Nonsense From Wonderland

Yesterday I got so unbelievably sick.  It was the kind that just totally knocked me down.  Started about 2am, w/me going between freezing and sweating, and shaking.  I finally took my temp at 5:45am, and it was 102.4.  I called in sick to work at 7.  My chest was really hurting, whether I was coughing or rolling over.  Compressing it at all just made it scream.  My entire body was hurting, and I could not get comfy.  I threw up a couple times, and had horrible dry heaves another time.  Went to see my doctor at 1:30.  He didn’t hear any pneumonia, my lymph nodes weren’t swollen, tonsils looked fine.  The thing that had scared me was the the phlegm I coughed up was blood tinged.  He said it was probably just from irritation, as I wasn’t coughing up just blood.  So, I got a Z-pack, to help stop any infection.  My sis had said that when my dad and she took those, it messed up their stomachs.  I tolerate meds well, so thought I’d be fine, but no luck.  My stomach was a wreck, but thankfully it didn’t last long.  I have 4 more days of pills, and am hoping that it doesn’t do this every day, since I had to take 2 pills for the first dose.  My friend suggested eating yogurt along w/it, so I am going to do that.  All day I just felt horrible.  I took a bath, but then started freezing and shivering, and had a stomach attack thanks to the meds.  I could not get my fever to break.  It pretty much held at 101 all day.  I took more Tylenol around 7:30, and finally started to be able to just lay there w/out tossing and turning, or freezing and sweating.  I managed to make it through the night w/no troubles, just a bit of restlessness, having to look at the clock.  My fever broke, so that is a relief.  This morning I have been coughing, which is killing my chest.  I haven’t yet taken my pill, because I wanted to wait until Breck’s soccer game was over.  I’m going to go, and hopefully I am not pushing myself.  I still feel kind of weak.

Mom and sis got here Wednesday, and I am so glad they were here.  There’s nothing better than being taken care of by mom, whether you’re 4 or 34!  I’m not sure if they are leaving tomorrow or Monday.  Hopefully they will stay through Monday, since I didn’t get much time to hang out with them.  Work is still going well.  I had to go fill out paperwork at HR on Thursday, and have some more to go over this weekend and take back next week.

We had a short visit w/BIL’s family.  We got to meet our niece for the first time, and she is just a doll.  She let me hold her and was quite cuddly.  I wanted to take her home : ).  They’ll be back through on Monday, so hopefully we’ll see them again.  We just need to plan a trip to Oklahoma again, because the last time we went was so much fun!

Sometimes I hate thinking up a title for a post, especially when I am just rambling on.  I’m starting to feel somewhat better, but not completely over this yet.  It started in my head, moved to my chest, and back to my head.  Yesterday and today my sinuses were kiling me, giving me such a bad headache.  Took some meds and it seemed to help.  I’m still coughing too.  Brecken started having some coughing and sniffles mid-week, but it’s not really sticking around, which is good.  He had a soccer game this morning, and scored another goal : ).  We were so proud, of course!  Jason had gone into work early this morning, so Dana and he came to the game, then we picked up McDonald’s and had lunch w/them back at work.  Jason got home around 3.  We had a late afternoon of grocery shopping, which made for a late dinner.

Peyton had his first flag football game the other night.  I only got to see the last 6 min., because I have to work until 4, so I didn’t get to see him play much.  He’s just not an aggressive kid, but I am glad to see him out there trying.  We told him this is the one time he can shove people w/out worrying about getting in trouble : ).  We stuck around for the 6th grade game, as Jason was holding the down marker.  It got so cold, and I was in a skirt, so it was a bit miserable.  Both 5th and 6th won!

My mom and sis will be here this week!  I’m excited to see them and have some good mother/daughter/sister time : ).  Indy will enjoy having some company too, since he seems to get lonely w/me now being at work all day, when he was used to having me home all day.  My BIL, SIL, niece and nephew are here for a night this week, on their way through to SIL’s parents’, so we’re going out to dinner w/them.  We have never met our niece, so really looking forward to that!  She is such a doll, and our nephew is a cutie pie too!

I have to brag on my sister’s talent for a minute.  She just finished up this toybox for our baby cousin Tobiah.  It was his mommy Lauren’s toybox when she was little.  I think it’s absolutely phenomenal!  My aunt just took it to him today, so I can’t wait to hear what Lauren thinks.  Tobiah’s room has a jungle theme.  Check it out here:  Tobiah’s Toybox.  I am off to bed, maybe for some reading.  I am sad that my reading time has been cut way back lately.  My eyes just don’t cooperate at night.  They would rather slam shut as soon as I hit the bed!

