Sunday, June 28, 2015

Just a little update.

(It's currently Sunday night and frankly almost my bedtime).

Not that I have a set bedtime, afterall I am grown, but when you get up at 4:40 Monday through Friday for work, you tend to try and hit the hay at a descent hour. I don't have much to say, but I just wanted to put a little update out there. (Also, I'm waiting for my toaster streusel to pop up).

  • Momma's foot is looking pretty rough these days. I know that I wrote a post detailing our little trip to the ER this past Tuesday, so I just thought I'd tell you how that's going. Frankly, it's going like shit and I'm beyond paranoid and scared that something is going to go terribly awry. I've been making sure that her foot is clean and bandaged, but I'm still scared that it's going to get infected or something. Please, just keep your fingers crossed like me that everything keeps going on the good and that she's gonna be ok. She has to be ok.

  • The Supreme Court passed the ruling that gay people (the term that they used) can be legally married in all 50 states. It's a historical event and honestly pretty cool. I don't talk about politics or anything like that on my blog, but this was something that I thought was pretty cool and wanted to just put that out there. Although, I think people (gay or straight) should put an enormous amount of thought into it before they actually get married, because marriage sounds awful to me. Just saying.

  • I'm off this Friday in observance of July 4th. Danielle and I kind of just assumed that we would be working, because the actual holiday is on Saturday. However, Roger decided that we should be off and we're not going to argue with such amazing logic.

And that's all I got for now. Momma's about to get off the phone with Aunt Susi and as soon as she does I'm going to check out her foot again and probably go to bed shortly after. We'll have to finish watching our movie (Cake) tomorrow or something, I guess.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A range of emotions.

I had every intention of writing something happy and completely aimless today. Nothing was aligned or planned, but I was feeling particularly bubbly and optimistic. I was going to perhaps write something yesterday evening or maybe even this morning before work. Nothing huge, long or noteworthy, but something.

And then things changed.

I had to leave work a little early yesterday, because Momma had text me and asked me to ride to the Doctor with her. One of her doctors had called at the end of last week and said that they needed to redo her blood tests, so I assumed that was what it was.

I was woefully mistaken.

When I got into the car I could tell that she was really upset. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that the pinky toe on her bad foot (it's the right one- she has neuropathy and charcot foot, among other things) was black and blistered. She thought that it might be her diabetes and she was scared. Of course she was scared, her toe was black.

I immediately panicked, but kept my panic inside and tried to be calm and reassuring to her. She cried, my heart sank.

I called her Doctor and the nurse told me that her Doctor was out for the day, but to go ahead and take her to the ER for an X-ray to be sure. I made a list of things that it could be besides her diabetes, afterall we've had that fairly in control lately. I told her that it could be from the added pressure that she had put on it this past weekend during her trip to Arkansas. I told her that it could be from pressure in general. I told her that it could be a dislocated joint. I had a million answers with no answers in all actuality.

We went to the ER and checked her in. They did X-rays and the Doctor checked her out and they sent us to the waiting room to what? Wait, of course. Forever. You know when you wait forever, but when you desperately want/need to know something that it seems to take three times as long? It was something like that. Momma was scared and tired, I was scared and tired and frankly that Doctor was slow as shit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "Come deal with us first, because we are the only ones that exist in the entire universe" type of people. But when you go to the ER and X-rays are taken and you are told that the Doctor will be in "in just a moment" to discuss with you what's wrong, and then you sit in the waiting room for two and a half hours panicked, anybody would be a bit irritable.

After that long I went out to find the Doctor and where did I happen to find him? Sitting behind the nurses station. Now, I worked in a nursing home for five years. Nurses and Doctors have to sit behind the nursing station. Techs have to be at the nursing station. Unfortunately, paperwork is a far larger aspect of that job than anyone realizes and you have to do it and follow the protocol or else things can go South very quickly.

I know this. I get this. I understand this.

