“Sorry, hang on,” I said to my friend. We were testing out a new cookie recipe for our catering business.
“What?”
“Guess what,” Henry said.
“What already?” I felt exasperated – we had so much to do.
There was a long pause. I released a sigh and heard him laughing.
I was ready to give up when he suddenly sprang around the corner and yelled, “Surprise! I’m pregnant!” He proudly stood shirtless in the doorway, a silly grin on his face, his hand caressing his protruding belly.
His face turned five shades of red when he saw I wasn’t alone.
.
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Write up to 100 words, fact or fiction….
This is a themed writing meme hosted by Jenny Matlock. The goal is to write something that does not exceed 100 words (not including said prompt). The prompt is in bold.
I told you I had HOURS of video where the babies are doing nothing at all.
Here’s one …
I’m assuming we just bought this walker because I’ve stuck Dude in it and then thought it was so cool, I had to video tape him looking confused – pleased with his new found vertical position, but confused, nonetheless.
I think I kept the camera on him for so long because I was fascinated with his chubby legs and the way he was kicking them as well as the way he would curl his toes. Baby fat is so adorable, isn’t it?
We’ve been pretty fortunate with our air conditioner – it’s only broke down a few times in the 19 + years that we’ve been living in our house. But of course, it always happened at the hottest part of the summer. Judging by the way Kevin slams the doors coming and going and his fast pace, he’s either A. annoyed, B. thinking how to fix the problem or most likely, C. both.
He also got annoyed with me whenever I would sit on my butt and video tape the kids instead of helping him, paying attention to him, or not cleaning house (I’m a terrible housekeeper. At least, I used to be, I’m better now). I TOLD him we’d be glad I taped the kids so much someday and guess what?
It’s someday.
It’s going to be a gorgeous weekend here this weekend: sunny and in the 80’s. I feel sort of guilty, considering Hurricane Irene is going to pretty much ruin plans for the East Coast this weekend. Hang in there East Coasters. Let’s pray Irene doesn’t do very much damage.
Sorry for the wash out. I was lucky he smiled at all. This was the best I could do and only after I called him a booger head, or something like that.
… Junior year.
Jazz only has two years left. Dude graduated this past May, so I only had one child going to school today.
I’d say it felt weird, but it really didn’t. And that’s mainly because Dude got out two weeks earlier than the rest of the school district so we already went through that “this is weird that you’re home when your brother has to go to school” phase.
Jazz was NOT HAPPY to start back to school. I’ll be honest, neither of my boys like school. There’s no sugar coating it, they both honestly hate school. Though school is a bit more tolerable for Jazz because of his involvement with band.
The beginning of school is no big deal in our house anymore. It hasn’t been a big deal for a few years now. The last time it was even remotely exciting was when Jazz started high school. I don’t even buy supplies anymore. I used to buy the boys a new backpack every year (because little boys go THROUGH the backpacks, for some reason), but I haven’t even had to do that because I bought them better backpacks when they started high school and they’ve lasted so there hasn’t been a reason to buy them a new one.
And other than a few one-inch binders, mechanical pencils and paper, they don’t need anything else. (Though a good calculator does come in handy). So I miss not doing the whole shopping for back-to-school supplies anymore.
Since the boys have slowed down on the growing front, I haven’t had to buy them new clothes in a while, either. Though I did have to buy Jazz new jeans TWICE last year – not bigger, but longer. The boy has GOTTEN TALL. (He’s like one of the tallest in his class now, which is so weird, since he was always the smallest in his class until this past year).
I’m taking Jazz to school in the mornings and since we’ve asked Dude to come to the office in the mornings now, he has enough time to work on his computer stuff a while before leaving to pick Jazz up from school and then his day is over. Our goal is to make sure Jazz has his license by his senior year and then he can drive himself.
(I’m just not convinced that 16 year-old kids should be driving. I know they can legally drive, but I just feel like they’re not mature enough to really handle it. There seems to be a HUGE maturity leap between 16 and 17 so if we can wait for the boys to reach 17 before getting their licenses, so be it).
I’m looking forward to picking him up today, though. He’s always chatty after school and I really enjoy talking with him about his day. If he’s going to tell me anything, it’s right after school.
So. Two more years of public school. I’m ready to move on to the next stage, but I’ll admit, I’m going to miss it.
Kevin has always had sleep issues. For as long as I’ve known the man, he has never slept very well. He’s been a walking zombie for the past 23 years.
So over the years, we’ve worked on eliminating external triggers – background noise, no background noise, running fans, installing an air conditioner, covering every last pinpoint of light up with duct tape. (true story).
