It Was A Good Day

Wednesday was pretty much like any other day. I got up and went to work and that was the extent of my plans for the day.

Thing 1 however had her appointment with the orthopedic specialist in the afternoon. Band Mom picked her up early from school and took her. She got her temporary cast off and had more x-rays. The orthopedist decided that she needed a cast, but only for 2 weeks rather than the normal 6 to 8. That made Thing 1 happy. In the docs opinion to imobilize an elbow for that long will cause more long term damage since the break is a growth plate. It may be fine for now, but later she would probably end up with limited motion in her elbow. So 2 weeks then she gets it off and reexamined and we go from there. Thing 1 was also happy since she got to pick the color of her cast. They asked her her favorite color. She said green. They brought out a bunch of different shades of green and she settled on “Emerald” green.

After work I picked up Thing 2 from after school. We got home just a few minutes after Band Mom and Thing 1. The girls went outside and played and Band Mom and I chilled and watched some TV before dinner. After dinner we bathed the girls and got them to bed, then watched some more TV before heading to bed ourselves.

Happy Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day. Yeah, I’m getting a little behind in my blogging. So what?

Anyway, Memorial Day…What’s it mean to you? Its supposed to be the day we celebrate all of the brave men and women who have served in the armed services and given the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country and our ideals. Its become an excuse to take a Monday off work and cook on the grill and drink. Now you may think I am putting down that action. On the contrary…I think that is a great way to celebrate the fallen. Because of them we have the ability to take off a Monday and grill and drink. Many places around the world this is not possible. There are those that would say that we are decadent and don’t care about those that have gone before us because of our actions. I think that because we can “forget” and have a day of leisure proves that we owe them the honor that the holiday is supposed to give.

What were those brave souls fighting for? Don’t you think they would love to know that because of them I got to sleep away the majority of a day, spent the rest playing with my kids and eating steaks that my wife cooked on the grill. How was I able to do this? THEY gave their life to allow me to do that. THEY got rid of the British (twice). THEY stopped the Nazis and prevented fascism from dominating the planet. THEY stopped the RED SCOURGE.

Or at least I like to believe that at least one day a year…

So say a prayer or if you prefer just give a thought for a fallen soldier. Thank a vet that made it out alive. Be glad that we have at least the illusion of freedom thanks to their service.

Had To Tap Out!

Sunday Band Mom and Ms. K decided they were going to have a multi home cookout for Memorial Day and since it was Ms. K’s last weekend before going back on the road. I made a beer and pop run early in the day and stocked up the fridges around noon to get ready. Ms. K, Ms. H and Band Mom were in charge of everything else. Things 1 & 2 were playing with Ms. H’s kids for most of the day. Thing 1 was a little down with the broken arm and kinda hung out by herself for the early parts of the day. That and hung out with dad for a while.

Princess was the first guest to show up a little after 2 with her 2 boys. The boys and Thing 2 were out playing in the rain while Thing 1 pouted that she couldn’t play with them since she would get her cast wet. Eventually, Dorka and his 2 kids showed up and so did Cowboy and Telle Smallvalis. After a couple of beers the food was ready. Everybody ate then just kinda hung out and BSed.

The kids spent the majority of the time in our house playing on the PlayStation. The adults hung on Ms. K’s porch drinking. At some point Band Mom decided she was going to make Long Island Ice Teas for Dorka, Cowboy, Telle, and myself. She was making them by the pitcher, and when I say pitcher I don’t mean some dinky little bar pitcher, I’m talking about a gallon pitcher. We were sucking them down like they were nothing. We were all just hanging out talking and what not.

At some point around midnight I decided I was tired and tapped out. I just said goodbye and went home and went to bed. I wasn’t sick….I wasn’t blackout drunk…just boom! bedtime. I don’t think I’ve ever tapped out. I’m usually the last one standing. I say usually…there’s been a few nights when I was out early, but for the most part at our house parties I’m the last one standing (that was drinking anyway). I heard everyone else stayed for another hour or two an eventually all petered out themselves.

