What Thanksgiving means to my family...

To our family, Thanksgiving means injury and illness. That's right... injury and illness. While we definitely do take time to say "thank you" for all of our wonderful blessings, I think next year we're all going to work, eating pizza for dinner and generally acting as if it's any other day. Perhaps we'll roast a turkey the day after or something.

Just to list a few, the Thanksgivings of years passed have included two gallbladder removals and something involved blocked intestines. This year my mom is sick to the point where she had no voice, I dropped a steel stand-mixer bowl on my foot breaking a toe and quite likely another bone in my foot, my sister-in-law's brother is on the brink of death in the hospital from congestive heart failure and I found out that my oldest niece has two ovarian tumors, one nearly the size of a lemon.

This morning my daughter is crying intermittently about a sore in her mouth by her cheek. My foot is a lovely shade of black and purple. My mom is hoping her doctor is open and will see her today.

Maybe all of my neighbors who have had their Christmas trees up for a week and outdoor lights on for a few days have the right idea. I've always gotten a little cranky about how, more and more, the North American society skips over Thanksgiving in a huge rush to get to Christmas. I, personally, refuse to give up pumpkins and turkeys and replace them with red bows and wreaths until at least Black Friday. When I do that, I feel like the "to do" list of Christmas totally gypped me an entire holiday. But given my family's health issues related to this one, I may opt to express my thanks to the universe sometime in July next year.

I'm off to get our Christmas decorations down from the attic. *sigh* Hubby is all ready to dive in. I still need a few days.

Get annoyed or not, the result is the same.

I gave this advice to my mom the other day. She and my dad were out, which can sometimes, itself, be a challenge. Mom wanted Dad to try on sneakers. He needs new ones and no matter she brings home, he won't like or they won't fit. It's absolutely necessary for him to try them on. But like I said, getting him there and getting shoes on his feet can be exhausting.

So there they were, all poised to try on shoes, when Dad's stomach started giving him trouble. Mom wanted him to try to just try to quickly get through finding shoes. Dad was distracted by his stomach. Mom urged him to try on a pair. Dad said he felt like he needed to go. Mom got frustrated because so much effort had already been put forth getting there and now they were leaving empty handed. In defeat, she said, "Let's just go." Dad, like a kid who finally breaks their parent down then feels guilty, said "Well that pair would be fine." Yeah, the pair he didn't try on. Meaning it would be no different than if mom came alone and bought something. They'd get home, he'd try them on, they wouldn't fit or he wouldn't like the way they looked and lather, rinse, repeat.

When my mom told me this story, my advice was to not get annoyed because the result was going to be the same. Once Dad's stomach starts to give him issues, there is nothing else he can think about no matter how much you want him to, essentially, suck it up for a few minutes.

Isn't it funny, though, when you have to take your own advice?

I was set on taking our annual Christmas card photo this year. It was a simple set up. My girls both have on nice neutral cream-colored shirts. Everyone is having a pretty good hair day. I was going to slap a holiday bow on the dog's head, go outside in our mild temps and beautiful afternoon sun and get that magical shot. Instead, my older daughter came home in a mood. When I started brushing her hair, she immediately burst into tears saying I pulled half her hair out. She cried and whined for no less than 10 minutes. I was losing all sympathy because I felt pretty sure the tears were only caused by the knots so much. She was obviously fragile for some other, unknown to me, reason.

The more I tried to rush her through properly reacting to her horrific injury and usher her back into shoes and outside, the more she upped the drama level. Finally I decided to just stop the whole process, sit down, turn on the TV and start writing. I don't have the energy to fight this losing battle.

Is it wrong to Photoshop my kids' heads with the dog's and insert the image of a bow? How recent do these pics have to be? :-)

Happy flippin' holidays....................................

*deep breath* No stress, no stress, no stress

Oh the irony...

