8/19/11 Back To School Fool

OK, why did I think things might slow down a little when we got back from vacation?!...FOOL!  And BTW, anyone who thinks that vacations with the families are totally relaxing for a Mom has a maid, a personal shopper, a nanny, a personal assistant, and most importantly, a wife.

After the vacation unpack, the back-to-school rush hit us head on.  Both boys had major projects/tests due the week after we returned; translation = me with a red pen (I'm the official 'English' proofreader in the house)...DS1 for a summer college class and DS2 for summer work for an AP HS English class.  In our vacation mail was a notice from DS2's high school stating that they are finally going to change their policy of not weighing AP class grades until Junior and Senior years (and will now start Freshman year...like every other HS in America)...fine print...starting with the class graduating the year after my son (now a Sophomore...and yes, you have to start in AP classes your first two years to get into them your Junior year)...lovely...thanks.

We also had our follow-up appointment for all DS1's medical testing done this summer (from his surgery last fall, yes, I'm protecting his privacy with little detail) to get the results and being the health advocate anal Mom that I am, I spent many days online looking at all the possibilities and getting together my list of questions (this has seriously been keeping me awake all summer).  Let me just sum all this up with we got the best news possible...it was all very unexpected as the odds were very slim that it would turn out this way, so we were surprised and thrilled.  Although he's not got a guarantee of the future, and there's one re-test to do, and another probable minor surgery in his future, we follow up with the Doc in six months and the prognosis looks good at this point.  There's nothing worse than watching your child go through medical issues, is there?

Somewhere in here I eeked out a few minutes for some home projects (yeah, I should be writing a DIY blog, sorry).  I finally found a crystal chandelier for DD's old room reno. (for over the corner end table...I'm making this my 'girly-frou-frou' room to escape to when all the male testosterone in my house gets to be too much, so anything shiny or decorative goes) and made my first Craigslist purchase...here was the pic on Craigslist ($25)...


*Note to self:  Ask for close-up pics and don't assume that you'll "easily be able to paint all the brass that shows white".

Here is what I was left to deal with before painting (the only metal in the room is brushed nickel and I decided white would work best)...it took me a full day to untwist all those little brass wires that went through each flower and held the clear arm covers in place and then I had to undo the center pieces as well. 


Finally I was able to spray paint it all white...DH nicely replaced all the brass electric wiring (that also showed along side every arm) with new white cords and a new white chain to hang it and then it was time for reassembly...NO WAY was I going to rewire all those arm covers, so out came my glue gun and easy-peasy, back together...I restrung all the hanging crystals with some new silver wire (so about $50 in new supplies), and it's about done..it was missing a few crystals, and I broke one undoing everything, so I've ordered some on eBay and I just need to add four around the center top.





I have also been contemplating the fact that my kids have been saying that the 'new' headboard looked too much like the old crib ends...so I added six small wood embellishments to the tops.  Here's half the headboard top now...not sure if it helped LOL, but more frou-frou! 


Oh, and somewhere in here I lost my small vacation gain...plus some...145.5 this morning...it's a new low by 1 lb. (must be all the recent stress LOL).

Then DS1 announced that he would be going back to school a week early and wanted to paint his Frat house room...and that the Frat was paying for him to build a new loft for his bed (OK, I'll admit the one that was in there looked like someone made it out of matchsticks and it must have originally been built for another room as it blocked off a big corner in a tiny room).  So off we went to buy school supplies, food, toiletries, paint, paint supplies, and a new mattress...have I mentioned that the Frat decided to spray the whole house down over the summer while no one was there for the frickin' bedbugs?!...yes, even though they've only seen them in two rooms, and he's never seen them in his, I've been boiling everything he owns each time he comes home...all BUGS FREAK ME OUT...biting bugs...OMG!...I'd seriously be moving out of our house...yes, I've been checking his room here and everyone's mattresses like the almost-OCD Mom that I am.  I know what you're thinking...all you Boob's that were planning to come visit us in our hotel room...and don't worry Boob's roomie-Donna, I promise not to bring any with me...and we can all only hope that the hotel is as almost-OCD with cleaning as me...personally...I'll be checking my mattress (I'd recommend that you do NOT watch the TV program we saw this week...'Bed Bug Apocalypse')!
 

