Yes, I admit it. I am pathetic. Totally, completely, ridiculously pathetic.
Ethan is in the midst of a tooth losing frenzy. Have I mentioned before how I feel about loose teeth? They gross me out. I know I mentioned it. In fact, just a few posts ago I wrote about Ethan having his tooth pulled out. After that event Ethan decided that the next time a tooth was on the way out he was going to be like me and just wait for it to fall out. I fully supported that decision. FULLY.
Tonight, however, his resolve weakened. A tooth was hanging by a thread and apparently the fear of having it pulled was less than the gross factor of having it hang there. I have to admit I might understand that. I think gross trumps pain for me, too. So anyhow, suddenly in the middle of dinner he runs for the bathroom. I thought perhaps the tooth fell out. But after a minute I thought I heard moans so I yelled out "Are you okay?" I didn't really want to go SEE if he was okay because, you know, he had this tooth kind of hanging there. I'll skip all the conversation. I had to summon my courage and LOOK at the hanging tooth. It was bad. It needed to come out. Worst of all? Eric was at work. He is supposed to be in meetings until 8:30. Here's where the pathetic begins. (You thought it had already begun, didn't you?) I can not pull that tooth out. There is no way. I can not do it. I can not.
I had a brilliant idea. Two houses down is a Mom of 3 that I know. One of her 3 is severely handicapped so I'm pretty sure she can handle medical stuff. I decided to go over there, admit my pathetic weakness and see if she might be interested in handling my sons tooth. I know, that's nuts, but that's how desperate I felt. However, of all nights, no one was home tonight. What was I to do?
I did the only reasonable thing. (If you're a pathetic, medically challenged basket-case.) I sent Eric an e-mail! "Any chance you can step out of your meeting long enough to pull a tooth?" He called immediately. Bless the man, he knows what a pathetic wife he has. "Call me when you're driving in" he says.
Yep, that's what I did.
As we were leaving the parking lot, post-tooth-pull, Anna said "I think my sharp front tooth might be a bit loose." NOOOOOOO! Please, I cannot handle any more teeth! I need a reprieve! Ethan has another one that will be coming out any day, can't we just stop at that for awhile? Please??!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
There are 4 things my body requires: Sleep, water, coffee before 9 a.m. and food. If any one of those things are missing I get a headache. Missing combinations results in monster headaches. Missing all 4 of them? Fo-ged-about-it.
So today I was scheduled for an "Upper GI". I went blissfully to the hospital's radiology department, unaware of what that really was. I knew that by the time it was over I was going to have an horrific headache because I was required to miss, well, 3 of my bodily requirements and the 4th I had also missed due to my own stupidity. Little did I know...
Has anyone out there ever had an Upper GI? I told Eric, and I sincerely mean it, I would rather give birth via cesarean section than have an Upper GI ever again. When you have a c-section you are supplied with loads of pain killers. When you have an Upper GI they send you home with a wish for a good day.
So here's what I ended up with: No sleep, no water, no food, no caffeine, and a tummy loaded full of chemical concoctions. The X-ray technician told me I probably wouldn't want to eat afterward. I thought she meant I would probably be full from all of their delicious concoctions. In hindsight I think she meant "Trust me, you should not eat afterward." Unfortunately, I did not pick up on that innuendo. Having known ahead of time that I would be missing many of the body-critical things, I brought a peanut butter granola bar with me. As soon as I got in the car post-procedure I began gobbling up the granola. My head was throbbing so I thought I should supply my body as quickly as possible with the missing elements. Wrong. Bad choice. Bad choices.
The hospital is probably 10 minutes from home but at times I wasn't sure I would make it. I was feeling AWFUL. When I got home I headed straight to the cupboard with the Excedrin Migraine medicine. Surely that would help. Give it 30 minutes and I should be good as new. Just for good measure I heated up some of Eric's morning coffee, filled it with creamer and took a few sips as I headed for the couch where I planned to wait for the medicine to kick in.
I lay there cursing the donut I had eaten the previous night. (In my "wisdom" I thought I should eat that donut just before going to bed since I wouldn't be able to eat anything after midnight. Fill my tummy up good while I can. Ha! I forgot that I am getting old and eating ANYTHING just before bed, much less a grease laden donut, causes sever problems resulting in total lack of sleep. Maybe my headache wouldn't be as severe if I'd slept last night! Oh well, just moan a bit longer, the medicine should kick in soon. And I did begin to feel it kick in. The pain lessened enough that I didn't have to moan anymore. I think I actually began to fall asleep when suddenly something in my stomach DROPPED. Ooooo, this was not good. Now if I moved my stomach reacted violently and my head was still pounding.
