Jody's Blog

School days, school days

2008-08-29T06:34:00.003-06:00

Okay, everybody's jumping on this blogging bandwagon, so I'm going to give it a try, too. I tried for awhile, but my thoughts were so all over the place, and a serious lack of time prevented me from getting into it. However, lately I've been thinking that maybe actually putting some of my thoughts in print, however random, might be helpful.

Jonson has begun his 3rd year (5th grade) at Fannie Mae Caldwell Elementary, so he's been there now as long as he was at Quanah Parker Elementary in Midland. The transition was not easy for him, especially considering the circumstances under which the move was made, but he's done very well. He struggled a bit last year, but he's a G/T student, and we're all planning on being up in his kool-aid more this year to keep him motivated. He's gonna love that!

And what can I say about Joseph? He's a Jekyll and Hyde type of child. He's either sweet, loving, and cooperative, or a wild, spinning, running, jumping, rude, what in the heck where you thinking when you did that, type. He (and his wonderful teacher, Breanna Barlow), survived kindergarten, and he's made it to first grade. His teacher this year, Mrs. Ruckriegel, has either met her match, or she'll whip him into shape. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the latter!

I'm still struggling with organization and moving boxes that haven't been unpacked, even after 2 years. While caring for John, I didn't have the time or energy. I now have the time, and probably energy, just not for THAT. I have a laundry list of chores that I carry over from week to week, but I do manage to mark a few of them off every once in awhile. I guess I lack the motivation, and then there are days like yesterday. The morning started off very well. The boys were ready when Russ came to take them to school, and I was getting a few things done, when I realized Jonson had not taken his medicine. I jumped in the shower so I could go up to the school and take care of that. As I was getting out of the shower, the doorbell rang. I was obviously in no position to answer the door, so I finished getting ready to head out. When I walked into the office, I saw Dixie running around in the front yard! She was very anxious to get back into the house, but there was no sign of Pidgeon. I checked the backyard, thinking maybe she'd had the good sense not to escape with her naughty sister, but no such luck. As I'm walking back towards the frontdoor, the doorbell rings again. It's my next door neighbor, Belinda, with Pidgeon, who is incredibily stinky, having rolled in something while enjoying her freedom. So, I get the dogs corralled, shut the gate that allowed them to make their escape, and go up to the school, only to be told by Jonson he DID take his medicine. I have my doubts, but I'm not going to argue with him in the school office. Back home to go to music class with Jacey and Lillie. All the babies were so cute (especially ours in their matching outfits), and they interacted with each other very well. It was very enjoyable watching them, and was definitely the highlight of the day!

Creepy Crawlies

2007-09-02T21:11:00.000-06:00

I knew it was time for the exterminator to come out again. I was seeing "signs". A little bug here, a little bug there, but nothing too big or scary, at least until the other morning. Joseph has a bug phobia, though, so according to him, everything is big and scary. It was right before school started. I was in my bathroom, and since I'd taken a shower the night before, I was going to just wet my hair in the bathtub. I always have serious bedhead, and it seems the only way to tame it is to get it completely wet. Since I keep my hair short, I haven't quite figured out why this is necessary, but it seems to be the only way that works. Anyways...I took my glasses off, grabbed a towel, and leaned over to turn the water on. Keep in mind that I am SERIOUSLY nearsighted, so everything is very fuzzy without corrective lenses. I saw something move in the tub, and had to seriously bite my tongue to keep from screaming. Although I wasn't sure what it was, since I couldn't see it clearly, it seemed to be about the size of a scorpion. I grabbed my glasses to check it out before deciding what my next move would be. It wasn't a scorpion (thank goodness), but it was a baby salamander, about an inch long. I considered calling Jennika to see if Russ had left for work, but decided instead to roust Jonson out of bed. He was not happy about that, but he did manage to catch the "sally" in a cup (minus his tail), and redeposit him outside. The rest of the day was uneventful, which was good, since after that adrenaline rush so early in the morning, I wasn't up for any more excitement!

Rants and Raves and Other Things!

