Another Day!

Well, another day come and gone. Got some bad news earlier today, that made me a little grumpy. Was looking forward to the prospect of getting a job watching 2 small children during the week. That kind of job is RIGHT up my alley, but I got an e-mail from the mother and her old sitter is available again, so she is going to use her, but she'll keep my info in case anything happens. I REALLY need to find a job, and except for the lack of insurance, it was about as close to perfect as it could get.
So, back to the old grind, trying to find something else. I have all ready put out quite a few applications and nothing. It's quite frustrating!

Well, enough of that. My boy and I got our flu shots today. We are supposed to have them every year, more for my mother-in-law's health than ours. Due to her cancer and chemo, we have all been advised to have flu shots to protect her. Pretty easy thing to do and it helps us too. She was supposed to have her PET scan yesterday, but the machine broke. Not very reassuring in my opinion. But, she's scheduled for tomorrow, so any and all extra prayers will be appreciated.

I used to homemade cream of chicken soup that I made Sunday to make a bowl of soup last night for supper. It was delicious as an added ingredient to rice or something similar, but it left a lot to be desired as plain soup. So, I probably won't go out of my way to make it on a regular basis, but if I'm out of canned soup, or I have chicken broth on hand, then I might whip up some more. It really was great in the rice, just had a funny texture as soup.

Well, I'm trying to catch up on my TV addiction. Watched my normal shows Survivor and CSI and then I watched Eleventh Hour. Has a more sci-fi edge to it that my son likes. I DVR Grey's Anatomy and ER, and I'm watching ER now. DVR was made for junkies like me. The only nights I don't have something that I regularly watch is Friday and Saturday. But, there are always things to watch that I DVR'd.

Well, I'm gonna go concentrate, cause I'm scatter brained right now. Of course, that doesn't take much.

More babble later!

Pngwn

Cooking Ramblings

Found a recipe online for homemade cream of chicken soup concentrate, and since I had some chicken in the crock pot anyway, I decided to give it a whirl. It was delicious! It wasn't the prettiest looking stuff, but it was almost good enough to eat all by itself. I added mine to some rice, with a little water and the previously mentioned chicken, and it was wonderful! Very easy to make, and I have plenty left to use for other recipes, or even soup.

While I was in the cooking mood, I made some strawberry muffins. They weren't homemade, but they were still very tasty, and they looked pretty too.

I also found a use for some mashed sweet potatoes that I had leftover. They weren't very good as originally intended, but there was too much left to throw away. I'm too frugal for that. It was mostly there consistency that wasn't good, the flavor was actually tasty. So, while I was in a cooking mood, I had a thought. I have made potato cakes out of leftover regular mashed potatoes, so I figured it would work with sweet potatoes too. They were really good. My son said they were a lot better than the originals. So, now I know what to do with the other box and a half that I have in the pantry.

Well, I'm gonna go hang with my son until our favorite shows come on.

Until we meet again,

Pngwn

Where does the time go?

It is hard to believe that it has been 8 months since I blogged last. Where does the time go? In some respects, it seems like February was just last month, and in others, it seems like ages ago.

So much has happened in that time, I'll try and give the Readers Digest condensed version.

Health Problems---Had to have second sleep study done, because the first one showed definite bouts of apnea and the fact that I wasn't actually sleeping very long at night. Kind of explained why I was always so tired. Second one was done with CPAP machine, to see if it resolved the issues. It did, and I am now the proud owner of my very own CPAP machine. Kind of makes me feel like Darth Vader.

My ENT decided that he wanted to do a biopsy on one of the lymph nodes in my neck since nothing else had relieved the swelling for long. My Rheumotologist wanted him to do a lower lip biopsy at the same time, to rule out Sjogren's Syndrome. So, I had both procedures done at the same time in May. I knew that he was going to cut into my neck, but I was shocked when I woke up and found this HUGE bandage on my neck and a huge wad of stitches in my lip. Lip hurt pretty bad, neck was a little sore, but not horrible. Boy was I suprised when I changed the bandage. The incision was a lot bigger than I had thought it would be. I felt like Frankenstein.

The photo is of the scar today, 5 months later, it's not horrible, but it could have been a little smaller. I was scheduled to have the stitches removed on my son's birthday, and I was also getting the results from the biopsies on that day. They both came back negative for anything bad. So, I may have a horrible scar, but it's better than not having a scar, and wondering if there was something bad brewing in there.