However, when you wait with your panicked mother for two and a half hours with her worried that she's going to lose an appendage of some sort and you walk out to find the Doctor behind the nursing station flirting (and not well might I add, dude is lucky he is a Doctor, because he is surely not smooth) with a young nursing student, you get a little perturbed. And then when you try to ask him a simple MEDICAL question and he looks at you like you're totally inconveniencing him with your "nonsense" about one of his patients, if you're anything like me, you get a bit.....I don't want to say snarky, I think the correct term would be more along the lines of bitchy. Like I said, I understand things can't go speed fast in the medical profession and I'm usually very pleasant about all of that, but come on dude, finish with your patients first.

He explained that he would be in "in just a few minutes" to discharge Momma and explain everything that was going on. I asked him if she was going to lose her foot and he said- "No". Thank God. So, an hour later he came in, told us what was wrong (it was temporarily cut off from circulation due to pressure causing two blood blisters and the start of a pressure ulcer), that he had to see one more patient and then he would get her discharge papers ready to go.

We got home at almost eight o'clock last night, I made supper, filled Momma's medicine, helped her take her shower, filled out her paperwork (seven pages worth) and cleaned the kitchen up before I managed to drag myself into the shower and fall onto my bed well after eleven last night.

And now we have our orders. Momma went to see a vascular surgeon today (Bubba went with her) and he to is keeping an eye on things, doing some tests and has given us orders. She can't put excess pressure on her foot and has to stay off of it as much as possible. She has to take the antibiotics to make sure infection doesn't creep up or in (diabetes makes it harder to heal, therefore a more intense/troublesome healing process). She has to have the tests done. She has to basically stay in the chair only walking to the bathroom and minimal (and I do mean MINIMAL) driving. She has a second boot for cushioning, support and circulation. Her toe is slowly, but surely returning to its normal color and looks better by the hour, but we have to keep a close eye on it.

And we as a family and whole will get through this and do it. 

Friday, June 19, 2015

{Flashback Friday}: When we were younger

When we were younger Mo and I used to go out with our friends and have fun. Now, remember this was pre-kids, pre-boyfriends and pre a bunch of other things. We were honestly a couple of tomboys that liked to do our hair and makeup on occasion, but also had no problem jumping in and out of a jacked up diesel into the woods and mud.

We had far more guy friends than we ever did girls. I'm not sure why, but we just seemed to get along with guys better. The only other girl that we actually hung out with was Rachel. Don't get me wrong, we had other girl friends (Hi Carolyn), but as far as running around, it was mostly with guys.

I'm not going to name said guys, because I think they're all married to crazy women by now, and even though nothing "like that" was going down, crazies tend to not believe you. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Most nights we would throw on our comfy/old jeans, a hoodie and our hair would be pulled up in a ponytail or braid. (Sans makeup, I know, taboo). Actually, our hair was usually in some kind of loopy, swirled knot that had pieces sticking everywhere, but let's not get nit-picky. Our guy friends didn't seem to mind. Afterall, we were teenagers. You know, skin as smooth as a baby's ass and all that jazz. Honestly, I don't think guys, especially teenage boys, really care about all of that. Most of them can't even tell the difference in makeup or not, let alone put that much thought and effort into it. And that only gets amplified when it's just a friend of theirs.

But on other nights we would look fairly descent. We would straighten our hair (Mo's is already pretty straight naturally, so she just blew dry hers) or we would curl our hair up (with that awful Dollar Store gel that was oh so popular), which was much easier considering I look like the Lion King on most occasions. We would do our makeup and put on a much cuter tshirt than usual. In the summer, perhaps even a spaghetti strap (Then immediately stole a guy friends Carhartt or hoodie). And for us, that was fancy.

We would walk out of the house and hop into the truck (or car) looking like this:


Trust me when I say that we thought that we were hot shit. Mostly Mo, because I've just never seen myself as an attractive kind of person. I would shrink behind in the background. But she was very much front and center and loved it. That's probably why we've gotten along and been friends for so many years; because our personalities are incredibly similar and completely different all at once.

And we would hang out and party and have a good time. Ride around, play games (Who wants to turn the headlights out and drive by moonlight in the middle of nowhere? We did.) We always managed to leave when it was dark out, I'm not really sure why, but I assume that it had something to do with the whole wanting to stay incognito thing. Not that we were necessarily doing anything bad, but we still didn't want anybody to know where we were or what we were doing.

