Well, clearly I missed my two posts per month quota for Feb, March, and possibly Jan. Let's see if I can get back into the swing of things here and make up for it in April.
I remembered my password to login to the blog on the third try. Not too bad :-)
I found my camera! Even better :-) :-)
Still no pictures because it needs batteries. Not quite as exciting, now :-(
So, some entertaining tidbits from life under the big top (In case you didn't catch that, I am indeed, comparing our household to the circus that it feels like most days!)
Some recent comical-tragedies:
One child managed to cut his tongue with a razor in the shower. I won't mention which child this was, but you already know it was a HE. And if that isn't enough of a hint, it's the one that has HAIR UNDER HIS ARMS!! That is, if he hasn't shaved it off.
Another shorter child managed to splatter toothpaste in his eye he was brushing so hard. Now I suppose that shouldn't have been funny. I am not sure why it was. Maybe it's because it was moments after the razor and tongue episode and I was thinking to myself, "only in this house." Or maybe it is because I am sick in the head. It could be either, I guess.
Some less-than-comical-tragedies:
Again, those boys ganged up on me. Two major dramas, one right after the other!
Chris was working late and I thought I had it all under control. I was working on cleaning up the dinner mess and had just sent Keenan on his way upstairs for a shower.
Shortly into the cleanup project I feel water dripping on my head from the kitchen ceiling. I look up and it begins coming down in a steady stream. I RUN upstairs and find Keenan in our bathroom, which has no tub. Only a stand up shower stall with a sliding glass door. The bathroom floor is COVERED in about an inch or water and it is seeping through the floor into the kitchen below. Apparently, he thought if he shut the shower door, he could plug up the drain with a wash cloth and make himself a bath. The water was a good 12 inches up the door when he heard me come in and OPENED the shower door---sploosh...more water on the bathroom floor.
Gretyl, sweet child that she is, jumps to action and starts grabbing towels and runs downstairs with them. I quickly mop up the bathroom floor with a mixture of towels and dirty clothes from the hamper. Soaking towels all over the bathroom and kitchen and I decide to pause to give the boys their night time medicine.
Now let me stop here for a moment to explain HOW skeptical Kyle always is of his medicine when I put it in front of him. He takes several pills in the evening and carefully examines each one. If there is a different generic, he will question it.
So Kyle takes his medicine. Next it's Keenan's turn. I have some of Keenan's medicine set out and am turning around to get the rest out of their respective vials. When I turn back around, the first few pills I set out for Keenan are gone.
Me: Where'd those pills go?
Kyle: What pills?
Me: The pills I laid right there.
Kyle: Oh, I took them.
Me: What?!
Kyle: I thought they were for me.
Me: But you already took yours!!
Kyle: I thought there were more.
Now this would not have been so freakishly odd if it weren't for the fact that he usually doesn't even want to take the pills that ARE his!!! It's a Spanish Inquisition every time--like I might try to poison him, and so he'd better stay on his toes!
So he ends up taking a pretty high dose of a medicine that lowers your blood pressure. I call CVS, talk with the pharmacist, and he isn't quite sure. He thinks Kyle should be okay--but he isn't sure. He says I should probably call poison control and talk to a poison control pharmacist. (apparently they are a notch above the CVS pharmacist???)
Poison control tells me to take him to children's hospital immediately. It's dark, and rainy, and I hate driving in the dark and the rain. I don't drive that well in the daytime, but add darkness, rain, and downtown traffic and I am freaking out.
Me: Can I take him to the Children's Close to Home Urgent Care?
Them: No.
Me: Can I take him to Dublin Methodist (which is in Dublin and doesn't involve driving downtown)
Them: No.
Me: Okay.....
Gretyl, who thinks he must be dying, offers to stay with Keenan and gives Kyle $2 for the vending machines at the hospital. Which was kind of funny. But what was even funnier is that after he "pulls through", she wants me to give her the $2 back. "I THOUGHT he was dying!" she tells me.
So we end up spending 7 hours in the emergency room so they can monitor him. He ends up being fine. Chris eventually meets me down there, but not before some priest comes in, thinking I am some abandoned single mother (I didn't have my wedding ring on). He plops down in a rocking chair and proceeds to talk my ear off and spill a can of orange soda all over the floor. Nice man, I was so glad when he left, though. I said something about how my husband would be there soon. I could tell he thought I was making it up-hahahahaha.
He made some joke about hoping Kyle could leave before all the bars closed (did I mention he was a priest-geesh!). Kyle went on to ask every staff member that came in, what time he was going to get to go. He needed to go before 2am, he'd tell them, because that was when the bars closed.
