang I had a nice glass of wine and some stuffed mushrooms. mmmmmmmm.

Tonight.......another open mic!

Pepere Babysits

A weird series of events ended out with Pepere babysitting on his own Wednesday night. I usually babysit but had a staff meeting for work.....Emmy's other Grandma was on vacation.....Emmy's Daddy had to work late........and so Pepere babysat for a while on his own. And he had a blast. Emily is still getting over her cold but was in good spirits. As soon as my Hubby showed up she said, "Ball? Ball?" because that's the game she plays with him. I had to leave just about right away, but Hubby had his cell phone out to check and see if he had DIL's cell phone number and Emily was so engrossed in playing with the phone, I got a casual "bye" when I left. Emily and her Pepere played and had fun. Pepere was amazed at her abilities, especially her language. As they built towers out of cardboard blocks they counted the blocks together. We are both amazed at Emily's ability to do the shape sorter. She knows to turn the sorter from side to side to find the correct shape. At one point, Emily told Pepere "eat" and she said it clearly enough for Hubby to understand that she was hungry. After he fed her she told him "Cheerios" and he knew what she wanted. They played some more until Auntie J (my daughter Jamie) came over to help Hubby with bedtime.

Pepere had a great time and I was very proud of him for doing such a great job.

What's Your Plan?

That most wonderful/awful of holidays is coming up. People either love it or hate it. A lot of that probably has to do with whether or not you have a special someone in your life.

I've always contended that Valentine's Day should be for everyone. Don't we all have someone we love? Parents, brothers and sisters, friends? Valentine's Day .....to me.....doesn't have to be just about your lover....or spouse....but should be about everyone in your life who you love or who loves you.

Hubby and I don't have actual plans just for Valentine's day. We decided not to give each other gifts......since we are old married folk now (almost three years!).

But.....Friday night we are the "special guests" at an open mic. Saturday night we are going to hear a friend sing.....specifically because she has a song about meeting 100 different men online and she's dedicating the song to us since we met online.

And if we were going to call anything our Valentine celebration it would be going out on Sunday morning for breakfast at our favorite place (Thank YOU Debbie for teaching me how to do that!!!) since it just opened for the season.

And what are YOUR plans for Valentine's Day?

How Do They Do That?

Can anyone tell me how to make a banner stay at the top of a page? Like a spring countdown? Also.....how do you set up a link to another page but not have the www address show. Like when someone says, "see my friend's blog here and the word here is the link to her blog. Thanks to anyone who can help me!

What's Up?

Not much! But I'll tell you all I know: *Emily is feeling a little better. This new antibiotic is working. She's not in pain anymore but she's still all congested and hoarse. It amazes me how much spirit she has though. She still loves to play and laugh and be silly even though she's not feeling the best. *We got the last of the stuff out of my cousin Michael's house. Aunt Izzy decided to donate the piano instead of selling it so I took it off of Craig's list. I only got a couple of general inquiries anyway so I don't know that Craig's list was going to work. *We are having a heat wave here in New England! The weather has been in the 40's! Whooo hooo! Sunday they were predicting it might hit 50, and maybe it did, but it was windy so that kind of negated the warm temperature. We thought about going hiking or to the beach or whatever......but it wasn't that warm......and we wouldn't have gotten started til late......and we wanted to be lazy relax so we just stayed home. *Nick and Kelly came over on Sunday afternoon, primarily to visit Oreo and clip his nails for me. I can't get the cat to sit still while I do it and MAN does it hurt when he gets his claws into you. *Hubby and I are the "special guests" at an open mic on Friday night. Special guests are better than open mic-ers (who only get two songs) but not as good as features (who get about 45 minutes - and they pass the hat for the feature). We will get about 25 minutes, which translates into something like six songs. We are singing all originals and one cover. We've been practicing all week and not doing too badly. At least all the songs are all written.....and we're not finishing them the night before the show! *Has anyone else noticed how horrible the line-up is now on TLC? Isn't it supposed to be The Learning Channel.....not the circus channel? Real show titles: The Mermaid Girl, The 750 lb. man, the Pregnant Man........are you serious??? I've decided I'm not even going to watch them anymore no matter what show might be on because it's just encouraging them to be acting like the National Enquirer. That's all I got.

