me to a T - Tracey Odachowski

When I posted earlier, I forgot about two very important things that happened in the past two days…

1. Emily had her 18 month check-up today. We discovered that she has inherited her brother’s seasonal allergies, but is otherwise quite healthy. She weighed 26 1/2 pounds (50th %ile), and is a whopping 31 1/2 inches tall (90th %ile). When the doctor was putting her height on the chart she said, “Wow. Is her father tall?” To which I responded, “Is that a polite was of saying that she didn’t inherit her height from me??” Seriously. I actually said that! LOL!

2. I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s right. Yesterday I got the official word that, after the 10-month-long process that I have endured, I won my appeal for my disability! So, I can finally stop worrying about my family being financially stable while I get physically better enough to return to work. And stress off the mind can do wonders in the healing process. Also, on the disability front, after a two-month-long ‘flare-up’, if you will, it seems like the pain has finally calmed down for a while, and I’m having my first good week in months. Like I said…stress off the mind is a powerful medicine. Thanks to those who have endured my griping about all of this for so long. I’m sure there will be more, but it’s great to be able to deliver some good news about my ailments on occasion. Also, I’m scheduled for a routine 6-month checkup of the tumor next Friday, so prayers please that it still looks fine and benign!

You know, I think I’m going to have to start renaming this blog to “Gabe sez…” Here’s another for your laughing pleasure.

We were just sitting down eating dinner, watching Shrek. It got to the scene where Shrek was battling the dragon to rescue Princess Fiona. And Gabe sez…

Gabe: Did you have a dragon Mommy?

Me: Huh?

Gabe: Did you have a dragon when you were a princess in the castle??

(ok, insert my heart swelling here)

Me: (smiling HUGE) Sure I did.

Gabe: And did Daddy rescue you from it?

Me: He sure did.

Gabe: How did he kill it?

Mommy: Maybe he didn’t kill it. Maybe they became friends like in Shrek.

Gabe: No. I think he killed it. Did he have a Donkey?

(of course, this is the moment when I get to rack my brain with the many college friends of Chris’ that could fulfill the role of Donkey. Hmmmmm. Randy? Keith? Paul? JP? So many candidates in that fraternity. hehe. Sorry guys!)

So there you have it. I’m a princess. Of course, does that mean he thinks I look like an ogre since that’s what she turned into in the end??????

Kinda bored this morning (we’re waiting for our new entertainment center to arrive!!!), so I started playing with some actions in Photoshop. So, here’s two more pictures from 2 weeks ago at Eddie’s house:

This is Spring INDOORS…..

Aren’t they pretty? My wonderful Hubby brought them to me last week to cheer me up. I’m just not a roses kind of gal. I’d much rather have they pretty $3 bouquets that you find in the checkout of the grocery store. I’m such a cheap date.

Now, this is reality. This is Spring OUTDOORS:

That’s right. It is 1:12 am, 2 days after spring supposedly started, and it is snowing. Now, let’s recap - we have had a whopping grand total of 1/2 inch of snow ALL WINTER, and it waits until NOW to snow???? Lovely. Last week it was 80 degrees, and now we have this???? You know, if it isn’t gonna be a blizzard at this point, can we just skip ahead to summer?????

Don’t have much to say today, but these pictures kind of speak for me.

The result of 5 hours in the E.R.:

My mother-in-law, Carol. I thought this photo was stunning:

A close-up, because he can never sit still when I’m taking a picture:

Tumbling in Uncle Eddie’s back yard. You should have SEEN how dirty she was when she was done!:

And, last but not least…Yes. He got his ring pop. (btw - TARGET carries them!)

It started on Friday…Gabe stubbed his toe hard on Thursday night, so we had the pleasure of sitting in the ER for 5 hours Friday morning when he woke up unable to walk! He’s fine, though - just has to keep in splinted and try not to hit it again. I’ll have to post pics when I download the camera.

And then, on the way to Baltimore, the 10-month-old DVD player in the van stopped working. Of course, now that it is in the shop, it’s working just fine. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Oh, and did I mention that the navigation system froze, too????

But today just takes the cake.

First, they gave me the wrong loaner vehicle at the dealership. While the new Accord is REALLY nice, there was a reason that I bought a van. Oh, and since I don’t have the military sticker on this nice Accord, I can’t go to the commissary and get our much-needed grocery shopping done.

Then, I tried to do laundry. I now know why Chris does the laundry. While washing clothes, I hit the button to turn the dryer on. It didn’t work (cuz nothing in my life is working right now???) Check the lint, close the door, hit the button, nothing. Close the door, turn the knob, hit the button, nothing. Walk away. Eat lunch. Walk back, do all of the above, still nothing. Find manual, call Whirlpool. Get ticked. Stay on hold for 10 minutes. Go back to dryer, check the clothes inside, close the door, hit the REAL button…gee, it works. Yes, that’s right - my mind is SO gone today that I was hitting THE WRONG BUTTON THE ENTIRE TIME!

