Had to take my daughter back to the doc. She had a horrible night. Could not swallow, high temp, lots of pain and really miserable.

He put her on steroids, gave her an im shot of more antibiotics and gave her some strong painkillers. He also did some bloodwork. Her tonsils look really junky. I feel less worried about her now.

So I missed our luncheon today. One of the girls brought me a plate with a tasting of all the food, which was nice.

AH, HA! Miss the computer for a few days and what do you ladies do?! Won't work, I still found you!

So, long story short. Fortyseven now, soon to be 48. No kids of my own, just heavily involved in both of my brother's kids (2 nieces, 2 nephews). Also primary care for my parents who seem to be determined to test every medical service available in the state. I also have a sister, one year married now. Oh, and a 17 year old Siamese cat. I don't "have" her, she definitely "has" me! When I can I quilt. Always, always been overweight, guess the good news is I have huge bones so I "carry it well." That would be pure BS, but whatever! As a result somewhat always been on one diet or another. Right now I'm trying to just hold on, I'm a major stress eater and if things don't start improving at the office I'm going to weigh a ton. Literally!

Niece and foreign exchange "niece" graduated from HS on Friday, a mere 255 miles south of here. (Oldest nephew graduated from the JC as well, but he chose to skip it to attend the girls ceremony instead). I'm the only one in the family to still have the blessed sunburn from the ceremony. I'm not really kidding when I say I can get a moonburn.

Found out on Saturday I'm driving to LA this Thursday to help my oldest niece move out of the dorm and back home for the summer. Gave up and have reserved a trailer to get everything back without my impatient dad (he's a non-compliant diabetic cardiac patient) going nuts on us. For a mere $15 it's worth every penny in temper it saves us from. She can't pack until we show up with the suitcases (there are three students to a room in her dorm. There isn't room to store suitcases!). Of course Thursday is my dad's bowling day, so the question is can we drive down (345 miles), pack the room, pack the trailer, and drive home (another 345 miles) in time for him to make it 30 miles away for his bowling league. We're sure going to try, it isn't worth the fuming and pouting that will take place if we don't pull it off. We have Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on CD already loaded into the CD player. If nothing else we'll enjoy the story while we chug up and down the blessed freeway!

Be safe everybody.

Hi ladies, and good evening.

Before anything, I have to just say WOW, Rennie, what an awesome post. I actually went back and re-read it a few times because there was a lot of meat on the bone. I really focused in on the stuff about your son. As I've mentioned, my son is a special needs kid. His "official" diagnosis is Autism which is debatable, but - that "label" opens a lot of doors. He's eligible for many wonderful services at his school that would not be available otherwise. His actual diagnosis is really PDD (pervasive developmental delays), since that covers everything under the sun. It's so complicated.

As for college - he's only just finishing 5th grade but the years will go by in a blink and before we know it, he'll be in 12th grade. Our goal is to make sure he is able to live on his own and support himself, and I think that will happen. In a few years we will certainly start researching the same types of colleges Rennie's son attends - something with very small classes, for people who can't carry a full college load all at once. It took me a while to accept that - I needed to grieve for the fact that my son wouldn't have the same college experience my husband and I did but after getting over that, I am now excited to know that he can and will have a fabulous experience no matter what. He dreams of being a sportscaster, and I think he can do it. He's so highly verbal - his reading comprehension is off the charts and his attention to detail is amazing. So...when I read about Rennie's son, my heart soars, because yes, there is something out there for everyone!!

But back to the present. Our heat wave continues but is supposed to break tomorrow. No Little League tonight - too flipping hot. Game's been rescheduled to Saturday.

Rennie, yes, my cholesterol is 154 and I am still on Lipitor. The thing is, my body produces cholesterol like a demon, and this runs in my family. My maternal grandmother basically ate nothing but hot water with lemon (I'm not kidding, she was sooooooo thin), yet her cholesterol was through the roof. Same with my mom. I could live on air and my cholesterol would be over 250. It's just genetic. So I'm happy to stay on Lipitor as long as my liver allows me to, and after almost 18 months, Mr. Liver is doing just fine.

