Leaving these wheels behind ....

Yes .. tomorrow I do believe I will take him for his learners permit.

I know doing this will put that skateboard on a shelf in the garage where it will now collect dust.

He is 16 1/2 and I have held him off as long as I could but it's time.

I must admit for somewhat selfish reasons too.

Hey I need some milk .. go get some.

Pick up your brother from school.

Do the Mickey D's drive thru run for me tonight.

AHHH to have another driver in the house besides myself during the week.

There are benefits YES but all the same ...

I know I will miss the skateboarding days.

ps .. thanks Mm for the picture posting tips !

Superman lives !

We have an ending to a previous drama.

My son's meds were approved by the insurance company !

Wooo Hoo !!

He can now begin "growing" again.

Thats the good thing ... the iffy part for him is just how that growing gets done and who is responsible for making that happen.

Me .. I am the one that "makes it happen".

Me, coming at him with the meds to make it happen which involves ultra fine needle injections 2 x a day.

It's not the kind of growth med that the athletes are using to improve their bodies and their game. If you are an adult and have already stopped growing, this will do nothing for you. Due to that there is only a limited number of years, depending on your childs age and development, that this therapy can be used and be effective. It will only work in children that have been diagnosed with Severe Primary IGF-1.

He has been prepped for this for months. We have talked at length about having to "get a shot" 2 times a day so that he knew there would be no delusions when and if it started. He is totally onboard for it because he realizes this is the only way to help him catch up in his height and be able to meet eye to eye with "Joe" at school.

Joe the kid that has come up with all kinds of descriptive monikers (insert sarcasm here) for his height.

The starter kit of medications arrived last week. It was shipped overnight in a HUGE box with all kinds of goodies in it from alcohol pads to needles to the actual medication.

Yesterday afternoon we went for our "shot training".

I was quite nervous, afterall I am not the RN here my sister is. Why isn't she here ????

The instructor for this class was wonderful, young gal in her 20's.

She is an insulin dependent diabetic and is comfortable with the drill and very at ease with showing others how to do it.

She showed me how to prepare the injection. This took a few practice runs because the first 2 times I bent the needle. SIGH I guess I was more nervous than I thought.

My son's confidence was waning while he watched me screw that up 0_0

Finally after practicing the actual injecting into a rubber pad that is supposed to resemble the feel of something human I was ready for the real thing.

My son was nervously wiggling all over the exam table as I approached him with the needle.

With the instructors help on how to pinch the skin to prepare the area my son began saying ..... OHHH NO THIS IS GONNA HURT !

We counted to 3 and then I went for it.

His eyes were as big as saucers as I know mine were too while I waited for his reaction.

After finishing injecting the medication and removing the needle he said "Thats it ? "

He kept looking at his arm trying to find the spot where he had just been injected and said

"Wow that hardly even hurt !"

That is as close to a WAY TO GO MOM as I was going to get.

I felt the weight of the world being lifted at that point as the instructor said I had done a great job.

After leaving the office and watching him for possible side effects I felt more confidant that I could do this .. heck I have to do this, I am just glad it wasn't as traumatic for my son as I feared.

This morning as I was preparing his injection my husband was just about to walk out the door on his way to work.

I said .. You know , you have to learn how to do this too.

He responded by saying "Yeah I know, I will" but I could tell this was not something that was on his list of things to do right away.

I have a feeling he wants to see that our son will really be OK with me giving the shots before he has to do it.

I have a few other caregivers that will have to know how to do it too in the event that I am not able too some days. I know they are nervous as well but trust me folks if I can do this ..... anyone can !
Or ..... Call my sister !

Fabulous and the Pea Coat

After a whirlwind year of dramas, my husband and I along with "Mr and Mrs Mormon", finally got to jump on the Celebrity Century and cruise to somewhere FABULOUS which we had planned almost fully a year ahead of time.

Fabulous for me is somewhere where turtlenecks are foreign clothing. Something people snicker at while they are pointing you out to their friends on the street.

In this case Fabulous was going to be Key West, FL and Georgetown, Grand Cayman.

Those who know me well know that getting on an airplane is a big deal for me.

While I appreciate that they can get me there in a fraction of the time it would take me to drive there we still have not bonded.

I like to drive ... if anything I am a control freak when it comes to transportation. The pilots on these flights would benefit greatly from my assistance but they have yet to take me up on my offer. Whatever !

Philadelphia airport is our first step toward fabulous. Checked bags get checked and then on my way to Security for a screening.

Once again I am pulled over by a member of security who is holding up my large green monogrammed tote bag and asking if it belongs to me. "Yes, that's mine."

"Please put your shoes back on and join me over here."

