Simply Stacy

Playin' with the Player!

I am going to tell you a story that happened today and before you keep reading...I must have your word that you will NOT hold this against me. 

Deal? Okay.

Homecoming week is this week and the elementary lets the kids dress up for three days: Monday-Camouflage; Wednesday-College Jersey/TShirt Day; Friday-North Pike Colors.  If you know anything about my boys, you know that Britt was all about Camouflage Day, Charlie not so much. 

Just to give you a little background before I continue.  Britt is my child that took over a week to remember to turn in a signed permission slip for a field trip.  He is also the one who will be taking retakes on school pictures because he "didn't know" he had to hand the photographer the money.  That's a long story that I won't get into now.  When we get onto him about taking responsibility for his papers or homework, heck, when we get onto him about anything his go-to phrase is "I did the best I can." 

How did he get so smart to know that this phrase would work so well for so long?  What are you going to say back to that?  "I knowbut..." is usually my favorite response.  I don't want to say, "No you didn't" when in all actuality he may have.  That would be just saying "Your best isn't good enough."

So, that leads me to today.  I lay out the boys' clothes about half the time since I am not home in the mornings and it helps my sanity because I know they will at least match.  Anyway, I didn't lay out their clothes for Monday and forgot to remind Pat about Camo Day.  No camo clothes were worn by my two. 

Britt comes in from the bus and the first thing he says is that he didn't get to wear camouflage.  I felt bad for him, I really did.  I apologized several times.  Now comes the full fledged milking of the situation.  He went on and on about how EVERYONE had on camo. 

To this I replied, "Charlie didn't."  Hoping to lighten the mood.

He came back with, "They even made up a club for people with camo on at recess and I couldn't join."

That is going a bit far with it little buddy.  Moms can tell when you are lying and you just jumped that creek!  So I come back with, "You know, if it was that important to you, you should have helped us remember it.  After all, we did the best we could." Also giving him that little pitiful look that he gives me when he says it.

He looked at me with more understanding than I expected.  It was as if there was a nonverbal dialog going on between us that if put to words may have gone something like this.

B: Touche.  That's not playing fair.

M: Welcome to my world.

B: I guess I oughta just drop this before it gets any worse.

M: Don't play games with the original player!  Where do you think you got it from? 

B: Don't tell Dad, maybe it will work on him.

And that is how it goes when you have a child that thinks like you.  Now if I can just get him to harness that creative thinking and quickness into something constructive.  

BTW, you all should be thankful for the typepad spell checker.  I don't know if my blog would be readable without it.

I'm Stacy and I'm a Coffeeaholic.

whew.  Glad I got that off my chest. (said in my best Dory from Nemo voice)

I will start our meeting off tonight by saying that until recently I didn't think that I had a problem.  Denial!   But some of the latest developments have made me see things in the truest of lights. 

In my defense, I am not a $5 a cup coffee drinker.  I actually like coffee from my very own coffee maker the best.  If I can't have that I will settle for McDonald's.  While I am being totally honest, I will drink any coffee as long as it is has been made within the last 8 hours or so.  So, a choosy coffee drinker I am not.  

However, I am a creature of habit.  We, as humans, are by nature.  Throw in a little OCD and there you have me...a little more habitual than most. 

I have stated many times before, but will throw it out there again, I travel 3 hours round trip to work 5 days a week.  That's fifteen hours a week that I have to develop my own routines because there is no one with me saying, "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom" or "He hit me" or "Can we get something for a snack?"  It is just my time and I can stop when and where I choose. 

During the Gustav evacuation, I stopped in at one of the many gas stations that I have been in during these last couple of years of my commute.  There were people everywhere trying to get to the pumps and the store was completely crazy inside as well.  I finally got my gas and thought, a cup of coffee would be nice.  So I was off to brave the crowd for coffee.  Which from this particular store usually consists of on 1/3 cappuccino and 2/3 coffee because convenience store cappuccino is really liquid, flavored sugar in a cup with a shot of caffeine. I use it in place of creamer and sugar. 

