Suzanne Calling

Friday was awesome. Joyce, Tim and their brood spent quite a bit of time at our abode, woohoo! We spent the morning decluttering the living room, making it safe for the smallest child to crawl around. However, she stuck close to mama and the toys she encountered were brought in by the other kids. Fun? OMG, yes. Gameboy and Chef Jr were quite enamored of the young lady visiting-as usual. Gameboy usually ignores girls, but this one and another young lady they met at WDW. It's rather cute to see him trying to flirt. :) Chef Jr was equally fascinated by the baby girl. "She's so small" was heard from him several times and he'd asked if he had been that small. Yessirree, kiddo. It was clear that the older four kids were having a blast, running around using various noisy toys and giggling. And giggling. Just for good measure, they ran around and giggled some more. That is one of the best sounds in the world-hearing happy kids giggling. I think I've me

As a tech minded individual, I was seriously geeked by the iPhone. However, as buggy as new technology is, I know better than to get one. (Besides, the wallet won't allow for it) So, as always, one must look for alternatives, and this is what we found....(thanks, Ed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE&NR=1 If you are a techie, do yourself a favor and refrain from consuming liquid beverages while viewing it. Those of you who are not techies will find it amusing, too. The ending kinda reminds me the old days at Babbages.

Little bits of this and that for a Friday morning... Yet again, one child is up and raring to go when his alarm clock goes off. Chef Jr willingly heads to bed each night and is glad to get up in the morning. Gameboy, well he complains he doesn't want to go to bed, fights sleep and then does NOT want to get up. Even the extra hour's sleep doesn't help. Some things will never change... My car, once again, is annoying me. The VW dealer has been working without success on my iPod jack since November. I love their service department except for one thing. If a part has to be ordered, they don't follow up. Witness the touch up paint, also ordered in November. I have a limited edition color-the paint has been sitting in service since then-no one called on that, either. Last night, I picked up my fixed car. The jack doesn't stay in the plug, so one channel cuts out. I was told it was my plug, so I went to Best Buy for a new one and had the same problem. Sleep! A

As of last month, we've lived in Florida for three years. Prior to our migration south, we frequently heard "you'll get lots of visitors." Well, folks, that hasn't quite happened. Let's tally, shall we? Donna's been here a lot, but then, she is already a Floridian, so she probably is of the mind that SHE is finally getting visitors! I've had three siblings to my house, but they didn't come down here on vacations. An internet message group buddy has become a friend as a result of visiting another person's house, and then he and his wife came out here to see what my builder's handiwork looked like. Jill and her mom stayed at our rental, and Jill has been here, but then, she's a Floridian, too, so that doesn't quite count. Not exactly a long list, is it? It's not for a lack of extending invites. I've invited several people (some more than others) and have heard more than my share of excuses. I also realized that one

The kids started school, and the first night means one thing for parents: Homework. Two schools worth of Code of Conduct, Syllabuses and Bus Rules! Yay, gotta love that! Chef Junior's teacher is shaping up to be the most creative that we've seen for either child. She sent home a blank white bag (similar to the one she gave the kids). He was instructed to decorate the outside with his name and pictures that show things that are important to him. The inside was to be filled with three or four things that are special to him-to show WHO he is. (Gotta love this: she said no video games unless you plan on growing up to make them-she would have gotten a kick out of Gameboy) We talked about his choices and the bag ended up being filled with LOTs of pictures. Pictures showing him camping and traveling (he loves to travel), pictures of him at the beach in California, making his favorite meal (with recipe) and a patch from cooking school. Cub scout stickers. I love how she made a

My lovely and hectic weekend resulted in me falling asleep before I could gather all the boy's items for school today. When Ed walked in the door at 6:30am, I woke up. It's much nicer to have staggered start times for them. Chef Jr uses an alarm clock and came into the living room at 6:55, ready to go for the day. While he dressed and brushed his teeth, I got his backpack and lunch together. Unfortunately, I realized that he was missing a few minor things on the supply list-darn it Staples, ya let me down with YOUR list! ;) Chef Jr was dropped off at school at 7:30, while Ed got Gameboy up and ready. His bag had everything he needed. In fact, Staples insisted he needed two expensive items that he didn't! Guess it's a good thing I ignored the other three expensive items they'd mentioned, huh? (No smart drives for any grades at the middle school, btw) Gameboy's bus arrived at the front door at 8:15. I was a little concerned: the bus driver called MY cell,

