I started my yearly purge this week. In purging stuff from my bedroom, I managed to severely stub my toe. Today, 24 hour later, it looks like this.
This picture so does not do justice to the bruising and swelling that this injury involves. I'm fairly certain it is broken, although it doesn't hurt much anymore so I could be wrong. Either way, bruised and swollen and cut open and ugly looking. See what I get for cleaning the house! :)
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a scooter. I've been taking it to DMV to practice riding the course so I can get my license. The first night I took it out, I managed the left turn ok, although it still needs work. I had the sudden stop DOWN cold. If nothing else, my scooter can STOP! I had a lot of trouble with the weave/u-turn part and the swerving was a nightmare. Thursday night, RF and I went over there while mom took the kids to the pool. I decided there was no reason to practice stopping because I was good. I also decided that I was comfortable with the left turn so I needed to spend our limited amount of time working on weaving and swerving. I wove and wove and wove and finally managed to do it several times in a row with only a few minor issues. We were running out of time so I decided to move on to swerving. That is definitely the hardest part of the test and I just wasn't getting it. RF kept telling me to really push, both with my hand and my foot to force the bike where I needed it. The last time down, I really pushed and I think I made the right turn and as I tried to swerve back (part of the test is to swerve around the red line and bring it back inside the yellow line), the bike slid out from under me and I hit the pavement. My foot got caught between the seating the fairing and as I rolled coming off, my foot didn't go with me. I also slid across the pavement on my left elbow/arm. Despite being a helmet nazi any other time, I wasn't wearing mine then. I had taken it off because we were in the parking lot and not going over 15 mph and I couldn't hear RF who was reading me the test directions and offering pointers on how to do stuff better. Fortunately, I didn't hit my head. I also, because it was stupid hot, was wearing a tank top while I rode. I had a long sleeve shirt in the trunk of the scooter but just wasn't wearing it. I was wearing long pants, which seriously saved my leg. No matter how hot, I always wear long pants riding because I seriously burned my leg climbing on my dad's motorcycle when I was 5 and I still have the scar. So good for me because the pants were trashed. The knee is covered in black tar and the pocket is all shredded. That would have been my leg if I had shorts on.
RF got me up and settled down. Although I was hurt, I was more angry than anything. I was mad that I'd only had the bike a couple of weeks and managed to put it on the ground. I was mad that I had hurt myself. I was mad that I couldn't swerve right, etc. I was yelling and cussing and everything else. Eventually, he helped me up and got me back on the scooter. I got it going again and we rode home. Other than the fact that my leg hurt so bad that I couldn't even put my foot on the floor board of the scooter, it wasn't terrible to ride home (and way better than the time I broke my ankle when I was 9 and rode my bike 3/4 of a mile home. This time I didn't have to pedal home) and the bike had to get home somehow. We got home and RF got our stuff together and took me to the ER, since I couldn't put any weight on my left foot at all. While we were waiting in the ER, he took a picture of my elbow, with blood swears and everything. See that top bit that looks like it is already scabbed over? Yeah, it's not. That is tar from the parking lot embedded in my elbow. Despite scrubbing, it hasn't come off. I'm hoping as it heals, it will be forced out. If not, I'll have a permanent black spot on my elbow
They never did look at my elbow. When we got home, my mom helped me clean it up and get it bandaged. The X-ray on the ankle came back saying no break (I'm very surprised). So now I'm in a splint and on crutches for the next several days. I'm supposed to follow up with my doctor sometime this week. In the meantime, rest and ice. Keep it elevated, etc. So far, I really don't have time for rest but I'm working the ice in occasionally during the day.
