My Tool Man

Bald Man is a handy man. He finishes basements, puts down flooring, fixes toilets, stuff like that. One of his favorite, NOT, jobs is sheet rock and the mudding and taping that goes along with the job. He came home the other day after an afternoon of sanding. Being the good sport he is, he let me do this:

We might be married for almost 27 years, but the love is still there!

Yesterday, I got a call from the pediatric rehab place that they had a spot for Little Man today at 2:30. This is for the feeding therapy his GI doc is insisting we do. I have no idea what they will say or be able to do, but hey, gotta do what I gotta do. There goes my quiet afternoon.

Bad Fun in the Mountains

If you don't understand the "bad fun" part then you shall have to go over to Doolittle's blog and read so you get the point of this particular post. I can't explain it half as well as Liza, so I shall let her tell you..... (I am waiting til you are done reading over there before I go on.....)
Yesterday Little Man did a very Academy Award winning performance based on the true life story of a barnacle. I was unable to try the things they suggest for the removal of the tenacious mollusk, such as sand blasting or using a sharp scraper to remove him from my thigh. Therefore it was with great relief when he finally decided to go play in his room at about 3 in the afternoon. As you will shortly find out, I should NOT have been relieved. Little Man decided to have Bad Fun in his room, with tempera paint no less.

Here are the cleaning washclothes I used BEFORE the steam cleaner. Six of them.



Mostly we found the paint in the mouth and on the feet of all his favorite dinosaur toys. And the castles and the vehicles and the stuffed animals. Sigh.
His carpet looks very nice now, if still a bit soggy. There are a couple of places that didn't clean up too well. One of the worst isn't his fault, since it is a throw up stain. Oh by the by, he is now on Prevacid for the tummy issues, in case it is reflux. Him throwing up once or twice a week is very unusual. But since he has been doing it for a month now, we gave in and called the doctor.
So yes, the Boy had very bad fun. His parents had no fun whatsoever cleaning everything up. But his room is clean! Liza doesn't believe me, but to prove that it does happen sometimes....

And no, I have not forgotten the Mountain part of the post. We have had two good snows in the last week so the mountains have put on fresh coats just for you in the picture.



Should I wish to forget my troubles with bad fun, I can just look out my sliding glass door and see how incredible the mountains look. And geez, look at that, not a speck of blue, green, yellow or red tempra paint on them.

Postscript: The paint went in the trash. No more of that kind of bad fun for my son. Sorry.

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens....

Brown paper packages tied up with string.... definitely one of my favorite things! I do adore getting mail and even more so, I love to get packages in the mail. Even when it is something I ordered and I know what is in the box or envelope, I still love opening it! So imagine my surprise and delight to go to the mail and find waiting for me, a lovely package with unknown contents from Bombadee. And here is what was in my package:
A fridge magnet from the great state of Illinois, 3 pieces of chocolate, a small bottle of Clinique perfume, a four leaf clover, and a very nice letter with way better penmenship than my own, all wrapped in gold tissue and tied with a green satin ribbon! What a delight in every sense of the word.

I am sure you are wondering how I came to be the recipient of such a wonderful gift! Well, I won her finish the joke contest. Here is how it went...
"James Brown, President Ford and Saddam Hussein arrive at the pearly gates on the same weekend. The three men wait their turn, hardly believing who they are standing next to while ol’ Peter looks flips through his giant book looking for their names. Soon _______ leans over to ________ and says…"
My personal ending, which won me the great grand prize was...
"Saddam leans over to James Brown and says "They told me downstairs if they had to let a republican in, they had to let me in too!"

So whether or not you think it is funny is up to you. I personally think I was quite clever and one of my "Joisms" is you should always laugh at your own jokes, then you are sure at least one person is laughing.
Thanks Jenny, I really enjoyed it.
And by the way? Sorry for the length in updates. I WAY overdid it on Monday, I was feeling so good, but Little Man was home and I spent way too much time and energy cleaning. I have paid for it for the last two days. Of course Little Man going to bed at 12:30 on Tues night did not help in the least. I am mostly caught up on my rest now and feeling better again.

Sharing The Mountains

Yup, as usual, Monday brings us to mountain sharing. If you are ever here in Utah, look me up and I will share with you, up close and really beautiful my mountains. It snowed early this morning, so the mountains are all dressed up for their photo shoot. They just wanted you to say, "geez, I wish I were there."

