Christine's profileConversations With Chris...PhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
March 28 Where's Emma?Yesterday I stayed home from work sick. Since I was home, I told Emma I'd pick her up from school. My husband told Emma when he drove her to school that I'd pick her up. I told the school office, and he called the school office.
So I go to the school, pull around to the pickup area, and Emma is not there. Her gym teacher is the one putting the kids in their cars, and she hasn't seen Emma all afternoon. Her first grade teacher comes out, says that someone called to say she was being picked up (my husband), and did he maybe get her? Nope, he was still at work. Her gym teacher is sure she did not put Emma in anyone else's car. After a couple minutes, I drove back to the front of the school, and they are trying to find out where my daughter is. (By the way, it is a very small school and everyone there knows who she is.)
In the office, the teachers who were putting kids on the school buses did not remember seeing her getting on a bus. They remember the friend whose house she goes to after school, but not Emma (and she's a 5'2 redhead - not exactly blend-into-the-crowd type). So the school secretary tries to call the school bus driver to see if Emma got on the bus by mistake, and has to go through the bus owner to do that. As we are waiting for someone to call back, my phone rings. The caller ID is the babysitter's house. So I answer.
"Momma?" is the first thing I hear....
She forgot I was picking her up! My husband had called the babysitter also to let her know Emma wouldn't be there, so as soon as Emma walked in the door she had Emma call me. So I drove out to her house and brought Emma home.
My 15 minute trip to pick up Emma ended up lasting over an hour. March 24 Ugh.That beautiful day we had Saturday? It's gone. It was 31 this morning, with a high of only 46 today. Brr. I wish winter was over! And I hope the plant I planted Saturday didn't die - Emma planted it in a pretty jar last Mother's Day at school and it had gotten HUGE! It was way too big for the container so I put it in the big planter pot on our steps and it looked great! It was droopy this morning, I really hope it comes back. It is such a pretty plant.
Emma was sick all last week, and I think I have it now. I feel horrible! I am at work today, though, trying to stick it out. March 22 It's a beautiful day!Ahhh, Saturday in the Spring. It is a beautiful day today, and even though it started off very busy with a 9 a.m. vet appointment for both dogs that lasted until 11, banks to visit before noon, and cookie money to collect. I did manage to get some yardwork started this afternoon luckily. Last summer I started a compost bin and used the first of the bottom dirt today, mixing it with a bag of garden soil from Home Depot and putting it in my flowerbed. The dirt in our front yard is horrendous! I am also doing some cooking for Easter dinner tomorrow. We go to my parents' house, but they just got home from a trip to Florida today so I am cooking a bit. I have a loaf of bread in the oven right now, and carrots, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole to make also. I also made a batch of my T Ho's spring rolls! They are so good it's amazing. As for the trip to the vet, Tucker just got his booster shots and was finished. Daisy, however, has been limping badly for at least a week and a half, and even carrying her leg up against her body a lot. She has also had a lump on the back of her neck I wanted to get checked out to rule out a tumor or anything serious. The lump was only a cyst, which the vet drained. I was so relieved! Her leg, however, was not so simple. I thought it was only arthritis, since she is 8 1/2 years old now, but it turns out she's ruptured a tendon in her knee. Poor baby! It is not bad enough now for surgery, but we have to be careful that she doesn't rupture the other knee or surgery will be her only hope of walking. Since she has been gaining weight lately (even though she is eating less) and been a bit lethargic lately, so the vet checked her thyroid. It was low, so she is on a supplement twice a day and also a diet. The rupture of this ligament is common with low thyroid in dogs, too, so hopefully we'll get everything back to normal and she won't have any more problems. We also finally found out what kind of dog she is! She is a mix, but she is at least 80% corgi - pembroke corgi to be precise. I always thought corgis were very small dogs - like Pomeranian size, the kind of dog you carry in a cute little bag. The vet tech with us today has a corgi of her own, and hers is 40 lbs. Daisy was 52 lbs today, and needs to lose 6-8 lbs to make her doctor happy. March 19 I am so happy!!Sometimes the simple things are all we need, right??
Remember a few posts back when I wrote about the restaurant Chris and I went to with the amazing good spring rolls? The waiter told us that they come from a Vietnamese man in Knoxville who has a restaurant, and sells the spring rolls to other restaurants in the area but you can buy them from him, too. Well yesterday Chris looked the place up in the phone book. He has two businesses, a restaurant and a food warehouse, so he called one to see which one we could buy the rolls from. Turns out that Mr T Ho also sells them to two area grocery stores in the frozen food section!!
So last night after Girl Scouts I stopped at the store - and bought two boxes. I am so excited and can't wait to make them!
They are divine! March 13 On a lighter note...I finally made it to the library yesterday!
