Love

Love to you.

Lucky

Last week started on a down note, as I still wasn't feeling well. I think my hormones are all over the place right now, and Tuesday I was up all night and feeling weak in the morning, so I called in sick to the school.

Later that morning, my Tax boss called and said they had an emergency in the office closest to me, and could I please come in and help out. I said I'd get ready and see how I felt. Well, I felt like the worst was over, so I called and told her I'd come in.

The office WAS busy. The second return I did was for an older couple who were SO nice. The wife kept asking me questions about my heritage, my family, everything. She asked what I did besides taxes, and I gave her my other card. Next thing I knew they were saying they'd like my help with that, too!

Suddenly, everything was looking up. But now that I have reason to think I might have enough sales to stay in my office, I know that I don't want to anymore.

I went to vote and picked up the Girl.

After I went home, my problem started back up again. I called my Mom for sympathy, and next thing I knew she was demanding that I go to the doctor NOW and demand that they find out what is causing this problem and fix it immediately!

So I called Kaiser who put me through to an Advice Nurse, who advised me to go to Urgent Care after 5:30. So I went to The Boy's game (they won) and afterward went to Kaiser while S stayed with the Girl. I waited 3 hours, and in the end never got to see anyone. The election results were coming in and a nice girl from I think Lithawania was talking with me about politics, etc. She was asking me what they meant by "the evangelical vote." She was really nice.

So at 10 pm they cleared everyone out, and I was sent home to hopefully live another day. Stupid problem.

Wednesday morning I threw up at 3:30am, and ended up calling in sick again. I remember times when I felt my family had forgotten about me, or didn't really care. For instance, I couldn't get anyone interested when I had to do an Amniocentisis 11 years ago .

Well, they made up for it in spades by bugging me now to resolve this health problem with Kaiser NOW! It's been a long time since I've lied to my parents to get them off my back, but I found myself just wanting it to end! I love it that they care about me, but sometimes they come on a little strong.

Thurs - I missed the Boy's game to take the Girl to practice. Went to Trader Joes, the library, and then took The Girl home. The Boy's team won - now they're going to playoffs.

Fri - Not too eventful. Finished taxes - printed out to take home.
Took The Girl to basketball practice.

Sat - 11am game in Camarillo - continued from rained out Sunday last week. Beat a Blue team 2-0. The Girl took a great shot on goal, but the goalie hit it away with one hand and The Girl looked amazed. She saved the day 2x on defense. Had Chinese food near home for late lunch. Started cleaning house for company on Sunday.

Basketball game that night - won 22-6, The Girl scored 8.

Sun - 8am game in Moorpark - a little closer than Camarillo. Beat another Blue team 2-0. First half going into sun, couldn't score. Second half The Girl passed to Mary who scored. Then Mary passed to The Girl who scored. Yay!

Two things happened in that game I'd never seen before. First, the ref gave The Girl a card - I thought it was a yellow card. Turned out it was a WHITE card - a warning before you get a yellow card! After the game was over, after the girls slapped hands and everything, one of our best players ran off saying "I've got to get to Mass!" Then the other team started complaining about the time, and the ref made us all come back onto the field and play 8 more minutes! Too bad one of our best players had already left! We still won anyway.

So next week we get to go to San Diego! Came home and finished cleaning house. I also finished the book, "Harm Done" by Ruth Rendell, which was pretty good.

The Boy came home and let us know he'd pierced both his ears the night before. A great way to get ready for playoffs, eh?

Our friends came for dinner, The Boy was at work, The Girl sleeping over a friend's. Clam chowder with wild rice, loaf of bread, 3 bottles of wine!

Yum.

So right now we're feeling so lucky. Both our kids are doing well, both their teams are going into playoffs. We have nice friends. My parents are giving me lots of attention.

How did I get so lucky?

Weekend update

It was an unusual weekend for me because I got sick. I don't think I get sick that often, so that must be why it bothered me so much.

Friday started out nicely enough. I found a mistake on a prior year tax return for a client, and got him a nice refund this year. Then I had a meeting with my new sales boss. I told him I already had a few transactions lined up for this year, which I thought would be good news. Instead, he told me that since they are a "professional" company, they could only keep salespeople that have 4 transactions minimum per year. So I should think about that.

Surprised, blurted out that this new "rule" would leave out nearly all the salespeople in the office, but he didn't care about that. He said something about having people who you know what they're going to do rather than people who you're not sure. It seems to me that they're working toward shutting down that office. So even tho moving away from this company has been on my mind for over a year now, it was an unwelcome conversation. It means I have to get my butt into gear in yet another direction.

Friday was also "Senior Recognition Night" for the basketball team. Before the game, they called each of the seniors up, and their families. We lined up under a large balloon arch, and they gave the mothers some flowers and the fathers a gift, spoke a little about the senior, and then we walked across the court.

