Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Stupid Germs

Dang germs! The girls and I were supposed to meet Leslee and Peanut for dinner at Sam & Ella's tonight but Leslee called and she has strep throat and I am still feeling a little under the weather myself. We decided we wouldn't be so generous as to share our germs with each other and our children, so we postponed the visit til next time.

*Sniff*

Monday, July 30, 2007

Heavy Breather

Last night something very frightening happened to me.

I went to bed about midnight after a rousing round of Wii games with Uncle Joe. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed due to the Albuterol Inhaler I have been huffing. I settled down into bed and finally went to sleep only to be awakened by myself gasping for air at 2am.

I can usually shake it pretty easily by sitting up and sipping a bit of water and breathing really slow. Not this time. I walked into the living room....well stumbled is more like it. I know I must have had a terrified look on my face when I looked at Joe. I needed my inhaler and didn't see my purse.

I tried to stay calm but didn't do a very good job. I got the inhaler and took a couple of puffs. After a few minutes of it calming a bit but not going away, Joe made an executive decision and called Mom to come and sit with the girls while he took me to the ER. Mom had a better idea: go to the EMS station a mile away and let them check me out. (I was all for that since going to ER would mean the rest of the night over there and really no guarantee they could even do anything.)

We arrived to a dark station and knocked on the door. My friend, Mike was the Paramedic on duty. That was a good thing. :o) They hooked me up to a pulse ox monitor and it was fine. EKG fine. I knew I had a good heart. haha.. I was able to tell them everything that happened but got short of breath just speaking, so they gave me an Albuterol breathing treatment, which helped open my airway up and I was able to breathe again. Thank God. Aside from a bit of diminished lung sounds on one side I was fine and avoided going to the ER and saving myself a boat load of money. This is one of the GREAT things about living in a small town. :o)

When I got to work I checked with the Physicians Assistant that treated me and told him what happened. We looked at an updated xray and he decided to change my antibiotics. I think I feel a bit better already. I did go and invest in a humidifier that will sit on my bedside tonight. ( I just sold our other one in the garage sale since we hadn't used it in years! Bonus: I found on on clearance at Walgreens!! cha-ching!)

Right now I am sitting outside breathing the nice moist night air and it feels good. I haven't coughed much tonight. I don't want to wake up like that ever again. I am pretty sure that is the scaredest I have ever been.

Thank you Lord for looking out for me, providing me with Joe to take care of me and for the EMS guys who were available to help out a heavy breather. :o)

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Hoarse of course

I have been coughing and hacking since we were in Hickville last week and my voice slowly faded to a whisper. (Joe has been very happy.) I am usually very healthy so this all caught my by surprise. I coughed and would lose my breath and got pretty frightened especially at night when being unable to breathe woke me up.

After fighting it on my own for at least 3 days I finally got some medical attention today. Sounds easy since I work in a medical clinic.....but no. We have been so busy with all the OTHER sick people, I didn't get treated. Today I took matters in my own hands and asked for a chest xray and was the last patient of the day.

I have "either late bronchitis or early infiltrate". Sounds yucky, but the meds are working and I am praising Albuterol Inhaler and really enjoying the cough medicine! :o) I am on the mend, but haven't felt up to my usual. Uncle Joe has cooked supper AND cleaned up every night this week, and boy do I appreciate that.

The girls are in swim lessons this week and next week, so they get up early and go to Aunt Andi's to ride with Elle and Alli to lessons. They are having fun and getting a little sun. CassiJo is still trying to work up her courage to dive (and not belly flop) into the pool. Carly is honing her already adequate swim skills. UJ picks them up mid morning and they gallyvant around the rest of the day.

In other news~
JorySan and his family are coming home next month. We are all very excited to see Baby Kai for the first time. I hope he likes me.

My cough medicine is really working well and my eyes are getting very heavy......so I am off to enjoy this buzz before it wears off.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Hickville Hootenanny

Uncle Joe, The Little Jo Girls and I are on vacation in Hickville USA. It is about a half of a tank of gas away from our home in Green Country and has several activities and attractions that we wanted to share with the girls.

