And then there were four.....

So life has gotten easier and I am slowly catching up.....still have to do three things for KAC PTA, and I will get there.  As I mentioned before, Sunday before last, a friend of mine stopped by my house with 4 kittens and I mean BABIES.  Less than a week old and I learned she their foster mama.  They are to be feed every three hours by syringe.  I was SO excited.  I used to feel lambs.  These guys were so little.   Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend.  We see each other again and we feed them copious amounts of food because Trina comes over and sees them and we have to go to her house and feed them all again.  I am on for Kitten-sitting on Tuesday.  I pick them up at three and I she will text me when she is done.  "Okay, but you sure you don't want me to keep them the night?"  "Nope."  Wow, lots of confidence there!  I keep the offer open because I am pretty darn sure after she sees what I can do, she will accept.....mouahaha...  I pick them up.  EVERYONE in her school knows that I am the kitten sitter....and they all want to see.  Of course, I show them, but no touching.  Within an hour I have them feed, pottied, and bathed.  Stinky blankets in the wash.  If their eyes were not open before they were now.  They were pissed to hit the water......like, "What the hell just happened and who the frick are you?!?!?!"  I put them in the upstairs bathroom with a space heater while they dried (hard to dry those little suckers) and they slept soundly for the three hours.  Six o'clock, Trina came over and helped, we discussed how to get cat pee out of fleece blankets (solution later...I know EVERYONE wants to know that!), how Kelsey (foster mom) needs to give up bottles rather than syringes because they are getting aggressive, and how big and cute and amazing they are.  They now look like tiny babies with BIG bellies.  Kelsey has told me a few times, "They don't wake up when then are hungry....."  FALSE.  They do.  Story to follow.  So, 9 o'clock comes and I feed them.  We change rooms to our bedroom bathroom.  Space heater follows.  I only have it on while I am feeding.  9pm goes great, midnight goes great, still experimenting on the cleaning combination for cat pee removal, and then 3am.  Yeah.....I am not great at three am.  You have read my posts.  I forget words like, "not dying" and say "dying".  I spell words wrong...wait that is every post...but I am not great. At this feeding there is no laundry being done, I do change my clothes to kitty clothes, I have to heat up their heater for their box, and I feed and potty them.  I am also pretty aggressive on the wiping them down like a mama kitty.  They seem to like it.  I remember my parents let me have kitten once and while our mama was great, she was a clean FREAK and pretty aggressive.  Plus, they started purring while I did it, so I figured it was fine.  HOWEVER, there are two that I cannot tell apart to save my life.  And I was looking at them with my crooked ponytail and saying, "Do you have milk on you?"  "Yes!"  "Opps, NO!"  After a couple looks, I picked one.  Feed, pottied, bed for both of us.  I could not get to sleep so I watched some tv, had a hot chocolate and then collapsed.  I didn't wake up until 7:40 but, get this, it was to a kitten very similar to the one that I was choosing from for eating last night with his body attached to the front door of the carrier in a star shape SCREAMING in a kitty scream way.  I was like, "S%&t! I overslept!  I feed him/her more than double the amount, potty, and then put them on the towel in front of me.  I continued with the others, but the one that looks similar was like, "OMG!  You are choking me with food.  You wench!  You CLEARLY have not done this before."  Yep, feed one twice and then other zero.  OPPS.  I was feeling guilty until the one I missed, scooted all the way across the towel, climbed up my leg and fell asleep on it.  Okay, well, I didn't kill him.  Nolan came in shortly after and said, "Is that the last one?"  "Nope, the second."  Pause.  "Wow mom, you look like you had a rough night."  "Thanks, son.  Get your breakfast and lunch together and you will have to see yourselves off to school."  "Okay."  It was okay except Nolan hadn't gone to school because he was clobbered in the face on Sunday by a rope swing with a 150 lb cousin on it.  I look at Nolan's face.  Okay, one more day.  Mason, you are on your own.  Continue feeding.  Mason off, us off, babies sleeping and dropped off.  "Mommy, do you need a nap."
"Yes, baby I do."  Okay....as promised, I tried every combo - baking soda, vinegar, lots of detergent and the one true blue combo is.........rinse, followed by a very little amount of soap with baking soda and vinegar, presoak, and extra rinse.  YES, I CREATED A BOMB IN MY WASHER, BUT HONESTLY IT IS CAT PEE.  IT NEEDS A BOMB.  Other fun fact, is that when you potty a kitty I think the boys like it a little too much.  "Peanut", as they call him, starts to purr, and his eye roll back and I am just like, "Seriously!  Gross!"