Clyde, I hope your daughter is doing better, the poor thing! Doesn't matter how young or old your kids are, we hate for them to be sick in any way.

Alright, time to see what to have for dinner. It's just me and my son, my husband is still out of town on business (home tomorrow night). Neither of us have a huge appetite tonight. Last night, we had cereal for dinner!! Can you tell I am not a cook? I hate cooking, can't be bothered, just not interested at all. I'm happy to clean up the kitchen and do all the food shopping but I simply have no interest in making it happen! My husband's the chef in the family; when we got married and went to register, he picked out all the fancy pots and pans. So when he's out of town, eating gets interesting! I've got a bunch of Weight Watchers entrees and Lean Cuisines as well, so that's probably what I'll have.

Off I go! Have a great evening, everyone.

Letsgo - I have been a liscenced theraputic foster parent for some years now - actually our liscense will expire the end of this year, but we havent taken any children in for oh about 9 months now - sonedays I miss it others Im sure i could not do it anymore --- anyway, we have an adopted son, James, who was one of our foster kids, after he moved in with us we found out he had a sister, and took her in for almost 4 years (we had planned on adopting her as well but it didnt work out) she had pervasive developmental disorder! What a small world

theycall
I lived in a foster home for awhile. Talk about bad child hood and I haven't robbed anyone, killed anyone, rapped anyone nor do I beat my kids nor molest them. I guess not everyone has to use our childhood as an excuse huh lol. Foster family's are very special people. Glad you gave your time and all the effort it took to do what you did. Those kids will remember you and love you forever.

Letsgo
You don't ever give up on that son of yours and you MAKE people do what they are suppose to do. He is not a number, he is a person that deserves the very best education in the world. My son is adhd, asbergers, Touretts and a few other things. All from the wonderful meads they gave me to keep me out of labor for a week which didn't work anyway. Thank heavens they don't give those meads anymore. When my mother was expecting me docs were giving meads to help with morning sickness. Guess I should be glad my parents were to poor to be able to afford them. Those meads caused all kinds of problems for the kids who's mothers took them. I think that is why they call it PRACTICING medicine. That runs in my family too, thank heavens I don't have it. My uncles, and I wouldn't have believed it but I saw the paper work, was always over 400 and I swear all the man ate was air lol.

Kappy
I told them to hide better next time lol.

Clyde
I am so sorry she is sick. Will keep you both in my prayers.

Hi everyone. Glad to see we're all making it back to the thread and getting some new people to post with us! Fun times!

We had a baseball game last night and the boys lost. My son had a darn good game. He was catcher for awhile and he threw some kid out at 2nd. He has a good arm. Then, he was on 1st base (with his new "1st base" glove that he just bought with some birthday money) and he got a ground ball to get one kid out at 1st and then tagged the other kid out who should have gone to 2nd. Unfortunately for that kid, he was confused and didn't know to run to 2nd anyway. But, it looked good for my son. So, we're still stuck at 1 win and a bunch of losses. Only 2 more games and I think we're all ready for this to be over. I found out that football registration is July 26th, so not a lot of time to have off from sports. Must hurry to get the fishing and camping in!!

It was so windy and dusty last night! I'm still sneezing this morning. We're getting new baseball fields and they can't put the grass in until after the season is over, so it is a dust bowl out there. Oh well!

Happy Wednesday Everyone,

Well, I now have 3 days OP, although Monday was pretty iffy. The weather finally broke here yesterday so it was nice and cool and we took the dogs out for a walk (dropping the old man off after only a 1/2 mile) for about 2.5 miles. Then today I took them to the park to meet my parents to walk. I think the young one is passed out behind me. My dad takes him and walks farther and faster than my mom can (she has heart problems) so I walk with her, while the old dog sleeps in the car (that won't work for long once the heat kicks in), I was going to leave him home but he squeezed out the door past me....

Slash - sounds like the game was fun even if they lost. Hope you get over the dust quick.

