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| Friday, 29-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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More of the same, but different
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Kat, Andrew and cousin Olivia eating ice cream.
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My day started w/ late school drop-offs.
I don't really have a good reason for this. I didn't get up early to exercise. However, it did take me a long time to drag myself out of bed this morning.
Then, I just didn't feel like going back home. So, I took Andrew, Anastasia and Alexandra (no school today for Jefferson County kids) out to breakfast at one of our fav breakfast restaurants, Kyle's Kitchen. We hadn't been there in a long time, and our usual waitress wasn't there, which was sorta disconcerting.
After that, I went to my chiropractor, then had to bust butt back to pick Kat up from school. We had a plan to go to the Denver Puppet Theater w/ Andy's sister Robin (visiting from Tampa, earlier post) and her daughter Olivia and some friends of theirs also from Tampa and Grandma and Grandpa Efaw. I picked Kat up, and impulsively asked her little friend Isla to come along w/ us. So, I rushed home, fed Kat and Isla a small snack (Isla is a vegetarian; her parents told me before I left that she doesn't eat any "crawling creatures") and I hurried to change out of my grungy sweats and into something more presentable. We got to the theater about 7 min. before the start of the show.
Afterwards, I went home, did some minor straightening and clothes washing in my 45 min. intermission before I had to pick Arianna up from school. Then I ran 9 miles in 67 min., 26 sec. I felt pretty good. My idea was to just go out there and lope and not push it, so I did.
Dinner was baked potatoes (or baked sweet potatoes, depending on the preference) and salad. That we actually ate at 9 p.m. Reason being, I had to actually run out to the store to buy those items for dinner (plus pick up meds at the Safeway pharmacy). We watched a movie we rented at Blockbuster, and Jenna (my West Point cadet friend) showed up! She had had a pretty yucky day, and she hung out until around midnight.
Tomorrow I have 3 soccer games on the agenda. The weather predictors say snow and rain, so I'm hoping beyond hope that the games will be cancelled. I'm getting really spoiled . . .
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| Thursday, 28-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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An Average Day
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This is becoming a regular thing. It must mean I have too much time on my hands.
Or that I'm avoiding something.
Today it rained/drizzled all day. And to think we moved to Denver from the NW to experience this! Consequently, my mood, at least in the morning, was a reflection of the weather. I wasn't really tired because I had slept about 7 1/2 hours. Thanks to sleeping meds my doc prescribed. Now before anyone freaks about this, I only took half a tablet of the stuff. The suggested dosage is 1-2 tablets. The little speck of drug is enough to shove me over the edge when sleep is slow in coming.
And last night, I didn't go to sleep until after midnight. I vacuumed the downstairs and mopped the kitchen, mudroom, and wood floors. Then I did 40 min. of Pilates. Then I jumped in the shower to rinse off. And after that, I was more awake than I'd been all day. So, what's a girl supposed to do when midnight strikes and the prospect of falling asleep looks bleak? She takes her med!
When I woke up, I felt really good, actually. I decided against running; I'd do something later in the day. I had a doc appt. at 1, but other than that, my day was pretty open. Plus the rain coming down indicated to me a light afternoon of soccer.
I did school w/ Andrew in the morning. I showered. I got ready for my doc appt. I picked Kat up from school. I tossed lunch together for the kids (very challenging w/ a severely depleted fridge and pantry). But I pulled something out, and it was fried eggs, bacon and waffles I'd made a while ago and froze the leftovers for days such as this. Hey, it worked. Then off I zipped to my appt and was only 7 min. late. I blame the rain and lousy drivers in the rain for my tardiness.
I picked up Alix from school early. Her practice was cancelled, so I headed to pick up Arianna, and as I was about halfway there, I realized that her school wouldn't be over for another 25 min.! Duh! I'm so used to heading to a soccer field and then Ari's school that I just automatic piloted my way over there w/ no regard to the time. I turned the van around and went home, changed into running clothes, and THEN picked Ari up from school.
I decided that I'm going to do a nine mile run tomorrow, so I ran Ari 2 miles. She'd had no soccer practice this week yet, so I thought she should get a run in. She ran really well -- about 9:30 miles, and she didn't even seem pushed. We were blabbing about school the entire time.
Anastasia had soccer practice at the indoor facility from 6:30-8, so I met a friend at my Pho restaurant (it's on the way down to the soccer place), because she's been wanting to try this stuff I'm always raving about. That was fun. Then I dropped Anastasia off at soccer and went to Safeway nearby to kill time and replenish my empty refrigerator.