We finally got some decent gauze pads to bandage the elbow with (we had been using plain gauze and it was sticking like crazy) so while it was off today, I took another picture of the elbow, just for comparison :)
I found out today that there is a chance I was actually doing the test wrong and that would explain the wipe out. The way the course is set up there is the potential that you could either swerve left or right. Right is hard right turn, left is much more gentle. I'm going to talk to some people that have taken the test at DMV, not through the U of I motorcycle course and see if left is acceptable. I'm also going to call DMV and ask if I can fail a section of the test and still get my license. Because honestly, if it the right swerve, I will likely never be able to do it. The one and only time I used enough pressure to actually swerve around the object line, I dumped the bike. Not something I'm likely to try again. So I need to find out if I can just attempt it and hit the object line or the side line and still pass the test. We'll see what happens
Back in June, we went to Turkey Run. While we there, my mom stepped off a rock and wrenched her ankle/foot. She limped around on it for awhile but it never seemed to get better. Around the middle of August, she got a boot put on it. Before then, she saw the docs at Convient care, her doctor and a podietrist. While she wore the boot, it was better but when she took it off, it hurt just as much to walk as it did before.
They wanted to do an MRI on her foot to see if she tore the tendon but because of bullet fragments in her chest (she was shot, accidentally, when she was a child), they couldn't do it so they decided on a CAT scan instead. She got her results back yesterday.
She gets to wear the cast for 3-4 weeks. The worst part is that she can't walk on it AT ALL!! They gave her crutches but because of her carpel tunnel surgery 3 years ago, she can't bear that weight on her wrists so she got a scooter instead.
The kids think it is awesome and she told them that they could have scooter races in the parking lot next week.
I like the list posts. I have 1000 things bouncing around in my head to blog about but none of them ever get fleshed out into real posts. So you all get pictures and lists :)
Ms Thang's face is better. Thanks all for the concern. It is scabbed over but not looking so raw and painful. She did ask to wear her sunglasses to the park so no one would see it.
We had a playdate at the park. I left feeling kind of icky. It made me sad.
At the park, we ran into J and his mom. I chatted with her for a bit while the boys played. They did a great job not being brats!
After the park we went to Mejier to buy The Boy a new pair of sandles because his broke. I wasn't going to do it since it is the end of summer and he could just make do with his flip flops and crocs, but since we are going on vacation next week, I decided to go ahead. Neither of his other shoes are good for walking or for moving rides. He needed something that would stay on his feet.
I like the new Kid Rock Song "All Summer Long"
I also think it is a little bit awesome that he Boycotts iTunes. Not that anything is wrong with iTunes but he has a valid point about record companies.
My fruit leather has partially failed. The strawberry, 24 hours later, was still almost totally liquid and there were little fuzzy blossoms on it tonight :( the cherry and blueberry look like they are almost done and nothing fuzzy on them. Not something I will likely try again.
I feel a little bit bad that I bailed on my conversation with Rogers last night, telling her I was going to bed because I was tired. I always read while I floss before bed and I got sucked in, hard core last night. Instead of going to bed because I was exhausted, I stayed up reading until after 1, so that I could finish the book. Sorry Rogers :(
My house is really dirty. We have no plans tomorrow so we are going to stay home and clean it up.
Ms Thang doesn't want to go to preschool. She says "they will oppress me at that school, if you make me go, I will be oppressed" I'm fairly certain she means "depress", however it is really funny to think about "the man" keeping her down while at school LOL. Anything school related stresses her out right now.
We have taken The Boy to get hit with a Jesus stick (for you Lost fans out there, that is a reference to Charlie's conversation with Mr. Echo about his "Jesus stick" having blood on it in season 2). We go to the First Christian Church on a fairly regular basis to play at their FANTASTIC indoor playground. For months, they have had signs up, promoting vacation bible school. They all show science-y stuff and TB was enthralled. He begged to be allowed to go so I signed them both up for it. It started Sunday, which is a dumb day to start VBS, but whatever. We missed day one because of the afformentioned dumb day but I went ahead to take them last night. After her day (no nap, busted face, etc), when she begged me not to make her go, I decided not to push it. Turned out to be a good thing since when I stopped in her room to tell her teachers that she wouldn't be coming after all, I saw a little boy that we know in there that she has a "personality conflict" with (which is a nice way of saying he is a bully and she doesn't let him get away with any crap and he whines and cries about it). TB loves VBS and asks every day if he will be allowed to go back the next day. He is gonna be upset when he finds out it is only a week long.
