Random musing

Why is it if you are slightly undressed, the eyes of people you pass will automatically be drawn to that part which is perhaps not dressed appropriately?

haaa - it's not at all as exciting as you think!

I had my SHOES off, walked down the hall, and no less than 3 people looked straight at my feet. Including the Fed Ex dude. Now, people don't typically look straight at my feet when I pass them. At least, I don't think they do. But take my shoes off and they're all agog. Maybe it's like the open zipper phenomena, where everyone is aware of it except the person in question...

At least my socks didn't have holes ... phew.

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

We are SOOO tired of wet weather. I am not alone in this. I think we all realize we are the biggest wimps in the world for complaining about a little rain (!), but geez - we do not live in the Pacific Northwest, nor the Rainforest, for that matter. Most of us picked this area and put up with the occasional earthquake for a reason!

Looking for the silver lining, I guess, I'm happy we didn't take a trip to Hawaii.

It's a tarnished silver lining.... this miserableness (is that a real word?) continues. (But isn't that l'il Ken just the quintessential weatherman???)

But DDD was here this week for spring break, and that was nice, even though she didn't get any of the sunshine I promised her.

I have a WHAT?

BK has been having some problems for a few months now after one particular hockey game where he either got tripped and fell (that DID happen, but it's not clearly the cause of this injury), or pulled/strained a muscle, or perhaps injured it getting thrown into the boards. Let me tell you, hockey is not a sport for wimps.

Anyway, we've been treating it like a sports injury, ice, ice, more ice, Advil, daily Advil, more ice, compression shorts etc. Doctor at annual exam said - good job, it's nothing torn or broken and not a chronic thing. He says it isn't getting worse, keep on keepin' on. 6 weeks later, he still can't get through an entire game without this leg giving out on him, he's skipped one tournament and a couple of practices, so on to the sports medicine doc we go.

So many big words! As my background is nursing, I do not cower from such things. In fact, I enjoy trying to remember them. But these ortho terms had my poor little brain pretty filled up. All I have now to remember is the physical therapy prescription, which unfortunately, doesn't measure up at all to the conversation.

Lumbar transitional vertebra by x-ray and grade 1 sport exam shows segmental instability and hemipelvis fixation. Needs core stability, glute recruitment, hip flexor training and strengthening.

Damn. Way too simple and clear. I wanted to share the ischial processes and the co-yadayada sacral mwah mwah doohickey angle that's more of an angle than it's supposed to be. It's pretty cool that he has this transitional verterbra which is part of his sacrum, but it wants to be a lumbar vertebra, so it tries, but then it's an extra and the rest of the lumbars don't really want its help at all. It doesn't really get in the way, but it can make things happen oddly. There were a very lot of really big words in that explanation. Reveling in my element, I vowed to relay each one when I got home.

But I have a 52 year old memory, and that means that I can more easily tell you what I ate at my grandma's house when I was three than what that physician really said. Or maybe it's because I've been translating physician-speak for so many years that, like another language, it goes in one ear and comes out the mouth in plain old English, and that's what the memory retains.

So bottom line is, some of his muscles in the down there region don't work the way they're supposed to. Some muscles rely on others to do the work while they sit around and knit. They need to be taught to work right and then he will have a wonderful hockey career.

So glad we invested in orthodontia.

LK warms up...eventually

I know you're all bursting at the seams wondering how the first visit with LK's biological father in two years went.

It was fine.

First impressions: This was the first time I'd seen him in non-grunge clothes. He wore khakis, a casual type of dress shirt (no tie, or I'd have seriously wondered what was going on) and black shoes that, while they weren't dress shoes, they were not brand new pimpy sneakers either. I used to marvel at how often he'd replace his sneakers. Having to buy shoes for 2 full & almost full size boys at the time, I knew what that costs. His shirt was not tucked in. That would have been along the lines of the tie, I think.

LK hung back, as predicted. She hadn't wanted to go, but rewards are wonderful things when you're 4. Once we got to the house, she grabbed my hand and would. not. let. go. Bio dad he did try to take her hand once and she high-tailed it back to us, so he smartly took the hint. We got a tour of the common rooms and then the backyard. They have a couple of chickens back there and a place to smoke (we stayed away from it).

She eventually warmed up and decided he could be trusted and we were not going anywhere without her, so they did some exploring of the weeds and bark back there for a while before going back in to play ping pong. She ran him around really well while we watched and cheered them on. They played with some Lincoln Logs and marbles before we called it a day. By then she conceded to have their picture taken with a smile on her face as well as his. All in all, a successful visit.

His first impression: that she looks a lot like her big sister. I brought pictures of the three of them at recent birthday parties and that was hard for him. But he says he's very grateful he can still see her, and that he's probably not ready to even attempt to see her siblings yet. He also says that he realizes now that he wasn't ready to give up his lifestyle back during all our court experiences, and that the kids were taken away for a reason. I hope he gets his life on track, and it stays there. It's a hard world out there for someone with his record.

Did we discuss the relationship here? Not really - she didn't ask anything. I signed in as "family", although that felt odd. Several of his housemates (this place houses up to 40 guys at a time) asked if she was his daughter, to which he answered "yes". That's probably the best way to handle it anyway for a 4 year old. There will be a time when she wonders how she can be our daughter AND his daughter, but she's not there yet.

And then we went to the Jungle.

Promises must be kept. 

Fáilte ar ais (Welcome Back)

I have a friend at work who has a goblin daily calendar. She also has an appropriately aged son. She shared this with us today.

"As with any holiday, the goblins celebrate this day and call it: SLITHERINGTIDE.