After we sent DS1 off for the weekend to tear out the old loft, paint, and get measurements, I designed a new loft for his tiny room and made a plan and supply list.  We spent a day here cutting boards and pre-drilling holes for the ladder and then off he and DH went to PSU to install it together.  Here he is installing it in the new 'Penn State Blue' room.

So DS1 is now settled at school and DS2 and I are working on all his back-to-school things for the last two weeks of his Summer...he's got his 'tuba test' with the Band teacher next week (after some debate, he decided to sign up for band again even though the guitar is his new love), so the house sounds like a German pub right now.


My youngest sister called yesterday crying as her youngest was on the bus for his first full day of first grade...Me?...I'm looking forward to Labor Day and then...BACK TO SCHOOL!

2/13/11 My Valentine & Post Fill Day 5

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On another note...we went to a Valentine's Day couples party at one of my GF's houses (old neighbor's of ours that now live about 30 min. away). She had about 75 people and a spread of food everywhere (and a chef's station with made to order crab cakes and different pasta dishes). We had a blast and I did fine with tiny amounts of food during the evening (tortellini, cheese hunks, chicken dish, and even meatballs).

She asked each couple to send pics of themselves during their dating years (fun idea), which she printed up and had on display boards. As expected when anyone sees old pics of my DH, his got the most reaction from everyone who knows him...here's why (enjoy!)...

Here we are in 1978 shortly after meeting...

A few years later...

The giant glasses were in...and barely a moustache now (No, not on me!...I was busy moving toward the 'big hair')...

And here's how he came back from Geology field camp one summer in college...I didn't recognize him when he got back (all the Geology majors had beards...well, except the women). And OMG what was I thinking with the perm?!

And here's our engagement picture as we were finishing college (and why my kids say 'You married Sasquatch!'). Our friends last night were calling him 'Mountain Man' (and asking me who my 'first husband' was LOL).

Here I am ready to go last night in my Valentine pink.

Here I am with my Valentine (and I had to leave Tucker in...looks like ghost cat!)...DH needs to get better at lining up timer pics and remembering he's a lot taller than me LOL.

And here I am at the party...with some friends...that have obviously had too much to drink, as you can see by their fuzzy faces. And why do I always pick short friends? I'm an amazon compared to my petite friends and the 4" heels didn't help.

1/28/11 Simple Addition

1.

('THE BEAST')

+

(Snowblower Virgin)

=

Can someone please tell me if it's even possible to use one of these without it all blowing back into your face?


2.
(Teething Kitten...I thought only puppies chewed shoes)


+
(Asparagus Fern)
=
(What greets me every morning)
My plants will all be bald soon.

3.

+
=
'The Fill that Wasn't' (or 'Goal Limbo Revisited'):

Apparently the doc's my hospital were getting to take over the practice have been changed before they arrived. They called to cancel my long awaited fill appointment and promised they would call me with new availability very soon (they mentioned a few days)...

...that was three weeks ago...

...still holding onto (by my fingernails...make that my LB) 160-165...

:-(

Have I mentioned lately how important the Sweet Spot is?

12/8/10 Life Isn't Always Fair

First, thanks for the notes noticing I've been away. I started today's blog just wanting to post some Christmas decoration pics, but I've found I need to begin first with letting some things go. I'm realizing that I've probably been working hard keeping myself too busy, because I didn't want to talk about, or even think about it anymore this (maybe I've been avoiding coming here because I knew I'd have to)…I've lost to much sleep already. I've been trying to uplift myself with Christmas (I LOVE Christmas). As an optimist, I'm not a worrier and can always find the bright side of things, but when it comes to my kids being hurt...it's a different story.

I'm still embroiled in the several craptastic life things I mentioned earlier. One of them took a turn last week and I'm just realizing now that I've been avoiding really dealing with my feelings about it. 

