friday randomania

well, once again, i find myself on friday, wondering where the heck my week went. :o) it was, overall, a good one, i think. it was marred somewhat by the fact j was sick (tonsillitis), but his amoxicillin is whipping that right into shape in short order, so that wasn't TOO horrid.

so, kind of a summary of the last week here!

saturday was a rough day - after c's vbs-vomit-comet episode friday night, she slept fitfully that night, woke up with a fever and a little fretful. she seemed to be feeling better as the day wore on, and cooler, but then she took her nap, woke up from her nap, and promptly threw up all over everything. her fever was back - it wasn't high enough to warrant serious concern, but it was enough to make us a little worried. she seemed in good spirits, so we headed off to my parent's house as planned for The Game with my dad.

by the time we got to their house, she was downright chirpy - but soon after we arrived, she sat down in my lap and didn't want me to put her down or let her go. so i snuggled her, and her skin kept getting warmer, so we put her in a cool bath. m, being his usual self, kept insisting we had to take her to the hospital. mom and i both made it clear that was REALLY not necessary, as she did not have *that* high a temperature. he kept insisting, though - sometimes i wonder if he just likes to create situations. who knows!

anyway, long story short, mom finally shooed us all out to the game with the logic that if we could just get away and stop hovering, then c could rest and her fever would probably break. she also promised to ring us up the minute anything changed, if it did change.

i'll put another post up after this one solely about the game, because it deserves its own post. for now, i will say it was a terrific experience, and mom called about halfway through the second inning to say that c's fever had broken and she was sleeping soundly.

after the game, we all trooped back to mom and dad's house, and bunked down in various places and sofas throughout the house. i slept in the same bed with c, in case she needed anything. j slept with my mom and my dad. m and d slept on sofas. all in all, it worked out fine, and everyone slept well. c woke up mid-o-night (closer to 0100, actually), and instead of waking me up, wandered into the other room and woke up d, who was sleeping on the sofa. he woke m up, who then came and got me. we got her changed, some fresh juice, and back to bed, where c promptly dozed back off, but i compulsively woke up every half hour to make sure she was still there. it was a nasty surprise to be woken by m with no sight of c in the room once already that night!

so sunday morning, i was sleepy as heck, but happy to see c feeling good and bounding around the room, giggling and laughing. however, j was not himself at all. he was talkative, but couldn't/wouldn't eat (he visibly gagged when he tried to eat his waffles, so i hastily pulled them away from him and said he could skip that), and there was just something off about the way he looked and felt. he was a little warm.

however, given c's 24-hour-fever, we assumed it was a bug that j now had. the plan had been for j&c to stay with my folks till tuesday to visit, and mom said it'd be fine, to go on home, he would be fine, etc.

monday, he was better, but still had a temp. by tuesday, he was consistently complaining of a sore throat, so mom took him to the dr. turns out j had tonsillitis! eesh. so they popped him some amoxicillin, and within 24 hours, he felt better, and within 48, he was back to bouncing off the walls, rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed. so now, as of today, all is well from a health pov. lol

i always hate it when the kids are sick - for two reasons. one, i don't want them to be sick! and two, m always, always, A L W A Y S blows everything out of proportion! if they so much as sneeze cross-eyed, it becomes, "take them to the doctor! take them to the hospital!" eeeeeeegad. i mentioned something to his mom about it, and she laughed, and she said, "i'm afraid he gets that from ME!" i said, with a smile, "gee, thanks a lot!" i know he means well, and that helps, but it can create stress upon stress when the kids are sick and i feel like he is second-guessing my abilities to take care of them and to determine when they need to see a doctor.

i can't explain it, but i have always, always listened to my gut instinct. it just tells me what to do and when and whether or not to do something...and it hasn't steered me wrong yet. matter of fact, the times when i have steered myself wrong have been those times i IGNORED my gut instinct. but if i try to explain that to anyone else who doesn't do the same thing, i get the "ok, whatever" look and dismissal. lol.

i think some people override their gut instincts so much that the instinct either disappears, or the body/mind/soul (take your pick) forgets how to process it. sort of a desensitization of instinct.

anyhoo, on top of all that, work has been downright insane this week. one of my favorite customers has been in absolutely fine form (i.e., completely irrational), but on the bright side, i document stuff up the wazoo so it should all work out ok. i'm not too affected by it because, frankly, this is my job - NOT my life. my life is these two angels i've been blessed with. and they're a heckuva lot more fun than Mr. Irrational.

