Our Birthday Month Continues

Today we are to have a BBQ to celebrate our birthdays... Dave, Ruth (our sister inlaw), and mine at Dave's mom's house. The weather has been really great. It has been in the 70s and next week it is to be in the 80s. Not one drop of rain has fallen in September. Many native Washingtonians don't like that... as if they are a fish out of water. I don't mind it since I know what is up head. I am trying to soak it all in even though I haven't been well. As of the moment, I am not sure I will be alright for the BBQ. I am assuming I will be since it will be later in the afternoon on Saturday.

I stayed home again Friday. It was a good move. I felt different but not better. I took cold medication and would break into a big sweat. I am not sure what I have but it isn't any fun. Srey, the guy that I work with, is also ill like Riley was last weekend. We are dropping like flies around here. :-) Well, I better go lay down (I am posting this Friday PM). Darylynn... I hope you and Jeff are well soon too. Oh bother.

My prayers are with those in Texas that are effected by IKE. It hasn't hit yet but I hope that it isn't as bad as they are saying it could be. God Bless

Update: It is 3:35 AM and I am up. I just took a bath to soak and take some medicine. Soon I will go lay back down. I must be getting better because I am getting tired of being ill.

Brady and The School Bus

Brady was to be picked up last Monday to start attending his AM class in Special Ed Preschool. He was put into the program last year, and we are continuing the program this year. However, there was a problem. Is anyone surprised? The transportation department put the stop a block away from the daycare. The daycare can't take children off the property for insurance reasons. And, there isn't a sidewalk to the bus stop.

I was a school bus driver and all the district would do is change the route if there was a problem. Not so with this group. The teacher and the psychologist put in a request and it was denied. I called transportation myself and they put me on hold for days telling me that they were waiting for a call from the school district. So, I wrote an email to the advocate that put Brady in the program to begin with for her assistance and she told her boss.

I didn't hear from anyone and at 2pm yesterday I asked Kari to go to the school district after her shift on Thursday. She went there and she was told that they had heard from me. The transportation liaison was going to once again going to tell Kari to go to the psychologist again (yes, for the third time) but Kari held her ground and said that we had already done that and transportation had denied our request. A woman listening to all of this directed Kari to another woman who listened to Kari as she told the story. This is very difficult for Kari, emotionally, but she told the woman her thoughts. The woman told Kari that she would help her and that it would be resolved. In the end, Kari got a phone call letting her know that starting Monday Brady would be picked up at the daycare. I will be reporting how that goes on Tuesday.

I have been not feeling well the last few days. I started to have a fever on Wednesday and Wednesday night. I was going back and forth with freezing and then roasting. So, I had a sick day on yesterday and slept. I've had a sinus headache, I ache, and I am coughing a little. So it has something to do with my upper respiratory system. I don't know if I caught a bug when I was going to the ER with Riley.

I also went to the doctor to renew my medicine on Tuesday. I have just had a birthday and that is also a reminder for me to do what I need to do medically to keep healthy at 53. Then, of course, I get this stuff. I do get paid for sick days and leave.

We Will Never Forget

September 11th

I know that all of us remember where we were and what we were doing on this day 7 years ago. Just like we remember when the Challenger blew up and John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King was killed. Everyone reacted differently that day. Dave became very depressed. I was "Annie Get Your Gun"... angry.

In fact, he became so depressed he broke up with me for a week on September 15th. However, September 15 ironically was the day we got our marriage license in 2005. For some reason I notice things like that... even though I have a hard time finding my keys, glasses, and cellphone.

Anyway, September 11 we will never forget. I hope to hear how those that survived are doing years later.

Let's Talk...

Do You Want to Go Home? Just Click Your Heals... (Not That Easy)

Ok... So do you want to hear about the little girl that the boys and I saved? Well... we were on our way to the daycare to drop off the boys. I cut through a housing track to take a short cut that day. It was a good thing I did too, because on the sidewalk at the stop sign, there was a little girl not 2 years old. She was blonde and had blue eyes standing there in her pink little blanket pjs with the feet in them. Being one that is always looking out for little kids, I looked around to see if there was an adult around. There was no one. I saw middle school kids going to school but no one seemed to stop to talk to this little girl. I noticed when she looked at me that she had a big tear in her eyes.

Quickly I U-turned the car to park in front of her. At the same time, another lady had been going through the same thoughts in another car. We both approached her at the same time. She asked me if I was her mom but I admitted that was the question I was going to ask her. We looked around to see if we could see any other adults or a paniced mom. We asked the kids walking by if they recognized her but no one had ever seen her. The lady was a teacher at the middle school who had to get to work. I had to get Riley and Brady to school or Riley would miss his bus. So I told her that if she would stay with the little girl for a few minutes, that I would call the police on my cellphone and drop the boys at the school. Then I would return to releave her. I did just that and as I came back to the place where we had found the girl, the police began to arrive. We told them the story and wanted to know if they would call us to let us know that she was alright. They said they would find the mother and that it would. So we left not knowing if we would ever know for sure.

