I had several people ask me today if I had a good Mother’s Day.  To most people I just said that it was fine but in reality it was horrible.  The morning started with my waking up and walking downstairs to find DH cooking eggs, DD and DS2 watching TV and DS1 and DS3 still asleep.  I said good morning and there was no response from the kids.   Hmmm.  I make my own coffee and sit down to eat the breakfast that DH cooked.  My kids are 14, 11, 9 and 3.  Except for the 3-year-old, the others are all capable of making me something for breakfast.  Then I discover that the kids already ate.  Their eyes still glued to the TV, they haven’t said anything about Mother’s Day.   Hmmm.

We get ready for church.  They give me cards that they’ve made (honestly not much effort put into them).  I take 2 cars to church because DD has to practice and sing with the children’s chorus during the service.  The rest of the clan are so late they miss DD singing.  Hmmm.  After the service, I take DS3 home and fold laundry.  They’re late coming home because they stopped off at the grocery store to buy me some flowers and to get frostingand cake.  DS1 wants to bake me a cake.  DS1 and DS2 fight about who is going to help make the cake.  Hmmmm.  I tell DS1 that he needs to start studying for his end of year exams.  He tells me he’s not going to.  HMMMMM!  DD and DS3 bicker constantly.

The rest of the day is uneventful and around 4 I realize there are absolutely no plans for dinner.  They have no idea what we’re having, whether we’re eating in or out.  I  start to seethe inside.  DS3 is exhausted so we realize we can’t go anywhere nice for dinner.  We end up at Chili’s.  Woohooo.  We order and while we wait for the food, the bickering starts again.  By this time I am at a full boil.  I let them have it.  I calmly tell them how they failed at making this the “best Mother’s Day ever” as they wished me in their cards.  I tell them how disappointed I am at their lack of thought and preparation.  I so wanted to call a cab and come home but I sat there and ate my tasteless dinner.  There was no conversation other than with DS3.

I know I behaved badly but I guess I was expecting something different after the royal tantrum I threw on my birthday only 2 weeks ago.  But nothing changed.  What did I get for Mother’s Day?  Just the lopsided strawberry cake.

It would all be worth it if they actually heard me but I don’t think they did.  Am I asking too much to be pampered and doted on 2 days out of 365?  Forget pampering and doting - just to be appreciated would be nice.

I wrote this on April 28th but somehow I never published it…

I realized today that if I didn’t blog something in the next few days I would have gone the entire month of April without a post.  It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say or that things haven’t been happening because it’s been BUSY here.  More lacrosse games than I care to count, swim meets, birthdays (DH and DS3), a book club hosted at my house (meant I had to clean harder than my usual), and various doctors’ appointments.

As it is getting close to my one-year anniversary date, I thought I would give an update on my health.

• I had my first mammogram post-cancer and they found nothing.  Yeah!!
• I had a physical and my thyroid is overactive again.  The endocrinologist says that it’s mild enough that she doesn’t want to put me on medication but still worrisome because of my history.  I am to get another blood test in 2 months and go back and see her.  In the meantime, I am to get a baseline dexa scan and take 1500 mg Calcium and 1000 IU of vitamin D daily to prevent osteoporosis.  I have four strikes against me - my mom has it, hyperthyroidism can cause osteoporosis if left untreated, chemotherapy was not a good thing for my bones and my hormone status and current medication puts me at higher risk.  Fun, fun, fun.
• I still have to go get that colonoscopy but can’t seem to find 2 days when we’re not running around.
• I have my first gyn appointment.  I’m a little nervous about this one.
• I have a referral to see the podiatrist but of course, now that I have the referral in hand the plantar fasciitis pain has healed.  Yeah.
• I need to see the dentist.
• I am still 20 lbs overweight.  Although I am trying, I’m finding it hard to fit regular exercise into my schedule.  I may have to follow my friend’s footsteps and hire myself a personal trainer to kick my butt in gear.

 

I turn 43 tomorrow.  The shadows and fears which hung over my last birthday still linger and I have some dark moments but I am starting to see the brightness and joy in my life.  I’m doing a study at church and it’s been helpinAnd thank goodness for the lightness that DS3 (”I’m not two any more.  I’m three.  I looooove the ice cream truck.”) brings to my days.

