Feb. 19 ~ Thursday

[Pat B]

Morning all

Been up since 1:30 - got a lot on my mind.

Erin cursed at a teacher on Tuesday and has been suspended for the rest of the week. She then disrespected me to my face. There was *almost* a physical altercation. Sent her to her Dad's for the rest of the week because she refused to surrender her cell phone as punishment. Her Dad managed to get the phone away from her.

Her latest reaction to me was "I hate you. I hope you die".

My response? "Good. That means I'm doing things right."

I know I'm doing this right, so why can't I sleep?

Think I'll call out from work today and putter around the house. Have some bananas I need to do something with before the fruit flies discover them.

Aunt Maye - I'm thinking of you and hoping it warms up in your part of the world soon. <hugs>

[ladyebug]

Good Morning.

Oh dear, Pat. Hate that Erin is having some problems. No wonder you cannot sleep.

No excitement here. That's for sure. We are still waking to frigid temps and staying close to home.

Made a mess of lunch yesterday and need to do better today.

Hope everyone is good. Stay warm.

[bethina]

Morning its a whole 1 degree here....I am still having issues with my knee.....but will bundle up and go to work...I am getting a ride to my parents after work....need to pick up my tablet....and just spend a little bit of time with them....They leave in the morning for 2 weeks in Florida....really wishing I was able to go this time but will wait and possibly go with them next year.

[Nalani]

Good morning all!

Pat, you are doing the right thing with Erin. I had quite a time with Patty for a short while when she was a teen. We used to send her to her room for mouthing off and she would send out hate messages into the hall way. They used to make us laugh and laugh and I wish we had saved them. One time she was doing her homework in the kitchen and mouthed off and I threw my whole drink (not the glass) at her. Sort of shook her up. Now we laugh about all this and we see Kelly starting with the same problem with her oldest son. I am a firm believer of when a child turns 13 they turn into gremlins of some sort but luckily most grow out of it. But you have to contend with cell phones now days which does make the job harder. Glad her dad got it away from her. Trust me she will grow out of it as you care and are doing the right thing but in the meantime you have to suffer through it. I know there are some kids out there that are perfect but my kids were never perfect.

Hope all of you suffering with this cold cold weather stay warm and don't have to go out in it unless you have to.

Spent most of yesterday organizing my tax papers and made my appointment with the CPA for the middle of March. Hope to have received all my papers by then. 2014 is a confusing tax year with the death of Buddy. Today hope to do not much at all. Tonight Patty catches the Red eye from Maui and will be here just before lunch tomorrow. Am getting quiet excited.

Have a good way all and stay warm!

[Mayebarnes]

good Chilly morning ...

we did have more snow yesterday. possibly 3"...but it is the Zero degrees this morning .... I do need to get out to store,library and bank.. and a store for more milk,bread...we can wait until later in morning.. when the road have been "done" again. our country road gets done in early morning hours for the sake of the school buses.. much appreciated those winter workers.

I got call from Dermatologist office...the biopsy showed pre-cancer cells.. so will need to got back and get another treatment... could have been there today.. but the roads sounded like they would be iffy for an 8:30 appt.... so I chose next Tue afternoon... this is going to be a real nuisance,,,
the spot is right under where the nose piece rest... will manage.. always do.

Pat. ahhhhh,, the teen age years... but hating you is a good sign....got your Mother Hat on!.. Command Respect.....that is your right,,after all those poopy diapers. all kidding aside... this is a really rough age for both of you...she has back issues. (as do you)..but glad you stood your ground......(((((((((((Pat)))))))))))))

Hi Bethina
Hi Elaine... you messed up a meal??? can hardly believe that...

better go do housewifely things, sweeper. dishes. bathroom needs some attention!... see you all later.

Hi Paula and Donna

[cookielady]

Good Morning! It's only -2 here but the wind chill is -17 and tonight is suppose to be even worse. They've canceled school for today...not sure why.