So, that was my day in which nothing much got accomplished.
I am writing this blog in lieu of working on my book. Y'all do realize this, don't you?
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| Wednesday, 27-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Singing in the Rain in Perfect Harmony
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Well, I didn't put my dancin' shoes on early enough. Either that, or Odin was completely blowing me off. The rain came today, but too late to take away my Soccer Day from Hell. At least, not completely.
I picked Alix up from school around 3-ish. Hammered down I-70 to CO-470 to Alix's field (about 30 min. from home), dropped her and retraced my route, plus a couple miles further east to pick up Arianna from school . . . 20 min. late. That was the best I could do, even w/ my butt busting pace. Got home for about 15 min. while Andrew, Anastasia, and Arianna did the finishing touches on their soccer prep -- shin guards on, water bottles filled, cleats on feet, sweat pants and fleeces stuffed into soccer bags -- with me nagging the entire time and the usual, "I know, Mom! I was going to do that!" Oh, really?
We hustled into the van, I screamed down I-25 toward the first drop-off and . . . it started to drizzle. Yep, the gray, pregnant clouds, which had been hovering most of the day, finally let loose and their water broke (yeah, yeah, I know. What a cheesy metaphor). But I kept pushing forward, dropping Anastasia and Arianna at my soccer mom friend's house. Anastasia had a different practice location today (her age group was doing a 7 vs. 7 tournament for mandatory fun) and Andrew's practice was changed from 5 to 5:30. So, I had to adjust my carefully orchestrated plan on the fly. Luckily, as I already mentioned above, I had a friend to help me out.
By the time I got down to Andrew's practice, it was raining pretty heavily. On the way down, I fielded -- not kidding -- approx. 15 calls from soccer parents from Arianna's team, and I'm not even the "Team Mom!" I guess all these people think I'm the fount of all knowledge soccer.
"Is Arianna going to practice today?"
"It's really coming down over here. Do you think practice will be cancelled?"
"What's the field hotline number again? Or did you call it? What did it say?"
"So, did you hear anything about practice yet?"
"Hey, if practice is cancelled, you think you could call my cell and let me know?"
UGH!!!!!!!!!
Andrew's little teammates, or at least most of them, surprisingly showed up, so his coach had the kids kick the ball around a little in the intensifying drizzle. So, I left Andrew there and picked up Alix (who was standing in the rain about 8 min. away; her practice had been finished for 15 min. already). On the way over there, I noticed the horizontal arrow on my gas gauge. Empty again! Plus, my second mocha of the day and the huge glass of water I drank during the 15 min. break at home I mentioned above had flowed through my system and threatened to do a little drizzling of its own. Anastasia was still toughing it out at her practice (I know because Laurie, my soccer mom friend/helper, was giving me updates at regular intervals). I filled up w/ gas, returned to Andrew's practice, which had ended about 7 min. after it had started, and speeded over to Barnes and Noble to use to their facilities. Arianna's practice got called off just as I popped into a running store beside Barnes and Noble. Laurie took Anastasia back to her house, so I could pick up both kids in one stop (Arianna had never left her house because her practice got cancelled in enough time). I got home around 7:20 after spending over 4 hours driving to "2 and a butt" practices out of the scheduled 4.
What did I do to work out today? I got up at 6:24 to go swimming. I swam a mile workout that my sister emailed me to try last week. I felt pretty energized, but for some reason, the pool was unusually packed. I ended up having to circle swim (this has to happen when 3 or more are sharing a lane) with 2 very slow women. I can't tell you how annoying it is to "lap" swimmers in the same lane as you. And tonight, I plan to do Pilates once the kids are no longer biting at my ankles!