Remember those seemingly normal/descent looking girls from around 9:00 pm? Yeah, this is them between 2:00 and 3:00 am:


It's a wonder that we had other friends besides each other. Then again, we were the most normal looking/acting ones at that point, so really what can they say? We did have one friend that we hung out with the most (who shall remain nameless), and he was always kind of mellow. I don't think that he was ever in any other mood besides- chill. Except maybe when we were driving in the dark and hiding in the woods from his psychotic/questionable girlfriend. Don't ask.

Before I go, let me tell you how one of our nights went, then maybe you'll understand why we looked so crazy hours into it. We were in a small car with Mo, me, "Chief" and the owner/driver in the front, with two dudes in the back. Mind you, this was a stick shift, so fitting four into the front of this tiny car was a chore within itself and the guys in the back weren't exactly small. (Why one of us just didn't get into the back evening it out is beyond me). We're going down the road and next thing you know, we're in a field. Doing doughnuts. And then this happened:

Chief: You know, the last time we did this we hit a tree.

**crack boom jerk smash (everyone flies to the passenger side of the car)**

Chief: Yep. We hit a damn tree.

Oh, the lives of a couple of crazy kids. Happy Flashback Friday!! TGIF!!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

I was born into the wrong generation.

(I am should have been a hippie).


Or at the very least, I feel as though I should have been a teen in the 60s/70s. I can totally see me sitting around a bonfire with my fellow hippies, listening to The Doors and The Grateful Dead.

Picture it: Long, crazy hair adorned with flowers and ribbon. Swaying back and forth while another guy plays his little acoustic guitar and we spread the word about Love and Peace. Can you not see that in your head? I can.

I think that I would have made a lovely hippie. And even if I weren't a full blown hippie, I would have at least been good at it come the afternoons, early mornings and weekends. My friends and I would have piled up in a great ole questionable van and blared The Eagles. And The Beatles. Have you noticed how much better music was back in the day? I'm just putting that one out there.

Hey Katie, do you want to come hang out with the Hipsters of this day an age at the vegan beansprout market/coffee shop?

#Namaste right here.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

I'm going to force him to watch what I want, because I can.

(The picture is of me, Greg and our cousin- Bonehead).

With Momma's impending trip to Arkansas for little Arkansassy's wedding (tomorrow- which I am a nervous wreck for, just so everyone is aware), Greg (my brother) and I have decided to hang out and watch movies this weekend. It'll mostly be Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, because we both work Friday and he works the weekend.

Potato/Tomato.

We (and by we, I of course mean me) decided this weeks ago when we found out that Greg would be staying with us while Momma was gone. I was going to be chilling at the house by myself (with Tayder, of course), but now he's staying there, so I'll have a bit of company. I informed him that I didn't want him inviting a bunch of people over, including his girlfriend and that it was just going to be a mellow couple of days (I've been unusually tired lately). Besides, I have to get up early for work Friday, and he has to be up early for work to, so there's really no point. It's not like a couple of teenagers being left alone, we're grown and frankly I don't have the effort nor the energy to deal with or clean up after people.


With all of that being said (and making me sound like a prudy ole bitty) I thought I might give y'all a little insight into what I'll be watching this weekend. (Did you know that you can make lists on Netflix?!!)

Odd Thomas:

I remember Erica talking about these Dean Koontz novels back in the day. He's actually her favorite author, especially for psychological thrillers (mine being of course, Stephen King, I know cliche'). She would be so excited when there was an announcement for the next book in the series to come out (there's seven in total, with the last one being released this past January) and as soon as I heard they were making a movie based on her beloved book, I put a photo of it on her FB page and declared that we had to watch it. I'm sure she has by now (it was released in 2013) and I think it's about time that I see it as well. Afterall, Odd Thomas (yes, that's the characters real name) is played by Anton Yelchin and he's awesome, so why wouldn't I watch it?!