Yesterday was good. Went grocery shopping & to the gym. Since Corky took Blaise to school, I then picked him up. We went to the library because he had a very good day at school...he LOVES the library. Came home and made a very good dinner per Corky....baked chicken, lots of veggies, a huge tossed salad, and some french fries for Blaise & me. YUM!!! Was up way too late creating a new park on Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Not sure what today will bring. I need to do laundry and a lil paperwork. Will cook another nice dinner...I think. Need to call H&R Block and schedule an appointment, but need to talk to the gal that does them to find out what I need to bring since we didn't have the pro shop business last year.

Have a good one all!

Pat...BTDT and have the scars to prove it. You are stronger than me. I'm surprised they suspended her for cussing. Bradford HS had in-school suspension, so they still had to get up and be there. At home suspension is a reward in my book. I thought she was living with her Dad anyways, or did something happen there? I never thought we'd live through the teen years & you all lived them with me. Now Kathy's 21. She's somewhat better and I'm starting to "know" things again.

[Pat B]

Donna,

Erin has been back with me since we moved back into town a couple of months ago.

And I agree, at-home suspension does absolutely NO good. I'm also angry that the principal refused to let me get her homework assignments for this week so she can stay caught up - but NO, it is decided on a case-by-case basis and hers was a NO.

[JoGee]

Good morning....
Have an appointment at the Cancer Center early this morning..,routine followup, see how I'm doing on the new meds.

Pat, don't be concerned about Erin's outburst. Teenagers do that. Count your blessings, you only have the one girl to deal with. I had 4. Each with their own way of going through this. And now...my only son, my firstborn, now age 52 ---- he doesn't mean to give me/us a hard time. But DIL sets all the rules there...ALL. She is working him to death; I haven't seen his smile in years!!! Trying to visit there at month's end, and she gives us a 30-minute time span? I'll come up with something else, but this is beyond ridiculous! Anyway, relax, Pat. This too shall pass.

Well, gotta take my meds, finish my yogurt, make sure E is up, and git goin' !

Have a good day. I'll be back later.

[Paula A]

I have to add my hugs for Pat and warm wishes to all of you who are enduring this cold weather.
Jo, can you make an appointment with your son? Or maybe E can give him a little talk?
Foggy this morning and I had a rotten night, so I am just taking it an hour at a time.
Easy agenda day, I guess.
How did things mess up, Elaine?
Gotta go, a truck just drove up.

[maxie]

Another cold morning..wind chill like 12 below this morning but sun is shining. More weather expected tonight and through the weekend. Hopefully this is mother nature just showing off for her last winter hurrah. March is just a week away and Spring Training starts today. No school because of the cold. Are we maybe coddling these kids a little? Lots of weather days the last couple of years. I'm sure they had bad weather when my boys went to school but they seldom missed school for it. Maybe I'm just a hard hearted grandma. BUT, weather will not keep us home. Sierra and I are heading to work on doors with her dad. We will go out for supper then head home early to snuggle in for another cold night. Sorry you and Erin are having problems Pat. If Erin is still in therapy have you thought about seeing if they will sit down with the school? The school is not always right when they go hard line and sometimes they need an outside source to point that out. Hope you all are staying warm.

[JoGee]

Paula, I wouldn't even try to make an appointment with my son. He works 4 days a week in cabinetry, presumably long hours to keep his work benefits. Then Friday through Sunday he's making/selling popcorn at events to save $ for retirement. He thinks that all family events should be planned in his neighborhood, for his convenience.
That's not how the real world works. When I say "he" I mean "they", and also that he has wimped out along the years and doesn't think for himself. So...he's made his choice. I made the effort, and they can't accommodate. So be it.

For example: Stepdaughter came to visit us after a day-long drive. I'd given the other kids advance notice if they wanted to see her. Son thinks she should have driven the extra 2-1/2 hours and parked in his area for his convenience. I told him to forget it. It's not fair to her after a daylong drive.

[Ray]

Morning rounders..Its been a while.
Glad to see all are doing fairly well. It is still cold here in the South, about 21 F. Got a new machine, still trying to figure out how to get it to do what I want it to do. what I get for trying to go from XP to Windows 8.
I now know what it means when others have ment when they said that retirement is not for sissies.

[JoGee]

Hi Ray, nice to see you posting.

