A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Despite all the trouble I’ve been having staying awake, I decided to try to quit drinking caffeine. I had considered it a long time ago, because caffeine is just plain bad for you. But I heard all sorts of horror stories about people getting wicked bad headaches and having other withdrawal symptoms, and thought drinking caffeine might not be so bad after all.

The doctor even told me that cutting out caffeine might help my condition, but he said that withdrawal might be tough and to just cut down if I could. So I didn’t bother. But when Hubby started having trouble with his blood pressure and decided to let me help him alter his diet in an attempt to straighten it out, I decided we should both give it a go.

Neither of us drink coffee very often at all, but Pepsi is our weakness. So when I bought groceries, I got a Caffeine Free Pepsi and a regular one. Partly to give us something caffeinated if we had those dreaded withdrawal symptoms, and partly in case my finicky husband decided he didn’t like the taste of caffeine free (even though I can’t taste a difference).

As it turned out, he liked the caffeine free just fine. And neither one of us had any withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. We drank the caffeinated Pepsi to get rid of it, and we’ve bought Caffeine Free every since. I’ve also been drinking Hawaiian Punch, and am finally starting to drink water every now and then. Hubby and Pumpkin already drank a lot of water, so they were a step ahead of me there.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that all this has helped my condition. But it does seem to have helped Hubby, along with the other changes in his diet (less salt and fat). And I don’t suppose I’ve been any tireder than I was before, if that’s even possible. So I guess we’ll stick with it.

We had some company over the weekend. A young friend of mine and Hubby’s came over, and he brought some of his friends with him. One of them was a guy who lived across the road from us at our old place.

He mentioned that our former landlords’ son, the one who we were kicked out so he could move his trailer in there, said that someone had broken into his place. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure, but I call B.S.

Why, you ask? For one thing, I know these people’s track record. The landlady (and I use the term “lady” loosely here) said that the reason she was asking us to move was because they needed their son up there to help them out. Said that her husband was in poor health, and he needed someone to look after him and do the outdoor work. To hear her tell it, he should have been in a bed 24/7 wearing adult diapers. Yet I am all the time seeing him out driving around by himself. Fancy that.

Also, in the two and a half years that we lived there, no one ever bothered us except them. Their punk grandson set off my truck alarm once, and they were constantly trying to cause trouble. But other than the crap we had to put up with from them, we had no problems.

If someone did break in there, I’m betting it was the guy’s brother. He is in and out of jail all the time. And if someone didn’t, they’re probably just saying that in an attempt to get someone they are angry with in trouble. Maybe things went sour with their other renters? Who knows. And I know I shouldn’t care. But I must admit I’m still bitter about everything that went down. I don’t let them know it, though. Any time I talk to anyone who I think might talk to them, I keep my chin up and try to look and act like the happiest darn person in the world. That’s the best way to get under their skin.

Fall isn’t officially here yet, but the signs are already abundant. The leaves are starting to turn here in the mountains even though the weather is still quite warm. Stores are putting all their sexy swimwear on clearance. And it’s starting to get dark earlier and earlier.

Autumn is quite lovely here. People come from miles away to see the patchwork of colored leaves here in the mountains. I’m looking forward to raking leaves and letting Pumpkin jump in them. And yet every year, I feel a twinge of sadness when fall arrives. Not because I dislike the season itself, but because I dread what comes after it.

We’ve also got a lot to do before cold weather sets in this year. We need to get our wood stove put in, and we need to get some wood and get it split. We also need to try to find an alternate heat source to use at night, and figure out how we will keep the pipes from freezing. And we will definitely have to stock up on rock salt, because sliding down the hill from our house to the road (or across it and down the very steep embankment on the other side) could be catastrophic.

I should really stop getting ahead of myself and enjoy the here and now. But I’ve never particularly liked winter, at least not since I got old enough to drive. And here in the mountains, it can be rather unpredictable.

As you probably know if you’re a long-time reader, my husband has a lot of stomach troubles. He was unable to work for several months last year until he had his gall bladder removed. That helped get him in good enough shape to get back to work, but he still has problems. He has pretty bad acid reflux, among other things.