The Fifth Element:

Before you even ask and freak out, yes I have seen this movie. Many times. But like all good things you can never get enough and this good thing comes in the form of Bruce Willis. And Gary Oldman. And aliens. And orange hair. And shit that's completely illogical. And impossible. And I love every single bit of it. The four elements: earth, air, fire and water. But what's the fifth? Before you get all pissy while watching the movie and you're like- "It better not be love. It better not be f******g love." Spoiler Alert: It's totally love.

There's about fifty other things on that list (including Sons of Anarchy and Criminal Minds- both of which I've already seen a bunch of times, but continue to watch, because they're great), but I'm really tired and can't think of any more right now. So, bye.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Since I can't be there on your wedding day.

(I jacked this picture of the two of them from her FB page- Sorry, not sorry).


Remember my little cousin- Arkansassy? She's getting married June 20, 2015. This is an open letter to her since I'm unable to attend her wedding. Thankfully, Momma, Aunt Poot and Shantel are going. They're all going to head out on Thursday evening (the 18th) and head on home the day following the wedding (the 21st). I wish that I could go with them, (road trips are the best), but unfortunately not all the time do things work out that way. I'm sending all of my love (and important members of my family) though!!

Dear Sweet Bekah,

Firstly, I would like to apologize for not being able to attend your wedding. Trust me when I say it is not from a lack of want. I truly wanted to be there, unfortunately life doesn't always go the way that you want it to. Don't let anybody fool you, being a responsible adult is hard. Even just being a regular ole adult is hard, but especially being a responsible one. I hope you understand and we'll all definitely have to set time aside and come down just for a random visit sometime. I know that it won't be your wedding day, but we'll make it fabulous in any event.

(Your Momma has assured me that she is sending pictures and a video from the big day my way. Don't put it past me to insist that it be re-enacted. Also, she should send food. Southern cooking is just better and anyone that says otherwise is woefully wrong).

I wish that I had some pearls of wisdom to give you. It would be nice to pass onto you advice regarding marriage, living together and blending your families into one. However, I have never been married, so there is really nothing I could offer you on that front. It would be like trying to tell a pilot how to fly a plane, I've never done it, therefore he would probably crash and burn. Because of this I don't plan on even attempting to tell you how it should go.

I will give you a little bit of advice though. What? I have some form of wisdom. My advice to you my dear sweet girl, is to be happy. I know that sounds plain and you're probably thinking- "Really?! That's all you got lady?!" But trust me when I say this is important. Anyone can claim to be happy and some are even fantastic performers when it comes down to it. But I'm not telling you to be the kind of happy that you think you should be. I'm telling you to be the kind of happy that you deserve. There's a big difference.

While I am not, nor ever have been married, I assume that the rules are pretty standard. You know the basics; it's your everyday common sense and rules your Momma taught you when you were growing up. "Treat others how you want to be treated", "Cheating is wrong no matter which way you look at it", "Talk about your problems" and "When things are tough, hold your head high and proud". I don't know if those actually apply to marriage, but if they don't they definitely should.

Now, with the two of you just graduating high school and heading off into the world independent and on your own, I'm sure that you've heard that grand ole saying- "You two are too young to get married, you've got plenty of time, what's the big hurry? Take things slow". I should probably be an adult about this and take all of those peoples side. I really should. But I'm not going to. Call it the eternal optimistic, hopeless romantic in me, but I'm just not going to agree with them. Don't tell anybody this, but I do believe in love. True love. The kind that puts butterflies in your belly, wandering thoughts in your head and a smile as wide as the countryside on your face. And while I believe all of this, I don't believe that it has an age limit. Sure, there are exceptions. Some think that they're in love and come to find out that it was a childhood crush or silly infatuation. But real love, it's there and you know for certain when it's there. When you find that whether you are young, elderly or somewhere in between, it's a beautiful thing. Love is not one of those constricting things, it comes in many different ways and it truly is a blessing. Besides, who wants to wait to start forever?

I'm not trying to get all heavy with you. I'm just trying to tell you some things that I've learned. And the biggest things that I've learned in my twenty-five years are this: You will always have doubts, there are going to be things in your life that scare you and there are circumstances that are out of your parallel to control. No matter how much you want to, you can't control everything. However, you do have a choice. And the choice you have is to be true to yourself. Do not let other people dictate your happiness.

