Goodbye, 2009

This is the last day of the year. It has been a year full of hope, and of disappointment. A year of joy, and anguish.

Some things have remained the same... Tom and I, and Ben, are all still at our same jobs, living in the same house. I tried and failed at having a garden. The twins are still homeschooling, and blooming into fine young men.

Much of the anguish and sorrow of the year never made it into my blog posts... which are mainly a way of keeping in touch with my family, and the family all knew what was happening without setting it out here. The joys, I always feel free in sharing with the world!

I got two new granddaughters this year, both of them counted among the joys of the year.

From the disappointments and anguish, I hope that I have both learned, and been able to demonstrate, the essence of a true, loving family. At times, I know I met hurt with anger... but I strove to overcome the anger so the hurts could begin to heal.

My family has always had a very strange sense of humor. Some say there is 'inappropriate laughter'... but for us, laughter is healing... and we laugh when maybe we should cry instead.

(When Tom's nephew passed away, 9 years ago in January, the twins were 4 years old. We had traveled to Ohio for his funeral. The "viewing" was the night before, and we were at the funeral home for hours. The next day, we headed back to the funeral home, a 100 mile trip. Sam remarked that he thought we had done the funeral the night before. Trying to explain things to a 4 year old, I told him that today, we were going to have to bury his cousin. Sam asked if maybe we should be taking shovels along, then, and not having to be so dressed up?

I'm sorry, we all laughed.)

So this year has been filled with laughter. Even when we had tears.

This is a year that has been filled with 'starting over' for much of my family. What we all really wanted was a rewind button... a "do-over" button... that would take us back in time. That being impossible, we have had to settle for starting over again in many ways.

I am looking forward to 2010... a new beginning.

Some days, age shows...

When Daniel and I went to the library Monday, he suddenly exclaims, "Look at that vehicle! That has to be the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen!"

I am looking everywhere for something unusual. "Over THERE, Mom, don't you see it? ... it kind of looks like a cross between a flattened mini van and a hearse!"

I see the vehicle. It is a station wagon.

Eggsactly what happened?

Start of a new week

Yesterday was Mr C's birthday. I worked all day. He was home for the delivery of the washing machine. He washed a load... I was too tired to mess with it. So I am on my second load this morning. It smells... like oil burning. I trust it is just the motor lubricant from the manufacturing, and will eventually stop stinking.
Neither of Tom's birthday presents arrived Saturday. Using online tracking... it appears they will not arrive today either. Guess he will be calling the washing machine his birthday present. The last one was an anniversary present: we had the washer AND the stove go out within days of one another, so the appliances were our 'gifts' to one another. The stove was left behind when we moved from Central High. He had a cherry cheater pie... dumped canned cherry pie filling into a granola crust and called it done.

The boys want/ need to go to the library today. I have to deposit my check, and I need to wash the road salt/ grime off the car if the car wash is open. It IS supposed to get up to 30 or so today. It hasn't been above 25 since I got home Friday. The roads are mostly cleared off, but the ground is still snow covered.

As soon as the boys finish their math, we will head off to town. Hope you all have a great day!

Gotta love my kids

When I arrived home yesterday, I discovered these guys in my fridge:
They are just regular eggs, not even hard boiled. (Ben was bored... each egg is hoping he won't be chosen to be cracked next!)

On the way home,in the snow, we crossed a river. The snow is the height of the guardrails.




The "dogs" did not fix my washing machine... so for Tom's birthday, I got a new washer. Not the one I wanted. But one that "will do". It is a "Roper", as cheap as they come. And with free delivery, set up; and pick up of the old machine. Lowes is delivering tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Mr C's birthday. He wanted a cherry pie. I got a can of cheater cherry pie filling. Maybe I will remember to get ice cream to top it with. I was sent home early today, lack of customers. Tomorrow is another "ladies' day" at our O'Reilly's, with Vanessa and I running the show all day. Tom's birthday presents failed to arrive on time... a new "glance" (what he calls a watch... it ought to be a glance because you don't WATCH it, you glance at it when you want to know what time it is.) and a set of Marx Brother's DVD's. He has the same movies on tape, recorded off the TV, but they are getting too snowy to watch.

Speaking of snow... our roads are fairly clear, but getting Ben's truck out this afternoon was sure a challenge. I finally grabbed the bag of kitty litter left over from Al and we used it for traction. (We took Ben's truck, figuring to bring a washing machine home. But with free delivery AND haul off, we didn't need it.)