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Anyway...sorry this post was a downer. I AM having fun getting ready for Christmas, crafting (I made a whole mini tree this weekend), and decorating (except for the d@mn Christmas lights that I've spent day's restringing this year...I swear they are just taunting me…flickering a new line out each day, but who the heck likes dealing with the lights?!)...I'll post some pics next! As DD said again this year 'It looks like someone threw-up Christmas on our tree and all over our house!' I'm hoping to about finish the decorating today and we've got DS2's band concert tonight…Fa-la-la-la-la!

11/17/10 Thanks for Sharing; A Blog of Substance

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10/29/10 Downs and Ups

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DH got a new (used) car finally (his was sucking us dry with repairs the last few months)...picking it up in Ohio now (my brother is in the car biz)!

The neck/back is finally much better (thanks for your help)...some trouble sleeping still.

I'm officially depressed...my Surgeon's receptionist called and my Surgeon is leaving the state (remember his partner left for another hospital in town a few months back)...I was wondering why he was acting aloof at my last visit and didn't talk to me about the pics for his website that he'd asked me about. So much for getting him to vet the book. I'm going to miss him. Two new Docs will be starting in January...no fills before the holidays...*sigh*.

My project all week has been organizing the loose holiday stuff into bins (Mom gave us each some boxes of her things with the move...yes, boxes...I'm blaming her for my holiday decoration illness)...fun project...not.

I got an email from someone running an OCD website asking me to post a link here...OCD?!! ME? I didn't say I 'had OCD', I said I was 'almost OCD' (and lest I'm offending anyone that has it; it's a serious disease). I just think I'm VERY organized and I don't like re-work...everything in it's place and all that. Hmmm... I do have a label maker that gets a lot of use...actually the most labels are in the area I'm now working on...OK, you decide...Here are my holiday shelves...yes seven shelving units of just holiday stuff (and yes, I'm working on those bins today where the holes are)...but I'll tell you right now I didn't even look at her OCD website...I don't even want to know that I've got something else wrong with me...I'm still working my way through the first list of health issues LOL.
You're all on your way to my house for an intervention aren't you?

10/12/10 5th Fill...Chasing the Sweet Spot

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OH, and can I just say...WHAT THE HECK WOMEN??!!! I tried on about 4 outfits before finding one that fit OK this morning...yes, I'm having fat days again. I wore a new top, no coat over it. Do you know how many women I passed today...in the parking lot, in the ladies room, in the stairwell, in the waiting room (where I was called to the window three times), three different nurses during my appointment. I was wondering why I was getting stares and was starting to take it personally that I look like a stuffed sausage in these jeans.


COULD ANY OF YOU HAVE TOLD ME THAT I HAD TWO LOVELY *SHINY* TAGS WITH THE SALE STICKER HANGING ON MY BACK?!!! *sigh* ...and I'm guessing some of you were fellow banders...*double-sigh*

10/6/10 Signs of Fall

Signs that Fall is here:

- We had the first wood fire in the fireplace this weekend (the sap buckets still need some mums).

Coats and winter scarves are out (and swoopy bangs have been brought back, now that I'm no longer in the garden sweating).

The gazebo and patio have been deflocked, and the bamboo is in full bloom (right).

The thermostat lever was switched (brrrr).

Weight has been put on to survive the long winter.

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9/9/10 Updates and Luck

Busy, busy, busy...and our luck is turning...it's all good.

• WOOT! DD got the job! She starts Monday with a Environmental Graphics Design company as an Account Manager. The 'Environmental' isn't a green thing, it's that they plan/complete signage for 'environments'; major buildings, parks, etc. (they take the blueprints and figure out how to number rooms and what signage will be needed for the whole place, including the big signage outside, and take it through completion). They do some things in town (ie. they did PNC Park- our baseball stadium) and a lot outside the state (ie. they've done some jobs for Disneyworld and they're doing some big parks out west now). It's the perfect fit for her as she got the creative gene from me so she'll love being in a creative environment, there's some travel involved, which she loves, and she'll be busy managing up to 30 jobs at a time so the job will change daily...a great fit for her. Thanks for all the good vibes!