I walked inside and before I could get three steps toward the coffee, the cashier, whom I now know a Dave, all but screams,  "Hey, I didn't have time to make any cappuccino today."  I looked up to see why he would be yelling this, expecting to see an elderly person slightly hard of hearing, waiting for a response to why they couldn't get the good stuff.  Instead, he was looking directly at ME. 

"Pardon me?" I say so innocently pointing to my chest.

Dave is REALLY busy but he takes the time for me to say, "Yeah, green car, I didn't get your cappuccino made this morning.  Sorry."

"That's okay I say."   a little confused as I walk over to pour some regular coffee.  Thinking, did he just say YOUR cappuccino?  And who is Green Car?

That may have been a turning point to some but no I am really good at this denial thing.  I tell myself that Dave is very observant and besides how can you miss the Bright. Green. Element.  

So tonight I stop for gas, and darn if I didn't end up in the same store.  In my defense, that actually is where my car was when the little yellow light came on.  Which it does far too often. I finished filling the tank and went inside for what else, my coffee/cappuccino. 

I didn't even notice her standing there but over by the subway counter, the nice friendly night clerk says, "Hey, we are out of white chocolate caramel.  But I did refill the french vanilla." 

Now this time it has more than just taken me aback.  They even know my flavor of choice.  Do I really buy that much coffee here? 

That brings me to realization that I am addicted to convenience store coffee/cappuccino.  I never thought that I would have a coffee problem being that I didn't even start drinking the stuff until about five years ago.  I guess it's never too late to develop an addiction. 

At least I made two friends from this deal.  Rachel and Dave no longer say HEY as in hey you or refer to me as Green Car.  They know my name and I know theirs. And that is kinda nice.

Anyone else care to share an addiction, old or new, at tonight's meeting? (Nothing too heavy, I don't want to spill my coffee)

I spend way too much time on the Internet.  But sometimes it can prove to be productive.  I stumbled upon this little gem of a site from Carla's blog...Welcome to Uno Acres.  It is a website that creates word clouds.  You can check it out here.  It can be from random things, websites or feeds.  I made a couple for the boys:

 

 

I haven't checked into printing them out because I am at work and that would just be wrong to use their printer and paper for my personal stuff, right?  I thought so.  I will print them later at home.  They may have to be incorporated into the room decor.

Just some random coolness that I thought I would share with you.  Have a great day.

LSU 26 AUBURN 21

  This week was LSU's first real challenge for the 2008 season.  We traveled to Auburn for the annual Tiger Bowl as some have deemed it.  It was a nail biter and to be quite honest, I was doubting my boys a bit when the Auburn Tigers introduced Hatch to the SEC.  Hatch ran for 12 yards on the previous play and then decided he could do it again.  Not happening said Auburn.  They put a hit on him that could be felt through the television. 

Hatch was walking around looking for the huddle or his momma.  He didn't know what world he was in.  Finally he found a sea of white jersey's that he vaguely recognized and started walking toward the his sideline.  He stopped when he realized they were all telling him to lay down.  I felt sorry for the poor boy. 

Lee came in and with just a few plays had LSU on the board again.  It was a fun game to watch but I really don't think that we need to keep it that close from here on out.  This weekend brings us Mississippi State at home.  Should be fun! 

I will leave you with a picture I found of the creative LSU fans....His mama must be proud!

 

 

The New Specs

I know that you all wanted me to log in over the weekend and post a new picture of the specs, but I didn't have time.  Plus that whole dial up thing!  Anyway, here it is.  The new specs with very long, very past needing a haircut hair. 

You will be pleased to know that I have been wearing them since I got them and I can actually see better.  Okay, another confession.  I was having a lot more trouble seeing than I admitted, maybe even to myself.  I caught myself squinting today when I was reading my computer screen when I didn't even need to anymore.  Also, the drive to work tonight was much clearer.  So I do need them.  And so far I am wearing them.  I am just going to have to get used to them. 