It was a tough game, but the Boy played a lot and played well. Our team was down by 17 points, came back to nearly win, but ended up losing by 2 points. The Boy never looked more aggressive, blocking shots and getting lots of rebounds. I think that's the highest I've ever seen him jump!

Most of the parents were going out after the game, and I had planned to go too. But I'd started getting sick on Friday, and I just didn't feel up to it. Mostly I was just coughing, but it was a bad cough that had me worried and wiped me out. Plus, it was already almost 10pm, and the Girl had to get to bed as her soccer team had a game the next day. So I stayed home with her, and K represented me at the restaurant, where they all had a nice time. He got home pretty late.

I had really wanted to go, as we've known these other senior parents about 7 years now and it's all coming to a close. So you know how bad I was feeling to miss it.

I took a Mucinex to help my cough, but I think that's what kept me up all night. Although I MUST have slept some, I felt like I wasn't sleeping all night, and I looked at the clock almost every hour. So if you have a stuffy head in the daytime, take Mucinex. If you have a cough or need to sleep, maybe take something else.

Saturday was The Girl Show. We had to leave at 7:15 to be in Camarillo by 8:30 am for the State Cup playoffs. It was a really nice day, but a little chilly. Camarillo seems like a nice agricultural town by the ocean, and I wouldn't mind living there.

And I never say that! It's hard to beat where I already live, at least weatherwise.

The first game was at 9:30, and the girls won 1-0 against a blue/white team.

Between games, we all went to Carrows to eat. Then, K and I napped in the car. I spread out in the back seat, and K put down the back of his seat. I even heard him snoring! We've never done that before. I was really quite a baby about being sick.

The second game was against one of the teams that beat our team in the League Cup. I think because of this loss, people were writing in some local forum that our team just wasn't that good! This other team started out strong and spent too much time down by our goal, so I was worried. But our team played tougher, I guess, because after awhile most of the time was spent near THEIR goal, and we ended up winning 3-0. The Girl even got put forward for a few minutes and got an assist!

Ahh, sweet revenge.

Later that evening, the Girl had a basketball game. She played 3 games in one day! Her team won easily, 30-14. In fact, they've got 4 good shooters on her team, and the most any other team has is 2. So I'm a little afraid that they're going to cream the other teams in this little league, except that at this age everyone's shooting is very inconsistent. The Girl scored 6 points, down from 10 the previous 2 weekends.

Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining again. I checked our email, and sure enough, the day's soccer was canceled. I was feeling a bit better, but still a bit sluggish. We let the Girl sleep late, K went to church, and I started laundry. Around lunchtime, the Girl and I ran out to get a few things at Target. Then home to watch the Superbowl. We relaxed in front of the TV, and I made yet another hat. The game turned out to be very exciting, and a lot of the commercials were pretty funny.

I finished reading Julia Child's "My Life in France." It was a fun and interesting book, but the end was sad. It was a nice, relaxing day, and a really good game. A nice way to end the week.

Crafty

Over the Thanksgiving holidays, I decided to get crafty with some pill boxes I have. I take medicine whenever I get migranes (2x/month or so), and it comes in these sturdy containers.

I get three a month, and I always save them because it seems such a shame to throw them away. Part of me wonders why these pills need such special containers to keep them from being crushed. Anyway, I've been looking for a way to recycle them.

So, taking a break from cooking over the holidays and feeling entitled to work on a project, I took my small suitcase full of collage materials and sat down with K to watch DVDs of last season's Friday Night Lights.

As I watched I'd also pick out a paper I liked, tear and mold it to fit, then glue it onto the pill box and let it dry. Later I came back and added embellishments to my heart's content. I really enjoyed it and I think they turned out pretty cute. I don't know what you could use them for besides money or pills - they're slightly too small for business or credit cards :-(

Maybe I'll try to sell them. If it works, I'll make more.

What do you think?

Then before Christmas, I went to the library and found a book called "Crochet Patterns for Dummies." I don't really think I'm a dummy, but I'd like to find a few simple patterns I could make. Well, I started with a hat, and soon I was crocheting round and round making the hat bigger all the time.

K came home and told me about a problem at work. He went on and on and finally stopped. I said, "I'm sorry to hear that, honey. But how do you like my hat?"

He laughed and that cheered him up.

I enjoyed it at first, then I got more critical about the outcome of the hat. With a scarf, it isn't so easy to see something that doesn't look right. But a hat is on the head, and it's obvious if the seam looks funny or there's a hole here and there.

A few of the hats turned out huge. HUGE!! Some nights I've sighed and thrown my yarn down. K asks, "What's wrong?"

And I answer, "Stupid HAT!"

So I played around with the patterns and decided that I like hats that just crochet around and around, so that way you're not left with an ugly seam.