Kevin has tried alternating his diet – only drinking coffee in the morning, only having a splash of coffee in the afternoon, eating cereal right before bed, not eating right before bed, eating peanut butter sandwiches before bed, drinking a glass of water, (which makes him get up in the middle of the night to pee), not drinking a glass of water, (which makes him wake up with a headache and parched), and I can’t even tell you the combination of herbs and vitamins he first takes, then doesn’t take, to see if that has any impact on his sleep.
It’s become a running joke between us: “I think I’ve figured out why I’m not sleeping!” he’ll say with such hope and enthusiasm it’s almost painful to watch because I know it’ll inevitably fail, (which is does), and he’ll be right back to square one.
I had a few theories, but he wouldn’t listen to me – he wanted to exhaust every other possibility on his own first before he would reach the point where he was ready to accept help.
Finally, FINALLY, after exhausting every avenue, after trying everything short of standing on his head and leaning ever so slightly to the left, the man had had enough and he went to a sleep clinic. He did the whole spending the night thing, and when the results came back, I couldn’t help but preen a little.
I had been right. I guessed he had sleep apnea and he does. I would listen to him breathe at night and there were times he would simply stop breathing. Sometimes for so long that I would raise up on one elbow to watch him and be ready to spring into action if he didn’t resume breathing. (Though I have no idea what I would have done – I don’t have any medical training to speak of and aside from dealing with premature apnea with Dude and gently shaking him back to earth, I wouldn’t know what else to do).
Finding out that he had sleep apnea was a turning point. He now wears a mask at night and whenever he stops breathing, the machine will inject massive pockets of air into his lungs which makes up for the lack of oxygen his body needs whenever he stops breathing on his own. It’s also wiped out his snoring problem.
Whenever we went on vacation or went camping, and had to all share the same sleeping space with each other, I had to make sure to bring earplugs with me because the boys and I couldn’t sleep over his snoring. The volume was bad enough, but what really drove us crazy was the consistency, or lack of consistency, I should say. Sometimes he would snore softly, sometimes loudly. Sometimes he would abruptly snort. And it ALWAYS happened whenever we were on the verge of falling asleep so that when he let a snore loose, it was loud enough and startling enough to make us jerk back awake.
It was a nightmare. Seriously.
But now that he wears that mask at night, he doesn’t snore anymore. It eliminated that problem.
Unfortunately, it didn’t eliminate his sleeping problems.
He still wakes up at 3:00, on the dot, to either go to the bathroom, to grab something to drink, sometimes to eat something because he’s RAVENOUS, or he’s simply wide awake. And instead of getting up to go read, he will stubbornly lay in bed and stare at the ceiling for an hour, or two before he falls back into a fitful doze until morning light.
It’s always worse when he is stressing over something. I tell him he doesn’t know how to shut his brain off. Sometimes he will wake up in the middle of the night and a solution to a problem, that had been eluding him for days, will suddenly pop into his head. So I KNOW that on some level, he’s constantly thinking about stuff. We have no idea how to make him shut his brain off. But it’s not for lack of trying all sorts of stuff, I assure you.
Now me, on the other hand, I can fall sleep anywhere for any length of time. I don’t have a problem falling asleep, I don’t have a problem staying asleep, PROVIDED the world stops spinning and nothing happens around me. I’m a very light sleeper – everything wakes me up. A sneeze, a cough, someone shifting position in bed, a barking dog (GRR – our neighbor dogs drive me nuts sometimes), the house shifting, an animal scratching the house (which – CREEPY), a noisy car, loud rain … you name it. If it happens anywhere within ear shot, it wakes me up. So even though I go to sleep fast, I wake up about 50 times a night (which might explain why I’m tired all the time, now that I think about it. Duh).
But still. I have it easier than Kevin. Even though I have my own sleep issues, I still get more sleep than he does. And I always have. So when we broke down about nine years ago and bought a sleep number bed, I gave in. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but hey, whatever it took to give the man his sleep, I was all for it.
I hated that bed. I never slept well in it. I would routinely wake up with various parts of my body completely numb – namely my pinky. And because Kevin would shift around, it would cause my side of the bed to move so it would wake me up. Finally, I ended up buying an air mattress and slept in the living room – FOR YEARS. Seriously. Kevin and I just slept better apart.
