Owwwwww, my head!!!!

Will someone please take the vice off of my head???? I have had this freaking headache for two days straight. It is definately a tension headache. I broke down and took one of Betsy's migraine pills, and although I am a bit dizzy, it finally took the pain away. I took a nice, hot, leisurely bath and that seemed to help as well.

I was planning on spending a relaxing day sewing and becoming one with the thread....however, Betsy came into my room this morning complaining that her chest was tight and felt like someone was sitting on it. She was also dizzy and nauseated. Of course, that worried me, being that she had already been through a course of antibiotics last week for her bronchitis. I took her to the doctor today and she said that her lung were clear and sounded good. She did, however, say that she had yet another sinus infection, and that was irritating her already stressed throat and chest. She also said that the z-pack isn't the strongest antibiotic to use for a sinus infection, so she gave her a new prescription and said that if she wasn't better by Friday to come back. I felt much better after seeing her and being reassured that she didn't have pneumonia. So, Betsy and I ended up spending a nice day together....even though we were both feeling crappy. It was so nice to spend time with her....it was a bonding experience for us....awwwww. LOL. I'm sure she will roll her eyes when she reads this.

Right now wee one is at church with her friend. For the past three days they have been having spelling bee try outs. She has made it to the very end these past two days, only to miss the last word. I think that this last one that she missed should be stricken from the record, since they gave my Yankee daughter a southern word....shoofly. Who uses shoofly anymore? LOL....she spelled it "shoEfly" lol. Poor kid.

Well, I am getting sleepy sitting here, so I am going to go relax and enjoy the effects of my headache pill....ahhhhhhh, bliss!

Headaches and such....

My head has been pounding since 1:30 today. I took Tylenol but it did nothing to help. I think it's a tension headache. I'm looking forward to lying down tonight and relaxing.

I got up this morning and got myself ready so that I could go to the store after dropping wee one off at school. I had a list of things that I really needed (I was out of Pledge AND Pine Sol! Oh the horrors!), and I wanted to get my shopping done early. I got to Wal-Mart at 7:45 am and got the first parking spot! I guess that's the secret to good parking there....it was pretty empty too, which made it nice. I actually got to walk down the middle of the aisles. Anyway, I got what I needed....and then got sidetracked by the clothes. $100 later....I was out the door with my cleaning supplies, and several new outfits to wear whilst dusting! LOL.

From there it was off to get gas, pick up a prescription and the grocery store. It was so windy and rainy this morning that the electricity went off three times while I was shopping. And let me tell you, it was pitch dark in that store! You could hear the employees yelling, "Time to go home!" LOL. It was another nice, rainy day today.

Yesterday it rained all day as well. Being the good mother that I am....I decided to pick Betsy up at the bus stop so that she wouldn't have to walk home in the rain. Well, of course I put down the garage door to drive the 1/2 mile....and of course, the electricity went out while I was gone. And of course I had latched the top sliding lock on both the front door and the sliding glass door....which meant we were SOL. And....of course....Betsy had to go to the bathroom! LOL. So, we left to pick up wee one at school, figuring that when we got home it would surely be back on....nope. JB came home and we were still sitting in the driveway. Somewhere around 4:00 the electricity came back on and we were able to go inside. Guess what I did before I left today? Yes....I made sure that the sliding locks were open! The weird thing about the situation was....earlier in the day I was windexing the glass door, and when I was putting the slider into place I thought to myself, "Gee, that would really suck if I did this and left, and the electricity went out." Oooooh, spooky!

Betsy just got back from a mandatory meeting at work. Seems the owners sold the business! Fortunately, the new owners will keep the staff that they have, and they also own another shop in St. Augustine, so they will (hopefully) run things better. I'm telling you, Betsy is getting NO hours. Her last paycheck? A whopping $28. She applied at a few places this weekend.

I made a great pie yesterday. Cherry-cranberry....mmmmm. I mixed the remaining homemade cranberry sauce with a can of cherry pie filling and boy was it good! I always do that when I make my homemade sauce. We didn't have enough left over turkey for sandwiches, and I served the last of the side dishes last night with dinner. So, we are officially out of Thanksgiving chow. Whew.

Well, I do believe I will go make myself a cup of coffee, and hope that the caffeine will help this headache. Nighty night!

The Christmas Tour....

