Do you have to like NASCAR to live in North Carolina?

Because I despise NASCAR with a passion!

But the mountains are lovely.

*sigh* I love this picture...

Herman's in the hospital

Herman is one of the patients at my work, we refer to him as the mascot of "C" wing, the unofficial hallway greeter. Everyone loves Herman. He has a certain place he sits in his wheelchair across from the nurses, chatting with all of the other patients and staff. Do his conversations make sense? Many times they do not. Herman is what I like to call "pleasantly confused".
He is a genuinely good person who always has a smile and a kind word for anyone.
So when I learned that they had to send him to the hospital yesterday, I decided I had to visit him. Especially after about every staff member at work was asking about him today.
So I took Seth along for the adventure. And my friend Marva who is Herman's regular nurse.

You know, it was all worthwhile to see how happy he was to see familiar faces. He was happy that I brought my "young one" as well. Even though Seth was more interested in looking out of the window of his 3rd floor room and also looking for doctors. And wanting to climb on the empty bed in the room.

I was relieved that Herman was okay and hopefully, will be back at the nursing home very soon. Does it make me dumb to be concerned about someone that isn't even my family?

Hi Ho! HI Ho! It's off to work he goes..

David has a JOB!!!
He is working part time at a local restaurant called "Luigi's" as a dishwasher.
Now it's official-every man I was ever in a relationship with has been a dishwasher there at one time or another. But David is ,by far, the most overqualified for that position. But it is $$-about $160 a week, which is about $340.00 a month.
That makes me happy. You see my paycheck covers bills. I just need him to contribute toward food and gas. He already saves me money by working evenings so that we don't have to worry about added costs of child care. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And i have a feeling that it will simply get brighter.

Oh, BTW, my jaw is working again, thank you. I can eat and brush my teeth with ease and without pain!! Next paycheck I am going to buy myself a stinkin' mouth guard for when I clench my teeth at night. I don't want to wake up thinking that I have developed lockjaw while I slept, again.

You know, I haven't ever taken Prednisone before but it makes me feel really good! I have administered it to many a person in my nursing career and was aware of it's many serious side effects if taken over a long period of time but haven't needed it.
I really feel healthy and energetic. No aches, no pains. Physically I feel superb which, in turn, makes me feel good mentally. I am certain I had (have) inflamed muscles in my mid back and shoulders causing the aches and pains that I have experiencing for the last six months. Not to mention the kinks in my spine most likely caused by carrying a very large 18 month old who loves to have mommy hold him. ( why does he have to be so darned cute? Why does he have to be such a good eater?)
So an anti-inflammitory medication would indeed cure what ails me. I guess I'd better enjoy it while it lasts!

I've been a busy little bee

This day has been a full one.

First, we ( Sean, Seth and myself) spent a few hours at Mamaw's house playing (Seth and Sean) and chatting (myself). We also had a delightful lunch. I had to hurry home so I could drop the boys off so I could ....

Go to my Dr. appt. It was merely a follow-up to my appt. last month regarding my headaches. I made sure to tell the Dr. about my jaw problem. He told me I probably have some severe inflammation in the jaw and gave me a Rx for some prednisone for a few days which should fix it. He also advised warm, moist heat compresses, soft foods, talking less. Simply giving my jaw some extra rest. Then...

Seth and I decided to check out the new library down the road. Seth really had a good time playing with the other kids. He didn't want to leave but we had to get home so that david could take the car....

I actually stayed home doing nothing for a few minutes while David brought my old broken gold necklaces to the jeweler, which he actually got $100.00 for! Whoo hoo!

Then we left again (all of us) to go pick up my Rx, and go to Gallery walk in Punta Gorda which we ended up not doing since it was raining intermittently when we got there. So instead...

We walked along the water at a new park in Charlotte Harbor and watched the sun go down. Then, courtesy of my broken necklaces, we treated ourselves to Wendy's. It's been so long since I had a Frosty-it was absolutely delicious!

Wow, am I exhausted!

Jawbreaker

First of all I Tropical Storm Fay brought along a very dreary day. That's about all. No excessive rain or wind. Pathetic. But we did not get the brunt of it, other places suffered severe flooding.

Somewhere along the last week or so I have begun clenching my teeth at night in the most horrible way. Maybe I have been clenching them for longer-I only know when I wake up with jaw pain.
From past experience I know this only occurs when I'm under stress so it's not shocking that it is happening again, besides I have always had issues with my temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
What is shocking is the apparent strength that my jaw is applying when clenching my teeth because L left side of my jaw seems to be displaced or something. I have alot of jaw discomfort and find that opening my mouth wide causes a disturbing popping sensation and pain. I am literally afraid that my jaw would lock open.
I can place two fingers vertically between my front teeth and that is the widest my mouth opens without forcing and pain.
Nevertheless, I can say a whopper is not in my near future.

I go back to the Dr. tomorrow for a follow up regarding my headaches so I am hoping he can give me some advice. Maybe I just need some deep massage, I hope my jaw isn't out of alignment because I think it would be far too painful to pop it back into place.

