Kate's On Line Journal

[KDK513]

I totally believe it! which is why I will not sleep much for awhile. We had the party from hell, I think it was Jan. 3, the night of the OSU, Miami football game. I had a basement full of 17 - 21 year olds cheering for both teams. At 4am I was rousting them out of the woods in back and screaming in single syllables for them to get back inside. These sorry individuals seemed to think they were back at college already. I was trying to control high schoolers mixing with the college crowd.
The best is, I so remember my Dad claiming he wasn't born yesterday... well of course he was, now I sound just like him, ya think I was born yesterday? huh?

[cheesecake]

We have serious snow here, over 30 inches! Hubby did the grocery shoping Friday night but with 3 kids pinned in the rations are almost gone. I am dying for a diet soda but the secondary as well as the main roads are in need of clearing.
Everyone has been sleding, watching videos, making tons of popcorn and putting the drier on over time.
The most recent news reports have our schools closed for the next several days.....Thursday at the earliest. My five year old has announced that he is tired of the snow..."can I go to school now, Mom?".
It is amazing how being stranded can make everyone work together for a common goal but how the little things annoy.
Bring on a warm spring vacation somewhere in the South!!

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.
It's already tomorrow in Australia!"----- Charles Schultz

[Sci Mom]

We seemed to get more sleet than snow; I think we have about 17" on the deck off the living room. Deer were everywhere in the yard; we put some apples out for them. The younger ones look so cute with snow all over their faces! I'm just glad I have no place to go for the next few days!

Vicky

P.S. Martha~ Cream of Mushroom soup out of the can??? GAACK!!!

[marmalady]

Thought for the day -

What does 'stressed' spell backwards? [img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

_____________
Tough times don't last - tough people do.

[Sci Mom]

Jackie~Coincidence?? I think not, ladies!!

Martha~Looks like some rain might be coming your way...hang in there!

KDK~got rid of the "eating machines" yet?

Cheesecake~Have the kids gone back to school?

Krajaxa~That poor little one! You have all been in my prayers...

And Kate~Waiting to hear about your wonderful vacation!

[KDK513]

yeah, except me, my body must be getting ready for hibernation

[cheesecake]

SCI Mom,
I am in search of my sanity...school was cancelled again for tomorrow. The Army came through and helped clear the street today. The snow banks are 8-10 feet high. They are hoping the rain will melt the snow and then hopefully tje kids will return to school. The banks are Soooo high they are worried about safety as the kids wait for the buses.
The 5 year old went back to daycare today. I am not sure who was happier, him or me. He really missed his friends.
The kids painted the snow banks using food coloring. They made rainbows in front of the house...made me smile.
I think on Monday the silence in the house will be maddening. The time together has been priceless.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.
It's already tomorrow in Australia!"----- Charles Schultz

[Sci Mom]

KDK~

You asked about an update on Brianna, and I thought I'd answer here. She's coming home tomorrow, and boy is she ready! The two weeks FLEW by (for me, anyway [img]/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) and when she gets home, she'll be INDEPENDENT!!! She learned lots of cool things at Craig; she's got her new wheelchair, which she LOVES (titanium with e-motion wheels!) AND we found out she's anemic, which explains a great deal. I can't wait to see her again, and hear ALL the details!

I'm now watching the weather. We're due to get some rain, but the driveway is still deep with snow. The rain only turns it into slippery mush, so that even the SUV can't get up! I promised her she'd get back to West Virginia...but as to coming home, she may be at the Days Inn for a few days! Wish us luck...

Vicky

[krajaxa]

Ok, snow has been melting also here, waiting for rain to melt some more. I just stayed outside w/our dog for about an hour since it's 39 degrees, so me and her we kind of celebrated touch of spring. She still hurried up and did her business since she thought she was going to have to come back inside...but back to the old days, people and cats live inside, 100 lbs german shepherd outside.
Hubby is recovering from another surgery, now we have some sperm frozen... Can't wait to do the next step... [img]/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
The baby is doing fine right now...waiting to get just a little bit older for another MRI.
...and finally the weekend is here, so maybe we can get our basement back in the shape after little bit of clean up and moving the furniture around.
Hope you all enjoy your weekend!
[img]/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif[/img]

krajaxa
[img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[kate]

Sunday, 2:15 pm

From my desk in the laundry room, with a small mountain of sandy, damp clothes behind me. It's hard to know how to catch you up . . .

We flew to Tampa last Saturday--had to get up at 3:30 am to make our flight out of Seattle. Our stroke of luck there was a first-class upgrade on what were the most amazingly cheap seats ever bought. Girls were THRILLED to get star treatment, good food with real glass and china, roomy seats, hordes of coach passengers slogging past to their cramped quarters.

Arrived after dark that night at our home-for-the-week on Siesta Key outside Sarasota. I'd found us a house (over the internet) billed as having plenty of space, nice open rooms, and a sunken tub in the master bath, which I was just dying to see Bruce slip into.

