It's a Wonderful Life!!

The Legend of Unsleepy Hollow!

It has been an interesting night! I love those interesting nights, as my usual routine needs a bone thrown in every now and again. I have been under the care of a neurologist since being diagnosed with WNV. I have fought fatigue, especially in the afternoon, since my diagnosis. Dr. Al-Shiek (yes, he is from across the big ocean, and extrodinarily handsome) began to ask me about my sleep. I told him I was not a good sleeper because I wake up all night long - usually to go the bathroom and my bad habit of eating. He recommended that I go to the Sleep Center. I reluctantly agreed. Dr. Wieble tried several times to get me to go in the past, I thought it unnecessary. That was only for people with sleep disorders.

So I made an appointment, filled out the paperwork, filled out a check and went last night. It was crazy! The sonographer put leads on 5 places in my scalp, 2 on each temple, some plastic thing in each nostril, on either side of my mouth which was taped across my chin.  Belt-like velcro things around my neck, under my arms, under my boobs and a lead attached to the calfs of my legs. NOW HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO SLEEP WITH ALL THIS??? Believe me, it was difficult. I asked the girl - how will you know I need to go Pee?? She pointed to a small camera on the ceiling above "my" bed. Rebecca was her name. She said just wave at me and I'll come unhook you.  There was a TV, but no bedside lamp for reading. I asked for one, she said this room was for sleep. I watched the Sopranos re-runs on A&E and channel flipped til 11pm. I turned off the TV to try and rest. I tossed and turned til 1:30 and finally fell  asleep.

I dreamed someone was starring at me thru a glass door. He was an African-American with a red crocheted hat and big lips, with white teeth and a white vest, he was laughing at me. It startled me and I tried to tell the sonographer (now this is all in the dream), she looked at me as though I were crazy. Then another dream (now this was reality as I came to find out, but at the time I thought it was a dream) was that someone was smothering me, and I woke up gasping for breath and moniters were sounding off - like when your IV is out at the hospital. This was a semi-conscience state. I asked the sonographer and she said I had an "episode of sleep apnea" twice while sleeping and no oxygen was getting to my brain. In fact the alarm was real. Very strange and weird.

I waved at Rebecca at 4am this morning, she came running, as a good sonographer should, and unhooked me. When I came back she said you're done and gave me the low-down on what went on with my brain during sleep.

So, I was at Wal-Mart (yuk) at 4:30 this morning, doing my grocery shopping. No one is at Wal-Mart at 4:30 - it's a good time to go, other that the stock in the aisles. Only employees and a few scattered nuts like myself. Why would someone be at Wal-Mart at 4:30?? What are they thinking, where have they been, and what have they been doing all night? Very strange phenomenen.

Now that I have had 3 cups of coffee I am ready for the day. I will take a nap this afternoon. The Motherly Unit spent the night with Sam. She is in a cleaning, clearing mood this morning, I'M NOT. I know those moods all too well. The look from her like "how did your house get so dusty and messy". I really don't know, but that is a topic for another blog.

I go back next Tuesday to have the "C-Pack" adjusted and it is something I will sleep with. I am not so sure about all this, but if it will help me feel rested and refreshed in the morning, then I'm on green. Green for Go. I like Green.

PEACE!

The Owl and the Weeping Pussy Willow

Today has been quite the adventure. I (tried) to call up an owl. It didn't work. Sometimes with a little luck and alot of "whoooooing" it does work. I really like to flaunt my expertise and call the owl in front of people when I am feeling a little happy, a little free.  I was happy this afternoon, and we heard the owl in the distance. I knew he was too far off - and it only works after dark. I think my brother was impressed by this talent he didn't realize I had.  Lee has been here this weekend and we have gotten in a good visit. It is good to have him here, albeit for a short time. It will never be enough time. Just prior to my contracting WNV last July, my mom and I were moving to Dallas to be closer to Lee and Remi. They are family and it would be great to live in closer proximity to them. But I found that alot of people love me here, and you just don't leave love so easily. That is an altogether topic of another blog - my gratitude for love!