DH left for San Diego yesterday so that means I am once again a single parent for a few days.  My schedule last night was crazy.  I dropped DD at lacrosse practice at 5:00 then drove 5 miles to drop DS1 at his Boy Scout merit badge meeting at 5:15.  DS3 fell asleep in the car so I drove 5 miles back home so I could get something together for dinner.  Then we drove 5 miles in another direction to get DS2 from swim practice.  Once home DS2 had 20 minutes to eat dinner while we waited for DD to come home from practice and then we all took him to his Boy Scout meeting.  Then I actually had a couple of hours at home to eat, clean up and check homework before we went out to get DS1 whose soccer practice ended at 9:30.  By the time I got everyone in bed it was after 10:00.

Today doesn’t look any better.  I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  From there we’ll go to DD’s talent show practice which I hope will end early enough so that she can go to swim practice at 5:00.  From there I need to get DS2 to lacrosse practice at 5:30.  Then back again to get DD from swimming.  Drive home to pick DS1 up and take him to lacrosse practice.  Play with the kids in the park for an hour waiting for DS2’s practice to end.   Bring him home so he can have dinner and then go back and get DS1 when his practice ends at 8:45.  It’s enough to make my head spin.  If it weren’t for the fact that each  child has missed several practices already for various reasons I would keep them all home.

After just one day I am in a foul mood.  DH doesn’t return until Friday!!!  Single parenting sucks.

It’s 3:00 pm and I’m off to the grocery store to pick up a box of granola bars for DS1’s service project that is due TOMORROW.  Of course he couldn’t have told me this before yesterday when I did my grocery shopping.  Why the heck do I have to run out to the store to buy something for HIS service project?  I don’t see him doing any service.  Arrggghhh!  But that’s for another post.  Gotta go before I get off schedule…

Today is the last day of Spring Break for my kids.  I am secretly glad that they will be going back to school tomorrow.  It was nice having them at home but today it was nonstop bickering all day.  “Mommy, he called me stupid.”  “Mom, she hit me on the chest with a lacrosse ball and then kicked me in the head.”  “He’s sitting in my seat!”  “Which animal do you want to sacrifice?  How about Taffy?”  The last was spoken by my oldest to my youngest in reference to a small Webkinz cocker spaniel, which happens to be the youngest’s favorite stuffed animal.  Of course, this lead to whining and crying and my yelling at DS1 to not tease his brother.  By 11:00 AM, I wished I had convinced DH to take the day off so he could share in my misery.

The day wasn’t a total loss though.  I finally finished reading my current book, “The Thirteenth Tale” which I thoroughly enjoyed and I’m now sitting in the library in relative peace waiting to pick up DS2 from swim practice and DS1 from lacrosse practice.  I wish I could just stay here until I knew the kids were in bed.  :-) 

DH is traveling again for work.  It’s like the people at work waited until I finished all of my treatments to start sending him all over the country.  He was in San Diego last week for 3 very, very long days and nights.  So I was none too happy when DH left for Rochester last night.

It looked like it was going to be another rough day when DS3 woke up crying at 4:30 this morning but I got him back to sleep and leisurely sent the other kids off to school.  I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon running errands, playing with DS3 and just enjoying the beautiful spring like weather.  Just as I was getting ready to think about what to do for dinner, DH called from the Rochester airport to say that he was on his way home and that he would bring dinner.  Yippee!!

Now I’m off to bed because after being up for over 18 hours I am typing this with my eyes half closed.  Do you know what’s even better?  DH is going to get up in the morning with DS1.   Yup, the man spoils me. 

DS1’s boys swim team came in first place tonight at the state championships and are now the 2008 state champs!  They had an incredible season with a 14-0-1 record and are now County, Regional and State champs.  DS1 went as an alternate and did not swim but what an exciting end to his first high school sport team experience.

With this final meet behind him, he’s already thinking about lacrosse tryouts which start bright and early Saturday morning.

Way back in the olden days when I was in high school, at most 2 AP classes were offered in each subject. My graduating class had 624 students so that meant less than 10% of the kids took AP classes. In addition, of those kids who took those AP classes only a fraction actually sat for the AP exam. Now it seems like high schools are ranked by how many of their students take AP classes and sit for the exam. So can you see the direction competitive high schools are heading?

