Simple Pleasures

Life is good.... today. :-)

In the past 2 weeks, we've gone through the whole family having the MRSA virus (well actually it's not a virus, but rather a strain of bacteria), Aidan being hospitalized for 5 days in isolation, me put in the radar of Dept of Social Services (for an unsubstantiated allegation that is getting dropped) and also dealing with a brown-recluse spider bite (which provided a nice gateway for MRSA to get into my body) and missing 2-1/2 weeks of work (ie: NO PAY). Oh yeah, and our best friends PCSing. That, in itself, was traumatic enough. Selfish people. :-) (you know I love you guys!) Plus, having to put Josiah on a plane for his summer away. I HATE this time of year, because of that. But I know his dad loves him as much as I do so it's all good. I can't be selfish.... well, I can, but I shouldn't. lol

So today, I'm focusing on SIMPLE PLEASURES. Little benign things that brought a smile to my face. Like the fact that, right now, as I type, I am in my house ALL BY MYSELF! Those who have been privvy to a day in my life know how freakin amazing that is. lol I started feeling guilty for putting the kids in childcare when I'm not at work but that only lasted about...um.... 3 minutes. I'm good now. lol It was already paid for. Why not use it? I go back to work tomorrow and really needed some time to debrief after these past 2 weeks of intense stress & a whole lot of unknown. It would've been MUCH worse if it wasn't for the absolutely INCREDIBLE support system I have.... some, I didn't even KNOW I had. In fact, some I didn't even know AT ALL. :-) Can I say... Chapel Next is full of some selfless people that definitely know how to demonstrate the love of Christ?

I just had a lunch that *I* like and my whole house smells delish.... grilled chicken caesar thin crust pizza and a salad with tons of veggies and my fave Paul Newman dressing. I'm listening to some old CCR and occasionally jumping up to dance, in reckless abandon, like I'm at Woodstock or something (and no, Mr. Brian, I was NOT at the original Woodstock. I was just a baby then. lol) Interesting that the song playing right now is "Born on the Bayou" and my best friends (Brian & Angela, those selfish people I mentioned earlier. lol) are moving to Luzianne. Anyway, I digress (who me? lol)(Angela, the time is 3:33 right now. Thinking of you babe. :-) )

Speaking of Paul Newman dressing.... have you ever read the label on the back of the bottle? Hilarious stuff. I was laughing out loud in Food Lion. I sure needed it, too. Here's the one on the back of the light honey mustard one:
THE GREAT SALAD DRESSING BALLOON RACE: An armada of balloons loaded with Light Honey Mustard. The starter's gun- Bazoombah! They all rise majestically into the air. Newman's Own balloon, with fewer calories, more taste & secretly propelled by charity, flies faster than Kraft and further than Wishbone. First across. First on the ground. El Piloto quaffs mucho quaffs of Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard in victory. A medium light Italian starlet, daughter of Butch Cassidini, named Bitch Cassadini, leaps into the balloon basket, kisses Piloto, her lips smeared with Newman's Own Light, she murmurs, "You taste of Sicily, of Vesuvius, of Naples, baby" and patting his fanny, she whispers, "and no fat".

Totally didn't expect that story. The one on the Balsamic Vinaigrette was pretty cute, too. Something about 2 Italian brothers named Balsa and Mick and their mother Violetta Vinegar. Funny stuff.

I'm starting to feel guilty for being home a couple of hours and not doing ANY housework and not doing something with/for the kids..... hold on, wait..... never mind, it passed. lol

