In remembrance

Thinking of my friend Kent M. today. What a wonderful man, taken way way too soon.

Whenever I see the "Carlton" dance, I think of you friend.

They can call it the 14th floor, but I know it's the 13th.

Once again I'm at the Mayo Clinic. I'm here for 2 weeks. This week and next. Way to spend spring break. Right? I'm here so they can run a few tests and do some Physical Therapy.

Let me begin by talking about the "here for 2 weeks" part. I drive down to the Mayo Clinic and back everyday. It's about an hour+ drive. Not bad if you are used to commuting all over the cities, but once you hear what I have to do here...you'll know why it sucks.

Thankfully, yesterday (Tuesday), Ryan and the kids came here with me, and we are staying in a hotel until Thursday. Less driving this week, as I meet with my doctor 3 times a day. Next week it's twice a week.

I'm on the "14th" floor of the Mayo building. Really it's the 13th, but you know how those old timey architects were scared shitless of the 13th floor. I'm sick and dizzy from going up and down in the damn elevator 6 times a day. Up down up down up down...barf.

But I digress.

So I'm here....and it sucks. I am doing PT 3 times a day. 8:15, 11:15, and 3:15. I would rather have a broom stick shoved up my ass at this point. Let's just say this about the therapy. I'm uncomfortable. My body is ANGRY about it. It's somewhat humiliating. (If you know me in real life, you'd understand why) And...at this point, my PT doc knows me MUCH better than Ryan ever has or will.

There...that's all you get. You will blush and puke if you knew more.

On the upside of this "trip", we have friends here who have been amazing. My girlfriend showed me around Rochester. Fancy. Then they had us over for dinner last night. What a time. Our kids had so much fun together. And tonight, we are meeting for dinner and going swimming in the e-coli infested hotel pool. Good times.

Down side....sleeping with kids in a hotel. They snore, they moan, they kick, they fall out of bed. Miles slept with me last night and I swear. That kid was perpendicular to me all night. On top of that, if he hit any resistance with his feet, he kept kicking until "it" (ie: me), moved.

One may just forget where they are and why they're here. If not for the constant reminder of..."hello SJT. Have a seat."

Aaaaannndddd......cue elevator. AGAIN.

Happy Fluffy Bunnies

Yesterday, to help combat the major crabby I was dealing with, I and the kids decided to "do art".

I have this 3M, (yes I'm branding, but this stuff rocks!) Kids post-it banners. It's a long ream of paper that has post-it glue on the back and comes with washable markers.

So we decided to roll up our sleeves and make some masterpieces.

Claire's consisted of scribbles, people with hands coming out of their heads, and her name. Typical 3 year old business.

Miles on the other hand, insisted he was going to make an imaginary museum. So he had to replicate the paintings. See below.


You will find from left to right...

Doctor Octopus and Spiderman. A bowl of fruit. And the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

He said this is what is hanging in the museum all the time. How he knows this...I have no idea. The only museum he's been to is the Science Museum and the Children's Museum. But he has requested to see the Walker and the MIA. Good boy.

Seriously. He's only 5 so Rembrandt he's not. And his spelling is completely phonetic. But....really? I had nothing to do with it. Just helped him with his spelling corrections after the fact.

Cause I'm that mom and I can't help it.

Medical personnel make me crabby

I just want to complain about this for a while, and then I'll be done, and back to happy fluffy bunnies. I promise.

These past few months, I have been dealing with a grade A asshole at Mayo. He is disrespectful. He won't look me in the eye when he speaks to me. But WILL look at Ryan, as if HE is gonna do anything with the information I should be receiving. He also, on a regular basis, makes me feel like I am wasting HIS time. Like I said...Asshole.

Do I complain about it? No. Because I was raised to trust in my physicians. To not question them. To take what they have to say at face value, and if I sense they think I am wasting their time, well then maybe I'm wasting their time.

Seriously. Big mouthed me sits quietly by and takes it with a jar of vaseline and a smile. Gross. But after speaking with several friends about this treatment, I have been encouraged to complain. And I will....just as soon as they fix me.

Do I trust my doctor at the Mayo clinic? Yes I do. Do I like him and feel comfortable with him as a person? Fuck no.

Moving on.

My regular clinic is becoming a huge pain in my side as well. I have been sick with just the upper respiratory garbage for over a month now. I called them two weeks ago to have a nurse asses me and let me know if I should just come in or wait it out. After waiting 4 hours for a call back, I called. They said they never got the message. Huh? Really? I was pretty clear that I was sick and whatnot, so I just went for it and scheduled without ever speaking to a triage nurse. I felt bad..so there. Then my doctor prescribed and antibiotic for me.

I went to my friendly neighborhood Target pharmacy to get it, and WHAMO....they never received a prescription. OF COURSE THEY DIDN'T!!!! OF COURSE! Target then said they would get the prescription and call me when it was in. You can guess when they called....NEVER.

So I found myself back at the doctor this week. Still sick, but with that, and other fun things. So once I saw the doctor, she told me, "your test results are inconclusive. I will call you in 24 hours regardless and let you know." Prescription talk again.

And today....48+ hours later I have yet to hear from her. Yes I called this morning to find out what the deal was. And...I'm still waiting for a call back. 6 1/2 hours later.