and cuter too, i bet!

oh, sunday after we dropped the kids off at my mom's, i took d to the local big shopping mall in newport news to spend the rest of his birthday money as planned. and yes, i know, i know, i KNOW i said i would buy myself some things.... i did buy myself one thing (two if you count lunch at the chinese place - $4.95 for enough food to feed a small platoon)... "all that jazz" (musical). i didn't buy myself anything else, though. i was too busy spending money on the kids. :oD lol!

we didn't get home till about 1800 sunday night. 1 mile from the house, the power steering on the truck went out. WOW! that sure is hard to drive. lol. so i got to deliver the Fun News to m, who promptly went absolutely nuts and swore he would kill the mechanic. see, the power steering (rack and pinion) on the truck went out about 3 weeks ago, and the mechanic "fixed" it.... but obviously not!! so after i extricated a promise from m that he would refrain from bodily harm, he and i made plans to get the truck in to the mechanic monday.

so monday was basically shot for him, since he is a salesman and has to drive to get to his jobs. he immediately insisted we had to buy another car. i told him we should wait to see what happened with the honda (still, as of this writing, NOT BACK IN MY DRIVEWAY) and the truck. got to the point of him actually looking up used cars for sale, then he talked to the mechanic and they loaned him a "dealer vehicle" (very nice of them, especially considering that they obviously didn't actually fix anything, eh wot?). the catch was that the dealer vehicle was for sale! lol. and he came home and presented it to me in a very salesmanesque manner - "look at the wheels! oh, and what a smoooooooth ride!" it is a 2006 jeep grand cherokee, laredo package. however, i've no interest in a new car - well, i do, but not in the attendant payments. :o) so then, tuesday, we got some bright news....the truck would be ready wednesday, and the honda thursday!

see, the man at the dealership decided to contact (imagine this) a honda dealership in richmond to try to fix the honda. THAT man was able to FIX the car IN TWO DAYS. let me say that again. TWO DAYS. whereas the other two mechanics had it for FIVE WEEKS combined. and all along, i had been saying we had to take it to a dealership to be fixed, and all along m kept saying it would be too expensive. well. lol. i'm not even going to touch that at this point. suffice it to say i think he definitely learned a lesson about hondas and repairs thereof. sometimes, and maybe this is terribly unchristian of me (matter of fact, i know it is), i really, really, really want to say, "SEE! I TOLD YOU!" but i don't. because, frankly, it would serve absolutely no purpose. and he's no idiot. he can see what's in front of him. so we'll let that one go....but i assure you, next time the honda has mechanical problems, there'll be no going anywhere except to a dealership. GUARANTEED.

(end rant)

so we did end up getting the truck back, but not until YESTERDAY (after they promised it wednesday) and the honda is still not ready, even though that was promised yesterday. and then i made The Mistake of asking m how much the bill for the truck was. he said $188 for the work/parts, and $100 for the tow. i pointed out that they ostensibly "fixed" this very same problem 3 weeks ago, and it immediately happened again, and they CHARGED us for labor and towing?? m kind of sort of somewhat agreed with me, and shrugged and said, "but whatcha gonna do?" in a sort of rhetorical way. i said, "well, i tell you what i plan to do. after we get the honda back and it is functioning properly, i plan to head on down to the mechanic and talk with ricky in person about how he handled these two situations, as well as the fact that he billed us for fixing the same problem again on the truck." michael visibly gulped and said, "well, please just wait until AFTER we get the honda back."

i said, "oh, i will. don't worry. but ricky and i have to have a little talk."

i'm an easygoing person, but i swear, the one thing that gets me every single time is businesses or people who say they will do something and then don't do it. that is just completely, completely unacceptable in my book. if you can do something, commit to it, then do it. if you cannot do something, say so, and don't commit to it. it is NOT rocket science, people. that, in my opinion, is one of the major faults of our society's underpinnings - the total lack of personal accountability and/or responsibility.

and i do plan to talk, kindly, firmly, and directly, with ricky, and i do plan to make sure he understands that i expect a refund on the labor and towing fees for the truck.

and lord help him if he tries to keep selling me that jeep cherokee! lol

well, i got kind of long-winded here. sorry about that. lol. i'm going to go ahead and bring this one to a close, and post another one (soon, hopefully) about the baseball game last weekend.

thanks for bearing with the bluster.