Today I got on a roll of crossing tasks off my ever expanding "to do" list. One I had been particularly dreading was writing an email to my daughter's principal about our upcoming vacation to Disney World. It's against school policy to take your child out for travel. It's against district policy to do so for more than three consecutive days. Double whammy.

I'm not sure what got into me, but I fired it off. My wording acknowledged the policies. I expressed our reasoning for travel. I stated that our decision was made. I hit send without doing more than proofreading. That's not typically my style. I like to mull for awhile. I like to save things in my drafts. I like to read it to a minimum of a dozen people. Okay, so maybe that's a slight overstatement, but you get what I'm saying.

My daughter received an award for perfect attendance for the first quarter. I think that bolstered my confidence. Even when the principal emailed back about needing to schedule a meeting with the vice principal and the attendance officer to create an Attendance Intervention Plan, I was almost smug. No sweat. Hell, we're in mid-November and the kid hasn't missed a day! Then the phone rang...

"Mrs. Byers? This is Lori, the school nurse. We have your daughter here and she's running a temperature of 101.7. She doesn't say anything is hurting, but we'd like for you to come get her."

Obviously I went right to the school and got my little rosy cheeked girl. I called the doctor and we got in for a 4:00 PM appointment. The verdict? Double ear infection. She'll be out of school at least another day.

Anyone see the irony? I braved up to the principal. The the school nurse shot me down. Sure sure, these days will be medically excused. They won't count towards the ten maximum of unexcused. I already have the doctor's note. We're good to go. Still...oh the irony.

Be careful for what you wish

Ever since we got our new couches, which are extremely soft and cushy, I have longed for the opportunity to wrap up in our fluffy down throws and lounge like my life depended on it. For the past three days, I've done exactly that. Both my little one and I grew sicker as each day went by. I took her to the doc on Thursday and she was diagnosed with a sinus infection. Why I didn't make an appointment for myself is beyond me. My temp still lingers around 100 and I'm still coughing. Frankly, it's getting exhausting. Though I am thoroughly acquainted with our couches and the throws. I'm growing to resent them.

Today my older daughter got her first of many pairs of specs. Last night we had her eyes evaluated by our optometrist and the impairment in one of her eyes is so bad that her two don't work together. It's on the borderline between moderate and severe. If the glasses don't do their job in the next 6-8 weeks we will need to put patches over her eye. How friggin' traumatizing.

This afternoon we found some frames she liked and her glasses were ready in about an hour. As luck had it, her doc was in at that time and was able to take a quick look at the glasses and her eyes to make sure they were as he had prescribed. This falls into one of my "it was meant to be" moments file. Her doc has his own office and studio that isn't open on weekends. Only today did I learn that's because he works on Saturdays at LensCrafters. How convenient for us!

The frame choice of Miss Priss may have been swayed because this pair came with magnetic clip on sunglasses. They are a wire frame made of a dark copper color. I swear pink or purple would have won out. Regardless, she looks adorable. If only there wasn't a vision issue associated with them.

So I'm mildly devastated and quite relieved. I'm afraid that she'll feel a difference in attention she receives from classmates after the glasses go to school on Monday. It sounds like I'm being boastful, but I promise that's not where I'm coming from. My daughter is the popular little girl in class. All of the boys love her. I've seen it myself! Even today when we went to her school's fall festival, we sat across the table from a mom and her little boy. Our children knew each other from the bus. His mom introduced herself as my daughter's boyfriends' mother, laughing as she added "but your daughter didn't know that yet." I'll be sad for my little girl if that attention fades away. Not because I really want boys chasing her, more because I think it boosts her confidence.

Though bottom line, I feel so blessed that this vision issue was found now. I have no binocular vision. This develops in your brain between ages 6 and 8. My disability was realized too late to do anything. My daughter is 5 1/2 and I honestly pray we're early enough. I want her to have the gift of good vision and I'm crushed she hasn't had it all along. I swear, I still say we had no idea. :-(

On a totally unrelated note, we got a new vacuum today. I joined http://www.consumerreports.com/ for one month to research vacuums and ended up trashing their recommendations. We had $200 in Target gift cards and I didn't feel like disregarding them because the top rated brand is only sold at Sears. So we threw all caution and research to the wind and got a Bissell Healthy Home. Wish me luck that this mother is effective. We couldn't resist the urge to crank it up tonight and it seems to have done a good job.

