Thursday, July 31, 2008

It's Never a Dull Moment at the Bojos

Tuesday afternoon my mom came over with the twins, Carter and Chloe, so they could swim with my kids. The kids played and swam while my mom and I visited. We had a nice time. I ordered Chinese for supper and we all ate up.

Right after eating, my mom and I felt sooo full, but okay. Later that night, I went to Bingo with my girlfriends. I felt okay at Bingo, still really full, bloated full. Anyways, we had a great time at Bingo, I even won $25.00!! Afterwards, I went home, Dennis is still gone, and went to sleep.

I woke up around 3am with terrible cramps and a burning sensation in my stomach. Cramps that wouldn't allow me to lay on my stomach or side. So, I got up and walked around, looked outside (it was raining, thundering, and lightening bad), checked on the girls, took 8 tums, etc. After about an hour, I went back up to bed and read a book for awhile. I couldn't fall back asleep because I felt like I was going to either puke, or go from the other end:)

So, 7:30 rolls around, I finished my book, and it was time for me to take Lauren to Driver's Ed. The cramps and burning even made it hard for me to walk. After I came home from dropping off Lauren I laid in bed for awhile, but it hurt to much. So I got up and went downstairs to watch T.V. Then my back began to hurt, as well. It was hard to sit, lay, or walk. I was not a happy camper and I couldn't eat or sleep. I made myself stay up until noonish, thinking I might fall asleep from exhaustion.

Finally, I laid down around 12:30 and the phone rang, it was Dawn. She was so excited, she had gotten her golf clubs out from storage, all happy wanting to talk about the golf scramble we were going to be in on Saturday. My response, "I've been up since 3am, I feel terrible, I'm trying to take a nap." Sorry, Dawn!!!

I tossed and turned until 3ish and then finally got out of bed. Oh, by the way, did I mention that I that I'd been having diarrhea all day, too. I was miserable, just trying to make it through the day.

Then, Dawn called again around 4:30 and said they were going to Kokomos with the Muylle's to drive some balls to practice for Saturday. All the kids were going to play putt-putt golf. Both my girls have been wanting to go there all summer. So, my thought process was, maybe if I do something I wouldn't think about how I feel and the girls could have fun with all the other kids. So, I showered, got the girls ready, looked and looked for Dennis' golf clubs, found them, and headed to Kokomos.

We arrived at Kokomos, Jill and her family was already there, so we waited a few minutes for Dawn and her family. After Dawn and family arrived, the kids went to play putt-putt while the adults went to drive balls. Before the girl worker would accept money for the driving range, she made sure to warn us about how hot it was in the dome. "No, problem," we all replied.

When she said, "hot", she meant hot!! It was like a sauna in there. I think I sweat 10 pounds off! We all hit some balls, laughed at each other, and gave advice! It was alot of fun!! Afterwards, we decided to play laser tag, boys against girls. All I can say is, "Girls rule and boys drool!" We won, of course. We had a great time and we were glad we went!

Lauren, Emily, and I headed home with a stop at McDonalds for their supper, I was in no shape or mood to cook dinner. We got home, they ate, I drank Sprite, and that was that.

I was still feeling pretty crappy, so I decided to take my temperature. It was 100.1, huh. I called my neighbor, Angela, and explained my situation and she wondered aloud if my appendix was beginning to rupture. So, I got out my new encyclopedias and looked it up. I had many of the warning signs for appendicitis, which started to freak me out. So I called my doctor's office after hours and she quickly called me back. The big thing she told me to look for was blood in my stool, if I had that then head to the ER.

Well, low and behold, 2 hours later, there was blood in my stool. I called Angela and she took me to the ER. We got there around 10 p.m.

Side note (funny story) - while I was waiting to be checked in, a guy came in holding a ice bag to his head. We heard him say he had gotten "bit" by a bee. While I was in my room later on, his room was next to mine, we heard the doctor go in to asses the situation.
The doctor asked what was wrong, his reply, "I got bit by a bee."
The doctor asked, "are you having trouble breathing?"
"No," from the guy.
"Are you feeling faint?" the doctor asked.
"No," from the guy.
"Are you allergic to bees?" the doctor asked, finally.
"No," the guy replies.
Anglela and I cracked up and then we couldn't hear the rest of the exchange. This story fits in with our neighbor who is an ER doctor who always complains that "stupid" (her words) people go the the ER for dumb things. Which reminds me, should I have gone to the ER last week when I got stung by that hornet?

