wordless wednesday - my life line

danger will robinson, danger!

We are officially at one week and counting for Grady's surgery. Yes, that is right, he is having his surgery on May 1st. 'May day! May day! Mother down in recovery room three!' Kind of over dramatic I know, but truly, I am beginning to see a lot of warning signs. For example, on Tuesday I was working with a little boy in my office and he was so excited, (a little too much if you ask me), to show me the new bracelet his mom had gotten him. "Look! It's reversible. I have to make sure you can see this red part though cause it's a medical bracelet." "Oh really?? What for?" "Because I almost died this summer getting my tonsils out. I stopped breathing and everything! So now I have to wear this in case I have to go to the hospital again." This is when I casually ask the little boy if I can further inspect his bracelet so I can see (and research) what disorder he has, how many kids have it and how many more panic attacks I need to have before next week. Can you see the need for Paxil yet?? What does a girl have to do to get her hands on some of that? I am also extremely stressed by the fact that I do not know what time Grady's surgery is and what I am going to do with Drake. My neighbor has offered to take him but I can't give her any sort of timeline or expectation. Plus, I have the whole 'emotional Drake' issue. Add that to psychotic mother issues and you can see why my husband wants to run for the hills! I even contemplated bringing Drake with us but quickly decided against it. Hubby thought we should keep his day as normal as possible, especially since I will not be in any condition to field Drake’s never ending stream of questions. So till next Wednesday, we are in limbo. The nurse told us they would call sometime Wednesday evening to give us our surgery time. Seriously... You won’t have any idea until then? I find that difficult to wrap my brain around. This Momma has got to plan. Can’t they see that this uncertainty is adding to the chaos and anxiety that is swarming my brain?!? I should also take this time to warn you that I am sure the sanity level of my blogs will severely drop in the next few days. Hope you can all tolerate the insanity and garbled mess that I may, or may not, be typing. Till then I think I may just have to subdue myself with coffee and chocolate. Starbucks anyone??

sad little lassie

This is what I was doing this time last week. Well, not exactly at this exact moment - don't want the world to know that I start my mornings with a bottle of Merlot. But somewhere in the week ago time continuum I was out East. Because of this I am now suffering from post east coast blues. You will be proud to know that I did manage to stay positive during the trip but could not shake the nagging feeling in the back of my brain that we weren't moving there this summer. Every time I look out my Midwestern window I grimace. Thankfully I don't have any windows in my office or I would have a sour puss face all day. I can hear my grandmother now, "Your face is going to freeze like that!" It also doesn't help matters that hubby wanted to look at houses and towns - 'for future reference'. I am about ready to tell him where to shove his future references. Last Sunday was the worst and I refused to talk to anyone all day. This might explain my lack of tolerance noted in the previous post..... or not. They really were worse then I stated. But I digress, this is in fact about me and my lack of happiness at this very moment. I am also pouty because I do not know how long it will be till I see BFF again. being as she is now laden down with two little ones, it hampers her ability to up and travel to Wisconsin without hauling half of her life possessions with her. Grrrr, growl, sigh and stomp. Damn you housing market!! Ok, I guess I am done with my hissy fit - for now. I might as well enjoy the brief glimpse of sunlight that is trickling through the dreary spring clouds today and step down from my negative soapbox. Maybe my Vermont Maple coffee will do the trick.

is patience a virtue?

Here is your math problem of the day. Maple House + three hungry children + two tour busses of elderly Quebecians + one lactating friend on a schedule =your answer here. If I could only describe the true fortitude of what our encounter was I would be oh so happy. My BFF pick the boys and me up for breakfast this morning, wooing us with all the Maple House had to offer. "They make their own Maple Coffee. They infuse the beans with maple syrup." I was instantly hooked after that first comment. The also had a sugarhouse (where they make the maple syrup) and a store called the Sugar Shack. Personally, I think the 'Sugar Shack' sounds like a strip club or adult movie but it was, in fact, a shack filled with all things sugar and maple. We arrived with three hungry children, my two boys plus her 18-month-old son, and our own ravenous appetites. I had been salivating for the coffee from the time she picked me up from the hotel and already had my 'it's 9 am and I haven't had coffee headache' going. The place was in the middle of nowhere in the back woods of Nashua/ Amherst. It didn't appear crowded when we were first seated.... but then the tour buses arrived. Q-tips and grey hairs were everywhere. We were being invaded!! The waitress brought two coloring books to our table to amuse our children while she sat the masses. The only problem with that was she brought a Sesame Street (fine for the younger two) and a Disney Princess book. Drake and Grady made quite the faces at the pink embodied book of ‘all that is girl’. We pitched the princess book and divvied up the Sesame Street pages. After an excruciatingly long wait we were finally served. As a side note - the coffee was too die for!! The boys did as well as any caged and hungry animal can do but after all the sugary goodness started to digest, they needed to run off some of that extra energy before our car ride back. BFF and I on the other hand, were in a food-induced coma state and ready for a well-deserved nap.

We took a quick walk through the sugarhouse and saw how they make maple syrup. I loved the smell of the wood burning and the slight sweet tinge in the air.

The boys liked swinging with Anthony and crossing the covered troll bridge. I had to indulge in a bag of the maple coffee and entered the Sugar Shack with the idea that I would run in and run out with my purchase. Ann's milk was dropping and well, that just isn't a good thing when babycakes is at home with her Daddy, probably staring to wail and fuss. What I entered instead of the Sugar Shack was the Twilight Zone for the elderly. And not just any elderly – French speaking Q-tips. They were bickering over the prices, the lines, the lack of bathrooms, the lack of pink stained glass dragonflies window hangings and so on and so forth. And so, my mantra began. “Some day I too will be old and crotchety, some day I too will be old and crotchety.” Because of their excessive scrutiny, it was taking forever to purchase my two bags of coffee. I tried my best to hold my tongue and not go postal on the two old ladies in front of me when they couldn’t decide between the ‘Kim’ or ‘Kimberly’ sleigh ornament. I think it went like this, “Her real name is Kimberly.” “Yes, but doesn’t she go by Kim?” “Oh yes… which do you think she would like?” “I’m not sure. Maybe her real name…. but she does have everyone call her Kim…” “I think I will get her the Kim. Hmmmm, or maybe the Kimberly?” At this point I am doing all I can to not scream out “Stop the insanity!!! It is a $2.00 ornament for Pete’s sake!! Buy both!” I chose instead to bang my head against the cute little maple plaque with Pope John Paul on it. I made it out alive, battered and bruised, but alive and bearing coffee. I cannot say the same for some of the others. All in all it really was a fantastic time. Anytime with BFF is well spent. Though trying to sop up runny boobs the whole way back was quite the challenge!

if a picture is worth a thousand words....

This should easily sum up my day.