Another project I've been working on is finding Christmas gifts for my girls. My brother and his wife rely on me to provide a list of presents for them to get. I did one better this year and actually purchased one. The Disney Store clearance priced their Halloween costumes two weeks ago. These guys retailed for $39.50 and were now priced at $10. I bought my older daughter a Belle costume that I have since realized is too big, but fixable. I was holding out for Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty for my little one, but darn it - they are STILL full price! On that first day I picked up an Ariel one for a friend's daughter's birthday. Since she and my daughter are the same size, I had my little one try it on to make sure it would fit her friend. Lo and behold, my daughter fell in love.

Tonight I made, what I vow to be, my final Disney Store run trying to complete this stupid gift. What's got my eye now, though, are their "deluxe" costumes. Imagine what the "real" Cinderella's dress looks like and miniaturize it. These absolutely beautiful dresses retail for $79.50. They are clearance priced for $22.50. *gasp*

You'd think I'd snatch them up, but I've resisted. "Are you nuts?" you may wonder. Perhaps. But the lingering question floating around my brain is "who am I buying it for? Me or the girls?" When I was little, I wished and prayed for such an amazing costume. I dreamed of twirling and singing in one. I'm sure at some point I begged my mom to make me one. My girls, on the other hand, won't appreciate the extra petticoats. They've been there, done that in various forms. Besides, the Belle dress I already purchased for $10 is really really beautiful! The Ariel costume, which I ended up getting for $7.50, is quite a bit less grand, but let's face it - it's a mermaid tail. How full can that be? So now I have to try to stop thinking about the amazing deal. The girls have FAR too many toys. They are getting a buttload for Christmas. They do not need more. We don't need to spend more money. They will love the costumes I've got. Do not buy them. Stay away. Disney should let us vacation in the World for free based on the huge amount of money we spend on their products yearly. *deep breaths*

Sick and sad - the joys of motherhood

Why are children such petri dishes of germs? My younger daughter has had a fever for the past 36 hours. She stayed home from ballet class last night and preschool today. As a result, my throat is killing me and my ear is aching. Thanks. I still love you, but thanks.

Perhaps the shock of this week weakened my immune system. Yesterday morning I got a call from the school nurse. It turns out my older daughter has impaired vision. What? Wait...WHAT?! Ladies and gents, I had no idea! Looking back, perhaps I should.

I have severely impaired vision. It's so bad that my eyes don't work well together so I have issues with depth perception and tend to bump into things and trip on them ALL the time. Who else is klutzy? You guessed it. And I never put two and two together.

I have a few thoughts running through my head. 1) I am, of course, thankful that this has been identified and we can get my little sweetie specs. I'm praying she notices a difference and is happy about it. I'm also seriously praying that her coordinated vision isn't impaired. As I've been told, you either have it or don't by the time you're six. I have like 5 months to do my best to ensure she is, indeed, looking at objects with both eyes. 2) I feel like a bad mom. Somehow I should have known!!! 3) I'm sad because I feel like I'm looking at her cherubic little face for some of the last times without glasses. Will she get picked on at school? I can tell she's the popular little girl in kindergarten. All of the boys like her. Will she feel the difference?

I know that last one is shallow but it comes from experience. I've had glasses since I was literally 18 months old. I've heard every joke in the book and I'd love to spare her from them.

Woe is me. It's 8:12 PM. Somehow the gals were in bed by 7:15 PM. I just spent the last hour working on expense reports and I'm off to bed. My last project for tonight is deciding between Sudafed and the hard stuff...Benedryl. I'm leaning towards the Bennie. I need to sleep!