So Claire and I ran to Target to get other meds. And LO AND BEHOLD......antibiotics were waiting. From last week.

Jesus H. Christ!!!!

I mean really. A full week and a half later and they had the balls to say...."we were wondering why you haven't picked these up yet." When I told the young chipper pubescent that I was the one waiting for a phone call, ballsy mcBalls said..."well those notes don't always stick to the bags. Sorry." Insert dumb annoying smile.

Here's the "thing" of it all. All these things lead up to the fact I will most likely have to take an antibiotic. Antibiotics wreak havoc on my system. No need for detail I'm sure. But I will be at the Mayo clinic for two freaking weeks having things done that I most certainly don't want to talk about. But.....if I had received the meds when I should have, I would be done taking them by the time I had to leave. Now....not so much.

Yep. I'm crabby about it. All of it. And now I'm going on hour 7 of waiting. You bet your ass I've complained to everyone who will listen. Including my HMO and the Target pharmacy.

Really. Hour 7!
Update: Hour 8 1/2. Still waiting. Three calls and nada. Those bums.

Whoa.

Upon reading about the girl who has been advocating for she and her girlfriend to attend their high school prom together, I ran across THIS article.

I knew there was still segregation in the south in one way or another, but fuck! Really? 2009 people!

How is it people are STILL so closed minded?

Some people in my life are not all that comfortable with the idea of gay marriage either. I am. I think it's appalling that it's illegal. It's embarrassing. I also will remind them on numerous occasions that not all that long ago interracial marriages were NOT legal in parts of the US. Granted it was primarily African Americans and Caucasians, but still. Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that it was illegal to ban interracial marriage, things changed. That was 1967 people.

Thank god. Otherwise Ryan and I may have to go into hiding. Cause lord knows he is just about the whitest man I know and love.

Getting back to the prom debate.......

I'm annoyed and sad that these kids who are just trying to be themselves, can't, because people are still SCARED. That's right. SCARED. Bible or not. Please.....you can't help who you love and want to spend time with. Besides, when I went to prom, I spent most of the night dancing with my girlfriends. And they were a lot more fun.

The soap box is now put away.

It's gonna be here tomorrow.

Once again, the dreaded St. Patrick's Day is headed my way. I know it happens every year, but shit people. I really don't like this "holiday".

One of my friends, who also happens to be a Korean Adoptee, was mentioning punching, slapping and all around beating, anyone who ISN'T wearing green tomorrow. I say WTF?

When pressed she admitted it was because she didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day when she was young, and therefore suffered the beat down of the white kids. So....I guess I should thank my mom for the "Power to the Little People" button, and the hideous two toned green corduroy overalls. But I'm not going to.

Even my kids said..."do we have to wear green too?" I told them no. My mom told them yes. Yeah. I know. How bossy is that?

Glad I won't be seeing my mom tomorrow. Her boing-y shamrock headband will be in full boing tomorrow. I guarantee it. The woman doesn't even like beer or whiskey. She does make boiled cabbage and ham for dinner though. I KNOW! Like wearing all that crap wasn't bad enough, I had to come home to boiled cabbage and ham. Ugh...like I said...scarred for life.

I am pretty sure my friend won't be calling us this year for a ride. He's a little older. A little more responsible. Ah...who am I kidding. I should be available.

I really want another one

Lately I've been feeling the bug. Yes the sick bug too, but mostly the baby bug. Lots and lots of my friends have either just had or are having babies. Or are trying like hell for another one.

I want one.

My kids are growing up so fast I can hardly stand it.

Miles is reading. EVERYTHING.

Claire is getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and going back to bed. BY HERSELF.

I miss the baby time. I miss the 18 months to 2 year time. They develop their little personalities and are so much fun. I do love the things my kids are doing now too. They are learning and becoming people. Real little people who crack me up and make me crazy all at the same time.

But I long to hold a little baby. To feed a baby a bottle. To fall asleep on the sofa with a baby in my arms, snoozing away.

There are a few things stopping me from achieving this goal of expanding our family.

Roadblock #1: Money. We adopt our kids, and that takes money. Lots and lots of money.

Roadblock #2: The kids. Miles wants a boy and Claire wants a girl. I can't decide, but there would be mutiny. I just know it.

Roadblock #3: Ryan said flat out "NO". This is a biggie. I kinda need him to get another one.

I know. My BFF thinks I'm a little crazy. Cause let's face it. If I had been blogging about my life when we first got Claire, you too, would be saying...."Really SJT? Really?"

It was hard. Really hard. I swear, I cried everyday for months. I lost 25 lbs from the stress. But do I want to do it all over again? Well...not THAT particularly. But the baby deal. Yes.

I know it's a lot of work. I don't really want to think about this in my "fantasy" world of wanting another baby and thinking I could do it.

But....in reality, it's not going to happen. And that's ok. I love my kids. I love my husband, sane. But a girl can wish right?

I miss these babies. They're both around the age of 1.

Damn you zombies

I can't stop dreaming about Zombies. Zombies walking around. Zombies eating brains. Zombies shopping. Zombies cooking said brains.
Apparently this morning I was talking in my sleep, and told Ryan, "we need a new house to save ourselves from the attacks!"
Ryan laughed at me, told me we would need to fortify the house, and that I was dreaming go back to sleep.

Good idea.