The boys are home!  Everything is back to normal, and by normal I mean lots of noise, running circles around the house, Breck’s tantrums, and Peyton’s pre-teen attitude!  I wouldn’t have it any other way though.  We spent yesterday enjoying the fact that the rain had finally stopped.  It rained from Thurs. night thru Sat. late afternoon, and I was kind of sick of it.  I enjoy rain, really I do, but not for that long and with temps so chilly.  Jason put Peyton’s new bike back together, we got Breck’s out of the shed, and walked down to their school while they rode.  Jason fixed dinner–coney dogs w/sauce he made.  They weren’t bad, and I ate one, even though I am not a fan of hot dogs.  I ate way too many cheesy dogs when I was little. 

I baked a cake for J’s work today.  Since this is his birthday month, as well as Nelson’s, Birge’s and Pita’s, I like to take a cake out for all of them.  Didn’t do anything fancy–just devil’s food w/buttercream frosting and crushed Oreos on top.  We didn’t stay very long visiting, because I was not feeling well.  I’d been light headed all morning, and my stomach was hurting.  I’m feeling much better now, and am kind of hungry since I skipped lunch.  I’m making tacos for dinner.  I wanted something easy since Breck has his first soccer practice tonight.  Luckily it’s down at their school’s field, so we don’t have to go far, and will walk down w/him.  His coach is his best buddy’s dad (who happens to be our family doctor), and 2 of his best buddies are on the team, so I think he’s going to have a blast.  After the sprinkler guy came this afternoon, I finished reading The Dirt–Motley Crue’s story.  It was an excellent read!  The decadence of their lives still amazes me, as well as the fact that they are still alive and rocking.  Now that I finished that book I will get Masquerade finished so I can start Eclipse.

Tomorrow is our last day of bowling.  The boys are going to go bowl too I think.  They have some free game/movie rental coupons at the library, so we’ll make a trip there in the afternoon.  I think I am not ready for school to start.  It just sucks when it signals the end of summer and the nice weather.  Peyton is not ready to go back, other than to see his friends, but Brecken says he is ready.  Trying to get us slowly back into the nighttime routine, but it’s hard.  I have been sleeping in so much, the mornings are going to be TOUGH for me, and they weren’t easy before when I wasn’t sleeping in.  I feel like such a slug lately, so hoping vitamins and exercise will fix that.

My altero ego & I

I promised an update, so here is your fair warning that it will be L-O-N-G! Summer started out w/a bang. School ended June 6th, and we started our Disneyland vacation on June 8. Rather than take the usual route, we did some driving on backroads and through mountains in Colorado, stopping at Coney Island Hot Dog Stand in Bailey. The experience was neat, but the food wasn’t anything special. We stayed that night in Grand Junction, CO, and headed on to Vegas the next day. We arrived in Anaheim on the 10th. The boys were so giddy when they caught their first glance of the park, I thought they would literally explode into confetti all over the car! LOL! We ventured down to Huntington Beach since we couldn’t check into our room early. Watching the boys step onto a beach and into the ocean for the first time is something I’ll never forget. They really enjoyed themselves there, and I’m sad that I didn’t plan for more time there. I was just so worried about making sure we did all we could at Disney. Next time I’ll know better. I told Jason I could retire to a condo on the beach! I would love to wake up to that view every morning. We spent the 11th-14th at Disney, and we played hard. I was pretty insistent on going until the park closed. We pretty much did everything, other than the submarines (INSANE lines) and Space Mountain. Thankfully, the weather was fairly mild. I think the hottest day was only 80s. Our last night there we met my cousins Shirley and Bill at Goofy’s Kitchen in the Disney Hotel. They were hoping to meet up w/us at the park, but were so busy (they are the ones who run Smash Photography), Shirley made dinner reservations. It was an awesome buffet, and such a fun thing for the boys. We met Minnie, Alice, Mulan, Goofy, Chip & Dale and Pluto. I really think that was one of the highlights of the trip for the boys : ). On the 15th we headed back to Vegas. I had made reservations at Rainforest Cafe in the MGM, since it was Father’s Day. We got stuck in traffic, on the highway, in the middle of the desert, while it was 115 degrees. Turns out there was a truck wrecked way up the road, and the person driving was killed. We made it to Vegas an hour and 45 min. later than we should have, but just in time for dinner. The morning of the 16th we began our trip home, with an early visit to Krispy Kreme. We stayed at Excalibur both on our way through and back, so indulged in KK both times. The 2nd time the boys actually got to watch them being made. We took a different route home than we did going, so came back through different parts of Utah, and across the dreaded stretch of I-80 in southern Wyoming. I believe we arrived home around 1am. Because I can be a bit obsessive, I could not leave the stuff packed in the car, as was the plan. I unloaded everything and put some stuff away, so by the time I went to bed it was 3. We had to be at the bowling alley at 9 for makeup bowling, on top of that day’s regular bowling!  Jason and I did the new Tuesday morning league, which was only 12 weeks long.  Next week will be our last week.  We were in 1st for the first few weeks, but I have really sucked lately, so we are now in 6th.

