I'm no Martha...

I aspire to be a Mary. Not a Martha.

Some of you know I have taken a 3-month hiatus from my day job to "volunteer more at home". So far so good. I wish I had talked more to you at home mom's before embarking on this adventure. I'm no less busy! What the hell?? Just when I get Pants up and dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, violin practiced we are still dashing out the door to get to school on time. (True confessions, my first day of drop off required a trip to the Principal's office for a note we were that late. Uff.)

Then I dash off to the Y for a class or a run.

Meet a friend for lunch.

Shower somewhere in there.

Run an errand like drycleaning, grocery store, Target, or some other necessary trip.

Holy crap!! It's 3:30 and I have to pick up Pants in 2 minutes!!! Where did my day go? (And no, the lunch with a friend did not include alcohol!)

Which brings me to this nifty little project. Pants has a Spring Festival at her school Friday. I signed up for the Bake Sale donation part. I get a note that says, "Bring them in single servings so that people can buy them at the Fair and eat on the go." Oh ho ho! I have the perfect thing!! And since I'm not working full time anymore...

Cupcake Pops!

I found a lovely little blog courtesy of Budder my gorgeous friend who was blessed with talent, grace, Faith, interior design savvy, and superior culinary skills. She is the home ec yin to my yang. And she introduced me to Bakerella.

In my previous life, I would have baked a loaf of something, or chocolate chip cookies, or run to the bakery and bought something yummy. But somehow, with my new "volunteer" position at home, I feel compelled to do something a little more special. (Oh they're special alright!) How hard could it be to make a few dozen of these little cuties by Friday?

Weeeellllll..... 3 hours and two ahem F*words later, here they are...

... all three of them. Crap it's going to be a long night getting a couple dozen of these puppies going. Will post with the final product Friday if I don't throw them on the floor and jump on them out of frustration. (Kidding! That one was for you, Karna.)

Stay tuned... I may even let Pants help me decorate a few of them!

Conversations with my 6-Year Old

On a family drive through the People's Republic, we passed the movie theater and I was asked, "Whats the double feature?"
"Gran Torino & Doubt" I reply.
"Do you know what that [Doubt] is" I was queried?
From the back seat comes the answer in her most "Duh" tone of voice: "A fish."

Sitting on the front porch while Mister has a cigar. Mister asks me if I want a pull? No thanks. I then say to Pants, "Daddy chews on the one end of the cigar & it gets all soggy." She says to her Daddy, "You should smoke the other side." Problem solved.

While sitting on the lawn of the People's Republic State Capitol on Tax Rally Day, Pants has made some friends and they are playing a rousing game of Duck Duck Barack Obama Duck. I'm not sure what that means, but it was amusing.

Had to add this one today:

Pants to her friend E. "Do you go to church?"

E: Yes

P: Are you Lutheran or Catherine?

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

Pants' Spring Violin recital for your viewing and listening enjoyment. She kicks it off quietly with "My name is Annie and I'm gonna play Go Tell Aunt Rhody a folk song."

She had so much fun at this recital.

Worthy of note is her attire. I had been in a meeting all morning long so was unavailable for wardrobe consultation. I did get a text asking "Tights or bare legs?" to which I replied, "I don't care, as long as she is comfortable." Hence the result is a red dress with white polka dots and some pink/purple/yellow cotton tights with the rosemaled red clogs. I LOVE the way this girl dresses!!

Anyone else think the guy at the piano looks like my Uncle John?

Sick

April 1, 2009

It happens. Kids get sick. Kids get "spend the night in the hospital" sick.

But not my kid.

She's way too healthy for that. She's been sick once or twice, but nothing serious. Until this incident. I have to say both her dad and I feel terribly guilty about not paying any attention to the previous week's worth of "my neck hurts" because we thought she pulled a muscle hanging upside down in the recliner (while spinning a plate on a stick in her left hand and bouncing a ball in the other). She's... BUSY! But Busy-Girl started slowing down on Monday. Tuesday was slower and today she crashed. 103 degree fever, couldn't get her off the couch, no eating, no talking, glassy eyes... the "lights were on" as they say, but clearly nobody was home and her neck hurt.

So off to Children's Emergency Room thinking the worst.

We got there and the nicest doctor suggested that she be admitted. Of course. "Admitted." We stay in the ER a few hours, go home at 11pm with a prescription for the pink stuff and all is well. Not so mucho as my sister Amanda would say.

"Admitted" turned out to be 3 days and 2 nights at Chez Children's Hospital with IV antibiotics for a nasty lymph node infection. The first night was rough and I don't just mean the rubber pillow and pull out couch/bed. I was on DEFCON 4 watching over little Pants and every time the nurse came in I was up. I actually thought about crawling into bed with the little darling just to make sure she was okay. As if my presence in her bed would make her better... so goes rationale.

Over the next couple of days with her "IV Buddy" who was promptly dubbed "Tom" she explored the Med/Surg wing. She potted a Wax Begonia, colored in the play room and her eyes about popped out of her head when she saw the DVD library. She did crafts upstairs with the volunteers and played BINGO with the Minnesota Wild folks - who brought Chipotle by the way - it's never tasted so good.

This was not so bad after all. The nurses, CNA's, Med Student, Resident and MD all took such good care of us I about cried each time they left the room with their heartfelt, "Is there anything we can get for you?"

Pants caught on to that one pretty quickly...

"Um, a popcicle, please?" Done.

"Chocolate pudding?" Done.

"A Wii so we can go bowling?" Done.

And Memaw & Papa sent flowers. Beautiful.

It made transitioning back home a little sticky as you might well imagine. "Mom, can you get me a ______?" To which I was sorely tempted to reply, "Are your legs painted on?"

After a few more days of antibiotics she is 100%. Cured. Back to her old self again hanging upside down in the recliner while spinning a plate on a stick in her left hand and bouncing a ball with her other.

The FaceBook think was interesting over the three days. It was an easy way to let all 100+ of my friends know where I was. Might have been a bit of an "overshare" for many of them, but for the friends who prayed, rallied, prayed, supported, prayed & encouraged, it was a lifeline. Thank you ... you know who you are. You made a world of difference to me and Miss Pants.