I had a couple of guys to help me weed and clean out my flower beds and put mulch down - my neighbor Sid said it was about time!! There is one thing that really gets me off off in this world and that is to have a couple of nice young men working in my flower bed! Lee and I went to Wal-Mart (yuk!) and got 8 bags of top soil and Matt went somewhere and got 3/4 of a pallet of mulch. He said I got a deal because he only paid for 1/2 pallet, but they started loading and guess they felt happy and generous and overloaded his truck. This is God's favor hard at work. I have been reading too much Joel O'steen lately, but good things like that happen all the time.

I directed and they worked - now understand I have no control issues, but it was kinda fun. They moved some daylillies, pulled up some straggling Japanese Rice Paper plants, trimmed the boxwood hedges and moved some of them. Put top soil around the boxwoods, then mulch. I re-potted 8 containers and broke up the overgrown Aloe Vera and Prayer plants. Everything was root-bound. Now they can breathe and regain their vigor that was lost over the winter.

I love plants and I love to work in the yard. This is the first year in a long time that I have not been affected by poison ivy - I get it every year and have to go visit Dr. Weible and get a shot. I haven't had the inclination to labor in my yard this spring. Things had gotten out of hand, and it looked like an overwhelming job I just couldn't tackle. Matt and Gavin knocked it out in 4 hours. Digging in the soil and planting and watering is a spiritual thing with me. I feel earthy - I like to get my fingernails dirty and feel the coolness of my sweat. Something akin to Mother Nature - I usually get obscessive about this. This year I skipped. I want to dig and play and work a little, but I really just want it done, then I will maintain and enjoy the fruits of Mother Earth.

The patio is almost ready.........I like the patio this time of year, I have some great memories there. My SISTERS and I have solved alot of problems there and it is comfortable. My favorite time is dusk dark. It is time to light the candles, sit and relax, and reflect on the day. Days are filled with rush and time constraints - everyone needs a patio to soak up the day, bask in its beauty, drink from the cup.

My cultured Blackberry bush is really producing some big, juicy, tart blackberries. I used to love my Mamaw's blackberry cobbler. It was really to die for. There was nothing better than making the obligatory trek to North 19th Avenue on Sunday afternoon and having watermelon in the backyard, followed by blackberry cobbler. I so fondly remember my papaw sitting there with his muscle undershirt and telling Mamaw to get the grandbabies a little Coke in the bottle. They always kept a case of the little Cokes for us. They were ice cold and quite delicious. My cousins and I would sit in their backyard and make necklaces out of clover - you know that stuff that used to grow in yards that has the white fuzzy top. We call it a weed now. It has a sturdy stem, just perfect to put your finernail through to split it apart and attach another clover stem. Thus a necklace from Mother Earth. Those were the innocent virginal days.

Lee helped in all this hoopala this afternoon. He hung my box filled with gardening tools that my Uncle Jr. made me for Christmas. He also got down the last of the Hurricane Katrina debris - a dead Magnolia limb that was wedged on a limb. I have looked out my kitchen window at that dead limb since Katrina and I am so glad he was able to pry it loose. He watered the grass and new transplants along with the boxwoods. He played ball with Mr. Man. I told Lee that as long as Mr. Man has a ball in his hands, that all is well with the world. So, they played ball.

Matt called me over to the flower bed this afternoon and pointed at a strange tree. He asked what in the world was that. I said that is my Weeping Pussy Willow Tree. He didn't ask me the name of anything else. He seems pretty knowledgeable about plantings and does this part time for a living. I just thought everyone knew what a Weeping Pussy Willow Tree looks like. My Morman boyfriend reluctantly planted it for me - my sweet Starling, a couple of years ago. I miss my Morman Boyfriend. I wish he would come around more often.

I love a Saturday that is filled with work and accomplishments. Today fit perfectly in with my master plan of organization. I have much work ahead of me, but by and by it is coming together. I got alot done on Thursday night also. My smart and funny bookeeper Trish was here and she worked and I plowed thru my last "stack" of problems. Not that all my problems are solved, granted, they keep coming, but tackling a problem stack does feel good.