After reading this she may never let me near the kittens again!  It was fun, but it was better to give them back...but I would take them again....

Happy Wednesday, Ang

My life in the last seven days....

Today is Thursday and yes, it is 3:16 in the morning.....a week ago, I spent the day with Bible Study and friends, then I got home and spent the evening with my boys, Nolan went to Basketball with his buddy.  Here is how it went from there...

Friday - Nolan is sick, no volunteering in the classroom for me.  Yearbook emergency, so better that I am home.  Have to call someone in Boise by 1:00 our time.  I do, it works, and we are good.  Yearbook back on track.  Get ready to go to Founder's Day Dinner which I have never been to as a guest.  I go and work, so I can go.  BEAUTIFUL EVENT, but the Treasurer has to do a lot that day.  Home at 11:00 exhausted.  BUT GET THIS - I won the 50/50 raffle.....in a weekend I really did not know if I could afford....keep reading...

Saturday - Up, but tired.  Start making Banana Cream Pie for my Dad's birthday.  Dinner tonight at our house.  Tidy up as best I can, but at some point you have to really clean your house.....the scum wins.  Oh well, they are old, hopefully they can't see what lurks in the toilet.  My toilets are white - who am I kidding?!?!  You can see everything in my toilets.  Try to make an online rib order at Dickey's, but I do not have the code for the online coupon.....okay, price out Pete's.  Get this...here are their pre order rules.....ALL ORDERS MUST BY OVER $50, MUST CALL OR FAX (What the heck is that these days?!?!) IN ORDER FORM (which honestly look like a military maneuver), MUST HAVE PICK UP TIME THAT IS AGREEABLE TO PETE'S.  Really, I have to spend over $50, call, have them be happy with the time I pick it up and I AM PAYING FOR ALL THIS?!?!?!  Okay, so I call and by the time I talk to someone, I have been reminded of all these rules by prerecorded message TWICE.  Finally, a nice young woman answers and I start the conversation with, "Hi, my name is Angela and I trying to see if I qualify for a pick up order...."  We laugh.  I did.  Pick up at 5:30.  Go to Mason's baseball game with my parents, leave at 5:10 in complete fear that I will not get the order because I was a minute late.  Go home, eat, eat pie, and Dad is happy.  He loves Banana Cream.  All paid for by 50/50 raffle.

Sunday - Up and still tired.  Go to Carpinitos (local seasonal store) with a coupon, of course.  We have been waiting for this and added everything up that we need for the summer.  Buy bark, topsoil, starts and seeds.  Load up the truck and go home.  Paid for by 50/50 raffle.  Go to Fred Meyer for weekend groceries with my military maneuver list, coupons and phone.  Paid for by 50/50 raffle.  Have dinner with Wahoo! items and chicken that was on sale for 87 cent a pound.  Oh, and I friend stopped by with her foster kittens and didn't know what to do with them.  So, we feed them and when they went to sleep, I was like, just like a baby, you have 90 mins until they are up again.......GO GO GO!

Monday - spend seven hours in my office getting ready for my meeting that night that goes over the budget for 2017/2018, get all the receipts out for Founder's Day, add up all my numbers for Founder's Day.  Get several requests, try to get to them all, but do not.  Still have three to go. Forget to eat lunch and do not realize it until I get snack for the boys when they get home.  Yearbook proofing.  Shower and throw on clothes.  Mason has a baseball game and Nolan's Basketball in Timbuktu Kent has been changed from Wednesday night to Monday night.  Drop Nolan off (after I call the cops because some crazy guy is wandering in and out of traffic begging for money, and flipping them off.) This is rush hour.  Get back to my meeting and set up.  Literally, have two brain cells left.  Get through my meeting is a Zags T-shirt, yoga pants (when is the last time I did yoga???) and a baseball cap.  Before the meeting is over, I pack up, and leave to, yes, go back and get Nolan.  Home a 9.  More proofing on the Yearbook.  Bed.

