I know that I JUST said that I hate whiny blogs about sick people, but come on–this week has been unreal!

Thursday 3/4:  Talk to good friend whose little girl has strep throat.  We have already agreed to watch this child over night the upcoming weekend. tell friend that as long as she is 24 hours fever free, it will be fine.

Friday 3/5:  We meet playgroup for picnic at park.  Hear tales of strep and  stomach bug flying through local schools.  Let my kid eat his lunch without washing hands since we are on a picnic!

Saturday 3/6:  Son has his first friend ever spend the night.  She is 48 hours fever free.  Also, hear that Grandma has nasty stomach bug.  Poor Grandma!

Sunday 3/7:  Go on picnic with my family!  Son steps in mystery vomit on the merry go round. Ew.

Monday 3/8:  Get call from Doctor that my gallbladder sucks.  Great.  Consult scheduled to have it yanked out.  Kid seems extra whiny.

Tuesday 3/9:  Son wakes up with a cough and 99.3 degree fever.  I send him to preschool anyway.   It is not even a real fever, right?  Pick up son from school with a 101 degree fever.  Oops.  Also, Grandpa now has nasty stomach bug.  My dad is at their apartment caring for them.

Wednesday 3/10:  Son’s fever is worse.  Take him to doctor where his strep culture lights up faster than Woody Harrelson.  I have low grade fever.  Husband’s throat hurts.

Thursday 3/11:  I have doctor call in antibiotic for my obvious case of strep.  I take first pill of amoxicillin at 6ish.  Hear that Dad now has nasty stomach bug. There is a shocker.

Friday 3/12:  I wake up itchy.  I go to bathroom and discover huge, red, softball sized welts all over me!  I freak the hell out.   Call Mom.  She is busy caring for my sick dad.  Call Arwen’s mom (a nurse), advised to stop antibiotics and call doctor immediately.  I do that.  Swelling gets worse.  I pack up still sick three year old and run for the doctor’s office.  There The Son finds gum stuck under a chair in the waiting room and plays with it!  I try to sanitize him with purell and kleenex.  Nurse gasps at my lumps!  Am now officially  allergic to things that end with -cillin. This is no longer a mystery! Get huge freaking steroid shot in ass to keep allergic reaction from getting worse.   Advised to not take any antibiotics for at least 24 hours.  Still have strep throat. Oh, but won tickets to see a ballet on Sunday night.  Hear that JHJ is sick, sorry about that JHJ.

Saturday 3/13:  AWAKE!  Steroids make you unable to sleep!  I got a whole truckload at one time delivered to my left butt cheek!  I AM AWAKE!  After zero sleep I am clearly thinking clearly, so I demand my family dress all in green and drive to Capital City for a St. Patrick’s day parade.  It is cold.  We all feel like crap, but fun must be had-damnit!  Call mom on way to Capital City to secure childcare for Sunday night’s ballet.   Stand in cold for an hour watching bagpipes and people who have painted their dogs green.  End day by taking child to a birthday party–we had already bought the gift!

Sunday 3/14: Awaken to weird burning feeling all over my face.  Look in mirror and resemble an heirloom tomato.  Fever is back.  Throat hurts.  Hightail it to pharmacy to fill -cillin free antibiotics.  PharmD says that the steroid shot made me uber sensitive to sunlight and I got fried at parade.  Fun.  Scary red lumps? check.  Red burny face? check.  Infected throat? check.  Messed up gallbladder? Yup.  Oh and just for kicks, pms.

Call to ensure babysitter for tonight, oh hell yeah I am still going, I WON these tickets.  Mom has nasty stomach bug.  I have no sitter.  I want to cry.  Am also contemplating never going over to the house of vomit again. Ick.  Sorry Mom.  Hit the phones and facebook looking for a sitter willing to come to my abode of germs.  BiL comes through!  YAY!  I am sick, but enjoy the show anyway.  Heck, I think it made it better!

Okay, you are all caught up.  We are still alive–and I am going to be well enough to sanitize this house tomorrow because the madness must end!

There have been two posts floating around in my head and neither one is complete, or honestly that good, so how about I throw them together and see what happens.  It could not be worse than telling you about the fluctuations of our temporal thermometer.