Another picture. Amazing huh? That I can see this right from my window??? The clouds and their shadows drifting slowly on the mountain flanks, right by my balcony.




Now, for the updates. All good today, isn't it wonderful???
First, myself. My hemoglobin went from 6 to 9.5. I believe I am now just severely anemic instead of critically. I am feeling MUCH, MUCH, better. Still more tired than my normal healthy self, but I am finally able to get some stuff done without needing a nap. I am thrilled I am responding so well to the iron therapy.
Little Man, um, good and bad as usual. One, after an entire week of NO food, the child started eating again. Not a lot of food, or even enough food, but food, every day, some food. AND, he started drinking his boost breeze again. Not enough, but hey, I will take starving slowly as he has been since Sept, over starving very quickly any day. That was just scary.
We had to get blood work done for him. Oh, I was shaking in my shoes, for those of you who remember our August fiasco. Two happy pills (for him, not me, silly) and a long drive to the Big City Children's hospital. And you know what? He was as good as gold. Poor lil thing, he had to get stuck twice, bless his heart. Funny kid, I can never tell when he is going to be a feral child, or a well behaved kid.
His blood work is funky. His thyroid is off, his white blood cells are quite low. We need to keep an eye on it, so we will have to redo it in a few weeks. Lucky us!
So there ya go! All the news for now.

Lover's Day

How romantic can not romantic at all be? I shall let you be the judge of that one.
Once upon a time, almost 27 years ago, a very young Jo, (19! What was I thinking?) and her Bald Man (he was 22 but pretty bald already)were married. We had an opportunity as newlyweds to observe an older couple at church who had obviously been married a long time. (Ahem, they were in their 30's!). Hubby and I were so impressed with the level of togetherness they shared. They crossed their legs the same way at the same time. Syncronized marriage. We wondered if we would ever be like that.
This year, with mine and Little Man's health issues, we neither had time to even think about a present for Valentine's day, and we both were happy with just exchanging cards.
A couple of years ago, Bald Man and I gave each other the exact same anniversary card, we just laughed and laughed. Sometimes we don't finish our thoughts, because the other one is saying it, as we are thinking it. We pick up the phone at the same time to call each other. Syncronized marriage. Perhaps without the flaming passion that marked our earlier years, but with a level of comfort in knowing you are loved and safe. This is decades of marriage. He and I. We gave our youth to each other. I look forward to giving our old age to each other as well.

Last Night...

I dreamed I witnessed a bad accident on a snowy freeway. I ran over to give aid,(being a trained first aid person and all that) and helped the family get two of their children out of the car. The third child, a young boy, (age unknown in my dream, but under 12 and over 6) was trapped in the car. He grabbed my hand, looked in my eyes and said, "don't let go".
No Little Man, mommy won't let go, not until God calls you home, I will always be here.

Mountain Monday with a Side of Crap

Y'all know how much I love Mondays. This Monday? Not so much. Let's do the good stuff first, just cause it is my own lil kingdom here and I get so little in life that I have "say-so" over.
First and best is I am feeling SIGNIFICANTLY better. Yay! There is color in the palms of my hands again, so I don't look so much like a corpse. I am not nearly as tired. Definitely on my way to full recovery. THAT is no small thing to rejoice in.
Second, I had so much fun on Saturday. It has been a while since I had time to really play. I made bird toys and visited with one of my best friends from Cali who was here visiting. I had fun and fun is good.
Next? The mountains are looking very beautiful today. Proof:

And another, because everything is looking so pretty, blue and snowy.


Ready for the side of crap?
First, Little Man caught a cold this weekend and is home today recovering. Not fun. But, he isn't febrile anymore, so he and I will go catch a movie later.
Second, JJ is being an awful teenage pain in the um.. butt. Nuff said about that.
Third. Little Man had a calorie count of about zero yesterday. He has been refusing his formula again, AND not eating. His weight is at 61 lbs and we are in trouble. Big trouble. I have a call into his GI doc. My guess is we will do the NG tube (tube down the nose to stomach) while we are waiting for his surgery to do the G-tube. When I think about it I just want to bawl. The danger of his weird immune problems causing him to become deathly infected from this at some point is very high. We are facing the place we knew we woud probably get to, but had hoped we never would. Certain death by starvation or possible death by infection. I don't say this lightly. And neither does his doctor. She is very reluctant to do this, but we are all being forced. He is so very thin, ribs and skinny legs and arms. His pants won't stay up, but slide down his thin shanks.
Top off this side of crap with the garnish of my own and JJ's health problems and you know, really? I am feeling beaten down, sad, overwhelmed with my life.

