Busy as a bee in a new hive

Good morning.  Yes, I know it’s been a while since I last posted and I’m sure you have been wondering what’s been going on.  Well, let me share…

During the past 7 weeks or so, we have been busy preparing to move! Actually, I should say I have been busily preparing to move.  Although we didn’t move far (about 5 minutes from our previous house), there was lots to do.  I am taking this opportunity to pat myself on the back since I did just about everything in terms of getting things transferred (utilities, mail, etc.) and packing up the house.  I also handled most of the mortgage and insurance stuff, not to mention all the questions and excitement shared by the kids!  While Dear toiled away at work, I persevered like a busy bee around the house.   I must say, it all started to get to me about 2 days before the movers were scheduled to come.  You could say I finally “hit a wall.”  That’s when Dear reconsidered his priorities and put work aside for a few days to pitch in.  Thank goodness he did – I was beginning to lose it.  Well, it’s all behind us now – at least that part of it.  We moved into our new house a few days ago and now,  I am sitting here successfully avoiding unpacking the multiple boxes that still surround me.  I can’t count how many boxes we have already unpacked – nor do I care to.  It would be nice to have a moving fairy but since those don’t exist, I will continue to move forward – one box at a time. 

 

Questions about husbands

Yes, I have been remiss over the past couple of weeks in posting to my blog.  I hope you can accept my apologies since I have been a bit out of pocket.   I underwent surgery myself and am currently recuperating.  I, unfortunately, had to have my gall bladder removed!  (Remember my earlier posts about feeling so old in regard to my other physical ailments…well, forget all of that.  NOW, I really do feel old!).  I won’t bore you with the gory details but lets just say I am very glad that’s over.  

Here’s a question I have:  Why is it that when you most need your dear husband to help out (while you recuperate from surgery) his back goes out?  Isn’t that ironic?  That’s exactly what happened here.  After surgery, it’s generally not recommended that you lift heavy objects AND you tend to be rather sore…AND medicated.  So, you need a little help.  Well, Dear did what he could given his aching back and actually did a nice job of taking care of me, the kids, and things around the house for a few days.   I think it was just the thing, however, to get him to see a doctor – finally. 

Here’s another question I have:  Why do men postpone seeing a doctor until they are in dire straits?  I have been trying to get Dear to schedule a physical for about 2 years now.  I even gave him the name and phone numbers of 3 doctors about 2 months ago so he could schedule an appointment.  He swears they were all “wrong numbers!”  Well, during this past week, even though I am technically recuperating, I scheduled 2 medical appointments for him – 1 at a doc-in-the-box so he could get seen quickly for his back and then 1 at a doctor who can see him regularly.  I am happy to announce, he went to both appointments and will be getting an MRI soon (for his back). 

Ahh…the beauty of aging.  Ain’t it grand?  …at least it’s nice to do it with someone you love.

 

Just for the fun of it…

Top 5 things I like about being in the hospital:

5.  Being served food I didn’t have to prepare.

4.  Pain management!

3.  I don’t ever hear, “Mom…can you…for me?”

2.  You get flowers!

1.  You get to sleep a lot (especially with pain medication).

  Top 5 things I don’t like about being in the hospital:

5.  The hospital gown (it never closes in the back!)

4.  Steady nursing care throughout the night – even though you are asleep!

3.  Semi-private rooms.

2.  Needles and blood.

1.  Being a patient!

 

 

Drowning in lab fur

Is it too much to ask of my dog that he stop shedding – at least for a couple of hours?  Honestly.  I have never vacuumed, Swiffered, or swept my floors as much as I have lately!   Is it shedding season and everyone forgot to tell me?  Maybe it’s just Florida.  As you probably know by now,  Jack Jack has been part of our family for almost 4 years now.  As with all dogs, he was an adorable puppy.  I can remember getting up in the night (as I did with my human babies) to take him outdoors to go potty – even in the cold and the rain (we had an umbrella).  When he was a puppy, he slept in a cardboard box we got from Costco (of course, there was a soft blanket or towel in it!) in our bedroom.  As he got older, we moved him to his own space in the laundry – mostly because he was too noisy at night and I couldn’t sleep (again – much like with the human babies).  Ahh…fond memories and good times.  NOW – he sheds constantly.  Maybe I didn’t notice it as much in the Fort Worth house because we had moderately dark hardwoods floors.  Here, we have a light, beige-tone laminate flooring – not my fave, for sure.  There is an area in by the front door where there is a darker, multi-tone tile – that’s my favorite area of the house because Jack Jack’s fur does not show up seconds after I have removed prior fur!  It’s become sort of a running joke lately – especially with Cubs.  He inevitably finds a lab hair in his food and I swear, I’m not putting it in there!  (…does that count as protein?)  I keep telling Jack Jack (yes, I talk to him all the time) that I am going to have him shaved.  He doesn’t mind the conversation, but I don’t know how he really feels about this topic.  It doesn’s seem be such a bad idea  -  I have seen a collie and a standard poodle in the neighborhood who are both closely shorn.  I think his fur is different though…of course it is!  He has A LOT more of it AND it’s on my floor!  Help…I’m drowning in black lab fur!!!