You are your own person and you are plenty capable to make your own choices. You're a smart young lady Bekah, and you know what you're doing. And if you're doing it for all of the right reasons, then this is an amazing thing. If you have found your happiness, then you hold onto that and figure out the rest of it as you go. Remember when people said that you were too young? Well, good news, you are young. Therefore you have plenty of time to figure things out. You're going to screw up; Harrison is going to screw up. No one is perfect. But you can figure it out.

I just thought that you should know that I have no doubt in you. I believe that you're an amazing girl and that you're going to do miraculous things with your life. It's going to be hard and you're going to have self-doubt, but you're going to persevere. That's just the type of person that you are. I know this sounds crazy, but honestly you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. Granted our lives are much different and I hope you don't ever repeat some of the mistakes that I have made. But I do see it. You have that same voice in your head, flare in your heart and glint in your eye. Luckily, you have better taste in men than me at your age.

With all of that being said, I would just like to finish by saying that I'm very happy for you. Congratulations!! This is amazing and you're going to have such a spectacular day (not just one day, but I'm referring to the actual wedding part). I wish that I could be there, but I send all of my love your way. You're going to make a beautiful bride. Why wouldn't you? You're already beautiful, flowers and fancy dresses are just going to amplify that. I love you.

Xoxo,
Katie

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Jensen, Jared and Tammy

(Yes, I am very sweaty in that picture- we worked hard, dammit).


Ever since Greg (my brother) started staying with Momma and I we have become accustomed to this little invention called- The Netflix. It's probably just called Netflix, but saying The Netflix makes me feel better about it, so that's what I'm going with.

For those of you that don't know (Although, I assume everyone does and we were just late to the party. Again.) it's where you can watch certain shows and movies through a blu-ray, game station or another little handy advice. We watch it through his PS4 and you would almost think that I'm good with technology considering that I know how to work that. We've watched a myriad of things (i.e. documentaries, because Momma and I are nerds) and there always seems to be something or other that you can find that you're in the mood for.

The only problem? The only problem is that sometimes it's incredibly difficult to decide what exactly you want to watch. Well, that and the fact that once you get started you just want to curl up in a little ball, eat cereal and watch it for hours upon hours. No? Just me? Oops.

We usually agree on what we watch, but every now and then there's resistance. For example, I want to start watching Supernatural (A big undertaking considering there's like 10 seasons) and Momma isn't going for it, because she does not like Jared Padalecki. Ever since he played Dean on the Gilmore Girls, she ain't having it. Team Logan she definitely is. I'm trying to convince her that Jensen Ackles' awesomeness overrules that of Jared Padalecki; I even told her that Jensen is so cool that he literally took Jared's character name (Dean) from the Gilmore Girls and gave it to his own in Supernatural, but to no avail. She just ain't having it. I might start it when she goes to Arkansas next weekend. Shh, don't tell.

Talking about Supernatural reminds me of my old friend/former co-worker, Tammy. Tammy and I worked together for many years and pulled quite a few hours together. Needless to say once you work that closely with someone for that long pulling that many hours, one of two things happen. You either hate each other or you become friends. Lucky for us, it was the latter. We were even friends outside of work. I would go to her house on occasion and we would joke and cut-up. She even went with me and Momma the time that I decided that a spray tan was a good idea and ended up looking somewhere between Snooki and a 'Lost Boy' (Another story for another day). The point is we hung out and had fun at and outside of work.

You may wonder why the show Supernatural reminds me of her (No, she's not a witch, werewolf or any of the such.....that I know of). You could always tell when Tammy and I were working the hall together. Which if we're being honest, was quite often. And you could always tell this, because you could always hear the faint sounds of Supernatural on the televisions going up and down the hallway. You see, when you're getting people ready for their day, they tend to like a little background noise. And they usually don't care what it is. Also, when you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off making beds, passing snacks, doing physical therapy, checking vital signs, filling up carts, passing ice and fifty million other things keeping you on your toes, you need something in the background to make a little noise besides yelling and call lights dinging.

Our something was Supernatural.

