Trowel anyone?

The Mall

daalny — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:54:30 +0000

Sean will be turning 5 this year so last night Anonymous and I discussed getting him registered for school. I went to the local elementary school at the bottom of the hill and the kind woman behind the desk gave me a packet. I went back home and rifled through it, I then saw the dates on the standardized letter September, 2011. It hit me, I was supposed to register Sean last year. So as calmly and as quickly as I could I filled out the forms, drove to the dentist for them to complete paperwork, then I drove to the Carousel Mall.

Now I should preface this with a story. When I first moved to the I.E. for University (1998) I noticed the Carousel mall from the freeway. I asked my husband, he was my classmate then, what the mall was like. He told me “Don’t go there!” Well today I had to go since the enrollment office is located there. So I drive to it, there are windows smashed out. The windows that were intact were fortified with burglar bars. Police were crawling all over it so I parked in an adjacent lot. I had absolutely no clue as to where I was going. As luck would have it another woman pulled into the same lot and exited the car with the same packet I had. I asked her, “Where do you go?” She gave me a grimacing smile and responded in Spanish. I pointed to the packet and she made some gestures and between us I found the office.

Another kind woman behind a desk reviewed my packet and photocopied my passport and other various documents and gave me a number. I was then called over to another desk with another kind woman who sounded like she had every 1920′s disease imaginable. Turns out the school at the bottom of the hill is NOT Sean’s homeschool rather the school just to the right of the hill (good to know). The papers have been filed, so now we wait.

Week 4

daalny — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:44:13 +0000

So far this week has been kind, there have been no Kaiser Visits for anyone in the household. We were able to put new tires on the car, thank you Spink! The DAV came on Wednesday to collect a box and already I have dug out more for them to collect when they come back in a few weeks. Wednesday also saw Mr. Nimri at our home! He is on leave from Germany in a few weeks he’ll be going to South Korea then hopefully back to the United States.

On Friday the winds were so high that CSUSB was closed. Anonymous came home around lunchtime and I made everyone’s favourite–crust less quiches, with Louisiana hot link. The winds kept me up Thursday and Friday night, debris would activate either ours or Earl and Marilyn’s security light. Our bedroom has a sliding glass door and the illumination from either lights would spill in.

Today is a clean up day. Anonymous is tackling the garage since it almost looks like an episode of Hoarders. In fact we were watching an episode and both of us looked at one another with the same look, “yup, lets clean.” While our home is not cluttered or dirty it still needs a bit of help. I went through the kids toys, putting aside the infant things and Sean’s many pieces of art. We are thinking of converting our pantry into a hall closet since we have a metric crap-load of space in the kitchen. Anonymous bought himself a leaf blower/vac and is having fun in the front yard. There is still a few more hours left in this day/week. We need to purchase drywall and hopefully things will continue to be favourable.

Week Three

daalny — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:33:14 +0000

The third week of this year has seen more Kaiser Visits. Evelyn has recovered from her croup but Sean was a bit under the weather. He had a runny nose but he seemed to be improving. Thursday morning he crawled into our bed crying about his ear. I called Kaiser and got him an appointment and the pediatrician confirmed what we suspected, an ear infection. We got Sean on his antibiotics and he’s doing well. Later that night Anonymous came home from basketball, everything seemed fine until he experienced a pain right at his surgical site. Mr. and Mrs. Zed, who had just played basketball with Anonymous, came over and watched the kids (they were already asleep). We got to the ER a little after 9 and left around 2:30 Friday Morning. A CAT scan revealed that all Anonymous’ insides were intact, they had to rule out a rupture. The staff were extremely caring and joked with us. We discovered the Enterprise in the Imagaing suite, the artist had painted a Space scene on the ceiling and had cleverly incorporated a smoke detector!

Week Two

daalny — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:44:07 +0000

A week ago I was awakened a bit after five in the morning due to Evelyn coughing. Actually it was the coughing that alerted me it was the stridor. I picked her up got her calmed down and used the online service to book an appointment. The pediatrician diagnosed it as croup through the door of the office, an official examination confirmed her diagnosis. She was given an injection of steroids to protect her airway and I was told not to worry too much about her cough. “It will scare you, but remember the steroids won’t allow the airway to narrow” The pediatrician told me.

She was right that cough is fucking terrifying. Anonymous spent Monday night on the couch with Evelyn to keep her elevated so she could sleep. I spent Tuesday and good portion of Wednesday in the same spot. When Sean came home Wednesday afternoon from preschool he was beginning to cough. One kid straight to another. So week two of January was spent keeping children calm and happy so they wouldn’t exert themselves and freak me the fuck out with that cough!