Mets - Too funny about dinner, I love to cook, sometimes I'm sad it's just dh and I 'cause I love cooking for a crowd. Of course my mom hated cooking so I started cooking for the family when I was a teenager... It sounds like your son has a great mom.

kappy - nothing wrong with big bones A large frame does help hide a lot although I'm still heavy theres no doubt about it. Why exactly does your dad have to come with you to move your niece? You're a great aunt for helping out that way.

Clyde - Hope your daughter's doing better.

Rennie - I love to camp too. We went to KY before Memorial Day, and are supposed to go again the end of July, but I guess that'll depend on DH's surgery etc. I can't imagine walking 10 miles a day, even 4 would take me too long.. I shoot for 40 -60 min. of exercise 6 days a week and consider that a great achievement.

Rozzee - congrats on the loss!!! I didn't have any in the house or I might have finished it. I did stay away from the chips we had though (my big weakness along with fast food).

Well, I should go find something for lunch. DH is picking up sushi for dinner . So I don't have to plan that.

Have a great day everyone.

-Tech

Good morning everyone! Thanks all for the warm welcome. Even though we all have many things in common, it can be a bit intimidating to join a new group.

Rennie-wow! Thank you for posting your story. It really puts my life in perspective. You have overcome so much You should be proud of yourself and your family.

Clyde-hope your daughter feels better soon.

Kappy-enjoy your trip! Should be an interesting one.

Mets-glad that your cholesterol is under control. Hopefully that lipitor will stay away from your liver. I also hope that you continue find the support and maybe some answers concerning your son. BTW, if you do the shopping and clean the kitchen, I would be happy to cook

theycallmemom- Being a foster parent takes a special person. Thank you for doing that!

Slashnl-Good to see that your son got to play. It can be disappointing to have a losing season. Hopefully he will have a better football experience. I just remember the football season seemed soooooo much longer. (I think because their practices and game days were longer!)

This is the last week of school for my kids. The elementary schools were out last week, but the high schools are still in session through Thursday. My DS is set to graduate Friday nite. He has been a handfull for the past 1 1/2 years, so if it really happens, it will be a reason to celebrate. DD is on the high school's cheer competition team for the next school year, so she (or should I say we??) will be busy all summer.

Ok, I better get back to work. DH will complain if I spend my work time playing here!

techalum- 3 day OP is great. Just keep it up!!

Hey everyone! Lost you there for a while. But I've been offline for a while and now I'm back. Wow - I can't believe the action we've had on this link since I've been away. Welcome newbies!!!

Rennie - thank you so much for your post. Must've taken you a long time to write all that down. Your an inspiration to us all.

Tech, Ms.Tigger, and Theycallmemom - welcome! You'll fit right in here. Everyone is wonderful and great to "chat" with.

Photo - welcome back. Sorry you haven't felt well in a while, but also glad your feeling better. You were definitely missed.

Clyde - hope your daughter feels better soon! She's lucky to have you!

Mets - congrats on your cholesterol! I hear that it is herititary, along with high blood pressure, which I inherited from my father. I've been in HBP meds since I was 27 years old when I became very ill and almost died, that's that's another long drawn out story. Thankfully I didn't and now I'm 45 and still kickin. The good news is since I've been dieting and exercising like I have been, I've down to taking my HBP meds only 3 times a week. If I take it more than that, I get very fatigued and can't function. My HBP has never been better!

Went to the farm last weekend and it was so blazing hot here that we couldn't spend any time outside. It was 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday with a humidity level over the top, so I just told my husband that the weeds would have to stay put for now. He complied so we ended spending most of the weekend indoors. Only bad thing is that our A/C went out on Sunday so we'll have to deal with that another time. We just packed up and went home.

My husband and I are going to his 30th high school reunion this weekend. It's to be a fun time I hope going back to our home town and seeing folks we haven't seen in years. Utimately, we'll make our appearance and then catch up with our friends that still live there. Just an excuse to go home and spend time at the beach.