We got caught in the crazy ass downpour that hit town while we were picking TB up from VBS. It was raining so hard I could barely see. It looked like they were evacuating the classes when we got there. I ran back out to get the van to pull up under the over hang to get everyone loaded. The water, although it didn't look that deep, was to the middle of my calf. Too bad I wore my leather sandles out there :(
Personally, I'm opposed to being hit with a Jesus stick but I found that out for myself and my kids deserve the same chance. He can decide if he wants to do something more with it as he gets older. I will absolutely take hm to church, should he choose that route.
Speaking of school, Tb has such different interests from me, it just boggles my mind. I'm all about books and reading and English (which could explain why a large portion of my friends are English majors) and he is so into science and little math. He is forever asking what numbers added together are and has started talking about subtraction. Heaven help me when he gets much older. I could barely pass basic algebra and had to take remeidial math in college (which I never did pass, preschool teachers really only have to be able to count to 10 so it isn't that big of a deal LOL). There is no way I'll be able to help him at all once he is past the ad subtract multiply and divide stage.
The Boy has decided to start doing chores again. For the last half of the school year, he had chores that he got paid a dollar a day to do. We had a good routine but once school got out, it all went to hell! He didn't do any the entire month of June and now most of July. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he promised Ms Thang he would buy her a Barbie doll. When pressed on the subject, he said that he wanted to buy her one because she deserved it for being good. News to me, but ok. I told him he needed to get back on doing his chores so he could earn some money to fulfill his promise. He started by putting away all his laundry yesterday. Today was crazy busy (park, Meijer, McDonalds, rest, pool, VBS, dinner, bed) so he didn't have time to vacuum, but I'm going to make him earn it tomorrow! :)
Monday, July 28, 2008
You should see the other guy or not since it was the pool deck
We went to Monticello to the Railway museum for the Father's day ride. My dad, RF and the kids rode and then we picked them up at the depot and took them to McDonald's for lunch. After we got our food, we went over to the park because the play place is outside and was SCREAMING hot from the beaitng sun.
When we got home, The Boy figured out that he had enough money to buy his Indiana Jones whip that he has been DESPERATE for since he saw it. We went to Meijer and let him get it. Before we left, Ms Thang insisted on counting her money too because if TB was getting a whip, then she needed one too. She had enough but we talked her into a "Taders of the Lost Arc" Mr Potato head. After she got that, she had just enough money to buy another outfit and surprisingly, she picked the doctor over the pirate. I was pretty amazed. On the way out, my mom caused quite the ruckus. Those of you that know her are probably rolling your eyes and thinking "what did she do now" I can guarantee that it isn't even close to what you are thinking. At the front of the store, they have the soda fountain. Apparently, someone had spilled some ice that she stepped on and managed to slip and fall. When she fell, she knocked into Ms Thang and knocked her over into one the flat bed carts that someone had there. She landed on her knee and scraped her leg. MT banged her head against the floor and scraped her leg on the cart. She was crying, mom was laying on the floor and The Boy was halfway to the car because he was just bopping along ahead without us. I got MT and finally TB came back to where we were. The manager was summoned, as well as about half the staff in the store to clean up the mess. They insisted that mom fill out a report and they wanted to take her to the car in a wheel chair. They also gave her an ice bag because her knee was starting to swell. MT wouldn't quit crying and they started trying to make a fuss over her as well. People that she didn't know in her face was not what she needed. I don't think she was all that hurt (although her leg was bleeding, which I didn't notice until we got to the car) but she was scared that Nonni was really hurt because she wasn't getting up right away. They ended up both being fine.
Eventually, we got done and were able to leave. We went to the pool for awhile and watched the dark clouds roll in. Then we came home and watched the winds go freaking crazy and then pour for about 10 seconds, only to have the sun come out shortly after that. We had Pizza Hut for dinner (the P'Zones are FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC)MT managed to miss her nap today so I put them to bed at 7 because they were both so tired. She was asleep before I was done reading to The Boy so I knew she was wiped. We watched the rest of "The Game Plan" and I spent some time trying to edit a video for the kids (we have a DVD recorder and I recorded some Scooby Doo movie off Cartoon Network that has commericals in it which cause MT to freak and scream that they be fast forwarded), only to find out that my converter only converted 30 minutes of the hour and a half money. Blah. Dh found out that his video editing software is really easy to use so he did the files for me instead.