I had more pictures to add to this, but the blogger photo is refusing to co-operate. Oh well. I will save them for another post.
Have a blessed day.

home again, home again, jiggity jig

I went to East Texas to have a "family dinner" with my parents, and their spouses, yesterday. Two of my brothers and two of my children got to be there as well.
A winter storm swept yesterday evening. It gave many a "white Christmas". For me, a driving challenge. The twins and I hit the remnants of the storm 30 miles south of McAlester, OK. From there, we were lucky to hit 50 MPH. McAlester is more than 100 miles from my house.

We made it safely home. I have tense neck muscles... or maybe swollen lymph glands. Or both. At any rate, both boys complained about the amount of Advil I was taking. (1 every 2 hours). I was happy to stand in the steaming shower tonight. I am happy to report my Adult Beverage consumption is down... only 4 nights of the last 9. I needed it tonight. Shut up.

Tomorrow is 8-5, Sunday is 9-4. I need to go in to work Tuesday to reset the sales. Yawn. Guess when my hair dries... or maybe even sooner.. I am headed off to bed.
Hope everyone had a blessed day, even if it wasn't truly the anniversary of the birth if the Christ.

Today....

Today. I have to start today by filling in yesterday. Yesterday I went to the doc for the follow up visit regarding the concussion. Doc says I'm better.
On my way home, I stopped by the bank to cash my babysitting check, in anticipation of the trip to Dad's house. (Which would involve Tomorrow, but I'm still working on Yesterday so I can get to Today. You did follow that, didn't you?) The bank is in the same parking lot as O'Reilly's... and I saw my boss and a couple of my co-workers standing outside admiring a car. (They are guys. They notice cars. They admire them. Kind of like girls notice babies and guys don't? Only in reverse.)

Anyway, I haven't actually seen the boss man since bonking my bean, so I drove on over. We chatted for a few minutes, and he asked me about my schedule for this week. I told him I was scheduled for Tuesday. He said I should just take the day off and rest, since I had the long drive ahead of me Wednesday. So... I don't have to work today! Which is just as well, because I have a lot of work to do today.

One thing I get to do is go to the LAUNDROMAT! Won't that be ever so fun?
My washing machine went from making grindy noises over the last few weeks to making a positively alarming and scary racket yesterday. It still works.... but is almost deafening in its protests. I was sure it was time to replace the machine. Tom looked at it and was going to disassemble it. I got online and had a really quick diagnosis. The "dogs" are worn out. The "dogs" (really, that is the name of the part!) keep the agitator from spinning backwards. Replacing them ($7.50 plus $5.00 postage) involves removing ONE bolt... from the top of the machine, even.

Of course, Mr C didn't think this could possibly be the problem. I tossed a few clothes in for a "demo" while he called his brother, the handyman. They had pretty well decided the problem was in the motor, when the spin cycle came and you could hear the screaming dogs- and the agitator catching on the clothes and banging backwards. Mr C decided I just might be right in the diagnosis.

A simple, cheap fix. I could probably have drove to Fayetteville or someplace and had the parts TODAY. Instead, I ordered them online from the guy whose online repair guide has saved my machine more than once. He is in PA, and probably buried in snow... so I don't look for the package before Saturday, at the earliest.

And if the problem isn't fixed, maybe the guys are right after all.... and I need a new machine. But for $12.50, I figure we have to TRY to fix it.

Meanwhile, Mt. Washmore hasn't stopped reaching new heights. With me planning to be gone a few days... I have to tackle laundry today. Hence, the laundromat.

The floors need to be swept and mopped, and we still have to equalize the air pressure in the tires. Dan checked them for me yesterday: 32, 30, 30, and 28. You should of seen the look of horror I got when I suggested instead of dragging the air compressor out to the car, we just let air out until all the tires were at 28.
(Hey I was just kidding!)

Dan cleaned out and vaccuumed the car. He's good like that. My car is generally fairly clean anyway. I don't leave trash in it when I get out.... unless it is when I get out and stagger inside after a long trip. Anyway... today is laundry, house cleaning, and trip prep. Guess I best get with the program!
Have a blessed day!

Made it through the weekend!

Did I mention that while I was at the doc's office Friday, I actually had a fever? I assumed it was a side effect of concussing. I was feeling pretty peaked Saturday and mentioned the fever seemed to be up. Two co- workers and a customer took giant steps back from me, and said fever is NOT a side effect of concussion. I was in fact, sick, to add insult to injury. The co- workers decided I should go home. I didn't argue.