I tried to take a nap, but couldn’t manage to fall asleep.

I can’t even in good motherhood to my son mention what happened to him today at school. Let’s just say his tummy wasn’t feeling well. Neither is mommy’s.

Then the toilet backed up while said tummy was not feeling well. Ugh.

THEN I went to pick up my neighbor’s grandchild at the bus stop…she didn’t get off the bus! I spent the next 20 minutes trying to find her, only to find out that her teacher put her on the wrong bus!!!

And to top it all off, HALL OF FAME CALLS HAVEN’T STARTED YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it midnight yet?????? PLEASE let tomorrow be better.

The kid never ceases to give me good material:

(at dinner this evening)

Chris: I think Bruce was afraid that I was gonna hurt Del today. (the guys at work, that is)

Gabe: He should call Jesus. When you are afraid, you are supposed to call on Jesus.

Dude, seriously, the effects of him going to a Christian school seriously crack me up. And at the same time, I am SOOO boiling over with pride over that statement. Cracking up, but proud. Of course, after Chris and I finally composed ourselves, he sat down and said, “That was a totally bloggable moment, wasn’t it.” To which I replied, “Yup. You don’t think Del will read my blog, will he???”

Remember these? Oh, I do. Gosh they were yummy. I had a few too many of these as a kid. I think my mom actually likes to hand these out. Hence, a few months ago, she gave Gabe one when we were visiting her. She always gives him some sort of memorable things from the past. And the child never forgets a thing. So, this afternoon, he comes running into my office…

Gabe: Mom! There was a ring pop on the tv!!! I haven’t had one of those in forever! Can I have one?

Mommy: Gabe, we don’t have any.

Gabe: (whining, as always) But I want one!!! Mommom Sissy gave me one when I was at her office!

[insert my rolling eyes here. Yet another thing I get to thank my mom for…corruption of my children. ]

Mommy: Well, we don’t have any, so I can’t give you one.

Gabe: Well, can we get one at the store?

Mommy: We’ll see.

So, one would think that the conversation was over. But, this child is so my child. When he wants something, he doesn’t give up. So, tonight I went upstairs to do our little nightly cuddle in bed before he went to sleep. And I hear this…

Gabe: Mom, when it’s treat day, and I’m good, and I get a treat, can I get a ring pop?

Mommy: We’ll see, Gabe. They are kind of hard to find, not all stores have them.

[and this is where the corruption of t.v. viewing comes in…]

Gabe: But, Mommy, they are available in grocery stores everywhere.

(can you stand it? Three days of posts in a row!)

So about this word…”Boring.”

It seems to be Gabe’s favorite new word. Of course, the funny part is the way he says it, but I guess I can’t add that here. Basically, however, whenever he doesn’t want something, he says it is ‘Boring.’

-Mom, I want to buy 5 books. Cuz 4 books is BORing.

-I don’t want to listen to this side of the tape, cuz it’s BORing.

-Emily threw my crayon on the floor…that’s BORing!

-I don’t want to go to bed yet cuz that’s BORing.

-I want to have a play date at John and Alex’s house. Cuz play dates at my house is BORing.

Get the idea??? This is what I listen to all day long. And you know what? It’s getting kind of BORing. Grrrr. Life with a 5-year-old.

All week I’ve been dreading today. Actually, I’ve been dreading it for the past 365 days. One year ago today, that awesome man you see above was killed because some guy just HAD to have the cd that was in the floor of his car and ran a stop sign. That’s my Uncle Wayne. And I still miss him. Alot.

I made that page several months ago, kind of as a healing process. It felt good. I still love that page. It helped. But I still miss him. It’s still sinking in, probably because I didn’t get to see him often anyway since we live far away. But there are days when all I can do is think of him. Last week, I suddenly realized that I was singing, “Are you Washed in the Blood of the Lamb” at the top of my lungs while driving down I-64. That was the song that Mom, TJ, and I sang at his funeral. That was his favorite. And it just popped in my head the other day.

So, I got through today. I only cried once. I have a headache now from not sleeping. But maybe, now that I made it through today, I’ll get some better sleep this week.

***

And, because I have a thing about never ending a thought badly, I’ll end with this. To my dear husband…I know you read my blog. You confess that you read my blog. Feel free to leave a loving comment every once in a while!!! (or, will that give away your secret that you aren’t really working when you are at work?????)