Week from Hell

Let me tell you a little about the saga that is my life the past few days.

Back to work Monday was THE WORST. We had a computer upgrade ... yeah, it didn't go so well. I walked in after being gone for 10 days without knowing. Just let me say it sucked ass. Literally, I didn't know how to do my job. It was a hellacious 12 hour shift.

Ready to crash at 1am, I go home, go to bed. 4:00 am (yeah, less than 3 hours after I went to bed) Punkin Head wakes up. For nearly TWO HOURS. Pretty much I think life sucks at this point. My Honey got up with her and I tried to sleep for a few more hours.

Tuesday things weren't much better at work. Just a bad atmosphere. The upgrade hasn't been so slick. The program has a lot of flaws for dispatch. Exhausted after another 12 hour shift, I crash and burn at around 1:30 am. Guess what? Yeah, she woke at 4:00 again. I am so tired today that I don't even remember how long she was awake, it might have only been 30 minutes. Either way it totally screwed up my sleep. Not only that, I had THE WORST call of my career. I take that back, it wasn't the worst call, it was the worst circumstances for my responders I have EVER dealt with. Hurt men on the lose with guns. The suspects ended up flagging down the aid crew that was on the way to standby at the house where the homeowner had shot an intruder. That is the most stressed I have ever been about responder safety EVER. I was physically ill. It all worked out, the bad guys are in jail and the homeowner is not injured. But can you imagine? The other sucky thing about this call is it was a minimum of a 45 minute response by law enforcement. His house is in BFE. It is by far one of the longest, and THE most stressful call I have ever handled. (On the bright side a nice letter went into my file about how well I handled it. The third such letter this month - yeah, you know it. I rock.)

And then (yes there's more) my MIL (babysitter) called yesterday at around 11 to ask if I could arrange for someone to watch the kids for awhile, she needed to see the dermatologist and they had an appointment at 11:30, she didn't know if she would be at my house in time for me to be on time for work. This rarely happens, so I am nto angry plus Wednesdays are our heavy staff day, so I was able to call out for a couple hours - which was nice. I got off at 11 pm (after only working 8 hours!!!) thinking I would get 2 extra hours of sleep. HAHAHAHA. The joke was on me. Punkin Head was awake when I got home. We hung out for a bit, I tried to feed her thinking she might be hungry and then I put her back down. She played in the dark until 1am when I finally went in and told her to go to sleep. No more playing (or something like that). Finally she complied and I got around 5 hours of sleep in a row. But I am toast today. Lucky for me I have an extra kid around! Bubba and his cousin are playing nicely outside and I have a few minutes to myself. Not long, they will be in soon to ask to swim.

So that's the week from hell. OH, and during all this, I am taking Bubba to swim lessons every morning and Punkin Head to a parent tot class twice. Crazy I tell you. Crazy.

Doolz

Punkin Head has a new favorite thing "doolz".


I spent a couple bucks at yardsales and acquired a dress-up box of stuff from Auntie D and Punkin Head is in heaven with her doolz.



And, yes, finally she is walking. It's not 100% of the time but at least she is doing it.

And talking. Oh my. My Honey, Punkin Head and I were sitting on the couch today while he ate breakfast. Down the stairs came Bubba. "derz eewee" she says pointing at him. (translation "theres Harry"). She's putting a lot of stuff together. She wants to sit at the table like a big kid, she wants to play with play-dough like a big kid, she wants everything her brother wants. Not suprising, just exhausting.

Garden pics part II

This was one of the (few) hours I spent away from home.

Note to self

Dear Self,

Next time you "don't go anywhere" for vacation, plan to go SOMEWHERE.
You need to get out of town for a night (or two) to rejuvenate.
A few hours here and there just doesn't do it. Especially when you spend a small part of each day doing dishes, laundry, cleaning, watching the kids and shit like that.
Don't be angry this time, you didn't know better. But next time, plan something. (Yes, I am talking about Labor Day).

Thanks, you wont regret it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously not a perfect vacation, but at least I didn't have to work. To all the stay-at-home-moms out there, who do this every day, every month for years on end - I honestly salute you. I don't have what it takes.