Anyways, back to the story. They put me on an IV right away for dehydration, gave me anti-nausea medicine and Pepcid. They also took blood work. We waited and waited. They said the blood work would be back in 30-45 minutes. An hour later they came in to say all the blood work was good, but my lipates were elevated which could indicate a viral infection. It wasn't the Chinese food, which I had thought all along. I was still in alot of abdominal pain, though.

So, they ordered some narcotics. The nurse came in with 4 vials of narcotics to add to the IV line. Wow, they made me high, but they instantly took away the pain. I finally got released around 1 a.m. Which is around the time Dennis was arriving home from his work trip to Kentucky. I had told him where I was, but when I was talking earlier to him, the doctor came in to tell me about the blood work. After the doctor left, I had forgotten to call Dennis back.

Angela and I pull into my driveway and Dennis' truck was gone, which has been parked there all week because he had been in his work truck. The phone rang and it was Dennis. He was wondering where I was, I told him I was at home and he told me he was at the hospital. Awwwh! He was so worried, that when he got home at 12:45ish he went to the emergency room, mind you I discovered later the wrong emergency room. I was at St. Mary's on Tittabawassee and he went to Covenant on Michigan. Finally, after he got home we went to bed and I didn't wake up until 12 noon the next day! Must of been the medicine.

The story doesn't end there. The next day, when I woke up, I was greeted by none other than a migraine headache!! Yeah!! I had forgotten from previous ER experiences, that narcotics often give you what is called a kick-back headache. So, I took some of my migraine medicine and headed back to bed. I woke again around 3 p.m. and a couple hours later I began to feel more human.

So, it feels good to be back in the world again, regretfully two days of my week were wasted. But, what can you do. I was just thankful it was nothing serious and I can still kick some butt in our golf scramble on Saturday:)

Friday, July 25, 2008

God Help Him, Now

The trials and tribulations of driving with your teenage daughter:) Dennis took Lauren today to return some videos to Family Video on Bay Road.

I turned to watch as Lauren was pulling in the driveway and all I saw was Dennis' hands on the wheel steering her away from the house. Lauren came in, looked at me (her face was red and on the verge of tears), and went to her room. Dennis followed, sat on the couch and told me that we wasted our money on driver's training:) He said he can't do it anymore, that she needs to drive with her Papa.

He was telling me that she doesn't do the same things I've already said, but now he has experienced the same terrifying loss of control that I've experienced and will have to continue to experience. Lucky me!!

So we'll keep everyone posted on our fun times with helping her learn to drive.

Monday, July 21, 2008

God Help Me

Please pray with me, because I'm gonna need it! I just came back from riding in the car with Lauren while she was driving since she now has her official pink slip to drive with parents. She begged me to take her out and I warned her that I wasn't going to do well, but she insisted!!

I needed to take my purse to the dry cleaners which is less than 5 miles away, but it is also on State Street. So, off we go and all I can say is someone else needs to step in for me because I don't think I can do this with her. Where are all my friends when I need them?

I was a nervous wreck and now I've got a migraine from the stress. She didn't do that bad, but she is sooo inexperienced at turning, pulling out, and stopping. I was yelling, "Stop, Stop, Stop," because she is obviously a fan of stopping when he gets right up on the car. I need that emergency brake on my side! Anyone know how much those cost to install and where I can get one?

Needless to say, we made it, but not without loss of years on my life. Her legs were shaking while she was driving, I was raising my voice, and then finally we made it home alive. That is until next time.

She tells me, "you are going to have to get used to this." Boy, I don't know how many more times I can handle this anxiety! To be continued...

Another One Bites the Dust.....

Yesterday, my softball team had our tournaments. We were moved up a division being that we were 5-2, so I was nervous about our chances of winning. Also, our neighbors had their annual party, which meant a really, really late night and alcohol for three of our players, one being my husband.

Needless to say, it was an interesting game. We got behind in the beginning of the game, which surely couldn't have been caused by the following: the lopsided ball, the other team's deceiving line up, no numbers on their jerseys, the other team also trying to add a different player during the middle of the game, Sniper Bob yelling at our score keeper, and the umpire chaning his calls, which was their winning run!

Going into the seventh inning we were down, 7-4 and we were at the bottom of our line-up. It was time for a RALLY!!! Jill and I had made the decision at the beginning of the game to space out our good hitters, with several towards the end of the line-up. Well, the end of the line-up came through and we all got base hits and scored two runs. We had two outs, one player on third and at the top of our line-up. Our fingers were crossed, but unfortunately, it was a pop-fly hit to third base, GAME OVER!!

Everyone did a good job, we had fun and that is what is important!!! As the saying goes, there is always next year or more importantly, fall ball!!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Little bit of this, little bit of that.......