What else? Well, after dropping Arianna and Kat off at school, I visited 3 different coffee shops in the area to buy Anastasia her bribe. I admit it, occasionally I resort to bribing my kids to get them to do stuff. In this case, I had to give Anastasia an incentive (this sounds much better) to take Kat into the school and to her classroom because I didn't feel like doing it myself. The reason I trekked to 3 different coffee shops is that the first one didn't have the cinnamon rolls Anastasia craved, the second didn't have the amazing poppyseed w/ lemon glaze scones, and at the third, she finally settled on a sticky bun. She had to take it to go because Arianna had a "choir concert" at school at 10. I put "choir concert" in quotes because I use the term loosely. A more accurate description would be comedy relief. Unfortunately, we had the experience of first listening to the tones of the orchestra (4 kids in that -- 3 violins and one cello). Oy, the cats would've fled shrieking. Then we had the undeserved pleasure of experiencing the band. Each piece that motley group played, I swear, I had to consciously control myself from bursting outloud with laughter. Anastasia and I would just look at eachother, holding our hands over our mouths. Each "piece" they played was approx. 1 min. in duration, and every time they started a piece, it shocked me anew with its horridness. Then the "choir" filed onto the stage, and they opened w/ Do Re Mi (which I only recognized as such because I could decipher the words). They followed that with a song which assured everyone listening that they are special because they are a "child of the universe," even tho each indiv. person is "only a grain of sand tossed by water and wind." Hmm. That made me feel very unique, special and loved. They closed with the song from that Coke commercial that used to air on TV when we were kids. You know the one. Where everyone sat swaying w/ grins on their faces as they sung: "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony."
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| Tuesday, 26-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Out of the stress bucket
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Oh, I am soooo good.
What I accomplished today:
** I mailed my dad's CHRISTMAS present. When I was so dilatory as to not mail it within a reasonable amount of time from Christmas, my sister suggested that I just keep it and mail it in time for his birthday (April 9). Blowing 2 deadlines, I just couldn't stand my procrastinator tendencies another day (the package has been sitting in my bedroom all this time, literally collecting dust from where it hasn't moved since the week of Dec. 20th) and broke down and mailed it. It helped that I had a bunch of other things to mail that were hanging around in my "stress bucket," too.
** I mailed a baby gift to our friends in the Netherlands, Eric and Chantal Black. Eric was a LT w/ Andy when we were stationed in Germany. Andy and I, Eric and Chantal waged many battles on the kitchen table playing Spades. Their first child was born in Feb, a girl they named Sienna.
** I mailed 2 packages to Andy. Okay, confession time. I've been collecting stuff to send to Andy since Feb. with an eye to get it to him by Easter. Another "deadline" missed.
** I ran 7 miles w/ Rowdy. I have to say, I really don't often miss my workouts. It's my coping strategy. Without that, I think I'd be hitting the bottle heavily every night and waking up to screaming hangovers.
** I made dinner! Yes! I broke my 10 day eat-out-for-dinner streak! And I didn't just make "dinner," I kinda went all out. I made Chili, rice, corn bread, and salad, and even strawberry shortcake for dessert. Okay, I didn't make the angel food cake (I snagged that at Safeway already made) or the vanilla ice cream and light whip cream, but everything else was from "scratch." And I made A LOT of it, so it'll stretch for at least one more dinner.
** I did school w/ Andrew.
** I went to the pharmacy and filled some prescriptions and refills that I'd been putting off for about 5 days. Not a good thing when some of those meds are to be taken twice a day, everyday!
** I changed my sheets! I'm not even going to mention how long they needed to be changed . . .
** I went to Kohl's and bought some new towels! We don't really have enough towels for visitors, and the few towels we do have were wedding presents over 15 years ago. I got the kids their own color: Anastasia's are her florescent green she loves, Arianna's are baby blue, Andrew's are the same color blue as the blue in this blog, Kat's are hot pink, and Alix's are bright orange. No more fighting and squealing and tattling that "So and so is using my towel! It's soooo gross!"
** I cleaned the downstairs bathroom. I didn't quite get to it over the weekend. I did, however, dust my bedroom on Sunday. It really needed it. A good rule of thumb: people w/ allergies to dust should dust regularly. They should not wait until the mahogany furniture turns the color of gray.
** AND . . . ta da . . . I started working on my book (that's been a work-in-progress for 4 years, but has had ZERO progress in over 18 months). Okay, true. Actually, I merely started reading it. But at least its a step in the right direction. I mean, I can hardly work on a book that I have no clue what in the world it's even about! Gotta have bonding time w/ the characters. Right?
** I finally had gotten a good night's sleep. Maybe that's why I accomplished so much?
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| Sunday, 24-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Paying the piper
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So, it's now Sunday and exactly 9 days since I was supposed to pay bills. Have I done so? No. No. And no. After I write this, I'm going to be very brave and log onto my bank and check the funds. And then before I go to sleep tonight, I'll pay the bills.
