Oh the Humanity!

I had my last final exam today.  This semester is over.  I should be happy, but this day was rough, and instead I feel deflated.  I realize that my troubles are ridiculous, but I’ll share them anyway.  I’m not going to whine on Facebook because some people have real troubles.  My mother didn’t die.  I don’t have cancer.  I wasn’t in a car accident.  I just had a crappy day and I’m hormonal and I feel like whining. 

                For my final exam in Assessment, we had to make appointments to do a head-to-toe physical assessment on a lab partner and document our findings.  There were about a hundred different things to cover in the exam.  It counts for 30% of our final grade.  Each person had 30 minutes to assess their partner (so an hour in the exam room), and then an hour to document their findings.  Our appointment was at 2:30 this afternoon.  I met my partner at 2:00.  We found out that they were running 2-3 sessions behind.  That means we had to wait over two hours to do our exams!  We were already nervous, and we had to sit there for 2 hours.  We were supposed to go out to eat afterward, but my lab partner lives in Dalton, and she is on-call tonight, so she had to rush home.  By the time I was writing up my findings, I was exhausted.  I just didn’t care anymore.  I scribbled some stuff down and left.  My brain had completely stopped working. 

When I walked out, it was pouring rain and storming.  It was already dark.  I had a long, wet walk to my van.  Since a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake was supposed to be my reward for a semester complete, I headed across town to Chick-fil-A.  After a wrong turn and struggling to drive in the rain (I am seriously dangerous at night in the rain), I made it to Chick-fil-A to find the line backed up out into the street.  I parked and walked in.  I would rather get a little wetter than I already was than to wait in a long drive thru line.  So I got my shake, went back to the van, and got back on the road headed home.  A few miles down the road, I opened my straw and took a sip.  It was not peppermint chocolate chip.  It was cookies & cream.  I don’t even like cookies & cream.  What a fitting end to this day.

 

I did a search for "spilled milkshake" images, and suddenly realized that this day could have been worse.  :-)

Life is Sweet

November is gone.  I really must admit that it wasn’t too bad.  It really wasn’t bad at all.  The last week was especially wonderful for me.  I started to sum it up with a Facebook status update, but I really think it deserves more.  I have a “my cup runneth over” feeling, and I want to say a little more about it.   Next time life gives me lemons, maybe I can look back and remember that it has given me sugar, too.

               My birthday was lovely.  I had to work on my birthday proper, so Matt and I had an afternoon-into-evening date the day before.  We started off at the North Broad Antique Mall in Rome.  I can easily spend hours in there.  Matt does not have the same stamina I have, but he held up pretty well.  I got a large mirror to go above the piano.  The space has been empty since we redecorated the living room last year.  The mirror has a gold frame, but I plan to paint it a deep teal color during my Christmas break.  Then we headed to the Goodwill for a while.  After that, we ran by Home Depot to get me a little space heater to keep in my locker at work.   Then we went to dinner at Red Lobster (my choice).  After dinner, we hit Ross and T.J.Maxx.  The kids spent the night with my parents, so we shared a bottle of wine or three when we got home.  It was just a wonderful, wonderful day.  I couldn’t ask for more. 

Last Thursday, I had school in Carrollton.  Luke’s puppy was due to be neutered, so I dropped him off on my way.  After class, I went shopping.   There is not much in life that makes me happier than giving gifts to people I love.  If I won the lottery, you would all be showered with lovely gifts on a regular basis.  A friend of mine just had a baby, so I picked a gift up for her.  We do a Christmas gift exchange at my Grandmother’s on Thanksgiving, so I got my stuff for that.  We buy for the kids, and the adults do a Dirty Santa gift exchange.  My Mom’s family is loud and crazy, and it gets pretty funny.  Matt has a cousin who was just diagnosed with gastric cancer, and I wanted to do something special for her.   I had seen an idea for a “sunshine box” on Pintrest, and Matt’s cousin is that kind of person who loves everybody and always makes you feel so good.  I thought we might return a little sunshine her way.  Everything in the box is yellow.  It was so much fun to get that stuff together.  That Friday night, my SILs, April and Lisa, and my MIL, Cathy, added some stuff to the box, and Cathy and I went to visit her.  She is scary skinny and in a lot of pain.  Her prognosis is poor, but she is determined to put up a fight and beat this, so prayers for her are much appreciated.  

The next night, we had our annual friends' Thanksgiving dinner.   As always, hosted by my friend Dana.  It is always a pleasure to see these people.  I usually see them just once or twice a year, and I want the time to last forever.  I went by myself this year while Matt stayed here and managed the kids.  I was having such a good time that I was very tempted to spend the night, but I had to work the next night, so I was a good girl.