"Every year since the fifth century, on this day daring goblins try to smuggle snakes back into Ireland by secreting them on their persons in the most absurd places imagineable. Though never able to get the poor reptiles past customs, they never cease to enjoy trying."

I'd say Happy Slitheringtide to y'all, but I'm about as Irish as they come, without knowing anything at all about the country. So, Éireann go Brách (yes, I looked that up), and a very happy St. Patty's Day to ye.

incomplete thoughts

Fletcher sent me an email today with the subject line:

"in first and dropped into his seat against the"

... the WHAT????

I got another one from Isaac that says:

"cramp however, I do take into consideration that"

...that WHAT????

At least Marianna was considerate:

"or doubtful arsine"

Her subject makes no sense at all. At least I'm not hanging there trying to figure it out.

Alas, my fear of viruses and my lack of need to enlarge my penis prevents me from opening these wonders of modern email so I will never know the answers to my questions.

I know how to use my "report as spam" button as good as anyone else. Not like it does any good, but I use it.

eulogy for a cell phone

got this email from the DDD...

(gospel music plays in the background as the weeping woman comes to the podium,
hankerchief in hand. Soft spoken, she cries-)
Oh Cell phone.
You were a good cell phone. ne'er a strange noise or dropped call or false
signal. ne'er an inappropriate ring or buzz was heard from you. And yet, we
knew you would leave us- who knew it would be so soon. Our thoughts and
prayers are with you in that high tech heaven in the sky. Keep ringing that
happy tune "collide... do do do doo do... do do do doo do... finally find you
and I collide..." yes my friend. yes. we do collide, forever, in my mind.
cell phone de [DDD]
4/11/05- 3/10/06 RIP

Round 2

Weeellll - bio dad is back in the picture. Took a phone call the other day. He didn't give his name. Just said, "Hi B?" and then "How are you?" That was enough for me to recognize his voice, but it would have been nice if he'd announced himself. Note to self: Give name always. Last weekend, BIL mistook me for l'il sis (that's happened now with both sisters - think maybe we all sound alike???). I need to use my name, too.

Back to bio dad. He's out of jail, and in a rehab program again. I think this is part of his treatment - to contact people in his past. The last contact for me was nearly a year ago when he called from jail and asked for pictures. I obliged, making sure one or two pictures had his older two kids in them. I know the kids' family will not agree to visit with him, so pictures are the best I can do to bridge that issue. After some chit chat, where he asked among other things, if she was talking yet (she's FOUR - of course she's talking!), he mentioned that he could have visitors on Sundays from 1-3. So we're going to see him the weekend after next.

How to prepare LK for this??? What do we call him??? What's with the excessive punctuation? She wasn't even two the last time she saw him. I know she won't recognize him at all. So I've scoured the house for pictures of him to show her what he looks like before she sees him again. She knows a little boy with his same name, so we've taken to calling bio dad "Big A" and the little dude "Little A". But we're all grappling with whether we explain that he is her father or not - probably even Big A. This is a little tough - she doesn't quite get it that C & N are her brother and sister. She just knows there is something different and special about their relationship. They're not just friends. But it might feel a bit like being cousins. Hard to tell, since she can't really verbalize it yet. On the other hand, C & N both know she's their sister and sometimes talk about her as their sister. It's not any big dark secret, but I know she still doesn't really get it. So, if it comes up, I suppose we'll talk about the father thing, and she'll just find out she has two fathers. She's certainly not the only kid with more than one father... but it will be awkward. DH suggested we call him "Uncle A", but I'm not crazy about that. Feels too much like lying, or trying to hide it. So I think we'll just use his name and see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm looking for more pictures of him. Mostly they've included C & N, so that might help her understand that relationship as well. Who knows??? This adoption trip is just that. A real trip.

Good bye Doc docs

As kids grow, their vocabulary changes and cute little toddlerisms give way to adult language. I do realize I wouldn't want to hear a 40 year old woman saying she would like a doc doc, but it's always a little sad when little people grow out of those cute little words they hear.

LK: I would like a doc doc please.

me: OK. You and I will both get doc docs.

LK: Mommmmm, I SAID I would like a HHHHHot Doggg.

me: Ohhh, this makes me sad - I'm going to miss the doc docs.

LK: Mommmmm, you MEAN, HHHHot Doggggsss.

me: No, I'm going to miss you saying doc doc!

LK: You mean HHHHot Doggg.

me: Yep - that's just what I mean.


The only hope for the future is that now we get into mixed up sayings (oh yeah, that's me), goofed up song lyrics and the rest of that fun stuff. I was recently reminded of M at a similar age singing "He flies through the air with the greatest dummies. Sharing your man on the flying trapeze." Very comforting that the humor does not end.

But I really am going to miss the doc docs.

Hey - did you know the Olympics are over?

Yeah - well, me neither.
Maybe this every 2 year thing isn't such a good idea. I think we watched a hockey game or two, maybe some snowboarding and a bobsled.
The only thing I remember liking was the speed skating relay - how the hell do they do that crossing right in front of the guy thing and not knock anyone over? Bizzare, really.
But that's it. I think we won some gold medals, and some other guys did too.
Happy Olympics. See you again in 2010. or maybe 2008. or something.

never one to be accused

of being original, here is a slightly groovy thing where you guys get to choose some adjectives about l'il ol me, and we all get to see how we see me. It's a little restrictive, because I would have liked to have chosen a whole lot more nice things to say about me, but had to limit it to 6. So, they're a little off the wall, but it was amusing, so have a go!