I'll spare you the details. I just have to say that this has to have been one of the worst physical experiences I have ever endured.
So today I was scheduled for an "Upper GI". I went blissfully to the hospital's radiology department, unaware of what that really was. I knew that by the time it was over I was going to have an horrific headache because I was required to miss, well, 3 of my bodily requirements and the 4th I had also missed due to my own stupidity. Little did I know...
Has anyone out there ever had an Upper GI? I told Eric, and I sincerely mean it, I would rather give birth via cesarean section than have an Upper GI ever again. When you have a c-section you are supplied with loads of pain killers. When you have an Upper GI they send you home with a wish for a good day.
So here's what I ended up with: No sleep, no water, no food, no caffeine, and a tummy loaded full of chemical concoctions. The X-ray technician told me I probably wouldn't want to eat afterward. I thought she meant I would probably be full from all of their delicious concoctions. In hindsight I think she meant "Trust me, you should not eat afterward." Unfortunately, I did not pick up on that innuendo. Having known ahead of time that I would be missing many of the body-critical things, I brought a peanut butter granola bar with me. As soon as I got in the car post-procedure I began gobbling up the granola. My head was throbbing so I thought I should supply my body as quickly as possible with the missing elements. Wrong. Bad choice. Bad choices.
The hospital is probably 10 minutes from home but at times I wasn't sure I would make it. I was feeling AWFUL. When I got home I headed straight to the cupboard with the Excedrin Migraine medicine. Surely that would help. Give it 30 minutes and I should be good as new. Just for good measure I heated up some of Eric's morning coffee, filled it with creamer and took a few sips as I headed for the couch where I planned to wait for the medicine to kick in.
I lay there cursing the donut I had eaten the previous night. (In my "wisdom" I thought I should eat that donut just before going to bed since I wouldn't be able to eat anything after midnight. Fill my tummy up good while I can. Ha! I forgot that I am getting old and eating ANYTHING just before bed, much less a grease laden donut, causes sever problems resulting in total lack of sleep. Maybe my headache wouldn't be as severe if I'd slept last night! Oh well, just moan a bit longer, the medicine should kick in soon. And I did begin to feel it kick in. The pain lessened enough that I didn't have to moan anymore. I think I actually began to fall asleep when suddenly something in my stomach DROPPED. Ooooo, this was not good. Now if I moved my stomach reacted violently and my head was still pounding.
I'll spare you the details. I just have to say that this has to have been one of the worst physical experiences I have ever endured.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Making a House Call
"Signs, signs, everywhere are signs. Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that. Can't you read the signs?"
WOW. What a beautiful day. We had a blast.
Eric and I attended the rally at the capitol along with a few thousand of our closest friends. (I guessed there were about 5000 people there. Eric guessed 20-25,000. The number we've heard is 20,000, so I guess Eric wins the prize.) As you can see from the first picture, lots of people brought signs and/or flags. This is really just a representative sample of the crowd; I don't have a panoramic camera so just took this slice.
After the rally we were asked to go up and down the halls of the Congressional office buildings talking to the Representatives and asking them to vote "no" on the Health Care bill. The lines to get into the office buildings were enormous and we were hungry, so we thought we'd outsmart everyone by going for lunch. We figured by the time we returned the lines would be gone. We were wrong. There were still lines, though possibly not as long as they had been. These are people waiting to get into the Cannon Office Building. The door is at the top of the steps.
Here's a challenge: Can anyone spot me in the above picture? I'll give you a hint. I've gained 20 pounds and grown my hair since January.
While we were waiting a reporter from FoxNews came out. A large cheer went up from the crowd. I cannot even remember his name, but I was still all excited. Fame is weird, isn't it? Despite not knowing his name, I do know he is "the" reporter who traveled around with the Tea Party Express this summer.
Take a close look at the girls in the middle of the next picture. Do they look frightening to you? They were taken out of the building in handcuffs. Terrorists, I am sure. Scary, right-wing terrorists. I am not sure of this connection, but here is what I think might have gone on with them: We heard that Speaker Pelosi did not like all the riff-raff gathering outside her office so she had them arrested. (Seriously!) I think that would have happened around the time we witnessed these girls being hauled out, so I'm guessing they might have been part of the riff-raff crowd.