Geeeezzzz what now ????

50% of the time I have flown I am pulled aside for a secondary screening of some sort. Me, 5'3", 40 something, Me.

Maybe it's the look on my face when I am standing in line to go through security. Perhaps I should clear that up. It's not the look of a potentially dangerous individual .. it's just the look of fear. The look on my face is really that of " I can't believe I am going to get on that thing again, and that I actually paid THEM for the opportunity to do so".

I had meticulously gone through that bag to make sure there were no WMD in there before I went to the airport to avoid just this moment.

No nail files .. no fingernail clippers.. no lighters.. nothing that might be used as a weapon against my husband when he falls asleep on the plane and starts snoring ignoring my obvious panic while sitting in a tin can 30,000 feet above the ground ... NOTHING.

Mr. Security starts to pull things one at a time out of my tote bag.

People magazine ... Enquirer ... Ohh and Time magazine which was featuring a story of Barak Obama's Mother on the cover. While some may consider the Enquirer a WMD I find it a wonderful form of distraction while flying. Beyonce had a beautiful wedding and Britney's hair is growing back. :)

My big faux paux at the Philly airport this time ..... Sunblock.

A brand new, never been opened, #15 Sunblock in a tube that was OVER the allowed 3 oz max.

That's what I get for trying to be a responsible Irish heritage sun worshipper.

Mr. Security holds it up and says .. "This is the problem" and quickly tosses it over his shoulder into a bin holding lots of unopened sunblock tubes and hands me back my tote bag.

I was a tad ticked. I am not ticked at the security guys for doing their job, but I am ticked at the folks that are responsible for these "New rules" in the first place.

Thats a whole different blog post I suppose but I hope the security guys at least benefit from all these tossed sunblock tubes and are not just throwing them away.

I envision a security locker room sunblock swap at the end of each shift....

"Hey I got some #15 over here."

"I'll trade a 30 for that and throw in a tube of after sun Aloe !"

Soooo we finally get through the airport, on the plane, take flight and land safely in Miami.

We meet our Celebrity cruise line transfer rep and are shown where to go to meet the bus that will take us to Fabulous.

Before we board the bus we add locks to all of our suitcases because they will now be in the hands of mystery people for hours before they land outside cabin #1246 on the ship.

I should add Mr. Drama added locks to all of them but 1 small rolling suitcase.

It was the bag with all of our toiletries. When I asked him why he didn't lock that one he sighed ... "Really who wants our deodorant and shampoo ?"

Hmmmm Not sure but someone DID want my #15 Sunblock didn't they ?

Wooo hoooo ! We have made it through all of the ships security points and we are now on the SHIP !

We are greeted with a glass of champagne and start to wander the decks of the ship trying to soak in the scenery and keeping an eye out for Mr and Mrs Mormon to get onboard.

After a few hours of wandering, meeting up with the Mormons and surviving Muster Drill we go back to our cabin and sitting beside our door in the hallway stacked up on one another are all our our luggage bags.

Great we can finally unpack and get Fabulous started.

I hang the hangables ... put away the drawables and then grab the bag full of toiletries to load the bathroom up.

When I unzip the top of the bag a black wool like poof of material pops out.

I was stunned for a minute .. geez maybe I have someone else's bag ?!?

This black wool thing has been jammed in my bag, barely allowing the zipper to close.

Underneath it are all of my things so yes indeed this is my bag.

When I pull it out I realize it's a black Pea Coat. Upon further inspection I can see it's a size 22.

From the rips and tears scattered around on it I can see that it has been a rather heavily used Pea Coat at that.

I ask my husband ... "Is this yours ? "

Now I already know the answer to that but it's one of those situations where you have to ask anyway just because you HAVE too.

He replies .. NO.. where did that come from ?

Me : It was in the toiletries bag.

How thee heck did it get in there ???

Somewhere between the Philly airport and the cruise ship I have picked up a tattered size 22 Pea Coat.

MARVELOUS ! So much for all the super duper security systems I was just put through.

Now folks I ask you what does one do with a tattered size 22 black wool Pea Coat on a cruise ship headed for the Caribbean ??

You torture your next door cabin mates who just HAPPEN to be your Mormon friends with it.. thats what you do ;)

Mr. Drama tosses the Pea Coat over the wall that divides our balcony from theirs and says nothing. Sooner or later one of them will find it.

Sure enough ... Mr. Mormon discovers the Pea Coat laying on his balcony.

He shows it to Mrs. Mormon who has no clue where it came from and she in turn asks us about it.

We laughed about it and told her the story of how it came to be.

We all leave for dinner and more deck perusing and when we return to our cabin there on our balcony is the Pea Coat with a note attached.