My Aunt-- Things just went from bad to worse with her health. Everytime they ran a test, they found more cancer. She got out of bed for PT and broke her hip, because it was so eat up with cancer. She was finally released from the hospital in May, I think and she was pretty bad the first couple of days, trying to get off all the pain meds, but after that she seemed to be ok. Don't get me wrong, it's not like her cancer went away, but at least she was in good spirits, and her pain was fairly tolerable. And then she just got really bad, really quick. My sister had been going down there to stay with her a lot, usually taking her two girls with her. I kept her youngest (almost 7 at the time) for the night, planning on taking her with me to the dr with me to get my stitches removed, and then heading back down to her house. But, my sis called early that morning to tell me that she had passed in the middle of the night. That was a pretty sucky weekend, hubby was supposed to be a pall bearer, but he had to go out of state to find some work so my son filled in for him. He handled the responsibility pretty well, but it was still very tough to get through the funeral without my hubby.

My aunt's granddaughter has a little boy that was just under a year old and I kept him quite a bit in the latter part of my aunt's illness, and quite a bit that summer also. My cousin couldn't go to the hospital with him, and then after my aunt had passed, she was needed to make plans, preparations, etc. And I just loved it. He is such an angel, it was so much fun keeping him. I haven't seen him in 3 months, and I miss him so much. At one point during the summer, my son went with my husband and his parents out of state for a week, and it was nice having the baby there all to myself. Well, my sis and her family came over quite a bit, but I got so used to having him here, it seemed sooooo quiet and boring when he left.

FUTURE BLOGGER?

Everything else--- My son is now 13 and in the 8th grade! Doesn't seem possible! He is now taller than me, but that doesn't take much. LOL He is doing well in school, not that he always enjoys it. He just got his braces this summer, and he's not liking that very much either. I think he looks great, but he doesn't hesitate to remind me that the braces were my choice, not his!

Hubby is trying to find work, as am I. When the building industry came crashing to a halt, it pretty much eliminated my job. I was working for his company, selling cabinets for the houses he built, as well as remodel jobs and selling to a couple of other builders. Once he finished the hosue he was working on, he was pretty much done too. So, he and his father tried delivering RV's, but it didn't really pay enough after you deducted for fuel, motels, and considered how long they were away from home. So, he's sending out resumes just not getting a lot of replies now. He's delivering pizzas in the evenings, for a little money, but it's not nearly enough to pay all of our bills. I have filled out quite a few applications, but nothing until today. I don't want to curse myself, but I had someone reply about a child care position that I had responded to. It would be ideal for me, I love kids, and since she's a teacher, it would still allow me to have weekends and most holidays with my son. I'm keeing my fingers and toes crossed that when I meet with her and her husband, they like me well enough and hire me! It's not enough money to end all of our problems, but it would cover my car payment and our auto insurance, plus some extra. That would be wonderful, and that much less that hubby doesn't have to worry about.

My husband's mother is still fighting cancer. She had a major setback a few months ago. It wasn't necessarily the cancer, but the way too high dose of chemo, and a bad reaction to it that ended up with her in the hospital, not doing too well at all. She's going better now, at least as well as can be expected. She's an ornery woman, and she's not going down without a fight, that's for sure. She has her good days, and her bad days. She just finished her latest round of chemo, and is supposed to have another scan done this week to see how well it worked. It is also her birthday this week, so we are wishing for wonderful results for her birthday.

Well, believe it or not, that really was the condensed version! If you don't believe me, ask my sister! LOL

I'll try and be better about blogging and I know I said that before, but I really am going to try this time.

Till next time!

Pngwn

Wow, time sure flies!

Well, I can't believe that I haven't posted in 2 weeks! So much for a little something each day! LOL
Things have been a little crazy around here, but I'll try to get back on track.

To catch up on all that was missed these last 2 weeks...
Spent some time watching my boy at baseball practice. I can't believe that Opening Day is right around the corner.
Had an Endoscopy done on the 14th! Hubby was sweet and brought me a half gallon of the yummiest ice cream since he figured my throat would be sore from the procedure. He also bought me a beautiful necklace with a heart charm on it that says "Love".
Sunday, we went to Tampa to try and work on the bathroom at my aunt and uncles house. They currently only have a half bath on the first floor of their home, and my hubby it finishing the pool bath so that my aunt will have a shower downstairs. She is currently in the hospital, trying to stay brave and strong with the dreaded "Cancer" word hanging over her head. She's hoping to come soon, and it would be much easier with a full bath that she can use.
No School on Monday, didn't get much accomplished.
Tuesday I had a sleep study done to see if I have sleep apnea, or I am just an obnoxious snorer. Wasn't much fun to be honest. Bed was comfy enough, but the pillow wasn't, and there were so many wires and stuff, that I was afraid to move. Couldn't get very comfortable, and I'm afraid I didn't really sleep that much. I don't do mornings, and the tech was in at 5:30 to rip everything off of me, so that I could go home. Slept like the dead once I got home, in my familiar bed, with my pillow. Took a shower to get all of the goo out of my hair, and didn't realize until it was almost dry, that I failed miserably. Still had 2 big gobs of goo on each side of my head and some behind one ear! YUCK!
Not much happened today. Tomorrow I have to take my mom to a dr's appointment and then it's off the baseball practice. More than likely head back to Tampa with hubby this weekend to try and finish the bathroom. All of the sheetrock is hung, now it needs to be finished, and LOTS of tile has to be installed.