2007-08-10T08:24:00.000-06:00

The boys are driving me CRAZY! Thank goodness school starts in 18 days! I get it. They're bored. We haven't done any summer camps this year. With the new babies, it just hasn't worked out. But it's not like they've just been sitting at home twiddling their thumbs 24/7! They've been to Colorado for a week, where they got to play with their cousins, Byron Hosier and Andrew Moore, and attend a Renaissance Festival. Joseph has attended several birthday parties, and had a birthday party of his own at Pump It Up, and when presented with opportunities to do other things, they whine and complain about it so much, that it ends up not even being worth the effort. Take last night for instance. Jillan and Lee have bought a house in Round Rock, and they were going over there to do some work, and took the boys with them. The first thing Joseph does is go around and mess with exposed electrical cords and cable wires...so he's been banned from visiting house, swimming pool and new friend, Tyler, that lives across the street for a couple of days. Later the same evening, after dinner, Jillan and Lee go back to get in a little more work, and Jonson goes with them to "help". I see trouble coming with this scenario from the get-g0, but keep my fingers crossed that it will work out. Alas, my intuition proved correct. I'm not sure of the details, but it now appears Jonson, too, has been banned from the Hanel's new house for a couple of days as well! It's been a long time since I've been a stay at home mom! I don't think I'm a total bust at it, but I'm sure I was much better 21 years ago!

John continues to grow weaker, but his condition hasn't changed markedly in a couple of weeks. He is still ambulatory, but it takes him a lot longer to walk from his wheelchair in the living room to the bathroom. We have a wonderful CNA, Kristina Elizondo, who comes out 3 times a week to help him bathe, and we've found a great lady, Margie Davis, who comes twice a week and sits with John so I can get out and run errands. That will be nicer once school starts, and I don't have whining, complaining boys along for the ride! (See paragraph above!) John is having more difficulty controlling his right hand, which is making it more difficult, and taking longer to get in and out of the van, and with this August heat, we haven't been taking too many road trips. He and the "big boys" (Lee and Russ) went to see The Bourne Ultimatum last Sunday, though, and he's made several trips in his wheelchair over to Jennika's house, so he continues to get out quite a bit.

The babies are growing like the proverbial little weeds. It won't be long until Lillie's sitting up on her own, she's almost there now. Once she gets that figured out, I predict there will be no stopping her. She's very curious, and much like her mother was as a baby. She isn't going to waste a lot of time just sitting around. She'll be crawling and walking before we're all ready. She is a really beautiful, sweet baby, and Jacey isn't far behind her. He's catching up, and I'm pretty sure it won't be long until they're about the same size. The girls already get asked if they're twins when they're out together. Jacey has the brightest smile, and he looks and acts an awful lot like Jonson did as a baby, but with Lillie to lead the way, I'm betting these two are going to give us all a run for our money! Of course, I'm sure Jonson and Joseph will be up to their eyeballs into whatever shenanigans the little ones might come up with!

Vacation, Doggie drama, and misc ramblings

2007-07-10T19:13:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it to the Hosier Cousins reunion at Estes Park and back relatively unscathed. The plane trip to Denver was very uncomfortable for John. Fortunately, it was under two hours. The trip home was a little better because we figured out a way to get his head up some and keep him from scooting so far down in the seat. We had had a pretty bad experience with Frontier Airlines when we flew to Denver for Jennika's wedding, so we were all apprehensive about this trip flying Frontier. I will have to say they did a much better job, but as far as airlines go, I'm still a big fan of Southwest. They are much more accomodating, and their personnel are more helpful and friendly.

Now for the doggie drama. I found a "bargain" petsitter out in Cedar Park. We have two dogs, Dixie and Pidgeon. Both females. Both Type A, Alpha female dogs. For the most part, they tolerate each other. Every once in awhile, one of them feels put upon by the other, and a fight breaks out. Blood has been spilled, but most of the time, they actually seem to like each other. I knew, however, that this could be a problem if other dogs were brought into the mix. I found this dog sitter on Craigslist. I spoke to the owner and her husband, explained at length to both of them the importance of keeping our dogs separated from one another. No problem. I was assured over and over that the dogs would be kept separately and be well supervised. The girls have been kenneled before, and there's never been a problem, so I didn't anticipate a problem this time. Boy, was I wrong. Saturday evening I got a voicemail from Mr. Trotter informing that Dixie had been severely injured in a fight with Pidgeon. He recommended putting her down. After several calls to the vet, and with Trotter, we made the decision to wait until morning to see how Dixie was doing. There didn't seem to be significant blood loss, but there was concern that there could be muscle or tissue damage to her neck. When I spoke to the vet on Sunday morning, Dixie was up and about in her cage, and responding to the vet and the technicians. I'm not going to go into a lot of details since we intend to take legal action against these people in small claims court, but a word of warning...cheaper is not usually better, and avoid Triple A Petsitters in Cedar Park at all costs!