Btw, just to prove that I am married to the right guy...he went out and bought himself some brand new reading glasses just because Saturday morning.  I am not sure if he was trying to make me feel better or he was waiting for me to be the first to cave and get the specs.  Either way it makes me feel better and that is all that counts.

 

 

Ole four eyes, reporting in

Well, I did, in fact, survive the visit to the doctor.  I now I have to schedule and extra trip to my therapist because I am totally depressed.  Not only did he tell me that I needed new glasses.  Apparently, I now have to wear them all of the time.  The glasses I have always worn have been just for my far-sightedness, (Is that a word?)  meaning I only had to wear them to read or see things up close.  I remember the doctor at the time, somewhere around 1987, telling me that it was better to be far sighted because later in life I wouldn't need bifocals, just a stronger prescription.  Not necessarily true.

I have astigmatism.  Apparently it has nothing to do with the actual "old age seeing problems" that most people think of when you can't see at this age.  It has to do with the other old age problems that can happen.  Like your eyes cannot flex to focus as well as they once could so you still cannot see up close.  Then there is this astigmatism thing that makes you near sighted all of a sudden.   I still have not looked up astigmatism to be able to give you a definition but heck you can google it as well as I can.  Maybe someone with good eyes could do that for me and give me the cliff notes of astigmatism in the comments.  Especially, being that I still don't have my glasses that I paid $300 for yesterday. ; ) 

I have to make a few observations about the appointment itself.  I may have been a little off base yesterday.  Well, cut me some slack because I was going on what I remembered from my last appointment, which was one of the triage questions that the cute little girl MADE me answer.  It had been, hold on to you shorts, nine years since my last appointment.  NINE YEARS.  Who says you can't live happily in denial.  I liked it there.  Everything was kinda cloudy but I preferred to relish that hazy without glasses!  I digress.

I think that I only wrote one or two simple sentences about having my eyes dilated.  Heck let me quote myself:

"Not that bad.  Doesn't hurt, and is just mildly aggravating for a few hours."

That was before I had the already crummy vision.  I couldn't see a thing!  I couldn't tell what time it was on my phone, watch, or the clock in the Element.  Couldn't see!  It is a scary place to be.  I called Pat by just using the keystrokes that I have used so many times.  He offered to drive me home.  My reply, "I will be fine; I can see far off...sorta.  Hey, what time is it?"  We said our goodbyes and he said again, "Are you sure you don't want me to come get you?"  Me: "No, I will be fine.  See you later."  Then after I hang up..."I hope."  I don't know if that was I hope I get home alive or I hope I will someday be able to see again.  Both were pretty close to reality right then.

The other thing that I have to clear up and give Dr. Sanders props for is that he did his own this one or this one test.  And it was much shorter than I had remembered.  He was very sweet at the beginning of the appointment when I told him I was worried that it was just old age....he said oh no I'm much older than you.  That was before he really looked up from my chart and realized that he knew me; that we graduated together and we are the same age.  Makes him a good doc in my book!

I will be going to pick up my glasses sometime today.  Don't give me grief if I am not wearing them when you see me.  It will take some time to get used to the idea and the glasses.  I am working on that.  With God's help I will be compliant in no time I am sure.  Though, It may be when Dr. Sanders decides I can have contacts!

I have a confession

I detest going to the Optometrist.  I know it seems silly, but it wouldn't seem silly if I said I don't like going to the dentist would it?  Lots of people have an aversion to the smile doctor but it just doesn't bother me.  I guess because I got used to going as a child and I never really had a hard time there.  Sure it hurt at times but it was worth it in the end.  I am not saying that I love going but I wouldn't categorize it as an aversion.

The Optometrist?  Hate going.  I have tried to think back as to what could have happened to make me feel this way.  Was it because of something that happened as a child?  I can't remember anything.  I just don't like going.  Is it something that he does that I don't like? 