• Hell has finally frozen over. DH finally bought a snowblower! It only took him being snowed in last winter with snow up to our hips and the neighbor rescuing us with his snowblower for him to get one. I'm just glad it has a push button start as he's usually out of town when it snows. He also lucked out as we received a great coupon for the store this weekend and when he went to order it, it was on a major sale...ended up being over $300 less than the original price and he couldn't believe his luck.

• We had a 'laboring' long Labor Day weekend. DH decided that 'we' should do some touch-up painting around the house. I must have lost my mind as I know 'we' and 'painting' really means 'me'...d*mn that Art Ed. degree (OK, it really needed to be done...I've been putting it off)! I'm still painting (I've punished him with making him wash down all the trim and doors). The 1st floor walls and upstairs hall walls are done and I'm still working my way through touching up the trim and doors. Here's the good news...that new painters tape with 'edge lock' you've seen on the commercials...it actually works! The stuff costs a fortune, but try it...I've painted a lot and I'm super picky about straight edges and I swear it works. My Dr. Suess quote from Diane may go up today if I get the doors done first. I know, I must be the only person who gets excited that the handprints and scrapes have now disappeared from my stair walls and trim.
  
• We took a break and had an evening out with neighbors this weekend and had a blast.
  

• The company DH works for just got officially turned over to the Saudi company that bought them. He called me to fill out insurance questions...weight and waist/hip measurements...good thing I'm back to being a pear!

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I'm off to paint!

8/27/10 Drivel Scribbles- Title?

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7/15/10 Chocolate is the Devil's Spawn

DS2's Birthday was on Monday (sleep over party with teen boys...yes, with the in-laws arriving the next day...I'm certifiable) and I made him a cake with a new 'twist' my oral hygienist had told me about (am I the last person to learn about 'spoon cakes'? Tip 1; just say no. Oh, and Tip 2; don't eat breakfast before you go in for a cleaning...this was back when I had my sweet spot and I was sweating for 30 min. trying to hold in belches while she had her hands in my mouth). I made chocolate (or other) sheet cake (I added chocolate chips), and the 'twist' is that you poke holes in it with a wooden spoon and drizzle sweetened condensed milk (and other heart attack things, if you want, like; ground up Heath bars or carmel down into the holes) and she tops it with Cool Whip, but I did fudge chocolate frosting. I resisted the leftover cake last night, but I'm up early this morning with the beginnings of a migraine and came down for some food and my pills. Someone had put my piece in the fridge...still on the plate...with a fork...and it was calling my name...'CHOCOLATE'! I'm weak...it was probably at least 1000 calories, and yes, I'd had a piece on his birthday (and no, chocolate doesn't make my migraine's worse...if only...but life is not worth living without chocolate).

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I called my Doc's office and he's back next week...unfortunately I'm not, so I moved my fill appointment up to two weeks from now...no way is this girl waiting until the end of August! Tip 4; When trying to move up an appointment, call them and tell them you're gaining weight and that you might be naked soon...I'll let you know if the Doc takes pity on me a month early.

Got to run...the in-laws are up and I need a shower! Stay cool my peeps...another 90+ day here!

6/18/10 40%

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6/8/10 Party In My Fat Pants! *New 'Afters'*

It's time for my Century Club party! Yes I'm all dressed up in my 'big girl pants'! I remember showing you that I could get into one leg of my old dress pants awhile back, but they were thin and had a pleated front. I wondered if this would work with the old pair of jeans...now remember, I accidentally got rid of my 24/26W jeans and saved the size 20's instead (yes, not the 22's even, the 20's). HOLY COW! I can get into one leg of my size 20 non-stretch jeans!!! Party in my fat pants...and there's room for you all!!! See, even Frownie (my new belly-button) looks a little happier).

Time for some new pics!

Before--------------1/13/09 = 244 (-4 lbs.) Start 248 lbs.
About 1/2 Way---8/2/09 = 195 (-53 lbs.) 1/2 Way=50 lbs.
Almost 1st Goal---1/30/10 = 163 (-85 lbs.) Goal=90 lbs.
Dream Goal!------6/3/10 = 148 (-100 lbs.)




Oh, and my pants didn't shrink along with me; again I have 4 big clips tightening the pants on the opposite side from the camera so you can see my silhouette.

