In Just A Few Moments

It's amazing how fleeting life is. You hear it over and over in childhood but your days drag on then, blinding you to the fact that you're really spinning around right along with the rest of the world. There's beauty in it all but there are still some minutes,  brief pauses, that make you take pause, breath caught and your heart leaps, calling,  "stay!" Perhaps we appreciate it all the more because it doesn't stay long. It doesn't keep me from wishing that I had the luxury to decide if I could live in those moments though.

Rush

I don't talk much about work stuff.  I kind of feel like I should keep my two world's separate,  at least in the land of the Internet. With my lapses in writing of late I think some touching base is necessary by way of excuse if nothing else.

Right now is my end of year wrap up time.  Libraries in Kentucky run on a fiscal year of July 1 to June 31. Beyond end of year reporting it's also our busiest time of year with summer reading in June and July.

Right now I have a lot going on.  We're in the process of creating our long range plan for the next 3 to 5 years,  our annual audit begins in a few weeks,  the budget for our new year is being created so it can be approved before the beginning of our year in July,  I am doing employee reviews for the year, I'm wrapping up projects for the online class I'm taking and word just came down that grants for building projects may be approved through the state budget and our library will need to have all our ducks in a row by around may if we want to apply. 

So yeah I'm making excuses for my brain fog of late and lapses in writing.  Mostly I've wanted to sit and not think about anything but the bottom of my coffee cup in the morning.  Just a few months more though then hopefully things won't all be falling at one time work wise and I can get back to a little balance between work and home.

Sorry for the list of stressors, I'm thinking if I list them all I can put everything in perspective and start feeling like I can tick them off the list as I get them finished.  Light at the end of the tunnel you know lol!

All that said Easter is this weekend.  My Saturday to work fell this time so I need to plan for what I'm going to take to our three different stops on the relative dinner and lunch train a little early. Two on Sunday are in the afternoon so no doubt pie is in order.  I can make those day of.  Saturday though,  I'm not sure of.  Possibly cake? Everyone seemed to enjoy the lemon blueberry at Tori's birthday party. I could of course break tradition and go the savory route. Silly as it seems though,  sweet making is my form of stress relief....Thus all the weight I've gained over the past few months!

Perhaps I need to learn to love making salads? I do like salad. Hmmm, probably won't happen.  Either way dessert decisions will need to wait.  School and work are calling!

Blown Egg Blow Out

Step one, choose your eggs and wash them very well. (You will no doubt have to put up with comments from the sideline from your husband asking if you washed them "very"well)

Step two, using a sharp metallic pointed tool (my tool of choice was a corn holder for corn on the cob) find the center point at the top and bottom of your egg and tap until you manage to make small hole through the shell.  Continue tapping and enlarging the hole, it doesn't have to be huge but does need to be large enough to allow the egg to flow through. You may have to practice a bit to get this right. Repeat process on both ends of the egg.

Now that you have your holes it's time to blow.  I have seen sites that say that you can use one of the little bulbs syringes, that you use to suck out baby's noses, to do this but I haven't tried it.  Honestly I don't know how you'd get enough pressure behind it, because you can't get a good seal, to get the egg through.  Prepare to look silly, pucker up and blow.  I did one to show the girls then they "had"to try for themselves. Tori did a pretty good job. 

Gabby started out pretty good.  She got quite a bit out but the pressure she placed on the egg with her hands wasn't quite right................

Needless to say Gabby ended up with a smashed egg.

On her hands and on her face.....

Tori thought this was great of course.  She was pretty much in tears of laughter.  Gabs wasn't laughing as much at the whole incident.

Once the eggs (I ended up doing one for Gabs) are blown out you can actually run a piece of spaghetti through the holes to allow you to paint them easier.  The spaghetti will allow you to float the egg above the bowl so you can turn it and not let your paint get smushed up. (Before you "string" them up on spaghetti you should run them under a stream of HOT faucet water.  Let it rinse out the inside of the egg and then blow out any water that's left inside.)

We used acrylic paint, which is water based.  In case you're wondering, yes the paint will come off the bowls.  The girls enjoyed painting but we got a late start yesterday.

We didn't get to finish.  The girls have a base coat started.  Hopefully today after homework/supper we'll be able to finish them up.  I went with a chicken theme, not sure what the girls are going for with theirs just yet.  Once they are painted and dried (note the holes may weep a bit of water for awhile but will dry up) you can spray these with a coat of clear acrylic spray.  I'll post the pics of the final outcome when we get to finish them up. 

Sunday Morning Church

Sunday Morning Church. Not sacrilegious I think to say that.  I think God gave us the most amazing cathedral to ever worship under. No brick or mortar needed, Heaven touches down at the edge of us to kiss us good morning and say, "Look at all you have to be thankful for. " Amen I say unto you all.

Boycotting Productivity

So I did sleep.  Granted I woke up at 12:30, not 4:30, and ended up reading for almost 2 hours instead of writing but I slept till almost 9.

Today I am dedicated to boycotting productivity. I have plenty to do but I'm not doing any of it. So far I've held the couch down with Dennis, pinned lots of things and read random stuff on Facebook.  I think I'm succeeding in my non productive goals.

To play a little catch up I can report that Tori seems to be doing better shoulder wise. The trip to the pediatric orthopedic Dr came out with a ruling of something muscular.  She's still in physical therapy but is trying a new pain killer and it's helping. 

After she got to feeling better we followed it up with a cold for me and a lot of work stress all around.  Right now I've got my fingers crossed we've came through the other side and moving into a little less stressful spring.  I'm telling myself that being a slacker today is making up for the recent stressors.

