Coffin

haha See what I did there???

Nevermind.

So I've been on this asthma medication crap for a week.  FYI, prednisone gives me roid rage.  My doc called this morning and told me to start tapering it off.  I'm coughing, but lightly.  Still annoying though.  She wants me to take it really easy until it's all cleared up.  I'm not good at taking things easy.  I worked out really hard to lose all that weight last year and I'm not good at sitting down watching my muscles atrophy.  So I think I might sneak to the gym tonight... shhhh  No running, just some lifting to make me feel like I'm doing something.

What else?  hmmmmmm  Lily is doing better and better all the time with her riding.  It's been super hot so sometimes the lessons are about horsemanship, care, etc.  I have to admit that I would love to take lessons in the fall and learn how to jump.  Not to compete or anything, it's just something I'd like to do.  Probably one time and my buttocks will say "enough!" This is how it starts.  You get into your two point position before the jump. 

Then back into the three point after. Obviously, she's just going over a log but it's to prepare her timing.  I guess.  Mandy, the trainer, and I were chatting and I just happened to watch Lily do exactly what she was supposed to do out of the corner of my eye.  She's a great kid and a smart kid but she doesn't always follow directions well.  That's why I love watching her ride, she listens (and whines a bit) but follows the instructor.  Usually.

And last but not least, honey badger.  With her hand in the peanut butter jar.  Stacy says Madi reminds her of Pooh bear and so it cracked me up to see Madi scooping peanut butter like it was honey.  :)  She's doing okay.  She was 36" and 28lbs at the doc's office today.  26% for height and 16% for weight?  She's teeny.  But the doc says that she's following her own growth curve and no one can really predict how she'll turn out. 

Gasp

So....  Remember when I was pretty sure that I was dying of the plague?  That was a few weeks ago.  Turns out that I have asthma.  I couldn't understand why I was coughing stuff up but my cough never went away.  Things got progressively worse I wasn't getting rest due to coughing over night so I went to an inpatient place last Monday.  She said my lungs were clear but that I had mild asthma, possibly due to throat irritation from post nasal drip.

Sexy.

So I took steroids for five days, used an inhaler and prescription strength cough suppressants.  whee doggies!  When I was still bad after the prednisone, I broke down and used the z-pak.

Sigh.

So five days of gastrointestinal distress and I STILL wasn't better.  I called my doc's office yesterday and asked if they had appointments for today.  July 4th.  Yeah, I was pretty lightheaded.  I told them I was coming in and luckily Pedro came home early.  I was face down on the bed fighting for air.

No, seriously.

I got to the office and my doc said that my lungs sounded like a squeeze box.  She got me started on a nebulizer.  As I leaned over to turn off the machine, I noticed that my toenails were turning blue.  I've told EVERYONE I know about this.  lol  I pointed it out to my doc and she only said "Yeah, it's a good thing you came in today."

*eyes*

I'm back on steroids, which taste AWFUL, by the way.  She prescribed Advair which cost me $200.00

TWO HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS!

I'm glad I could pay for it but shit fire.

So it's get up in the morning, use the Advair, take my steroids, zoloft and acyclovir (for my eye shingles inflammation). And then use my rescue inhaler as needed, which is pretty much every 4 hours.

And drink a crap ton of water.

On the plus side, I was enjoying taking deep breaths yesterday.  I'd do it for the sheer pleasure of it.  You don't know how bad it is not to breathe, until you can't.  Well, duh.

She thinks it's a summer allergy thing.  It is DAMN hot outside and the air quality ain't great.  She says she has the same thing in July.  She uses Advair before July to prepare her lungs.  Well, good grief $200 a month....  A nebulizer is a lot cheaper and I have a great excuse to stay in bed and play video games.  What?

So yeah, this year has been a little rough.  We had that bad storm on Friday which knocked out power to millions of people in the state.  Ours was out for only a few hours.  I try to be grateful for things like that but ding dang it, I'd like to be happy about something good!  Not something less bad.

