Kids Say the Darndest Things

I guess it's finally time to admit my baby is growing up. True, Lucione is not MY baby. I did not give birth to her. But she's spent the majority of her life with me. So much so, that she sometimes feels like mine. Others have, and still do, mistake her for mine.

She still likes to cuddle up with me when we watch TV. She still likes to have tickle fights. She still can't leave my house without a goodbye kiss and hug and a shout of "I love you more!" She's still my baby.

But...her birthday is coming up. April 14th. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday.

"I want a razor."

"A what?!"

"A razor. But I promise if you get me one, I won't use it till like a week after my birthday."

I was speechless. I think I was around the same age when I started to think about things such as shaving my legs. I just never thought her turn would come so soon. I told her I wasn't going to buy her a razor because her mom already knows she wants one and she doesn't need more than one. I wasn't about to admit I didn't want her to grow up.

"Okay, then can I have some Mini-Mart gift certificates?"

That I can handle. A few certificates so she can buy a hamburger or rent a movie. I'll buy her 10 if she wants them. haha

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The other day in school, we had Craig in science class. It was a "filler" day, meaning we had to make up a quick lesson because the seeds we needed for their plant lesson hadn't arrived. We started by introducing isotopes to the kids. They were looking at a poster with 4 different isotopes on it and were asked to list things that were similar or different between them.

One of the kids said they all have shells. Craig said, "Oh, you mean exoskeletons?" We hadn't discussed the term exoskeleton with this class before so the other teacher and I were surprised.

After the isotope lesson, we had some free time so we read the book, "What is a Bellybutton?" together. If you're not familiar with it, it's a book full of questions kids may ask about their bodies. What is a belly button? Why doesn't it hurt to cut my hair?

We discussed the question, "Why do I have to get shots when I'm not sick?"

The other teacher tried to explain that we need to get immunizations in order to keep from getting sick. She said, "The shots have a little bit of the germs in them so our bodies can develop 'germ killers'. That way, if we ever do get sick, the 'germ killers' will help us get well."

Craig asked, "Don't you mean 'white blood cells'?"

The teachers jaw just about hit the floor.

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Here's another Craig story I forgot to share a couple weeks ago. It was time for them to go back to their classroom after their science lesson. The other teacher said, "Okay, if you're wearing pink, you may line up."

One of the boys said, "Aww, man! That means only girls get to line up first!"

Craig looked at him, raised a finger in the air and said, "Well, ya know...it takes a TRUE man to wear pink!"

I've Got Some Catching Up to Do

I'm so sorry I've been slackin'. I guess I've got some catching up to do.

Let me start with my dad's homecoming. We went over to town on the ferry to pick him up. He looked so relieved to be home, even if only part way there. We stopped at Wal-Mart because my dad needed some Icy-Hot patches for his sore knee. Then we went to lunch. My dad told us all about his stay in the hospital. He told us how he unplugged his portable EKG in order to take a shower and put the hospital staff in a panic because they thought he died. He told us how he'd hold his breath to make little boxes on his monitor as a way to entertain my niece who had gone to visit him. This also brought the nurses running. They thought he was having trouble breathing.

That's my dad for ya. He always has his sense of humor. Here he was, confined to a bed, needles and wires everywhere, and he still found a way to smile.

It was so nice to have him all to myself for a few hours. I almost hated to get out of the car when we finally got back to our island.

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Easter Sunday was miserable. Not because of mother-in-law induced guilt like I had anticipated, though. I got a terrible cold over the weekend. I went to my church because it's closer to my home. I skipped out on dinner because I didn't think they'd appreciate me coughing and sneezing all over them.

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I'm still coughing, and stayed home today because I couldn't find my voice this morning. I went back to bed and slept all day. Not just a long nap. ALL day long. I didn't get up until after 5PM. Now it's almost 10PM. I should be getting ready to go back to bed, but I'm wide awake. Great. I feel a little better, though, so I guess that's the good news.

