update

I know I'm supposed to be typing but I had so much to blog that I decided to write it down before I forgot something.

Tuesday night, Brittanie went to work and asked her manager if she could talk to him about transferring to the Red Bank Sonic. She was thinking since they are hurting for workers so bad, they may pay her a little more. Well her manager freaked out and told her he didn't want to lose her and if it is about gas money, how much would it take to get her to stay with them on #1. She said she didn't want to overshoot it so for him to tell her what he had in mind. She got a raise to $6 after only 3 weeks on the job (she has been there since November) and last night, he gave her $6.50 an hour and told her once she passes her master test (which should be in a week or two) that she will get $7 an hour and become a car hop and start making tips. One night, one of their car hops was working alone and made $80 in tips! Brittanie was there that night. That's what got her all fired up to be a car hop. Anyway, her manager told her that he values her as an employee because she is very honest....he said he knows that if he left a hundred dollar bill by her, he could come back hours later and it would still be there. He told her she was dependable and hard working as well and he wants to keep her. So she is staying on #1 and so happy. Sonic really knows how to treat their employees!!!

Tuesday, Katie asked her daddy if one day he would take her to see God. He told her he doesn't think he can do that. She said "But I love him. I want to meet him." I thought it was too sweet not to share.

Now on to today. I got up this morning and took a shower. Tom came home early to take Katie to the doctor for me not only because I need to type but because she was going to get another Rocephin shot for the second time this week and I HATE going to do that. It breaks my heart to watch her get a shot. Well when Tom got here to pick up Katie, I was getting her dressed and that's when I noticed that the bottle of children's chewable Tylenol (Walgreen's brand) was open and empty. I nearly had a heart attack. Katie admitted to eating them because "they taste so good." We started counting how many would have been in the bottle. I bought it brand new Monday with 30 tablets and gave her 10 to 12 tablets this week. That means she could have taken 20 tablets of chewable Tylenol. Tom took her immediately to the Emergency Room. I called Brittanie's school to get her to come home so she could pick up Taylor from school. As soon as she got home from school, I went to the ER to meet Tom and Katie. They gave Katie charcoal to drink, which she eventually threw up. The toxic level for Tylenol is 140. Her level on the first blood test was 40. The second blood test showed a level of 25. So she was ok. But to say it scared us to death would be an understatement. So we spent 5 hours in Lexington Medical Center Emergency Room today. As soon as we got home, we gave Katie a bath and Tom, Brittanie and Taylor left to go to Tennessee. They are going to the Saturday Showcase at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee. Katie was supposed to be staying with my inlaws. But since Tom's uncle passed away yesterday, they are going to take Katie with them to the funeral in Myrtle Beach tomorrow instead of staying at their house. This was an exhausting day. I do have a couple of cute stories from the ER visit. She never showed signs of an overdose. She was happy and hyper like normal. At one point, I was hugging her and she said "I need to throw up." So I told Tom to grab a pan and hurry. She said "Yeah daddy! Hurry up!" So he rushed the pan to her and she make a fake puke sound and then said "ummm maybe not! HAHAHAHAHAHA" She thought that was so funny. She is a nut! Then later, Tom was sitting in a chair against the wall and he picked her up and she hit her head on the wall behind his head and she immediately smacked him across the forehead and said "you did that on purpose!" She was too funny to get mad at her. She also had fun playing pretend with the curtain in the Emergency Room. One time she pretended it was her shower curtain and she was taking a shower. The next time she was pretending she was in church behind the curtain.

I'm exhausted and going to bed.....with the phone so I will know when Tom makes it to the hotel in TN. G'night yall!

My job

I am extremely behind in my job and it is my own fault. So I have let my boss know that I will be totally caught up by March 1st or I will resign. I don't want to lose my job. I just want to be caught up and less stressed. My boss is stressed over this as well. So I will not be blogging anything until March 1st. I won't be on myspace or e-mail either. Please don't call for me unless it is an emergency.

Update

Tom is much better. He wouldn't go to the doctor yesterday....that's why I didn't update. He was able to stay up for 4 hours at a time. Today was even better but he did lay down periodically and by 9:30pm he was weak and went to bed. I told him I think he needs one more day to get totally back to normal because he can't lay down at work. Who knows if he is doing to listen to me or not. But now Katie is running fever. So I'm going to take her to the doctor tomorrow at 12:30. I was queasy today and had to lay down. Hopefully we won't get it as bad as Tom did. But when Katie doesn't feel good, she doesn't want me. She always wants Tom. Today she was laying on him with her head either buried under his left arm or on his chest. I wasn't fast enough to get the picture of her head under his arm before she lifted her head.....so that's what this picture is:
This picture is obviously the one with her head on his chest:
Thanks to everyone who prayed. It definitely helped!! Keep praying!