Well, it's been one week since we have finally been able to swim in our pool! We have the perfect spot for a pool because our backyard receives full sunlight for most of the day. The pool temperature stays mostly around 78 degrees without a solar cover!

Both Lauren and Emily have been enjoying the pool, and inviting friends over, as well! We swim daily and enjoying the refreshing dip!




In other news, Lauren has completed one week of driver's education classes. She has driven on the road twice this week, with today being the second day. She said the first time she drove, "It was easy." Today, she was asked to drive in more populated areas, merge with traffic, change lanes, etc. and she said, "Today was more stressful, Mom, I don't think I did well today." So, we'll see. I dread the day when I have to start driving with her, being it is coming Monday!! She will get her pink slip, which allows her to drive with me. I could handle it, if I only had that emergency break on my side of the car as well!

Emily, left unexpectedly today for Chicago. Her best friend was going to Chicago for a dance competition; when her mom brought Emily home from a sleepover she asked if Emily could come with them. Aargh! I had to back for 5 days, as she won't be home until Wednesday, and pull everything together in 15 minutes. I hope she has fun and enjoys herself. I will miss her, but I think I might surprise her and paint her room while she is gone, we'll see.

As for Dennis, he keeps himself busy doing this and that for the pool. Building a solar cover holder, vacuuming the pool, swimming, etc. It think he is enjoying the pool, as well. I finally got him to put down some mulch today in our landscaping, which I have asking for him to do all summer. Yeah! Today, I reminded him that his last summer project was to wash the outside of the house!! It needs it really bad, so hopefully he can get to it.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Fourth at the Yacht Club

My dad has been a member of the Bay City Yacht Club since I was in high school and I've always enjoyed spending time out on the boat with family. Every year we go out on the boat for the Bay City fireworks. We always have great seats, just yards away from where they are shot off from. This year was no different, except Dennis got called away for work to Detroit, which he hated. He did make it back in time to head out with us to the fireworks.

We spent a nice relaxing day at the Yacht Club with my parents and many extended family. We had a cook out and played some bean bag toss and then we all piled into our boats for the trip to our "spot", which takes about an hour to. We pulled into our spot with 30 minutes until show time. I have to say, the Bay City fireworks are definitely worth seeing, we really enjoyed the show!


P.S. The pool guys came yesterday and finally installed the hose to fix the filter, and..... Dennis noticed today that it still leaks:) It is a very small leak, but I guess it shouldn't leak one drop. So, we'll see!

Also, my electrician came by last week to look at what we wanted and give me an estimate. After giving me the estimate, he said he would be over Monday and work all day to do the job. Monday came and went, no electrician. Aargh!

I can't seem to win with this pool! I called my dad to get some names of electrician and one came over today to see what we needed, he said he would call tonight or tomorrow with an estimate. Then, later in the day, one of my student's parents called me and we got to talking, well low and behold, the dad does electrical work!! Yeah, he came over later in the day and will be coming tomorrow morning to start working on the pool circuit!!! Finally, we might get this pool operational;)

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Saga Continues....

Well, guess what? The story of the pool doesn't end, yet! Brace yourselves:)

The night of the pool installation, the installers used a Bobcat to dig and level out the ground. Well, they couldn't get into our backyard unless they went through our neighbor's yard, the neighbor who is 90+ years old and lives in a nursing home. The house is empty, with my neighbor's children checking in from time to time.

Dennis gave the OK for them to go through the neighbor's yard into our yard. Needless to say, the Bobcat somewhat tore up the neighbor's yard. The grass is flattened, there was dried mud on the grass, and there is some flattening of the ground where the Bobcat was spinning out.

Since Dennis has been gone all week, I've been doing little things to repair the grass, with the help of Angela's brother, Ken. We raked the dried mud and raked the grass to help with the flattening, but there is still worked that needs to be done to repair it.

Today, I received a "nice" email from my neighbor's son about how shocked he was to see the back yard and wanting to make sure that we were going to repair the damage to the grass and level out the ground where the Bobcat flattened it. "He doesn't want to sound b*****, because we have done so much for him and his mother." AARGH!!

These are the same people whom we shoveled their driveway, mowed their grass, cooked food for their mother, carried heavy appliances out of the house, etc. all without any reimbursement expected. Nice neighborly thing to do, right!! Just give me a hole to crawl into!!

So, the story goes, the pool is adding so much joy to our lives, thus far! And on a side note, the leaky filter was a cracked hose. Still waiting to get that fixed:)

The Best Fisherwoman in the World

My dad called to see if the kids wanted to go fishing in the Bay yesterday and Lauren said, "Yeah!" Emily was at her cousin's house and they didn't want to go. So, it was perfect bonding time for the first born grandchild with her grandpa. She was so excited, I didn't know she liked to fish so much. She certainly doesn't get her fishing ambition from me!!