They all thought it was hysterical. It was.... the first few times. Then I realized he was serious. So I asked him, what do you think a bar is?? A place where you get food, he tells me!! That's my boy :)
Okay, nuff for tonight. More to come later this week, including pictures. I promise!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Paying Back the Guy Across the Street
Whew- bet you thought I wasn't going to make my two post a month minimum for January! Let's see, what have us Cunninghams been up to lately. Oh yes! We finally got to do something nice for the guy across the street (the saga continues)!!
Bill came over to leave us a note asking if we wouldn't mind letting him have our free paper. I like to imagine that he didn't have time to stop by the ATM for the traditional bank roll he feels obligated to give gretyl, so he intentionally planned to come over when no one was home. Unfortunately for him, Gretyl got home as he was getting ready to leave the note, so he just left the note (and no cash) with her.
Luckily for him and us, we have another friend whose son delivers the free paper! They had six extras and if you believed Gretyl's version of this story, I sent her out in the 50 below blizzardy weather with no shoes and a two ton boulder on her back, to get these papers from our friend who lives 16.3 miles down the road.
Apparently, Bill's son's wedding announcement was in that particular week. So he was happy to accept them all. But not before double and triple checking to make sure Gretyl didn't have to pay for the papers. (Did I mention this was the FREE paper?)
Keenan is preparing his act for the talent show! I was very surprised, but excited, that he wanted to be in the talent show. He is going to be telling knock knock jokes. He is so cute, I hope it goes well. He has such a cute and naive presence about him, that I am sure he will be well received. We are working on making sure he remembers to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear.
I don't worry about him being nervous. He has never really known enough to be nervous about these types of things. He is always very excited to share poster, book reports, etc. That sort of thing would have made me very nervous when I was his age.
I remember when we were teaching Gretyl how to ride a bike without the training wheels. She was about 6, it was shortly before Kyle's grand entrance and Keenan had just turned four. Already at four, Keenan was hell on wheels, literally, with his tiny purple bicycle with training wheels. So we are in an empty parking lot and had just taken Gretyl's training wheels off. She is, as most kids would be, really terrified. "Don't let go, Don't let go". She is wobbly and in tears at the thought that we may actually let go of the back of her seat. We are out of breath and exhausted from running beside her.
Throughout the ordeal, Keenan is pestering and pestering. He wants his training wheels off too--like big sister. Finally, just to get him to be quiet, we throw our hands up and say "fine--we'll take them off," NEVER in a million years really thinking he will be able to ride it.
Keenan gets on his bike--and pedals away. End of story. No one ran beside him, he never faltered, just rode off smoothly, as if he had been doing it for years. Never comprehending that he could fall and get hurt. Of course stopping was an entirely different story. I seem to remember him not knowing how to stop and always riding into the grass and tipping over to stop. Eventually he learned, though. And his little antics actually did wonders to shame poor Gretyl into succeeding, too!
We are all waiting around to see if there is a snow day tomorrow. Lots of things cancelled already, we keep checking. My favorite is a place of business called Champion Windows. Most schools/business simply state the county and the status--such as cancelled, closed, etc. Not Champion Windows. Theirs simply says "PLAN B". I guess they must all know what "PLAN B" is. It's all so cloak and dagger sounding. Such secrecy for a Windows company.
Bill came over to leave us a note asking if we wouldn't mind letting him have our free paper. I like to imagine that he didn't have time to stop by the ATM for the traditional bank roll he feels obligated to give gretyl, so he intentionally planned to come over when no one was home. Unfortunately for him, Gretyl got home as he was getting ready to leave the note, so he just left the note (and no cash) with her.
Luckily for him and us, we have another friend whose son delivers the free paper! They had six extras and if you believed Gretyl's version of this story, I sent her out in the 50 below blizzardy weather with no shoes and a two ton boulder on her back, to get these papers from our friend who lives 16.3 miles down the road.
Apparently, Bill's son's wedding announcement was in that particular week. So he was happy to accept them all. But not before double and triple checking to make sure Gretyl didn't have to pay for the papers. (Did I mention this was the FREE paper?)
Keenan is preparing his act for the talent show! I was very surprised, but excited, that he wanted to be in the talent show. He is going to be telling knock knock jokes. He is so cute, I hope it goes well. He has such a cute and naive presence about him, that I am sure he will be well received. We are working on making sure he remembers to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear.
I don't worry about him being nervous. He has never really known enough to be nervous about these types of things. He is always very excited to share poster, book reports, etc. That sort of thing would have made me very nervous when I was his age.