Why is it that when I was working at my previous job 6 to 7 days a week I never had time for any social time with the family and now that I'm working 5 days a week, M - F that I'm busier than ever.....still trying to figure that one out!

Going to Connecticut next weekend to see my son, who says it's been awefully hot in those parts as of late. Hopefully it will cool down by the time I get there. I'm really looking forward to it.

Guess that's it for now - I'll be able to keep up better from now on.

See everyone tomorrow!

Wow I take a morning off and I come back to a short novella. WOnderful!

Clyde, I hope the extra meds will fix your DD up. It can be so scarey when they're ill. That was really nice of your friend to bring the sample plate. Very thoughtful. My prayers are with you all.

Hi Kappy, We didn't try to run away. The site crashed a few days ago and a lot of the posts were lost, so we decided to start fresh once again. Sounds like all "your children" are doing pretty good. Now if you can just get dad back in time for bowling all will be good. Nice to hear fron you!

LetsGo, I love to cook, but my kids think it's great when we have cereal night. Probably because it's usually hand in hand with "eating in front of the tv night"

Rennie, Ya know I think you're a great mom.

Diane, Sure glad to hear enough boys showed up to make a team!!!

Tech, Great job staying OP!!

MsTigger, Congrats on the up coming graduation. Have fun with your DD.

mom, That's wonderful that you and your husband are willing to be foster parents. That's areally giving life.

Gt, too bad about the a/c. Hope it isn't too costly to fix. Sounds like you'll be having a good time with old friends and during that long awaited visit with your son.

We had our own minor disaster yesterday. DD was helping her dad load feed for a delivery and dislocated her knee. So, off to the hospital in the ambulance we went. She kept appologizing to the emts (all volunteers in our area). She knew they had been very busy helping with all the flooding. They were so nice. They insisted they would rather help a pretty girl than continue going from basement to basement with the portable pumps. The doc popped it back in. She has to wear a brace for 2 weeks and then start PT. She did the other knee 3 years ago so she's handling it well. M has been very busy with work lately so most of my walks have been alone. It seemed pretty miserable going it alone again today, but I got 4 done. My weight hasn't budged in 2 months again, but I'm trying to stick with it.
Have a great Wednesday!

Hey lovn! Dad has to go "because." Which means find the best way to work around it and take a lot of patience with you.

Question -- the news paper ran an article yesterday about women who are choosing to go gray instead of coloring their hair. Choosing to not spend the time and money trying to hide or disguise it. They were saying if the person has a positive attitude and is "together" in other ways that gray hair is not a negative feature. What's your take on it? Color or let it all hang out? The reason I'm asking -- I'm a natural blond. Gray on me shows up mostly when I'm outside. Inside it's rather hard for others to tell. Doesn't matter, for me each lovely gray strand is like a screaming neon light. But I've yet to find a way to keep the hair around my face colored for as long as it holds on everywhere else. Which has me wondering why bother when the gray I notice the most is still visible.

Don't you just hate it when something happens and it's like a spotlight was just on an issue you hadn't really thought about? Now I can't stop considering it!

I have lots of grey hair (and my hair is dark, so you can really see it), and I don't plan to color it. I guess I am just too lazy, but I don't want to have to keep it up, plus it's expensive.

My Mom had chemo and lost all her hair. It grew back in salt and pepper and looks great - she had colored it before but now she's leaving it as is. My mother in law, on the other hand, is almost 80 but still has this flaming red hair - it doesn't make her look a bit younger. I think it looks silly on her, (just my 2 cents).

I have a lot of gray, but my hair is dark blonde and for the most part the gray looks like highlights - unless you look closely.

As of right now I have no plans to color it ... ask me again when there's more of it and it's more noticeable!

.

At this time I am very lucky and have only a few white hairs here and there. I will probably color my hair when the time comes. Hubby says he doesn't want me to--I keep telling him its my hair and I could go blond if I want to ! (Not that I would, I have thick black hair!) I figure that as long as it looks natural on me and I am happy with it, why not?