Sorry it’s been a few days, folks, but I had to take a little trip to the hospital with my oldest daughter. And, in the wee small hours of the 28th, she officially made me an outdated old hag. I’m a GRANDMA! Mollie Elisabeth weighed in at a perfectly healthy 7 pounds 6.6 ounces, and is nineteen inches long. And, I may be a bit prejudiced here, but if she isn’t the most beautiful baby ever born, she’s darn close. It’s been an incredible experience. I had forgotten so much… like how easy it is to turn your favorite shirt into a smelly mess, all by forgetting to use a burping cloth. I found this out while doing a bit of massage therapy on my grandbaby to try and get her TO burp. But soiled shirt or not, mother and baby are home now, doing fine… and baby is sleeping in her bassinet beside me as I write this, letting her Mommy get a little rest as well. Pictures, of course, will be posted soon.
Ever tried to teach teenagers about money management? It’s like you are talking a foreign language. I learned the hard way what happens when a kid goes off to college with all their friends, all their stuff, a checking account, and no sense. So, I have been trying to teach the kids how not to get in trouble. But kids who have been, frankly, spoiled rotten don’t GET that there can be an end to the money. Even the smartest ones just look at you and proclaim that YES they can see the check register and YES they know when they are out of money… and then they tell you that when they run low, they’ll just call home and YOU can deposit more. I think I managed to miss a connection, here……
There is an aspect of blogging that most people never even think about… and I would really like to bring it to your attention here today. Most bloggers don’t really think much about what it would be like to be in a darkened world, or a world where your hands don’t work, or a world where you can’t speak or hear. Thanks to modern technology, people with such disabilities are able to express themselves as human beings, not measured, for once, by their physical limitations, and it’s a really great feeling to be able to take on the world on an even level with everyone else.
I know an awful lot about this particular topic. I’m legally blind, a victim of a genetic disorder no one even knew existed until a few years ago. I was diagnosed back in 2001, and haven’t seen a face since ‘02 or so. Four operations later, the doctors have pretty much given up. But computers and blogging gave me my life back. Using certain magnifying filters, I can see on the computer screen almost as clearly as you can… and I have to tell you, it’s a great feeling. For a lot of reasons, blogging makes me happy, and I am glad to be able to share what it has done for me with you today.
We have two indoor cats. One is a neutered female, the other an unneutered male. The male is a great cat, and has NONE of the bad habits people gripe about with unfixed animals. If he didn’t like being in windows so much, there would be no problem. See, out of nowhere, another male cat has appeared. This intruder fights at my cat through the window screens while my cat ignores him. He actually tore THROUGH the screen the other day to fight my cat. We drop kicked him back outside and closed the shutters on the window. Then the darn cat tore the shutters off the window as well. Guess we are gonna have to head for the Schlage hardware section and get some new hinges… and I am really considering a BB gun as well.
It’s been an interesting weekend on one other note, as well. My eldest daughter, who can’t swim but likes sitting around at the pool, has been looking over this year’s selection of sexy swimwear. Ignoring the fact that most of it is completely indecent… she seems to be ignoring the fact that she’s NINE MONTHS PREGNANT. She really didn’t appreciate my telling her that she should probably wait and find out what size her backside is after pregnancy, either. She seems to be under the impression that all that weight is just going to melt off when the baby is born. She also seems to be under the impression that in spite of having a new baby, she is going to have TIME to go to the pool. I sense a rude awakening on the horizon.
My second daughter’s high school graduation ceremony was Friday night. Sort of. She has another one next week. It’s been interesting.
See, two years ago, she was accepted into a school set up by our state for the highly intelligent. Because of the school’s nature, however, she was still technically a student at her original high school, even though the state boarding school is halfway across the state. So, she walked in the commencement ceremony at her original school, AND next week she will walk at the ASMSA graduation ceremony as well. The NEXT challenge is going to be moving all her stuff back home… her books alone will be an entire carload!
By the way, she completely blew them away at the ceremony Friday night. They read all sixteen of her scholarship awards… not that I am proud of her or anything.
You know all those stories about adult children that won’t move out, and what the parents go through? Add me to the ranks. My eldest, who is planning to be married to Mr. Perfect shortly, won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. She and her husband to be, who want to buy a mini mansion and can’t even afford a class A motorhome are sort of stuck for the time being. As soon as he can arrange on-base housing she will be joining him (as long as he stays stateside anyway) but do you know how LONG that can take? They’ll be able to save up for that motorhome first.
Regular readers know that my eldest daughter is about to give birth to my first grandchild. She is in her 38th week. We have a very definite time frame on this. As in, we know what day she got pregnant. For sure. It’s the only time she ever had sex (baby on time, wedding late. Bah.) I believe my daughter on this, because it was pretty much her only opportunity… long story. In any case, we DO know she is in her 38th week. She had an ultrasound six weeks ago that backed that up. Yesterday, the doctor ordered a new ultrasound. Either the tech didn’t know what she was doing, or the ultrasound machine is in serious need of drug rehab. Apparently the baby has grown YOUNGER, according to this latest test. THIS test shows her at approximately 33 weeks, and less weight than the one six weeks ago. Um, no. But what got me was, the tech REFUSED to believe us. Her machine didn’t lie, no matter what. Right.
I’m allergic to soap. Really. Makes life interesting. I didn’t start out that way, but it was one of those little chemical changes that came with my first pregnancy, almost twenty years ago, and it never straightened itself out. You are getting to hear about it because my eldest was asking about certain things she is going through with HER first pregnancy and wanting to know what goes away and what doesn’t. So, YOU get to hear about it. It’s a pretty mild allergy, as allergies go. I can still USE soap as long as I am very careful to get all the residue off. Where I don’t, the skin scabs over. I never have much problem with bar soap. It’s shampoo that gets me, because my hair is almost waiste length, and I refuse to cut it over this, so getting ALL the shampoo residue out is just about impossible. Every doctor I have been to wants to prescribe psoriasis treatment. Which brings me to another pet gripe… why don’t doctors ever LISTEN? I know this body better than they do, what with living in it and all. Reminds me of one time when I was a teen… I had three mosquito bites on my face. Doctor insisted it was acne. Like I wouldn’t know the difference. Sheesh.
You know, I never realized exactly how spoiled rotten my kids are, not until recently, at least. Parents out there, do yourselves a favor and make sure your kids have SOME sense of what “dead broke” means, or you WILL regret it. Case in point: Regular readers know that until recently we have had the luxury of two vehicles to drive. However, one, the minivan, was tornado food back in February. My husband was driving the remaining car down to pick up our second daughter for the weekend… the one at the genius school. The car stops dead. On the closest thing Arkansas has to a freeway. There he sits, in the ONLY car, with ONE debit card on him that has a three hundred dollar a day security limit. After TWO HOURS in the heat we finally get a tow truck to take the car to a garage… which is closing for the weekend. They drop my husband at the nearest Ramada-alike. We call to tell our daughter this, and she STILL has to have it explained that a 350 mile cab ride is a little out of the question. Saturday, on weekend overtime, a mechanic lets us know that in addition to the hundred and thirty bucks we already owe for the tow and his expert opinion, it is STILL gonna cost another fifteen HUNDRED dollars to fix the car. Our third daughter, a kindly soul, offers us her entire life savings (about a hundred dollars) to fix the problem. I love that child. And our eldest? Theoretically the most grown up and experienced, SHE still wants me to buy her a massage chair to help with her pregnancy backaches… she’s due in two weeks. Pardon me while I shed a tear for her, then get back to figuring out the rest of this mess.