Even though the goal of the day was to seek out Congressmen who might be voting "yes" on the bill and ask them instead to vote "no", we chose to spend part of our time at Congresswoman Bachmann's office. We wanted to thank her for her work and pass on greetings from mutual friends. On the way to her office we crossed paths with Jon Voigt who was just leaving. This is the first time in my life I've ever spoken to a "star". I was going to say this was the closest I've ever been to a star, but there was that time with Bruce Willis... But I didn't speak to Bruce Willis, so this is a milestone. Jon Voigt was thanking people for attending. I thanked HIM for attending. It is amazing to me that a Hollywood type is on this side of the political spectrum. Isn't "Hollywood conservative" an oxymoron? Not always thankfully, not always.
And then, I got to speak with Congresswoman Bachmann. What a gracious woman. And so beautiful. And articulate. I felt like an elephant next to her - it was awful. But I wanted the mutual friends to see that I truly did pass along their greeting, so I got over myself and had Eric take this picture.
Yesterday I sent an e-mail to friends and family letting them know I would be attending this event and asking if any of them would like me to bring their name along as someone who wished they could attend. I brought with me 35 names representing 8 states! In addition, when I got home tonight others had e-mailed me so I would have had over 40 names. I wrote up a list of the people who said "Yes, bring my name! Tell my representative I want them to vote no!" I had the list broken down by state and before leaving for the rally I identified the correct representative for each individual. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit all of the representatives. We were limited by time. We wish we had brought snacks with us so we wouldn't have had to use valuable time eating, but we just didn't know. If there is a next time we would be better prepared. In addition to taking time to eat, a friend had agreed to take our kids to her house after school and we didn't feel right leaving them there too long. Here is what we managed:
Michele Bachmann, 6th District, Minnesota; Thanked her, passed along greetings, chatted a bit and took a photo.
Walt Minnick, 1st District, Idaho; We made him our top priority because he is a "blue dog democrat". We were a little surprised by the reception in his office - it was fairly cold. The receptionist took the names of the constituents we were speaking for and said she would pass on the message. I assumed he wouldn't have had many visitors since he's from Idaho. But I might be wrong. People were passing around lists of blue dogs and asking that we especially try to talk to them so perhaps he was flooded with visitors while we were at lunch.
Gerry Connolly, 11th District, Virginia; Word circulating amoungst the riff-raff (us) was that he had very rudely shut down a woman who tried to get him to explain why he would vote yes on this bill. I later heard a man on the radio who witnessed the scene so it wasn't just a rumor. He said the woman was on the verge of tears and several other visitors surrounded her to support her and tell her it was okay. I was too chicken to try to confront him, although I can honestly say that if I'd had more time I would have tried because our next experience was excellent.
Ann Kirkpatrick, 1st District, Arizona; I entered her office with fear and trembling. The receptionist seemed about 1 degree warmer than Walt Minnick's receptionist. However, we were told the Congresswoman's Chief of Staff would speak with us. Michael Frias greeted us warmly and ushered us into Congresswoman Kirkpatrick's office where we talked for some time. We told him right up front (as we had also told the receptionist) that we were not from Arizona but were there on behalf of some of their constituents. I doubt we made any difference in how the Congresswoman will cast her vote but I was fully impressed with how we were treated in her office.
WOW. What a beautiful day. We had a blast.
Eric and I attended the rally at the capitol along with a few thousand of our closest friends. (I guessed there were about 5000 people there. Eric guessed 20-25,000. The number we've heard is 20,000, so I guess Eric wins the prize.) As you can see from the first picture, lots of people brought signs and/or flags. This is really just a representative sample of the crowd; I don't have a panoramic camera so just took this slice.
After the rally we were asked to go up and down the halls of the Congressional office buildings talking to the Representatives and asking them to vote "no" on the Health Care bill. The lines to get into the office buildings were enormous and we were hungry, so we thought we'd outsmart everyone by going for lunch. We figured by the time we returned the lines would be gone. We were wrong. There were still lines, though possibly not as long as they had been. These are people waiting to get into the Cannon Office Building. The door is at the top of the steps.
Here's a challenge: Can anyone spot me in the above picture? I'll give you a hint. I've gained 20 pounds and grown my hair since January.
While we were waiting a reporter from FoxNews came out. A large cheer went up from the crowd. I cannot even remember his name, but I was still all excited. Fame is weird, isn't it? Despite not knowing his name, I do know he is "the" reporter who traveled around with the Tea Party Express this summer.