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I'm sure there was more I was supposed to post about but I can't remember right now. I hate it when that happens. But oh, well. Good night. :o)

So Nice to Be Stress Free

With Dad home and feeling better, it's nice to be able to relax. I almost feel as if I took an entire week off from, I don't know...Life. The entire week he was in the hospital is just a blur to me.

He's got the best sense of humor, though. We have a channel on our local cable that allows you to put advertisements, announcements, or whatever sort of text message you want for a small fee. My dad's starts off like this:

I'm back and the plumbing has been fixed!

He goes on to say his thank yous and ends with:

Thanks, from my heart!

Gotta love the guy. He reminds me so much of my grandfather. The same sense of humor, the same ability to put you at ease in any situation.

Now we're busy focusing on Easter. We're torn between going to my church for church or my mother-in-law's.

My entire family goes to my church and I feel the most comfortable there, but my mother-in-law has a habit of making you feel guilty when you go against her wishes. "It's not intentional," her kids always tell me...but I'd still rather not deal with it. Especially since we've been told we have to eat at her house for Easter dinner.

Anyway, Lindsey and Theodore are here so I better go check on them.

Yuck!

It's stories like these that make me glad to live where I am.

Where'd my post go?

Going to Pick Up Dad

I called in to work today and told them I would not be in. No, I'm not sick. I'm going to Town to pick up my dad! I didn't know until this morning. I feel kinda bad for calling in at the last minute but I feel like my dad's been gone for ages and going over will give us some alone time. Judging by the phone calls and the people stopping me on the street, I know he's going to have tons of visitors when he gets home.

So anyway, I'm off! If you're reading this, I hope your weather is as beautiful as mine and you have a wonderful day!

Procedure Was Successful

My dad's procedure was successful. They found blockage in 3 different places. Two were close to 80% blocked and one was less than 20% blocked. The two that were the worst are now cleared and stints have been placed. The other will be treated with medication.

He has been released from the hospital with instructions to not lift anything heavy for a few days, take at least 2 weeks off of work and report to the hospital over in town for a check-up after the 2 weeks. They'll tell him then if he is cleared for a return to work or if he needs more time off.

They said after a couple days he should slowly resume his regular activities. As long as he takes care of himself he should be fine.

He sounded so relieved when I talked to him today. I called their cell phone and caught him at Denny's. I don't know if that would have been my first choice for his first meal outside the hospital, but it was the closest restaraunt to his hotel.

Anyway, we're all relieved that things went so well for him and I can't wait to see him. The flights home are booked for a couple days so I probably won't see him until Thursday. That's okay, though. At least I know he's okay! :o)

Mother Nature Has a Sense of Humor

After giving us about 2 weeks of nice Spring-like weather, I woke up to at least 2 inches of snow and it's still falling! Good grief...it's almost Easter. It should NOT be snowing! Sure, I know I live in Alaska, but it's Southeast Alaska...maritime climate...warmer temperatures...4 definite seasons. *sigh* I'll just have to be patient, I guess.

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My dad should be in the O.R. as I type this...or where ever it is they do angioplasty. The doctors tell him he should be just fine afterwards. Other than the intial chest pain he had, he has no other symptoms and he's in good health, otherwise.

I've been instructed to go to work today and not worry about him. I'm also to come home for lunch and call to check up on him.

Even in Seattle, he's had phone calls and visitors. He said it made him feel good that people were thinking about him. I know exactly how he feels. I can't leave the house without someone asking how he's doing and telling me that they are praying for him.

I never really thought about it before, but it's nice to know so many people care. Especially in stressful situations like this.

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Time to go sweep the porch so I can head off to work. What a fun way to start the week!

Dad Update

They sent my dad to Seattle first thing this morning on an air medi-vac. The doctors will monitor him over the weekend and by Sunday night, Monday morning at the latest, decide whether they'll start him on meds, do an angiogram or angioplasty, or open heart surgery.

They're pretty sure he will not need open heart surgery. I'm kinda hoping they do the angiogram or angioplasty. They've had him on meds before and look what's happened.

I'm not as panicked as I was before. Talking to my dad helps. He's in good spirits and very optomistic. I can't help but feel the same after we hang up the phone.