I am officially all about facebook now.  I can totally see the appeal.  It is the voyeurism of reality television only with that person you met once at that thing or your mother’s second cousin once removed’s preacher instead of a total stranger!   The thing about facebook is you learn details about people that you never would have known if not for that easy friend button.   What have I learned?  Every single boy I was attracted to as a teenager up until this jerk was a homosexual!   Really.  Fine.  I am glad they are happy and being themselves.  I don’t think a person’s sex life has anything to do with their worth.   I judge that on how much money they have.  Kidding!  Good grief.

What I want to know is what it was about 13-16 year old me that made those boys want to date me?  Hmm.  Was I nice or gullible or accepting or what?  I refuse to believe it was because I had any masculine features.  I was/am a girly girl and had breasts out of the womb (or at least fifth grade).  Why was I attracted to them?  Well, they were cute and kind and I hated jocks.  Feel free to look into your crystal ball and explain it to me.  (disclaimer:  I hope those previous two paragraphs did not come across as rude, or judgmental.  I am pretty open minded, yet ignorant, all at the same time.)

Next up in the I am barely lucid strep screed I have going on today, guns.  Specifically, guns in your house.   I am a Republican.  Surely you already knew this.  More specifically I am a Constitutional Conservative.   This means that I am A-Ok with you and your gun.  Use it to kill yourself  a baby seal for its coat or to rid your house of a bad guy or show it to your friends to make your penis feel bigger.  Whatever. I really don’t care.   BUT.  There are no guns in my house.  There are two reasons, both of which I have been struggling with, and my husband would appreciate your telling me to get over both of them, because he wants a handgun.

Reason one:  The Husband does not hunt.  He has no need to brag to his friends.  The only reason we would have one would be a protection type thing.  That and to piss off our hippie friends.  Fine, so we would have a gun for “protection”.  We also have a very smart and curious son.  One who is already obsessed with guns, which he knows about only from playing with his friends.  We, of course, would have a very good safe and trigger lock.  So how is a gun that is locked up tighter than Fort Knox going to protect you when there is a bad guy in your house?  How can one both keep kids safe and also have easy access when needed? (note:  We live in a very safe and quiet community–this alleged bad guy in the house is quite a stretch.)

Reason two:  People go crazy.  I could go crazy.  My Husband could go crazy.  Anything could happen.  We both have people in our families that have been totally nutso and it could happen….do I really want easy access to a gun IF….. ( did you see the BIG IF there?).  I guess that is a crazy worry, but I can’t get it out of my head.  For example, there was a gun in the apartment when this happened.  Maybe that is what is really causing this stupid worry–which I know is not fair to my husband, the kindest, sweetest person on the planet,  but a worry is a worry and the thought of a gun in my house makes me feel icky.   Thoughts?

November 16, 1915

Miss Martha B.

Scranton PA

Friday eve, 7 P.M.

Please Pardon me for not writing Wed. eve as I promised.  Am just as busy as can be.  Mr. Nichols is away on his vacation and you know what that means! Ha!  Will write as soon as convenient.

Fred

I think Mr. Nichols went to rehab.  Or maybe a quick stay at the sanitarium.   Speaking of crazy people,  I am still working on this whole Lexapro withdrawal thing, although it is much, much better.

In November I started getting this crazy weird pain in my side.  It really was more annoying then painful.  Since I am prone to hypochondriacism I googled it and then I ignored it until February.  When it still did not go away I went to the Doctor.  She sent me for a full abdominal ultrasound (no fun when not knocked up!).  It showed nothing.  So last week I went for a dye scan thing.  Turns out when the ob/gyn pumped me full of estrogen last fall to stop that other problem(when I looked for a link to that whiny post I realized I never told you about it.  Good for me.  It fell into the waywayway tmi category anyway.) (it still was not caused by breastfeeding! Was not!) the doctors may have over done it.  That particular medicine turned to sludge in my gallbladder.  Ew.  No stones, just sticky goo clogging up the works.

I got the test results back today…..and my gallbladder is only functioning at 26%.  Not good.  Just in time for my brain to be clear I am going to have to have surgery. Boo.  In other words?  Blogging is still not super convenient, but I promise I have written dozens of lovely posts in my head!

No, that is the GROUCHOS.