On Wednesday of this week, family started rolling into town for Thanksgiving.  Seth & April hosted us on Wednesday night for an informal gathering of cousins and friends, and a good time was had by all.  On Thursday at noon, we went down to Matt’s parents’ house and ate dinner with his dad’s extended family.  There are a lot of people I only get to see once a year.  We visited there for a couple of hours, and then we headed to my Granny’s.  They were ready for us to arrive, and the Dirty Santa started right after we got there.  We came home with a ceramic-coated skillet, a bottle of wine, 2 beautiful wineglasses, a hoop of cheddar cheese (an annual gift from my Granny), and lots and lots of goodies for the kiddos.  We came home around 5:00 because Matt’s cousin’s daughter was spending the night with us that night.  Around 8:00pm, they said they were hungry, so I started looking through the fridge.  There was not a darn thing to eat!  I offered to open a can of soup, but they asked if we could go back to Granny’s to eat.  I called and it was fine, so we went.  They had everything out and ready for us when we got there.  What a treat!  I really, really enjoyed seeing my family from out-of-town.  I was in just the right kind of mood this year to appreciate talking to everyone.  I wasn’t ready to leave when the time finally came.  I regret the many times I have been around family and only talked to my own little group and been ready to leave the whole time.  These people are awesome. 

I slept late on Friday because I was on-call to work that night.  When I got the call saying I didn’t have to go in, I immediately messaged my friend Tiffany to ask if I could visit her and her newborn baby girl.  I drove around for about an hour trying to finding their house and I was so frustrated, but as soon as I got there and got my hands on that sweet baby, it melted away.  What a doll!  I visited with them for a while and headed to pick up Luke a birthday gift and look for a dress to wear to a wedding.  So I did go Black Friday shopping this year, but I didn’t start until 10pm on Friday. :-)

Saturday was Luke’s tenth birthday.  We are having a skating party for him next week, but we gave him a bean bag chair on his actual birthday, and Bonnie cooked him pancakes for breakfast.  We also had two cousins spend the night Friday night, so that was fun for everyone.  On Saturday night, the kids got to go spend the night with their Granna & Papa while Matt and I went to a wedding.  It was beautiful and relaxed, and we saw tons of people we love dearly but rarely get to see. 

And that brings me to today… the only negative thing in this whole post.  Rosemary started throwing up at Mom and Dad’s last night.  They didn’t call to let us know because they didn’t want to ruin our evening.  Mom woke up throwing up at 4:00 this morning, so it is definitely a virus.  It always happens after the holidays.  It is just the price you pay for having so many people under one roof, hugging and laughing and loving on each other.  Rosemary and I missed our weekly Sunday dinner with the Ingrams.  I slept late this morning and got ready to go to work.  Just before walking out the door, I checked my schedule to see who I was working with tonight and realized that I WASN’T ON THE SCHEDULE.  I am such a ding dong!  Since I was well-rested, dressed and ready, I called to see if they needed me, but they didn’t.  Instead I used this time to complete my last two online school assignments.  That means I am completely finished with two classes, and I only have a final exam in my other class!

We normally eat with Mom & Dad on Sunday evenings, but we didn’t tonight since Mom and Roey are sick.  My Dad brought the whole meal to us… barbeque, buns, chips, and cheesecake for Luke’s birthday.  So sweet!  Before he left he gave Matt and me an early Christmas gift.  It was a card with a very generous amount of money in it.  When I was younger, I would refuse such gifts out of a need for independence.  My mother once told me that when you refuse a heartfelt gift, you deny the giver the joy of giving.  That stuck with me, so now I usually receive gifts with gratitude and make a mental note to return the offering of love.   I love my family so much, and I wish everyone were blessed with such wonderful people in their lives.

At the beginning of the post, I said that “life” had given me sugar, but really “life” didn’t give me these good things, God did.  It is only right to acknowledge that all good and precious gifts are from our heavenly father.  They come to us in different ways, but they are all from His goodness and bounty.  Let me not ever forget that.

 A few photos from the month:

Bonnie with cousin CO at another gathering at Seth & April's

Look what Mom bought! ' Tis the season!

Bye Sailor!  I'm sorry in advance for what is about to happen to you.  :-(

The sunshine box before the goodies from April, Lisa, and Cathy.  It was busting at the seams with yellow goodies!

A selfie of Roey and Liam.  Quote of the night:   Liam: "Rosemary, Can I play with that toy you have?"  Roey in a sassy tone: "For a dolla and a holla".  Liam (looking confused): "Whay are you speaking Spanish???"

