Friday, July 15, 2011

OUR FAVORITE WORD

This week has been UNEVENTFUL, and in the SMA world, that's as good as it gets. Colby has had a great week. No major choking issues, no equipment problems, no calling places and getting put on hold or disconnected. Heck, we even got his supplies delivered on time and his backup bi-PAP is being shipped as we speak. Plus we now have his ECO communication device, loaded with eye gaze technology. This allows Colby to look at a screen of responses, choices, etc. and make a choice simply by focusing on it with his eyes. No special switches, no scanning, just his darting little eyeballs. He's in Colby heaven at the moment, over there on the couch sucking on a potato chip and watching a brand new Spongebob episode. He's probably thinking it doesn't get much better than this!

I've stayed busy this week with a couple of things, although one of them is not typing a lot of reports. Dangit why is it so slow right now? This is my weekend to work so maybe there will be more to type over the weekend. Worked at the hospital Wednesday. I was totally frustrated by the end of the day because I somehow managed to mess up one of the machines we use. Didn't break it per se, but it was unusable until Amy came in and fixed it the next day. I used to do that stupid crap every time I worked. I would practically be in tears from messing up the machines. Then over the last year or so things got much better, but not this week. I worked on that damn thing for 20-25 minutes. I'm sure Amy had it fixed in 2 minutes. I call that machine the "Beast" and obviously with good reason!

Also been working on wrapping up the Avon fundraiser. But guess what? WE'RE STILL TAKING ORDERS UNTIL SUNDAY, JULY 17. You know you need to stock up on the Skin So Soft, right? I'm very pleased with the sales we've had so far. I appreciate everyone's support and contribution to the cause. Now if we can just find a house and apply all these funds to some handicap renovations, that would make me oh-so very happy.

Plans for Colby's birthday party are in full swing. Always a huge celebration for our families and friends. Can't believe that kid of mine is going to be 9 years old in a week. Where does the time go? Then I'll blink my eyes and the school year will be starting and Mr. Big Time will be in 4th grade. Doesn't seem possible, but time stands still for no one I suppose.

I have family and friends who are going through rough times right now. Worried about jobs, worried about family, worried about kids, worried about illnesses, various other worries. I hate to see the people I love suffer in any way. I really hate it that for the most part, I'm not able to help too much. Let's face it, my time and energy is pretty much spent handling what's going on around here. But I'm ALWAYS available with an open ear and an open heart if they need to scream, cuss, cry, vent, etc. I hope they know that.

Well, Spongebob is over and Colby's potato chip is soggy, so that's my cue to switch gears and stop blogging. See you around like a donut. Bye for now.

Monday, July 11, 2011

MOSTLY BACK TO NORMAL...WAIT, WHAT'S NORMAL?

Hold up! I can't believe it's July 10th already. Crap, where did July 1 - 9 go? And as far as that goes, where did June go? I need to get my butt in gear and start planning a birthday party for my mostest specialest Colby kid around. He'll be 9 years old on July 22. Seriously, can you believe that?! The water works have already started for me. Tears of joy and amazement of course.

This past week had some interesting moments. Tuesday for sure. Colby's nurse called in sick. She couldn't come watch Colby because she had a migraine. Okay, I get that, I've had migraines before and they're awful. Then his bath aide was a no show later that day. She called 2 hours later and apologized. She said she took a nap and just slept right through Colby's appt. I had to chuckle. I told her I appreciated her honesty instead of making up some BS story about an emergency, car trouble, etc. She comes over twice a week and she did make the 2nd time. We tried to cut Colby's hair (see pic). We really don't have a clue what we're doing, but it usually looks okay. Heck, if we screw up it'll grow out in a couple weeks. No big deal, he's cute no matter what.

Transcribing has been extremely slow lately, which is not good. No typey, no money as I always say. Hopefully it'll pick back up soon. Mama has dr. bills to pay dangit! I worked 2 extra days at the hosp this week since my "boss" was on vacation. So that'll help the wallet some.

Saturday was a busy day. My brother and his family were here for a visit and to attend the fundraiser. Came here first for lunch so of course I was up until 12:30 a.m. cleaning the night before. There's no room in this apartment to store anything. I end up using the van as a closet haha. Hey, whatever works. Then we had our Avon fundraiser at Pam's house. Note to self: summer is a very difficult time to have a fundraiser. Many people had plans or were on vacation so we didn't have much of a turnout. But the Avon orders are rolling in and I'm thrilled with the response so far. I think we're going to try to have a yard sale in October and that will be the last fundraiser of the year. Then it'll be time to win the lottery because fundraising, even though I have wonderful friends to help, is hard work to organize. Oh, by the way, we're still taking orders until July 17. Avon has some pretty darn cool stuff. You should check out a brochure, don't you think, wink wink.

I officially am not getting the house I made an offer on a couple weeks ago. There was way too much damage to the foundation and the sellers were not willing to fix it. So I opted to get out, which totally broke my heart. Before you tell me it was for the best, or it just wasn't meant to be, or I'll find another house I like better, please don't. I've already heard it like 20 times and it hasn't helped. I know I'll move on eventually, but for right now I just want to be sad and mad I didn't get this house. Right now, in my heart it's still "the house" for Colby and me. So I need a little more time, then I'll be ready to forget it and move on to bigger and better.

We get Colby's communication device this week, all fancied up with his eye gaze technology, ready to go. His speech therapist has had it for the last few days to program stuff onto it. She's coming over Thursday so we can get Colby using it. That'll prove interesting for sure! Can't wait to see what she has set up for Colby and to see how he does with it. Been a long time since he's used eye gaze. I'm sure he'll do great of course.

Okay, I'm getting tired so I'll wrap this up for now. Had dinner at Buckhead's after Mass tonight. Even though we ate 3 hours ago, I'm still stuffed. But that's what happens when you have 2 glasses of wine, rolls, an appetizer and an entree. Gonna start that diet tomorrow, it's Monday you know. Nitey nite all.