Out of My Mind

I dropped Bub off at my parent’s house yesterday.  It is so weird to not have him here.  Who would’ve thunk I’d actually miss the endless prattle about some detail about a dinosaur’s anatomy and what it can do, or the sound of bionocles engaged in battle or endless questions about going to the pool.  And he’s not even coming home until Saturday!

I’m not the only one missing Sebastian.  Poor Mike the cat.  He is just lost.  For as much as he likes to terrorize Seb, he is obviously missing him.  That will make Seb happy to hear that.  I’m sure the hubby misses him, too, but being a man and all, it’s not macho to talk about stuff like that.

I don’t have too much planned for while my baby is gone.  Read, work on my current crochet project (which is currently giving me fits!  I think there may be some flaws with the pattern.  Or else I just suck.), maybe try and go out to eat with the hubby at some point.  I’m actually planning on cooking a nice meal for dinner tonight.  Roasted pork tenderloin and new potatoes, probably some corn and salad, maybe some nice crusy bread.  Yum!

I’ll call Seb tonight and see how his day went.  I know they are planning to take him to the beach and to the movies while he’s there.  My brother’s kids were supposed to come this weekend, so Bub would be able to have fun with them on Friday night, but there was a change in plans and now they’re not coming.  Oh, well.  He’ll still have fun with Lucas.  I just hope he’s being good.  I’m sure he’s probably glued to the television right now.  My parents have Dish and we don’t have cable, yet.  He must be in cartoon heaven.

At least once a day, I think, damn, I should update my blog.  Then I get sucked into the homework vortex or the cat starts attacking Sebastian or the hummous in the fridge starts calling my name.  But I’m still here, somewhat sane and still kicking.  So let’s get to some updatery:

School:

I have less than a month left of this semester.  My group project is pretty much finished after much hassle, thank goodness.  I still have a buttload of stuff to do in the next few weeks, but it should be manageable.  I managed to get another class for the fall, an online one for that matter, so I will be taking 3 classes.  Should be interesting.  I’d like to see about getting some part time work in a local library once Seb is back in school in the fall, but I don’t know if I can manage it with the courseload I’ll have and the hubby’s schedule and Seb.  We’ll see.  But I need to get some experience, even if it’s just shelving books and checking out books.  I really want to get a foot in the door somewhere.

Sebastian:

He was promoted to the third grade.  Woohoo!  I wasn’t tooooo worried, because bookwise, he’s such a little smartypants, but with all the behavior issues, eh, I was a tad worried.  I’ve been talking to him a lot this summer about how he’s 8 years old now and going into the third grade.  His teacher is not going to tolerate the silliness and weirdness, so he needs to act like a big third grader.  I think having him in karate through the summer will help.  When his behavior starts to slip while we are there, I talk with him and try and get him back on track.  Big News!!!  Seb can now ride a two-wheeler!  He pretty much picked it up in one weekend.  We went two weekends ago and he was kinda getting it, but then he had a big wipeout and was done.  We went the following Saturday and he just got it!  So on Sunday, we went for a family bikeride of about 3 and half miles.  He still has some troubles starting off, especially if it’s uphill, but for the most part he’s got it.  I’m really proud of him.  Now he’s talking about getting a new bike.  Big surprise there!

Mother-in-law:

She’s currently doing rehab after having her leg amputated below the knee.  We went and saw her over father’s day weekend, and she looked okay then.  I talked with my SIL the other day and they said they had removed a few stitches, but had to put her on antibiotics because there was some infection.  Not too big of a surprise with her diabetes.  There has been some talk of her coming home soon, but since they are still using the lift to get her in and out of bed and she’s not really allowed to do too much on her own, I don’t see how that’s going to happen.  And there’s no way my FIL can take care of her properly.  I hate to say it, but I have a feeling it’s going to be like Grandma Ski.  Once she’s there, she’s there to stay.  But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Weightloss:

I’ve actually gained back two stupid pounds. I recognize that I’m eating like crap, but can’t seem to stop myself.  We are going to start picking up some extra days of karate now that we pretty much have the basics down.  Not sure when we’ll get to test for our yellow belt.  Hopefully by the end of summer.  I’m tired of being a white belt!  Plus, now that Seb can ride a bike without training wheels, we can go for bikerides together, too.  I have a wedding to go to in just over three weeks and I’d like to lose 10 pounds by then, since I need to buy a new dress.  Don’t know if it’ll be possible.  I’m going to have to be a lot stricter with my diet.  It probably doesn’t help that we are leaving tomorrow to go to Gary and Sharon’s for the fourth of July weekend and I know I’ll eat too much while there.  Control, Erin.  Got to have control.