Anyway, I'm still reeling a little from reaching my Dream Goal (yes I cried...and then I drank lots of wine to celebrate...I heard Gilly joined me...and Judi made me a martini...and Sandy wanted to but she's in rehab for WL...although I think she's off the wagon now). Then I got 'stuck', and PBed, but that's another story.
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This is what I bought to celebrate my Century Club initiation...10 new bras and 8 new little panties (they look just like party favors)! All I know is that my ever shrinking boobs had put all my old 38C bras out of business and I was down to 2 bras that didn't really fit this weekend (most of them could now be indented the opposite way when I had them on). Note my side shot above. Psst, I'll tell you a secret...I wore my thin cami and had to put pieces of kleenex over my nips (no, I don't mean stuff the bra wadded up kleenex, I'm talking in place of band-aids because it was R-rated) just so I could show you how flat I am now...send all your excess boobage my way please). So I went shopping. I tried figuring out what size I was before I left home using my 'Bra Fitting 101' blog research, but I found I was in between sizes and I was guessing that even with as much as I'd lost and the 'rounding up' that I wasn't actually now a 36AA. I tried on more than 100 bras in 6 different sizes of every shape and color trying to figure out what size I am now. The poor dressing room lady looked like she was going to kill me by the time I'd figured it out. Apparently I am now either a 34C or a 36B (I bought five of each size LOL). Yes there are ones with cups that are super thin all the way up to 'add a cup size', so I'm going to keep everyone confused with my flat to buxom blonde boobage.

So PARTY AT MY HOUSE! Now I'm off to turn in my S.O.B. answers (my acceptance speech).

6/3/10 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I'm still hyperventilating...I. DID. IT!!!

Do you SEE it?!!! No not my tan feet with the two headed toe (please ignore my gardening flip-flops farmer's tan)...between the feet...THERE...YES...

I.

DID.

IT!!!!

I finally reached my 100 lbs. gone 'dream goal'!!!! Frickin' unbelievable! I'm in the Century Club!!!



I should be shooting confetti out my a$$ or something! Maybe the crown will arrive with the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol headed to my front door! Where's the parade...I want to be Grand Marshall...or the Queen of the Bandlandia court on a float!

Maybe you're expecting a speech? Who me, at a loss for words? Never!

*stunned silence*.....Wow.

*I'll collect my thoughts, put together a party in my fat pants with you all, and be back spewing words of wisdom and silliness, but for now, just...*

Wow.

5/18/10 That Four Letter Word...

Rain...

No, that's not the word...I'm starting with some personal updates (rain for the second day is just pissing me off), then we'll get to the LB, and that other bad word...

What's Happening:

- We finish the garage sale Saturday. We got rid of almost 1/2 the stuff and made about $100...woo. Yes, we priced things very cheap...people kept telling us they couldn't believe the deals they were getting (I just wanted it gone). I even set out three boxes of new things with the tags still on them from my 'gift closet' (LOL, things like baby clothes that were the wrong size/season, clothing for me that never fit, gifts I never gave, etc.). What's better than selling 1/2 the crap? Setting 10 boxes of leftovers at the curb and watching the Vets pick them up yesterday! The only thing that could ruin that moment? My two oldest buying four LARGE (we're talking couch and huge tables large) pieces of furniture from other's garage sales (I knew I was doomed Friday morning each time they would come back up the street in my minivan and back into the driveway). DH can no longer park his car in the garage and we're going to have to upgrade my minivan to a U-Haul to move their crap around.

- It was DS1's 20th birthday Saturday. His GF came up for the day and took him to the zoo and then we had a great dinner and family party. Can I just say that my children make me feel old...I just realized I can no longer say 'my teens' in my blog anymore as I now have 2 out of 3 kids that are 20 or older...Ahhh! How dare they grow up so fast and make me feel old...the pain of childbirth has returned to bite me in the butt!

- Sunday DH and I went to four nurseries to buy plants and bushes (all these garage sales have put me behind on my gardening). I decided we needed to redo some of the front landscaping as we lost some bushes from the waist-high snow this winter...plus some of the planting beds were getting out of control (we now have 10 tiny new bushes...and sunburns). We've never lived anywhere long enough to have to replace landscaping LOL...hard to believe we just reached 9 years here! I also have flats full of annuals waiting to be planted, but we've had two days of cold rain... d*mnit, now I have to clean my house (you can only imagine the mess after hauling all that crap out of the basement to sort)...sun tomorrow!