Tomorrow is Mothers Day - Lee and the Motherly Unit will meet Mr. Man and I at the early service. It will be good to worship with my family! Mr. Man told me today that he made me something. I can't wait to see it......It will be the best gift in the world, made with his still small hands and eyes of wonder! Life is good.

Couple of fav

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntm1YfehK7U Time - Pink Floyd. This is PF at their best! I love the music, but the video a recording of a live concert...not the best quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mStRP0yyTKo Shine on You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd. Written as a tribute to Syd Barrett, one of the original founding members of Pink Floyd. He was guitarists & vocalists and wrote much of the original Pink Floyd music. He left the group after only 3 years due to his erractic behavior brought on by drug use, especially LSD and subsequent mental problems.

Peace and Love!!

It's confirmed official, I'm going to the Beach!!

I spent the greater part of Tuesday searching for a condo on the Beach - found just what I was looking for in Navarre Beach. Sha told me when she drove thru there a couple of weeks ago that the beaches there were beautiful and whole shells were there for the picking. We are going May 29 (Tue) thru June 3 (Sun). Wish I could share this with all my SISTERS - now wouldn't that be too much fun. But, space is limited and management is firm! Leisa and Walker will be following us down there and staying til Thursday, or perhaps Friday. I figure I can stand Mr. Man and Walker for a couple of days at the most. Then calmness will prevail and AJ and those 2 sweet girls are coming Thursday til Sunday. It will be a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of H'burg.

Sometimes I wonder why God blessed me with a boy. Now don't get any of this wrong - I love my Mr. Man more than life itself, but little girls are so much easier to manage. Every little girl I know has a temperment much UNLIKE my Mr. Man. Yes, I know they have their days, and they also have temper fits and drama. BUT YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN TEMPER TIL YOU WITNESS MR. MAN AND HIS TEMPER. I know the apple doesn't fall too far from the apple tree - but I am here to tell you he DOESN'T get this from me. I am fairly calm and relaxed and a basically fun loving person. My moods usually do not swing and I am agreeable to almost anything. But when my Mr. Man gets his mind made up - it is his way or else. I try my best to squash (not the vegetable) that behavior, but it comes down to a battle of the wills. Usually I win, but sometimes I just give up. I have to pick my battles with him. It is a daily barometer that I watch with a keen eye. I can predict his mood from the moment I wake him up in the morning.  And more specifically from the time he gets in the car after school. Sometimes he is agreeable and sometimes it is a hurricane on the horizon. Will this subside?? Sometimes. And then there are times when I have to threaten (and sometimes even follow thru) calling the Absent Father. And this just burns my butt!! How dare the A.F. have more sway with him than I??? 

It has been a busy week. I have gotten alot done. I am in this bible study of Romans at church and I have been faithfully sticking to my daily readings, but not this week. I just couldn't muster up the energy to read Paul. That fellow just goes on and on about a topic. Sometimes I feel much like a kindergartner when reading Paul's writings. Then there are other times I think you need a doctoratal degree to interpret that stuff. But none the less, I enjoy being in the Word of God every day. It keeps me balanced and gives me a sense of calm about life. And boy, do I need calm!!

My painter is finally finished. Now all that is left is putting my house back together. I like organization. It is something that I lack in life. It is a constant struggle to keep organized. I love the notion that everything has a place. But I am running out of space. Why can't I be like Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched and just twiggle my nose and it all be done?? My main challenge is energy. I run out!! I am pretty good in the morning, but after I have lunch, I really like a little rest period - sometimes that little rest turns into all afternoon. I don't have the time to rest all afternoon. I want to blame all this on remnents of West Nile Virus. The specialists I saw in Jackson in February said I would be symptomatic for another 6 months to a year - YIKES. The fatigue is really debilitating sometimes. But these days I have a tendancy to blame it on LAZY!! I feel good just about every day. I had one of those fatigued days yesterday. I had no energy to work, clean, do laundry - and I had to drag myself to church. I asked Mr. Man if he wanted to go to church - his reply "Yes Mama, I love church!" So being the ever diligent mother that I am, I reluctantly said "OK". But I just couldn't go to class - I just couldn't bear listening and re-hashing Paul's stuff. I always learn something, but I just couldn't last night.

