When last you heard from me, I was on my way to school…
…with high hopes for the rest of the evening. When suddenly…Tequila! (And that was TWO days ago.)
I did go to school. I got the “pre-heads-up” to the actual “heads-up” classes I have next week. Signed some paperwork. Got some questions answered. Payed for classes. Bought more books. Drove home excited as hell, but unaware of the complicated nature of what I am about to embark upon.
I have three books and a syllabus right now, and I have three more books to buy. Definitely the most I have needed so far. When I trained for EMT I was on an adrenaline rush for hours after every single class, for like 4-6 months. It was crazy. And I have that same crazy feeling just looking at these books. Two years and god knows how many hours are about to go into this program, but I am ready. I’m not sure my body can take the intensity. I had trouble sleeping before, but I guess that will just help me on the job! I talked so much on the phone to the BF just driving home from a pre-class class, that I, “low-battery-powered-off”, the cell phone. The damn thing drained out good. First time I talked to the cut-off. Even after I plugged it back in it wouldn’t turn on for a little while.
So I take a closer look at this new book. Calculating With Confidence. Drug calculations, measurements, math conversions…OMG, it looks hard. Drug labels, syringes, pills, liquids, fractions, decimals, cc. mL. mg. oz. You need: Aspirin gr 10 p.o. q4h p.r.n. for pain. You have: Drug label, that suddenly makes no sense whatsoever. And tell me how much, with how much diluent, time of day, route of administration, but don’t forget who you are giving it to, how much they weigh, what else they are taking; now mark it on the drawing, and don’t “F” it up because you could kill someone…. I’m paraphrasing…but that’s the idea. Once you take off the plastic shrink wrap, the front cover has a skull and crossbones on it. They don’t want you to see that until it’s too late. And you thought that the nurse handing you two Tylenol in the hospital after dinner didn’t require any skill. HA!
The amazing thing is, that in 2 months, that book is going to make perfect sense, and I’ll be calculating in my sleep (not literally), but for now…we better go to Pepe’s and think about the future.
So the guy that has been working there since he was a child, really, (I know, because we as a family, collectively have been going there for his whole life basically, I even remember a time when he was out in the parking lot trying to drive off in his older brothers car…he got in trouble for that…) anypepestoryway…this kid/adult now (Ricky? The name would not come to me, don’t judge, I’m approaching 40, but Mason and Stevie both agree, yes, on the name) made me a killer, and I mean KILLER margarita. I took 4 drinks and I was feeling the heat. By one third gone, I was TWO thirds gone. I wish I could say I was joking, because I was getting “altered” and fast. (My teeth were numb and I tried to walk out of the clear glass panel NEXT to the door, when I left the restaurant) I ate some chips and salsa and some shrimp cocktail on crackers and a tamale and a chili rellano but food was failing me fast, so I concentrated on finishing the medium margarita that, based on my morning calculations of how-long-it-takes-my-body-to-filter-out-the-alcohol (years of research have perfected this system) there must have been at least, 5 shots of tequila in my drink. I can say that with confidence because I was still slightly drunk at 7:30 in the morning. And I even tried to move the alcohol along with activity and oxygen before I fell into dreamy-drunky sleep the night before but sometimes you can’t keep a good buzz down, or up, or whatever. End of story.
I dragged myself up, took out the garbage, diluted my remaining blood level of tequila with coffee, and watched Regis & Kelly with Pat Tomasulo subbing for Regis (!!) I wrote it on the calendar! Busy schedule, yeah yeah, I’ll be working soon enough and you’ll miss these long, rambling posts. (More Pat Stuff)
The Pat Down. For your enjoyment. And since this is Chicago, we have 2 newspapers…here’s the Trib version. Ok, I think I’m done now.
Then I really pushed the limit with a five mile run. Five point one something something, to be exact. I ran the water bill to the Village Hall, which maps out at 5+ miles. MapMy Run.com. 30 minutes there. 34 minutes back. One hour, four minutes. I will take it. I ran on the sidewalks. Concrete, hard on the shins with lots of hills, (dang Park Forest doesn’t have a completely flat spot 10 steps in a row), and chock full of tripping hazards. Broken cement, uneven, crooked, weeds, rocks…I’m not sure what the village is doing all the time. It seems like they dig holes in random spots all around town just so there’s something for the kids to fall into. At any rate. I was done for the day. Kids got home about 3 ish and we ate ice cream and talked about all they did last week. Stevie made cupcakes! First time on her own and no crunchy ones from egg shells! (So far) So proud. Then dinner and a movie. (Burgers on the grill and Smokey and the Bandit from Netflix) unpack the bags, go to bed and poof! Here we are. Today.