I suppose that it for right now.  I really am going to try and be better about posting…

I haven’t been around much, but I’m still alive.  The last few weeks have just been incredible hectic.  I feel like I’m either doing homework or driving somewhere.  Seriously.  That’s about all I’ve done for the last two weeks.  So  a little update is in order

School, the thing that takes up most of my time.  Last week was a bitch.  I had a paper (it turned out to be 8 flippin pages! single spaced!) and a group project due for my intro to the profession class and another project for my tech class.  WHile I’m glad my group project is now done and out of the way, it was a pain in the ass.  One of our group members had to drop the class for medical reasons, so the three remaining members had to take over her area of the project.  But it’s done and over with and I won’t have to worry about it later in the semester when I’m trying to study for midterms or anything, so that’s good.  And, I had my period, on top of all that.  I honestly thought the hubby was going to pack up and leave I was being such a crazy bitch.  Sorry, honey.  Love you bunches.

The hubby’s mom is supposed to have her leg amputated today.  She was supposed to have it done last week, but there were problems with her blood, so that had to wait.  I saw her on Sunday and she looks terrible.  I hope she makes it through the surgery.  My FIL is being an idiot about the entire thing, but that’s nothing new.

Most of all, I’m just tired.  The stupid cat drives me crazy in the middle of the night.  I thought I was done with this up two, three times a night thing.  I have decided that the cat has until the end of the summer to shape up or he’s gone.  I’m so tired of the biting and the stalking and having him pounce on my head in the middle of the night because he thinks I should be up since he is.  And he just torments Bubba.  He’ll trap him in the hallway and then jump up on him and bite him when he tries to go past.  I know he’s just a kitten, but my other kitty was never like this.  Honestly, the only reason he’s still here is because we’ve already sunk so much money into the damn thing.

I know there is more, but I’m just so damn tired.  I’ll try and update more later.

Oh, I’m down 14 pounds now.  Woohoo!

The other day, Sebastian says to me, "Mom, if the kitty ever gets sick again and has to wear that cone thing on his head, can we set him on the television to see if we can get some more channels?

That kid.  He cracks me up.

We just had the biggest spider ever in our apartment.  And the hubby wasn’t home.  I ended up sucking it up in the vacuum because there was no way I was hopping up on a chair and taking the chance that it might fall on me if I whacked at the ceiling and missed.  Have I mentioned that I am terrified of spiders.  Because I am.  Ever since I watched "Arachnaphobia" then found a spider in the shower with me.  I. Hate. Spiders.  And it’s that time of the year where they are going to be coming out of the woodwoork.  Normally, we spray around all the doors and windows with some spray the hubby got from Home Deot, and it works pretty well.  Now that we have the cat, we can’t really do that any more.  Well, we could, but it would probably kill the cat.  And as much as that cate drives me up the wall, I don’t want to purposely kill him.  Thank goodness he didn’t notice the spider.  He would have gone nuts.  And Sebastian and I had the whole freaking out thing well taken care of, thank you very much.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to have some nasty nightmares about big black spiders tonight.  Yuck.

I don’t even know where to begin.  The last two weeks have been absolutely horrible.  Shortly after writing my last entry about being thankful for having rum and coke, I got a call from one of the hubby’s sisters.  His sister Karen from Oklahoma was being rushed to the hospital after being found unconscious and unresponsive on the floor by her husband.  The paramedics were able to get  her heart beating again, but they lost her in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and weren’t able to get her back.  I had to call my husband at work and tell him that his sister died.  I never, ever want to have to make a phone call like that again.  She was only 47.  She had a stroke and her heart stopped beating.  It came as a complete shock to us all.  She had no life insurance but wanted to be buried, not cremated, so everyone in the family had to chip in what they could.  Thank goodness for the hubby’s sister-in-law.  She handled pretty much everything and she and the hubby’s brother ended up footing nearly half the bill.  I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t been there.  Of course, we all owe them money now, but that’s life.  The memorial was this past Wednesday and it was so hard.  We left Seb with my parents because he didn’t want to go and we didn’t want to make a big deal of it.  I am so glad we did because the hubby completely lost it at one point.  That would have totally freaked Sebastian out.  Afterwards, I told the hubby that I was surprised at how hard I took it.  With Karen living in Oklahoma, I probably knew her the least of all his sisters, but the times we did spend together were really good times.  All my memories of her are so great, which makes me feel very lucky.

The day before his sister died, I had taken the cat in to get neutered and they had to do it through his abdomen, so he has sutures in his little belly.  We had been running back and forth to Marysville for almost a week, so the little guy was on his own a whole lot.  He licked his sutures too much and that ended up getting infected, which meant a trip to the vet, antibiotics and one of those conical collars.  Trying to hold down a squirmy kitty and squirt antibiotics down his throat is not my idea of fun.  This damn cat that only cost $20 to buy has cost us nearly $800 in the last three months.

I’ve posted before about needing to have two root canals done.  I cancelled my previous appointment because I just didn’t like the dentist and they were being kind of shady about the billing.  With everything else going on, I never got back to another dentist.  On Saturday night while putting Seb’s basket together, I was eating a jelly bean and noticed something hard in my mouth.  It was half a tooth!  My first bicuspid on the right side broke pretty much in half.  It doesn’t hurt, so the root must not be exposed.  In fact, it feels better than it has in a long time, if you don’t mind an ugly broken tooth and your husband calling you his hillbilly, gap-toothed wife.  This just convinces me all the more that the other dentist was a hack.  He was going to take care of that tooth and send me to a specialist for my molar.  Now I know he probably would have started working on it and it would have busted apart, calling for drastic measures.  I have an appointment Wednesday morning with another dentist.  Hopefully, things will go better this time.

