Guess who's back, back again

And now I have Slim Shady stuck in my head. And I just realized I completely forgot what I said last time I posted, so I'mma gonna go read for a minute. OK, I'm back.

Nick is still doing really well at school. He is still participating and mostly staying out of trouble. His biggest problem is staying awake in the morning. I think it more has to do with him staying awake for 2 hours after bed time yapping at himself. I've been having him take Melatonin but it doesn't always do the trick. He did have a bit of trouble a few weeks ago but he had an excuse and I think he controlled himself pretty well. You see, I was in the hospital. It's the first time he has had to deal with a big illness and he didn't get to see me while I was in the hospital. But he explained to his teachers what was going on and really did a good job of stepping back when he got upset.

Yeah the big news that happened since the last time was me ending up in the ER and then being admitted a few days later. I missed 3 1/2 days of work. Heck, I have yet to work a full weekend since before Thanksgiving. Anyways, on the 28th I went to work in some serious pain. I couldn't do anything without wanting to cry but I couldn't afford to miss work. Well by 3pm I was in so much pain I was crying so I left. My folks didn't seem to think there was a problem and sent me home with Nick. I took some pain pills and later took a nap. When I woke up at about 7:30 with a fever of 104.8. I called the help nurse at the clinic I go to and she recommended I head to the ER. Called my folks and Dad took me in while Mom took Nick back to their place so he could get some sleep. Had a bunch of blood work done and they said massive UTI. I did one bag of fluids with antibiotics in it and was sent home at about 2:30am with a scrip for more antibiotics. I spent the next two days only moving enough to take the kid to school and bring him home. Wednesday morning I was still in so much pain I called my urologist with the intent to ask for a pass for the weekend because it was my kidney stones causing the UTI and back pain.

Well the doc starts looking at my chart and discovers that the ER had tried to call me the day before to recommend I be admitted for a day due to bacteria growing in my blood! Doc ordered me to the hospital asap. I had originally intended to just call my mom to let her know I was heading to the hospital but I broke down and freaked. The last time I was in the hospital was when I had Nick and that was 1999. Mom ended up taking me in and I spent the next 3 days on IV antibiotics. I had two surgeries done. First was to insert two stents to help the kidney stones gtfo of there so they would stop blocking things up and causing the UTI and pain. That was on Wednesday within like 2 hours of being admitted. On Friday I had one of the stents removed and the doc used a laser to blast the hell out of my stones. I finally got to go home that night but I still didn't get to see Nick until Saturday afternoon. He spent the next week hugging me and telling me he loved me. :) He missed his momma. I had the other stent removed in the office about 10 days after I got out of the hospital. Not a real comfortable procedure. I recommend being knocked out for it if your insurance will cover it.

Well, since this whole mess I have been one tired chick. OK, so I am normally pretty tired but I've been really tired since I got out. I'm no longer peeing blood and no longer feeling any stone pain, which is good. What sucks is that the snow and cold showed up while I was in the hospital. And of course my snowblower doesn't want to work. The belt that runs the blades slips and only works when it wants to. So I've been having to shovel the drive myself. Most of the time I feel like I just went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. It feels like the palms of my hands are bruised but there is nothing there.

And, of course, the neighbors are still refusing to shovel at all. I ended up yelling and, regrettably, swearing at one of her kids for climbing on one of the piles of snow next to my drive and tossing snow all over the place. The snow in the driveway has been the only thing I've been able to control lately and here was the kid of someone making that more difficult just destroying my drive again. I was livid. I've been stewing about the whole driveway ordeal and I just exploded. I don't even remember what I said to the kids. It was either "shit" or "damn" but I was so mad I don't remember what I said. It makes me feel about half an inch tall thinking about it. I know there is no excuse but I've been having my ass kicked by the snow. I'm constantly in large amounts of pain from shoveling and they twit next door just plows right through the snow and refuses to shovel. Hell when they can, they drive through the end of my side of the drive and onto their side because they are too lazy to shovel where the plow has buried the end of the drive. She has lived there at least 4 years and I've only seen her shovel 3 times. This is Iowa. It's not unusual to have to shovel 3 times in one DAY when it's snowing bad unless you want to wait and have it take you 2 hours to shovel the drive when it stops. sigh I know I need to let it go but it's hard to keep my side clear when her side is full of snow and she doesn't give a crap if the snow ends up on my side when she drives across it.

But in good news, I did finish the shawl I started last month. It's quite small and I really want to a larger one in thicker yarn at some point. I'll be using beads instead of doing nups though. I hate nups. And what is cool is that I used yarn that my friend Summer sent me for the little shawl and Summer sent me some of her handspun as a pick-me-up gift and I'm knitting a scarf from it. It's the Moon River Scarf available free on Rav. I deleted 2 repeats of the pattern on the scarf because it was getting too wide. It's a very easy pattern and I'm loving my first chance at knitting with handspun.