At least not til I got home. Seems like I was so crabby Mr C thought I should go right to bed. Then I argued. But not long. I was "curdled" up under the covers before 5:00 pm. I stayed pretty much right there until time for work Sunday.

It was the Tammy and Vanessa show Sunday. We were the only two on duty. It is pretty peeving to have a customer call, then start down the list of guys: "Is Jeff there?" No, he works Mon.-Fri." "Let me have Tim then" "Tim took the weekend off" "How about Dave?".....
and so on until they figure out they HAVE to talk to a girl. "Well maybe you can help me" (said with a deep sigh and obvious regret in the voice.) Then they ask a simple question that any newby can answer from their first day on the job. Anyway, the girls muddled through the day without wrecking the store completely. (Vanessa is the only certified mechanic in the store, even when the guys ARE there).

I was feeling quite a bit better. Not as much better as I felt after taking a couple of ibuprofen, though. I could sure tell when they wore off. I'm still not quite up to speed. I had fully intended to go see Connor and Alana in their "Drama" at church last night. I got off work and headed home, and didn't remember it until it was almost over. Probably just as well I didn't go spread germs around.

I have a follow-up doctor's appointment this morning at 8:30. Then we will be getting this place ready so that Dan and Sam and I can go to my Dad's Wednesday and Thursday. Tom and Benny will be home with the TSD. I work a full shift tomorrow, and we head out early Weds., so this may be my last blog until next week... unless I happen into some computer time!

Have a blessed day and a wonderful week!

safe sports?

I took Daniel and Sam ice skating Thursday. We went to the noon session, and Sam taunted me into trying again to skate. I made it around the rink 3 times... almost. By 12:10 I was being helped up by the only other patron on the ice... an elderly woman appearing to be in her 80's. But one who could actually SKATE.

I hit my head really hard. Really, really hard. I took off my skates and left the boys to finish their session. Up the stairs of the rink to the main floor of the Jones Center. I was then lost. I had no idea where I was or how to get back to the car. I thought I may have taken the wrong exit. So I went back in the doors marked Ice Arena. There were the stairs I had come up, the same stairs, the only stairs. Back out through the doors... and into the strange place I didn't know. I decided to follow along the way I thought was right... and eventually found the parking lot.

That freaked me out pretty bad, so I called Tom at work. By then, I had a tennis ball knot on my head. He answered and I burst into tears. He agreed to call me every 10 or 15 minutes as I waited in the car for the twins. I was blinded by a headache... so after the second time he called, I agreed he should come get me. He and Ben went back later and retrieved the other car.

By the time I got home, I had a baseball sized knot, rapidly heading to softball sized. A blazing headache. I laid down, but there was no sleeping. No one can sleep through a headache like that!

About midnight, some 12 hours after the fall, the swelling was starting to go down and 'squishiness' set in. I took an ibuprofen at that point, and laid down. Finally got enough relief to sleep. I had work at noon Friday. After a couple of hours, I agreed I better see a doctor, I sure wasn't hitting on all cylinders. My speech was slurred and stuttering. I couldn't hold on to a customer's question long enough to give them an answer. I couldn't for the life of me read the simple work orders I had been left. While the headache was not as bad as the day before, it was still there. I called Tom (from my job) and he called and made a Dr appointment. I was the last patient of the day- and it was a quarter to six before I got out of there. Doc agreed that since I had done 24 hours, we could "wait and see" with close monitoring, whether I needed a CTI scan. He gave Tom his home phone and his pager number. Said call if he needed to meet us at the ER.

But I woke this morning with my head feeling much less melon- like. My speech and co-ordination is nearly as good as new. (I never said it was great to begin with!)
I have continued to feel really poorly all day. I assumed the 100* fever detected at the Dr office was a side effect of the concussion. Nope. Fever is not a side effect, I was told today. So gee.. maybe I am SICK as well as concussed. So my co-workers decided they can handle the store without me. It is freezing out, and a chance of snow... very few folks are working on their cars! I got to come home early.

I am ready for bed... and it is only 4:30pm.

Becky suggested maybe I take up knitting instead of any physical sport... but decided maybe NOT knitting, as it involves pointy sticks. Think I'll stick to reading, as soon as my brain can handle reading.

Bad Mommy Blogger

What kind of mommy forgets to wish her very own darling daughter a very happy birthday on said daughter's very own birthday?

I wrote my blog early this morning and never even once thought about it being 24 years since I gave birth to my onliest daughter.

I have to be awake a good while before any date recognition stirs in my beany brain.