Thanks to those of you who have been so supportive and encouraging. Also, the prayers and good thoughts are very much appreciated.

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Now I'm off to the town hall for a day of basketball:

Lucione vs. Alexys at 1:15 (15 minutes from now!)
Lindsey at 2:30
Lucione again at 6:15
Lindsey again at 7:30
Alexys again at 8:45

At least I get a dinner break! :o)

Panic Attack is Over

Okay, here's the scoop:

My dad was experiencing a tightness in his chest along with some pain so he went to the clnic. They gave him nitroglycerin and the pain went away. That means something was going on with his heart.

They immediately decided to medi-vac him to town. Upon arriving at the hospital, they lowered his blood pressure, took about 5 vials of blood, and ran numerous tests on him until the wee hours of the morning.

He slept for just barely 2 hours and they woke him to give him a shot in his stomach in order to thin his blood.

There is some sort of enzyme in his blood that they do not like and are watching closely. Their next move will probably be a transfer to a hospital in Seattle so that they can run more tests. They want to do one where they insert a tube of some sort into one of his arteries to get a close-up look at his heart. They don't have the right equipment in town so he'd have to be sent to Seattle.

I've spoken to him on the phone and he sounds good...tells me he's okay...tells me not to worry or be alarmed if they send him south.

But he's my dad...of course he's going to tell me he's okay. He did sound good, though. It was so nice hearing his voice. When I posted lastnight I was in such a state of panic. I tried to go to bed and became an emotional wreck. I must have sobbed for an hour and a half before my husband was finally able to calm me down. Talking to my dad helped, though. I'm in a better state today. Just extremely tired. Don't tell me to get some sleep, though. It won't work. Everytime I start to drift off, the phone rings. Even if it doesn't, I can't let myself sleep because I don't want it to ring and not hear it.

It's going to be a long weekend. I can tell already. Please, if you have it in you, say a prayer for him.

omg...O..M..G....OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somebody remind me to breathe.....seriously...

My step-mom just called. My dad's at the clinic and they're going to medi-vac him to the hospital tonight. He's had high blood pressure for a while and they're worried about his heart.

OMG!

I am freaking out. She said it's just a precaution...he's going to be fine. But, he's my daddy! He's supposed to be invincible. He's stronger than Superman. HE'S MY DADDY! HE ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE OKAY!

He will be, right?

Right?

Pray for him, please!

Busy Doing....Nuthin

I don't really have an excuse for not posting this week. I just have not had the energy. I've had a weird stomach problem all week so haven't felt like doing much of anything. I have, though, been reading my favorite blogs and leaving comments here and there.

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Our weather has been beautiful all week. This morning it was a bit frosty and the moutnains turned white again overnight, but the skies are as blue as ever and the sun is shining.

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The junior high kids got their quarter grades the other day. Lucione got the highest gpa (3.86) in 7th grade and Alexys got the highest (also 3.86) in the 8th grade. I'm so proud of them. I knew they had good grades, but they're both at the top of the heap!

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My husband applied for a job with an environmental company. They clean up after oil spills and things like that. He got a call today from them asking if he wanted to help with the Dutch Harbor oil spill. He's seriously thinking about it. This is not helping my stomach ache any.

I hate the idea of him leaving and will miss him terribly while he's away, but I will not say no if he decides to go. He's been unemployed since the week after Thanksgiving and I know it bothers him to not be earning an income. The wages for this job, although it will only be 2 to 3 months, are more than double what he'd get if he stayed home and worked a construction job.

When he went north for his training for his CDL and hazardous materials certificates, he was gone for 3 months. So it's not like I can't survive on my own. We've already done this. But I know I won't like it.

The good thing is, it will make him happy. At least it's not mid-winter.

Spring Has Sprung!

It's hard to believe, but even as those on the east coast are complaining about more snow, SE Alaska is having beautiful spring weather.

The skies were blue all day and the temps were pretty warm, also.

Winter will always be my favorite season, but Spring is a close second. I love what Spring brings. New beginnings, new life, a fresh start.

I'm so ready for a new beginning.

Do You Ever Wonder if You're Good Enough?