Take a close look at the girls in the middle of the next picture. Do they look frightening to you? They were taken out of the building in handcuffs. Terrorists, I am sure. Scary, right-wing terrorists. I am not sure of this connection, but here is what I think might have gone on with them: We heard that Speaker Pelosi did not like all the riff-raff gathering outside her office so she had them arrested. (Seriously!) I think that would have happened around the time we witnessed these girls being hauled out, so I'm guessing they might have been part of the riff-raff crowd.
Even though the goal of the day was to seek out Congressmen who might be voting "yes" on the bill and ask them instead to vote "no", we chose to spend part of our time at Congresswoman Bachmann's office. We wanted to thank her for her work and pass on greetings from mutual friends. On the way to her office we crossed paths with Jon Voigt who was just leaving. This is the first time in my life I've ever spoken to a "star". I was going to say this was the closest I've ever been to a star, but there was that time with Bruce Willis... But I didn't speak to Bruce Willis, so this is a milestone. Jon Voigt was thanking people for attending. I thanked HIM for attending. It is amazing to me that a Hollywood type is on this side of the political spectrum. Isn't "Hollywood conservative" an oxymoron? Not always thankfully, not always.
And then, I got to speak with Congresswoman Bachmann. What a gracious woman. And so beautiful. And articulate. I felt like an elephant next to her - it was awful. But I wanted the mutual friends to see that I truly did pass along their greeting, so I got over myself and had Eric take this picture.
Yesterday I sent an e-mail to friends and family letting them know I would be attending this event and asking if any of them would like me to bring their name along as someone who wished they could attend. I brought with me 35 names representing 8 states! In addition, when I got home tonight others had e-mailed me so I would have had over 40 names. I wrote up a list of the people who said "Yes, bring my name! Tell my representative I want them to vote no!" I had the list broken down by state and before leaving for the rally I identified the correct representative for each individual. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit all of the representatives. We were limited by time. We wish we had brought snacks with us so we wouldn't have had to use valuable time eating, but we just didn't know. If there is a next time we would be better prepared. In addition to taking time to eat, a friend had agreed to take our kids to her house after school and we didn't feel right leaving them there too long. Here is what we managed:
Michele Bachmann, 6th District, Minnesota; Thanked her, passed along greetings, chatted a bit and took a photo.
Walt Minnick, 1st District, Idaho; We made him our top priority because he is a "blue dog democrat". We were a little surprised by the reception in his office - it was fairly cold. The receptionist took the names of the constituents we were speaking for and said she would pass on the message. I assumed he wouldn't have had many visitors since he's from Idaho. But I might be wrong. People were passing around lists of blue dogs and asking that we especially try to talk to them so perhaps he was flooded with visitors while we were at lunch.
Gerry Connolly, 11th District, Virginia; Word circulating amoungst the riff-raff (us) was that he had very rudely shut down a woman who tried to get him to explain why he would vote yes on this bill. I later heard a man on the radio who witnessed the scene so it wasn't just a rumor. He said the woman was on the verge of tears and several other visitors surrounded her to support her and tell her it was okay. I was too chicken to try to confront him, although I can honestly say that if I'd had more time I would have tried because our next experience was excellent.
Ann Kirkpatrick, 1st District, Arizona; I entered her office with fear and trembling. The receptionist seemed about 1 degree warmer than Walt Minnick's receptionist. However, we were told the Congresswoman's Chief of Staff would speak with us. Michael Frias greeted us warmly and ushered us into Congresswoman Kirkpatrick's office where we talked for some time. We told him right up front (as we had also told the receptionist) that we were not from Arizona but were there on behalf of some of their constituents. I doubt we made any difference in how the Congresswoman will cast her vote but I was fully impressed with how we were treated in her office.
This is why I am certain I would have tried to visit Congressman Connolly as well as Congresswoman Markey from Colorado if I'd had time. After a kind reception in what I perceived as "the enemy camp" my courage was up and I was getting in a groove of approaching the Representatives. Eric was loving it too. We would have loved to keep going. But it was 4:30 and we knew it would take a long time to get home. It did. We didn't pick the kids up until 6:30.
I feel like there is so much more I could say, but it's been a long day, it's late and I'm tired. Perhaps I'll remember and write more tomorrow.
One last thing... If you are reading this prior to Saturday, November 7th please call your Congressional Representative and ask them to vote "no". Word is that the Speaker wants to call a vote on Saturday. This bill needs to be defeated.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
I was right, again.
Add this to my resume: Dream Interpreter.
When Ethan woke up he came to "hold". We sat for a few minutes before I remembered the tooth stuff.
"Hey!" I said. "What about the tooth fairy?" I thought he had forgotten to check.