Now, I'm going to read and go to bed, since we have a crazy busy day tomorrow :)
I tried everything to get it to quit bleeding and nothing worked. I decided to take her to the doctor today since it has been basically oozing blood since Friday. They said there wasn't much they could do and it was a fairly deep cut so it would likely ooze for several days. They did say that it was starting to get infected so it was probably a good thing we went in. They recommended using really big bandaids and wearing slippers over it. I actually still have her Shoo shoos that we bought last year and they still fit (we got them on super sale so bought a couple of pairs in various sizes) so she is wearing them. It causes all the pressure to be around her ankle, instead of rubbing on the sore. As an added bonus, she can't pick at the bandaids with the shoes on.
Dh's daughter has been here for the last 2 weeks. This always causes problems (partly because everyone assumes that because I'm home, I don't mind adding a third child day in and day out). Last year, I talked to her mom and told her that I didn't think that we would be able to have her this summer. Mostly, because I was supposed to be working this summer but partly because it is a real pain. Her mom seemed relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with it. Then MIL got involved and insisted that she come for 2 weeks. I was told at that point in time that MIL was taking off work for the whole time and hanging out with her. That was fine with me, as long as I wasn't involved.
She got here July 4th and hadn't been in town 10 minutes when the phone calls started. Mil was having a cow that dh wasn't there to meet them when they got to the house. She also mentioned that she and FIL had to work the next day and that they would be bringing A over that morning. Fortunately, dh put his foot down and told her that she asked to have her here, she needed to figure out what she was going to do with her. He told her that he was off between 10 and 2 (he works a split shift) and that she was welcome to come by then but outside that time frame I wasn't available. I was ready to have an absolute fit so it was a good thing he told her that.
The other part of the problem is A and C fight like cats and dogs. They can play together for maybe 15 minutes before they get violent with each other. They are 10 and 5 and really can't stand each other. Lizzie is nothing if not loyal and will take her brother's side every time so it ends up being the 2 little kids against A. She fights back harder and then someone gets hurt and I have to yell. She is also really rude and talks down to C all the time. She is rather rude to me as well but I generally ignore her. C asked her to do something for him one evening and she made a shooing motion with her hand and told him to go away. I stepped in and said "he asked you nicely to help him, he said please and you need to help him now. Thank you" She rolled her eyes and muttered "whatever" I told her "do not roll your eyes at me. That is incredibly rude and I won't put up with it. You will be polite when I'm around." What I told dh later was that if she was one of my kids, I would have threatened to smack her eyes out of her head for a stunt like that.
She is leaving today and MIL was on my ass all day yesterday about getting together and seeing her before she left. I put it off as long as I could but finally had to call MIL and ask if they wanted to come over about 6. They got here and the kids were fighting like always. C spent a lot of the time in time out because he was really having a rough time with her. A was also put in time out because she kept hitting him (he has a welt under his arm where she hit him with the sword she was playing with) and telling him to leave her the heck alone. C went in the house to go to the bathroom and when he came back out, she grabbed his arms, pulled them behind his back, twisted them and then shoved him face first into the bush stumps that we have near our fence. Then she tried to tell me that he hit her first so she did it to defend herself. That is flat bull and I told her so. After I got C settled and his cuts and scrapes cleaned (he has several cuts on and around his mouth from being forced into the bushes), I went back outside, collected Lizzie and told A I hoped she had a good trip and that it was bedtime so we would see her later and walked into the house. I know, probably petty and childish, but I was PISSED! Had C done that to Lizzie, I would have spanked his butt and sent him to bed. I do occasionally spank my children but I have said all along that I would never spank her because I know, as a mother, I would come UNGLUED if someone spanked one of my children. But last night, I was as close as I've ever come to smacking her. I was so mad that she, being much bigger, did something that mean and that violent totally on purpose.
ADSR topic is museums with amazing somewhere on the layout. I think I have a couple of museum pages all ready done, I just need to alter them to include something "amazing" Is that cheating, cause we haven't been to a museum in awhile so I don't have many recent pictures of museums.