"Let there be PEAS on Earth and let it begin with me"

Ohhhhh No what has that MamaMormon started now.

There is no way that Mr. Drama is going to let that one go unanswered.

The Pea Coat has now become a one upping tool.

For the next few days it gets tossed back and forth from balcony to balcony with new notes attached to it each time.

Notes from white note paper .. notes from the backs of discarded receipts ... dry cleaning request forms, pretty much anything that could be written on.

Each note was added to a new spot on the coat with the previous notes remaining where they were.

The one Mr. Drama was most proud of is when he added some artwork to it as well.

He took my Dark Pinkish Nail polish and painted a blood stain on the coat in the area that would cover the heart and wrote:

"Shot through the heart and your to blame, this coat gives outerwear a bad name"

Damn these two were on a roll and it was hysterical.

Mr Mormon and I just sat back and observed .. on that we megged.

Let these 2 crazies go at it.

Seriously a battered Pea Coat , Who knew what power it had ?

About the 4th day in Mr. Drama tosses the Pea Coat down to Mrs. Mormon while she is eating breakfast on the deck below us.

She gives it a spot at the table with her and Mr. Mormon by placing it on the back of a chair at their table.

There it hung.

For 2 full days no one else sat at that table because they thought it was taken due to the Pea Coat hanging on the back of one of the chairs.

In a way it was great for us. We always had a table to sit at when we went to that deck.

We were the only ones brave enough to sit at the table with the Coat.

Because our balconys were right above this table we could observe our Pea Coat anytime we wanted too and laughed when the rest of the tables were full .. but that one was empty.

The last morning of the cruise we had to be up early .. 6 am to get ready to disembark.

I went out to sit on the balcony one last time and at first I didn't see the Pea Coat.

I thought, well finally someone threw it out.

After a few minutes of taking in the view I see two Ship officers inspecting the deck below us.

Thats when it happens. One of them yells something over to the other one in their native language ( I have no idea what it was but it wasn't English) and he is holding up the PEA COAT.

The other officer walks over and they both begin trying to read the notes that are attached to it while holding it up in the air like they might just catch something from it.

I begin to summon Mr. Drama from bed to get out here NOW. He is not happy that I am making him get up in such a hurry, especially after his last late night at the bar with Boris and Eric the previous evening but when I say HURRY UP as loud as one can say under your breath he comes out on the balcony.

When I point down he starts laughing and steps back so he can't be seen.

There are 2800 passengers on this ship and there is no way these officers can know we are responsible for this wayward Pea Coat but still I am feeling pangs of guilt as they are trying to figure out what it is and what happened to it.

Then with no ceremony at all .. they throw it away.

Poof .. just like that it's gone.

Had they no idea what source of entertainment that beat up Pea Coat could be ?

It was FABULOUS !

Tagged .. Who's next ?

I got tagged by Mamamormon.

The rules of the game go like so:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages long.)
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 friends to do the same!

Her sentence went like this:

"He was a good king, his mother be damned."

From the book :

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors by Michael Farquhar

Ok my sentence is ......

"The State had a coroner's office and the coroner had a medical examiner available to him."

From the book:
Girls of a Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith

Interesting Mama !

Ok I am tagging:
Marksmom
Jimbolions
MomiJ
Terkot
IrishAunt

Turning the tables

Why is it just when things are swimming along swimmingly in life BAM it happens .. your world gets turned upside down.

In my life this year someone keeps throwing dams up in front of me while forcing me to swim upstream so that statement does not apply to me right now. My Bam started last August and keeps on going.

... But a good friend of mine is experiencing that this week.
Her Mother went from a perfectly healthy 55 yr old woman one day to being on a ventilator the next.

This makes me take stock of the issues I have had to deal with this year and to put them in perspective. None of them have put me at a hospital bedside praying for a recovery.

My heart truly breaks for my friend.
I can relate to the anxiety of watching your parent lie helpless while you too feel helpless in your need to want to make them better.

When you see your parent gravely ill you realize that on the turn of a dime the tables have turned. You are now the protector, provider and the one that calls the shots in their care.
And just like your parents did for you .. you pray that you are making all the right choices.

My friend is dealing with those serious issues as I type. While I wish I could give her some awesome words of wisdom to make this all better I know that I can't.
I also know my friend will take control of the situation as much as she can and make all the right choices for her Mom.
She is a woman of wisdom beyond her years. She is the "yungin" I have turned too many times for guidance myself.
She is a giver ... a "doer" ... strong willed and compassionate. With those qualities her Mom couldn't be in better hands.

Even with that said .. I pray that the tables will turn back the other way soon so she can go back to swimming along swimmingly again.