Today was a day where my lack of sleep all week decided to play catch-up. I didn't make it to bed last night until after 2 a.m. And this morning, I was roused by the phone ringing . . . Andy in Tikrit. It was 7:03 a.m. I think he could hear the exhaustion in my voice because he told me he'd call me later and to go back to sleep. And I guess I did fall back to sleep because I didn't wake up until after 9.
I've spent a lot of the day trying to clean house, but around 3 p.m., I somehow ended up on my bed w/ my contact lenses stuck to my eyelids.
The sky is gray again. The geniuses in the weather prediction center say it's supposed to rain and snow a lot this week. Maybe that will translate to more cancelled soccer practices. It's very weird for me to wish for this, seeing as lots of money runs out of the bank and into the soccer club's pockets every month. But still . . . an afternoon of nothingness? I can't think of a more blissful existence. At least, right at this moment.
SATURDAY:
Yesterday I spent the day being Soccer Mama. Four games. And I did it all by myself! One game at 8 a.m. (Andrew) and another at 8:30. The fields were only about 7 min. from each other, so the drop off for warm-up was pretty easy. The only glitch was that I didn't find out about Andrew's 8 a.m. game until Friday night around 9:30 p.m., so I had to do some quick figuring about the logistics. Another glitch is that I was to provide after game snacks for Andrew's game, and of course I wasn't even remotely prepared. The flies die rapidly in my house these days, there's just not much to consume in the place. So, I dropped Anastasia at her field, then Andrew at his and zipped down the road to a Target, waited until the doors opened at 8 and bought some Capri Suns and fruit roll-ups and packaged rice crispy treats (I kinda went overboard, but that's what you do when you overcompensate (meaning: feel guilty for being such a loser! Even tho nobody would even guess that I hadn't gotten snacks until the game started!). I caught the second half of Andrew's game. He didn't make any goals, but when one of the boys on his team did (they play 3 vs. 3 at his age), he gave each boy a big hug. Hmmm. I turned to his coach standing next to me and said, "Well, I guess he's been watching too many of his sister's games!" When they score, boys high five; girls hug.
I made it to Anastasia's field in time for her second half. Her team won . . .somehow. They are really quite terrible. Not because the kids don't have talent, but because the coaches really suck. And the team and coaches have been together for 2 years. After the game, I had to endure a short team meeting (where we parents were reassured that we'd be getting a new coach for the fall!), then went home.
My brother had slept over last night after attending a famous Indian (from India) musician who was holding a concert in Boulder. He crawled in around 1 a.m., so I had another late night (no big deal, I wasn't even ready for bed yet when he got in!). He was leaving Sat. afternoon to fly back to San Diego. When I got home, I took a quick shower, said bye to my bro, then headed to Arvada to Arianna's game. They tied and played really well. Just as the ref blew the whistle, ending Arianna's game, I ran to the car w/ Alexandra and Andrew and Kat. Alix's game started at 3, but I had to get her to her field by 2:15. I had arranged a soccer mom friend to get Anastasia and Arianna to me at Alix's field at some point later in the afternoon.
Alexandra's team played like royal doo doo. This was their 3rd game this week -- maybe the reason. They played a team they had beat soundly a bunch of times, so their motivation level was pretty low. The game was 0-0 until about 8 min. left in the game. That's when the opposing team scored! Terrified that their coach (a real demanding but amazing coach from the Ukrain) would skin them alive when the game was over, they frantically kicked themselves into gear and played like they should've the entire game, scoring within 2 min., tying it up. But that's where they left the score. But at least it was a tie and not a loss.
After the game, Alix was in tears. So to cheer her up, we drove over to Belmar (just about 5 min. away) Shopping center and spent money. I got some really cool earrings made in India, and I got Alix some nice things, too -- a ring and a bracelet and earrings from Claire's Boutique. That cheered her up immensely. Then I collected the other 2 kids, got home, made egg sandwiches for dinner (it was 8 p.m. by then) and hustled the kids off to bed.
And that was my weekend!
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| Friday, 22-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Living on Fumes . . . again
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In more ways than one.
Last night, I think I slept 3 hours. That's a liberal estimation. I didn't turn out the light until 1, and then my mind was buzzing and I spent a lot of time w/ eyes upward toward the ceiling. It's one of those ridiculous things that I do -- I lie there hoping for sleep and don't want to get up and stumble down to the bathroom for a Tylonel PM because in doing so, I may sabotage my falling to sleep. So, instead, I lie there thinking about sleeping. And don't sleep. Brilliant!