Scatterbrained

2007-06-07T18:24:00.000-06:00

I'm not very good at keeping up with the blogging thing. I just find that too many things distract me. Perhaps I suffer from adult onset ADD! I think, though, I just get started on something, then the phone rings, or the boys have a disagreement that needs to be settled, or John needs help, so off I go, and on my way to answer the phone, separate the boys, or to help John, I usually see another task that needs to be taken care of, so off I go! The other morning, for example, I was reading the newspaper at 9:30. John needed to go to the bathroom, so off we went. While I was waiting, I decided to sort the laundry and make the bed. The phone rang, I answered that, loaded the clothes in the washer, got John settled back in the living room. Kristina, the CNA from Hospice came, and I feed John and the boys breakfast and lunch. It was 3:00 before I got back to the newspaper. I had completely forgotten that I had started to read it!

In addition to being already scatterbrained, we have two new babies in the family, Lillie Rosalie Hanel, born at 12:14 AM on March 1, and John Clark "Jacey" Johnson, born at 1:45 AM on May 13, so in my defense, there have been a lot more distractions than usual the last 3 months!

We are all packing up and heading to Estes Park, Colorado for the Hosier family reunion next week. It will definitely be an interesting trip, traveling with John and all his paraphernalia, and two babies and all their paraphernalia. Hopefully we will get there with all our stuff!

Infomercial Strikes Again!

2007-05-09T11:28:00.000-06:00

Okay. I admit it. I'm ALMOST as much of an infomercial nut as Joseph is! Gadgets just catch my attention. I have (or should say, had) a Shark handy sweeper. I've got the One Touch can opener, and a Bullet. I have a vacuum food sealer, and Spacebags, and those are just the ones I can remember right off the top of my head. Well, the other day, we saw and infomercial for a "Tater Mitt". I say "we" because I actually had adult accomplices this time. Russ and Jillan were quite taken with the Tater Mitt, too. My first inclination was to order three of them, but after giving it some thought, I'll just order one, and if it works, then I'll order one for Jillan and Russ.

Mismatched shoes

2007-04-13T10:04:00.000-06:00

Well, it would seem that I have finally lost it completely. (As if there might have been any doubt before!) Monday, I got up, took my shower, got dressed, took Jonson to school. Came back home. Got Joseph up and ready and took him to school. I just drop Jonson off at the front of his school, but I do have to take Joseph in, and sign him in. After that, I came home, and went about my day. I kept thinking there was something odd feeling about my right shoe, but I thought the sock had just gotten wrinkled up in the heel area, and not wanting to be obsessive/compulsive about my shoes and socks like Jonson is, and Joseph is becoming, I chose to ignore the odd little feeling. When Jennika and Russ came by that evening for supper, I commented on the odd feeling I'd had in my shoe all day, and finally about 8:30 that evening, while we were all sitting in the living room, took my shoes off. No one said a word about anything being odd about my shoes, but when I went to pick them up to go to bed, ohmygosh! I'd been wearing two different shoes ALL DAY LONG! I have two pairs of tennis shoes, Avias and Reeboks, both very similar in style. The reason I bought the Reeboks is because the Avias had been hurting my big toe and the toe next to it on my right foot. I did find this little gel toe separator at Wal Mart one day, which apparently was the annoyance under my heel all day. I really have no defense for this one. The trim on the Avias is lime green, and the trim on the Reeboks is baby blue. I hope this is not a sign of things to come!