He loved the sleep number bed. In fact, he would let so much air out of his side of the bed it was like he was sleeping on a hammock. I, on the other hand, like it firm. Almost rock hard firm. It’s just better for my back. So the sleep number bed really did suit our individual needs. And sleeping in the living room wasn’t that big of a deal because we all went to bed at the same time (more or less) and it was dark and quiet. No problem.
But about two years ago, something shifted with the bed. It became a lot more uncomfortable and I could hardly stand to sleep on it. Still. I endured it for Kevin’s sake because he was still loving the bed. (I’m such a martyr, aren’t I? HA!) And sleeping out in the living room was becoming an issue because our sons don’t go to bed as early as we do now, so they would be up and though they would be quiet, I was such a light sleeper that I just wouldn’t fall asleep until they did.
Kevin and I have talked about getting a new bed for a few years now, but we never did anything about it. We had heard good things about Temper-pedic and thought if we ever went bed shopping, we’d check one out.
We went and checked one out yesterday.
When the mattress salesman found out how long Kevin and I have been sleeping on a sleep by number (nine years), he actually cringed.
Our old, lumpy sleep by number mattress
I couldn’t say I blamed him. Our bed was so used it was misshapen and lumpy and HELLO, it’s no wonder we weren’t sleeping very well.
We checked out the temper-pedics. We didn’t even look at the pillow tops. I knew those were probably too soft for Kevin and besides, I had heard that after a few years, the pillow top started looking lumpy and misshapen and that was one of the things that drove me the most nuts about our sleep by number – it just looked hideous after it was made. One side was lower than the other side and I hated how it looked. Which doesn’t mean a lot to a lot of people but the small OCD part of me just couldn’t stand it.
(I have no idea if I have OCD, I’m self-diagnosing myself because of some of the things that drive me nuts and that I must correct AT ALL COSTS OR HEADS WILL ROLL).
After figuring out that the medium was the right one for us, we took a look at the price tag … and nearly fainted. We were on a mission to get some sleep but not for that price!
Our pale faces must have alerted the salesman because he then directed our attention to the iComforts by Serta. They were half the price of the Temper-pedic and just as good (with a longer warranty). We tested them out and decided on the medium.
They delivered our mattress yesterday afternoon. (Did I mention we BOUGHT the thing yesterday afternoon? Yeah. This place rocked the customer service).
It looks hard, but the salesman warned us that it would feel a little more firm than what we wanted for a few weeks until it was worn in. He also suggested we take our shoes off and walk on it a few times as well as that helps loosen it up.
(hehe – I couldn’t resist posting this one).
The thought of putting our old bedding set on our new mattress sort of grossed me out, so Kevin and I went to JCPenney Home Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond to look for a new set. We found this at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
(I know it’s wrinkly – I’m too lazy to use the steamer. They’ll work themselves out sooner or later. HA!)
I really like it, but I wish the skirt was a different color – there is too much gray. (Which, you can’t tell by this picture, but trust me – GRAY). I’ll probably try and find a purple-ish skirt to break up that gray.
What was really cool about this bed set though, was that it came with two Euro pillow shams and two decorative pillows. I can’t believe they haven’t been including the decorative pillows before now! It’s so hard to find anything that matches your set and individual pillows are so expensive. Anyway, I was thrilled and I’m ordering two Euro pillows from Wal-mart.com today. I hadn’t even HEARD of Euro pillows before yesterday. But I’m looking forward to putting it all together when they arrive.
How was our first night sleeping on it, you ask? (Thanks for asking!) Pretty good. Though our metal frame is too flimsy and off balance to support it, so every time Kevin or I shifted, it was like trying to sleep on a raft in the middle of the ocean. It woke me up several times and by 4:00 o’clock, I was wide awake. I ended up dozing on the couch until 6:00 a.m. (I don’t think waking up at 4:00 a.m was because of the mattress but because today was the first day of school and I’m always afraid I’ll oversleep and always tend to get up way early).
Kevin called the mattress place and they’re going to sell us a more sturdy frame. We’ll pick it up today and hopefully that will take care of the wobbling problem.
We’re a little concerned about it being too firm, but the guy did warn us about that. He said after a month, if it still feels too firm/soft, to let him know and we could exchange it for the one we wanted. I’m optimistic though, I think once it wears in a bit, it’s going to be really comfortable. It’s comfortable now, just a little too firm.
Let’s hope we invested in a bed that we can actually sleep in this time!
P.S. In case you’re wondering what the difference is between a Temper-pedic and an iComfort (aside from the price, of course) – the iComfort has “cool action“, which is supposed to help keep the foam cooler.