The next day I didn’t have a hangover though. At least not in the classical sense. No headache, no nausea. But boy was I drained and tired…

Are U Stoned?

Saturday Band Mom and I slept in a little after staying out to ungodly hours last night. We finally got up and moving. We kicked around the house for a little bit then I had to take Band Mom to an eye appointment at Sam’s Club. While she got started at the docs, I went to the pharmacy to pick up some Claritin. I wondered back and Band Mom was waiting for me. She had some drops put in her eyes to dialate them. She had to head back in 15 minutes for the exam. So we wandered around for a while looking at stuff.

While wondering Band Mom’s eyes got more dialated. She began having some trouble with her vision and was stumbling into things and was a little wobbly. Her eyes were all blood shot and dialated. The other patrons probably thought she was stoned out of her gourd! She was stumbling around and we were giggling like a couple of high school stoners…

She finished her exam, we got her new contacts and a script filled for her and then we wandered around for a little longer before leaving. We got home and slowly over the next few hours her vision returned to normal. I headed over to my folks and picked up Things 1 & 2. We got home and hung out around the house for the rest of the day.

We ordered pizza for dinner and watched the Penguins take a 3 – 0 series lead over the Hurricanes. After the game we all just kinda hung around the house and chilled for the rest of the night before heading to bed.

All in all a nice relaxing day at home…

Broken Bones, Broken Plans, Broken Bank

Thursday evening Things 1 & 2 were outside playing in the back yard with some of the neighborhood kids. Suddenly Thing 1 came in crying and in obvious pain. She had taken a spill and hurt her arm. Band Mom and I both took a look at it. It was sore, but there was no swelling, she could move it albeit with some pain but had motion none the less. So we put some ice on it and didn’t think much of it. Thing 1 got up the next day to get ready for school and said her arm still hurt. Well, again no swelling and it was functional so off to school she went.

Well, Band Mom got a call from the school nurse a couple of hours later. Thing 1 was in obvious pain and Band Mom needed to go pick her up from school. Also around the same time, Band Mom found out her mom’s blood count was down again and she needed to take her for a transfusion. So she rounded up Thing 1 from school brought her home and started making plans for the transfusion. She took Thing 1 and they went and picked up Band Mom’s Mom. They took her to the hospital for her transfusion then headed over to Med Express to get Thing 1’s arm looked at. Turns out Thing 1 broke her elbow (well not really the elbow, since that’s a joint and how can you break a joint) and actually broke it in 2 places. The gave her a temp cast and are going to refer her to an orthopedic specialist. Wow that’s gonna put a damper on her summer…

Band Mom had made plans to take Ms. K out to dinner and then to the casino on Friday night as a going away party since she’s going back out on the road next week. Well because of the transfusions dinner got canceled. Band Mom’s Mom actually needed 2 units and it took over 8 hours at the hospital for that to happen. Things 1 & 2 were going to opening day for the WildThings with my folks. Thing 1 was up for it so those plans didn’t change. I took them over to my folks after work then headed back home. On my way home I picked myself up some McDonald’s for dinner.

Band Mom and I headed out a little after 8 and went to the hospital to pick up her mom. We took her home, then headed to the hotel to wait for Pooh to get off. After Pooh’s shift we met up with Princess and the 4 of us headed to the casino to meet up with Ms. K and Ms. H. It turns out Pooh wasn’t allowed to be on the casino floor since she was under 21. Now all the web sites I could find said PA law was 18 for casinos, but obviously those were all wrong. So I took Pooh home and then headed back to the casino…

The others were playing when I got back so I said hellos then headed out on my own to do some gaming. I was down $80 in 45 minutes…At that point I met back up with Band Mom and hung out with her and just watched her play for a couple of hours. After a coule of hours I guess she thought I looked bored and gave me a $15 receipt to go play on for a little. I quick turned that into $50. I then decided I would pocket that to give back to Band Mom later. I took the final $20 that I brought with me and put it into a machine. And after about 15 minutes cranked that up to close to $250. Time for me to quit while I was ahead and Band mom was getting ready to leave since it was a little after 2. Then she, Ms. H and Princess decided we were going to head out for some late night grub.