Bonnie and Cate spent the night at my in-laws.  Roey opted to stay here with the boys.

Friends Thanksgiving 2013

Dirty Santa at Granny Ponder's house

Rosemary got a spa set and couldn't wait to use it.

I always make the kids birthday banners to hang in the kitchen so they'll see them when they wake up.  I forgot, so Matt did it.  I'm not sure what that is, but Luke loved it!

Me with the groom, Shane.

Rolling Right Along

November is here!  That is very exciting for me because it means the end of this God-awful semester is in sight.  God-awful is probably too strong of a description.  “Really, really busy” is better.  Anyway, 10 weeks down and 3 to go!  I had a term paper due today in one class.  Having that done feels like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.  I actually have 2 whole days ahead of me with nothing to do.  I’m so excited.  Sunday is my birthday, and I’m working that night, so Matt and I are going out on Saturday.  We don’t have any plans yet, but we do have a babysitter lined up.  

I have been sick.  I worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights this week, and each night I felt worse and worse.  Saturday night was the time change, so it was actually a 13 hour shift, and I felt every extra minute.  I hardly ever get sick, but I really felt awful.  Not so bad as the flu, just a bad cold and it made working miserable.  I was scheduled to work on Tuesday night, but I called out.  I just could not do another night.  It is the first time I’ve called out in the 2 1/2 years I've worked there.  Making that call is more miserable for me than working while I’m sick.  Anyway, I’m on the mend now with just an annoying cough lingering, so all is good.  I even felt like going for a little walk this evening.  

Bonnie did the art show for Stephanie in October, and everything went well.  The boys went to the World of Coke in Atlanta with some friends that day, and I took Bonnie to Berry.  Around 1:00 in the afternoon, Matt and Rosemary came to Rome, and I took Rosemary while Matt stayed with Bonnie.  Just for fun, Rosemary and I rode out to the water wheel.  I had my camera, so I took a few photos.  They are definitely NOT like the dolled up cuties with a professional photographer following them around that we saw.  These are as "Rosemary" as it gets.  I don't think she had even combed her hair or brushed her teeth that morning!

We are finished with the homeschool coop for Fall.  It was fun, but I’m glad it’s over.  It is one less weekly commitment.  I'm not sure if we'll do it again next term or not.  

We had a lovely Halloween.  I have worked for the past 2 years, so I was happy to be with Matt and the kids this year.  Bonnie and her friend, Andrea, dressed as characters from the Hunger Games and gave out candy at my parents’ house.  Will was a cop.  He honestly didn’t put any thought into or take any pride in his costume.  I offered to go to Wal-Mart and buy him a set with a hat, handcuffs, and a billy club, and he just shrugged his shoulders.  He just wanted the candy.  Luke was a black bear.  He did care.  He always has fun with Halloween.  Rosemary was an adorable detective.  Bonnie helped her with her costume.  Certain kids asked me not to post their photos on Facebook.  If you have noticed that I don’t post many pics there these days, that is why.  But they didn’t tell me not to put them on my blog.  < insert evil laugh here >

This evening I used my free time to swap out my summer and winter clothes.  Our closet isn’t very big, so twice a year I change out the contents of my closet and two large storage tubs that go to the attic.  I got the storage tote down weeks ago, and I’ve been pulling clothes out as I need them.  Tonight I finally got around to doing the job right.  And hopefully tomorrow I’ll get around to putting the totes back in the attic.  While I undertake that task, I always watch a movie.  Tonight I put in home movies from 2003.  We moved from Rome to Cedartown that year.  Bonnie was a hyper, adorable 3 year-old who slipped a suck on a pacifier anytime she could.   Will started crawling, walking, had his first birthday, and got his first haircut.  Luke was born at the end of November.  It was precious.  The job took me longer than it should have because I couldn’t stop watching long enough to run to the closet for more clothes.  Sometimes I miss those days.  My home movies are my most valued possession.  It is strange that I love them so much, yet I almost never record my kids anymore.  Almost never.  :-(   The camcorder got full and I never figured out how to download the contents into a workable format on the computer.  And the last videos I’ve had put on to DVD are from 2008.  My December project is going to be pulling all videos together and having them put on DVD.  And starting tomorrow, I will shoot more footage of my babies, even if it is on my crappy iPod camera for the time being.  

I hate to close on such a depressing note, but I have nothing else to say.  Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

 

A fun Saturday at home playing Monopoly.

See what I mean???

 

 

Why?  Because he spent $80 on it and will wear it every chance he gets.

Andrea was Catniss and Bonnie was Clove.  If you've watched The Hunger Games 20 times, you know who Clove is.

