Tues. 1st--Rolo comes running when he hears you open the dishwasher door. And he has become our pre-wash cycle as he licks the dirty plates, pans, and utensils.
Wed. 2nd--I subbed for JJ's 5th grade class. We spotted this lovely black widow outside on our way to recess.
Riding the bus home from school with JJ.
*My friend, Ciara Harmon and her kids brought by some delicious thumbprint cookies with this awesome homemade card.
Thurs. 3rd--Karole drove me to Lubbock for my 9am follow up with Dr. Cervera's office. Luckily I was cleared to drive and shower again. But wearing the seatbelt irritates my pacemaker site.
We made it home with just enough time for me to meet Jared, who got off from work early, and get into his car to drive to Big Spring to see Calvin play in one of his last JV tennis matches. He lost both double and singles, but it was fun to watch him anyway.
Sat. 5th--I drove the boys to league because Jared was going to be driving Karcyn up to Lubbock later that night for her long awaited sleep study--she's been dealing with "crampy, squirmy" restless legs since January 2021.
*Cooper was recognized as one of the assistant coaches at the high school introductory meeting.
*Time for the high school teams to start playing.
*Karcyn getting all hooked up for her sleep study.
Nighty, night! Try and get some sleep!
Fri. 11th--JJ was asked to speak in the Veteran's Day program. He stumbled over his words briefly, but he took a deep breath, backed up and got it all out completely.
Sat. 19th--I decided it was time to get some small bookshelves for either side of the piano for storage. JJ helped me put the first one together before going to bed. He did a great job following the instructions. It's a lot like Legos. :)
Sun. 20th--This was the day of our Primary program. I was really surprised that it only took me a few hours to outline and put together a few months prior. The Lord really helped me with that. It was JJ and Korbin's last program because they'll be moving on to Young Men in January. So JJ invited at least 10 teachers and neighbors to come see it. But the only people who came from our invitations was Griffin's family--to support Calvin, who sang a duet with Olivia. The Earlys were going to come, but Bill got sick the night before. Coach Hale was going to come (also for Calvin), but her husband's company had an event that day. I think others forgot and some had their own church services to attend, which is understandable.
I am mostly grateful to my former counselor, Suzanne Stroud. Her family moved to Wichita Falls about a month before the program. I was devastated at the loss of her family in the branch. But I was able to persuade her to come back for the program with her daughter, Dixie. Because we needed them! I was so touched that they really came! Suzanne is a sweet friend and was a great counselor. And Dixie is as cute as a button. They left their new house early that morning from Wichita Falls and drove three hours to make it for our 10am Sacrament meeting. Having two adults to help during the program while I lead the music is a must. Suzanne saved the day! Janelle was priceless, too. She helped all the kids with their lines and made sure they got back to their seats.
Alec Haws was also a lifesaver. I wanted to stream the program in the RS room in case there weren't enough seats or in case a parent needed to take out a rowdy child. I didn't have to do anything, except tell him what I needed and he did it (with Calvin's help, actually). So awesome!
All things considered, I feel our special needs Primary Program went very well. It lasted the entire meeting. The stake primary counselor, Erica, who was in attendance, was super impressed it was that long, considering we were in a branch. It helped that we had two 11-year-olds who could narrate for us.
I wanted pictures with my two counselors before we left church that day. For a long time, it was just me and Suzanne. We'd been through a lot of changes in Primary together. Then we were blessed with Janelle in the spring.
Me, Dixie, and Rolo. All little people love Rolo because he's their size.
Dixie loved these big boys from Primary.
*Later that night, our contractors, who have been in the wind, finally came back to the house to address some of the last finishing touches and a couple of other issues. We needed vents for our kitchen and master bathroom. There is still trim missing from the hall/main bathroom. Our shower glass needed to be put up in the master walk-in shower. We have paint peeling around our master bathroom door. There were some pretty big gray paint drippings in our shower that needed to be fixed--they forgot to remove the painter's tape when we took possession of the house and so they didn't see that part. Some of the caulking in the kitchen is flaking off and needs to be redone. The other big thing are the three brown spots on our white quartz. Donell showed them to me when I stopped by after it was installed. She said the counter guys would come back and address those and Orlando said they'd sand down one of the seams more. We are also still waiting on a mantle for the fireplace.