- Blog Comments:
---Thanks for asking, yes, my patio is still (mostly) brown and shiny (ask DD, she wiped out on the slick surface yesterday trying to run to her car in the rain). I'll try to take some pics when the sun is back out.
---Anonymous- thank you for the comment. It's comments and emails like that, that keep me moving forward on the book.

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5/11/10 I'm In Training

It's going to be hard for me to keep writing as much since the weather is getting nicer...my garden calls to me to sit and putter...like I said, it's my meditation. This trying to write in the evenings is not working with all the kids home and the craziness that ensues around here. Since teens are mainly nocturnal (at least mine are...I swear that's why they have big eyes...to see in the dark), I've made a plan though to sit on the patio in the mornings with my laptop this summer and type away...we'll see how that goes LOL. I've been working through the book primarily from front to back, but as things come up in maintenance, I stop and get those down.

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5/4/10 Pre-Op Process (Self-pay or Covered)

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The closest I come to understanding the medical system abroad is when 'someone very close to me who will remain anonymous lest her friends read this...like they'd ever want to' spent a semester abroad in France. She made a trip to the ER in the middle of the night just 10 days after her arrival to France (very bloody diarrhea)...which involved a move in
an ambulance to another hospital outside of town, a 5 day stay, a lab analysis of the bottle of Pepto Bismol (yes, I sent her there with a huge bag full of every medication possible...I'm surprised they didn't stop her at customs and do a strip search) that I insisted she take with her to the hospital (they'd never seen Pepto before). NO one at the hospital spoke more than a few words of English and she didn't speak much French at all yet (she attended an English speaking college, and part of her education was learning more conversational French there). In the few minutes a day we got to talk to her (cell phone had almost no battery left and she didn't take the charger to the ER) we received the following information (and yes, I would have flown out the first day if I'd had any clue this was going to be 5 days):

- Day 1: NO one here speaks English!...No, we all applied for our France health care cards, but we hadn't received them yet...I'm perfectly fine now...I think they'll send me home today.

- Day 2: They took my Pepto Bismol and my phone is about to die...No, I don't know what hospital I'm at, but I'll try to ask them if that's it...No, there's NO one here who speaks English that you can talk to...anyway, I think they'll send me home today.

- Day 3: OMG get me out of here! The TV costs cash money and I only had 5 Euros in my pocket when I went to the ER...I've been staring at the wall for 3 days! People stop by all day long to try out their 'English' on me; I keep thinking 'FINALLY! Someone who speaks English! But after they point and say 'American!' or 'How are you?' really slowly I learn that's all the words they know!...Yes, about as many words as I am fluent in French!...I think one of them said something about a 'test'...No, who knows if it was a Doctor or the janitor, they all wear the same thing!...I think maybe they'll send me home after the test today.

- Day 4: GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! They brought me some meat for dinner last night and I turned it over and it had TASTEBUDS ON IT...IT WAS A LITTLE TINY TONGUE!!! I'm starving!!! They stuck a camera up my bum today and the Doc spent 30 min. trying to communicate with me with no English...I don't know, I think I heard the word 'inflammation' and 'polyp'. Two of my friends from college took the train out to see me and they couldn't find out what was going on either...and they speak FRENCH!...No, no one from the college program has called or come to see me...I don't know why they're keeping me so long...I pray they send me home today!
- Day 5: I'm home. I was scared, but luckily I had just enough money to buy the train ticket back to the city. The Doctor told me I have to 'come back' for a 'Colonoscopy' I think to take out the polyp...Yes, I got a copy of the report, but I'M NEVER GOING BACK!!!!
After two different trips to two different Dentists there, with no tooth symptom relief, we all decided she needed to come home after one semester (she was supposed to be there all year). Back in the US, after lots of help from our insurance co., getting the foreign medical bills paid and then the hospital report translated, she had the colonoscopy and the polyps removed, and then had to have the tooth pulled out...she likes to show people the spot where her molar is missing and calls it her 'souvenir from her trip to France'. No, I'm not saying the medical system abroad is bad (I've been told France has a great health-care system), but from a teenagers view it was LOL! And yes, she should have been able to speak more French as it's not their problem to know English. Thank Gawd she's a very independent girl and could handle herself alone!
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5/3/10 Of Mice and Men (and Brother, Sisters...and Parents)