So, on my mere approx. 3 hours, I entered the day (which was Thursday). I squinted my way to my car in my camisole and sweat pants, unbrushed hair, and glasses that sit slanted on my face because they need a serious adjustment. I drive Alix to school; she gets there on time. I drive back home. I shuffle back into the house. I assume that I looked sufficiently pathetic because Anastasia was watching me as I maneuvered the steps up to the front door and asked, "What's wrong, Mommy? Are you tired?" Yes. Very. When I looked in the mirror, my face was pale and all the lines on my face that I'm trying hard these days to mask were more pronounced. I spent the rest of the day avoiding the mirror.
I made myself a mocha in the short recess I had from school drop offs, then continued the school route, first Arianna -- 5 min. early! -- and Kat. Then I proceeded to work on some math with Anastasia (geometry: circumference of a circle and radii and diameters) and got a lot of school accomplished w/ Andrew. About half a week's worth in about 2 hours. This is a good thing because I've been pretty lack luster on his schooling this week w/ the orthodontic, asthma, and various other appts I had scheduled.
All I could think of was sleep. My eyes have been in a permanent state of droop all day. I resolved to take a nap in lieu of lunch. Then that got pushed back to immed. after lunch. Then my brother dropped by to play w/ Andrew and Kat so I could grab some sleep before my school pickup routine, but somehow I found myself washing dishes and vacuuming the downstairs and stairs and uncluttering my kitchen table (an extension of my office, which is beside the dining room).
Still exhausted, I picked up the kids from school and finally managed to take a shower around 4:30. My evening activities included a soccer practice for Anastasia down at "The Ridge" at 6:15 til 7:45. And a soccer game down in Castle Rock (between Denver and Col. Springs) at -- gulp -- 8 p.m.
On the way down to drop Alix at a teammate's house (so Alix could get to her warm-up by 7:15) and Anastasia to practice, I noticed my gas tank was on Empty. Before getting on I-70, I pulled into the gas station that I frequent, and all the pumps were shut off, and a car, totalled, was being scrutinized by a cop. The car hit a gas pump. Hmm -- that's a new one. So I made a decision: I will live dangerously, and down I-70 to C470 I went. And joined a traffic jam crawling at 10 mph on C470. But I made it -- the girls got to where they needed to be on time, and the car got to a gas station safe and sound.
When Anastasia's practice was over, I headed down the 30 plus min. south to Castle Rock to catch the last 20 min. of Alix's game.
They won (2 to 0), even tho the other team had this thug of a forward, and Alix (an outside back defender) and she were really getting into it. At one point, the ref stopped the game and had Alix and Thug shake hands (Alix told me later on the way home that the girl was calling her a b***** repeatedly,among other snipets of trash talking). Not long after the "friendly" handshake, the ball was kicked down toward our goal, Alix was moving to clear it, and I watched as Thug literally rhino-charged the ball . . . and Alix. Especially Alix. Alix kicked the ball away just as Thug got within a stride of the ball, but Thug kept the forward momentum and rammed Alix anyway. The ref awarded Thug a yellow card, and then a man, obviously Thug's daddy, started freaking on the sidelines; he was tossed from the field for his effort.
We got home around 10:30. The kids fled to bed, and tho I'm now starting to wake up (thanks to the grande double shot five pump nonfat no whip mocha I had while Anastasia was practicing), I WILL be in bed by 11:30 p.m.
Well, here's hoping anyway.
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| Thursday, 21-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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In the wee hours of Thursday (Still awake)
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Andrew ready to play!
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Andrew's little team getting ready to play.
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Little MAJ Andrew Efaw
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Some new pics -- finally. I've had these for quite a while, but just haven't had time to post them. Some of the pics I've gotten developed were taken while Andy was still home and before he headed to Iraq (another reason why I haven't posted them)! How pathetic is that?! But Andy's been wanting some fresh pics to look at, so enjoy!
Last night (Wed.) Bruce called. I didn't go to Community Group (and haven't for the past month!). I guess my little Efaw clan was a subject of discussion because Bruce said that on a Sat. very soon, a group from our Community Group is going to come by and have a work party. He said if I can't think of anything for them to do, they'll just sit around and watch TV, but that I have a couple weeks to come up w/ some projects, so I'd better get thinking.
That is so totally cool, but I can't delegate to save my life! And I know that I'll be spending the entire week prior to the work party's arrival cleaning my house from top to bottom.