I'm looking forward to Easter. I'm actually hoping to decorate eggs with the girls.  That's my goal of productivenesss for Sunday afternoon I think.  I don't want to dye them I want to make blown eggs.  I've done them before and actually still have an egg I made back in high school.  As many eggs as we have though I've not had time,  or made time to decorate any.

No dyeing needed on ours lol. I'm going to use some of the speckled brown and green ones I think, then follow up with some acrylic paint.  I will post the outcome tomorrow evening provided we get them done.

I suppose I do need to move off the couch.  We're heading to a birthday party for our nephew Jace in a bit.  Anywho, happy Saturday.  Here's hoping you all get to do a little "nothing" at least part of the day!

Time Change and Stubbed Toes

For the second day in a row I've woken up on my own at 4:30 a.m. Before the time change my insomniac wake up call came at 3:30 a.m.  so I suppose my internal alarm clock is working fine,  just not adjusted to the new time schedule.

Today I awoke,  realized that the heat had been turned off and that the temperature was dropping.  So up I am.  Turning on the heat, recovering blankets for Tori "the tornado sleeper", who fluctuates between sleeping with her legs crossed, hanging off the edge of the bed, kicking off blankets,  to somehow (magically) managing to have not only her blankets,  all three, but to reach across the small gap between her bed, that's cateycorner to Gabs bed, and steal Gabs blankets as well. 

Tangent: (That was an interesting wake up call.  Poor Gabs came into my room last week to tell me that she was cold because Tori had used her feet to steal her blankets and wouldn't give them back. Tori in turn truly didn't want to relinquish any of the  five blankets she'd gathered.  She's an argumentative sleeper as well.  I finally wrestled Gabs blankets away from her, only after making her pretty mad, getting both awake, both needing drinks and Tori waking up enough to start laughing and wondering how she stole blankets with her feet off Gabs bed.)

Today though all blankets were in the floor and she slept on through the dropping temperature.  Crazy how different kids can be.  Asleep as well as awake.

Gabs won't move all night usually and unless Tori steals them her blankets remain cocooned around her like a head to toe burrito as she clutches three stuffed animals, a pig, a puppy and a bird (each in specific order and under her chin). I'll note that the pig is actually a fleecey zipper pouch and zipped inside you will find a stuffed ear of corn, named aptly "Corney" and a tiny, 2 inch tall baby pig.

Anyhow, somehow I managed to stub my toe on the makeup case that Tori stored at the end of Gabs bed. So alas here I sit, throbbing toe, 5 a.m. with a purple band aid because it happened to be the toe that got the blister on it from playing kick ball with the girls the other night.  I was waiting for the pain to subdue a bit so I can try to sleep for the last forty five minutes before the alarm clock goes off. So I decided to sit down and peck out my gripes in the dark. I think I've worked through the anguish lol. I'm going back to sleep for a minute and will hopefully finish up this in the morning/in less than an hour...Mom brain and sleep habits 😂

6:45 a.m.

Of course I overslept, despite the alarm clock.  Saturday....Saturday I will write....and sleep, Saturday I will sleep!

Overdue Writing

I haven't written in a bit.  Frankly I've been tired and every time I start to write it feels like I'm feeling sorry for myself for the stuff that has me feeling tired.  Stuff that is affecting others, another especially, more than me.

We've had a lot going on with work.  Projects, plans, meetings and the lot.  But home has been more than a little frazzled.

About six weeks ago Tori woke up saying that her shoulder hurt.  We though at first she'd slept funny but when it didn't go away in several days, through the weekend, we called the first of the next week to get a Dr.'s appointment.  The Dr. is great, she takes Tori and the pain seriously. Because nothing had brought it on, no fall or anything, she felt that an orthopedic person should do the x-rays and consult.

Unfortunately the Dr. she suggested and trusted wasn't in our insurance network so we had to find someone else who in all truth we ended up none too happy with. Because Tori is the type to not complain in public I can only think that he took her as a kid trying to get out of school or something.  He ran no tests and after literally a three minute consult he prescribed physical therapy.

Fast forward three weeks later and Tori is still hurting.  Outside the house she won't say much but at home the first words out of her mouth when she gets up and the lasts words at night are, "my shoulder hurts."  In between that time she takes back to back doses of tylenol and ibuprofen with no real relief.  We ice it, we heat it, we stretch it, we practice the exercises the physical therapist gives but nothing seems to help.  She's pretty much miserable and asks more often than not, "why can't you fix it." I feel like a pretty crappy mom.

Her pediatrician had x-rays ran and nothing showed up.  We tried more physical therapy but even the Physical therapist didn't think that was working either.  Most recently her Dr. sent her for an MRI.  Being in the machine didn't seem to bother her but having the contraption they have to put on your shoulder on for about half an hour left her aching and in tears for several hours afterward.

Today we found out that the MRI showed nothing.  Nada.  It's beyond frustrating.  We don't want anything to be there but we know something has to be going on because she's simply not feeling any better.  The not knowing can drive you crazy.  At least if we knew what was going on we might be able to find ways to help it.

At the end of this week she's going to a pediatric orthopedic Dr.  Hopefully she'll be able to give us some idea of what's going on.

I have a tendency to not ask for help.  For me at least.  At this point though I am not above asking for prayers and get well vibes.  Prayers that she'll feel better and prayers that we'll figure out what's going on.  The past weeks have been pretty stressful and it's effecting all of us so prayers for a little peace of mind would be nice too.

Anyhow, hopefully we'll have some news soon.  I'll make sure to update if we do.