For what, I don't know. I've just had this nagging feeling this weekend. Like I'm not doing something I'm supposed to be doing. Like I'm not the daughter/sister/wife I should be. I feel like I've let somebody down.

Maybe I've let myself down.

Maybe I'm just now realizing that I am not living up to my potential.

Will the Wind Ever Stop?

What a stormy day! I get soaked just walking to and from the truck! Of course, that could be because I can't run. My ankle started hurting yesterday and today it's starting to swell. I have no idea what I did. I was walking down the hall at school and felt this sharp pain in my left foot where it bends. On top...not by the ankle. I started limping immediately and thought it would be better by today since I hadn't twisted it or anything. I was wrong. It's gotten worse and now my other foot is getting sore as well as my back. Most likely from limping.

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In the comments of my last post, Jayleigh asked if my anger has lessened. I guess I could have posted earlier about this.

I was very angry when I typed up that post. I used my blog as a way to vent. I typed what I didn't have the heart to say to him. I knew he was feeling bad. I knew it wasn't intentional. I just had to let off some steam. After I calmed down he apologized and we were back to normal. It was just so frustrating to have that happen when it could have been prevented if I hadn't bought him that darn jar of licorice!

So, yeah, my anger has lessened. We won't need marriage counseling. We've already talked it through. We're good as gold now. :o)

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I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. This week as felt especially long because I did not slow down at all last weekend. We were pretty much on the go from Friday morning until early Sunday evening when we got home. I was pretty exhausted when Monday morning rolled along and I had to head back to work.

I think we'll have Lucione for the weekend, but she's a piece of cake. Nothing like James and Alexys.

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Time to go elevate and ice my ankle.

Busy Week

I've had such a busy week so far. Because I had such a busy weekend, I don't really feel like I had one. Now I'm ready for another and it's only Thursday. haha

Today is going to be a Science day for me at work. I have to teach 3 science labs because the other science teacher called in sick. It should be fun. Plants, nutrition, and bess beetles. Quite the mix of topics!

Hopefully, the power will remain on. It's blowing pretty hard out there. Of course, our power has gone out on the calmest of days so you just never know.

I really don't have a lot to say...just wanted to post because I hadn't in a while.

If for some reason I don't post again for a few days: Have a wonderfully safe trip, Jayleigh. I know everything will be just fine. :o)

I'm So Mad I Could...

Actually, I can't even speak, forget doing anything else!

I collect Disney things. One of my first Disney collections was snow globes. I had the Christmas ones all together on a shelf in my bedroom.

Today after I arrived home from work, for some reason I'll never understand, Michael decided he needed to put his huge jar of red licorice on the same shelf. Not just on the shelf...on the front edge.

The shelf is full of snow globes. Snow globes are heavy. Why on God's green earth would you think putting another heavy object on the unsupported edge was a good idea?!

Hundreds of dollars worth of unreplacable Disney Christmas snow globes are now destroyed. There's no way I could find these even if I had the good fortune to live near a Disney store. They were all more than 10 years old.

I heard the crash, went to make sure he was okay, and just had to walk out of the room. I knew if I stayed in there I'd either cry or scream and I didn't want to do either.

After a few minutes, I went and asked him what happened. "It just gave way," he said, "I tried to catch it."

I said, "What were you doing? What made it give way? How'd your licorice get all wet?"

"It was up there."

That's when I got REALLY angry. Lucione is here doing her homework. She loves licorice. He was feeling greedy so decided to put it up where she couldn't reach it. Never mind the fact that it was already in the bedroom where she couldn't see it. Forget about the fact that she doesn't even know the licorice is there. Let's put a heavy jar of licorice up on a shelf already full of heavy objects. What a bright idea!

Now the shelf, the snow globes, AND the licorice are ruined.

I Survived!

I'm back from my weekend in town. We actually got home yesterday around 5:30PM but I didn't even turn my computer on. What a long weekend this was. I don't even feel like I had one because James moves at such a slow pace, we had to get up early every day.