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| Wednesday, 20-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Lifting the Fog
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I woke to a gray sky today, reminiscent of Seattle's broodiness. Consequently, I think, that set the tone for my mood all day. It didn't help that I went to sleep last night at 1 a.m. Added to that, I decided to take half of a Tylonnel PM so I could fall asleep. When I stay up past 1 a.m., my mind is usually a buzzing mess. Esp. when I do Pilates (that I began at 11 p.m. after my brother left. See below) and take a long hot shower before climbing the stairs to my bedroom. I knew without the help of that little blue pill, my bed would be my prison all night.
All that to say that I woke with a fog in my head to match the fog in the sky. And a grumpy attitude. If I could've, I would've thrown the blankies over my head and stayed put all day in bed, prison or not.
But I had missions to accomplish in the day (I got a Day Runner Date book last week!) waiting for me.
So, rewind a couple of days. My brother came for a week's visit last Sat. from his homestead in San Diego. He's actually staying up in Boulder w/ my cousin (whom I never see. Seriously, I've seen her once in the almost 4 years we've lived here! But that's something to relate in some other post some other day). I didn't see him until Monday, tho. Monday night, to be exact. We went out for Indian food at an Indian restaurant downtown. All 7 of us (5 kids plus me plus my brother). I'd gone there w/ him (that time, just the 2 of us) the last time he visited, and it was really good.
Now, my brother's a Vegan. He's also gone on a couple of extended trips to India, so he's pretty familiar w/ Indian food. He ordered vegetarian dishes for himself. but we also ordered a couple of chicken dishes (the only name I remember is Curry Chicken. How lame is that?!), which he didn't eat. The kids were a little dubious at first, esp. Anastasia (who was in a ferocious mood. Hey, when you've got 5 kids, one of them will always be a pain in the butt. It's just a rule.). She turned her back on all of us (she wanted to sit by me, and I decided to be sandwiched between Andrew and Kat instead.) and claimed she wasn't hungry. But I noticed her "casually" putting an onion ring (chick pea batter -- yum!) into her mouth. Then she took a little Naan bread, and once the dishes started arriving, it was Basmati rice, and the next time I glanced her way, her plate was covered with a little of this and that. ANYWAY, I was even surprised that the kids liked just about everything we ordered (and we ordered a lot of food).
Oh, and highlight of the day: when I was getting up to leave, the couple behind us (30-somethings) complimented me on how well-behaved my kids were. I think I did a quick look to my left and right to make sure he actually was talking to me. I think it's been 6 months since anyone has said anything remotely positive about my horde in a restaurant (usually people toss me furrowed brow glances or stare open-mouthed at the sheer number of kids that surround me.) And I didn't think they acted particularly good Mon. night. But whatever! I'll take what I can get.
Tues. was the usual soccer practice deal, which is my lightest day -- just Alix at 4. Also Anastasia got some hardwear put into her mouth (a wire on her lower teeth) in the morning. This was especially thrilling for her because she was the one in the family w/ the distinction of getting the first orthodonic "stuff" in her mouth. Tues. night, Danny returned, and we went out to Chipotle. When we got home, I started vacuuming and folding clothes and sorting dirty laundry to be washed. I was happily engaged in all this activity because it was only 8:45. Then Danny broke the news that my watch was an hour behind! Somehow I must've knocked my watch and changed the time. Talk about feeling deflated. He hung around until 11 p.m. at which point I cranked up some New Order (perfect music for frantic Pilates, albeit somewhat "dated"), rolled out my mat, and started sweating.
This all leads to today, Wed. I had an appt at National Jewish for a follow-up asthma check. But first, I had my blood pressure sky rocket because National Jewish called me 1 1/2 hours before my appt. to tell me they had no record of a referral, and after calling TriCare (the military's lovely medical care), they discovered that TriCare had no record of a referral request. Not even a pending referral. Nothing. I was livid! I've been working on this referral since March 25th, calling my Primary Care Manager and leaving msg. after msg. Finally on Monday, the referral nurse assured me that everything was taken care of. Yeah, right. I went on to my appt anyway. That's a battle to fight on another day. On my way to my appt. I got an Irish Cream coffee drink. Sound gross? Well, it's coffee w/ a double shot of espresso and some minty chocolate flavoring mixed in. It rocked. Fog lifter extraordinaire. By the time I zipped into the National Jewish parking lot I was UP!
