a well planned surprise....Day 21

Day 21

Around 1pm today I was sitting at my coffee table clipping coupons and getting ready to make a grocery list and my phone rang, it was my friend Susan from CA. She and I have been friends for some time, she lived here and we met though a mommy/playdate type forum and our friendship grew from there. She and her husband moved to CA not long ago with a job change, and I've missed her SO much!! We rely on each other by phone, by email and by IM pretty much daily. We're seriously like bosom buddies, we may have been sisters in a former life... I can absolutely trust her with my feelings, opinion, and thoughts and I know that she's ALWAYS honest with me with her friendship. Those kinds of friends in life are keepers, and our living thousands of miles apart does not change our ability to be "there" for each other in almost every way.

She's in from CA to Virginia to visit her own family for the holidays, she along with her 3yo daughter Katie. I had sent her a email last week asking her what her plans were for this weekend because I really wanted to go try to visit her in VA and she told me that she was visiting a friend up in northern VA and wouldn't be able to meet with me this time.... I was selfishly disappointed.

However... I didn't know that she and my husband were planning a little sneak-a-visit of their own for ME!! When my phone rang, and I was clipping coupons, I saw that it was her and I answered, and I said "hello" and she asked how I was feeling and I told her like CRAP, and she said "wait, do you hear an echo??" I couldn't really make out what she said, and I said "what???" and then around the corner of my kitchen she walked. Honestly, if crying didn't hurt I'd have probably sat there and bawled my eyes out. And for a moment or two during her visit - I did. After my really CRAP week, it was the absolute BEST evening I could ask for. Dinner, drinks, laughter, and friends - that's what I'm talkin about people.

Our kids had so much fun hanging out too ;-)

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

wacky week wrap-up

There's been alot of fluff postin lately... so here's my cliff notes version of the week at our house:

• Big J threw his back out... makes him sound old. Funny thing is he doesn't even know what he did for it to happen. Just stepped a certain way then off to the doctor he went because he could barely move.



• Big E found himself suspended from school for one day, and out of our good graces. I'm not posting all about my kids being perfect angels on here - so there, my kid made SAD choices and as a result, suspended. The deed was dirty, and he's been in serious denial about it. I'm not going to disrespect his privacy totally - so the deed will not be blogged. However, instead of letting him have his suspension day at home - we chose to have him go to an alternative school where part of the day was spent with a life skills/anger management course that was/is intended to discourage this type of deed. We hope it helped. It was an experience for sure! Live and learn, right?

• I went to the doc for a follow up visit, found out more about my "abnormal labwork" and got referred to a rheumatologist because my ANA titer rate was 1:640 and should be 1:40 or less. I'll post more about that too... later. This isn't all brand new to me, but the reality of it is settling in because my problems are internal right now. They've scheduled a hyda scan to determine if I have a diseased gall bladder, ultrasound shows no stones, but thats only one test they do, and after that they'll know what direction to go in - I hope.

• Little J has been chilling out at home alot, homeschool has been really play and learn all week this week and last week - and I've not been camera savvy to take photos, and I've had no real lesson plans this past week because of all these doctors appointments. Next week I hope to be back on track. We have been using Lego's in all sorts of ways to teach and play. Sorting, shapes, counting, building, creating etc. We have created a Lego lovin kid for sure!!

• We went to the pet store with little J one day this week and bought a Crowntail Betta fish that looks just like THIS ONE. I have named him poopface.... well, because that fish poops alot - AND because I have a sick and immature sense of humor I suppose. Not sure what he'll name that fish. At the petstore we had fun looking and learning names of all of the different kinds of fish, and other pets they had! Snakes, lizards, hamsters, cats, etc.

• The highlight of the week for little J was the Day out with Thomas. I'll post all about that in a separate entry...

• One of my neice's is having a birthday Sunday, as is our 7 year wedding anniversary - and next week big E turns ELEVEN and on that same day that he turns ELEVEN, my step-mom turns another year older (ladies never tell - right)!! Then the hubs has a birthday ON Halloween! Lots of celebrations in October...