Geez, what a whirl I have had! I can't believe it's Friday already! Two weeks ago, Andy went down to Tucson to take the DOC physical training test to be on his way to be a Department of Corrections officer. Preliminary to even taking a step of the course, they did a basic physical to see if he was healthy enough to exert himself on the test and found his blood pressure was through the roof. It was 220/140! This is the first time he had ever had this turn up; his physical last year showed it slightly elevated but nothing to be alarmed about. So he went to the doctor last Friday. They were so alarmed about his blood pressure they refused to allow him to drive himself to the urgent care. I had of course just put the kids down for naps about ten minutes before he called so I had to roust the kids and pick him up. Then it was straight to the urgent care. Due to the urgent nature of his condition he was taken straightaway into a room there and he had left his cellphone in the car. I then spent the next 3 hours waiting there with the kids which was no picnic, let me tell you. By the time I finally saw him I was a frazzled nerve myself and I would have probably have failed my own blood pressure test. After giving him his phone I whisked the kids home; boy were they happy to run around some and play. But the urgent care decided Andy had to go to the emergency room anyway since they could not get his pressure down with the meds they had on hand. So back again to pick up Andy. He decided he just didn't have enough time to screw with the emergency room before work so he went there first thing after work on Saturday morning. They kept him for about 5 hours, then finally discharged him with a prescription. He again saw the doctor two days ago and he now has 3 pills to take. I am also taking his blood pressure regularly and while it is going down, it still is too high for my taste. This morning it was 150/115. I did read the medications take 2 weeks to take full affect, so we'll see. He is feeling better; he doesn't feel so angry all the time and he feels a lot more relaxed while driving so that's all good.
Now, as soon as I walked into the urgent care with the kids I had a bad feeling about exposing the kids that germ-infested environment. I did keep them in stroller the entire time I spent in the waiting room, but I did let them run around in the building lobby. Hey, it's hard for toddlers to spend so much time strapped into the stroller, but they were reasonably good for the whole ordeal. We took strolls around the building and picked a variety of the flowers the building was landscaped with. But despite my care they found a way to get sick. Tabitha developed a fever Monday morning, pretty much on cue with 48 hours after being exposed. Fortunately that was the only symptom and it never exceeded 100. It did make her cranky as hell for about 3 days though. Tommy decided Wednesday was a good time to get the same thing, but I think he caught it from Tabitha from the timing and his lasted only a day. Boy, Tabitha does not like taking medicine at all! It was even the grape flavored children's Tylenol, but she objected so much she actually made herself gag and throw up! Tommy couldn't get enough of it, he was very cooperative. Ultimately Andy had to help hold Tabitha while I gave her the medicine and I followed it up with a drink right away which helped her a great deal. As of today, they are both fine. I have to say it was a strange little sickness, the only sign was the fever and that was thankfully not terribly high or it would have been straight back to a doctor's office.
With all this going on I have had not a whit of time to work on anything; no jewelry, sewing and obviously no time to blog. I did get a nifty new sewing machine on Monday. Since Andy got himself a new laptop the day before I figured it was only fair. It's not a real fancy machine, at least compared to what I could have bought but it is the fanciest one I have ever owned. It is a Singer, with like 30 pre-programmed decorative stitches and Auto-tension. Auto-tension! I have always had a problem with the tension of the machines I have owned and a machine with such a feature seems like a dream! My last machine, a Kenmore, was a workhorse, but very basic and of course it's tension mechanism was faulty. I did have it about ten years, and retiring it is bittersweet since my mother bought it for me and she made sure I knew it was more than she would normally spend on a machine so it has all that mom-guilt with it. Since Monday my new machine has sat in it's box on the kitchen table, but I am determined tonight to take it out and explore it's wonders. I think some new catnip toys would be a great first project to get acquainted.
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Lost Month
February is not my favorite month. I'm glad it is so short. It has nothing to do with the weather, or the post-holiday blues. It' s the month my daughter committed suicide. February 9th is the anniversary of her death, three years ago. She was 13. I thought I was going to post something to my blog on that day, but I just couldn't bring myself to the keyboard, it's still too emotional for me on that day to do a whole lot that's meaningful. I still miss her terribly. She was just in the eighth grade. She would have been 17 this year. The babies keep me really busy which has probably been my best emotional rehabilitation but I still sometimes call Tabitha Cassie by accident. Then I get a little sad. I have a little shelf I have put pictures and mementos of Cassie on and I look at it every so often. I need to dust it but it's not high on my priority list to do by myself. February 17th is the anniversary of her burial so between the two dates it pretty much does this month in for me. Sigh. Time heals all wounds, so they say. I'm still waiting on that but it is getting a little easier, I suppose.