Well, yeah, I guess he has the grouchies  too–what three year old doesn’t?   But this post is about someone else’s grouchies…Mine.  Remember around a year and a half ago when I tried coming off Lexapro?  What?  You mean you don’t remember each minute detail of my pharmaceutical history? I mentioned it here and here.   Anyway.  At time the benefits of being on a small dose of SSRI were greater than the side effects.  That means I have been on Lexapro, originally prescribed for Post partum depression, for over three years.   I am not so much post partum anymore!   I need to see how I am without the drugs.  I need to stop having (taken from their website: I may or may not have these particular side effects.):

• Drowsiness, dizziness
• Sleep problems
• Mild nausea, gas, heartburn, upset stomach, constipation
• Weight gain, inability to lose weight
• Decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm
• Dry mouth, yawning, ringing in your ears.

Right-O.  So those pretty much suck, right?  Only these are the side effects of weaning off Lexapro, which I have been actively doing for the past month:

• Irritability
• Agitation
• Dizziness
• A burning or tingling sensation
• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Headache
• Insomnia
• Tiredness.

Wowza! Super fun!  We can add to that a general dread of blogging.  I do not like a single thing I have written for the past three plus weeks.  I feel dizzy when I start typing.  Re-sizing pictures makes me nauseous.   I have considered pulling the plug on Thehuckablog.

This is where you say, “Oh NO! You can’t do that! I check your blog first thing every morning!”

I will wait while you leave a comment.

Okay, anyway,  I hate blogging right now, but I know I won’t as soon as this general suckiness is over.   Thanks for hanging in there with me and understanding why there are not forty posts about how my head hurts and the room has a distinct spinning sensation.

I am still suspicious of this being a prank and am squarely looking at my dad–but he seemed just so innocent when I questioned him.  Does anyone want to confess?  JHJ?  Shoeshe?

This makes me happy. Good choice.

Exactly a year ago my hubby made the choice to buy me a very nice camera because he had faith in me.

That made me ecstatic.  A VERY good choice.

I offered to take a zillion and a half pictures of people’s kids. For free.  I spent HOURS processing them, and agonizing over tiny details instead of sleeping.

This made me tired.  Poor choice.

A few people told me I did not suck, that I needed to be charging, that I could do it.  This made me feel encouraged so I chose to throw up a website.

This made me feel intimidated and scared, so I have yet to make it live.  Probably not a great choice.

I am not happy with how my pictures turn out when printed if you must know the truth.  No matter what I do, they seem dark when professionally printed, and I can’t sell something printed at Wal-Mart.  The Husband says I need a professional grade monitor.  I hate to spend MORE money on a hobby that has yet to even pay for a lens, much less the rest of my equipment.

That choice has yet to be made.

I enjoy taking pictures.  I love seeing people thrilled with what I have done.  I know this is a good creative outlet, and that it is good for my soul to be creative.

I choose to have fun doing something I never expected to be good at.   Correct choice.

Should I scrap the photography website/business, and just take pictures of people’s kids for free and have fun, and not spend more money, and not feel bad if the pictures are not as good as I know they could be?  Should I do what it takes to be better than good, to make a little money, to be more than just a hobbyist?

I need help with this choice.

2. There are so many things I love about my husband.  One of the main reasons?  He is a huge dork like me.  We are honest to goodness considering our vacation this year to be a 3000 mile road trip through all of the homes and travels of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  (Hey you know who, it goes through Omaha.)

3.  I never let my kid win at Memory or Hungry Hungry Hippos.

4.  My Christmas stuff was all put away on time this year- except for the sad undecorated tree which is still up and in my living room waiting for a new home at my BiL’s.  Next year I will not be spending two days putting the stupid thing together.

5.  I remember my fifth birthday party vividly.  It was at a McDonald’s.   As a rule I pretty much hate McDonald’s now.

6.  I get my feelings hurt really easily.  I saw a couple of Christmas party pictures on facebook, and my feelings were hurt that I was not invited to the party.  INVITE ME PLACES! I am so needy.

7.   I am having a crisis of confidence regarding my photography recently.

8.  My bedroom was yellow and white when I was a little girl.  I did not like it because I wanted pink, but looking back at pictures–it was ADORABLE, especially considering it was the eighties.

9.  I don’t think thehuckablog.com is representative of me.  It is supposed to be, and is in some ways–but I tend to post when feeling melancholy or upset and never when I am happy and cheerful.  I think that you all think I am depressed all the time, and really I am a happy person.