After nine days...I'm home! I hope you all had a very happy and band-successful week! Like I said, I'm so glad I went, as there was NO way they would have been ready for the garage sale...and therefore, not ready to put the house on the market either (they just had a very tight timeline once they made the decision).

We spent three solid days just organizing the stuff already piled high in the garage and cleaning it up for the sale. Getting 44 years of stuff out of the basement, attic, and four bedrooms full of drawers and closets took a lot of time...sorting into 'keep', 'sell', 'toss' was the bulk of the time and Mom was such a trooper...I know she was already brain dead by the time I got there, but she really hung in there and I know I worked her to death getting it all done. Dad did what he could given his sight issue and my three siblings in town helped (two after work, and the third really helped me a lot daily with the help of sitters). Even my DD drove out to help for a few days and the grandparents sent her home with a car full of treasures.

The back of Mom's head during the garage sale.

Although there were emotional moments we laughed a lot...as my siblings and I do, we laughed until we cried often...the favorite moments involved the mice (no, just remnants of dead ones, no live ones sighted) in the basement. I stepped on one in the dark trying to get to the light chain on the back side of the basement (OK, it was already dead, but I ran screaming for Dad like I was 5 again)...another day I had just vacuumed up the basement after everything was out and I washed up and came back down and there was a black seed on the floor (Mom kept bird seed down there that the mice got into long ago)...so I licked my (clean) finger and touched it to the seed to pick it up...it was still on the floor so I licked my finger again...YUCK! Bird seed in my mouth...there were two seeds together on the floor and now one was in my mouth...so I spit it into my hand...AHHHHHHHH! It wasn't a bird seed at all!!!! It was a MOUSE TURD!!!! D@MN my eyesight! I spent the next five minutes spitting into the sink and rinsing out my mouth...my sister's were crying (and gagging) as I recounted my stupidity.
Lots of buyers.

By the weekend I'd made a rule that no one could ask Mom or I any questions after noon (my brain was sucked dry by then too). We were able to get almost all the other jobs (spackling, painting, etc.) needed for the house sale done as well and it's in really good shape. The garage sale went really well even though the weather wasn't the best and we had some periods of light rain. I'd say about 2/3 of the things were sold, but even after we sent the shelving and other furniture they (Salvation Army) wouldn't take to the curb for the trashmen (we could have filled a dumpster with all the trash we sent to my three siblings houses during the week for their trashmen...makes me want to clean out my stuffed basement too LOL), we still had 20+ boxes and some big pieces of furniture filling the center of the garage. Salvation Army comes today and we (5 kids) paid to have window washers come today and a cleaning lady to come Wednesday. The house goes on the market Saturday. We're all praying it sells fast...it would SO make all this worth it!
Dad, with a 50 cent tag on his forehead greeting the buyers (by the end of the sale we'd written 'free' on the tag).

I'm exhausted (slept 10 hours last night); we worked morning 'till night each day, and (as DH described) my body looks like I got polka dot tattoos (there are so many I lost count, seriously...I bruise easily). I did have one day where I got a little worried...I thought I was 'good to go' since I had my post-op check up from the gallbladder surgery. By Wednesday my belly button area was swollen again like it was post-op and then it got a little red, hot and painful (and I was flushed). No, nothing was open, but I probably opened something internally. Luckily, I just stopped lifting heavy things for a few days and my body fought it off. I've got a second van load full of treasures from Mom and Dad sitting in a huge pile in my kitchen now to unpack today. Oh, and I gained 2 pounds...I'm blaming the huge piece of birthday cake...and the mouse turd.
My youngest sis at the very end of the sale (this was when about 2/3 was gone believe it or not).