I remember when we were teaching Gretyl how to ride a bike without the training wheels. She was about 6, it was shortly before Kyle's grand entrance and Keenan had just turned four. Already at four, Keenan was hell on wheels, literally, with his tiny purple bicycle with training wheels. So we are in an empty parking lot and had just taken Gretyl's training wheels off. She is, as most kids would be, really terrified. "Don't let go, Don't let go". She is wobbly and in tears at the thought that we may actually let go of the back of her seat. We are out of breath and exhausted from running beside her.
Throughout the ordeal, Keenan is pestering and pestering. He wants his training wheels off too--like big sister. Finally, just to get him to be quiet, we throw our hands up and say "fine--we'll take them off," NEVER in a million years really thinking he will be able to ride it.
Keenan gets on his bike--and pedals away. End of story. No one ran beside him, he never faltered, just rode off smoothly, as if he had been doing it for years. Never comprehending that he could fall and get hurt. Of course stopping was an entirely different story. I seem to remember him not knowing how to stop and always riding into the grass and tipping over to stop. Eventually he learned, though. And his little antics actually did wonders to shame poor Gretyl into succeeding, too!
We are all waiting around to see if there is a snow day tomorrow. Lots of things cancelled already, we keep checking. My favorite is a place of business called Champion Windows. Most schools/business simply state the county and the status--such as cancelled, closed, etc. Not Champion Windows. Theirs simply says "PLAN B". I guess they must all know what "PLAN B" is. It's all so cloak and dagger sounding. Such secrecy for a Windows company.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Five Things...
You know what it is like to want something? I mean really, really, really want something badly? So badly that you find yourself bargaining with greater powers and making little *deals* in your head...."If I could just have this one thing, I wouldn't want anything more. This is really the most important thing to me ever. If I get this one thing, I will feed the hungry and stop complaining about stupid things. etc..."
Then you get it. And you do the happy dance and try to live up to all those little *deals* you made ..... For about a week..... Eventually you get used to having this *thing* and fail to appreciate how lucky you are to have said *thing*.
A friend of ours is having major health issues due to his diabetes. He is in need of a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, due to other complications he is at this very moment under-going a coronary bypass. Because of this, they want his body to have a good 6 months to recuperate and have to postpone the transplant (not that he has found a kidney). Mostly likely, he will have to go on dialysis shortly after surgery. At least until he secures a new kidney and is healthy enough for the transplant.
I believe he is only in his late 30's. He has a wife and three young children ages 4 through 9. His oldest child is severely affected by Autism and has epilepsy as well. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, and neither of their families live near them. I can't imagine how stressful and scary this must be for them. If it were me, I would probably be hoping, begging, and pleading and making lots of little *deals* with myself. It really makes you stop and think.
So here are my five things to ponder for today:
1. Waking up every morning to the man of my dreams
2. Filling our lives with the most beautiful children
3. Earning my college degree
4. Owning our very own home
5. Getting Keenan into Oakstone School
Each of these things is something I wanted very badly. Each of these is something that at some point in time, I couldn't imagine wanting anything more. Each is something I have come to take for granted. Today I find myself really focusing on them and appreciating them more than ever.
Then you get it. And you do the happy dance and try to live up to all those little *deals* you made ..... For about a week..... Eventually you get used to having this *thing* and fail to appreciate how lucky you are to have said *thing*.
A friend of ours is having major health issues due to his diabetes. He is in need of a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, due to other complications he is at this very moment under-going a coronary bypass. Because of this, they want his body to have a good 6 months to recuperate and have to postpone the transplant (not that he has found a kidney). Mostly likely, he will have to go on dialysis shortly after surgery. At least until he secures a new kidney and is healthy enough for the transplant.
I believe he is only in his late 30's. He has a wife and three young children ages 4 through 9. His oldest child is severely affected by Autism and has epilepsy as well. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, and neither of their families live near them. I can't imagine how stressful and scary this must be for them. If it were me, I would probably be hoping, begging, and pleading and making lots of little *deals* with myself. It really makes you stop and think.
So here are my five things to ponder for today:
1. Waking up every morning to the man of my dreams
2. Filling our lives with the most beautiful children
3. Earning my college degree
4. Owning our very own home
5. Getting Keenan into Oakstone School
Each of these things is something I wanted very badly. Each of these is something that at some point in time, I couldn't imagine wanting anything more. Each is something I have come to take for granted. Today I find myself really focusing on them and appreciating them more than ever.
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