(Special thanks to the Dear Friend who was there on my worst day this past week when only cuss words came out about my effing vacation, you're my SAHM hero). She even made a trip across town to our house with a special gift for me. Thanks.

Family Time

So they all came over. What a handsome group of kids. They had squirt gun fights that were a blast. Everyone involved (including me) ended up quite wet. Even Punkin Head. The boy in yellow is my nephew, he's not running because he is afraid, he is just done. He had a pretty big day. We all did.

It did make my day to have the whole family over for dinner. My mom, aunt, sisters and all the kids. Too fun. If the weather holds, we get to go to the Lake tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

Showers

So much for my Wednesday plans. We, well I, woke to thunder around 2 am, and at 4, again at 5 and then for the day at 7:30 and it finally quit raining about 11:30. The sun was peeking through, but it didn't make me too excited to go to the Lake. At all. So I cancelled. My sister totally understands, plus there is a worker at the condo and her in-laws are there. So with the crappy weather, naps and all that, I just decided screw it.

So she is coming down here. That will work out nicely. She can visit everyone that way.

Mocha Girl

We went across town today for swim lessons. On the way I NEEDED a latte. (Bad morning). At the latte shop Bubba tells me that the mocha girl is "more beautiful than you" and that he wants to tell her so, will I roll down the window?

Now, understand, this is cute and all but my only son, my first born, my Bubba has just told me that someone is more beautiful than ME. I admit I had a little inner conflict. How do I feel about my 5 year old telling a mocha girl he thinks she is beautiful? How do I feel about him telling me he thinks she is more beautiful than I am? Who else will he think is (more) beautiful than me? Whats so beautiful about HER? Yeah, a little conflicted. In the end I rolled down the window. She was touched, she thought it was cute, and it probably made her day. Imagine a 5 year old telling you in a shy-5-year-old-kind-of-way that he thinks you're beautiful. It was worth it. (Kind of. Still a little conflicted)

Random vacation notes

So I am sitting on the boat (yesterday). You read that right. I took the laptop out on the boat. Why you ask? Because I am boat-sitting, not boating. The trailer is broken so My Honey has it at home while I boat sit at the park. It’s nice though, being on the boat. Silly me, there isn't any wireless access out here though. Duh.

Our trip to Issaquah was un-eventful save for the teenage-ness. Either I have totally forgotten what being a teen is or my youngest sister is just a disrespectful little wench. My Honey describes it this way, “it’s allowed, so she acts that way.” She was fine at our house last week, cooperative and very few snotty remarks (which were expected). I returned her a brat. I felt bad until I realized that is how she always treats her parents. Oh no you dint. Not in my house. Not while I pay for all your expenses including your text-messaging, talk till late, stupid cell phone. No way. I am just furious with her. What a shit. Was I that bad? I really don’t think so, my mother would have sent me packing. Seriously.

The kids actually stayed an extra night in Issaquah, we are going to exchange them this afternoon, and My Honey and I went out last night. I found a new favorite drink, Irish Whiskey, straight up. Mmmmmmm it was good.

While my dad and his wife were here I wanted to do something for them. His wife was easy, I scheduled a massage. She was in heaven. My dad was a little more difficult. I ended up taking him to work with me for a few hours. I think he liked it. He is a total techie kind of person. He sells computer programs and trains people how to use them. So he watched and listened as I dispatched. Yeah, I think I done well.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the kids and I were away, My Honey demo'd the downstairs bathroom!! Yay! New shower coming. Now I need to find a book on tile designs. Or a website....

The trailer got fixed, now we can boat and not have to worry about the boards on the trailer being rotten, breaking off, damaging the boat. I guess that's what happens after 13 or 14 years.

Finally, tomorrow (Tuesday) is our anniversary. 15 years. We are so old.

Vacation

Here we are in Issaquah. Its been kind of nice to escape the heat. Did I mention the heat? It was 110 degrees on Tuesday at 5pm. For the fourth or fifth day in a row. When we left yesterday at around 11:00 it was already 94 degrees. We got to Issaquah and it was in the 70's. Its pretty refreshing but I cant wait to get home where its hot and I can lay by he pool and relax.