Well, my smart and funny bookeeper, Trish, will be here soon and we will burn the night oil late. Thursday's we always work late and yes I took my obligatory nap in preparation of this!!

Peace!

It's official - I need a beach....

It's official - I need a beach....and in the worst way. The first weekend off, I shall take me, myself and I (along with Mr. Man) to the beach. I long for the smells of the salty air, and the windy breeze. I want to leave one afternoon about 3 and drive south! Something about the beach has a purely serene, calming effect on me. I guess is has something to do with the fact that I haven't been to the beach in a long time. Not to mention the fact that Sam announced to his teacher that his mom had never taken him to the beach. That is not exactly correct, perhaps he was too young to remember, but it has been a couple of years. The last time was in Pensacola, and we were visiting my great uncle and cousin. Much of that trip was visiting, and not much play for Sam. So just maybe it was that uneventful for him.

Last year was a haze for me. Nothing compares....I traveled all spring to see my vendors then in July I contracted West Nile Virus. Since that time I have spent countless hours in rehab to regain the strength in my right arm. I left the hospital with only 20% use in that arm. Thinks are considerably brighter for me and I just have a little trouble lifting weights above my head (but who wants to do that anyway?). I dodged a bullet. It was a big, ugly bullet. I praise God for my life and the chance to see Mr. Man grow up. I was sustained daily by the many prayers that were lifted up in my name. I was sustained also by a huge outpouring of love and friendship. What would I have done without my sisters?? I have no biological sisters, but I am blessed to know that I could at any given time, pick up the phone and holler and a troop would come a running!! My dear sweet loving sisters. They are my heart. They are my sustenance.

Well, today has been long and busy. I rather prefer quite and boring. I wanted to go to Angie's wedding, but Mr. Man wasn't cooperating. Imagine that. We decided to go to the Children's Expo at the Multi Purpose Center. It was really quite boring - the coolest thing was the Krispy Kreme booth. After standing in line for what seemed like an eternity, I got to dip my KK donut in chocolate. Then they gave me a choice of sprinkles or not. I chose NOT. It was really divine. It really should be illegal for something to taste that good. If not illegal for everyone, then for me! But I succumbed and ate every drop of my KK donut, really savored it. It was good. No, it was great. I do love sweets.

After that lovely experience I did the Wal-mart tour. You know Wal-Mart is the necessary evil in my life. I totally disagee with the whole principal of one-stop shopping. It cuts out the hometown shops, the small grocery stores, and the likes. But for a girl with time management, it just makes sense. Plus the variety is appealing to me. While there I purchased a gift card for Sid and Julie. I understand Lynell is a bit better, but the prognosis is still not good.

Made the best BBQ chicken on the grill for dinner. Sid and Julie, Emily and Keith came over along with Leisa and Walker. The kids played on the slip and slide until almost dark. It was loud. There were fights. There was crying. There was tattle telling. You know all the kid stuff that goes along with getting more than 2 kids together. But they did have fun.

The night is just about to come to a close, and I am tired. The whole challenge with me is I love the night time. It is quite and thoughtful. It is the time of day I get to relax. I enjoy doing my bible study then. I enjoy reading the paper or watching some crime story. I love channel 60. I used to watch HGTV obsessively, but I came to the conclusion that I will never get to that project - so why beat myself up by watching it.

Mr. Man was whiny tonight. He is tired. He has that knee jerk reaction when anger strikes. I gotta do something about that. He really can't help it because the absent father is exactly the same way. He has that blood coursing thru his veins. Is it environment or genetics that determine a child's demeanor?? When Mr. Man throws a fit like he was done numerous times tonight, I just see genetics all over him. Then we lay in bed reading our usual 20 minutes and there is not a sweeter little boy in the world.

I am looking forward to the Lords Day tomorrow. Sunday is my time to rest. I mean that literally. I am taking a nap tomorrow or else. I need a nap. It will happen.

Love and Peace!