*eyes*

Well, Pedro wants to take Lily to watch the fireworks tonight.  He took her to a movie recently too.  He's been stepping up his game as a dad.  (bout damn time)

What?

Another first!

Lily FINALLY lost her first tooth.  I say finally because it's been loose for months.  Dang.  Pedro tied string around it and gave it a good yank.  He thought the string came off because there wasn't any tooth with it but I watched Lily cough it out.  :) 

She looks so cute.  It's another piece of childhood bites the dust.

hahahahah No pun intended.

Lily is getting better at horseback riding too.  I make her do squats to help strengthen her legs.  I have taken English riding lessons.  ONCE.  Since taking them again as an adult I have total admiration for how people ride English style and compete.  I was aching after 20 minutes!  So I forgot what my point was, but I think it was that riding is hard and I'm proud of Lily.  The trainer had the horse walking a little faster today.  It kind of freaked Lily out.  :)

Madi is still Madi.  Making more babbling sounds and being a honey badger.

So goes my life.  Oh yeah, Brewster got neutered on Friday.  I've already had to duct tape his cone.  Damn Labs.

Confession

I know this is weird, but fireflies make me nervous. 

A long time ago, there was a show on tv.  Amazing Stories?  There were two similar shows so I don't remember exactly which one it was.  Anyway, it was about a vampire.  A very old man moved into a young boy's neighborhood.  The boy found the old man suspicious and started snooping.  He found a fridge full of blood.  ooooooh!  He was caught, of course, by the old man but the two of them became friends.  One night, the old man took the boy to a cemetery and showed him some lightning bugs, and told him to remember.  It was sweet but kind of so what.

In the meantime.... the other people in the neighborhood were complaining of aches and pains and some kind of flu.  One night, they all morphed into monsters and went into the old vampire's house and killed him.  The old man had explained to the boy that it was human's natural protection against vampires.  And he was waiting in his arm chair with a glass of blood.  eeeeek! 

So the next morning, everyone is horrified at the murder in their community but they all feel surprisingly better. 

The boy remembers what the old man says and goes back to the cemetery to see the fireflies.  And what happens the next day?  Everyone starts sneezing at him.  Run kid, run!

So there weren't fireflies where I grew up.  I'm not sure how old I was when I finally saw one.  But there are a lot where I live now and I get nervous whenever someone sneezes around me.  Not that I've ever met a vampire, mind you. 

It's silly the stuff that stays with you, huh?

Oh my

I guess it has been a while.  It's kind of hard for me to get to the computer and also hard to blog from my phone.  Haven't tried it from the Kindle yet...

So life is plodding along.  Lily had a great time at her grandparent's house.  She also had a great time with the babysitter today.  Yes, a baby sitter!  Madi and Lily seemed to like the girls that watched them in March and one of them is her teacher's daughter so...  Malaina really likes Madi and Madi seems to like her so... I feel like I'm guilty of ellipsis abuse.  So I finally got to go to the range.  I love that 22!  It's so easy to shoot.  Then I shot my 9mm and I swear that thing is trying to kill me.  I wore a baseball cap today to protect me from the hot spent casings (did that sound dirty?) and sure enough, they started flying at me out of the FN.  *eyes*  I did pretty well with the shotgun too.  It was pretty busy, I thought.  We were at the plinking range and a little after we showed up, someone else showed up.  But we all worked pretty well together.  I think the guy in charge took himself a little too seriously as he'd ask us if we were ready to put up more targets and when we said yes, he'd yell "CEASE FIRE!" 

*eyes*

I get it.  He was trying to be safe but it seemed like overkill to me.  Also, usually Pedro went alone downrange.  *cough*

So what else?  I know there's a lot and I have pictures but it's a matter of getting them from my phone to the computer.  Oh yeah, I think I can copy off of Facebook... Alright, not the best pic of me. 

Everywhere we went today we were rushing, so I had to take a fast pic or Pedro threatened to throw my cell phone down range.  *eyes*  Do you really want to threaten a woman with guns?  Jeez.

