One more thing...

I have posted a picture of Lulabell's eye down below 2 days after surgery...so if you are squeamish, maybe you better skip it.

I forget to tell you the stupendous news.....Lulabell made show choir!!!! This is a pretty big deal around here and we are very proud. This is a group of about 30 kids from the entire school district who auditioned and won a spot in this group. They will travel around to schools in the area, plus business, nursing homes, etc., to perform. They will have a X-mas and Spring show. Lulabell worked hard and made it. There was a shaky moment when right after we found out she made it I had to call and explain to the choir director that Lulabell would have to miss the first two rehearsals due to her surgery/recovery. This was met with silence as although the director was very nice, and praised Lulabell through the roof, she reminded me that the kids can have only 2 excused absences before they are kicked out of the choir! This understandably upset me and I tried to reason with her but she was firm. So, Lulabell is not able to miss even 1 more rehearsal and even if she starts to bleed out of her eyes, she will go to rehearsal! It's a harsh world, isn't it? However, she has 2 rehearsals under her belt now, is loving it and we are certainly looking forward to seeing her perform with the group.

Ewwww......

WAIT! I'm still here....

Hello there good friends! I have NOT abandoned my blog, but as you will see, life has been keeping us busy here in Western PA…now for a couple of updates!
First of all, Lulabell’s surgery was quite successful, as noted. We saw the surgeon the following day (THAT was fun, driving all the way back there the next friggin day). He said that the swelling in her optic nerves had already gone down a bit….very good news. Her eye is blood red though and kinda scary looking – great for Halloween! Speaking of which, her next doctor’s appointment is actually on Halloween, which means she will have to miss her school’s Halloween parade, which would have been her last one (sniff). They do grow up fast, you know? We still have NO IDEA what our costume will be, but I’m still working on it okay? She keeps shooting down my fabulous ideas (decapitated head on a dinner plate, static cling). We’ll see I guess!

VERY exciting news regarding my job….the long awaited plan to send us transcriptionists home to type is nearing its fruition. My last week of working in-house is this week and by Thursday, 11/6 I will be typing at home! YIPPEE! I’m very excited about this and hope that all goes well. My friend K and I were the two "guinea pigs" to be the first to go home and type, considering our proximity to the hospital in case there is a problem. My boss had to come to my house last week to check out my home office, which he pronounced was "great". In fact, it is, as I actually kicked my son out of his bedroom to turn his room into an office, where I now type for my home business. It is quite lovely and cozy and it is such a relief that I don’t have to type in my bedroom anymore. Peaches was only too happy to give up his room. In fact, the kids and I spent six hours last Saturday to make the switch, cleaning and organizing and moving furniture. They were a great help to me. It was funny though because I expected Lulabell to be the one who wanted to share our bedroom but she was quick to say "no way Jose" when I approached her about it (she would move into our room and give Peaches her room). So, I moved his bedroom furniture into our room, which actually fit perfectly and is not too overwhelming. Now I know what you’re thinking….having your 16 year old son in your bedroom may put a crimp in your sex life, right? Well just remember, that Stu and I have been on opposite schedules for a year now and we have had to be creative about that, so I just wanted to put your minds at rest…..no problemo!

Stu had a gift card from Lowe’s from some sort of promotion they had there and we ended up getting about $50 worth of stuff for $5.00 yesterday – whew! what a bargain! I did get some paint and will be painting my office a nice tropical blue color and plan to make some drapes as well. I tell you, the office is a wonder to me and I am thrilled with it. The cats think it is fabulous too and constantly are trying to get inside but I am determined to keep that area cat-free, thank you very much. The biggest thing, I think is that the room is warm. I am so used to typing in my big cavernous bedroom with frozen fingers. Just think how much faster I can type with warm fingers! The fall colors have reached their zenith here in this area, I think and really, we have had spectacular weather this fall. It has been getting a little nippy at night though and the furnace has been starting to kick on again.

As you may or may not known, we have only one car now and it has been a challenge to figure out how to get 4 people to 4 different destinations and then get home again, with only one car. So far though, it has been working out, but I confess, I feel like I am driving ALL THE TIME NOW. Here is a recent schedule for my day: 1PM wake up. 1:30 take hubby to work so I can have the car. 2:30 pick up kids from school. 5:00 Pick up Stu from work. 5:45 drive myself to work. That was a freaky day though as I worked early that day. Normally I don’t work until 11 PM. But as you can see, my private, alone time has greatly diminished with having only 1 car. However, we are definitely having an easier time of it without the extra car payment, insurance and gas $. Speaking of gas $, right now, low price is about $2.85 in town, $2.55 just over the Ohio line. Now, why is gas 30 cents cheaper in Ohio? I have no idea, but it definitely is!
Lulabell has been playing with a couple of very nice boys lately, classmates. They have been coming by EVERYDAY after school to play and they really are dear boys. One in particular, is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen - I am seriously digging this kid! He is very small for his age and kind of delicate, but definitely a boy’s boy, if you know what I mean. I think he may like Lulabell a little and it is so cute! For example, the other day I asked if he wanted to stay for dinner and he did. As we were sitting there I noticed he did not have anything to drink and so I asked Lulabell if she could get him something. She said, "of course" and popped into the kitchen. The boy popped out of his seat too and said "wait, I’ll come with you". It was the cutest thing. Then later, I was asking if he was enjoying school and how he liked his teacher. I thought he and Lulabell were in the same classroom and when I asked him, he just looked at Lulabell and said "I wish…." in the cutest way… I want Lulabell to marry him soon and in fact, I would have no problem if he just wanted to move in right now! I’m telling you, this is a sweet kid.