Hm... what else? Geez, now that I'm finally blogging again, I want to type all day! lol Except that Aidan saw fit to relieve my laptop of the keys for the letter T and the comma... I seriously, had no idea how much I used 't's & commas. There's not even a little bump to press down on, he removed that, too. It's just some wires under silicone and you have to try to hit just the right spot. It's exhausting! But soon, I won't have to worry about that so much (I am so tempted to just leave out t's and commas.... you all can fill in the blanks, right?). Last week, the kids and I took a "field trip" up to Chapel Hill. Aidan had a dermatology appt at UNC, which lasted all of 10 minutes but was way more productive than any he's ever had at Womack! Yes, and I'm the one accused of medical neglect by doctors who made that call before they even checked for MRSA & SWORE that "no way could his face get that bad, that fast... let's call social work & DSS and get this mother so tied up in paperwork & jumping through hoops that she can't take care of her children or her own medical needs properly", despite the confirmation from those in the know, that yes, in fact, it DID get "that bad, that fast".... and did I mention that when I arrived in the ER with him, because I noticed that his eczema was looking different, his face was NOT swollen. AS WE SAT IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS, the whole right side of his face swelled so bad that his eye swelled shut. I told them 3 times and finally after the 3rd time, I said, "he must be seen RIGHT NOW because I'll be damned if I am going to just sit here and watch my baby's face swell up til he stops breathing" I also went to the ER because the bite on my finger had gotten huge and painful and my hand and all the way up my left arm, swelled up. It was a few days before I actually went back downstairs to the ER to get myself checked out. By then, it had gotten to dangerous levels and required drastic measures. The only 'medical neglect' that I could ever be accused of is... OF MYSELF... not the kids. Stupid doctors. But I have to do their song and dance because they have the power to make my life miserable and impede my work as a mother. Actually, I could write a LONG blog post about medical neglect in our family because of Womack. Most recently as... I tested positive for MRSA but no one bothered to call me. When I went to the AMIC a week later for a dressing change on my finger and feeling very weak, that doctor looked on the computer and was the one to tell me. Ach! I better not get started. I don't want any bad juju raining on my sunshiney day (it's actually raining outside but inside my head and heart, it's a beautiful day.... then again, I DO hold whole conversations in my head with my friends... the freaky thing is... the ones who answer back..... LOL)

Oh wow, I totally got off the subject about my laptop (surprise, surprise! lol). Anywhoozy..... the kids and me went to Southgate Village, which is a quaint little set up of all kinds of shops, because Josiah wanted to go to Urban Outfitters (which was full of styles I wore in high school and college but is all the rage right now! lol He wanted to buy a pair of 'skinny jeans'... yup, that's what they are actually called and they are pegged legged & remind me of the Beatles). While we were there, we went to the Apple store because I wanted to have someone at the Genius Bar look at my laptop and run some kind of diagnostic on it, give me a prognosis and see if it was salvageable at a doable price (it wasn't). It's a Macbook Pro (chosen, lovingly, just for me, by 'the man'.... back when he was 'lovingly') and has been through its own war, just like the rest of this family, poor thing. When we opened those big doors with the big, lighted apple emblems on them... we stood there and I could've sworn we heard a choir of angels. lol We were mesmerized. It was like a big home party with just Apple products. We all found stuff to play with. And the 'help' was so... well... helpful. lol and friendly, to boot. I was playing with the new iMacs (lowest price: $1,999) and fell in love. My mind was racing with all kinds of ideas (because a good Mac will do that to ya, don't ya know?) and decided that it was high time I did something with the creative talent that the Lord has given me besides just relegating it to hobby status. But upwards of 2,000 dollars as an initial investment? Yeah, not seeing that happen. But it was on my mind all day. Soooo.... when I got home that night, I checked online at the refurbished ones. They were cheaper, for sure, but still over a thousand. By the time I added Photoshop to it, it would be pretty pricey. So I went onto Ebay and got lost in a feverish frenzy of bidding. What an adrenaline rush! Well, I had gotten a call from my attorney, who went to court on my behalf, that the judge awarded me the rest of the tax refund. Thank You, Jesus. After deducting my attorneys fees and the past due on my van payment and a little bit socked away in savings, there was some left over. My child support has only been coming in as a little over half of what was court ordered, which has thrown me off, especially with my vehicle. That's a long story but it will be fixed... soon. Basically, the remainder of the refund covered what he was in arrears from the last 3 months.

Well, I found an iMac, a previous generation, but still new, and in the white color that I wanted. I put in my maximum bid as $600, let ebay do the bidding for me and went to bed. I woke up to discover that I had become the proud owner of a bee-u-ti-ful 20" iMac, complete with keyboard, mouse, remote & Mac OSX installed. I had prayed before I went to bed, you know... when the "bidder's remorse" hit, lol, that God would let me get outbid (which was pretty likely... this computer cost 2 grand, brand new)if this computer wasn't part of His plan for my life's work. I won the bid at $595.00. :-) It's all packed and ready to send to me as soon as my check clears, which should be Friday. God is good.

Now for those of you who have followed my financial woes, I want you to know that all of my monthly expenses and debts are covered. I put a little away for lean times (considering I missed an entire pay period at work). I KNOW I can make money with this computer... and those of you who have seen my work, know that I can, too. :-)

Oh darn. My time is up. Time to get the kids. :-) Actually, I'm good. I'm actually ready to get them. I soooo needed this time.

(by the way, could y'all pray for 'da baby daddy' aka 'the man'... he's been heavy on my heart today. Thanks. I want him to know the pure joy of walking with Jesus. I know God's love can pierce holes in the darkness that oppresses him).

Ciao, y'all!