So, Happy birthday to the prettiest daughter I ever had!
Check out her picture at Becky's Blog

Ch-ch-ch- changes....

There are all sorts of changes. Diaper changes, seasonal changes, changes of mind, heart, plans.

And schedules. Once again, my work schedule has changed for this week. To this, I say HOORAY! Instead of every afternoon, plus the regular Friday- Sunday, I had lasterday afternoon, and then... my regular Fri-Sunday!
Next week, I pick up an all-day Tuesday. (12-7 pm). That makes up for missing Friday- when the store is closed. I will have Saturday, and Sunday.

After the first of the year, I will have a radical change... maybe. Boss Man is looking for permission to create a new position: Tue-Fri 4:00 am - 9am, +/- . I would check in the pallet(s) of freight, put it away, process returns, and do any planogram changes. I go home each day when I finish, which would depend on the amount of freight, returns and whether or not I had a planogram. One person who does freight, without the distractions of telephone and customer service, would be a big boon to everyone. I would have to have Dan or Sam "watch" Matthew from the time he arrived, until I got home on the one or two days a week that overlap. He arrives asleep, and usually sleeps until after 9; and on occasion has been known to sleep until 11:00am. So there wouldn't be a lot of actual 'work' involved there.

And whether or not the new slot gains approval... I will be off on Sundays, by mutual agreement. I would work Thursday afternoons instead of Sunday, and continue with Fri & Sat as I have now.

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Ok, that was boring. But it is my blog and these changes affect me... and sometimes other people. So you get to hear it.

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This has been a year of changes for us. Vast upheavals in our lives, the lives of our family members. Many of the upheavals were unexpected and unwelcomed. God shook us up and set us down and pointed lives in a new direction. We had dark secrets brought into the light, and have dealt with the aftermath.
Some of our changes this year were expected, and welcomed with open arms. Two new babies joined the family. Babies change the dynamics of a family. A new person in the mix. Each one is unique, and adds to the whole.

All of the upheavals have changed the landscape of the family as surely as an earthquake changes the physical landscape of the area it strikes.
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The new year is coming. I wonder what changes it is going to brink in its wake?

New day!

We have already been busy this morning. I got some cheater slice and bake sugar cookies, which Daniel and Sam have baked. They are cooling off now. The cookies, that is, not Dan and Sam. Matthew JUST woke up, after I began typing. He is having a bowl of cereal. Once the cookies are cooled, I will frost them (or a designee cookie froster). Then I will let Matthew 'decorate' them with sprinkles. He can even take them home with him.

I remember decorating sugar cookies with my Mom and brothers. We made "santas" with raisin eyes and coconut beards, and a marshmallow tassle for his cap. I don't remember Mom yelling or getting exasperated with us. I will TRY to be patient with Matthew.

My own kids and I did some sugar cookie baking a few times. I'm sure it was so sporadic that I missed 'prime time' baking with some of them. All of the kids are pretty good cooks and bakers.
I have had several requests to put together a "Mom's Recipe Book", and Ben actually salvaged what I had already put together from the lightening fried old computer. So maybe I should put some good effort into getting that done... one of these days. I am (belatedly) taking pictures of today's cookie mess decorating fiasco fun.
I do want some pictures of our meals for the family cookbook.

Matt finished his cereal, and told me: "Me Tammy, I tee oh hunwee. "
"Do you want another bowl of cereal?"
"No, I no wan tee wee oh"
He is looking pointedly and longingly at the cookies cooling on the counter.
"Well, if you are still hungry, I will make you more cereal. You are NOT getting cookies for breakfast."
"Why?"
"Because I am using those cookies for something else, later."
"Why?"

At this point, I give Matt "The Look". He wanders off to play, completely forgetting he is "still hungry".

Five more hours until I go to O'Reilly's.

OFF!

After 9 days straight, I am off... today and tomorrow. From O'Reilly's, at least. I do have Matthew. I will have Matthew AND O's Tues and Wed., then just O's Thurs-Sunday. Raking in some hours.

Yesterday, my oldest DS turned 30! This has been a year of milestone birthdays. Dan and Sam, my "babies" are 13. My middle kid, Ben, turned 21. (My mommy can look forward to next year, when her oldest child turns 50!)

I woke up shortly after midnight last night, and tossed and turned a couple of hours before resorting to NyQuil to fall back to sleep. That left me groggy this morning... I just couldn't wake up... and laid abed until 9:45. Yikes!

Nothing much new going on here.
Looking forward to visiting my Dad and Moms next week.
Hope you have a great day!
~Tammy~