That would be me. Hello, I'm Clumsy, the dwarf Walt forgot. I did a face plant today, on the sidewalk outside of the store. In the park, not 100 feet from where I fell down the stairs a few weeks ago (oh yeah, finger still hurts-thank you for asking). This time, I: -Spilled the Dunkin Donuts iced coffee that I'd only had three sips of prior to leaving my car -dumped the box of four muffins that I was bringing in for my fellow coworkers and I to have while we prepped for the class -got the shirt I ironed and carried in on a hanger (so it'd look crisp for the class I was teaching) dirty and wrinkled -landed HARD on my right knee, banging it up bad. It's turning purple and is skinned. Thankfully, I did not rip the dress pants I was wearing. Some people sitting nearby come to my aid and ask me if I want to sit down for a few minutes. Well, I didn't have a few minutes-I needed to get into that store over yonder! They graciously helped me collect my stuff. Frankly

Last night, both Gameboy and Chef Junior had back to school nights at their respective schools. We had some monkey wrenches in attending each. First up, Gameboy's IEP placed him at a middle school other than the one nearest our home. However, while the IEP put him there, nothing in the system indicated he would go there. Thankfully, I was pretty insistent that he see the school BEFORE the BTS, because 1200 other students on campus at the same time pretty much would ensure that he would get very little out of the exercise. Doing my best to prepare them, I created a narrative about the Gameboy. It details his diagnoses, what triggers his meltdowns, what his likes and dislikes are, information to prepare them about this wonderful and frustrating person in their charge. We showed up at the school Wednesday morning and I had to enroll him. Yep, filled out all this paperwork. Afterwards, the very nice, capable and friendly social worker that I'd met at Gameboy's IEP meeti

Do you know what it is? Well, if you're a smartypants, you'll say it's the Mockingbird. If you didn't know, now you know it when Jeopardy gets around to state birds. If you're a wiseass (like Liz and many residents of this state), you will say its the palmetto bug. What is known as a Palmetto bug south of the Mason Dixon is otherwise known as a cockroach down here. A fact of life here is bugs and critters. Don't move here if you're a wuss about them. For instance, I was over at the in laws recently, swimming in the pool and playing catch with younger son. He threw the ball to me and when I caught it behind my shoulder, I felt something else. It was a snake-a foot long, green snake. I got out of the pool, got the skimmer, caught the thing and threw it over the fence into the school yard. No screaming. No freaking. Yesterday, I got a frantic phone call at 11:30pm. It was Jill, and she was FLIPPING OUT because she saw a palmetto bug in her kitchen

Lately, it seems like my day off is spent...BEING SICK. Yesterday was no exception. I woke up fine, but by 2pm, I was dealing with a stiff neck. My stomach didn't feel quite right, not queasy, but not right, either. As the day went on, a headache emerged. Then, right about the time Ed left for work, I felt feverish. A check on that front found a fever of 102. Nice. I tossed and turned after going to bed at 9:15 (got the kids to bed, then put myself to bed). Had some weird dreams, and the phone rang a few times. I ignored it. Today, the residual effect is that my stomach feels like a rock. All it has consumed is some chicken noodle soup and a comfort and OJ. It hurts to laugh, and I've had some phone calls that have really made me hurt today. I'll blog about one of those tomorrow. Why, oh why are my days off wasted on being sick?