So Lily starts Nature Camp tomorrow.  No idea what to expect and I should probably be packing up a bag for her.  Right.  Now.

I'm excited for her because she's excited.  :)  We have to figure out what to do with Pedro's transmission.  I think the plan is to take his car over to the local place and get them to flush it.  If they get a close look at it and agree that it's toast, then we have to figure out how to get a rebuilt one.  A new one is just too much.  I'm hoping that flushing the transmission fluid (that the dealership admitted is filthy) will help. 

Sigh.

Madi is still being Madi.  Brewster is getting to be a better behaved puppy.  He was alone for 4 and a half hours today (not the norm) and no accidents nor did he destroy anything out of boredom/frustration.  Yay, Brewwie!

Okay, one more for the peanut gallery....

E

Betty Bangs and a shotgun

Happy Mother's Day!  No, nothing fancy for today.  I spent over two hours at the salon yesterday.  I kind of commandeered some time for myself.  I got my haircut and my feet done.  woohooo!

This morning, dropped off Madi's prescription (she's still coughing), got a donut, got a paper, took Brewster to the dogpark, then picked up the prescription and went home.  It was kind of a nice morning.  I went to the gym, but I had to leave after my run cuz I was freaking starving.  No, really.  It was awful.  I'm ordering some Italian food for tonight.  Once I clear off enough room to eat on the dining room table.  *cough*

I feel kind of... content?  Relaxed?  I'm glad that school is over.  Just all the rushing around and driving I did each week.  400 miles?  500?  One tank was not enough.  So it will be nice staying close to home for a while.  AND holy crap the "art" work.  I just brought a stack of it into the study to process.  It's never ending when they're in school.  How many stick figures can you keep???


Well, I guess that's it since I have to finish up before I can get my dinner.  And I can't drink until I'm home for the day so I'd better get cracking.....

Oh yeah, and Pedro got his shotgun.  Mossberg something 90.  Pump action, 12ga.  Now I just need a babysitter.

And zombies to shoot.

OMG

Well, I was rolling on in here expecting to write something sort of witty but the new blogger template has me all a twitter.  ha.  No, not the other twitter.  I cannot believe how small Brewster was when we got him.  Took him to the vet for a booster and he's 16 weeks and 32.5 pounds.  Sh*t fire.












 

Let's see, just getting over some stomach issues.  Holy crap it was bad.  I won't go into the gory details but I had to use some of Madi's diaper cream.  *eyes* 

Madi and Lily aren't well.  They aren't super sick either but it seems like Lily now has Madi's cough, Madi still has her cough and she's teething.  Add a puppy and a sick mom to the mix and you get....  I don't know but it involved me taking vicodin to sleep last night.  What?

Both girls are done with school this week.  That sounds simple, right?  Nope.  Two parties to bring food for.  Teachers to buy presents for.  And I still haven't mailed off my cousin's birthday and baby's presents.  Mercy.  Well, Madi was sick, then we were out of town, then I was sick...  I really can't wait for the girls to be done with school so that we can chill a bit.  I'm worn out, yo.  Yes, the handle on my door broke.  But also, Lily and Brewster play hours each day together.  :)




 

 

So it rained when we went to Busch Gardens on Saturday evening but I think we made the best of it. It wasn't as busy, of course, we were able to go on some rides again and again.  However, puppy was in g-pa's garage so we didn't want to let him feel totally abandoned.  What else?  ummmm  That's all I can think of.  I'm tired and under the gun.  Oh, Pedro's shotgun arrives tomorrow at the store in town.  It's a 590 pump action, 12ga.  They are hard to get a hold of, so he found one online and quickly had it transferred to our local place.  No, you cannot buy firearms off of the internet and have them sent to your house.  :)  At least, not in this country.

I guess that's it.  Just trying to claw my way through this week.  We have puppy class tonight.  yeehaw!