That kid wore me out. Not because he was obnoxious or unruly; he's just so needy. There is not a lot he can do on his own. The basic things are easy for him, but things like cutting his meat or fixing a bed are difficult for him. He kept getting frustrated because I wasn't as quick to jump in and do it for him as his mother and grandmothers are. I kept getting frustrated because he was expecting me to do so much for him.

He's going to be 9 next month so it's not like I'm expecting too much from him. He's just so used to being catered to and waited on. He's not as independent as he should be at this age. No, I'm not expecting he should be able to totally care for himself. I just expect that he should be able to do simple tasks unsupervised. Things like packing an overnight bag. I asked him to put two outfits into his overnight bag and it took him 3 tries to get it right. He only got it right the third time because I stood over his shoulder and watched his every move.

At one point he got upset with me because he had to write his spelling words and cross out the silent letters in each word for homework. He said, "My dziish (our native work for grandmother) usually writes the words and I go through and cross out the letters."

I said, "Well, first of all, I'm not your dziish. Second, you are old enough to write your own words. It's good practice for you so get started."

He sat and pouted for almost 30 minutes before he finally wrote. He was lazy about it, though, so it ended up looking sloppy. BUT, he wrote them on his own. For the first time ever.

Being in town wasn't too bad. I raised my voice to him a couple times because he wouldn't quit arguing with me, but for the most part he behaved well. He's a chronic complainer but he's not whiny about it, thank goodness.

I'm just glad it's all over.

The only bad thing is, I've had a 4 day weekend and it doesn't even feel like it. I'm exhausted today. I wish it was Friday already.

Wish Me Luck

We're leaving in a few minutes to take the ferry to town. As James puts it, we'll have 2 sleeps in the hotel and then come home on Sunday.

Thank God for answered prayers! Not only did my tax refund get deposited this morning, the weather has calmed a bit so our ferry ride will not be very rough at all.

Now if He can only help me keep James entertained so he doesn't drive me nuts...

Three More Sleeps

There are 3 more sleeps until my niece comes home from medical school to intern at our clinic. That means 3 more sleeps till I can give her children back. I haven't had them this entire time. Their grandmother, my sister-in-law, has. She's down in Seattle this week helping her daughter pack up while she's busy at school taking tests and such.

I talk about this particular niece and nephew a lot (more the niece) but they've never stayed with me before. I am finding it difficult because I can tell that they pretty much run their own household and that's not how things work around here. They are not bratty. Not by a long shot. What they are, are creatures of habit. By the time they understand that my house is NOT gramma's house so things do NOT run the same here, it will be time for them to go home.

James is in 3rd grade. He is used to having things done for him. We didn't have school today so I let him move at his own pace for the entire morning. When he finally decided to take his shower (well after 11AM) it took him 3 tries to start it...and then Michael STILL had to go in to help him. He then had to go in again to turn off the water. Janelle was running her own showers at 5 years old. He can't do it at 9? He has no idea how to make a bed, either. His blankets are all different lengths and the top blanket is folded into a small square that sits right in the middle of the bed. I'm not trying to pick on him...I'm just surprised. He is far from independent. I'm not used to having to spell everything out for a child of his age. I have to tell him what to do, one step at a time, and even then, he always has a ton of questions.

"James, go brush your teeth."

"Okay, I brushed my teeth. Now what?"

"Put your pajamas on and read in bed for a few minutes."

"Okay, I have my pajamas on. Now what?"

"I told you...get in bed and read for a few minutes."

He goes to read...then comes out in about 10 minutes. "Okay, I read for a few mintues. Now what?"

"Go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

Every little task I ask of him goes the same way. Needless to say, today has been a long day.

His sister Alexys is adjusting better, but she's in 8th grade. I wouldn't have expected anything else. She is, though, fighting a cold and is supposed to go on a basketball trip tomorrow. I really hope she feels better because it would break both her heart and mine if she got worse and I had to keep her home.

So anyway, this explains my absence. I spend all my free time telling James what to do and can't find time to use the computer. The only reason I'm on now is because he is doing his homework. But since I've started typing this, he's been in 3 times to tell me he's not good at writing stories. I guess I should go help him. *sigh*

Just 3 more sleeps...