Update on Tom

Tom couldn't go to work again today. While the vomiting has stopped, his nasty headache persists and he is still very weak. He was able to sit up for about 45 minutes tonight around 9pm. But he had to go back to bed because he was queasy again and running fever.

His boss called me this afternoon and reminded me about the recall of the Peter Pan peanut butter. I looked at ours and sure enough, it was one of the ones recalled. I remember Tom eating a spoon of it....as did Taylor at the same time. Tom claims that was last week. I swear it was this week. But I couldn't convince him to go to the doctor or hospital. I think he is just too weak and doesn't want to move. But tomorrow morning he IS going to the doctor and if I have to dress him myself, pick him up and put him in my rolling office chair and roll him to the van, I will.

I will update again when we get home from the doctor tomorrow. Please everyone keep praying for him!!

Keep em coming!

Thanks to everyone who is praying for me. I don't want to go into details on here but I feel much better and alot less scared than I did and I know it is because all of you are praying. So thanks and keep the prayers coming!

Please pray for Tom as well. I don't know exactly what is wrong with him. Valentine's night, he was fine and in a great mood. He grilled some steaks for us and we all ate and enjoyed being with the kids. About an hour after we ate, he started coughing. He took some over-the-counter cough syrup and went to bed around 11. But yesterday morning, when he got up he looked like he had been beaten but he was dressed for work.....that's Tom...don't call in, crawl in. But after taking Katie to school, he realized he was just too sick to go. He came back home and went to bed around 8:30 and he hasn't left the bed since....it is 6:06am now. He isn't running fever. But I am still worried that he may have the flu. The flu packs a punch all at once. I did give him something for pain around 2:30 yesterday because his head was killing him. But if he is still like this today, I'm taking him to the doctor for a flu swab because if it is the flu, the first 24 to 48 hours is critical. If you don't start the Tamiflu then, you are in for weeks of having the flu instead of just a couple of days. So please pray for Tom and I'll keep everyone updated.

Out of the mouths of babes

Last night while we were eating dinner, Tom, Taylor, and I were discussing how things are different in Louisiana than they are here. We were talking about my mom thinking it is stupid that people in South Carolina consider "hell" a curse word. That's why it was so hard for me to break the habit of saying "what the hell?" when I first came here. Katie had remained quiet through the discussion and then when there was a lull in the conversation she said "That's the lake of fire. It is a terrible place. That's why you aren't supposed to say that word." We were stunned! She is 4 years old and in 3-year-old kindergarten (because of her birthday being in October). Grace has taught her sooooooooooo much!!! Her teacher is just incredible.

She should have been a boy!

Katie came in here a minute ago and told me "Mom, I killed a fly in my playroom and you know what sound it made?" I said I didn't know. She picked up a chip and put it in her mouth and crunched it. Then went on to explain to me how she stepped on it with her shoe and it broke into a bunch of pieces. That is so gross. Brittanie still won't step on a bug...not even a fly. But Katie not only steps on them, she gives us a recap of it. Ewwwww!

Zen and the Wisdom of Life

Zen and the Wisdom of Life


1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.

2. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.

4. Always remember you are unique -- just like everyone else.

5. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

6. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

7. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.

8. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

9. Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink all day.

10. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

11. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

12. Some days you are the bug; some days you are the windshield.

13. Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.

14. Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

17. Duct tape is like the Force--It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

19. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

21. We are born naked, wet, and hungry, and get slapped on our butt...then things get worse.

22. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.

23. There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness".

24. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

25. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

Please pray for our family

Tom's grandmother (his mom's mom) passed away at 3am Monday morning in a hospital in Florence, SC. She had been in the hospital for a few weeks and was refusing treatment. She just wanted to be allowed to die in peace and join her husband that she had lost almost 18 years ago. She was 76 and will be greatly missed. She was an excellent grandmother/great grandmother. We really loved her. She was Tom's last surviving grandparent. Thankfully, Tom's parents went to Florence and picked her up and brought her here to see us on Christmas eve and then again Christmas morning so they could watch our girls open their gifts. She really loved our girls. She didn't get to see Brittanie much growing up but when my in-laws would keep Katie, she got attached to Katie. Katie adored her too. She is definitely going to be missed.

To make things worse, Tom's parents are sick and have been since at least Thursday of last week. It sounds like the flu complete with stomach problems. But they are going to be coming down here today (Tuesday) to make arrangements anyway. Losing a parent is horrible enough. But it is most definitely worse when you are this sick on top of it.