I am finally done with the decorating....woohoo! I did, however, forget to take pics of the lights outside. I'll do that later. Wee one is sitting here complaining that I am taking too long with all my pics. LOL....she just doesn't understand that this is my leisure time!

We went to a wedding last night in downtown Jacksonville. Of course it was the same time the annual boat parade on the river was going on, so we hit some pretty unbelieveable traffic! We got there on time, however, and ended up enjoying a spectacular view. The room that the wedding was held in was in a horseshoe shape with the curve being all windows that overlooked the river, with a perfect view of all of the festivities. It was a lovely wedding....the room looked like the inside of a cabin, lit by twinkle lights and a fireplace. Very romantic. JB and I had such a nice time just being together. After the wedding we all went outside on the deck and watched some of the parade while they set up for the food. There were only about 60 people there, and that made it nice. We had finger food and some very good wine. When it came time for the toast, we also got champagne....which was also rather tasty. I ended up drinking mine and John's....and somewhere along the way I began feeling verrrrrry mellow and verrrry dizzy! LOL. I'm a total lightweight when it comes to drinking.

After we ate, they started the fireworks over the river. Holy cow. I've never seen such beautiful fireworks in my life! We were surrounded by two huge bridges....one to the left and one to the right....which were shut down and fireworks were shot off from them as well as the barge in the middle. It was spectacular. All at once both bridges were set off and it was like Niagara Falls with sparklers, raining down into the water. Gorgeous! That was an unexpected treat!

Today we went to church, then to the store for timers to put on the outdoor lights, and then out to lunch. We had a really nice time just talking and enjoying the day. Afterward we came home and everyone went their own way....doing homework and reading and watching tv. It was a nice ending to the long weekend.

So now, I'm off to get things organized for school tomorrow, and to let my darling albeit annoying daughter use the computer!

 

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Thanksgiving Friday....

Yesterday we had our restaurant dinner for Thanksgiving. It was okay. John and I had chicken fried chicken which was excellent....everyone else had the turkey dinner which was - cold, hard, and icky. Those were the adjectives used to describe it by my girls and my mom, lol. So today, I made the dinner that we missed. Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserol, broccoli and cheese casserol, sweet potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. Everyone loved it....and I have to admit, it was pretty good! We have pies in the fridge, but everyone is too stuffed to eat them.

Today was also decorating day. John and wee one went out at 8:30 and came in at 3:00. They got the front yard done....1500 lights in the big tree, icicle lights along the roof and the two reindeer, candy cane lights along the walkway, and little spiral white tree. They both said they were too tired to do the back yard, so they will attempt that tomorrow. JB mowed and trimmed probably for the last time until February. I put up the dining room tree and decorated that room, Betsy put up her tree, I did the living room and the kitchen. Tomorrow I'll put up the family tree....I'm too exhausted to even think about it right now.

Tomorrow night we have the wedding for someone at work. It's also the same night as the parade of lights along the river, which means it will be super crowded. I am still not sure what I'm going to wear.  Oh well....I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Okay, I'm off to crash in the bedroom....I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

BINGO!

Wee one's Thanksgiving dinner/party at school went wonderfully. The kids were so excited to get their turkey and mashed potatoes. I took my huge crock pot filled to the top with taters....and came home with nothing! We had them frost and decorate their own sugar cookies, and of course they had a grand time doing that. After they ate, I had them play a game of Thanksgiving bingo....which is exactly like regular bingo except there is a picture of a turkey in the free space. LOL.

I had bought four of those huge chocolate crisp moose suckers that Betsy got at Walgreens, as prizes for the games. On the third game, however, what do you think happens? Yup....THREE consecutive Bingo's and only TWO suckers left. Luckily, wee one was one of the winners. I said to the class, "Well, since there are three winners and I only have two suckers.....and my daughter is one of the winners....she doesn't get one!" They all laughed....well, all except wee one. LOL. Actually, she was fine with it, as I promised her I would buy her one this weekend. One of the little girls that won actually offered to give her's to wee one (awwwwww), and another offered to split it. I thought that was really nice.