I find Blogger frustrating. There are things I'd like to blog about, but can't, due to the fact that I can't filter who reads entries. It's all out there for everyone to read. Normally, I don't mind that. I'm not one for keeping secrets, as you all know. Yeah, I keep YOUR secrets, but I don't have many myself. On some family issues, I blogged, I edited to what I was told was much more diplomatic and STILL the parties involved got highly offended. (Perhaps because I don't really offer tea and sympathy on that front) As a result, I find that the stresses of the situation can't be blogged about. This kind of defeats one of the purposes of the blog-therapy. Thankfully, Ed, Joyce and to an extent, Giggles have been listening to what would have been blog entries.

So, I decided I want to change the blogger address to the blog. Something not tied to the screen name and email I use elsewhere. In that regard, I'll send an email out on Monday to let everyone know that it'll change. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get Suzannadanna, but if I don't, look to www.wineandfoodies.blogspot.com on Monday for a link back to this blog. You can resume your previously scheduled surfing.

Last Monday, I visited with Nurse M. During the visit, she commented that she had to call in my script for Hydrocodone to Target. I heard it, processed it and didn't comment. Then, on Thursday, I looked at my pills and realized that I'd probably run out sometime over the weekend. I called Chez Target and found that no, they didn't have anything waiting for me. Friday am, I started calling Nurse M and got a busy signal. This is most unusual, the way the hospital's phone system is set up, if a practitioner is on the phone, the call is immediately routed to voice mail. Throughout the day, I kept calling. Finally, later in the afternoon, I call the main number for the Physician's Group, only to find the building had been struck by lightning and the power was out! Okay, I'll stretch the meds to get me until Monday morning, as I'm off. I stretched out the doses and split a few pills. I called Sunday night and Monday. It is NOT typical for her to ignore a

Continuing the post of the other day, otherwise I will go ballistic (insert long story I won't be able to post here...) We left off with Liz and I waiting for a table at Le Cellier and both of us deciding that the kid's steak looked like a good choice. We are soon taken back to a table. The restaurant is set up as the different provinces of Canada, and we are in New Brunswick. Woohoo, New Brunswick looks over what used to be the cafeteria queue when I first visited the restaurant in 1984. Our server, Courtney (or was that Natalie? good old Disney nametag confusion) was great. When we first told her of our small appetites and desire to get the steaks from the kids menu, we could see the gears turning in her head. Both of us being former CMs, we reassured the young lady that we tip on adult entree prices. So we ordered medium rare steaks and I chose the healthy options (the veggies and fruit) and Liz the not so healthy. Seeing Liz's birthday pin, Courtney wishes her a

It has been 17 months since I last set foot in a Florida Disney Park. (11 months since I've been in any Disney park). For a self professed Disney fanatic, the drought has been very hard. However, I don't see Ed MacMahon and the Prize Patrol showing up with the money for annual passes for my family. Yesterday, I went to Epcot. One of my online friends, Liz, was here because her significant other, Greg, is at a convention at WDW. We made plans for months to meet and of course, Liz being equally enamored of all things Disney, only a Disney park would do (despite my asking Sea World?). It was my choice, and I chose Epcot. As is typical, we played our phone tag for days. Finally, we got things coordinated on Thursday night. I told her I'd be there between 9 and 10 and could stay until 6 or 6:30, since Ed had to work (boo). We talked of my leg issues and the most recent injury and she said she'd push the companion chair. We were on the phone as I was approaching Aubu

Things never are simple or easy for me. Witness this week: Monday found me at the doctor's office again. Nurse M decided no more Unna Boots, since they contribute to the RSD flares. Yeah, when the boss won't let me wear the Crocs. Then take an already tender and sensitive foot and put it in another Unna Boot and it's a recipe for trouble. She's right, the boot is a bad idea. She wrapped me up with Acticoat and a gauze wrap. Acticoat is an antimicrobial dressing made of silver. I asked why it works and she didn't know. I do know that I had to rewrap at 36 hours and the wound looked the best it has in a while. I rewrapped using gauze and an ace wrap. We talked about getting the disability thing started. I asked what I needed to do and she said I should contact them, they'll interview me and then contact her and she'll take care of the rest. It wasn't until several hours later that I realized that she mean Social Security, not my employee health p