Now, I do not like that pressure test where they blow in your eyes.  Not at all, but it is not as bad as say, a trip to the gynecologist's office.  Still, I hate going to eye doc worse than the lovely visit that involves stirrups, cold metal apparatuses and discussions of hormones. 

The dilation of the eyes?  Not that bad.  Doesn't hurt, and is just mildly aggravating for a few hours. So what else is there?

The eye exam.  Maybe getting a little closer.  Sitting still with my chin in that little holder while someone gets that close to my eyes, not fun.  But I feel like I can tolerate it for a short period and it usually is a fairly short amount of time because this is what the doctor himself does.  You know he isn't going to stay in that room for too long.  

Ahhh, the questions that follow once they determine you are going to need glasses.  I believe that is the root of the problem for me.  I detest the "Which one is better? One?"  click.  "Or two?"    

I start off fairly optimistic about the whole thing but by the end I just want to stand up and scream at the nice lady who keeps having to go back to number one so I can see that it is, indeed, THE SAME as number two.  Didn't the doctor just use some fancy smancy instrument to determine what my prescription should be?  Now you want ME to decide if the instrument was right.  Is that really how this works?  I have to look at a MILLION slides and pick which one is better to determine what final adjustments you will put on my lenses.  Seriously?  By the end I feel like just saying TWO to all of them.  (Because if you say one, you may get in a hurry and say it before they show you two and you will be busted for sure.)  But then I think that it may negatively effect my prescription.  So, I honestly look at these infinitesimally different slides to see which "I" like better. 

By this point I can't see.  I am have been struck blind with aggravation and the pressure on me to make my own diagnosis.  I didn't go to school for this.  And frankly speaking if we were to do this in my field (medical technologist), we would ALL be in a lot of trouble. 

"Mam, we know what your glucose really is, but let's see what you think.  Pick a number between one and 300."  Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  This may be why the pick one or two test sounds so ludicrous to me.  You give me some blood and I give you results, in number form, that are the values of the tests that you ordered for that patient.  We run the tests and get results, if no results are gotten, we run more test to get results.   That's how my mind works, in exact sciences.  It's hard wired that way; they did that to us in Med Tech school.  It's not my fault.

Now, let's move on, even though we seem to have found the problem. ;) 

Once you are through guessing at the adjustments on your lenses, you get to pick out new frames if you so chose.  I always so chose because of the length of time that goes by in between visits.  My old glasses are so old they usually have some sort of comment like, "Wow!  Hey Jane, remember these?  They were so cool."  This prompts me to want the absolute coolest frames in the office because I don't want to seem uncool now. 

Problem.  The coolest frames in the office, often are synonymous with the most overpriced trendy frames we carry.  So usually I settle for some equally cool, significantly cheaper, a little less trendy, frames that I like.  After all, I can't go too trendy because God only knows how long it will take me to muster the courage to go through this again. 

It is T minus four hours until appointment time and I am feeling like complete vision in both eyes may be overrated more and more with every second.  I will not cancel this appointment!  At least that is what I will be saying to myself. 

Wish me luck!

Reality Check

As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged in a few days.  Busy?  Yes, but that is nothing new. 

Actually, I have been hit with a reality check.  I am getting old.  And this realization comes not with a birthday or a life event.  It comes little by little until you finally have to acknowledge it.  Here's a recap:

Having a little trouble with my eyesight.  I need to start wearing myglasses.  You know, the reading glasses that were first prescribed to me in high school, so surely this has nothing to do with age.  I just need to start wearing them.  I started wearing them and they were not really helping.  Oh, well.  I just need new glasses, I say to myself.  After all it has been way too long since I had an eye exam and new prescriptions.  I will work that in sometime.  

Fast forward two or three weeks.  Now they have a little worse and I am getting headaches because of it.  No problem, nothing a little Excedrin can't handle.  I really should make that appointment.  Maybe next week. 

Next week or so.  Still no appointment.  The eyes aren't causing these headaches daily.  It must be the weather.  With all of the hurricanes and low pressure floating around in the south, my head should be hurting.  It always does when the pressure changes drastically.  I will wait it out.  Maybe next week.