Patience is a Virtue

If the title of this blog entry is true, then I am not a virtuous woman. I have no patience at all. None. I am horrendous with waiting in lines, waiting for traffic, waiting for anything. On top of that, I have no patience for ignorant people or people who work in stores who don't know how or don't want to do their jobs.

Today I had to go to the grocery store. In Salem. On a Saturday. The kiss of death. Salem is so overcrowded that on a Saturday I would like to hibernate like a little bear and not step foot out of my driveway......which I usually can't anyway because God forbid people read the sign that says "Do Not Block Intersection" and leave a space when they're sitting there waiting for the light so us poor people who live in this condo complex can actually get out of our driveway and get into the traffic line of people waiting for the light. (I think that might have been a run-on sentence.)

Anywho......what was I ranting about? Oh yea......the grocery store. The worst part was, I didn't even need groceries. I've finally figured out how to arrange my grocery shopping so I don't go on the weekends. I try to plan enough so I get everything I need on Friday and don't have to go again until Monday. But I needed quarters for the washing machine.

Yes, we have to pay for our laundry. Even though we have a nice laundry room downstairs so we don't have to go to the laundrymat, they put in coin-operated machines so now we have to make sure there's enough quarters every time we do laundry, which in this day and age is hard because we never use cash, we only use debit cards so we dont' have a nice big jar of coins that we've saved by emptying our pockets every night like my father used to do when I was a kid. I never have enough quarters so I have to go to Market Basket and buy some groceries so I can ask for $10 over on my debit card so I can then go to the service window and exchange my $10 bill for a roll of quarters, and of course on a Saturday God forbid they should have more than one person at the "service" window and I had to wait forever for my quarters.

Huh? Oh yea.....the groceries. So I bought a few groceries and got the slowest, stupidest bag boy. Always. I ALWAYS get the slowest, stupidest bag boy. The one who likes to talk. Not to the customer....but to his fellow bag boy. The conversation went like this:

Bag boy #1. "so yea...like....what's happenin' tonight?

Bag boy #2. "uhhhhhhhhhh.......don't know.

You get the idea. And of course, God forbid he talk and bag at the same time. no no no no no. Every time he talked, the bagging stopped.

So I had two cloth bags. Not so much because I care that much for the environment, but because I really hate those plastic bags and the cloth bags are easier to carry. I give the kid BOTH cloth bags and he starts bagging. I'm watching him, and he just keeps putting more and more and more things in the first bag. Finally I say, "You know, there are two bags. You don't have to put everything in one bag." He looks at me blankly, silently looks down at the bag, shrugs his shoulders, puts a couple more things in the bag!, and then finally puts it in my cart and puts the rest in the other bag.

The first bag had all this in it: (note the heavy containers of milk, juice and "tub o butter". The JJ pies are for Hubby....I swear to God I never eat them but he loves them and they only come out in the store every once in a while so when they do I buy a bunch of them.....I'm a good wife.....errr, enabler...... like that.)

And the second bag had this in it:

Now if I wanted to be a big bitch, I would have made him repack the bags. But there was a long line behind me because it was Saturday and God forbid anyone should do their grocery shopping on any other day of the week, and I knew how I'D feel if some bitch actually made the slowest bagger in the world repack the bags, so I just took them as is.

I really thought my arm would fall off as I walked to the car because of course the bag with the 30 pounds of groceries was NOT the one with the long handles that I could have put over my shoulder and carried like a Sherpa to the car. no no no no no. The long handled bag had the 3 ounces of groceries in it.

And of course I forgot where I parked my car and went down the wrong aisle and the car was on the other side which usually is fine because you can just walk over the little island but in NH in January there's a snow bank three feet high so I had to walk all the way around the island with one arm getting longer and longer with the weight of the over-packed bag until by the time I got to the car I looked like a gorilla on one side.