They were gone all day, left at 10 a.m. and Lauren didn't get home until 11:30 p.m. My dad said Lauren had a great time with her second or third, (not sure exactly what)cousins, Logan and Hunter, who we often spend time with in the summer. They fished, with Lauren catching the BIGGEST walleye of all them. Everone was holding it and taking their pictures with it. Lauren, Logan, and Hunter also swam in the freezing cold waters of the Bay!!! Finally, Lauren drove the boat all the way back to the Yacht Club. She had a great time and loved spending time with my dad, alone! Below are pictures of her with my dad and her fish and then her driving the boat home. Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

It's Pool Time....Soon

Boy, Oh, Boy! I completely underestimated the simplicity of installing a pool! Dennis and I took the plunge and purchased a 24 foot above ground pool. We all enjoy spending our summers swimming and always have. Emily has recently become more proficient in swimming. She swam really well in Florida and is trying to learn how to keep herself afloat while swimming. Lauren loves to swim and have her friends over to swim. Sooo we thought what a great investment a pool would be.....

There are many things we did not even think about when we decided to do this. First and foremost, we purchased the pool from Beattie Pool and got a good deal. The next big decision, installation! Dennis refused to even think about installing it himself, so we contacted pool installers recommended by Beattie.

The first thing we had to do was coordinate the day the pool was going to be installed. Dennis scheduled the sand to be delivered between 8-12, the pool installers were scheduled for 12 noon, and the water delivery would be around 2 p.m.

We figured the pool would be completed around supper time, so Dennis and I planned a nice "date night". My sister had taken the kids for the weekend, which allowed us to have some alone time. We definitely had our alone time, all day.

The sand arrived on time and took about 5 minutes to dump in the driveway.
Next, we waited and waited and waited for the pool installers. They ended up showing up at our house at 7 p.m. Being they only had several more hours of daylight left, they went at the task with gusto! They faced many obstacles, the first being getting to our backyard. They ended up going through our neighbors, which I now have to find a way to fix the dried mud and deadened grass. The next obstacle was the impending darkness. Two of the installers assembled the filter, which now leaks, in the darkness. As if the darkness wasn't enough stress for these guys, it began to rain, lightening, and thunder. Wow! One of the workers commented about how he loved to work at 110% at the end of the day. They ended up finishing the job at 10:30ish during the downpour.

After the pool wall and liner were installed, the water boy began to pump his 7,000 gallons of water in the pool, which only filled half of the pool. We were still left to finish filling the pool the rest of the way, being we only wanted to pay the water boy $200.00 up front for the water. Below is a picture of the water boy, AKA "Padington Bear" as we called him.

The story doesn't end there. The pool installers dug out, from our backyard, and deposited in our driveway 10 yards of dirt and grass in order to have level ground for the pool.
10 yards of dirt is ALOT of dirt. We didn't know what to do with it, I called nurserys, landscapers and noone wanted our dirt!:) Finally, Angela and I went driving around looking for signs of fill dirt wanted; we finally found one on Midland Road. Dennis and Angela's brother, Ken spent the ENTIRE day, Saturday, shoveling dirt into the truck and then out of the truck in some guys yard off of Midland Road.

Sunday, Dennis had to go to Kentucky for work and left us with strict instructions that we wouldn't be able to swim until he got back on Friday. So, we had an installed pool, no chemicals, no ladder installed, and a leaky filter.

Monday, I called the electrician to give us an estimate on installing a pool circuit. I also called the pool installers to fix the leaky filter. Both said they would be out sometime Monday. Lauren and I waited around at home all day. Finally, around 8 p.m. we decided to go get dinner and rent some movies. Wouldn't you know, during this time, the electrician stopped by and we weren't home. So, Tuesday morning I called both people again. The electrician finally stopped by and gave us an estimate, and I am still waiting for the pool guys to fix the leaky filter. Until the filter is fixed, we can't fill the pool up past the skimmer, because if leaks out! So, tomorrow I'll call again, and this time I'm alittle more miffed!

Dennis will finally be home Thursday night and we will then go get chemicals and he will get them in the pool, as well as the ladder. Hopefully the leak will be fixed by then and we will be able to swim in the pool by Tuesday, (the electriaian isn't installing the circuit until Monday).

It has been an experience, with so many unexpected expenditures! Everything cost so much money and we still need to buy stones for around the perimeter and install some type of walk way to keep the grass and dirt out of the pool, Dennis' insistance because we all know how he is Mr. Clean:) It makes sense, but it is soo him!