I dressed up, too.  :-)

They all got a pile this big, and it is all gone now.  See those pumpkin lollipops he is holding?  Word to the wise, if you ever see them at the store, pass them up.  They were so bad that even MY kids didn't eat them.

Taking a bite of the Big Apple

We are back!  Our trip was amazing.  Our three days were packed with fun activities.  Here is a recap with pictures from each day.  I'll warn you that it is pretty long.  Read at your own risk.

Saturday:  We left home at 5:00 am. It was a smooth trip to the airport and through security.  Bonnie was a little nervous, but she did great.  Once we were in the air, she relaxed and enjoyed the flight.  We had to circle LaGuardia several times and ended up landing in Philadelphia to refuel, so Bonnie ended up getting to two-fer for her first flight experience.  That only threw us off by an hour or so.  After landing at LaGuardia, a van took us to the hotel and we put our luggage into storage and went on our merry way.  After a quick meal at an awesome restaurant right next door to the hotel, we took the subway to the American Museum of Natural History.  We stayed there until they closed at 5:45.  We went back to the hotel and checked in.  Then we walked to Times Square.  We visited Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.  Afterward we got some iced cappuccino and sat right in the middle of the action for about an hour.  Traffic, megatrons, street performers, food vendors, merchandise vendors, and costumed people everywhere….  We could have stayed there for hours!  It never got boring.   Finally we left because we wanted to make it to the Rockefeller Center by 11:00.  The ticket seller told us that visibility at the top was zero, so we decided to wait and try it the next night.  We walked all around Rockefeller Center window shopping and enjoying the sights and sounds.  We finally got back to our hotel after midnight to prepare for an early morning and busy next day.  

That blue sign is our hotel.  It is Club Quarters Opposite Rockefeller Center.  It has a great central location, friendly staff, not too expensive, secure luggage storage, and free bottled water.  I would definitely recommend it.

I have a new word.  I will never say "skull" again.  It's a braincase.

I would totally try to pass this off as real, but him being dead really puts a hole in my story.

I was amazed at how many parents handed their kids to these costumed people in Times Square. Bonnie cried when I tried to hand her over.  She wouldn't even go to the Naked Cowboy. 

Sunday:  We woke up in time to make it to 9:00 mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.  The building is in the middle of a massive restoration project.  A lot of it is blocked from view by scaffolding, both on the inside and outside. http://www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/about_restore.php   Nonetheless, we made it in and found a seat.  The archbishop started speaking, and we couldn’t understand a word.  At first I was thinking it was a Latin mass.  I know a few words, but I really don’t understand much at all.  Then at some point, I realized it wasn’t Latin at all.  It sounded more like German.  The archbishop gave a homily that was over 20 minutes long.  It seemed like an eternity!  Some people were nodding along, obviously understanding much more than I did.  Then he switched to English and said, “So as the eloquent Pope John Paul II assured us, ‘you may no longer be in Poland, but you will always be Polish”, and thanked us all for coming to the annual Polish Day celebration.  Mystery solved.  We had a good laugh about that whole experience. 

We went back to the hotel for breakfast and a clothing change and then took the subway to lower Manhattan.  We walked around in Battery Park and then hopped on the water taxi.  We stopped at South Street seaport and the DUMBO neighbored in Brooklyn.  We cruised by the Statue of Liberty for a photo op and went back up the Hudson River to Pier 84.  At the last minute we decided to hop off at Pier 84 and head toward Central Park.  That ended up being a mistake because I forgot to bring my map and New York Pass booklet.  Bonnie wanted to rent bicycles, but we couldn’t find the rental stand that accepted our passes.  After walking for 2 hours, I finally called Matt to look it up for us online.  I have an iPod Touch that needs wifi for internet access and this is one of the few occasions that I really wish I had an iPhone so I could have instant access to stuff like that.  Wifi signals were plentiful, but they were all locked.  We made it to the store, but they closed in less than an hour from the time we got there, so they ran our passes through and gave us vouchers for the next day.  We got on the subway aiming for the Empire State Building, but the MTA officer had given us the wrong directions.  We ended up heading back to the hotel to get the maps and find somewhere to eat.  We were both a bit grumpy that there had been so much wasted time on what was supposed to be our most productive day. 