Tuesday - Boys doctor at 9:30, so the boys and I started cleaning the house.  They did their stuff and vacuumed for me.  I got the kitchen and two bathrooms done.  Go to doctor's.  Go to school.  Come home to do a little Yearbook proofing again.  Get bank deposit for Neely's PTA this time and then go to the bank, and Staples for cartridge recycling and finish at Hank's office.  Oh, and reschedule and pay for Mason's Guitar lesson - yes, paid for by the 50/50 raffle.  I go over the scan with Hank and he has called my scan reader that I adore and they discussed.  I like this guy because he doesn't just read it.  He give me a judgement and he has been reading my scans for 10 years.  In his opinion, based on my cancer patterns, he does not see this a significant or cause for concern.  Just watch.  Exhale good.  I ask Hank if I will ever by able to take off for a year and just travel with my boys.....he smiled and said I could fly him in....I said, "Seriously."  He said, "I don't know if I am comfortable with that....."  Exhale bad.  Back home I make dinner - burgers on the grill and am quiet.  I stay up too late, talking on the phone, making finger jello (paid for BEFORE 50/50 raffle) and thinking (let's face it, I was feeling sorry for myself).

Wednesday - we are almost done...hang in there.  Boys to school, shower, put on what I just got out of the laundry because I do laundry EVERYDAY.  Yep, Zags shirt, yoga pants (still haven't done yoga), and my Nike cap.  Get in the car to go to my parents, take a short cut based on lights and cut through this street in Kent that always is risky.  There is a two year old on the sidewalk.  I start to slow down, "Where is her Mom?"  She is coming into the street and I say, "Sweetie, no stay on the sidewalk" and then another darts out from between to cars at my front left tire.  One is wearing a diaper and tank top the other has on leggings and a t shirt.  That one has a bloody toe.  I stop the car, turn on the hazards and get them out of the street.  NO ENGLISH, but the older one keeps saying, "Mommy's here" over and over and over again.  An older gentleman stops and asks if he can do anything, "Call the cops.  I will stay here until they get here."  So, I spend the next twenty minutes herding them on the sidewalk until they show.  I get the one has to go to the bathroom, and the other has NO CONCEPT OF CARS AND DANGER.  There are not scared, they are not upset.  "Mommies here."  They point to cars and try to get in.  My heart sinks.  A police officer shows up and quickly determines he needs another officer.  They take my info and start walking through the apartment complex with the apartment manager trying to find a parent or someone that knows them.  Exhale F*(k.  Why?  Go to my parents, arrive late, pay bills, and my Dad is not right.  He had a minor operation last week on his foot and says it is hurting.  By lunch he is shivering.  No fever.  Mom wants to take him to a walk in clinic because the Doc that did the procedure is in Hawaii.  But, he can't walk into the clinic, Mom.  So, I read the discharge papers which on still in the car because they are useful there....I am gonna pay for that one.  Basically, my Dad was not doing anything on the list EXCEPT he started taking the pain pills on Saturday.  Five days AFTER the procedure.  BTW - the dosage would put down a bull.   No crutches, no elevation, no ice, no rest, but he says in the morning is has a little relief.  DUH.  So, I call the doc taking the patients during her absence and an hour later they call back.  I explain I think he just needs to rest and follow the instructions and if it gets worse or he gets a fever to go to the ER.  She agreed.  I tell Mom and we put Dad to bed.  Go home.  House is only half clean.  Check in on the other place of my employment - they are out of town until today Thursday - have to get in there and open the mail etc.)  Proof Yearbook one more time, talk to Michele and have to get it ordered.  Supposed to go to Math Night at School, but Mason has a make up game.  I twisted my knee on Sunday gardening and today it is bad.  So, I skip Math night and feel horrible because I think Karen (a new employee who planned it) is going to get eaten alive - they are serving pizza, but I get the yearbook ordered, and I rest my knee.  I bail on Bible study to work at my neighbors tomorrow and get the rest of my house clean, because I am out of money and then Grant's gets the mail....a card shows up.  No return address, no signature, just "To Angie and the Boys, You are loved." and in it is a $100 gift card to Fred Meyer.  Pause and bow my head.  In a world that I really do not know what will happen day to day, my health, my health care, my kids, kids in general, my school, schools in general, somethings always seem to break loose and remind me that sometimes you have to just be quiet, listen and have FAITH.