This week.  Headaches everyday and now the Excedrin is causing me to have heartburn.  What?  I haven't had heartburn since I was pregnant.  OH NO!  That's not what's going on , is it?  Check it out.  No, thank you God!  Still having headaches and blurry vision now more in one eye than the other.  I think, now that I can't take the Excedrin, my head hurts so bad that it may be causing me to just squint to keep out the light.  Maybe it is the headaches causing the blurriness. 

I woke up this afternoon (my morning) and it just hit me like a ton of bricks.  I am denying that I can't see as I once could. One's vision changes around this time in life.  Yes, I am nearing 40 and the reality is not only can't I see as well, apparently I am prone to the downward spiral of health issues if I don't resolve the cause. 

Tomorrow I am resolving the cause...8:15 appointment with Dr. Sanders.  Wish me luck.  At least I should get some new glasses out of the deal!

Soccer

The boys have started soccer and I have to tell you that it makes for a fun outing to watch them play.  Britt, as is usually the case, is really not into it.  He says that he loves soccer but when he actually gets there he is just not "into" the game.   It is evident in this picture where he is more into aiming at the birds flying over than what is going on in the soccer game. 

 

He does well when he actually pays attention though.  He still says he is having fun even though he is spending most of his time on the bench playing with the other kids.  He is just so not into sports.  I can't wait until he is old enough to start competitive shooting.  I think that he will be much more into that!  He did play a little today though and here is the proof.

 

Charlie is playing as well and he is loving it.  I think that he is going to be more into sports than Britt. 

Soccer at this age is just one huge clump of kids kicking each other and every now and then they actually kick the ball.  That is when one of them hasn't fallen on it.  I love watching them play sports before it becomes so competitive.  Charlie actually got an assist.  He threw the ball in, right to his teammate, who kicked it in for a goal!  Way to go, Charlie!  Here's the picture of that play.  (Sorry about the unedited pictures, I didn't have time to photoshop them before coming to work tonight.)

   

I am enjoying soccer but I have to say that with both of them playing and on two separate fields, it is a little hectic.  I will be glad when our schedule calms down a bit and we get our Saturdays back! 

What makes you Happy?

I was driving to work last night and surfing around the XM channels.  I came across a song that I haven't heard in a long time.  I realized that within the three or so minutes of listening to that song, my mood had gone from nothing is wrong but I really don't want to be going to work to man I am so happy to have heard that. 

I started thinking about what makes me happy.  Not just that was nice but man I want more of that happy.  So here is my list:

 

1.  The A-ha moments with God.  You know those times that after all these years as a Christian, you read something that you may have heard or read before but God shows you a whole new meaning for it.  I call those the A-ha moments.  It is proof to me that He is alive and well and living in me.

 

2.  Hot out of theoven chocolate chip cookies.  I know that food is not a substitute for the emotional shortcomings in your life, butman, a good chocolate chip cookie truly does make me happy even if it is only temporarily. And I always want more.

   

3.  LSU football.  Especially when viewed from Tiger Stadium.  I love the excitement, the noise, the cheers, the competition, the whole experience. 

4.  When my boys unexpectedly say sweet things or bring me flowers.  Nothing makes happier than knowing that they love me.  Despite the fact that they will probably be in of therapy from some of my crazy antics!

    

5. Music.  It has always been a huge part of my life.  I have loved it since I was a toddler.  I can be in the middle of a horrible day and listening to some great tunes always makes it better.  I love almost every kind of music from Christian praise to R&B and I still listen to it LOUD and sing along in the car by myself.

6. Friends.  A good conversation with a good friend makes me happy for days.

I am sure that if I had more time I could come up with more.  So I guess that's my top six in no particular order because I would never put chocolate chip cookies before my boys and friends.  Now it's your turn.  What makes you happy?  Don't be afraid to leave it in comments.  ; )