Update on Lulabell!

Hey there - Lulabell had her surgery today! She did well, but again had much trouble coming out of the anesthesia. More on that later...here are some pics for ya, the first one is our arrival at the Cleveland Clinic - Lulabell = Happy.....the second one is just before her surgery....Lulabell = not so happy and the third one is in the recovery room - Lulabell = pissed. Suffice it to say that surgery was successful and we have to turn around and go back there tomorrowing morning (appointment at 8 frickin 30 in the morning!) to talk with the doc....I will definitely be posting more on this in the next day or two so check back, okay!

Two-wheeler success!

We had a bit of a milestone in our house this weekend….you may remember that my 11 year old daughter did NOT know how to ride a two-wheel bicycle and steadfastly REFUSED to learn. Well….SHE DID IT! YAY! This weekend, Lulabell learned to ride her bike…after many threats, bribes and tears…(mine). She has been motivated lately because all her friends ride bikes and she has had to ride her scooter to keep up with them…I kept asking her wouldn’t she like the freedom of riding a bike? Yes…so, the other day I was reading Popular Mechanics and it had a hint in it about how to get a kid to learn to ride a bike…take off the pedals so the kid can propel herself easily and learn how to balance herself. A huge light bulb went off in my head and I thought "THIS IS IT" the secret….so yesterday Lulabell and I took off her pedals (with the help of a nice, muscular neighbor) and she started scooting along on her bike, balancing herself quite nicely. I was of the opinion (still am) that she is too big for her bike and tried to get her to use Peaches’ bike, but she refused. So, we continued and I could see she was nearly there. Her friend was also there to provide moral support and begging me if he could ride Peaches’ bike…so I let him. I put the pedals back on Lulabell’s bike and we gave her a go…she tottered and swerved and may have swore once or twice (I let it go….this time) but she was riding! A little further each time. Finally, she was riding a good 100 feet and I pronounced her a new bike rider! She was very happy and proud and wanted to know when we would be going to get her new Webkinz that I had rashly promised her earlier in the day to get her to ride her bike….Her little friend took off and soon came back with another friend, so proud was he that she learned…(he is SO cute!). Later that evening, we were invited to Grammy’s house for dinner – she had a new recipe she was trying out. I kinda knew Lulabell and I weren’t going to like it but I was trying not to be rude. Stu will eat anything and was happy to have a hot dinner. Sure enough, even with Grammy glaring at us and saying things like, "just it eat for God’s sake….it’s only a little corn", Lulabell and just I couldn’t get it down. Stu had 2 big plates (trying to make us look bad) and Lulabell and I hung our heads in shame. We didn’t want to hurt Grammy’s feelings, but it just wasn’t our thing….so, we went home and made a couple of sandwiches for ourselves. By this time, Lulabell’s butt was hurting like a son-of-a-gun and she could barely sit. I told her that her butt has to build up a callus and the more she rides, the easier it will be…Sunday morning her friend showed up and off they went on the bikes…Sweet!

We did (finally) get a date for Lulabell’s surgery, it will be on October 15th, a Wednesday in Strongsville, Ohio. It’s still the Cleveland Clinic. What a pain in the butt it was to get the insurance straightened out. I certainly don’t remember such a hassle when Peaches had HIS surgery there…ugh. She goes to her pediatrician this week for her preop history and physical and any labs they might need. I still don’t know too many details about the surgery itself as her doctor has not returned my phone call yet. More info when I get it though, okay?
Work is going well…although things are kind of up in the air about some things…the hospital just purchased a dictation system that will allow us to type from home, which is a very good thing (I hope). The details have to be ironed out and we will (hopefully) get a chance to have our questions answered at a meeting in the next week. I am looking forward to doing this, but I’m not sure where exactly I’m going to have the new computer as I already have 2 computers in my bedroom and besides, I don’t really want to be typing at night while my husband slumbers 10 feet away….hmmm. I would prefer to have my desk in the basement but it gets really cold down there and my fingers do get cold very fast, even when I’m typing upstairs. Perhaps a space heater in the basement? Still many things to work out, but if we are lucky, perhaps we will be typing at home by the holidays. YIPPEE!
Peaches got his first quarter progress report and he is doing pretty well. He is a solid "C" student at the moment, with a couple of "A"s thrown in for good measure. His favorite subject is still "lunch".

Lulabell had several tryouts this week for various performance groups at her school. We haven’t heard any results yet so keep your fingers crossed. The hardest one was for "show chorus" which sounds like a fun one. We are really hoping she got into that one – should know by the beginning of this week. I certainly hope her surgery doesn’t interfere with this as they seem to be very strict about attending rehearsals and such. We’ll see I guess.