Soccer, Garage Sales, and New Babies

2007-03-08T17:55:00.000-06:00

Such a lot has happened since my last blog. Joseph started his second season of soccer Saturday. He played the spring season in Midland, but didn't play in the fall. He said he was wanting to play again, so we got him enrolled, and Russ and Tika are the "designated soccer parents"! I think Russ was a little puzzled about this, thinking that he wasn't going to have to do that duty until Jacey played, but I explained I was just delegating duties! Jennika and I weren't able to attend his first soccer game Saturday morning, because we were manning the garage sale. We didn't have much luck. I'm not sure if it was the weather, which was very windy, and pretty chilly, or because it was the begining of soccer season. The guys did haul off a lot of stuff to Goodwill, though, and both the Cook and Johnson garages are not looking quite so scary!

And on to better things! Jillan kept insisting that Lillie was going to arrive earlier than her due date of March 19. In fact, she seemed pretty certain that Lillie would be born on March 3. Miss Lillie, however, had other ideas! Jillan was at work on Wednesday, February 28, when her water broke. They put gas in their car, then headed back to New Braunfels in a quite calm and timely manner. She showered and changed at home, got her gear, stopped at Chick Fil A for a bite to eat, and then checked in at the hospital where they confirmed that her water had indeed broken and she was dilated to 4 centimeters. I think Jillan and Lee were much calmer than those of us here in Round Rock. We were scrambling around, making arrangements for the boys, and pretty much running around like a whole bunch of chickens with our heads chopped off. We got to New Braunfels around 3:00, and found out that Jillan's labor had not progressed much, but they'd started Pitocin. After that, her labor was pretty hard, with the contractions coming pretty much one right on top of the other, but she toughed it out until about 7:00, when she asked for an Epidural. They weren't able to get the Epidural started, so she pretty much toughed out the rest of her labor with a couple of shots of Demerol, which didn't seem to help too much, but she was a trooper, and Lillie Rosalie made her debut at 2:14 AM, March 1, 2007, weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She was very alert, having her eyes open for quite some time. She is a calm, peaceful baby, and is quite beautiful. She has lots of dark hair, and has a darker complexion than most of our other babies. She has been dressed up, and "Pretty in Pink" almost from the begining. We did, however, find out that she is quite tiny and petite, so we had to go in search of a few preemie outfits.

Anniversaries, Trading Spaces Cook-style, Communication Devices, and Infomercials Part 3

2007-02-26T13:02:00.000-06:00

Wow! What a lot of topics! I should really try to blog more often.

Jennika, Jillan, Russ, and Lee hosted a come and go anniversary party for John and me at Jennika's house last weekend to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. We had a very nice time, and it was great to see quite a few people that we don't see very often. The girls are very thoughtful and talented, and go to a lot of trouble all the time to do things like this, enlisting the help of their spouses. We really appreciate all they do for us.

Joseph has attended a multitude of birthday parties since the first of the year. There were 3 parties the last two weekends. He's been to Pump It Up twice, Toys R Us once, and there was one brave mom who hosted all these four and five year olds (and their parents) at her house! Joseph was quite impressed with the party at Toys R Us, and despite the fact that we have pretty much all agreed to not shop at Toys R Us, at the moment, that's where he is wanting to have his sixth birthday.

We seem to be acquring an ever growing list of businesses that our family is banning for life, begining with Toys R Us, Best Buy, The Home Depot, Catherine's, and Benihana. Those are the ones that I can name off the top of my head. Jennika and Jillan, I'm sure, can add to the list. Mind you, this list doesn't necessarily reflect that we're ALL banning said businesses, but we do share our greivances with one and other, and most likely anyone else we can get to listen!

John is using his communication device more often lately, due to his inability to make us understand what he is saying. The device works very well, almost too well, one might say. He has chosen the voice of "Paul". Paul (and John) can be quite demanding, and if they don't watch out, the both may end up sitting out on the front porch!

The troops descended en masse on Tortoise Street yesterday to do a Trading Spaces makeover on the pink room, aka Joseph's new room and Jonson's old room. Instead of a sickly mauvy-pink color, with holes in the wall (not caused by my rowdy boys, but by the previous owner's daughters!), the walls are now sporting a lovely shade known as "Lulled Beige". It will eventually be decorated in a jungle theme for Joseph, but for now, it's nice to just sit on the daybed and look at the transformation! Jonson also got to spend the first night in his new room, with a queen sized canopy bed, although he was a little disappointed that we didn't get the curtains up on the bed last night. We still have quite a bit of stuff to move out of that room, which he and I will try to work on this afternoon, and then I'll have to start working on the closets. I can't really do that with the boys around (especially Joseph). They tend to try to latch onto the stuff I have designated trash!