And this should be obvious as Lily in one of her riding sessions.  I love the trainer "There's no crying in horseback riding, and if you say you can't again, you're going to owe me a penny."

HA!

Hello. My name is..

Sonia Thompson and I'm addicted to kale smoothies. Holy smokes. Kale is high in anti-inflammatory agents so it just makes me feel really good. At first I was like, kale, blech. Now I can't get enough of it. The sweet fruit in the smoothie also helps, I'm sure.

So, let me see. Been a crazy busy week and didn't really have time for anyone to get sick. Lily wasn't feeling well and I was JUST heading into a dentist appointment, so I picked her up from school as soon as I was done and we went to IHOP. What? I was craving some hashbrowns and pancakes. I won't bore you with the long list of food that I ate. Snort. I WAS hongry.

Lily had her kindergarten testing today. There's an orientation May 1st and we'll find out what class she's in and how to get her signed up for the bus, etc. I don't anticipate her riding it all the time, especially since Madi will be going to the same school. But for the first day or week, it's probably a good idea. :)

Oh crap. I just remembered that puppy class and kindergarten orientation are on the same night. I just said a bad word. Much worse than crap.

Sigh.

I took Lily and Madi on a field trip on Monday. This coincided with some of the worst cramps ever so I wasn't in a great mood. I didn't kill anyone and the girls seemed to have fun. Tuesday we had our first puppy class, minus the dog. The teacher wants people to understand her methods before we try to teach the dog. I think that's a good idea. So she's not trying to teach us while we're trying to teach the dogs. Lily kept on putting up her hand. I was mortified BUT she did bring up a few things that the teacher forgot to talk about. Namely, biting, jumping up and chewing on the sofa. All things that Lily is concerned about. :)

I cannot wait for tomorrow. I mean, maybe something else awful will happen but I just want this week in the bag. whew

Oh and the mud race! I really well. I think I took 45-50 minutes. Not sure. Someone said the race was 2.96 miles. I didn't think it was the 4.5 miles they were touting. Just because I wasn't worn out. well, okay, I was tired but if it had been another mile, my legs would've let me know. I am pretty bruised up but it was a great lesson in learning to trust my own strength. The walls were 14' high. Which is pretty big, even for me. The hurdles were the hardest because if they were a little lower I could've sat on them and swung over but they were too high for that, but were only a 2 x 10, five feet off of the ground. Nothing to grab onto or step on. That's when I got most of my bruises. :) My favorite was the tires. I pushed the hell out of them. :) And people have said that I don't look very muddy but look at the color of my neck and then look at my legs. They are covered in mud. Trust me. :) And in other news, I love that stupid dawg so much. He's fitting in pretty well, just going through the normal puppy growing pains. He is 3 months old and 25 pounds. He gained 10 pounds in 3 weeks. I'm not afraid. Not at all....

Wheee doggies!

Well, Brewster has finally gotten over his tummy upset. It's one thing to pick up tootsie rolls off of the floor but pudding is something else entirely! He's a good boy but I can't wait to take him to obedience training. Something that was almost unheard of when I was a kid. I trained the two dogs that I had but never managed to get them to heel off of the leash. And they weren't puppies. I really want to teach him to stop jumping on people.

Anyhoo, yes I'm now 41. wheee! It was a quiet day, for the most part. Saturday I have the mud warrior race and then that night there's a Parent's Night Out at Lily's school. It's $30 for the two girls for five hours. If you don't know, that's a great deal. The gymnastic squad volunteers their time to raise money for their team. So it's a win win. A safe environment, lots of eyes, and a good price. :)

So that will be my night out. We want to test out the Browning 22 Bushmark pistol. It will be easier, and less expensive, for me to improve my aim. I know some people don't get why I've started doing this. I consider owning and firing guns to be a skill set. That I want to have. The shot gun will just be for fun. :)

So we're going to the range Saturday night and then to this dive bar downtown. It has cheap drinks and excellent chicken wings. Also, a nacho eating contest. One skillet, one person, one hour. I'm trying to talk Pedro into doing it. If you finish, the nachos are free. :)

Oh there's a new little girl in Madi's class. She's adorable. But she's different than the boys. So Madi follows her around. Her teacher is convinced that this new student is going to be really good for Madi and challenge her in different ways. :) Let's hope!