We went to an Irish Pub to eat.  It was loud and laid back.  We enjoyed some excellent food and had an attitude adjustment.  It was not so late that we needed to call it a day.  There was plenty of time left for fun.  We went back to Rockefeller Center to go to the Top of the Rock.  Again, visibility was poor.  They offered to run our NY passes, which expired at midnight, and give us vouchers for the next day, but we decided to just go ahead anyway.  I love to learn about the history of such places, but that bores Bonnie and this was her trip, so we went straight to the top.  We could see some lights way below, but not much else.  But it was cool just to be up there, and there was a fun interactive room that lights up and changes colors as you move around.  After that, we walked around the area a little more.  Bonnie made a little video for her siblings to watch as she had done the night before.  After a while we decided that ice cream would be nice, so we walked all the way to Times Square for Cold Stone Creamery.  We sat in Times Square just as we had the night before and had a blast.  After going back to the hotel, we went over the missteps of the day and decided that a rigid schedule works best when time is limited, so we mapped out a plan for Monday complete with directions from place to place.  We were determined to pack it with activity.

 

The beautiful Saint Patrick's Cathedral.  Or should I say "Przepięknej katedry Świętego Patryka"?

 

 

Aside from getting off one stop too early once and getting the wrong directions to the Empire State Building , we were great at the subway.  I would highly recommend it.  It is safe, fast, and cheap, and it really adds to the New York experience.

Bottom of the Rock

Top of the Rock

Interactive room

 Monday:  We showered, dressed, packed, and officially checked out of the hotel at 9:00am.  On Sunday night, people were already camping out in Rockefeller Plaza in line for the Today Show concert, so we watched on TV while we were getting ready but went the opposite way when we left the hotel.  We headed to the bike rental shop and stopped for breakfast along the way.  We rode bikes in Central Park until 11:30.  Then we took the subway to Chinatown and ate lunch.  After looking around for a while, we took the subway back uptown to Grand Central Terminal.  Again, if it had been my trip, we would have taken the 1-hour audio tour, but we didn’t.  We looked around for a few minutes and headed out for a store called Dylan’s Candy Bar.  It was amazing.  We spent $50 on candy!  After that, we headed back to Rockefeller Plaza to the Nintendo store to buy Will’s souvenir.  Luke and Rosemary got candy, but Will had specifically requested something other than food.  This was supposed to be our last stop before heading back to the hotel to await our ride to the airport.  We picked Will out a Pokemon toy.  When we went to pay, I handed the cashier my credit card, and he asked for my ID.  I went digging in my bag and couldn’t find it.  Panic started to rise.  I completely emptied my bag.  It wasn’t there.  I paid for the toy in cash and started to retrace my steps in my mind.  The bike rental place!  I had to show them my driver's license to rent the bikes.   I already had the phone number in my phone from when I had called for directions.  Sure enough, they had it.  At first I figured I’d just get them to mail it to me, but then  I realized I couldn’t get through airport security without it, so we had no choice but to go get it.  We had to go from the corner of 49th Street &  5th Avenue to 58th Street between 7th & 8th avenue and back in 20 minutes.  We were running.  Bonnie was exhausted and I was harsh.  Training for the 5K came in handy.  In the end, we made it.  It was crazy. 

Sometimes I see people running down the street or crying behind the wheel of their car and wonder what their story might be.  I’m sure people wondered why we were running like mad down 7^th avenue.  After getting back to the hotel, we got water, used the bathroom, retrieved our luggage and waited for our van.

When times seem bad, it is time to count your blessings.  If the cashier at the Nintendo store had not asked for my ID, I would not have realized I left my ID at the bike rental place until we were going through security at the airport.  Then we would have had to take a cab back to Manhattan ($50) to retrieve it and back to the airport ($50) and would have missed our flight as a result.  It was a rush, but at least we had time to take care of it.  And after we got back to the hotel, it started raining, so at least we weren’t running in the rain.

Our flight was slightly delayed due to the weather, but LaGuardia is a nice little airport.  We made the best of it.  While sitting there waiting for our plane, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize and then I had a voicemail.  It was an artist who lives in Rome who makes jewelry.  She was asking if Bonnie would be interested in selling stuff at an art show for her.  She does the Berry College Arts & Crafts Show every year but has a scheduling conflict this year, so she is going to pay Bonnie to work her booth and purchase a booth for Bonnie sale her own stuff.  It was the perfect end to an excellent trip.  I called her back this evening to accept the offer on Bonnie’s behalf and work out details.  Bonnie is so excited.  Bonnie idolizes this young lady, and it is such a compliment to Bonnie that she considered her mature enough and good enough with people to represent her and sell her art.  I am proud of my baby.

This is real candy in a glass staircase.  The store is three stories tall.

Poor exhausted baby girl!

Headed back to the airport in the rain.  It made leaving a little less sad.  Even Spidey and Minnie Mouse needed a dry place to stand.

Home sweet home