Thank you for reading.  Going to bed.

Grateful and quiet, Ang

Happy Day....

And then there is a happy day.....one that I go to bible study and all the women that know me, and get me.  I can say anything to them and it is sacred.  We laugh.  We cry.  We rejoice.  I am a better person because of them.  Thank you Alana for getting me involved so many years ago.  I left early to be with some friends from Toronto, or TO, in Canadian speak.  I was able to meet them for an amazing lunch at a restaurant I have always wanted to go to.  We have a great conversation, including politics, but there is not getting around it with Sandy.  I love this couple.  They come and see us when we are in TO.  In the rain, on a patio, drinkin' beer.  My kinda folks.  My kids are on their iwhatevers.  The rain is coming down and flowing off the awnings, but we are good and happy and joyful.  Thank God for people we have known forever...too many to name.....so thankful for happy days.....

Happy Thursday, Ang

After 10 years, I have learned to wait.....

but I am always anxious.  Today, I did not want to know my results.  I told them, I am meeting with him next week.  I did not email Hank to tell him that I went.  I did not demand (beg for) a call.  And, somehow, without any nudging my phone rings.  "Swedish Medical Center"  It is Hank.  We chat for a moment and he exhales like, "Well, the two watch spots may or may not be 1 mm larger.  They cannot tell."  "Okay, so I am NOT dying tomorrow, but I probably will have to scan soon."  "Yes, two months.  No longer."  "I have an appointment with you next week.  We can talk then."  "Have fun....."

So, I do not have more on my list, but the watches are being strictly watched.  I can live with that.   Thank you for all your nice comments, texts, prayers, and love.  It helped while I was waiting.  I just have to string two month together and maybe I will get to a lifetime.....

Happy Monday, Ang

Funny, but not happy....be warned....

I have gone camping over Spring Break - that was awesome.  Nerf Wars with three families at Fort Warden!  One military, one hippie, and us - it was a hoot!  Singing Sweet Home Alabama on top of the trailers and dancing.  Had a couple drinks in jail!  For those of you who are really concerned, the jail was converted to a bar.  smile.   Then, I became a track coach because our real one broke his leg IN THREE PLACES.  I only had the fourth grade girls, but they had me hopping...holy cow - thank goodness time always passes.  Mason started a fight at school.  That was just pretty bad, but I get it - he was done, but Mason?!?!?!  I keep getting these calls and I am like, "Are you sure it is not Nolan?"  I continue to worry about next year and Mason going to Mill Creek.  I have been volunteering in the sixth grade class for a couple month now.  That has also been good and exhausting.  I haven't posted because, well, my faith and my mood has been waning.  I work with my Dad, but it is just a merry go round that we can't get off of.  The business is still waiting for contracts to start, so money isn't great and I have a scan today.  I started crying at school a couple weeks ago because all I wanted to do was plant some flowers, and I was called in again to go on a field trip.  "If you do not come, we cannot go."  So, I went on a all day field trip, threw trail mix in my purse for lunch, to come home, and turn around and go to a track meet, to have Nolan picked up on the side of the road outside the track meet to go to basketball.  I was at school or school activities from 9:00am to 7pm and all I ate was trail mix.  I missed bible study and my flowers.  Last week, I didn't get out of bed until I had to drop Mason at a baseball game that got rained out, but Dad got there before they called it as I was driving Nolan over to basketball.  I was in the car for 2 hours and 15 mins.  I went 20 miles, and I only took them one way.  I was told Mother's Day was canceled, but if that was canceled, I want it canceled every year.  I got flowers, breakfast in bed and an amazing dinner that I did not shop for!  One of the best I have ever had, but I have a scan today.  My last scan was in January.  Why do I have a scan today?  I don't want to get out of bed.  I need to make an appointment to see Hank too, so I will just wait for the result then.  I honestly don't want to know....I can't take one more thing.  So now, I have to go put my big girl pants, get a smile on my face, and starve until noon, then sit on the toilet and eat getting all that crap out of my system and drive Mason to a baseball game that only has a porta potty - one at that - wait for Grant to get there and then go to a PTA meeting tonight where I will use the bathroom an insane amount and I am presenting so that will be awesome.  Why do have a scan today and how will I deal with it if the results aren't good?  Check in is at 10:05.