I’m going to skip the run today, maybe go take a walk at the nature trail if I can get the kids out there. Mason has grass to finish and we are open. I have the pictures you have been waiting for…I didn’t forget, it’s just time and energy and getting them off the cell phone. I even have video! The kids wanted to play in the water, but we don’t have a pool. We have a hose. So they filled up larger, plastic, Tupperware bowls and put their faces in them or dumped them over their heads. They would swim in a wet sponge if they could. Then they played water-hose-jump-rope, which is actually pretty funny. So that’s coming too! And all that other stuff I said I had…Remember my theme: Everything is always two days ago!
Cupcakes!
Half with sprinkles, half without! Tasty!
Flower Update. In front of the house.
It’s finally starting to look the way I like it. Kind of wild and a little weedy. I’m sure that’s some kind of glimpse into my soul or my inner psyche.
With the rain/sunshine/heat/ combo’s we have going here all week, the sprouts are blooming. Here’s from tonight, before the rain came again.
Sad news from our aqua-world.
Something was wrong with Mason’s puffy-eye goldfish for quite some time now, but we didn’t know what. We could tell though, that it didn’t look good. And survival of whatever ailed it was not hopeful. After a hard fought battle, he struggled desperately this week to live, I am sorry to say, that he is gone. As of last night, I found it necessary to put him out of his misery.
And without even one bit of exaggeration or sarcasm, I really felt sorry for that poor fish. And I am not ashamed to say that I cried. In fact, I am crying right now typing about him. Watching him try to eat and breathe and swim was just awful. If you could imagine yourself ever wondering if fish have feelings or if they suffer at all, you would know that it could be true looking at this particular goldfish.
I watched him a few nights ago searching the water for food. I could tell he was having a hard time finding it. He used to have very big bags around his eyes when we first got him, that’s the type he was. Just recently, the puffs were beginning to grow again. Sometimes they do. Unfortunately his life was rough from the start. We didn’t know at the time that those kind of goldfish are susceptible to getting those baggy eyes punctured. Which happened almost immediately. The internet said he may die from it. But he didn’t. In fact, he recovered and looked better than ever.
Then a few of the other goldfish Mason had in his tank started to attack him. They eventually ended up nipping off one of his three, long, tail fins. Then just as abruptly, they stopped. The puffy-eye seemed fine even after that. He swam a little weirdly and not always straight, but he was very tough and endearing and had personality, if a fish can, and we really fell in love with him.
Let me just say here, that we have had A LOT of fish come through this house. I mean, A LOT, a lot. And we have dealt with many dead fish so it’s not like we are over prone to fish affection but, this one really did seem special. It’s weird until you own a really good one and then you see. At any rate these last few weeks we watched him suddenly grow bigger and bigger. His body started to get fatter and fatter as if he was going to burst. We managed to get one picture of him, looking pretty good for all his trouble. You can kind of see where he was becoming so fat. In the last 2 days his scales seemed to be lifting off of him and I knew we were close to the end.
Then last night when I went in to feed him, puffy-eye was laying at the bottom, kind of half-in and half-out of Mason’s decoration Colosseum. He was gasping but not moving. It didn’t look like he would be able to get himself out of there. So, I nudged him free and he floated helplessly to the top, just staring at me, gasping for air (?). I couldn’t stand it. He LOOKED miserable. I don’t care what anyone says, that fish was not without some kind of pain. So I ended it for him. And I cried.
I feel kind of silly for being overly emotional about a fish, but he was part of the Aqua-World that we have been creating all the years of my children’s lives. And I cried, because Mason and Stevie really loved that fish too, and they weren’t here to see him go. They knew when they left that there was a good chance he would be gone by the time they get home next week, but I was kind of hoping that little guy could have made it, or suddenly got better and been perfectly normal again. But it was not to be.
So this is my little eulogy to another fish that has swam in and swam out of our lives yet again. He was a funny, puffy, silly, lopsided little fish that we adored.
Rest in Peace.
And if you would like to read more about the love these little fish seem to invoke, please click here.
Wacky Water Weekend With… / Friday Fun
So, after Mason cut all his grasses on Friday, we went to do my “Friday Fun Family Summer Project”.
Which as you may recall, I teased you with a few days ago…Benches of Love….???