10.  By the end of this year a decision will have been made if  The Son is going to be a one and only or not.  I will either be scheduling a vasectomy for someone, or pregnant, or actively trying.  Not sure which one yet, but one of the three.

11.  We have way more books than we have room for, and yet instead of getting rid of some, we are planning on more book shelves.

12.  I have a huge green wall in my living room and want to have some of my photography printed on canvas and make a cool gallery wall.

13.  I have no idea how to transition The Son from pull-ups to normal underwear for nighttime.

14.  Cold Sassy Tree is in my top three favorite books of all time.

15.  I forget to bring my bible to church EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY.

16.  I like old fashioned names.  Like Martha, Josiah, Ezra, Ruth and Elijah (although that one is getting trendy).

17.  I disliked that my name was so popular, but I love the name itself and the history behind it.

18.  I played in a germy ball pit today.  I had fun and found a token.

19.  I left my mascara in the huckablazer last week and it froze and broke the wand.  I have not yet replaced it and so I have gone sans makeup ALL WEEK.

20.  Are you my Mother is my favorite kids book.  Today anyway, tomorrow it will probably be Green Eggs and Ham again.

21.   I worry about the fact that my grandma keeps losing things from her apartment–for many reasons, but one of which is that some of that stuff will one day be mine.  How horrible is that!?

22.  When I was thirteen I got head lice from sharing a brush with a girl at school.  My hair was super long and it took MONTHS to get rid of.

23.  I have gone from anti-facebook to facebook addict in three months.

24.  What I want more than anything else for my birthday is a clean house.  I mean really, really the pope could come over clean.

25.  I have marked off one of my new year’s to-do list items already.  We have a lovely guest room again and not a storage hole.

26.  You can see the rocket on google earth.

27.   I buy trendy shoes and then only wear my comfy flats.

28.  I swear by consignment shopping.  MOST of my clothes and ALMOST ALL of The Son’s clothing comes from consignment sales.  And you never would have known if I did not tell you.

29.  I need five pillows to sleep.  Two for my head, one on each side, and one for my feet.

30.  I would like you to donate to this for my birthday present.  It is an amazing organization, and all monies go to aid-not proselytizing.  I promise.

thanks for the idea Dr. Ang.

I was going to try to start weaning off of the Lexapro again this month, but I think I need my full dose right now.  Plus some chocolate and a day in the sunshine.

I was thinking today that I wished I was just super irresponsible and got a credit card and charged an awesome midwinter tropical vacation.   Unfortunately even if I were that capricious (hey, I am a Capricorn! TANGENT! Look at the traits for a Capricorn, responsible, ambitious, resourceful, dictatorial, outgoing, distrusting, very loyal.  As a rule I think horoscopes are a bunch of BS, but man is that ever me.), I am married to the most circumspect person on the planet and so that would NEVER happen. Cash or not at all for us Huckablogs.

I have no idea where this post is going. You think I feel bad about leaving my twenties? I don’t THINK so, it is as my dad would say, better than the alternative.   I do wish that I did not have more grey hair than my mother and MMIL combined.  Come on guys, give me pep talk or something to get me out of the funk.

The postcard that is this month’s banner is really a Christmas card but it felt more Januarish to me. The back read:

Mr. Fred J

Union NY

December 24, 1907

Dear Fred,

I am still sick at home.  I am heartily sorry to say that I can’t send you a gift this Chris.  Love to all the family and a Happy Allelluh and New Year.

Unsigned, but came from Tunkhannock, PA, and is a different handwriting than most of them–but I guess it was someone close if they did not even sign it!  Wasn’t that a  depressing card? Sad birds on a cloudy day and hey guess what? I am still sick and you are getting squat for Christmas.

What was that?  Oh, it seems my one remaining reader (hi mom!) wants to see some Christmas pictures before we move on.  Okey-doke.  Christmas is a week long affair which covers several houses for us.  Christmas Eve  morning we make Reindeer food.  The Son and I have been doing this for three years now, and he enjoys it even more each year.

We usually try to invite friends over for this, so of course H was a must.