So, that is my boring couple of weeks, and I'm sure there will be plenty more boring weeks to come! LOL

Until we meet again!

Another Day

Well, another day, come and almost gone!

Had a Dr appt today with a gastroenterologist, to try and figure out why I keep getting this knot in my throat. He did feel that the lymph nodes on that side were slightly swollen, but thought that the problem was more in the area for an ENT. But, just to be safe since I have had this problem before, and I have pretty bad heartburn, he is going to do an endoscopy next week! Oh yippee! And then I guess we'll go from there to an ENT if he gets no answers.

Also get to do a sleep study the week after to see if I possibly have sleep apnea. I've been told my MANY that I snore horrendously, and I very seldom wake up feeling rested, so Doc thinks it is worth a shot.

Had fun watching my boy practice last night. He's doing great, considering that he hasn't practiced since b-ball was over at the beginning of summer. Also caught up on some Desperate Housewives. I'm still not through with Season 3, but there's still time. Got smart and took my DVD player last night, that has the ipod dock in it. Makes it much easier to see on a 7" screen instead of the ipod.

Tonight, Survivor is back with a new season, and YEA!! LOST is on tonight too! Don't like that they moved Lost to Thursday nights, but it works out ok since the strike. Normally I watch CSI and ER, but they either aren't on, or are repeats, so there are no interuptions for Lost!

The whole work situation is getting rough. I work for my husband's company, which means that while my husband and his dad are building houses, his mother and I work in the office. Well, because no one wants to spend money right now to build houses, I'm pretty much out of a job. MIL tells me today that there will probably be enough money for payroll next week, but after that barring some miracle, there will be no more paychecks! YIKES!!! There is still work to keep DH and FIL busy with the big house they are working on, just means that we will have no money coming in. MIL suggested that I file unemployment, because then there will at least be a little money. I don't make very much money per week as it is, but I guess something is better than nothing. The only good side of it all, is that I don't really have to go to work, unless something just pops up and I am needed. I am only 5 minutes away from the office anyway, so if for any reason she needs help with something, or DH needs something while she is at a DR's appt, then it's not a big deal. Gives me loads of time to get my horribly messy house uncluttered and get my son's room cleaned out so that we can paint it and put in the new shelves. One of his Christmas gifts was getting his room redecorated, and fortunately for me, he is a fairly patient boy!

Well, I'm gonna go cook some vittles and get ready for prime time TV enjoyment!

Later taters!

Babble of the Pngwn

Well, just decided to set up a blog to keep track of lifes ups, downs, spirals and roller coaster moments!

Any one who knows me, knows that I truly have the gift of gab. I am fairly shy, but once you get me started, I have a hard time shutting up. My dad always said I should have been named Brooke, because I was always babbling. Not much has changed.

So, I am truly and old woman before my time, and I really don't have even close to what some would call "a life", but I am going to try to come here at least once a day, and yak about something! My favorite TV shows (way too many to list here), favorite songs or artists, something cool I bought or made, etc. You get the idea!

Don't be surprised though, if I have to vent every now and then! Lots of stuff going on right now, and not all of it is pretty! Sick mother-in-law, sick aunt, mother with medical issues of her own, husband (need I say more? LOL), pets, 12 year old son (who is a clone of previously mentioned husband!) and all of the other YUCK stuff that life keeps dishing out as is if were chocolate ice cream!

Well, that's it for now. Gonna finish up the work day, get a little done at home before heading off to baseball practice. I love to watch my son and his team practice, and it gives me time to finally catch up on all the TV shows that are on my ipod. I'm still trying to get through last season of Desperate Housewives. At least with the Writer's Strike, I am able to catch up instead of just chasing my tail. I am addicted to WAY too many TV shows, and for some reason, the TV execs don't seem to care that they put 2 of my favorite shows on at the same time on the same night, on different channels. Hmmm! Some people! LOL

See what I mean about being windy? That was just supposed to be a good-bye sentence, and it turned into a whole paragraph!

Later!