Aside from the few little ladies that had to watch "their soaps" (Which by the way, I didn't see for two years and still knew exactly what was happening, and would probably still know exactly what was going on) the rest didn't care and would tell us to just turn it on something. Tammy would insist that we would turn it on the TNT channel, which happened to have Supernatural repeats for a few hours in the morning (and when we worked evenings, there were also repeats). She would go up and down the hall and program (almost) every channel to it. We don't exactly know what happened on the show or anything that was going on, but we listened to it and every now and then would get to catch a glimpse of the pretty guy that is Jensen Ackles (Hello, My Bloody Valentine remake). So, naturally I think that I owe it to us to actually know what was happening in the show and I really want to figure out who that Castiel guy is (I'm assuming he's an Angel, but I really don't know). Also, John Winchester is pretty and this has no point now that I think about it. 

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

You don't know Jack Schitt?!!

I used to take care of a woman at the nursing home and when you do things like that, you sometimes get incredibly close to not only them, but also their family members. Not all the time does this happen, but on occasion it does. In this case it was the woman's daughter. She was sweet, kind and really cared. The funny part? She had an incredible sense of humor. And it's proven, because she went on vacation one spring and brought me back a t-shirt (that my Uncle now has) that says exactly this, because she informed me that it reminded her of my sass. Thanks, Neida!!
 
"The lineage is finally revealed. Many people are at a loss for a response when someone says "You don't know Jack Schitt." Now you can intellectually handle the situation.
 
Jack is the son of Awe Schitt and O. Schitt. Awe Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, married O. Schitt, the owner of Needeep N. Schitt Inc. They had one son, Jack. In turn Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt, the deeply religious couple produced 6 children: Holie Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Giva Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins: Deap Schitt and Dip Schitt. Against her parents' objections, Deap Schitt married Dumb Schitt, a high school drop out.

However, after being married 15 years, Jack and Noe Schitt divorced. Noe Schitt later remarried Ted Sherlock and, because her kids were living with them, she wanted to keep her previous name. She was then known as Noe Schitt-Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt and they produced a son of nervous disposition, Chicken Schitt. Two other of the 6 children, Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt, were inseperable throughout childhood and subsequently married the Happens brothers in a dual ceremony.

The wedding announcement in the newspaper announced the Schitt-Happens wedding. The Schitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd, and Hoarse. Bull Schitt, the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He recently returned from Italy with his new Italian bride, Pisa Schitt. So, when someone tells you that you don't know Jack Schitt, show them this".

And that my friends, is how you properly handle the situation. Like a smartass. 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Forrest Brady has left the building.

(Aunt Susi has officially retired). 


If you're questioning the headband, just know, she had ALOT of wine.

Her official retirement date is May 31, 2015 (but since she has only worked Monday-Wednesday for the past year and a half it was May 27, 2015). Don't fret for her too much, she has plenty off plans to keep her busy. Not to mention, now that her and Aunt Mary are retired at the same time, I'm sure those two gals will be going off and gallivanting like crazy. And they have road rage, so watch out!!

I think that it was bittersweet for her. Even though she has been excitedly awaiting this day, you have to remember that she's basically been here for forty-one years. She started working at the company in the summer when she was fifteen and started full-time when school was over. With the exception of a few months here and there, she has been here. And now, she's retired.

To celebrate her retirement she of course hung her hard hat (which is customary here) up in our warehouse, I took multiple pictures of her packing up her things (in a box that was far too large to accommodate what little bit there was), the six of us in the office went out to lunch and duckpin bowling on her final day and the following Saturday our family and a couple work related people threw her a party at her house. Yes, we were all going to go out (we're only partially cheapskates), but they wanted a small get together at their house instead.

The first Monday here without her in the office, I was sitting alone and had forgotten to turn the radio on, I immediately text her and told her that this was weird. But that I was still extremely happy for her. She replied with- "You'll have to come see me and I'll have to come visit you on weekends and we have to get together!" To which I replied- "Of course! You do know that even though you're not my co-worker anymore that you're still my aunt Susi, right? I mean, we're gonna see each other." And she of course called me a smartass and all was right with the world.

Congratulations, Aunt Susi!! You're going to enjoy this and you deserve it ten folds!!