Stayin' Alive

Hey Hey Hey my bloggity cream puffs, fear not, I am still alive. And today? I just might be feeling a wee bit better. Number 1, I didn't wake up with a headache, like I have done every day for the last month or so. (I know, duh, should have clued me in, but denial works) And! I took a shower without feeling like I needed to recover for an hour after I was done. Pretty pitiful huh? Yesterday and today, after doing very little to help get Little Man off to school, I have just gone back to bed. Woke up and noted with extreme surprise that it was NOON! And I am asleep by 10:30 at night, so it isn't staying up too late. I feel too crappy to stay up late.
But today, I got such a nice surprise this afternoon. (snort) Little Man's school called Bald Man and said he was sick. Yeah, right. Nope, not sick at all once he got home. (I shall be having a long talk with his teachers tomorrow.) So Bald Man, much to my chagrin, brings in Little Man. Little Man was seriously melting down. Bald Man tells me, "I feel so bad about leaving you like this". I scream at him, "Then don't!" Ah yes, there was another option, one saying Bald Man could stay home until Little Man was settled down, with the help of a little pill. Thank goodness Little Man did settle down, cause I really don't have the energy to handle him in one of his terrible states.
Liza and I were swapping lovely meltdown, booger and poop filled stories with one another. Someone really, really needs to like give me a few thousand dollars so I could pay for someone to watch our various beasts and so Liza and I could go enjoy a few days some place warm. I think we both deserve it. Sigh.
My lips, fingernails and palms are still deathly white, but overall, I think I shall live. Thanks for the kind comments, so nice to feel loved and warm inside even if my hands and feet are corpse cold.

Pale Face

My husband informed me last night that if he had wanted to marry a white woman, he would have. This is his (he thinks) funny way of dealing with something semi-serious.
I went to the doctor in the big city yesterday, because I have been feeling soooo tired, like all the time. What got me worried was the breathlessness I was having. The doctor approached me, informing me as he was getting closer, "you are rather pale". "I am?" said I with all my varied vocabulary. He turns over the palms of my hands and puts his next to mine. "uh, you make me look like I have color!" And compared to his hands, mine were looking, rather pale and even lifeless. He turns my hands over, "your nail beds are supposed to be pink, not white." "Oh" I responded.

After they took a sample of my blood, I was informed my hemoglobin was 6. Yes 6!
My hematocrit? 18.(If you have any questions about that, just ask Dr. Google, I am too tired to do a bunch of links) Just this side of critical and the doctor told me if it was any lower he would have put in the hospital for blood transfusions. That explains why I have been feeling so crappy lately. I am now on heavy duty iron, vitamin C to help me absorb the iron, a good multi vitamin and pretty much bed rest. And if I have chest pains or irregular heart beat, or problems breathing? Straight to the ER. Wow. I have pretty much taken my good health for granted all my life. Not so much anymore. I cried with relief yesterday, that I don't have to push myself to keep doing when I feel so lousy. I am sooo looking forward to feeling better. Back to the doctor next week for more tests. Geez, like I didn't have enough going on. Fear not though internet buddies, Little Man is at school every day this week and I am taking it easy. My bed and I are spending a lot of time together. Just call me Pale Face.

Meeko Loving Her Shower

Silly, soggy birdy!

The First Monday of the Month

JJ's EEG went fine. The tech said, oh the doctor will get the results today, and call you tomorrow I am sure. Translation into Jo speak= The doctor will get the scan today, but he won't call you back until you get mad on Tues and ask why he hasn't called yet. Monday is here and he hasn't called, big surprise. I will call him tomorrow.
You know, my internet posse that I love my Mondays. Today is another wonderful day. Everyone is gone, I am here, the apartment is quiet and I am gazing out the window at the beautiful mountains. A couple of small storms came through and washed away all the nasty smog, so the mountains are looking as beautiful as ever. Here ya go!

And another:
There is no doubt. What Utah lacks in Democrats it makes up in beautiful mountains.
And because I have to make a trip to the Big City and don't have another second to blog, I will leave you with a video of my silly birdy Meeko, enjoying her daily shower. Have a great Monday! I know I will.