Tinley Park, Illinois, just a few towns over from my own, has a lovely downtown area with shops and restaurants and a train station, businesses, etc., etc. They also have decorated benches. You know, the kind you sit on. I think they are kind of cool and I thought that we could go and park the car at one end of the main street, have a little snack and then walk up and down and take pictures of all the different designs. We could get ice cream?!? And it’s free! (The walking and picture-taking, not the ice cream) After a bit of wha..wha..wha…we went.
My other idea was to post the pictures one day at a time…kind of like…Bench of the Day, while my kids are gone. Again. On yet another vacation with their daddy. This time Monticello, IN. Indiana Beach. They go every year. And while they are gone….
See??…something to look at! I have pics with and without children. We will mix it up so you’ll never know which is coming!! Exciting AND unpredictable!!
Here’s the first one, kind of relevant to summer and the movies, “Star Trek, USS Enterprise”:
Wacky Water Weekend With… / Saturday Swim
The Birthday Pool Party!
What a nice day! Not too hot, not too sunny…although I got pretty scorched along with my brother-in-law, that semi-cloud cover can be deceiving…
They belong to a Park District Pool where they live and Elexa’s B-day Party was there! Friends, family, food, fun…the usual.
This place had many pool areas: a party room, snack bar, diving boards, a drop chute, water slides (2) open/semi-closed, slow/fast, kids or adults. Nothing crazy. Some Lily Pad jump things, Dumping Buckets of Water, and Sprays. The kids loved it.
(I did the slides, the drop chute and the high dive, making me the coolest mom who participated and didn’t just sit on the sidelines…their words, not mine.)
One more time:
Happy Birthday Elexa!
Happy Birthday Jesse!
Birthday girls (to the left) and an extra to the right
The high dive
The drop chute
Lily pads with slides in the background
Better water slide shot with extra ACTION!
Party food
Party kids
Party Over! See you next year!
Wacky Water Weekend With… / Sunday Snack
Holy Pierogi! Can the weekend really be over already?? Yes, I know it’s Monday, but we have actually been out in the world:
Swimming, Party-ing, Food-ing, Cake-ing, Picture Taking, Food-ing, Driving, More Food-ing, More Driving…we packed it in these last three days. (Our weekend started with Friday…lucky!)
Let’s start from Sunday, and go back…One guess…
Pierogi Fest! What? You don’t know? You are either,
1. Not Polish
or, 2. Not from around here
or, 3. From around here, a Polack, but still not know what this is!
All very likely. That was us three years ago. Now we know. This is the Official Website below:
Pierogi Fest / Whiting, Indiana
Here’s more pictures!
What a bunch of Polish people!
I think this speaks for itself
The Neighbor’s Flowers. I imagine they belong to me…
I took the pictures. You can enjoy them. They smell really good too. I can smell them in my yard when the wind is right.
Flower Bed Update! New pictures of green, weedy things!
This is going to encompass a lot of time passage. Since I have been so busy with school I haven’t been able to post these pics that I know you are dying to see.
I know you probably ask yourself every day, “I wonder how those flowers of hers ever turned out? Did they grow? Are they blooming yet? Why haven’t I even heard a peep about them since last month?”
Well, the answer to all your questions lies below.
They have continued to grow in their very natural way and I did take the pictures, but I felt passing my class had to take priority. Flowers are nice for the funeral, but I don’t want to be the one who made it necessary.
Pictures below!
Filled in quite nicely. Still really green though. This is maybe 2 weeks ago.
The other angle. You can just see the first of the white flowers coming in.
See? Exciting huh??
And this is just last week. During the “window” time. Not as impressive as some, but it’s the best I could do with a limited amount of time and money and a shake can of seeds.
Look at all that petal!
Hey! What's that in the middle?
This is some of that "variety" advertised on the can of seeds. It's the first one!
That’s it for now. I guess it’s kind of a sad display. My flowers seem to be taking their own sweet time blooming, but at least now people can see that they are actually there on purpose. That I actually planted something, and didn’t just let the weeds grow over like cheap landscaping.
Check here for the humble beginnings.
And check back later. I’m going to post some real flowers from my neighbor and my brother-in-law.
Flowers make people feel good. Serious.
Big Fish News!
Before Kentucky. Catfish. 13 inches, 1-2 pounds (maybe). Monee Reservoir, Illinois.
In Kentucky. Catfish. 25 inches, 10 pounds. He is filleted (spelling ?) and sitting in our freezer waiting to be dinner.
just shy of pretty 