(p.s.  I am still waiting on the approval for more photos – hang in there…). 

 

A bedtime story

As the kids were getting ready for bed the other night, they both begged Dear to come to their rooms to tell a funny story before bed.  This is something they do on most nights but that night’s story was particularly funny, at least in my opinion.   Earlier in the evening, Dear had been talking with Cubs about his hesitant plunge into middle school thus far this school year.  So, in honor of Cubs’ current life situation, Dear told this story.   Dear:  When I was in 7^th grade, I was a new kid at my school.  I was a little nervous about meeting new people, but for me, the real problem was that I was very short…and balding.  Plus, people just didn’t like me.  So, you know what I did?  I made friends despite my problems – with Lolita, the cafeteria employee, and Carlos, the custodian.  They were both sweet people.  I can remember them coming to my house after school.  We played chess and Parcheesi together.  There was a little problem though.  My mom didn’t care much for Lolita’s chain smoking in the house.  One day, my mom asked Lolita, “Would you please not smoke in the house?”  Lolita said, “Hey! I don’t work for you lady.”  She had a bit of an attitude – but she also had my back.  One day at school…at lunch…this kid was picking on me and was about to beat me up.  Before I knew it, Lolita came out of nowhere and pulled a knife on that kid.  He never bothered me again after that.  She was a good friend.  She taught me how to make mediocre-to-very-bad food for 600 people.  Carlos was a good friend too.  I learned how to persevere from him.  He was a hard worker and he let nothing get in his way – not even the fact that he had only one leg.  Actually, he had only one eye as well – he was, in fact, a Cyclops.  …Good times…. ME:  (After laughing so hard I cried – in regard to Lolita teaching Dear how to make “mediocre to very bad food for 600 people”…) “So tell us what happened to Lolita and Carlos, Dear.” Dear:  Well, they were both terminated after the principal found out they were hanging out with a student.  The principal frowned on that sort of thing.  So, I went back to having no friends– but that was okay, because I had me…and I liked me.Me:  Nice story Dear.Dear:  Okay kids.  What’s the moral of the story? (This is how he ends the bedtime story every time).Cubs:  Don’t make friends with the employees or they will be fired.  Dear:  Good job – and goodnight.

    

In case you were wondering, nothing in Dear’s story was true – as is usually the case.

 

An unexpected visitor

The other night we were getting ready to go out for dinner.  I happened to look in the back yard and I saw Jack-Jack run by and then I saw a flash of white.  I wasn’t sure what it was so I looked again.  That flash of white was a visitor – a visiting neighbor dog!  I had seen this dog before in the neighbor’s yard but I wasn’t sure if it would be friendly.   I said to everyone, “Look!  A dog!”  Before I could get to the door, Cubs, Aggie, and Dear were out the door…and in came the visitor dog – with Jack-Jack close behind.  He wandered in calmly and began to sniff around…then he and Jack-Jack sniffed each other (I understand that this is how well socialized dogs greet one another – I’m glad that’s not the case for humans).  Then, to our surprise, our neighbor (who we had not met yet) walks in and says, “Dee!  You are in so much trouble.”  He then grabbed Dee’s collar, and escorted Dee outside.  He also told Dear he has a pool and we are welcome to come swimming any time.  That was nice!   I wondered how Dee got into the back yard so we decided there must be a hole in the fence somewhere.  This would not be easy to see since the chain-link fence is covered with a ficus hedge (yes, ficus…the same trees I could not keep alive in a pot in Texas grow into outdoor hedges here.  If left untrimmed, they grow into mammoth sized trees).   So out went the neighbor with his dog and Dear followed him while they talked.  Dear then disappeared for about 20 minutes.  When he returned he said he went over to the neighbor’s house and met the wife and their other dog.  Nice people!  Thanks to our visitors, both human and canine, we have increased our social contacts this week.  Someone must be watching out for us – and our social life.