DS1’s course registration was due last Friday. During the registration period, we received a letter from the high school saying that certain AP courses were recommended for DS1 based on his performance on the PSAT exam. Well, other than Latin (which DS1 doesn’t take) and English Literature, he was recommended the other AP classes. I then attended an AP information meeting where one of the school counselors told all in attendance that colleges think more of a student who receives a ‘C’ or even a ‘D’ in an AP course than an A in a regular class. What???!!!!! When does a ‘D’ look good anywhere?? I so wanted to raise my hand and argue this point but I was good and kept my mouth shut. I left the meeting resolved that I was not going to buy into this AP mania and that DS1 was going to take a reasonable course load next year.

But the school is smart. They weren’t really trying to get my buy in. They didn’t need it. They had already convinced my son. I could not believe that I could not convince my son that it was not necessary for him to take AP Statistics in his sophomore year when he was already taking Honors Precalculus. But that is what is being recommended for all students who are doing well in Honors Algebra 2. That is what all his friends are taking so can you say “moooo?”

So my 14-year old next year will be taking AP World History, AP Statistics, Honors Precalculus, Honors Chemistry, Honors English 10, Spanish 3 and then 2 electives. Am I alone in thinking that this is way too much for a sophomore? And when did my son stop listening to my advice?

I’m still here. It’s just hard to find time and energy to put a posting together. DH is traveling for work again. I don’t know what made me think that DD didn’t have enough to do and signed her up for swimming so now the three older kids are swimming. DD has a couple of basketball games left and then lacrosse starts for all of them in March.

And I totally lost my train of thought because after I typed that last sentence, DS3 told me he had soiled his diaper and that his bottom hurt.  So I put him in the bath and asked DS2 to watch him for a few minutes while I went to do something. I come to find water all over the bathroom floor. Aaarrrggghhh!!! I can’t wait for DH to come back from San Diego tomorrow. Maybe he’ll bring my sanity back with him.  In the meantime, BRING ON the ICE CREAM!

Nine months after my breast cancer diagnosis I am finished with treatment.  I had my last radiation treatment today.  I am relieved not to have to go to the hospital for my daily dose of radiation but I’m not feeling as happy as I thought I would.  I guess I know that although the active treatment is finished, my fight is still not over.  There’s Tamoxifen, the first mammogram since surgery and treatment, and more doctor’s appointments.  At some point, I hope I’ll have more peace than I do now.  My immediate task at hand is to try to figure out how to live a “normal” life now when I don’t feel or look normal.  Any ideas?

While I go about my day I have all these ideas for blog posts but I don’t seem to get them written.  So here we are 2 weeks into the new year and my first post.  And what do I decide to write about?  My vacuum cleaner.

I have a Dyson Animal and I love it.  It gives me such a feeling of satisfaction when I see the “collection” in the canister after I’ve vacuumed a room.  Other than empyting the canister when it gets full, the only thing that Dyson recommends is that you wash the filter every 6 months.  The first time I did this, it wasn’t too bad.

Of course, I was otherwise occupied this year and didn’t get to it until after the new year when I was hit with a shortlived cleaning frenzy.  The filter itself wasn’t too bad.  I followed the directions and washed it.  Then I made the mistake of deciding to wash the canister.   Talk about gross.  There was a layer of grey fine dust caked all over the inside.  Eeeewwww!!!

I didn’t know what to do so I did what I always do.  I went on the Internet and did a Google search.  What did I find?  A bunch of conflicting advice.  One person said to take it apart and wash it.  Sounded good to me since that was my first instinct.  But then someone else said that if you wash it, water will get into the cyclone thingie and break the vacuum.   Another person said to take it in for a service and have all the gunk blown out.  Someone else said you shouldn’t blow air into the thingie because it could break the vacuum.  By this time, I was thinking that I should have left well enough alone.  Or better yet, I should have delegated it to DH.

What did I do?  I took an old toothbrush and did the best I could to brush most of the junk off.  And then I took a shower because half of that junk landed on me and my clothes.  Can you say it louder this time?   Eeeewwwww!!!

Happy New Year to me!