WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS -ER VISIT AND CAR REPAIR

Hey before we get started, could you hop on over to my friend's book blog and check out her review of book 1 in my series! It is an awesome review! (Warning her site can be adult only at times, but my review is NOT!  http://www.authorsajones.com/2013/08/review-virgin-voyage-by-jj-ellis.html

Now on with the show: Holy shizz monkeys!  The saying really is true, when it rains it pours -  and then it rains and pours some more. First off, my car broke down end of last week. It would try to start and then it would just putter out.  So we called the tow truck (79 dollars) and had it towed to our mechanic.  Tuesday we get a call from the mechanic saying it was ready and when I asked what was wrong he said: Fuel pump.  Well shizz all over again, that is an expensive repair and I knew that from previous experience.  So we go pick up my baby and the damage is.............640.22.  Crap!  Thank goodness for interest free for a year credit cards with a decent limit right???  But at least now my fuel pump should be okay for the rest of the vehicle's life (13 years old).  At least it darn site better be!!!!

And then on Friday I noticed Miss Crazy wasn't feeling top of the line and my son had a stuffy nose and so did Little Butt.  Well great, the first cold of the season brought home from school in the first week.  Lovely! Over the weekend Miss Crazy started talking about a sore throat and became a bit lethargic. Yep, she had a fever.  Oh fun!  I was thinking strep so I had plans to take her to the doctor first thing on Monday.  Her fever broke in a dramatic fashion on Sunday night and she woke up saying her throat was still sore but better and she felt fine. So, off to school with her.  When she arrived home, she was still fine but about two or three hours later, the fever was back and we started to see a rash spreading over her body.  Well, that's not good. A fever, sore throat and rash together can mean complications from strep.  So I was wondering how the HECK her fever had broken for almost 24 hours if she had strep.  So, off to the ER we went.

Now you understand I have five kids and they have all (except Little Butt) had strep at one time or another.  Never have they ever lost their fevers for even a moment and never have they ever broken out.  But the doctor in the ER told me that it isn't uncommon for that to happen.  Well shit!  I could have endangered my daughter because I didn't know... Yeah, the guilt lasted about five seconds because I truly didn't know.  Anywhoo, they offered her swallowable pills or liquid and she chose swallowable (I knew we would be changing to liquid at the pharmacy because I knew the pills would be too big but she felt like such a grown up that I couldn't say no)  but then the doctor turned back and asked if she would like one shot and she would be done.  Well as we all know, medicines can be tricky with little ones so yes, I convinced my child to get a big needle shoved in her hip.  I'm not ashamed.  They came in with two needles (oops).  They figured there would be too much medicine in one needle for her to tolerate so they broke it up. Okay cool.

She gets her shots and a popsicle and wanders the hall and stairs with daddy trying to walk off the pain and stiffness of the shot.  We head home and her fever is starting to break and the rash on her face is already looking better. She had to stay home from school for one day (I heard a lot of 'mommy my booty hurts' throughout the day) and is now back at school.  The rash on her face is gone, the rash on her trunk is barely visible and her throat isn't hurting at all anymore.  Phew!  Now we sit and wait...for the rest of the family to get it.  Poo Poo!

SIDE NOTE: My son's stuffy nose cleared up.  He brought a feather he found into the house and it seems he is allergic to feathers like his daddy is!

Until Next Time...There will always be moments when we learn something new and feel guilt because we didn't know it before but you can NOT Dwell on it! What's done is done and we can't change it, we can just
learn new things to carry us through to the next round of life!!!

I CRIED LIKE A BABY

So, we've been having a lot of milestones and exciting changes around here lately. It's been crazy emotional.  Gwen (previously, The Senior) is out of high school now and graduates officially on Monday. Mr. Insane is officially registered for Kindergarten in the Fall, and Gwen is getting her first car on Monday.

The other day, after the car purchase decision was made, I realized something. We had my old van sitting in the driveway and undrivable for the last year waiting for someone (yeah, ended up being mom) to call and have it towed away to the junkyard. Where in the heck were we going to put Gwen's car? So yesterday was the day...The big old tow truck backed up to her (Sally) in my driveway, pulled her up on the flatbed, handed me some cash and drove away. And I cried like a baby.  I haven't been able to drive her in a year, but at least she was sitting there and she was still part of our lives.

We bought her when Gwen was almost a year old. We moved to Oregon soon after and of course, she was there with us. A few months later, we moved back to Nevada and of course, the van came with us. She literally saw us through four moves, one road trip vacation, one training session for The Hubs that required him to drive from southwestern WY to South Dakota every week, driving home to Nevada every Thanksgiving for the first few years we lived in Wyoming, and driving five kids anywhere and everywhere they went. This van was the scene of hugs and kisses, puke and poop, and fights and make ups. Toys and shoes were lost in this vehicle, never to be seen again.

Is it possible for one vehicle to see so much of a person's life.  It doesn't seem possible, but it is.  Many people trade in cars every few years, but we try to use em til they are dead! And that is exactly what we did with Sally. Just think about it, we got rid of her a few days before Gwen graduated High School, the car and Gwen were a year apart in age. That is a lot of life lived right there and Sally was there the whole time.

Now what?  Well, I don't think the mourning will last long although I will ALWAYS have piles of memories. Now a new vehicle will take her place in the driveway. Come Monday, Gwen's car will be jockeying for position with mine. I only have one word to describe this time in our lives. Bittersweet, but then again, much of life is bittersweet.

Until Next Time...Remember that the objects that represent or symbolize our lives may leave us, but the memories live on in our hearts forever.

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