Miller fam in the Bighorns

With Disney over and done way too fast, we had 10 days to get ready before camping in the Big Horns w/the family. This is something that my dad’s side of the family has done for well over 20 years. It usually happens around July 4th, but this year they got the campsite the week before. I went quite a bit when I was little, but I think by the time I was 13 I was done. Camping was not my thing, I was a girl who didn’t like to get dirty, and the last time I had gone it was miserably wet and cold. I would not go camping again until I was 25, and would have a new husband and baby in tow! Before this year, I had not gone since 2003. It’s hard when it’s around the 4th, because we do enjoy watching and doing fireworks. This year we spent 2 nights, and the weather was perfect up there. The first night was a bit chilly, but at least I slept. The 2nd night I was too warm, so didn’t sleep, and woke up to our entire tent and everything in it being so damp. Paige, Jason and I took a 5 mi. hike that was just gorgeous. My boys really enjoyed the time w/their cousin Mason, and were always off in the field wandering around. Breck and Jason were on a little walk in the field, and Breck found an almost perfect arrowhead! I don’t know that he quite understood just how cool it was, but the rest of us were very excited!

Peyton turns 10!

Peyton turned 10 in July.  I know I say it every year, but I just cannot believe that he is getting so grown up.  Despite the occasional flares of pre-teen attitude, he is such a good, sweet kid.  For his birthday he had two of his good buddies over to spend the night.  These boys are also really good kids, and I’m glad Peyton gravitates towards those kind of friends.  They had a blast, and were scheming the next day to try and extend their time together!  Ammie and Paige were here for the birthday celebration.  Paige made an Indiana Jones cake, since that’s been the theme of Peyton’s life this year!  He has all ready decided that he is being Indy for Halloween.  Both boys got Indy fedoras at Disney, and Peyton’s been wearing my old bomber jacket from high school!

The boys went back to Buffalo with Am and P on July 12.  We will meet mom and dad in Casper this Saturday to pick them up.  I know they have had so much fun, and would live there if they could.  I have a small vent about the looks people give me when I tell them my kids are gone for 5 weeks.  From the time I was 2 until my grandma passed away when I was 10, I spent every summer staying w/my Papa and her.  I would not trade that time or those memories for anything in the world.  I wanted my boys to be able to do the same.  They get to do so many fun things when they are up there, and even though I do miss them terribly, and the silence in my house gets overbearing at times, I know they are in good hands and having the time of their lives.  So, to all those who give me the “bad parent” or “how could you leave your kids for that long” looks….well, I don’t think I need to tell you where you can go!

So, that being off my chest, we’ll move on to the coming school year.  There is a very good chance I will be working full time at the boys’ school this year.  I put in for 2 full time para (aide) positions.  Hopefully I know something very soon, as school starts in 2 weeks!  The positions were only posted yesterday, although I’ve known about them for a while.  I have all the school supplies bought, along w/new lunchboxes.  The boys still need to pick out new backpacks.  I will continue to watch the neighbors’ daughter before and after school.  Brecken will be starting soccer next weekend.  This is the first time we are “soccer parents”, so it should be pretty fun.  Jason’s never been much on soccer, but Breck’s friends really got him into it, so we figured why not let him have a shot at it.  I am so thrilled that his best friend’s dad is the coach, and he’s on the team w/2 of his best buds.  The bowling alley is having a youth league that we thought Peyton might be interested in, but I haven’t talked to him about it yet.  The only problem w/that is that it coincides w/a lot of Breck’s games, so we would have to split up and swap taking each kid to his activity!  I am also kind of hoping Peyton might want to play flag football at school.  Fifth grade is when they can start doing sports. 

Jason’s birthday is at the end of the month.  I don’t know if we have anything big planned.  The Thunder in the Rockies rally is in Loveland, CO, that weekend, and I know he wants to go look for a new jacket.  We went down for a few hours last year, and it really wasn’t all that great, but they did have a lot of vendors.   

Okay, I suppose that pretty much gets everyone up to speed on our lives the last few months.  I am off to do some closet cleaning in the boys’ rooms.  It’s one of the many things on my to-do while the boys were gone list, that I am just now getting to.  I was so unmotivated and lazy while they were gone!