*Sigh* it's always something...

Rock me like a hurricane

No one really knows if Tropical storm Fay will become a hurricane or where it(she?) will hit land. Yeah, I know, all of the meteorologists like to pretend they have a clue-but when it really boils down to it, you can only guess. Only Mother nature truly knows.
I think it will be like a really bad thunderstorm-lots of wind and rain. After Hurricane Charley I feel like an old hat at hurricane preparedness and survival.

I am just concerned about how the weather will be in the early morning hours when I have to go to work. They have suggested staff get there really early to avoid the really bad weather but how early? I don't want to go to work at 3 AM!
And how will I get home if there is flooding?
I am not worried about my family ,they will be here safe in the house during the storm. I'll be out in it! :(
It's starting to get a little breezy outside. And very overcast. People are boarding up their homes, filling up their gas tanks and buying every drop of water in town.

Wish me luck!

Spin Spin Sugar

Picture it: Two young boys in a bedroom. One begins to spin around and around, the other follows suit. And they both spin around and around until they are dizzy and stumble into a wall falling onto each other laughing hysterically.
Meanwhile,mom sits in the corner observing the craziness wondering how they don't become nauseated.

Speaking of spinning.....A tropical storn is spinning in the caribbean predicted to hit Florida. The predicted target is the entire state. Go figure. Hopefully it will go somewhere else. I don't want any more stress!

All is not yet lost.

David has the cold now-I am better.
No work as of yet but he did have an interview at Lowe's today. He's had to fill out all of these questionaires and surveys and has to go through two more interviews.
I thought that was odd, I mean it's not like he's applying for the position at the U.S treasury or something.
Meanwhile he's been slowly packing and going through crap in the garage and keeping ears and eyes open for rentals.
Hopefully we can save up some $$$ here pretty soon. Right now I am training David on frugal money management and buying only things we NEED. He's doing very well so far. I give him an A+++.

My boys are supremely superb. Michievous (spell check, please?) as always. These two boys can destroy a small house in minutes! I assure you. You'd understand if you saw my floors. I wonder why I bother sweeping and washing and sweeping and washing.
I feeling a tad blah with all of the stress going on, just like I am going through the routine every day. I'm not unhappy but not as carefreee as I prefer to be. I'll get there again. Just bear with me.

Jobs are scarce and money is tight. The price of everything goes up more and more all of the time. At least I know I am not the only one having issues. Everyone I know is having some financial difficulty to some extent (needless to say, I don't hang out with too many wealthy folks, LOL) .

In any case we are healthy and we have each other. I don't think anyone in the world would disagree that love is far more important that money. And if I were to be judged simply in how much I love and how much I am loved I am wealthy indeed.

The common cold makes me feel uncommonly crappy.

I feel congested and lousy. My nose is drippy and my head feels "full". I feel so blah. Give me a few days to feel peppy again.
Until then I may just do as little as possible. So if no one hears from me, that is why.

Like sands through the hourglass... so are the days of our lives

We are going to begin packing soon. Packing for what, you ask? We have decided to let the house go, and rent. We really NEED a bigger house and there is no way on God's green Earth that we would ever be able to sell ours with the way the housing market is and all.
Besides our mortgage is way too high for a teeny house. It's increasingly difficult to pay mortgage and be able to pay other bills also. We just don't make as much $$$ as we used to. So Dvaid and I are feeling rather pathetic. We both thought buying a house would be such a great investment, we never anticipated that our home would lose value. We are so upside down in our mortgage it is really sad. And we made so many improvements to our home... Oh well.
Once we get a house to rent we are going to consult with an attorney regarding bankruptcy. Our loans and credit cards are simply farther and farther behind and I am so tired of all of the phone calls and threatening letters.
Why did we spend money and buy a house we weren't going to keep?
Simply, we made much more $$$ when we used the cards and got the loans and bought the house. We assumed that David and I would always have work.

But don't cry for me Argentina, because this is an opportunity to start fresh and new. New (to us) house and wipe out our debts. So what if our credit sucks. It already does.
And what good is screwing up in your life if you don't learn from it?
David and I have definitely learned alot. We have learned how to be frugal and how to get more for our money ( Dollar General Rocks!)
Something we never cared about before because we were too busy spending money like it was going out of style.