I saw this on Twitter the other day and thought it was really interesting – both in principal and in how people responded to it. I was also impressed and encouraged.
I came across a page on facebook that was created (by someone under a ficticious name) thats purpose is to bully, ridicule and say mean and hurtful things about their class mates. While visiting the page, I found several teenage girls that have scheduled sessions with me for their senior pictures. I am emailing them tomorrow to cancel their shoots. I do not want them to represent my business and I am beside myself at how MEAN and CRUEL they were on that page.
This photographer had a few shoots scheduled with some teenage girls. (I’m assuming they were senior pictures, though I suppose the girls could have been in college. Being mean doesn’t have an age limit). Apparently, the photographer ran across a page that her clients had set up for the sole purpose of ridiculing, and bullying (because let’s call it what it is), other people. She was so disturbed by the sheer meanness that she made an executive decision to cancel the sessions with them. Her rationale being, how could she possibly photograph them and make them as beautiful as possible when they were such ugly people on the inside.
I say – BRAVO.
If more people would take a stand whenever other people do stupid things, like be mean to each other on a public forum, or open their mouths before thinking, or do something completely asinine, then perhaps the world would be a nicer place to live.
Just sayin’.
As a small business owner myself, I understand the risk this woman is taking and the risks involved in refusing to provide a service based on our self-imposed moral guidelines. But at some point, and I believe that point is here and now, we need to stand up and say ENOUGH with the bitchy, it’s all about me and puffing up my self-worth attitudes. It’s time to get over ourselves and bring back COURTESY and RESPECT for our fellow human beings.
I’m so tired of people thinking they can act however they want to act and not have to worry about consequences. WRONG. We need to start making sure there are consequences for stupid choices. Whether that’s jail time for stealing, driving school for reckless driving, school suspension for disrupting class, or deliberately posting something cruel on the Internet behind the cover of “anonymity” – there are, or SHOULD BE, consequences for our stupidity. (And just in case you were not aware of it, the ONLY way to stay completely anonymous on the Internet is to never post anything. I can assure you, people are becoming more savvy when it comes to finding faces behind the fake names – so if you don’t want something that you posted online to come back and bite you in the butt later in life – don’t post it).
I realize that people makes mistakes – we’re all human, we have all weak moments. But the more we overlook these moments, the more we try and excuse them away (well, she comes from a broken home, or well, she’s under a lot of stress right now), the more we condition ourselves to just endure it and eventually accept it. And the more we accept or overlook, the worse it gets because being human, we push the envelope, we take it to the next level, we see how much we can get away with before we’re forced to pay the piper.
When do we say enough is enough? We all talk about how we wish things were different, how we wish people would be more considerate and then when an opportunity presents itself and we have a chance to take a stand, we either chicken out for fear of public ridicule or we excuse it away, thereby giving the person who is acting like an ass a free pass.
So yeah. I say kudos to this photographer for taking a stand, as well as a risk, and sticking to her morals. We ALL need to start sticking up for our morals.
by Dan Gallagher How Truth is Revealed
Although it is popular today to believe there are many truths, this is contrary to the very nature of truth. The biblical view of truth begins with the presupposition that God is true, and is the source of truth. The question then is: How does God communicate truth to mankind? In this teaching, Dan Gallagher reviews the four ways that answer this question: words, reason (wisdom), experience, and tradition. Through the years, many people have recognized these ways, but have not kept them in proper balance, placing too much emphasis on one area while neglecting the others. By revealing truth through multiple means, God has designed a wonderful system of checks and balances. Understanding how truth is revealed will increase our ability to know, hold, and practice the truth in a healthy way..
And I’m sure I’ve missed a few more technical colleges.
All of these colleges are crammed into our “little” city. (We’re actually the third largest city in Missouri, but you rarely hear that fact because we’re ignored a lot of the time. Which … is actually okay with me because the media is lame to begin with).
So when Fall rolls around, the college students start POURING in. Which is fine – it’s great for our economy, not so great for our traffic flow. But whatever. We quickly adapt.
Now that Dude has graduated from high school …
*Side Note: Now that Dude is 18, I really don’t have a problem calling him by his real name on this blog. I want to, but I don’t think it’s wise given this blog comes up pretty easily in Google (not because it’s popular but because I’ve been blogging for nearly seven years now) and I don’t want a potential employer googling Dude’s name and this blog comes up. It’s not that I have anything to hide, per se, but it might just be too weird to watch baby videos of a potential candidate … in case you were wondering why I still refer to my oldest son as “Dude.”