We headed to Eat N Park and met up with KJ for some grub. After we ate, Band Mom and I took Princess home and headed home ourselves.

Vaccinations

Monday I had to take the day off. Band Mom was heading to Pittsburgh with Pooh to take a tour of Dusquesne. What does that have to do with me taking off? Well…

Friday Band Mom was going through the mail. In it was a letter from Things 1 & 2’s school. It turns out Thing 2’s vaccination records aren’t up to date and because of that starting Monday Thing 2 would not be allowed to attend school. This is the dumbest thing ever in my mind. “It’s for the safety of the children…” blah, blah, blah. Before I tear into a rant about vaccinations and laws and what not, I thought medical decisions for children were to be made by the parents. What business is it of the school’s. But, Band Mom wants the girls vaccinated (at least for the biggies, DPT, MMR, Polio, you know the ones they start real early then they need a bajillion boosters for).

So Monday I took Thing 2 to the doctors to get the needed records and/or vaccinations to bring her up to date with the schools list. No biggie there. She ended up getting the DPT (or whatever they call it now tdap or something) and the Polio (which actually was the booster above what was needed for kindergarten kids), but they didn’t have any MMR in stock. They called around and found that the county health department had them. So when I left the doctors I called the health department. They said I could stop in right now and get that done.

They were a treat in their own right. All I wanted was the MMR shot. They wanted me to get her the Varacilla(Chicken Pox) and Hep A vaccinations. When I said “No, Thank you.” they looked at me like I may be drunk or something. I actually had to sign a form to say that they offered them and I refused. They did giver her her MMR shot though.

Then we stopped at home and got Thing 2’s backpack for school since it was only 11:30 at this time. I dropped her at school with the vaccination records and then headed home.

Just some reasons why I have problems with vaccines these days..
FDA Finds Contaminated Children’s Vaccines At Merck
Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children
Jenny McCarthy on Autism and Vaccines

Do some research, there’s plenty out there…

Not Much Going On Sunday

Sunday was pretty laid back. Band Mom and I got up and hung out for a bit. Then everyone got ready to go. Pooh headed over to Band Mom’s Mom’s to take her to get her nails done and go shopping. Band Mom and I headed to Wal Mart to do some grocery shopping. After shopping, we met Band Mom’s Mom and Pooh for some lunch at a sorta new Chinese place in town. I say sorta new, because they used to be in the mall food court and now they have an actual sit down place. It was pretty good.

After that we headed home and unloaded groceries. Then Things 1 & 2 were dropped off at home. We hung out for most of the afternoon. Band Mom wasn’t hungry so I went to McDonald’s and picked up dinner for the rest of us. Then we all just kinda hung out til heading to bed.

That’s a lazy Sunday…

A Saturday At Home

Saturday. Band Mom and I got to sleep in a bit since Things 1 & 2 spent the night at my folks. I got up, got some grub and watched a little DVR. Band Mom had talked that maybe we were going shopping, maybe we were going to Pike Days, maybe getting new bedroom furniture, maybe this, maybe that. So just in case by noon I was showered and ready to go. Band Mom started cleaning instead. I tried not to be involved as much as possible. I helped when needed, but I’ve learned over the years that to stay out of the way and not cause problems is my best bet to get out alive. Pooh left to go do some relay thing, but the rain put a damper on that and she was back just a couple of hours later.

I got us some Arby’s for dinner. Band Mom’s cleaning finally petered out well after midnight. I could have gone out without her, but decided to take the night and stay home. It was nice to just stay home for a change. No going out. No kids. Just sitting (and the occasional cleaning).

Around 1 AM Band Mom started doing Poohs nails since Pooh’s prom is this coming week. We started watching The Incredible Hulk on OnDemand. Then our phone rang. Mr. H had a chance to get a big ol’ 50″ TV, but it needed picked up now or he’d lose it. So I emptied our van and headed out to help him. Nothing like moving a TV at 2AM. Anyway, we got the TV back to his house and I headed back in. I restarted the movie since I had missed a good bit and neither one of them paid enough attention to fill me in. Band Mom finished Pooh’s nails and then Pooh headed to bed. By this time though Band Mom and I both had gotten sucked into the movie, so we had to stay up and watch the rest of the movie. We did and then headed to bed.