With all this Trading Spaces type activity, we've ended up with some extra bedding that we're not quite ready to part with, but don't really have space for, so the topic of space bags came up. Seems Joseph isn't the only one who watches those infomercials, because Jonson piped up with the advantages of the lastest space bag special!

More Infomercials & the Fish/Dog

2007-01-23T08:23:00.000-06:00

Well, Mr. Infomercial has struck again. Last night it was "space bags". Joseph feels we must get some of these. They shrink your stuff up so you can store it in small places, keep the bugs AND lightening and rain out, and when you open them back up, your stuff is good as new! All you have to do is send them your money and use your vacuum cleaner! What a deal!

Dixie is a toy fox terrier, weighing 8 pounds. Pidgeon is a cocker spaniel weighing 17 pounds. We have a pond with four koi or gold fish, I'm not sure which. John and Jennika had bought some fish food when we first moved in, and it ran out a couple of weeks ago. I went to Petsmart to get some more, and that darned stuff is expensive, $24.99 for a 36 ounce bag, but since the first bag lasted a little more than four months, I guess it isn't that bad. Brought the new bag home, and put it in the cabinet out on the deck. One afternoon, I noticed that Pidgeon had drug the bag out, and ripped it open. I picked it up, scolded the dog, and stuffed it down in an empty coffee can which had no lid, and didn't give it another thought. On Sunday, the weather was so warm, the fish surfaced, and I figured they were hungry, so I went out to give them some food, but the bag, still stuffed in the coffee can was empty! During Icestorm 2007, the dogs were outside one morning, and Pidgeon was standing in front of the cabinet barking her fool head off. I thought she must have something cornered in there, so I went out to check, and Dixie came wandering out. I really didn't think too much of it at the time, I just figured she went in there to get out of the cold, and Pidgeon was barking because SHE was too big to fit in there. Wrong! I'm guessing she was trying to tattle on Dixie because Dixie was in there snacking on the fish food. Dixie had been acting kind of strange, like she wasn't feeling well for a few days, and she looked like she was putting on some weight. I guess the empty fish food bag solved that mystery. So yesterday, back I go to Petsmart to get more fish food, but this time, I'm keeping it in the house!

Brrrrrrr!

2007-01-18T17:58:00.000-06:00

Talk about cabin fever! I didn't leave the house from Sunday afternoon until Wednesday evening! Jennika and Russ had borrowed the Expedition to use while his parents, brother, and sister were here visiting, so the van sat in one spot that whole time. I went out and started it, turning the heater up on high, and left it running for about 30 minutes. Not owning an ice scraper (not sure how that happened), I used this antique, flat-bladed ice cream scoop, and a butter knife to chip away at the ice. These actually worked quite well, and Joseph and I headed off to Walgreens, and points beyond. After arriving at Walgreens safely, we decided to venture forth to Wal Mart. When we got there, however, it was closed! Every other store in that shopping center was open, but Wal Mart, in their infinite (?) wisdom had apparently decided to close early. Oh well, we went to Target, and they were quite happy to take our money!

Today I got John out for the first time in almost a week. I really worried about getting him out in the cold, but I think he was getting a little antsy, too. We headed to Lowe's, and promptly and quickly dropped a thousand bucks on a new gas stove and microwave/ventahood. The microwave hasn't worked properly since we moved in. The first time I tried to make popcorn in it, it took 8 minutes, and still was only about half popped, so we've been using an old one that belonged to Lee and Jillan. I have limited counter space, and this is taking up a lot of it. On Monday, I kept smelling gas, so I called Russ. He was out near Lake Travis with his dad and brother, but he was able to tell me where the valve was to shut the gas off to the stove, and came by and checked it when they got back. I was hoping that maybe the pilot light was just out, but alas, this stove has an electronic ignition, so there is no pilot light. I've been saying I was going to replace these two appliances almost since we moved in, but just kept putting it off. Now it's done, and I'll have no excuse for not cooking (that is, as soon as Lowe's gets them delivered and installed!)