To those interested, my checkup this morning went extremely well. My blood counts have dropped some more, which is a very good thing! My body is adjusting to the meds, which is never easy at first in this case, but I've almost got things under control now. For the next two months I'll be going for blood tests, to make sure things stay in order. After that, the blood tests will be spaced further apart.
(I knew 2 weeks ago something was going right. I felt something was just a little different, not sure what though, but it was a good feeling. A normalcy, somehow. ---- Note that this condition will never be cured, I will always have that mutant gene; however, getting my system back to normal as much as possible feels good. The only outward hint of this is the big lump on my left side from the splenectomy I'd had to have. As one Sweedish doctor, now retired, put it years ago....."oh, my! You don't look like a person with a record from medical he!!, so pardon me for staring." We conversed and joked for about an hour, and he was pleased there was such hope for others who had this type of condition.)

So, it looks like I'm going to be a little healthier now. I was worried about having chosen this doctor after the first visit. But having looked up his record on that site that was posted, I couldn't have made a better choice. When his nurse told him of my concerns, he calmed down and didn't just breeze over his intentions; we did get explanations then.

One more thing...the head nurse Sandy (who writes up the prescriptions) was telling us she couldn't believe the problems we've had getting the appropriate med. we're all glad that is over! Then Nurse Nikki came flying down the hall as we were leaving, and grabbed me in a great big hug, because it was her efforts and getting their pharmacist to talk to my pharmacist that got me the med! She said my accusing my pharmacy about trying to kill me may also have been an important trigger. But somebody else had to tell them also that this was not a minor drug, it was for a life-threatening condition.

So now that excitement is now over. Thank goodness.

[Paula A]

Jo, not sure if I said this or not yesterday. But, just reading again made me smile at what possibly could have gone through their minds when you said that trying to kill you remark!
So glad you are getting the right meds and the attention you deserve!
smh at those who think everyone should come to them. Mew would drive from the East coast out to California and still had some who were "miffed" our family would not drive to where they were, usually a 2-3 hour trip.
That should read We would drive...

[JoGee]

Thanks for the support on the medical issues, Paula. I appreciate it.
The *killing* remark probably got their attention, so they finally listened to the nurses and pharmacist, and then decided to call their District Manager who came through with a good supply of the med within a couple of hours.

Yeah, when we were military, stationed around the country, we still had to drive to visit family, and see each of their homes. What a mess of nerves that was. Finally we decided to tell only the people we wanted to visit when we were coming. E's big sister decided to have annual family reunions. That way we could see everyone there.
What happened to my son in this instance.....well, his wife is what happened. He was ready for a morning visit and set it with me, then texted later that his wife scrunched the times and made him cancel it. Otherwise, if we showed up, we wouldn't have time to finish a simple cup of coffee with the time slot she left him. He has no time for anything any more, without her say-so. So be it. He no longer has his humor or his backbone. What's a parent to do?
This is the kid who, at age 21, said I owed him big time....he didn't ask to be born! I put my hands, fingers spread, to my face, giving him an OMG look, and told him in an excited voice that Geez! What a coincidence! I didn't expect him to be born when he was, either, so he musta wanted to be born a lot more than I'd wanted to give birth. Seeing the shock register, I continued, about how his dad abandoned us, I had to deal with work and babysitters and bills, and how I gave up food (except for 400 calories a day for many months) so he could eat and have things he needed, and I signed divorce papers so his dad wasn't allowed to come feed him beer every night, as he'd tried to. Son says, "Yeah, well that's your job!" I said no, I could have taken that blank check from the rich couple, and sold him, when he was 3 - 4 years old. One girl threw her baby across the living room. Another girl walked out and abandoned her child for good. And that was before he (my son) was 3 months old. I told him I loved him enough to do my very best by him, and if that wasn't good enough, well, too bad.
I guess that's tough love. Not easy. And he had my mom on his side to boot, and that was crap.
But today he has to make his own choices, and deal with his lack of backbone. Only he can fix that.
In the long run, yes, he was worth it. (Too bad his choices are different from my wishes. But that's life.)