Here we go!

So if you're not on Facebook then you don't know that we just got a puppy. :) His name is Brewster but Lily keeps on calling him Goobster.

Sigh.

He's very sweet and pretty good about letting us know when he needs to go out. He's so good and patient with the girls that I was surprised today when he met an older puppy, growled at her and tried snapping at her. I was like, damn!

He JUST turned 10 weeks old. His momma is a purebred Golden Retriever and they think the daddy is a black lab. But they're not sure so the puppies were free! He is gorgeous. I love his disposition.

Except how he treats other animals. Poor BG has had to run for his life a few times. I think Riley just waits until we're all asleep to do his thing.

No, Pedro didn't want me to get a dog but I've wanted one since before Lily was born. I'm not working right now, summer is coming up so we'll all be around the puppy a lot. I thought this was the best time.

And he's adorable. I was waiting for another litter to grow up, but Lily has been driving me crazy going down the hill 3 times a day to play with the neighbour's puppy - the one Brewster growled at. whoops! So I figured sooner was better than later.

So here he is!


The poor thing is covered with ticks, as they all lived outside. And yes, obedience training is in our near future as he's going to be a big boy and I can't have him aggressive with other dogs. He's good about being on a leash, he's good about being groomed for ticks, he's good at baths, he's great at meeting new people. But boy howdy, he doesn't like other animals.

Madi was sporting wet spots on her pants from where he was nipping at her butt. Hey, she steals his chew toys and it's all out war. Well, you know, he gets his toy and makes sure she can't get it. :)

Wow.

I hope I'm not tooting my own horn too much but I'm amazed at how much weight I've lost and how in shape I am. I know, I'm not the best athlete ever. :) I'm just proud of me. :) I haven't lost much this year, but I expected that. The more you lose, the harder it gets.

I had to do some emergency shorts shopping yesterday. My old favs from last year were sliding off of my butt every 3 steps. I had to have a firm hold on my britches when I went out to get the mail. So, the girls were good and relatively patient while I tried new ones on yesterday. I'm just amazed when I hold up my new shorts. I think, there's no way I'll fit in those, they look so small. And ta da! I do.

One small observation (ha, no pun intended): I have some denim skirts from years ago that I never fit into and I was determined to wear them at least once. I can wear them now but they are higher in number than the shorts I got. My new shorts are 14 and my skirts are 16 and 18. I've noticed that sizes are getting larger. I guess to fit a larger population.

Anyhoo, it feels good to be lighter. I have noticed however, that I really need to fix my nutrition. I eat abominably. Yeah, I watch my calories, but this means that I'll have a cupcake for lunch and nothing else. Or I'm in a hurry to get the girls after I've been to the gym so I'll have a poptart. I'm not replacing the nutrients that my body needs and because I'm demanding more and more out of my body every week, I'm starting to feel like crap. So I bought three new cookbooks. Vegetarian, whole foods cookbooks. One of them has raw recipes. Who doesn't like not having to cook?

I can't wait to try the chocolate pudding made with tofu.

What?

I even have a lot of kale for my smoothies. People roll their eyes at me and Pedro said he'd rather eat his own poop, but I already drink the Green Machine smoothies at the grocery store and those suckers cost $3 for a small bottle. It's not just kale - it's banana, blueberries, peaches, etc. It actually comes off sweet. Or you know, so I hope. :)

Anyhoodle, got to make my way to Wal-mart. I have to get birthday presents and bullets. I love my life. :)

No, really. :)

whew

I cannot believe how quickly this year has passed by. No, really. How is it March 15th?

omg I forgot that Pedro and I have a date night this Saturday and I've only been going on about it for a month! lol

Madi hasn't said anymore words, but we're all glad that she's using "no" properly. Granted she yells it at school when they're trying to make her do something, but again, we're all just happy to hear her using a word and using it in the right context. :)

What else? Lily is being Lily. We went to the gym Tuesday night and she took one of my mints in case Carson, the boy she likes, was there. He was. Thankfully, she only blew him a kiss.