One thing that happened that I, personally, thought was great....the teacher did not allow the kids to start eating until everyone had been served and was sitting down. When they were all ready, he said, "Now, what do we do before we start eating?" I knew what he meant....he was going to have the kids thank the parents for bringing in the food. However, all of the kids yelled, "Say a prayer!" He had a look on his face that was somewhere between uh-oh and what do I do now? So he said, "Do you guys want to say a prayer?" and they all said yes. He allowed two girls to say a little blessing before they ate. It was so sweet. One little girl gave a traditional versed prayer, and the other made it up as she went along, thanking God for the kids in the class, the parents, the food, and blessings for "those in need". Say what you will, I thought it was wonderful. While we were setting up for the party, there were two kidsthat dressed up....one little boy was George Washington, and he read the first Thanksgiving Proclamation. The other little boy was President Bush, and read last year's. The kids then compared the ideas and issues raised in each. I thought it was a nice way to incorporate history with modern day. A lot of the ideals were very much the same. The kids got a kick out of the boy who wore the knee highs and hat....lol.

Right now JB is outside washing my van for tomorrow's big outing. You know, you have to travel in freshly washed and waxed style! LOL. I vacuumed out the inside, windexed the windows and gave it a once over with my very favorite ALL Fabric Refresher Spray. Mmmmm, smells so good. He is also going to hang my car tree....we had to do a bit of repair on the poor guy....he has gotten kind of brittle over the years! But he still lights up....and that's what's important.

Well, I'm off to wash out my crock pot and fold some clothes. I wish each and everyone of you a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. For those who are traveling, be careful and have a wonderful trip....and for those staying home with family, enjoy a cozy day with your loved ones!

I'm a bad mommy....

About a week and a half ago Betsy started sneezing and complaining that her throat hurt. I didn't think anything of it and gave her hot tea and tylenol. After about a week she was still complaining, but didn't ask to stay home from school....even attended an all day concert on Sunday. Today she woke up with a slight cough and said she felt like crap. Being that the holiday is coming up, I told her after dropping wee one off at school, I'd take her to Solantic for a quick check up. The diagnosis? "Hmmmm, you must have had an upper respiratory infection for a while. Now you have bronchitis." Talk about feeling like a total a$$! I always take her to the doctor if anything hangs on for 4 days....and every time they say, "It's a virus, give her plenty of fluids and tylenol." Of course the  one freaking time I don't rush her in....is when I should have! The good news is that she has her trusty antibiotic Z-pack, an expectorant, and the remainder of the week off from both school and work to recuperate.

After the doctor I took her to Walgreens to get her prescriptions, and I let her pick out her piece of "sick candy". Yeah, every time the girls are sick and I take them to get the medicine, I let them get a little treat. She chose a huge chocolate crisp moose sucker. LOL. From there we went grocery shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner which I will be cooking on Friday. This year will just be too hard on mom to have our traditional meal at home, so we are going out. Last year, my dad had his final meal by mouth on Thanksgiving at my house....on Friday it will have been his 70th birthday as well. It will be an emotional holiday this year, but I know we will get through it. It helps to know that Dad will be surrounded by loved ones this year, enjoying dinner with his parents and son.

While we were shopping I went through the meat department and guess what they had? The cutest pot roasts on sale....and all of them had Christmas bows on them! You know, I wasn't in the market for one....but I bought one anyway. Presentation is everything I guess! When I went through the checkout, the cashier and both baggers were laughing at it. I told them that the ones with bows were free....I got a laugh....but still paid $10 for it.

We went to the bank after that, and on to one other grocery store for two gallons of tea, sherbet, yogurt and cottage cheese. Oh, and pickles. I never buy the chilled dill pickles, but I though they would be good with leftover turkey sandwiches. (Am I reaching for subjects when I start writing our my grocery lists? lol). When we got home Betsy laid down for the afternoon, and I cleaned up, put away the groceries, then took a bit of a siesta myself. It's "that time" again, and I've been so tired.

I made a baked chicken burrito for dinner. The demonstrator at the pampered chef party made one and it was really good. Of course, I didn't remember exactly what was in it, but I think I got it pretty close. Everyone loved it. Betsy is at work right now, doing her big three hour shift. She is not allowed to take the day off unless she finds her own replacement, and it was too short notice for her to do so. I'm thinking the new sneeze guard at work was a wise investment....KIDDING....lol....

Right now wee one is doing her science vocab next to me, complaining all the while. She just said to me, "Please get me away from learning!" LOL....so I suppose I will turn the keyboard over to her. Tomorrow is the big Thanksgiving party at school which means I have to be up at dawn making tons of mashed potatoes....oh, joy.