David has turned in a plethora (how often do I get to use that word?) of applications. Tomorrow he is going to turn one in for a part time county job.
Turns out the Director of Human Resources for the county is the daughter of one of my patients ( who happens to absolutely love me and my boys-I have brought them to visit her). So I did sorta mention to her that he was applying for the job so she was going to mention his name to her daughter. ;)
Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, you know! :)

My adventures in CT scanning

Today I had my first CT scan. Perhaps my only one in my life, who can say?
It was a relatively quick procedure. I had to lie (lay?, I always confuse those) on a table while it moved me under the scanning area while the camera(I presume) spun around and around me. Not too comforting that there was a warning on the top part of the machine that warned not to stare at the laser beam because it could cause blindness. I was wondering where the laser beam was and wanted to make sure I avoided looking at it. Obviously no idiot would design a machine that a laser shines into the eyes of any person using it, but I wanted to be sure...
Then I received some IV contrast dye so they could take the pictures again. The lady running the machine advised me that I might experience a warm sensation in my body from the IV dye.
Heck yeah, I did! Not a lovely feeling either . Oddly enough, the only place that I felt the warm sensation was in my groin area. I was worried that maybe the IV dye had made me lose control of my bladder, the feeling was that extremely warm, almost hot!
David immediately assumed that if he hooked me up to IV dye every night I would be a wild woman in the bedroom. Just like him to see the bright side in everything.
Remind me later that I have to find a flip flop to beat him with. ;)

I am curious as to what my pictures will look like. I really would like to see what the inside of my head looks like. How cool would that be.
I would totally frame the pictures and put them on my wall. :) I'd call it art.

Treximet rocks!

So I finally saw a Dr about my recurrent headaches. After ten years I figured it was about time, besides they are becoming more resistant to over-the-counter medications, not to mention they are becoming more frequent and last longer. Dr. asked me a ton of questions and decided to order some blood work, a CT scan of my head and gave me a prescription for a medication called Treximet. I now have a diagnosis of atypical migraine headaches.
I was a little hesitant about the possible side effects but aside from the little green antennae I have now grown, I feet a little sleepy and dizzy. But more importantly, my headache is long gone. I feel not even the slightest trace of headache. I feel really good.
Tomorrow I go for my CT scan. I hope they find a healthy brain in my head-no strange growths. My blood work was normal and I am sure my CT scan will be, too.

In other news, Sean is feeling much better. His blisters have healed up and he's back to attempting to start mayhem in every moment of his day.
Now we have to get a Dr's note clearing everyone in the house before David will be allowed to return to work. Blech.
In the meantime David has turned in many, many applications at other places throughout town. If nothing better comes along we will have to get the stupid Dr's note.
It's not like Sean had TB or typhoid or something ridiculous. Whatever. His boss is an imbecile.

Seaweed face masques feel very bizarre

I'm talking about when they dry and become all rubbery.Thank God that nobody was around to take a picture of me-I'm sure I looked quite frightening.
My first facial was a lovely experience, though I am not sure what it really accomplished, aside from an hour and a half of kid free relaxation (totally worth it!). I also got a brief hand and feet massage while my face masque turned to rubber. I even got my eye brows tweezed. I haven't ever done that since I never felt they were unruly. Now I have movie star eyebrows! Ok, not really...
The only part that I did not like was when they had some type of steam blowing at my face for a period of time. I literally felt like I was not receiving adequate oxygen intake. Slightly suffocating, not pleasant. I think that contributed to my headache this evening.
My skin looks very nice though.:)

Coxsackie A-16 and my poor Sean

Otherwise known as the lovely "Hand, foot, and mouth disease". My sick little guy developed blisters on his lips and inside his mouth earlier this week. As they got worse and he was having discomfort with eating, I decided to send him to the Dr.-where he was diagnosed with this lovely virus.
I am guessing he contracted it from an indoor playground we took the boys to a couple weeks ago. Since Sean loves to shove about anything in his mouth, it certainly is not a surprise!
He had a low grade fever today and seems to be just cranky and irritable at times- but he'll live. His blisters are drying up and healing so he's getting better. Poor guy.:(
Tomorrow we are doing a "Dreyer family beach outing" , very early-before the temperature reaches 400 degrees farenheit.
Ha ha, David just loves it when I make him do family outings. Actually, I think he might have a little bit of fun. Myself? I simply enjoy watching the boys be happy. I feel like I am doing my proper job as a parent if I can completely wear them out by the end of a day. Trust me, that is not any simple task when you have two little boys with seemingly endless energy!!! Okay ,it's actually only one-Seth never seems to get tired-ever. It takes ALOT to exhaust him...
Not so much to exhaust me, on the other hand. Speaking of...my bed is calling me. Night Night!

Does old hurt?

The other day Seth asked my mom this lovely question after he stepped on her toe and she said,"Ow!".
What is his thing about asking people if they are "old girls" or telling them that they are old? It's embarrasssing as heck!
If it's not that them he's critiquing people's oral hygiene, telling them that they have icky teeth or bad breath. What am I going to do with him!?

A couple more from the BBQ...

my sister, Fonda. Her daughter Amber and my mom

Mom and Amber

more BBQ pics

Mamaw, enjoying some watermelon
Sean being cute
Seth and Sean
Seth and I pushing Sean around in the toy car

Me, pushing both boys in a toy truck. We had alot of fun!

Pics from BBQ at my Dad's

These pics were taken a couple of months ago...

BBQ Ribs YUM!!!


Sean and David
My neice, Amber

my bro and his girlfriend-the life of the party, LOL

Um, me..bad pic.

And MORE pics!

more random pics