I had run out of things to read - and that is a nightmare for me! I need good books almost as much as I need caffeine and spaghetti! With my new long commute I never make it back to town before their 6 p.m. closing time. Yesterday, however, my husband picked up Emma from the babysitter so I could go grocery shopping. I decided to hit up the library first. I got there with five minutes to spare - meaning I had no time to carefully browse. I ended up with five books. Three are by the same author and had pretty covers, one had a catchy title, and another I decided must be good because they had two brand-new copies on the shelf. So we'll see. Right now I'm reading the catchy-title one, and it is pretty good. Totally light reading, I have pretty much figured out who will be killed, and who will be accused, and what the weapon will be (and i didn't even know it was a mystery when I got it!). But it's interesting, which right now is my only requirement.
When I pulled into the grocery store, however, I realized I had a problem. I have a small car, and the trunk, the entire back seat, and the front passenger seat are all full of cases of Girl Scout cookies. Where in the world was I planning on putting the groceries I was buying?? I called my husband, and he was just a few minutes away. He and Emma came to the store and shopped with me, and he loaded all the groceries into his truck and took them home for me. And they actually made the boring chore of shopping fun! For once, also, things didn't get added to the cart like cookies, ice cream, tons of chips, and all that expensive junk food. Usually when we shop together we spend much more, but this time it was much less! Although, we were at a regular grocery store instead of Target Greatland, where I find lots of fun things to distract me from my boredom  . I am sure that made a big difference in our bill!Scary stuff!I had a very scary, disturbing dream sometime during my sleeping overnight...
In my dream, was dying. I am not sure what was wrong with me, but it required my husband giving me a shot twice a day. I remember that I did not feel sick in my dream at all. Also I got the idea that the shot was going to kill me, too - as in any injection could be the end immediately. So I started refusing the shot, which meant I had days left. But the shot could have killed me at any moment, so no difference there. I don't remember a lot, but I remember I decided to stop working so I could spend all my remaining time with Emma, and I remember showing her the contents of my jewelry box and telling her what things she could wear immediately and which had to wait until she was grown up. I also remember telling Chris that in a few days he'd be set, since he'd be getting the life insurance payment for my death. Although I was pleased that he said he'd rather have me than any money (even if it was all in my dream!). After that I woke up, so I am not sure how it would have ended. I woke up very sad and disturbed, needless to say.
Writing this, though, I do see some parallels with my grandmother's situation before she died. She wasn't "sick" in the traditional sense, at least not until her final two weeks. The treatment that would have prolonged her life would have been extremely painful and hard on her body, and may in fact killed her itself. In not getting the treatment, she chose to die on her own terms, surrounded by her family. She also made sure everything was taken care of so there would be less for my parents to worry about. I am still having a hard time with losing her, as she was an integral part of my life. Maybe this dream was my way of coming to terms with her decision - she was in my dream, too, but I can't remember any of the details surrounding her role, just her presence. In my dream, I was very sad for my life to be ending, to not be able to see my daughter grow up, for my family to go on without me. I am sure she had the same feelings, knowing her own death was close. March 07 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!That is me screaming in frustration.
A few days ago my car started shaking, badly. When my hand was on the steering wheel, it was almost like I had advanced Parkinson's. Not being disrespectful, but that is how bad it shook. So today I had an appoitnment to get my oil changed and alignment done. After talking to the car person in more detail, he thought it was probably my balance instead since it was so sudden and the car was not pulling in one direction. That is a cheaper problem to fix, so fine with me! He said my car would be ready in 30-45 minutes, tops, and I went next door to have lunch.
I walk back to the shop, and after a few minutes he calls me and says "It is not the alignment or balance;" it was somethign else that connects the tires to the steering. Also I needed two new front tires very soon. I tell him to print up what needs to be done, and I would have to come back since my lunch hour was ending.... 10 minutes ago. He goes to tell the car workers just to change the oil (weren't they supposed to do that already?????) and I go outside to call the office. While I'm on the phone he asks me if I want them to put the rear tires on the front since they are in better shape. He says I will be done in about 15 minutes.
Twenty minutes later he says he needs to show me something on a tire. While they were switching them, they noticed that the tires were pretty much bald and one had an 8 inch split in it. Even I could see that it was bad and not safe to drive. So I end up spending 2 1/2 hours there, and 11 times the money I had intended. GRRRRR!