Its kind of nice to have nothing to do for vacation. When my return-to-town plans changed, it was no big deal. Grandma & Grandpa want to keep the kids Saturday night in Issaquah and then exchange them half-way on Sunday - BONUS an extra kid-free-day.

I'm sure I have more to say, I always do, but I'm done for now.

Sunscreen & Chlorine

That word, "chlorine" doesn't look right. But spellcheck says it is so it must be.

That's the past week summed up. Everyone has enjoyed the pool this past 100 degree week. My tan self included. When I am not working that is.

I happened to be at work when the first huge fire of the season started this weekend. No kidding, we probably handled 50-80 calls each in a 20 minute span when this thing took off. The whole north end of my fair city is toasted. Black, black, black. There are some great aerial shots at the (only) local newspaper website. I just hope the dumb ass that started the fire with his fireworks gets ticketed (at the very least). Who plays with fireworks in a dry field on a windy day???????

I say "first huge fire" because we live in an area where fires are the norm this time of year. The fire departments have a whole plan for it, but its always a bit of a learning curve when the first one actually takes off. And its usually in a forested area, not a rural area. Thank goodness, there hasn't been any loss of homes or injuries that I am aware of. There were several hundred evacuations on Saturday night and into Sunday, but the wind has pushed it away from the residential areas.

More later, have to run to work.

Changed

Well, Bubba came back from Portland a little more .... grown up.

Its kind of strange, he seems a lot more independent since he came home. From that first day of playing in his room alone to sleeping ON THE TOP BUNK to his "aura" he is just a little more grown up. All of a sudden he seems like a big kid, not a small child anymore.

We went for a walk the other morning that passed his new school. As we were talking and passing by he all of a sudden exclaims he has a tummy ache. Curious, he was fine when we left. So I ask him if he might be nervous about going to school, and is that causing his tummy ache? Maybe he says. So we spend a little time talking about it. He was nervous about making friends. So I reminded him of his first days of preschool and how he made friends there. Later that day we had a new babysitter. Bubba had never met her and they hit it off right away. They were chatting it up, becoming fast friends (quite honestly, this happens for him very easily, making friends is the last thing I am worried about when it comes to school). Just before I left for work I noticed a teachable moment.

"Hey," I said looking from him to the babysitter. "What just happened here?"
"I dunno" he replied.
"You made a new friend." I told him. He pondered it a moment and then agreed with a grin that he did. So I told him that's how it would be at school too. That he won't have any trouble at all making new friends.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work has been hellacious. Busy and lots of overtime. At least the 12 hour shifts are going by pretty fast. It sucks that they are such the norm and a 10 hour day feels like a short day. And then there's the crap too. I notice myself being sucked in, being a part of the problem. I need to turn it around before it becomes my obsession.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My dad and his wife and Little D are coming over tomorrow. I really shouldn't be sitting here posting anything, I need to vacuum, sweep, change the guest bed, put away laundry (that is sitting on the guest bed) straighten up the living room, family room, run a cloth through the bathrooms, and do the dishes before I go to work at 1. Seems like maybe I should have kept my Girl Thursday for the summer after all. Maybe I will call her, shoot with all this overtime I should spend it somewhere right? The challenge was leaving he an empty house. Oh yeah, that's right.

Stars

Bubba is home. All morning he has been telling tales of Portland. The Children's Museum, the Zoo, and some other place. At one of their stops there was an IMAX theater. He watched two shows, The Human Body, one of his favorite subjects and the other was about the stars. I was asking him what they said about the stars and he tells me he learned about the "star constipation".

It still brings tears to my eyes to think of it. I will get a lot of mileage out of that one today and for many months to come. Star constipation instead of constellation. Cute!!

He and grandpa had a good time on the train, which he describes this way "it was 3 times as big as our house," and "if I stand on the top bunk of my bunk bed and touch the ceiling, I am still not as big as the train." So darling.

And the bunk bed. What a hit! He has already spent a lot of time on the top bunk. We had to go buy a guard rail for it, not sure where the original is, so now he can actually sleep up there.

It was great to find him in his room, playing on his bed today. In 5 1/2 years that has NEVER happened. Thank goodness for the bunk bed. (Well until someone falls and hurts themselves.)