Landlady-for-the-week greeted us at the door with the news that they'd, uh, had some plumbing problems and we could only use one bathroom, and the pool was not QUITE swimmable, and the hot tub was not QUITE ready to be fired up . . . there were candles lit all around, which turned out to be necessary because a lot of the light fixtures were not yet in place . . . oh well. We threw our stuff into the bedrooms, went out to find some deli food, and then just HAD to check out the beach. To get to it, we walked half a block, crossed a street, then followed a path through some scrub grass for about an eighth of a mile.

The sand on Siesta Key is white and almost as fine as coarse flour. In full moonlight, the whole place had the look of an old black and white television picture, all in shades of blue and pale gray and white. Bruce was in his chair until the beginning of the path, and then he got to his feet and used the walker to hobble ALL THE WAY out to the water. This took about 40 minutes, which means of course that the girls were nice and wet )fully dressed) by the time we got there. THRILLED again! God, I love so much to see them happy.

But then, duh, he needed to sit, and this beach is wide open, not a chair or bench in sight . . . so I went back up the path and got the chair and lugged it out to the edge of the water. Hmmmm. So what do you suppose would happen if, say, really fine sand got into the wheels? Should have maybe thought through this a little before we did it, but it turned out okay.

Picure the four of us getting slowly back to the house: he is sitting in the chair. I've taken off the wheelie bars and he's holding them in his lap. He's tipped back and I'm behind him, pushing. On each side at the front of the chair is a girl holding on to the frame and pulling. We're all going on about 4 hours of sleep, we're soggy with saltwater and sand, and we're walking in moonlight, no one else around.

That's my family!

Okay, got stuff to do, but I'll tell you more later. Also, if I ever figure out how to get a picture on this thread, you'll see us for yourselves.

[img]/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Kate

[martha]

Kate, welcome back! It definitely sounds like your family has an amazing ability to turn those lemons into lemonade. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the week.

We spent the day at TIRR's Challenge Program with Julian taking all the neuro-psych tests. Guess it will be a week or so before they call us back in to talk about results, but in the initial consult with the clinical neuro-psych, he seemed to think Julian's problems were probably more related to his meds and his diabetes rather than actual tbi from the fall. Guess we can learn to live with his problems since they are minor compared to so many others, but it is very frustrating for him and I admit to not being the most patient person in the world. (I know this must come as a surprise to most of you, but it's true! [img]/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img])

[marmalady]

Maratha, I hope it is just the meds - because they might could be (how's that for Southern? [img]/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]) tweaked a little.

Kate - Welcome back! Great beach story - the only thing in my memory that begins to relate to that is taking the kids to the beach in those insane little 'umbrella' strollers!

We had a major flood in the basement Saturday with all the rain; the sump pump backed up and ended up with about 6 inches of water in the basement. The water was under such pressure from the backup that we actually had fountains coming out of the walls! Hubby was frantically trying to shore them up using wine corks - what a picture! So now we have yet another expense before placing the house on the market. [img]/forum/images/smilies/frown.gif[/img]

_____________
Tough times don't last - tough people do.

[Sci Mom]

Wow...sounds like Jackie saw just as much water as Kate did! [img]/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Seriously...Kate, your vacation sounds great; we'd love to see pics!

Jackie: Blahh! don't you hate stuff like that? How annoying!!

Martha~that would be great, if Julian's meds could be maybe tweaked (practicing my Southern..did I get that right??) It can become very frustrating for everyone, I know. I hope they are really able to give some concrete help.

Bri is back from Craig Hospital..and OMG, you guys...her new chair is SUPER!! She has the e-Motion wheels, and she can FLY! It is so cool. I'm going to stop here, or I'll gush and rave all afternoon, but if anyone has any questions about them..feel free. Of course, now her chair is a bit wider, and we had to rip the inner mouldings off the bathroom door so she could get in...but, hey! What a small price to pay. PLUS...she conquered her bowel program while there, and is now completely independent with her self care! (Okay, to be honest, we have a bit of rearranging and reorganizing to do in her room, but again...what a small task!) Pretty much all I have to do is cook for her, or she would never eat anything normal; but I'm afraid that's a result of being a young adult, not a para! [img]/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif[/img]

On top of all that, I FINALLY got my car up the driveway yesterday! Man, does it get any better than this???

Vicky

[betheny]

Vicky-Your news re Bri ROCKS! That bowel thing is such an incredible accomplishment, the dignity and independence that one process restores is beyond measure. I have goosebumps, so freaking COOL! YEA!!!

[martha]

Jackie -- so sorry to hear about the flood! I've never met your hubby obviously but I have a great picture of him running around with wine corks plugging holes. Sorry, but I had to laugh at the picture -- not at the problem. Good news about the furnaces though!

Vicky -- Fantastic news about Bri. Y'all must be thrilled.