This month has also been tough on Andy. He is getting very little in the way of hours from work. He only worked 36 hours in the last two weeks and we are really going to feel that by the end of the month. He has been applying at all sorts of other security companies around the valley like crazy but no one is hiring. Some of the applications have been pretty insane too. I have never seen applications like these in my life either. Some of them have pages of questions, like "If you starting college tomorrow, what courses would you take?" "What does failure mean to you?" "How would your best friend, college roommate, parents, describe you?" and my favorite, "If you went back to age 18 years old what would you do differently?" I don't see how those questions are relevant to reveal answers to before even an interview. For a job that pays 10.00 an hour. It's not like these are applications for sensitive, high paying jobs. It just goes to show how far labor rights have eroded in the last couple of decades to the point such intrusive questions can be asked. This last application included all sorts of releases also to do every sort of background check imaginable: criminal, credit check, MVD report, and some others that weren't very specific, just that you were expected to sign your life away before even being considered for the job. Wow. I figure they feel they have the power to ask these questions since if you don't agree to them, you can't even get a crappy job and they will find someone who will consent to these questions. I wish I had some law expertise so I would know if it was even legal for these companies to subject potential employees to this level of prying. It's sort of like practicing discrimination on an individual basis by gathering so much information up front they can find anything to deny you a job if for some reason they just don't like you regardless of evaluating if your skill set matches the job. I think it completely violates the spirit, if not the letter of the law. End rant.
On the only bright side so far of this month, the babies are healthy and their talking skills are slowly coming around. Tabitha is so stubborn about not talking, even though she knows the words. Tommy is much more forthcoming and happy to tell me what he wants. He is much more practical. Tabitha is stubborn about it because she likes the attention. What else should I expect from twins, each vying for my attention in their own ways? I know at some point Tabitha's stubbornness will be undermined by the sheer force of human nature to talk and it will just come. I cling to that when she is throwing a tantrum for something or just pointing and saying "AHH".
And lastly for today, I did our taxes yesterday and amazed my hubby with the amount we will be getting from the Feds. I have been trying to explain to him about the Earned Income Tax Credit for a while now, but only by actually doing it could he see it was worthwhile. He still doesn't understand how we get something from the Feds when we haven't paid any out of his paycheck, and I try to explain that it is generally a subsidy for the poor to raise kids in a manner not completely destitute. The refund will really help with us getting back on our feet after this time of short hours for him. I wish I had gotten this done sooner, but late is better than never.
This month has also been tough on Andy. He is getting very little in the way of hours from work. He only worked 36 hours in the last two weeks and we are really going to feel that by the end of the month. He has been applying at all sorts of other security companies around the valley like crazy but no one is hiring. Some of the applications have been pretty insane too. I have never seen applications like these in my life either. Some of them have pages of questions, like "If you starting college tomorrow, what courses would you take?" "What does failure mean to you?" "How would your best friend, college roommate, parents, describe you?" and my favorite, "If you went back to age 18 years old what would you do differently?" I don't see how those questions are relevant to reveal answers to before even an interview. For a job that pays 10.00 an hour. It's not like these are applications for sensitive, high paying jobs. It just goes to show how far labor rights have eroded in the last couple of decades to the point such intrusive questions can be asked. This last application included all sorts of releases also to do every sort of background check imaginable: criminal, credit check, MVD report, and some others that weren't very specific, just that you were expected to sign your life away before even being considered for the job. Wow. I figure they feel they have the power to ask these questions since if you don't agree to them, you can't even get a crappy job and they will find someone who will consent to these questions. I wish I had some law expertise so I would know if it was even legal for these companies to subject potential employees to this level of prying. It's sort of like practicing discrimination on an individual basis by gathering so much information up front they can find anything to deny you a job if for some reason they just don't like you regardless of evaluating if your skill set matches the job. I think it completely violates the spirit, if not the letter of the law. End rant.
On the only bright side so far of this month, the babies are healthy and their talking skills are slowly coming around. Tabitha is so stubborn about not talking, even though she knows the words. Tommy is much more forthcoming and happy to tell me what he wants. He is much more practical. Tabitha is stubborn about it because she likes the attention. What else should I expect from twins, each vying for my attention in their own ways? I know at some point Tabitha's stubbornness will be undermined by the sheer force of human nature to talk and it will just come. I cling to that when she is throwing a tantrum for something or just pointing and saying "AHH".
And lastly for today, I did our taxes yesterday and amazed my hubby with the amount we will be getting from the Feds. I have been trying to explain to him about the Earned Income Tax Credit for a while now, but only by actually doing it could he see it was worthwhile. He still doesn't understand how we get something from the Feds when we haven't paid any out of his paycheck, and I try to explain that it is generally a subsidy for the poor to raise kids in a manner not completely destitute. The refund will really help with us getting back on our feet after this time of short hours for him. I wish I had gotten this done sooner, but late is better than never.
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