I've got all the Christmas shopping done thanks mostly to our annual Christmas bonus card for Wal-Mart. I ended up overdrawn on my checking account though thanks to a huge ass heating bill. I got used to maybe a $70 bill but the last one was $189 and it wiped out my checking account just as my internet and phone bills came in. Thankfully my check was deposited the next day so I'm back in the black. I'm going to have to try and work some overtime after the new year to make up the $75 in overdraft charges though. Oh and yes, I called the gas company and I'm now on an even payment plan. I think it's something like $52 a month. Much, much better. I'm already on even pay for my light bill because of a huge unexpected bill when it was so hot this summer. And in other shitty financial news, I got picked up the Monday after I got out of the hospital for expired tags. Had to borrow money from my folks to pay for new tags but I still have to pay the fine yet. I want to talk to the judge and hopefully only pay court costs but the weather has been so bad I haven't been able to get into town for traffic court. I really hate this time of year. Really and truly hate it.

I'm depressing myself here so I'll quit. Suffice it to say I will be doing my taxes the moment I get my W-2 from work. I need to go cash in the scratch off winner that my supervisor gave me ($1) and get me a lottery ticket. My luck has got to change sooner or later.

hmmmm

Not going to try and explain. I have no good excuse.

Finally got the monkey diagnosed with mild PDD and mild ADD. He has been on medication since school started. He stopped throwing things and throwing tantrums but was still screaming at his teachers regularly. We added on another medicine and holy crap! I have a happy kid again. One that actually likes school and can play dodge ball without having a meltdown. He is still having some issues but he is finally getting good marks on his behavior.

And the biggest change lately? I'm actually knitting a lace shawl! I'm knitting the Knitty pattern Annis in some lovely green lace yarn that my friend Summer sent me ages ago. It's been ages since I've felt the pull of the yarn and I like it.

I added a little widget over there ---->

It links to all the things that I liked on google reader. I had to make the switch over to google reader after bloglines shut down. I like reader so much better. It's much easier to load on dial-up because you only open one post at a time and not every single new and saved post from a feed. I have a tendency to get a bit behind on some of the busier feeds. big shocker :P

OK, time to go get monkey moving a bit. We had a 2 hour delay due to fog this morning and the boy needs to get dressed and eat something.

Another update!

see more dog and puppy pictures

Bet you thought I would forget about the blog for another few months again. heh Nope I have been wanting to post but I got busy.

Managed to survive my birthday without too much trouble. My middle brother forgot all about it of course. Yes, that is the one I was raised with. I ran into the older brother and, big shocker, he actually talked to me. Hadn't seen him since baby brother's wedding and he only spoke to me for like 30 seconds then. He didn't realize it was my birthday but it was still nice to chat with him. Baby brother had his little girl call me during dinner. It was really cute but it got my mom upset. It really bugged her that baby brother remembered my birthday but middle brother didn't. She raised me and middle brother together as the others are my bio dad's kids from his other marriages and we didn't know each other growing up.

Anyways, Mom and Dad took me and the monkey out to dinner at a local pub. They have awesome cod and I fully intend to go have lunch there real soon. Monkey, of course, wouldn't eat a damn thing. I still haven't figured out how to convince the child that not all food has to taste ZOMG delicious to be edible. Not that the stuff he likes to eat is all that delicious. McDonald's hamburgers anyone? lol After dinner we went for DQ. Monkey actually liked that part. lol



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Lots of things have been going on with Monkey. He has been going to see a social worker since the beginning of the year. I'm not totally sure it is helping HIM a whole lot but it has helped me realize that I'm not nuts. 0.o Ok, I'm not delusional about him. Better? :P Anyway, we are working to get him evaluated again. Between the social worker and the new sociologist at school, they really believe that Monkey may have a mild case of ADD and some amount of Autism. The whole wrestling match about food may actually be hard wired into his brain by Autism. While it would be nice to know he isn't just being difficult about it, it would be hard to know it isn't going to get much better. So we are working on getting that moving. I've put in an application to have him go to a summer camp for kids with Autism that helps teach the kids how to deal with social situations. I'm hoping that this will help him finally get why some of the things he does are so rude.

Also I'm going to call and get the booger's eyes checked. Come to find out that sitting at a normal distance his school papers are blurry to him. He has never mentioned this before. If I had any clue he was having trouble seeing I would have gotten his eyes checked ages ago. He always passed the screenings at the pediatrician so I thought he was fine. I am fine with him getting glasses and I think he looks cute in them so no "mommy worries" there. lol I just hope this will help him participate in class more. Maybe those times he had such trouble with tests was because he couldn't see the darn test. sheesh