"One dollar" he said, very dejectedly. (My money-loving boy. We have a lot of discussions about "The love of money is the root of all evil". They don't seem to penetrate.)
"Why do you sound sad about a dollar?" I asked, fearing the answer.
"Because just before I woke up I had a dream about the tooth fairy." (See! I knew it!!!!!!!) "In my dream she left me two five dollars and a thirty dollar."
Where do I even begin with commentary on that?! There are so many things I could say! I choose to ignore all of the lessons that need to be taught there and just focus on this: I was right. He WAS dreaming about teeth.
When Ethan woke up he came to "hold". We sat for a few minutes before I remembered the tooth stuff.
"Hey!" I said. "What about the tooth fairy?" I thought he had forgotten to check.
"One dollar" he said, very dejectedly. (My money-loving boy. We have a lot of discussions about "The love of money is the root of all evil". They don't seem to penetrate.)
"Why do you sound sad about a dollar?" I asked, fearing the answer.
"Because just before I woke up I had a dream about the tooth fairy." (See! I knew it!!!!!!!) "In my dream she left me two five dollars and a thirty dollar."
Where do I even begin with commentary on that?! There are so many things I could say! I choose to ignore all of the lessons that need to be taught there and just focus on this: I was right. He WAS dreaming about teeth.
Dreaming
Remember long ago I wrote about Ethan dreaming out LOUD? Lest you think otherwise, it continues. Just seconds ago he was yelling "Nooooooooo. Don't. Don't aaaaaaaaaaaa DON'T." I, of course, don't know what he's dreaming, but this time I have a pretty good guess.
Ethan went to the dentist yesterday. (The third dentist since moving to Virginia, but that's another story.) He told the hygienist repeatedly that he had a loose tooth because he didn't want her to touch it. She was a very nice older lady which, in my opinion, all hygienists should be. (Older I mean. Nice, of course!) She said he twice told her that she should let him know if she needed to be reminded of which one was the loose tooth. Apparently the dentist told him the tooth was very loose and asked if Ethan wanted him to pull it. Ethan's answer was no. Soooo...
Last night there was some conversation between Ethan and Eric about the dentist and the loose tooth. Eric offered to pull the tooth and Ethan apparently agreed. They went into the bathroom to get it done. (Safely out of my sight because the whole tooth thing grosses me out and PULLING one out?! Are you kidding me?!) I heard some commotion and tried, from a distance, to ascertain what was happening. Anna was at my side but also listening. (She has learned my attitude toward the tooth thing so she was staying safely away also.) Talking to her prevented me from hearing everything in detail, but I think there was a point at which Eric said maybe they should wait and do it another time. Ethan was upset and I think it was because he could not face us with the tooth still intact. So they continued on and successfully removed the tooth. Ethan came out with a sad look on his face and a bloody tissue. (Thanks. We were just about to start dinner.)
I'm rather certain he is telling someone, in his dream, to leave his teeth alone. I don't blame him. I'm guessing that future teeth will be left to fall out on their own, as they should.
Oh and, by the way, he has another loose tooth. We will soon get to test my theory.
Ethan went to the dentist yesterday. (The third dentist since moving to Virginia, but that's another story.) He told the hygienist repeatedly that he had a loose tooth because he didn't want her to touch it. She was a very nice older lady which, in my opinion, all hygienists should be. (Older I mean. Nice, of course!) She said he twice told her that she should let him know if she needed to be reminded of which one was the loose tooth. Apparently the dentist told him the tooth was very loose and asked if Ethan wanted him to pull it. Ethan's answer was no. Soooo...
Last night there was some conversation between Ethan and Eric about the dentist and the loose tooth. Eric offered to pull the tooth and Ethan apparently agreed. They went into the bathroom to get it done. (Safely out of my sight because the whole tooth thing grosses me out and PULLING one out?! Are you kidding me?!) I heard some commotion and tried, from a distance, to ascertain what was happening. Anna was at my side but also listening. (She has learned my attitude toward the tooth thing so she was staying safely away also.) Talking to her prevented me from hearing everything in detail, but I think there was a point at which Eric said maybe they should wait and do it another time. Ethan was upset and I think it was because he could not face us with the tooth still intact. So they continued on and successfully removed the tooth. Ethan came out with a sad look on his face and a bloody tissue. (Thanks. We were just about to start dinner.)
I'm rather certain he is telling someone, in his dream, to leave his teeth alone. I don't blame him. I'm guessing that future teeth will be left to fall out on their own, as they should.
Oh and, by the way, he has another loose tooth. We will soon get to test my theory.
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