After we walked them through the house to make them aware of the outstanding things that need to be done, they said they could do most of that. But they had bad news. They company who installed the quartz won't come back out and fix it. They said that any issues had to be dealt with at the time of installation. That's not what Donell understood and so now we're stuck. I asked them what they were going to do about it and they said they didn't know. That was the first thing that I wasn't happy about.
Orlando said he'd order the vents and would go ahead and do the paint touch ups and caulking before he left. Before he put up the shower glass, though, he offered his opinion that he felt we might not like it. He didn't want to drill holes in our tile and do something we might regret. We really haven't minded having that little stem wall ledge in the shower. So we agreed not to do it. But now we have a sheet of tempered glass we have no use for.
Orlando went to work on the caulking. When he was done, he said goodbye. I went to go check on it and I all but cried. First, there was this.
Then there was this! Look how shoddy that is? Before it had been a nice, thin, clean line of grout. Now it was uneven, thick, and even smeared in places. I thought he knew how to do this. If not, I would never have asked. I was crushed and kicking myself for even assuming he could do a decent job. I felt like a few of my kids could have done better than that. Ugh.
I was SO upset. Raising my voice in anger and frustration at anyone who would listen. Mostly poor Jared. I was on the verge of tears. I felt like Orlando ruined the beautiful look of my kitchen tile and every time I looked at it, I got more upset. I lost my cool in front of the kids and on the Sabbath. It wasn't one of my best moments. Jared texted Orlando to let him know the grout was leaking in one spot and that it needs to be fixed in others. I wasn't holding my breath that we'd even hear back, however. And we still have the unresolved issue of the countertop spots that need fixing. The problem, is that Orlando dissolved his business since our reno and so we really have no recourse. Not that I want to sue them. I just want them to help us fix a problem they told us would be handled and wasn't due to their error.
By the time we got back to Snyder, Karcyn was waking up and very lucid, much to her brothers' disappointment. They were hoping to see Karcyn under the (controlled) influence of drugs. :)
Mon. 21st--Snyder School District was out all week for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we had made an appointment for Karcyn to get several 12-year-old molars extracted that haven't come out yet to assist with the orthodontic work she's getting. At the consult appointment, we learned she has just 1 wisdom tooth so the surgeon said we could take it out at the same time. A 2-for-1. Made sense to me.
On our way to her appointment, I was going 82 in a 75mph zone and as I came up over a hill, there was a cop in front of me. I slowed down and passed him going under 75, but it was too late. He pulled me over. Fortunately, after asking where we were going, he let me off with a warning. I learned my lesson. Nothing over 80 on the 84. ;)
Everything went well with Karcyn's extraction. I got the post op instructions and prescriptions for her and then they wheeled her to the car. She was pretty out of it. In fact, she slept the entire way home--all 90 minutes--only moaned a little bit when her head rolled around.
Tues. 22nd--JJ had a half day and met with his new counselor, Rachael Beynon, at the Behavioral Health Clinic wing of the hospital. I met Rachael's husband, a police officer, at Ira several months ago because my sister's married name is Beynon and other than Kelly, he's the first Beynon I've never known/met in all the 28 years Kelly's been married. He said they were probably related. Haha! You never know. And actually, I met Rachael online already, too. She and I are new doTERRA members and communicated bit through that community. So that was fun.
JJ's been through a couple counselor changes in the past four months due to things outside his control. But hopefully Rachael will be consistent for him. He said he enjoyed their visit. I just want him to be able to talk to her and learn ways to cope with his sadness about moving and not being able to make friends with the kids here--due to a lack of kids his age nearby and due to being marginalized a bit, religiously and because he's a transfer student (not from Ira). It's just taking a little more time than we expected for him to adjust.
*At 10:30pm that night, JJ opened the door and said he just threw up. Oh no. We haven't had that in our house in a long time. Unfortunately, he didn't make it to the bathroom either. :( So I spent the next hour, cleaning vomit up off my brand new carpet. I called my mom to get her tips. It was bright orange. Ew.
Poor kid threw up again at 1:30am, 3:30am, 5:30am, and 7am before finally stopping, even with Zofran. That's a terrible bug when you just keep dry heaving and Zofran doesn't help. But he was finally able to get some rest and of course, the rest of us were on high alert. And fortunately, he got sick on the first night of his Thanksgiving break, so he didn't miss any school and his Perfect Attendance is on track for the year.