Week One

daalny — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:15:14 +0000

The first week of 2012 is done. Quite a week, cleaned out Evie’s wardrobe, have a bag ready for the charity shop. Kids are happy and now that Evie is walking we are going through the house again re-proofing for the toddler stage. Projects are being thought of and being worked on. Working on making the front room an actual front room (toy chest has been moved) Sean starts preschool again tomorrow so it’ll be me and Evie from 8 to 12 on Monday and Wednesday. I hope the momentum keeps going.

Winding Down

daalny — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:57:16 +0000

In a few days the ball will drop, the corks will pop and another Julian/Gregorian calendar will begin. This year, 2011, has been a contrasting duality. It has given so much and it has taken so much. Usually I just have good years and bad years, like 2001 it pretty much stunk. Whilst, 2005 was a good year. I think that is the true meaning of life, joy and sorrow tied up together. I’m neutral when it comes to the year 2012, it shall be another year, another start. Am I anxiously awaiting it–No. Am I dreading its coming–No. To me it’ll be another Sunday.

Givings

daalny — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:39:39 +0000

I cooked, I made a ham, dressing, cornbread muffins, biscuits, roasted butternut squash with garlic and parsley, green beans and sweet potato french fries. I cooked for our family, Grandpa, Uncle Scott and his lovely girlfriend Leanne. I am thankful that I was able to cook, also thankful that if I truly frakked up the meal there would still be food to serve (albeit frozen pizza). It will be a month tomorrow that we lost my M-I-L, my surrogate mom, Sean and Evelyn’s grandma. However, life goes on and we are living as she would want us to. We are celebrating as she would command and demand that we do, much like my mother! I have two framed pictures on my mantle. One is of my Mother the other is of my Mother in law. I glory the fact that I had these women in my life and I’m grieving that they are gone. I am bloody grateful for my family, my husband and our children. For my family and the people who mean so much to me I am truly thankful.

Bells

daalny — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:35:34 +0000

*warning rant ahead which probably happens every year*

So we aren’t even at Thanksgiving yet and the Hershey kisses are wrapped in red and green and playing Holiday Tunes Bell style. Can’t we get out of November first? Perhaps I am a scrooge but I like to call this time of year the Silly Season. I really think that I will get the X-Mas Brick marketed. Let me add I am ready to decorate for Evelyn and Sean but I will not be putting on the dirge carols. Why is all the supposed joyous music sung in a tone that screams, my-herion-is-about-to-wear-off-and-I-can’t-pay-my-rent?

Will it Work?

daalny — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:58:32 +0000

My father is on his way to England to visit his sisters and brother, he’ll also be visiting his former mother-in-law. There is a plan to get my Nan stamps and cards so she can write to people. For so long she has bemoaned that no one talks to her, I’ve written before about this. I don’t want to be mean but my Nan needs to have some responsibility not everything can be fobbed off on her age. In fact yesterday my Dad reported that she called him! So it seems she can, when properly motivated, do the things she says she can not do. I remember telling my Nan the standard price of shipping a letter, one pound sixty-five pence to be exact. I remember the laugh she gave, it gave the reply/tone of, “I don’t want to.” I’m blank about whether or not my Dad’s idea will take flight, I’m truly asking the question of “will it work?”

Mimic

daalny — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:47:56 +0000

Last week, I thought I had an ear infection. My right ear felt plugged and I was very unsteady on my feet, later I had tinnitus (bad ringing/banging/clanging/screeching/whistling) it was so bad that I put in an iPod to drown it out. I made an appointment to see my GP but I knew I couldn’t make it over the weekend. So I went to Urgent Care, there the Doc found no fluid in my ear no sign of infection. I was very confused. He asked about a history of ear infections, I told him I had one infection when I was 26 and I had swimmers ear twice when I was kid. I then mentioned that I do have a family history of Meniere’s Disease. He ordered a hearing test right there and referred me. His test showed I had some hearing loss I was floored.

Yesterday I went to the Audiologist. I had a hearing assessment first where the tech evaluated me and so far the ears look good. Just a little loss in the left ear but it’s not that bad. I then saw the Doc, he gave me a battery of tests. Turns out he thinks I have a Eustachian tube problem since I’ve been a bit under the weather. Plus it turns out that it takes 3 things to maintain balance. Your eyes, your ears and part of your brain that can sense your limbs in space. My brain hasn’t been damaged but since it is confused over limb placement since my injury. My brain thinks my left leg/foot should be straight but the amount of times I’ve broken toes on my left foot tells me otherwise. So my other 2 senses are working overtime and with my right ear compromised I’m dizzy. So I’ve got some nasal steroids to hopefully open up my ear and we’ll check back in a couple of months. The tinnitus is ongoing, last night I had it again but my Husband has put a RainScape on an iPod for me and it muffles the noise and allows me to sleep.