My doc over there (a character already introduced in an earlier post. He wrote a letter for my deployment exemption/delay packet) is v. v. good. He spends lots of time and LISTENS, which is actually amazing. It's not the usual flying through the door, a quick flip through my record, and yeah yeah, uh huh. Oh, okay. Great. Let me listen to you breathe (and breathe fast, okay, cuz I'm in a time crunch) and let me shine this light up your nose and look down your throat. Okay, everything looks great. See ya next year. Nope, not at all. I'll be back in about 2 weeks to do a treadmill test, trying to prod me into getting an asthma attack while sprinting with a contraption on my head that blows cold air into my lungs. I am actually looking forward to it! And he has this very sweet nurse (Agnes) who is taking care of her troubled grandson, whom I always ask her about.
By the time the appt. was over, my watch said 2:20. Time to fly down I-70 to start the soccer shuffle. And today I hit a personal record: I was at Alix's school 7 minutes EARLY! I dropped her at the Ridge (about 35 min. from my house), flew back home to pick up Arianna from school (ON TIME!) and then screeched to a stop in front of my house. The sky was growing more ominious w/ its darkening clouds. I quickly checked my email and LUCKY DAY -- Andrew's practice was cancelled! I herded the kids into the car (all minus Alix who was already practicing) while hail pelted us. Then the rain came. I dropped Anastasia at Addenbrooke. Even w/ the drizzle, the kids were out there practicing. Before heading south to pick up Alix from her practice, one of my soccer mom friends informed me that Arianna's 6 p.m. practice had just been cancelled!
Somewhere on C-470 my fog lifter extraordinaire effects ceased working its magic and I crashed . . . BIG TIME. By the time I had collected Alix and returned to Addenbrooke to get Anastasia, I was in a horrendous mood -- my eyes burned, my head throbbed, my patience shot. We went to Sam's Number 3 (a diner in Denver) for dinner, and by that time, any sound escaping the kids' lips rattled my nerves. All I could think of was my bed. By 8:30, the kids were tucked in (another record) and I washed my face, brushed my teeth, pulled on my jammies and . . . woke up.
Ahh, the life of a night owl. Hence, I'm tip tapping on my blog. It's now wellwell well after 10.
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| Sunday, 10-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Frightful weather outside
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It's snowed all day, since the wee hours of the morning (or in the middle of the night; depends on how you look at it).
I've been slammed lately, so, consequently, no blogging lately.
Let's see. Well. If you recall the soccer practice schedule I keep, that's one thing that's been sucking my time and energy and kicking my butt.
This past Sat., I had a schedule from hell. Seven soccer games (both Arianna and Andrew had to participate in a tournament, plus the usual league games). Three of those 7 games were at 9 a.m. So, I had a number of wonderful volunteers to help me with the kids/watch the games, etc. Then Sat. night, I had to attend a West Point Society Founder's Day dinner. Seeing as I was being nominated to the board during the "business" portion of the dinner, I sorta kinda had to show up. This was the first Founder's Day dinner that I attended since . . . March of 1990, if I'm not mistaken! Andy and I were newly married and brand new LT's and I think we have a really cute pic of the two of us in our blues. I missed Andy being w/ me. I had about 10 old grads (none younger than 60, sad to say) flirting w/ me. I'm sure Andy would've been seething w/ jealousy at my popularity. Oh, and by the way, I was only 10 min. late to the dinner. Not bad considering my schedule earlier in the day.
So, it was sunny and warmish yesterday, and today (Sunday) there's close to 2 ft. of snow in Denver! Around 1 in the afternoon, I was feeling cabin fever setting in, so I broke out my snowshoes and Rowdy and I ran about 5 miles in snowshoes! The streets were more or less clear, so I prob didn't do my snowshoes any favors, but it was fun! And I got some really weird looks as I was plodding around in the snow drifts w/ my dog at my side.
Then I came home and got to work. Cleaning house. More specifically Anastasia's and Arianna's room. Anastasia assisted me because Arianna was sleeping over at a friend's house and got stranded there because of all the snow. Oh! A pigsty is a very kind and generous description of what I found on the top floor of the house -- Anastasia's and Arianna's Penthouse. 2 large black trash bags later of pure trash, and I just barely scraped the surface of that pit. When summer hits, we're going to do some down and dirty spring cleaning and really fill up those trash bags!