I googled a map and had a plan for the trip, the promptly forgot to bring it with us. I was captain and UJ was the navigator. He chose a route that APPEARED to be quick on the atlas we had in the car. He later informed me, after mile after mile of windy, curvy, hilly roads that he didn't have his glasses on otherwise he would have notice it said SCENIC route. It was nice for the first few miles, then all that Diet Pepsi hit me. Then it was torture every mile. I stopped at the first convenience store in the middle of the woods.

We came into Hickville and Uncle Joe said, "You know who lives here don't you? Jamie Dawn."

I wondered if she and her family were up to a blogger meet, so I emailed her as soon as we got to the hotel, and waited with bated breath til morning. I got up first thing and checked my email and she agreed!! We were so excited :o) What a pleasant surprise!

We went to a local amusement park today and had a ball. They had two water rides that kept us cool and a nice water park that we didn't have the energy to play in. I had to drag CassiJo out crying for the water park. I had to promise to take her to Big Splash in Tulsa when we got back. It was just too hot for us and we had to get ready for our blogger meet!

Jamie Dawn and her family arrived at our hotel at 7pm on the dot. We were in the lobby incognito but she recognized us right away. It must have been UJ's Batman shirt that gave us away. She came bearing gifts of, you guessed it: truffles! and almonds from her familys farm in California.

She was tall just like I thought she would be and her family was just beautiful. You can tell they love each other very much and are very close.

We followed them to a wonderful restaurant on the lake...and I mean right ON the lake. We were seated right on the water on the "porch". The food was wonderful. I had "herb encrusted tilapia" and Jamie Dawn had sweet potatoe fries. They may sound kind of odd, but take our word, they are fabulous!
We had a great visit, and talked about all kinds of things. I think I probably jabbered. I usually do when I am nervous. The girls were a little subdued in the company of new friends, but soon warmed up. Cassidy warmed up so much she sang her rendition of "Oklahoma" for JamieDawn before we left. :o)

We both got pictures of our group, so stay tuned!

Thanks for taking time to meet us Jamie.! We hope to do it again some day. Maybe at Bloggerstock '08! :o)

Monday, July 16, 2007

The Graduate 20 Years Later



Here is a photo from the reunion held Saturday night.

This is my friend, Shanna. We attended school from 1st grade all the way through 12th grade together. :o)

*corrected thanks to Susie! haha*

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Class Reunion


1987 was the year and I was a senior in High School.
Last night we had our informal class reunion at the Field House at the High School here in Ft. Gibson. We had a large turn out since it was a free event and children were welcomed. :o)
I am on the planning committee so yesterday was a very busy day buying door prizes and making last minute arrangements. Thank goodness for CarlyJo! She went along with me to help set up. My partner in crime Angela (or Peanut as we called her in school) brought her two children, Shelby and Caleb, and we had the place looking festive with school spirit pretty quick.
I don't understand it, but most of the absentee classmates were ones that live in our area. I guess they see each other enough on a daily basis. We threatened to go to their houses and crash them.....wouldn't that be mean?? (but SO funny!)
I tried to talk my Best Friend, Mindi (Min) into coming, but she wouldn't. I begged her too! I am glad I get to see her on a weekly basis, but I know there are others that would love to see her too!
Tonight is our Adults-only dinner and that has me a little anxious too. Oh well, when I get anxious I tend to clean and disappear into the back ground. At least the banquet hall will be clean. :o)
I hope to have some pictures later.
Uncle Joe and all the Girl-Jo's will be on a mini vacay til Wednesday so pray for our travel safety.....I'll be driving.
Have a great weekend y'all.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

~Tawni Camille Smith~

Saturday evening one of my little cousins drowned in a terrible accident. Her name was Tawni Camille. A little sprite of a girl who was the apple of her daddy's eye.

She and her family were playing at a low water bridge in Fort Gibson. Her parents had warned the children about the dangers of the current, especially near a washed out area that created a whirlpool where the water was making its way under the concrete slab that made the low water bridge. Their attention was drawn away for a few minutes and the strong current pulled her under. They never heard a sound.

Rescuers from 2 counties came at the call for help and they searched for her over an hour.

She was 8 years old.

Please remember her family in your prayers. They do not have a church family and are having a very difficult time. They are surrounded by our HUGE family and have found comfort with each visit.