A Quiet

The little Lad has jetted down to south Texas on a beach vay-cay with his dad for a week.

My heart.
a dear friend asked me this weekend how I was feeling. i believe my response what something along these lines, "You know the suction attachment of the Hoover vacuum? Yeah, it can suck your soul right out of your body."
gotta love a multi-tasker

So, um, yeah.

What will the most devoted mommy of one be up to, you ask? Well, it's so very climactic. Please, contain your jealousy. I'm going to get the oil changed in my car. And, since I'm feeling particularly wild this week, I think I'll get the inside detailed out. Mount Laundry seems to have piled up on me again. Bah. And then there's the small matter of J's Christmas tree and manger set that are still out (yeah, blew right on past Epiphany..... "Here's one for you Taylor, stop procrastinating on putting Christmas stuff away! until February shows its face).

Are you jealous yet?
.... and then my dear, sweet, wonderful band of merry men & women ("I am NOT a merry man!") who are responding to my S.O.S. to keep me occupied and my spirits up during my Jacob-less week.

(Total props and bragging rights if you can place the above mentioned quote.)

And now I must go- apparently February is going to show her skanky self by blasting up with frakking freezing weather and snow. I gotta count my blanket, my soft fuzzy sweaters, and socks..... and glare at Target. a wonderful retailer that is already selling swimsuits. in January/February. Have they no shame? Santa's corpse isn't even cold yet!

But if he sticks around here, it will be freezing.

(** a note, this is the longest my little dude has ever been away from me. forgive me, my whining. :-) it's been a long time since I've been in anything BUT full-time 'mom-mode'**)

Cause I'm Awesome Like That

So, I woke up at 2:30 Saturday morning thinking that I was going to blow my cookies.

(spoiler: I didn't.)

But I laid there drifting out of a very uncomfortable sleep until it was time to wake my child to send him off with his father at 8:30am... thinking that I was going to blow my cookies. And the dizziness. Oh, the dizziness.

As soon as Jacob was safely trotting down the walkway with his dad (after making me chase him around the house, not wanting to get dressed or mind, at all before his dad arrived) I stumbled back to bed until it was time for him to come back home.

Jacob ate lunch & then took a nap & then I laid down too. Cause, did I mention the dizziness?

Mamaw here, thought that someone had yanked the world off its' axis and spun it fast without my permission & I was getting ready to get my broomstick after the no-good ya-whoos.

It got better as the day went along & then Sunday dawned....

Hi dizziness, you're back. Rinse and repeat.

Monday Morning. Rinse and repeat. Again. (But, with the added bonus of an early riser who wanted in my bed... not to sleep, but to bounce up and down. For about 30 minutes. 'Kid, this boat ain't big enough for the both of us.')

Possibly time to go to the doctor, huh?

My doctor looks in my ears and asks me this question... "Does your ear hurt... at all?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"Because you're right ear is so inflamed it looks like it's about to explode out of your ear."

Awesome.

So that explains the vertigo and strange compulsion to heave my stomach contents. And my abysmally low blood pressure. Yeah, for dizziness. Stupid inner ear.

More good news- its not actually an infection. It's just really inflamed. Excellent. Drink plenty of fluids and treat the symptoms until it goes away. How long, you ask? 3-4 weeks. Rock on.

Yes, I'm a medical over-achiever. Who, by the way, is totally a sucker for the power of suggestion. Yeah, my right ear. It's bothering my now.

But, in actual good news- THE STEELERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!
I'll try and devote another post to my happiness over that.
For now, Mamaw needs to get her blanket and pillow and go lay down. Lie down? Ugh, I never can remember which it is. Grammar, why must you taunt me so?

Sat. Steelers' Game

A little late... I know. What can I say? It's been a long week. I'm happy to say that I believe that Jacob is on the upswing of the crummy-crud. Yea!

So, in honor of that.... I give you a 3 part picture show, portraying the emotions that went into watching the Steelers game on Saturday. (Spoiler: we won. thank God.)

Happy, Enthused. Filled with Hope.... Just after kick-off.

Half-Time.... remember the emotions from kick-off? Yeah. Not so much.

The end of the game. Tired. Depleted. But, happy & content.

But then I remembered that I get to do it all again this coming weekend.... clearly I have no sense of self-preservation.....

...... or possibly just a very healthy sense of competition.

If I'm Still Awake In 3 Hours, You'll Know Why

Of course, by the time any of you read this you'll be thinking, "of course she's awake. why wouldn't she be?" As I type these words, it's 12:27... oops, make that 12:28am in the blessed a.m. & I fully expect to be summarily & often roused from my beauty sleep a time or 2 (or 10) tonight.

Why?

The Lad.

He's a bit on the sickly side.

Eee-gads. Every time the weather changes, it happens. Last year, I was graced with the ear infection that. wouldn't. die. (seriously. 4 weeks. morphed twice.) We've managed to hop, skip and jump our way through sickly-sick season thus far, but I fear that we're about to get a beating with a brick stick.