Let's see. . . what else. Well, been going to the chiropractor and have been a very good girl and have stuck to my resolution of not running. I've been walking and swimming and pilates-ing instead (for almost a month now!), and still my back feels not all that much better. So, Sat. morning, before the soccer day from the bottomless pit, I decided I'd run 4 miles at a mod. pace. I basically had like 30 min. to exercise, and running is the most time efficient. I felt okay, but I think the cold, snowy air that was moving in, preparing for the big snow storm was bothering my asthmatic lungs. Then later, watching Arianna play soccer (she's the only other asthmatic in the fam) and struggling to breath, my suspicions w/ the air seemed verified.
Another news flash. I think I may have yet another school that I'm thinking seriously of sending Andrew and Arianna to next year. It's a charter public school w/ exceptional academics, but out of district. It's only about 15 min. from home and on the way, more or less, to the middle school that Alix attends this year and Anastasia will be attending next year. Basically, Andrew got in the school (I had filled out an application in Jan. when I applied to about every conceivable school I could think of!) and that puts Arianna first on the wait list because of sibling priority. So, Friday, I went to the school to observe the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. I liked what I saw (except that Andrew is so far ahead in math, even with what the first graders are doing, that he'll be very bored w/ that subject), so Andrew is going to spend a half day with the kindergartners there (hopefully this week) and see how he likes it.
Yep -- finding the right school when living in "el barrio" in Denver is quite the challenge. But I am determined to get all the kids in school next fall so I can breathe (and maybe do something for myself finally -- like, maybe, work on my book??!?)
No news yet on my deployment. When I hear something definitive, the blog will be one of the first things I do!
Andy called today! This morning in fact. He dislocated his shoulder while playing ping pong yesterday. The one upside to his shoulder trauma is that he got a small bottle of Vicaden (spelled wrong), Andy's drug of choice. So for the coming week, Iraq will be a wonderfully pleasant, even delightful experience. Oh, what a little drug high can do!
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| Friday, 25-Mar-2005 00:00 |
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Nothing much noteworthy on Good Friday
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Kat and her Easter basket and her pretty hair Alix fixed.
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All games have been canceled this weekend due to snow and poor field conditions (soccer cleats on wet ground rips up delicate Colorado grass)! That means a "free" weekend ahead, only to be made up later. I feel sorta directionless with that kind of time open to me. Last weekend, all the games were canceled, too. Come the end of the season, everything will be squeezed tight.
I don't have a lot to say today. I'm still bummed about the Terri Schiavo ordeal; it's been over 7 days w/ no food or water. Last night I woke up around 3:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep for a long time. I kept thinking about how thirsty she must be. I finally fell asleep when the hallucination type fog enveloped my mind. I actually "heard" some kind of yelling in the house at least twice. And creepy noises. I grabbed my Spyderco neck knife from under my bed and put it around my neck so I'd feel "ready." And then I promptly fell asleep.
I went to the chiropractor today (2nd visit). I was in and out in about 10 min. My back feels a little better . . . I think. Maybe it's just psychosomatic (or wishful thinking). His suggestion: don't run until he sees me next Tuesday. Ugh! But I'm going to be good and obedient. More pool and Pilates.
After picking Arianna up from school, I took the kids swimming. The lifeguards over there know us (the "Efaw A's"), and that's really beneficial because they let my kids play in the "leisure pool" with the cool slide unsupervised by me, while I swim laps in the lap pool. I did a mile today, but felt really wiped out. My breathing was totally off; I spent more time than usual clinging to the edge of the pool, huffing and puffing. Probably because I neglected to take my inhaler before I started. The weight of the water really squeezes the lungs!
We went to eat at our Mexican restaurant after swimming -- we asked Erin and her roommate to come along. Erin lives only a 2 min. walk from the restaurant (and the pool), so that was fun. On the way out, the owner said, "See you next week!" Next week?!? Are we THAT regular?
I was going to boil eggs tonight so they'd be all ready for dyeing tomorrow, but I just can't get myself to do it. I was going to get a start on my weekend ritualistic clean-the-house attempt (because as I type, I'm surrounded by clutter), but ditto. I was going to start working on my book -- a resolution that's been plaguing me lately -- but I just can't. Maybe it's the cold snowy-ish weather outside. All I want to do is snuggle under the covers and plunge into a book and sleep sleep sleep. Isn't that what cold weather is for, anyway?
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Then again, cool things must be few and far between in Iraq, so maybe I'd better just get my rear in gear and send it off.