I'm still working out hard but my... I can't think of the word.... has waned. At this point I don't care if I get mud on my shoes and go get some beer. I think I've been training too hard maybe. Instead of being excited to go to the gym, I fuss and complain and then talk back outloud to my training sheet. "Really?!" "You can't be serious." Maybe that's why no one talks to me at the gym.

Anyway, less than a month to go now. I went to the OB yesterday and she giggled and said "Your legs are SO skinny". That was a great complement but it would've been nicer if I could've seen her face when she said it. *eyes*

So yes, the training is getting me in great shape and my shorts from last year just literally fall off of my butt when I walk around the house. Maybe this malaise is due to the fact that Madi hasn't slept through the night all week and I've reached my breaking point. Don't worry, nothing bad. Just that no one made it to school today because I absolutely could not get out of bed. And that's what happens. The first few nights, I'm okay. I suck it up and nap when I can but by the 3rd or 4th night, that's it.

Oh Madi. You are so lucky that you are cute.

A friend sent this link to me and most of the list rings true. I am a blabber mouth so I don't feel as isolated as the author of the article. Huge surprise, I know. :) But it might help some of you understand where I'm coming from. :)

And also, I don't get jealous. It's frustrating and hard having a developmentally delayed kid, but I love who she is. She is the honey badger of our house and I lovingly accept everything that comes with that. :) (maybe not when she throws my phone, or iPod, or Kindle)

Okay

I feel like I owe y'all some pictures. The first one (hopefully) is of Miss Madi's school pic.

The rest of them are from horseback riding today. Madi is on my lap and being extremely uncooperative so I think that's going to be it...

Hmmm

Well, we had a short school week due to snow and a basketball game. And tomorrow is a teacher's work day, or something. Anyway, Madi has had two great days at school, or so sayeth her teacher. She's been vocalizing more at home. We use the term vocalizing because she's not speaking in a way that any of us understand. :/ She's also been entertaining herself more and climbing like a little goat. It's nice that she has one area (gross motor skills) that are at age level.

I hope that doesn't sound sarcastic. I'm really glad that she's not developmentally delayed in everything.

Oh my gosh, you should SEE her new school picture. So adorable. Of course, Lily punched it as soon as she saw it. No sibling rivalry there, or anything. *eyes*

I'm doing okay. I haven't lost any weight but I'm honestly getting so many muscles, I'm not surprised. Also, I've been eating ice cream. lol But seriously, in a month I'll be up to 50 pushups and 100 situps. Along with running 3 miles and all the other things my trainer is trying to kill me with. I am grateful for the agility training. My balance is SO much better. And, yes, in case you're wondering, I am overtraining for the race. But I think that's how you do it right? I know people who used to swim competitively and in training they'd wear 6 bathing suits. So that when they were wearing one suit during the race, it would be way easier.

Do I know what I'm talking about? Who knows.

For G-pa

Hopefully this works. This is the link to the Mud Race, if anyone wants to come and spectate. I have no idea what exactly will transpire at this thing. I know there will be bands. I'm pretty much just going to show up, get through the race and then have an ice cold beer at Pig n Steak (pronounced pig n stick)

http://www.mudwarrior.org/register/mud-warrior-virginia/

http://www.pigandsteak.com/ Where I'm going for beer after the race.

And I just read this today:

A team of Marines and Extreme outdoor enthusiasts are engineering the wildest and craziest course ever created for a mud race. You can expect a +4.5 mile course, with more than 20 obstacles. This will certainly be the wildest and muddiest day of your life.

I'm in so much trouble.