Recipe for Reindeer food:  Cheap oats, a bunch of  ‘em.  A cupish of sugar for each kid to dump in.  Whatever food stuffs you have laying around that a deer might eat.  This year we added Honey Nut Cheerios and some popcorn.  We have thrown in baby carrots and veggies in the past.  Next a handful of “Christmas Spirit” stars aka, red and green sweet tart stars from the dollar store.   Stir well.  THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU CAN TASTE IT!  I had to say that a few times this year.  Okay then add a full container of  EZfly sparkles  (glitter).   Stir again.  NO EATING EZFLY SPARKLES! No! SON! NO EATING.  I don’t care if you want to fly too!  H! No, it is not funny! Stir some more.  Normally we would then go dump it on the driveway for the reindeer to eat but, this year it was raining (MONSOON!) so we left it in its bucket on the front porch.  Christmas morning the food is gone and snowy deer feet are in it’s place but see above about the rain. Instead the deer  just made a mess on the porch.

After that we all have a nap and then get ready for church.  The Husband, The Son and I were in charge of lighting the Christ candle in the advent wreath–and that went…um, well I guess.  No one ended up in the burn unit.  Halfway through my reading The Son said, “Mama! Ssssh!  We have not put fire on the white one yet!” really loud and made the whole church giggle.

Then we ate yummies with church friends and family and went home to get ready for Santa.

There was Christmas morning at our house, but I only took one blurry picture because I was busy opening presents and such.   Santa brought Buzz and Woody and we got the kid some educational games and such.  Oh! And I got my flash for my camera!   Poor Husband got floor mats for his car.  That was Christmas one.

Christmas two: Down the road, still in our jammies, to my parent’s house.  There it was really all about one thing.  One very big thing.

Here is what happens when an only grandchild says he wants a rocket he can ride in to a semi-retired, mechanical engineer.  All twelve feet of it now resides next to the swing set in our backyard.

Then over to Baby Arwen’s house for her very first birthday!  Can you believe she is one?  Me either.

Next morning we all slept way in and then headed west to the new elderbutnotold Huckablog compound for Christmas three.  What you see here is something my child has wanted for a very long time.  His very own rolling suitcase.  He has been pulling it around and announcing he is getting on a plane to the North Pole.

His Gigi and Pappaw also got him this HUGE talking Rex.  He is very cool, but we learned the hard way to turn him off or when the dog barks Rex’s chatting scares all of us!  In the background you can see S, BiL’s friend.  We all loved her, and are very sad she is back in China now.

This guy is the saddest though.  Oh! he made me YamiYami sauce for Christmas.  I already finished the jar.

Christmas four was with Shoeshe at AlmaMater–um, really it was at a Chuckie Cheese near Alma Mater.  It was my first AND LAST time in one. Mr. Cheese will just have to get along without my family.  There are no pictures of that because I was busy losing tokens left and right.

The final Christmas of the year was in Kentucky to see my Ma.  The only time my camera left it’s bag was on our field trip to Mammoth Cave.  It was big.  Really, Really BIG.  And this one sad blurry picture is all I got of my little trooper who climbed the entire trail, up and down all zillion and a half steps.

This was great–but concerning because of the big holes.  REALLY BIG BOTTOMLESS PIT TYPE HOLES.

Oh, and the huge jagged rocks of death were a wee bit concerning too.

Luckily his daddy never let go of his hand.  His daddy also never watched where, or when, his own head was about to ram into yet another low passageway.  Oh, see all that green stuff?  I thought they were lichens or something, but judging from the fact that I have had a migraine for the last five days and the only thing I am allergic to is mold and mildew–I am thinking it may not have been just lichens.

This is my cousin (actually cousin once removed, but who’s counting) Kenders.  Isn’t she pretty?

She is Gabs’s sister.  Gabs you know right?

So these two sisters are less than 18 months apart in age.  Gabs lives with my Ma  (Gabs’ great grandmother) and Kenders lives with my Aunt, who is her Grandmother.  Ya following this?  According to the adults in these girl’s lives, these girls hate each other. I spent the day with them, and they were perfectly darling to each other.  I think they are just normal teenage sisters who sometimes behave like the insane creatures we all were when teenagers.   I say this to my adult relatives–Stop putting your issues off on your kids.  The end.

And so ends Christmas 2009.  New Years Eve was spent on our way home and we celebrated midnight kissing in our entryway surrounded by suitcases.

Now that you are all caught up about us, what have you been up to these past two weeks?