So please remember our family in your prayers as we say our last goodbyes.

Now that's MY kind of Superbowl shuffle!!!

Well the Colts sent the Chicago Bears "shuffling" back to the windbag...errrr windy city! I LOVED IT!!! Isn't it great to see the obnoxious fall? I was doing a happy dance!! Tony Dungy's son is probably looking down and so proud of his dad and his Colts today! I have heard Peyton Manning compared to the GREAT Dan Marino. I'm so glad that he didn't meet the same fate as Dan....a spectacular career but no Superbowl ring to show for it. Aside from seeing the Bears lose, the highlight of the night for me is usually the commercials. This year, I was pretty disappointed in the commercials. Bud never disappoints. But no one else made a commercial worth mentioning. I don't understand the point of the Coke and Frito Lay commercials. The message we got from it was "Who knew black men could coach?" Why is everyone making such a big deal of black men coaching? There are black men across the country that are good at what they do. There are good black athletes, good black coaches, good black teachers, good black principals, good black programmers, etc. Why were we making such a big deal out of like it is such a surprise that black coaches could be in the Superbowl? It didn't suprise us at all. Greatness comes in all colors.

Anyway, my favorite commercial (even though I an adamantly opposed to drinking) is a Bud commercial. Here it is for anyone who missed it:

Such a good daddy!

Katie and Tom have a ritual that they do every night before bed. Katie picks how Tom puts her to bed every night. One night may be the airplane, the next the car (my personal favorite), sometimes a horse...like tonight. She has tons of them. Tonight I got pictures of Tom doing the horsey thing, which consists of Katie on Tom's back with him running through the house like a horse a few times before tucking her in. No matter what she chooses, she gets a wild ride. Here are the pictures:
She is reminding me more and more of her daddy these days. Last night she flat out refused to tell Brittanie she was sorry for throwing lip gloss at her because she said Brittanie was "ragavating her." Today she refused to say please when asking Brittanie to get her something to drink. She said she hates "that please word." She only hates it when dealing with Brittanie. She never fails to say please and thank you to me and Tom. lol But the real similarity to her dad is intolerance/impatience. My mom often has trouble understanding Katie because not only is she 4 but she has a southern accent. Well Katie got mad at my mom last night for not being able to understand her and told her she didn't love her anymore and she was mad because there is something wrong with her ears! This morning she got up and wasn't mad anymore when she talked to my mom. But this afternoon, when she talked to her again, she was screaming into the phone "THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR EARS!!!!!" over and over again and then hung up on her. I couldn't help but laugh but not in front of her. I have to teach her manners but it was still funny!

Brittanie's project

In Brittanie's American Military History class, the teacher split everyone into groups and assigned them each a branch of the military to research and do a poster on. Brittanie LOVES all things Army and her teacher knew this, so she was hoping to be placed in the Army group. The teacher, I am assuming, wanted her to learn about a different branch since she knew so much about the Army already so she placed her in the Air Force group, which she was not happy about. She is the only girl in the Air Force group. They each had a piece of information to gather and pictures. Brittanie hates working on a group project because she is very very particular about making it the best and most people don't care enough to put much effort into a project. Well this project was just a poster board of information about the Air Force. She offered to assemble the poster herself at home and the guys were very happy with that. Well she wasn't happy with the hand written write ups or the black and white huge pictures the guys gave her so she basically redid everything herself. The teacher told them to get a map and show 5 bases of that branch on the map and not all in the US. She saw some of the other posters that were submitted and most were hand drawn or printed from a book and marked with a dot made by a black marker to indicate the bases. Brittanie wanted to do better so she got her plain map, colored it and grabbed a picture of a tiny American flag and put the flag on the five bases instead of a black dot. What I find funny is that she didn't put a flag in South Carolina. She said everyone knows we have a base here. She wanted to show places where people may not know there is a base. Here is the finished product. (Click it to make it larger.)

One part of the project included putting any family members you have in that particular branch on your poster. So here is the list from her group. Brittanie's entries are obviously last. She left out Uncle Harvel, unfortunately. She didn't know he was in the Air Force too. (By the way, she does know her Grandpa's first name. She always calls him Grandpa and it was glued before she realized she didn't put his first name. )

A little dusting of snow

This morning around 9:30am, it started snowing. It didn't last long and only gave us a little dusting but it thrilled the girls. They were supposed to go to school at 10. But I didn't want Brittanie driving in that so I kept them home. Katie didn't have school at all today. As you can see in the pictures, it didn't accumulate much but in South Carolina, that's all it takes to make kids happy!