A Night At The Casino

Friday night Band Mom wanted to go out. I had talked to Scooter earlier in the week and since he finally got his weekends back he wanted to go out as well. Band Mom spent all week deciding on where she wanted to go. Finally she decided we were going to head to the casino since she had so much fun there Wednesday night with some friends. So Ms. K was going with us and we were going to meet up with Scooter and T. We decided to meet at the hotel and just take one car to the casino. The thought was that after a few hours at the casino we’d head back and catch the end of Bill Ali. So we met up and the 5 of us headed out to the casino.

First things first, Band Mom and I hadn’t had dinner so we (ok I) wanted to eat. The wait for the restaurant was a little long so we hit the food court instead. No loss there, I ended up having some great lasagna. Ms. K ate with us, but Scooter and T had already eaten so they started playing. After we ate we hit the machines. We all kinda went our own ways meeting up here and there throughout the night. I ended up hitting a decent payout so, I was kinda done. Scooter had lost a bit, so we decided to sit at the bar for a little bit and take a break from gaming and do some drinking. I could’ve left at any time after I hit. Band Mom on the other had was having a ton of fun. Win or lose didn’t matter…She was enjoying playing.

Needless to say we never made it back to the hotel. We didn’t end up leaving the casino until after 2. At least Band Mom and I (because of my hit) left the casino with slightly more than we came with.

The casino was more fun than I actually thought it would be. I like poker. I figured slots would be boring. I like the fact that when playing poker, the win or loss is on me not on some random chance. Granted there is chance in poker, but if you play you’re in control of at least a portion of your destiny. With slots its all just random chance. I must admit though the slots are fun. If you’re willing to lose and not looking to win it makes for an enjoyable evening of mindless fun…

Phone Shopping & Disappointment

Monday after work Band Mom was going to take a friend of ours to the mall so he could pick up a new phone. Well she decided that I should take him instead while she got dinner ready. No biggie. I haven’t seen him since Band Mom left her job at the hotel. So after I came home and got changed, I headed to a coffee shop uptown to pick him up.

We then headed to the mall to hit the Cricket store. We wandered through the mall looking for the damn store and finally found it. Telly went to open the door to the store and it was locked. All the lights were on, but nobody was home. We hung out for a few minutes thinking maybe the store was only manned by 1 person and maybe they had to take a dump or something. Finally a security guard wandered by and we asked if he knew what was up with the store. He said nope, but that there was another Cricket store across town.

So off we go. We go to the first place that we thought the store was located. And there was even a sign for the store. We get out of the car and wander around the building. No luck! There is no Cricket store. Telly stuck his head into the liquor store in the same plaza and asked the clerk if she knew where the Cricket store was. She let us know that the store had moved a couple of blocks down the road. So back in the car and on down the road. Sure enough it was there and open actually.

The store kinda cracked me up. Its one of those little stores that dabble in a little of this and a little of that. They were resellers for multiple mobile carriers. They had new and used computers. They did computer repairs. The sold other electronics like electronic scales. Electronic scales? Is there big enough demand for these that they needed the sign saying they were on sale? I don’t know about you, but I can only think of 2 kinds of people that might need electric scales, chemists and drug dealers and our town isn’t known for its big amateur chemist community. Any way we finally got his phone. Not before the sales guy tried to sell me on an iPhone knock-off, but we did get to leave eventually.

Telly was geeked to have a phone again. He’s been phone-less for a while now. While we were in the car heading back we caught the first couple of minutes of the Pens game. I dropped Telly back at the coffee shop and headed home for dinner.

Band Mom had dinner almost ready and I sat down and turned the game on. The Pens had the chance to put the Caps away tonight. But after an emotionally draining game that went into OT the Caps tied the series and forced a game 7.

I was kinda looking forward to txting Telly a “Yeah Pens” on his knew phone after the game, but instead just went to bed sad.