About 30 minutes later the police called me to let me know that they had found her mom. They didn't have to do that but it was nice of them. They had my phone number because I had been the one to report the situation. The teacher didn't have a cellphone with her. I could just imagine the mom realizing that her little girl wasn't in the house. Kids can do the darnest things. Have your kids ever scared you? Mine have... that is why I started using hair dye in my twenties.

Monday And An Unexpected Day Off

Ike?

Kari stayed the night on Sunday night after taking Riley to the hospital. She took Brady to school. He was to begin Child Find today but the bus schedule was wrong... so he missed out and I spent time calling Transportation and the school he attends. I also had to call into Riley's school too because he has to be home 24 hours after being sick. I took time that I earned last week to stay home with Riley. Kari went on to work.

Dave was home too... he has taken some Mondays off for vacation in September. He has been getting some projects done before fall and winter set in.

Riley was feeling better and acting like his old self, so we got in the car and went for a drive since it was another beautiful day. We ended up at Snoqualmie Ridge to have lunch at a new place for us "Mike's Grill". It was very good and we will probably go there again. We also went to the library there. Since it is a King County library we can borrow books etc and return them to our own city library. Riley picked out some books and DVDs. I picked out at Book on CD to hear in the car when I drive.

Kari wasn't feeling well tonight. She went home looking tired and not well. I took the kids... we fed them, they had a bath, and then they entertained themselves with a new DVD from the library. They were having great fun. Then I ruined it by telling them they had to go to bed. Oh, well.

I am watching and looking at "Ike" while I write this. It seems it is heading for the Gulf Coast... just what they don't need.

A Sunday That Went "South"

South Park

Yesterday we went to Salty's; a favorite restaurant of our family down on the Puget Sound in a city named Redondo. In California there is a Redondo as well. Actually, there are a few cities here named the same as in California... we have here Lakewood, Lynwood, Long Beach, and Redondo. I was born in Lynnwood CA... but I have to clarify that when they ask me here because they assume that it was in WA.

Anyway, we had a lovely breakfast and the weather has been just gorgeous. Yesterday it was close to 80 degrees and the sky was very blue and clear. It was great to see Aunt Butchie and to spend time with her and catch up on what is happening in our busy lives. We saw her at the beginning of the summer at her birthday BBQ. Remember the beautiful sunflower she got for her birthday? Salty's puts on this big Sunday Brunch with lots of seafood, fruit, and wonderful things to eat. Everyone was stuffed... I tried to eat more proteins so that I would meet mostly my protein exchanges. But I did have clam chowder... mom is right, it is the best. Thanks Aunt Butchie!

When something has gone "South" it means that it has gone down rather than up. (No offenese of those that live south.) When we had finished our brunch, I got a call from one of the fair workers that said that she couldn't do her shift at 2:00 pm. I was the closest one, so I went to the fair to make sure that the other fair worker knew that the one wasn't coming... and to see if all was well. Kari and the boys went with me so that we wouldn't waste a trip. The fair was light in attendance, so we went on the enjoy the fair. We saw the animals and was watching a show when Riley started to complain that his pants were "too tight" and hurting. Then he began to say his head hurt and was holding his head. It all came on very fast. I was watching him and when Brady was given a scone to eat, I saw Riley gag. I thought "oh, no" we better get out of here, Riley is ill, I told Kari. We started heading out the gate but on our way to the car, he got sick. He was fine in the car but when we got home he was sick again. For over a half of an hour he was continuing to get sick. (Sorry if this isn't a good subject... it is what it is.) Well, it began to concern me because it was so often, he had a big head ache, he had just had his tonsils out, and it had come on so quickly. So, we went to the hospital to see if there was more to it than just bad food or a bug.

We got to the ER about 7:30 or so. The place was full of people not looking to well. Riley laid down and went to sleep. When he was called into Triage he got sick but other than that he slept.
We were finally brought into see the doctor. They looked at his tonsils to see if there was an infection but things were fine and there wasn't any other problems. It came down to food or a bug. They gave him some nausea medicine. He slept all night but isn't going to school today. He just came in to me to report that he was feeling better. He has homework to do today while he is home.

I am home today too. I was going to have some of the day off anyway to make up time that I have from the weekend and the TV show night. Dave is off because of a vacation day. And Riley is here, of course.

Sunday

Today is Sunday... and I keep things really short on my posts on Sunday. We are being taken out to bunch this morning at Salty's by Dave's Aunt Butchie. She does this for us every year and it is a very special time. The last time I was there was when my mom and Ron were here last June. Don't let me forget to tell you about a little girl "we" (the boys and I) rescued the other day on the way to school.