I tried to tell him he needed to change his diet, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He is the world’s pickiest eater, and most of the things he does like are packed with fat, cholesterol and salt. As much as he hates to take any more medicine than necessary, I think he would have rather gone on Phentermine than to change his diet.

But for the past few weeks, he has been complaining with frequent headaches and fatigue. The guys he works with told him it was probably high blood pressure, and sure enough, it has been up just about every time he has gone to the doctor lately. I told him that he needed to try to get it lowered on his own before they decided he needed medication for it, because everyone I know who takes blood pressure meds wishes they didn’t have to because of the side effects.

He begrudgingly agreed to let me fix him healthy meals for a week to see how he felt. I was leery that it would take longer than that to see a difference, but it didn’t. He has felt much better, and he agreed to continue eating healthy.

Now comes the hard part: I managed to find enough healthy stuff that he liked to keep him fed for one week, but I’m out of ideas. He will get burned out on the same old thing (just like he has been with all the stuff he has been eating over and over all his life). But I’m going to give it my best shot. Maybe now that I’m making a little headway, I can talk him into trying some new things, and retrying things he claims he doesn’t like.

I really need to have another yard sale. I could use the money for Pumpkin’s birthday, and we’ve just got a ton of stuff that we need to get rid of. But first I need to find a good place to have it.

The last yard sale I had was at Hubby’s grandpa’s house. I won’t be having one there again, because the turnout was terrible. It was pretty much a colossal waste of time. I think we made about $35 in two days. Most of the stuff I put in the yard sale is still packed up over there in his storage building, and I need to get it out. There’s a microwave, a bunch of girls’ clothing, a couple of dollhouses, and all sorts of other odds and ends.

Then there’s that whole mess in the garage. Hubby is now saying that he won’t be able to sell much of it. Well, it’s going to have to go somewhere. It’s seriously cluttering up our space for no good reason. And we need all the storage space we can get.

I’ve been trying to get Hubby to find me a good place to have a yard sale, but so far I’ve had no luck. He knows a lot more people around here than I do, and seeing how I would be doing most of the work, I figure it’s the least he could do. But from the looks of things, I’m going to have to break down and try to find a place myself if I want to have it. Oh joy.

I think Wal-Mart is part of a conspiracy to make my life more difficult than it needs to be. First, Hubby was going to lay me away a laptop a year or so ago. But when he went to Wally World to put it on layaway, he found out that they no longer did layaways. Then last week, I went there to see if I could find some nice fleece to make a poncho for Pumpkin for her birthday, and the whole damn craft department had disappeared!

They are doing some remodeling, and where the craft department was, there is now an empty fenced off area. I don’t know what they’re going to put there, but I’m betting it’s not craft stuff. How do they know to get rid of the exact stuff that I need?!?

I’m not going to have a lot of money to spend on Pumpkin this year, and I found instructions on how to make a simple but pretty fleece poncho without sewing. I thought it would be something that would be useful, but that she would still enjoy getting. Kind of like the acne scars cream I got for my birthday one year, only better.

I guess I’ll be checking out some of the small local stores to try and find the stuff I need to make that poncho. That’s something that I should be doing anyway. Have I mentioned how much I dislike Wal-Mart?

I have really got to find a way to get that sleep study done. I’ve been so tired lately that it’s just absurd.

There have been days when I’ve taken three naps, and still felt exhausted. That’s not very conducive to getting any work done, or anything done around the house. I’m still having trouble concentrating, not as bad as it was, but still quite noticeable. This seriously sucks.

I’m no medical expert by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve done some research online about causes of hypersomnia, and they range from sleep apnea to chemical imbalances to unknown causes. I think I even saw something about improper progesterone levels somewhere in there.

The doctor already did blood work including a thyroid panel, and all that came out fine. So the next step is the sleep study. I really hope I don’t have apnea, because I don’t like the idea of having to use a CPAP machine. But if that’s what has to happen, I guess I’ll do it. I’m sick and tired of being tired.