Infomercials, Puppies, and Nocturnal Wanderings

2007-01-12T15:28:00.000-06:00

Joseph seems to be a walking infomercial these days. First it was the "Bedazzler". Mind you, he just wanted it so we could decorate the girl dogs collars, and maybe, Tika might want it to decorate a jacket. He was really convincing us that we needed to buy it, until Jillan offered to buy it in place of a Christmas gift she'd gotten him that had to be returned because it didn't work. Giving that some thought, he decided he'd rather have a new toy to replace the one that didn't work, but still tried to sell the rest of us on the Bedazzler! Then last night, I had a smudge on my glasses, and Mr. Infomercial says, "You know, they make some stuff that will take scratches right off your glasses. It has something fluffy on one side to take the scratches right off. You really should buy some of that!" Do you think he's going to grow up to be a used car salesman?

Yesterday morning, Jonson got up with a real attitude. Come to think of it, most mornings he gets up with a real attitude, but he was really belligerent on this particular occasion. He was yelling at me, at the top of his lungs, in a very mean and hateful voice that he wasn't going to get up or do anything else I told him to do because I wasn't a puppy and neither was anyone else, and he was tired of me telling him to keep petting everybody! Obviously, he was up, and in the living room, but not awake! I really didn't think he'd remember it later, but when I asked him about it after school, he got a really silly grin on his face, and admitted he was having some kind of crazy dream, and he remembered that part, but not exactly what he was dreaming about!

We can't figure out if John is having sleep disruptions because of one of his meds, or what's going on, but last night was a wooly booger! We got into bed around 11:40, and he was up at 1:20. I thought we'd taken care of everything, and were down for the count, but boy, was I wrong! We were up again at 3:00. I usually get up around 5:30 because I'm not much of a morning person, and I need some time to adjust before I have to get the boys up, but this morning I had to reset the alarm for 6:30, and even considered keeping the boys home from school just to get in some extra winks.

Uneventful weekend

2007-01-07T20:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been relatively uneventful. It was cold and rainy yesterday, and sunny and windy today, so we pretty much stayed in. We did make a trip to Target and Petsmart yesterday evening, and a stop at Wingstop on the way home. The boys spent Friday night with Jennika and Russ, and Joseph also spent Saturday night. Jonson and I, being the heathens that we are, skipped out on church this morning while the rest of the gang went. I made meatloaf, baked potatoes, and green beans for lunch, which Joseph promptly refused to eat. I knew from the get go that the green beans were out of the question, so I just put some baked potato and meatloaf on his plate. Keep in mind, he's had meatloaf many times before, but for some reason today he decided he wasn't going to eat it. First, he didn't like the hot catsup that was on it, then he discovered the onions that were in it. I decided that since he'd eaten it before with relatively little fuss, I was going to out-stubborn him today. He bawled, whined, whimpered, cajoled, told me I was mean, selfish, greedy, and didn't love him. John was so upset, he couldn't finish his food, and left the table. Next, he couldn't eat it because it was now cold. I put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, and lo and behold, after a little over an hour, he ate it! Score one for Mia!

A New Year

2007-01-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

Jennika's convinced me I need my own blog, so here goes.

We had a really great Christmas, and as usual everyone went overboard and we all spent too much, but we sure had a good time, and despite requests for Christmas lists, I think everyone unwrapped a surprise or two! I'm still trying to find places to put all the stuff we got! Of course, it doesn't help that I still have one room that you can't even get into, and unpacked moving boxes still scattered about. Those boxes are my New Year's resolution. I'll let you know how that works out for me.

Jospeh strikes again! Shortly after the Bedazzler incident, he was sitting with me in the chair in my bedroom. He looked at Popi's hospital bed, and then at the queen sized bed we have in there. He asked which bed Popi was sleeping in, and I had a very good idea where this conversation was going. I told him that Popi was sleeping in the hospital bed. He looks back at the queen bed and says, "So, you have this whole big bed, all this space, for yourself?" I told him that was right, and his reply was, "Welllllll, do you think I could sleep with you sometime?" Little conniver, but you have to admit, he's pretty sharp!

Coming Soon...

2007-01-02T17:29:00.003-06:00

Check back soon!