Now seriously, would you have had the patience for all that???

Poor, Poor Sick Baby

There is nothing sadder than a baby who's sick and just can't understand what's going on. You really have to have so much compassion for them. Usually, when a baby cries, Mom or Dad relieves their distress. They feed them, change a diaper, etc and the problem goes away. But what happens when the crying doesn't work? When you cry and cry and Mom or Dad can't make it better?? You really have to wonder what they're thinking. Son and DIL took Emily to the doctor on Wednesday and she was diagnosed with an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other. They gave her some amoxicillan and sent her on her merry way. But the antibiotic didn't work. On Thursday around 6pm, DIL called. She was out of ideas. Emily wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep and wouldn't drink. They'd tried everything and nothing worked. When she told me Emily hadn't had any wet diapers all day, I was concerned. Dehydration comes on quickly in babies. I advised her to call the doctor. Half an hour later, she called back. The doctor wanted to see her. Son was stuck at work so I told her I'd come get them. Hubby was about 2 minutes from home, so I waited for him and we went and got DIL and Emily. The poor thing. She cried. and cried. and cried. and cried. She literally cried all the way to the doctor's office. A 45 minute drive. Nothing we did would make her calm down. Sometimes it was screaming, but mostly it was just that monotonous crying. ahh ahh ahh ahh I felt so bad I thought my heart would break. The doctor checked her ears and said now both ears were badly infected. Apparently the amoxicillan didn't touch it. So they gave her something stronger. And told them to try Motrin instead of tylenol. We stopped at the 24 hour pharmacy to get the antibiotic so she could have a dose before bed. I told them it needed to be filled ASAP as the baby was in the car screaming. It still took them 25 minutes! I thought I might have to reach over and ripped someone's head off, and I wasn't even the one in the car with the screaming baby. We gave her the antibiotic and motrin immediately and started the long drive home. Emily quieted after about 15 minutes, and fell asleep two minutes from home. Figures. I babysat this morning. She did pretty well. She's very hoarse from all the crying, but she was in a pretty good mood. She played. She ate some yogurt and some pudding. I force fed her as much water as she would tolerate. It seems (knock on wood) like the antibiotic is working. I hope she's turned the corner. Poor baby.

Sick Baby

My poor little pumpkin Emily is a sick girl. She had to go to the doctor today and was diagnosed with a bad ear infection. I babysat her on Monday morning and she wasn't feeling too bad.....then she slowly deteriorated as the morning went on. By the time Mom got home at 11 she was bawling over nothing. I'm so glad they took her into the doctor today. They got her on some antibiotic and I'm sure she'll feel better soon. It's so hard when a baby is sick, isn't it? You just want to take on all the pain yourself because the poor little babes have no idea why they feel so bad. I'll babysit on Friday morning .....I can't wait to cuddle her up and give her some Memere-lovin' to make her feel better.

Is He Cute or What?

Grandson Noah - 4 months old - enjoying the exersaucer his Pepere and I gave him for Christmas.

Super Bowl/Cross-stitch

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.....as they say.....and make the best of a bad situation. My beloved Patriots were NOT in the Super Bowl.....as they should have been considering their record. It's been a long, dreary January without them. There was no way we could skip watching the Super Bowl though. Even I am not that vindictive! So....I made some Nachos and Hubby and I hunkered down to watch the game. We picked the Cardinals....although Hubby couldn't figure out why anyone would name their team after a bird. Pretty ferocious, huh? I picked them just because they were the underdog. But it turned out to be one of the best Super Bowls ever. It was a close game, there were some outstanding plays, lots of controversy....everything you'd ever want in a football game. Even though Arizona did not win, it was a great game. And now, without further ado.....my completely finished cross-stitch:

Time working on it: 10 months

Cost to frame it: $70

Satisfaction over finishing it: Priceless!