Today, I got up bright and early, jumped in the shower, did my hair up nice, and got all dressed up. Fancy dress, Manolo Blahniks, my finest jewelry, the whole bit. NOT!

Want to know how today really went at my house? Hubby got up at a somewhat respectable hour, Pumpkin slept till nearly lunch time, and I rolled out of bed sometime after that. We all stayed up rather late last night, so today we slept in.

We didn’t do much of anything all day. Just hung out together, played video games, and enjoyed each other’s company. For once Hubby wasn’t interested in leaving the house, and I didn’t argue. Normally I like to get out on the weekends when I’m not behind on my work, but I had my fill of running around last week. So I was content to just stay home with my family.

It wouldn’t have hurt me to have gotten some work done today, but oh well. I needed some family time pretty badly, and I’m glad I got it.

I think that should be in the running for the strangest blog post title ever! Allow me to tell the story behind it, which I promised to do in my last post.

When Pumpkin and I got back home from the doctor the other day, she was in tears with pain. I got her some ice to put on her hand and went to the medicine cabinet to get her some Advil to take. She only had about three doses of the liquid kind left, so I dug out some Children’s Advil pills that I had bought a few months ago. She hadn’t done very well with them at the time, but I’ve had some luck getting her to take allergy pills that were larger than those recently, so I figured I would try them again.

So I got her two of those and a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and headed back to the living room. She grimaced at first, but agreed to try them. After all, she hates the liquid kind.

She put the first one in her mouth, took a drink of water, and swallowed it on the first try. I praised her for doing so well, then gave her the other one. That’s when the fun began.

She didn’t make it on the first try with that one, but I told her it was okay, to keep trying. I remember how hard it was when I first had to take a pill as a child. She tried several more times, each time taking a bigger drink of water, to no avail. She began to get frustrated, and took a really huge drink of water, tossed her head back, and tried really hard to swallow. Her cheeks were all puffed out because she had so much water in her mouth, and as she tried to swallow the pill, her eyes (which were already as big around as saucers) crossed. She looked like a cross-eyed frog.

I couldn’t help but laugh. And you know how contagious laughter is. I saw a smile creep up on her face, her cheeks still full of water. Before I knew it, the freezing cold water was all over both of us, and we were both laughing so hard that tears were rolling down our cheeks.

The pill didn’t come out of her mouth with the water, and she eventually swallowed it somehow between giggles. We both had to change clothes, and we laughed about it off and on for the rest of the evening.

If that water had been any colder, it would have been ice. But I’m glad that happened, because it took Pumpkin’s mind off of her hand for a while. And it still gives me the giggles thinking about it. Good times.

First off, I know it’s been a while since I posted. But I promised myself I would quit apologizing for it. I’m sure my dear readers realize that life gets in the way sometimes. So I’m just going to say it’s good to be back and leave it at that.

Anyway, on to the headlines. Pumpkin hurt her hand at school on Tuesday. They didn’t call me or anything, she just came home with a melted baggie of ice and told me the story when I asked what it was for. Apparently she was playing in the sandbox when some boy came running by and tripped over her, sending them both hurtling toward the ground. Her hand landed hard on a board, and she went to the school nurse, who checked it out, gave her ice, and told her to come back if it didn’t start feeling better.

I checked it out myself, and it didn’t appear to be broken. It was swollen and looked like it might be bruised on the inside, but nothing to worry about. I gave her more ice and pain meds for the evening, and sent her to bed at her usual time.

She woke us up at 2:00 AM, complaining with her hand and stomach hurting. She has a lot of stomach problems, and they seem to get worse when she’s upset, which I’m sure she was over her hand. She didn’t go back to sleep for 2 hours, so we decided not to send her to school and to take her to the doctor.

To make a long story short, after a trip to the family doctor, a trip to the hospital for x-rays, much sitting around and waiting, and a trip back to the family doctor, we found out that it wasn’t broken or fractured. The doctor recommended wrapping it in an Ace bandage, elevating it as much as possible, and continuing with the other stuff I was doing.

She’s back at school today. I’ve got a funny story to tell about her taking her medicine, but that will have to wait. I’ve got work that isn’t going to do itself.