Now my whole afternoon is shot, just because I got so irritated at the whole situation. Why do *%^$^* cars have to be so *&$%%* expensive to maintain???? March 06 Reality TV and Date NIghtI meant to blog about this earlier this week, but I completely forgot. Chris has been sick all week (today was his first day back at work) so I've been getting up super early to do everything, and get Emma to school in time for me to get to work at 8 on time (I have about a 40 minute commute). Anyway, I am not much of a reality TV fan - I don't even watch American Idol! I love The Apprentice, but that's it for me. Lots of people I know watch Big Brother, though, and after hearing about it for so long I decided to try it one day when I was bored out of my mind at work. (Have to love TV online!) These people are so stupid!! I get irritated every time I watch it, I want to reach through the screen and slap some of them in the side of the head - yet I can't stop watching it. I've seen all eleven episodes so far. It's like a car crash - you want to turn away but just can't. Everyone I know who watches says this is the worst season so far, though, and the others are much better. We'll see. Last Saturday my mom came over, and she, Emma, and I went to my friend's baby's first birthday party. It was a good time, he is such a cute little boy and much loved. After the party, Emma went home with my mother to spend the night with her grandparents. I was exhausted and looking forward to a night of just relaxing on the couch. While we were at the party, Chris was supposed to have gone to his office to pick up a table for us to use for cookie booths. He hadn't gone yet, and asked if I wanted to go too. I really really didn't, but he talked me into it with the promise of dinner out. We couldn't decide where to go, drove around West Knoxville a bit to see what looked good. We decided on Chili's. We signed in, had a 20 minute wait. Not bad for a Saturday night. Well, their computer system went down. After an hour total waiting time (hoping it would come back up for good) we decided to try another place. We ended up at Puleo's Grill, which I have heard excellent things about but neither one of us had been to before. It is amazing. They have these vegetable spring rolls that you would not believe!!! I got one with my chicken, and it was sooooooo good I just had to have more. They are on the menu as a starter, so I ordered that too! I ate both that came as a starter. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! Turns out they come from a little Vietnamese place in town, the owner makes them himself and supplies other restaurants with them. I have to find this place!! I am obsessed with them now! After dinner we went to Best Buy to see if they had any HD DVDs on sale (since BluRay won) and the really didn't. We ended up getting a comedy DVD that was okay, and a Henry Cho CD that is HILARIOUS! If you've never listened to him you really should. He's from Knoxville, too! We listened to it on the way home. We laughed so hard all the way. All in all we had a very nice night. We don't do date night so often, and I enjoy myself when we do go out. I am so glad that after ten years we can still have good conversations and enjoy each others' company. Oh the drama!So last night I get home around 7:15, after a very long day of work followed by grocery shopping (a day which started at 5 a.m. thanks to the puppy pee machine). I walk in the door, and notice Tucker is in the house and Daisy is in the backyard. This is very odd, since it is either both in or both out. I said hello to my husband, and said "Why is only one in the house?"
You would have thought I put forth a list of everything that is wrong in the world and said "you did it!"
I get a huge sigh, and an "I guess it's just somethign else I've done wrong." Remember, I've been gone from the house since 7:10 a.m., this was twelve hours later and those were the only words I've spoken so far.
Huh??? Where did this come from???
So I get an answer that Emma is in our room pouting, and she thinks he's the biggest jerk on the planet.
Ooooooookay.
I did know she was going to get in trouble, since I had spoken to him on the phone as I was loading the groceries into my car. She had gone outside to play with the boy next door and was to be home by 6:30. It wa 6:45 and he had been calling and calling with no sign of her. So I thought the resulting discipline hadn't gone all that well. Then he tells me more.
While playing outside, she and B (the boy next door) and another boy in the neighborhood were found by a cute little puppy. They convinced themselves it had been abandoned, and was starving and freezing (it was upper 50s). B apparently tried to keep her, wasn't allowed, so Emma decided it was up to her to save her. She brought it home, fed the puppy and Tucker (our own puppy!!), and tried to convince my husband to let her keep her. The answer was obviously no, and the third boy came and wanted to take the puppy to his house. And my husband let him. That really started her off crying. Because I guess in that short of a time frame, she fell deeply in love with the puppy and had envisioned a long life with her.
Okay - many many times I've had the conversation with her about strange animals wandering the neighborhood. The number one rule is don't touch, under any circumstance. They could be dangerous, and even if they are the sweetest dog in the world, could have a disease or parasite we don't want our animals to get.
While I was having this discussion yet again with her, B's father and the puppy's owner came to our door looking for the puppy! My husband sent them in the direction of the little boy's house. I hope they found her, but I am sure they did.
I have a confession to make...You know those cat photos circulating in everyone's email lately, the ones with the "cute" captions such as "I made you a cookie but I eated it" and things like that?
I hate them.
Really.
It's not the pictures themselves - honestly the pictures alone are cute, and some are very funny. But the stupid, baby-talking, insanely misspelled captions drive me INSANE! I feel like I am losing brain cells whenever I read them! I want to find the creator of the images and mail him or her a spelling book. |
|
|