Wed. 23rd--I had my annual Echo that I needed to get at 8am before going to the store. It was fairly routine, but I rolled my eyes when the report came back saying that my echo was "normal," with no leakage at all just like the report said last year. (Um, I have a heart murmur--that is the main term for leakage associated with the heart). However, unlike last year, I didn't call the office to question it. Because I noticed it was the exact same nurse who signed off on it last year. Back in 2021, after arguing that I was fine and healthy and the echo didn't need to be repeated (because I insisted I hadn't been miraculously healed after 45 years of life), she finally admitted to me during a different phone conversation that she had hit the wrong button which selected the "Normal" test result that auto-filled in the letter they sent to me. Nope, I definitely have better things to do with my time than go the rounds with her again. But it does make me wonder how many other false positives she's sending out in report letters to patients.
*Fortunately, JJ was feeling much better, but the anticipation that someone else might get sick still loomed a bit in the air. However, I'm pretty good at cleaning and disinfecting. So fingers crossed.
Thurs. 24th--Thanksgiving was held at Kevin and Christina's like it usually around 3pm that afternoon. The missionaries were also invited. Then we celebrated Kevin's 51st birthday later in the evening.
With all the stuff going on, I forgot to get a family picture at the cousin's, so we did it when we got home.
Sun. 27th--Jared worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the urgent care for the holiday weekend so the kids and I worked on decorating the house for Christmas.
While he was eating breakfast, Rolo stayed close by. Why? Because Jared had a banana, of course.
Mon. 28th--We decided to put the Christmas tree up with lights for the first time before December, so we'd be ready for the day when we would add our decorations. We weren't exactly sure where we wanted to put the tree, where it wouldn't be in the way. It's not like we had a ton of options in this new house. We finally decided to move the recliner sitting in the front room to our master bedroom and put the tree in that spot.
The guys assembled the tree and worked to straighten out all the branches and needles. I really HATE that I have to say that and that this is how we have to do it. Growing up, my family always bought fresh trees and I would really love to get a fresh cut tree every year with my family. But since moving to Texas it hasn't been the best experience and I don't even think it's possible in west Texas. If you can even find one, you probably can't afford it. We'd rather spend money on experiences for our children, than on a live tree that will die within two weeks.
Looking good boys.
Tues. 29th--I was asked to sub at Ira for a half day when the teachers would head out for the UIL event in Trent, Texas about an hour away. I arrived around 11am and was fortunate enough to see JJ, give him a hug for good luck, and get a selfie with him before he left to do his district UIL event. (Haha--his friend, Adrian, was our photo bomber.)
*Loving my clean and shiny dishwasher after using this product.
Wed. 30th--I subbed in JJ's class (actually I had both 5th/6th grade combined because many were gone anyway) while teachers were out for the second day of UIL events. This poster cracked me up.
JJ, Denim Harmon, and Korbin. Denim has one more year in Primary, and then she'll be in YW. Fortunately, we have two 7 year old kiddos who will join the ranks of Activities in January. I love JJ and Korbin, but I am ready for them to move on! ;)
*Around 10:30pm, I was quickly looking through FaceBook and saw that Stephen Cooper, the husband of my dear friend, Melodee, had posted an update on her health. She wasn't doing well at all. Her time was coming to a close. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to see her, but I was subbing the next day in 5th/6th grade again, so I didn't want to back out essentially the morning of by the time they got my message. I was supposed to sub on Friday, in Jr. High science. I really enjoy that class, but I needed to go see Mel as soon as I could. So I quickly sent Stephen a message asking if I could come see her. They live in Hobbs, NM, so I wasn't sure where she was. He said I could absolutely see her--she was at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock. He warned me she probably won't respond much as she's very weak and tired. Yellow, too. I told him it was okay if she didn't respond. I just wanted her to know I was there. I asked him how much time the doctors are giving her. He said 7-14 days MAX. They aren't optimistic at all. I told him I would leave Fri. morning after my kids get off to school. My heart was breaking. I always hoped this day would never come. Mel fought and beat the odds, over and over and over again. Why not again, now? And then the guilt...why didn't I stop by in Hobbs on my way through after Girls Camp? Tomorrow is never guaranteed. And our tomorrow, never came. I would never get to visit with her again in this life.
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