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I am still really not doing any crafts lately. I did knit a few rows on the sleeves of the never ending sweater of doom. I think I'm about halfway through the upper arms. heh I haven't been painting either. I got stuck on Draco's hair and I just don't see how I can paint it using a mouse. I can't bring myself to spend the money on a tablet right now though. I've been really a lot of fanfiction still. I think I'll always be addicted to it. Much cheaper than buying paperback books all the time. lol


see more dog and puppy pictures


see more dog and puppy pictures

I'm still rocking my Sansa mp3 player at work. We had a new guy start last fall and he dominates the radios. I swear he hates anything recorded less than 20 years ago. Dude is a pain but he has been less annoying lately. I think it's because he is thinking of moving to Florida. lol I have such an eclectic mix of music on my player that it is almost scary. I just put a ton of Eminem on there and some Lil' Wayne. Some of their shit just makes me laugh my head off. You have to find the song Kids by Eminem. I damn near pissed laughing. I'm sure eventually I will delete a good portion of it off there but I like to give new stuff a bit of a chance before I hit delete on it.

I've also recently added Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert to the mix. :D There were a few LG songs that got the boot right away. Poker Face and Disco Stick just could not be allowed to live on my playlist. lol The first time I listened to Lambert's disc, I have to admit, I didn't like it. He is just so over dramatic and over the top. But like I said, I like to give things a few listens to before I give up on it. And now I really like quite a few of his songs. They are both good singers to listen to when I'm getting tired. They both get me bouncing.

Never fear, I haven't given up on the rock music. I've got Static-X's entire library loaded into my playlist. Brainfart is by far my favorite of their stuff. I really do love me some good drums. I have loaded on my entire library of NIN too. I never realized before just how much silence is in some of their songs. I thankfully can fast forward within a song to get past the quiet feedback that starts out some of the songs.



see more dog and puppy pictures

OK, enough blather for now. I've got phone calls to make and I need to get ready to go help Dad out. He is getting a dish installed today and he is afraid he won't be able to figure out how to use the DVR. Dude could barely understand a VCR. lol

Oh yeah.. um hi

As you may have noticed, my old template is gone. The images were hosted on my website. I can't see the point of paying for the website when I don't make tags any more. I may change my mind but for now tagsbyfrod.com is no more. It also means that most of the pictures in my old posts are gone now. Ooops! Oh well.

I'm not going to offer excuses for why I haven't been blogging. Suffice it to say, I had nothing to say of any importance. Yeah like I've ever been that deep anyway. :P

I'll try and customize this template sooner or later. If you can't wait for me to post and need to know what I'm up to, look for me on Ravelry. I'll be in the pants.

rivalry

I'm always noticing posts on Rav and on yahoo groups where people complain about how their parents favor their siblings over them. In a weird way I'm on both sides of this whole thing.

In the family that I grew up in with my mom and her husband that adopted me, I'm clearly the favored child. I often wonder if my brother complains about me to his wife. The thing is that as soon as my brother got back from basic training for the guard he moved over an hour away. He rarely comes to visit my folks. He can go 2 or 3 months with no visit or even a call. Because of my parents babysitting on the weekends (which I pay nominally for) I see my parents 4 days a week. Even before this job I went to my parents house every weekend for at least a couple hours. And even before I had my son I at least called my mom once or twice a week. It's no wonder my folks are willing to do things for me or buy me stuff. I'm the one that is there. They resent the fact that my brother finds it so hard to call or come home for visits. An hour drive isn't much but he can't just come home for a few hours on Saturday. It has to be a big thing and then he spends most of the time he is in the area at his in-laws house. I know he has complained to my folks about them buying me things but he forgets that I don't have much compared to him. I'm a single mom getting no support from my son's father. I've got an ok paying job now but there was a long time when I couldn't find anything that paid well. He and his wife both have good paying jobs and his wife does photography on the side. They also own a house. I live in a very tiny rented duplex that I can only afford because my rent is determined by my income. And did I mention I'm the one with a kid? My parents only grandchild in common? My dad has no contact with my step-brother's kids.

On the other side, I'm the kid that is totally ignored by my biodad's family. I'm the oldest child and my son is the oldest grandchild. Biodad completely ignores me and so do my stepmom, my brother and sister. I work for the same company as my youngest brother so he and I do talk on occasion. Biodad gave up custody of me when I was 5 because he refused to pay child support or make any effort to see me. He paid child support for the son he had with his second wife and always had visitation with him. This is the brother that didn't bother to invite me to his wedding or tell me when he had kids. For some reason he hates me when I have every right to resent him. I've only spoken to biodad 2 or 3 times in the last 8 years because I found out that he let my youngest brother's then gf move in their house when not a year earlier they told me they didn't have room for me to move in. He could do for her but not for me. When I went to my youngest brother's wedding last fall, they had family pictures taken without me or my son in them. Did I mention that they all live less than a half hour away from me? And that I've had the same phone number and address for the last 10 years?

So I'm stuck on both sides of this issue. I feel bad for my one brother to an extent but he is the one that distanced himself from our parents. And I resent my other family for completely ignoring that I exist. And people wonder why I put up with my dad being a total ass all the time. Ass that he is, he is still there. Always. And now I'm depressing myself. lol