… and has applied for 17 jobs (at last count – and yes, we’re keeping track of where he has been applying as well as the dates he applied through an Excel sheet), but hasn’t actually landed a job yet, he has some time on his hands. Time that he WILL NOT waste away by playing video games all day long.
Since his long-term goal is computers, Kevin suggested (as in STRONGLY suggested, as in you don’t really have a choice until you get a job suggested) that Dude come up to the office every weekday afternoon and work toward his A+ certification. (Computer places won’t hire you to work on computers unless you have this certification). He’s also dabbling in Java and PHP, too. (Those are computer programs, in case you don’t speak geek. HA!)
We really expected him to complain about this “arrangement,” but so far, Kevin and I think he’s actually relieved to have something TO DO while he bides his time on the job front. I mean, playing games is fun and all, but doing it every day, all day long, has GOT to get old after a while.
I think he likes the independence, too. He comes and goes as he pleases (as long as he gets to the office around 1-ish and stays until 4:30 – 5-ish) and he drives his own car. We wanted to give him a taste of what it’s like to leave the house and report somewhere. I want to eventually make him get to the office earlier – there’s really no excuse NOT to. We wake him up at 8:00 (because if we didn’t, he’d sleep until noon every day and if he wants to do that on his days off after his gets a job, fine. But until he gets a job, he’s not sleeping all day and staying up all night – not gonna happen on my watch, missy), and before he gets on his computer, he’s expected to eat breakfast, drink his coffee (that he makes himself because Kevin and I drink our coffee at the office), and take a shower. Reality comes first.
Period.
So he’s up and ready to go by 10:00 at the latest. He could pack a lunch and come up to the office at that time – it’s just a matter of making him do it.
He can also put this office/computer experience on his resume, too. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.
Today was the first day of college for a lot of students. I’ve gotten some surprised (and somewhat disapproving looks) from a few people when they find out that Dude is not attending college this Fall. Though we want Dude to go to college at some point (because regardless of what people say, having a college degree IS something to fall back on and to give you an edge when you’re competing for jobs), we also want him to WANT to go and to take it seriously when he goes. We’re also recommending to him that he pay for his classes as he goes, as opposed to getting loans, so he’s not graduating with a bunch of debt.
If/when he takes college courses, he’ll likely take his required courses through OTC – mainly because their classes are cheaper and they have a deal worked out with Missouri State so that their credits easily transfer over. By the time Dude goes to MSU (assuming he transfers to MSU when the time comes), he’ll be able to jump right into his specialized classes.
I will likely take him to the OTC campus in the next month or so to get him enrolled to take a course in the Spring. It really all depends on what is going on with the job situation. Well, even when he gets a job, we still expect him to take classes, eventually. It’s important that Dude think about his future career. Not only because it’s our desire to see him financially set for life (and not having to live from paycheck to paycheck), but because he’s a man, which means at some point he will want to get married and have a family (God willing) and he’ll need to be in a position to take care of his family.
Kevin and I have talked, at length, about our firstborn. We don’t want to choose his future for him, but we don’t want him sitting around the house and wasting his life away, either. The longer he sits around and doesn’t do anything, the more difficult it will be for him to get started. Not to mention, it looks odd to potential employers if he has this big void of doing nothing on his resume.
(“So Dude. You’ve been out of school for two years and you haven’t worked anywhere or taken any college courses? What have you been doing this whole time?”)
We have just accepted the fact that Dude is one of those people who need a push. He’s simply not motivated enough to kick start himself into gear. And to be fair to the boy, he really doesn’t know where to start. Being 18 and a recent high school graduate is a bitter/sweet experience. On the one hand, he has the whole world at his feet. On the other hand, he has the whole world at his feet — where in the world does he start?!
Exactly.
So. As his parents, we’re pushing him in one direction and if he chooses to go a different direction, that’s his choice, but you can’t jump start a car if you don’t have any cables, right?
In addition to trying to give him a direction in his professional life, we’re also teaching him household chores and how to cook.
He’ll need to know these skills when he moves out.
Whenever THAT happens.
I’ll be honest, I love my son dearly and wish the best for him. I will work hard to help him in any way that I can, but I’m looking forward to the day that he has taken a step toward his future, i.e. gets a job and starts taking college courses, and I can relax and just let him live his life. I’m ready to relinquish my “mom” duties and move on to “supportive”, “mother-in-law” or even “grandma” roles.
Kevin has always had sleep issues. For as long as I’ve known the man, he has never slept very well. He’s been a walking zombie for the past 23 years. 
Write From Karen 