Tomorrow, we take the kitty in to get his sutures removed, as long as his infection is all cleared up.  Wednesday, a maintenance crew is coming to strip, sand and repaint our bathrooms because the morons that did it the first time didn’t use primer and slapped flat paint right on top of the greenboard.  Big surprise, all the paint in there is cracked and peeling because of the humidity when we shower.  We (Seb and I) were planning on going to my mom’s that day to be out of the house when they do that and maybe spend the night since he is on Spring Break this week, so now I guess we’ll go afterwards.

I finally feel like I can stop and take a breather again.  The holidays are over.  Other than my nephew Ashden’s birthday party this Saturday, the huge block of non-stop birthdays from December through March is just about over.  After this week, there isn’t too much going on until Mother’s Day.  And the hubby damn well better do something for me for Mother’s Day.  My birthday was last Sunday and got pushed to the side with everything going on with Karen.  I don’t have a problem with that.  I didn’t expect a big party or broohaha for my thirtieth.  Didn’t want one, in fact.  But the hubby didn’t even get me a card or have Seb make one for me.  My family was not pleased.  So I think he knows he bettter make up for it on Mother’s Day.  Or my sister might come and kick his ass.

We took our kitty in this morning to be neutered and front declawed.  He’s also getting a rabies shot and some bloodwork done.  Sebastian was funny, he said he was getting de-balled and de-clawed.  We attempted this last month, but one of his little kitty testicles had not descended, so they said wait a month and bring him back.  Well, it was still up there, so they are doing the procedure through his abdomen.  They said we could wait a while longer and there is a slim chance it might still drop, but there is a good chance he would develop some bad habits in the meantime.  He’s not spraying or humping things yet, but he has discovered my soft, fluffy robe and my velour pants, even my t-shirts.   Yeah, I’m not so keen on the kitty getting off on my stuff, so I said to just do it now so we don’t have to deal with all that.

Now that we’re home though, it’s a little lonely.  I’m used to him being underfoot all the time, or curling up on my lap while I play on the computer or snuggling up with me on the couch.  It just seems awful quiet.  I called the vet and he is doing just fine.  They said he’s sleeping and will probably continue to do so for a good part of the day.  We get to pick him up on Thursday.  Hopefully, we will have a calmer, quieter kitty. 

That about sums up the last week. 

I went bra shopping yesterday and found out I was wearing completely the wrong size.  In fact, my boobs are so big, my bras have to be special ordered because they don’t normally carry that big a size in store.  God help us if I ever get pregnant again and they get any bigger.   And if the hubby makes one single comment about going to the army surplus store and stocking up on heavy duty tent material so we can get bras specially made, I will be forced to beat him senseless. 

The blackout happened at school this morning.  Due to wind gusts around 60 mph, we lost power here for about 5 minutes last night.  No biggie.  Luckily, I woke up when I heard everything shut off and was able to reset the clock.  But when I got to work this morning, the generator was huffing and puffing and it was obvious that we were not at full power.  About 8:30, we lost poser completely.  Lots of fun with nearly 40 screaming kids.  I never, ever want to do that again.  And of course the batteries in our flashlights (once we found them) only lasted about 5 minutes before they died.  One of the girls I work with told me that the Novi schools C.A.R.E. program is looking for workers and it is entirely possible that I could work a 9:30-3:30 shift, which would allow me to drop Seb off in the morning and be there to pick him up after school each day.  No more 11 hour school days could make a world of difference.  Now, my boss will be completely pissed off, but oh well.  I gotta do what’s best for my family.  And the current circumstances are definitely not what is best for us.

And how does ice skating fit into all of this?  Well, Seb’s pediatrician recommended that we get him into some activities outside the house.  The other night, he was watching the men’s U.S. national skating championship and thought it was the coolest thing.  Since he has poo-pooed every other activity I have brought up to him, I thought I would through skating out there to him.  Much to my surprise, he was totally into the idea.  Yesterday, I got on Google and the Novi Ice Arena offers basic skating classes, 7 weeks for $90. The next session starts at the beginning of April, with registration starting in about a month.  The hubby kind of rolled his eyes when I told him that his son wants to take skating lessons, but as long as it’s something Seb is interested in, he’ll be behind him 100%. 

And finally, our crazy kitty.  He goes in next week to be front de-clawed and neutered.  Hopefully, that will calm him down somewhat because he is totally obnoxious lately.  Now, I know it has been a long time since I’ve had a cat, but I really don’t remember Sophie acting this way.  He completely spazzes out in the middle of the night.  He’s bitten the hubby’s feet twice, drawing blood.  I don’t know if he is getting ready to lose his baby kitty teeth or what, but he’s been awfully chompy lately, which is annoying to me, scares Bub and makes the hubby sound like a whiney little boy.  Honest to God, some days, he’s worse than Bubba.