...and that hurts.

Jacob is a cuddly, affectionate little boy- just by his nature.

When he's sick. He's SUPER-mondo clingy boy. And Mr. Cranky McCrankerston... who falls apart at the. slightest. thing. for. no. blessed. reason. Yeah, lived with it the last day or so.

And the coughs. Oh, the poor boy. Coughed through his nap yesterday & today. And I can hear the congestion. ::frowny face::

But the best part about sicky-Jacob is the early mornings.... that's usually when his sweet little body decides to go AWOL on me. (ie: early morning puke-fests 2010) Once, he actually coughed so much he threw up. Awesome. ::whimper::

I've kept it at bay thus far....
Oh, please. Please, for the love. Go away coughs and congestion. Find some other smuck to pester.

So, in conclusion. If you see me around tomorrow & I seem... oh, what's the word? Slightly desperate for my caffeine hit??? Now you'll know why. And if you really love me, you'll have that Starbucks I.V. drip line waiting for me.

I Have This Friend

But I've never met her face to face.

How is it that we're friends, you ask? The magical world of the internet. Oh, magical internet. And the magical blogs that bind us.

My sweet bloggy friend, Joanne. The Simple Wife.

She's lovely. And kind. And honest (about her flaws and her high points). And encouraging. The very antithesis of "simple."

And totally part of my little community of "invisible friends"... and I'm part of hers.

She's 38.

She has 2 pre-teen daughters.

She's been married 19 years.

On Tuesday, my friend suffered a stroke.

It was bad.
And I am gutted for her. For her family. My heart grieves. It doesn't matter that I have never seen her face to face. In the years since the invisible, internet howdies were swapped, a friendship was forged & I am heartsick. My young, vibrant friend- with so much life in front of her- is in a hospital bed and she may not wake up. We don't know. We hope. We pray.

It's ana amazing thing, the internet. I've come to know & befriend a vast array of characters. A rather amusing little band of characters. It really is a band of 'invisible friendships'. You can't see them, but they are there. And, perhaps like, 'visible' friendships, you may not see the preciousness in some of them until they are removed.

Just something to think about in your visible and invisible friendships.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Since I'm very tired & Matilda is still beating me like a rented circus monkey, here's a happy little video that will make us all smile. :-)

disclaimer: the car was pulled over & parked when the video was taken.

disclaimer #2:..... I have no idea where the child gets his yen for the dramatic.

Poor Matilda

My back. She hurts.
And as she has been making a crying, gnashing, weeping pest of herself the last week or so, I thought it was only right to give her a name. Welcome her. Bake her cookies. Yes, I tried bribery. Hey, I'd do almost anything for a homemade oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie... it was worth a try with Matilda.

No dice.

Matilda still pains me. She's had a date night every single night this week with Fernando, my heating pad. They get along great... except when Fernando gets a little too hot for her. It happens. He's a hottie, after all. But I'm a very good chaperon & I get them to turn the heat down before anyone gets burned.

Tomorrow I must cajole Matilda into helping me with laundry (blasted laundry fairies skipped over my house this week), finish sorting through 'throw away' & 'give away' piles, etc, etc, etc.

In conclusion, while it may seem strange to some to have named my aching back & my heating pad... and to set them up on dates. It may sound odd to some to bribe or cajole a body part into well-being or something that resembles a pain-free existence.

But...

After a week...
Have I mentioned that my back... it pains me? sigh....

30

Well.

Huh.

So.

I had a birthday here not all that long ago. I am, officially, in my 30's. I haven't decided what I think of this turn of events. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be 30. I mean that. If nothing else, it means that I have managed to not do anything so stupid as to get myself killed. (and with the headlines I read on the news, that's a little bigger of a deal than it was a few years ago...)

No... at present I have been waxing poetic in my mind over turning 30. I suppose its this time of year. It's what happens when one turns a decade age. It's what happens when skinny jeans turn my boot cut jeans into 'mom jeans'....

Its the circle of life, Simba.

I turn 30 as a single mom.
I turn 30 as a woman finishing her UNDER-grad.
I turn 30 as a woman living with her kiddo... and her parents.

le sigh

It happens.

Yes. It. Happens.

But.

I turn 30 as a woman who is finishing her undergrad & is making plans to get her Masters.

I turn 30 with a plan to buy my own home... hey, its a plan. I'm thrilled with a plan.

I turn 30 & I have a son that I adore. And I get to raise him around his grandparents & great-grandmother for a couple of years. And they adore him.

I turn 30 with a church that loves on me & my kiddo.

I turn 30 with friends who make me laugh even on days when I don't want to laugh. On days when I would rather marinate in my anger or self-pity.

I turn 30 with a family who NEVER ceases to amaze me with their ability to love me. And, after 30 years... that's kinda, sorta something.

I turn 30 as the mother of a little boy who... makes my every day.

I turn 30 as the Daughter of a King.


Turning 30 is looking better with every stroke of the key.