What a lousey day!

There is nothing that can give me the heebie jeebies more than a person's head infested with lice! Eeeew! First thing this morning a child comes to me crying about her tummy. It turns out her mom and baby sister were going to be doing something fun at home with out her and she just wanted to go home. Well, she got her wish when I noticed the excessive scratching of the head. I took a little peek and didn't notice anything outright. Not any nits to speak of, no real evidence of lice, then BAM! A creepy little bug fell right out of her hair into the sink then another went crawling right over my comb. I literally jumped back when I saw it. Probably not real good for the child's ego - whatever.

Now I have inspected many a head in my day. It never fails to creep me out. Then, of course, my head starts itching. This little girl today went back to her class to get her things and proudly announced she would be going home due to lice! She did, after all, want to go home. Then all the other kids head's started to itch. Oh, Lordy, what a day. By the end of the day I had checked siblings and several other classes. I had even checked the teacher's hair. One teacher from another class who has had a particularly trying first few weeks offered to pay me if I rubbed certain children's' heads up against the infested child. Tempting as that was, I did not take her up on that. Bummer, I could have used the cash.

Mom, yes, today I did feel like nit picking. It was written in the stars. For those of you not my mother, there is a story. When I was elementary age my cousins and my sisters and I passed the lovely lice back and forth for a while. On one occasion that I had it, my mother had spent the evening picking the little eggs known as nits out of my hair for hours. We were sitting at the kitchen table. The newspaper was open on the table to the horoscopes and when she was finally done she picked it up and read her horoscope for the day. "Today you feel like nit picking." It's a true story - I couldn't even make that one up.

St. David's ER saved My Life

Round Rock resident Karen Henderson fell victim to a heart attack while driving her car. Thanks to the quick response of Williamson County EMS and St. David's Round Rock Medical Center emergency room doctors and nurses, Karen was able to leave the hospital just two weeks later with normal brain and heart function.

Karen was my patient.

This was an ad that ran in our community paper last week. I was totally asleep when Brian woke me up to see it. Wasn't this your patient?!? Yes, that was my patient that crazy day we were slammed, we had brand new computer charting and I was working a random day shift. That patient that day was one of those times as a nurse when you do your best because it is what you do, not knowing if that patient will ever make it. It was surreal. This makes every 12 hour shift, every night where we were slammed with ambulances, and every time I had to change my scrubs because some bodily fluid got on mine worth it. Karen, you made my year. Thanks.

Mickey Me

The other night we were dividing and conquering our parental/work duties. Brian took Jacob to Boy Scout Night at his school while I took Reba with me to my school's Back To School Night. Reba was a willing participant in my evening. She showed off her superior academics by reading for the principals and showing them how she knows her Spanish words. She's four so she (and we) think this is a big deal. We don't push her in any way to read or excel beyond her years, she is just that competitive and smart that she does. She put on a royal show for my bosses at Back To School.

As we were leaving for the evening with the last set of parents the mother commented on how much Reba looks like me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We hear it all the time, must have heard it 20 times already that night. I said, "Yes, she's my Mini Me. You should see her brother, he's my husband's Mini Me." And without missing a beat, Reba says, "No he's not, he's his Mickey Me." Duh, Mom. What was I thinking?

Come on, Brain, turn the page...

Sometimes I am caught off guard by the sheer cleverness of my children. Today's funny came from Reba. We were in the car on the way home from a late T-ball game (which we won, by the way) and the kids were trying to remember the names of one of our favorite T-ball families. They got through the dad, all the kids and were stuck on the name of the mom. Reba says, "I know it's up here in my brain book. I am thinking.... I am thinking.... Come on, Brain, turn the page." Just hearing her little voice say that cracked me up. Then I saw a glimpse of her little face in the rear view mirror with her mouth all screwed up in a thinking position. Oh, the brain book. How very funny. Wonder who she heard that from?

A second funny came from Jacob, repeating something he had heard on the T-ball field. A controversial play had been made where our short stop picked up a ball in the near outfield and ran with it to tag a runner out. Ump called the kid safe because the ball could not be carried into the infield by an outfielder - it must be thrown in. The parents were all puzzled by the play and wondering what's up with that. Well, apparently when coach was having his words with the ump his come back which was repeated by our 6 year old was, "The Shortstop could pick the ball up at the HEB (our local grocery) and run it into the infield to tag a guy out - he's the short stop!" I wonder what quote he will come home with next week?

yIKEs

Ike managed to miss us completely here in Austin, though we are still feeling the effects by proxy. Many of our TX neighbors have fled here to Austin. Three of our district's schools are being used for shelters. I spent my afternoon yesterday at the Home Depot with many of those evacuees. Their stories tugged at my heart.

Why was I at the Home Depot you may ask? Why getting a generator like the rest of the masses. No, I don't think the world is going to end, no, the generator is not for me. I got a phone call yesterday from my cousin (from Houston) who is here in Austin managing FEMA's satellite communications. Seems my great aunt who didn't evacuate is now powerless (and more importantly in Houston - A/C-less) at her home for possibly 3 weeks. This is not good, Auntie is on the older side and has had some medical issues this past year. I was hoping she would evacuate to my house, but the drive would have been too much. Luckily Cuz had found a shipment of generators coming into a nearby town and put his name on the list. The hitch was, you had to be there to claim it. FEMA had him occupied all day and he needed a stand in. Of course I was more than happy to do the job. Whatever it took. Even if it meant speeding to the HD and nearly getting a ticket. A kind Deputy took pity on a local ER Charge nurse trying to help her poor hot auntie in Houston. He did tell me to "SLOW DOWN." Got it. I did the speed limit the rest of the way there.

While I sat the 4.5 hours with the rest of the folks I heard stories, so many stories. I was moved by how positive these people seemed to be. Some of them didn't know if they would be returning to homes or swimming pools. And yet, here they were, smiling, supporting one another. I heard a lot of, "Good luck, God bless!" Home Depot was giving everyone cold drinks and free car washing things. The manager said, "It's not much but it's on HD and we hope that things are looking brighter for y'all." Gulp. I love Texans...

I am happy to report that I got the generator and a little A/C. I received the phone call right after church today letting me know that it did indeed make it to Houston care of a gentleman named "Pedro" and is now safely on it's way to Auntie. Yesterday was a day well spent. I know that Cuz would do it for me if I ever needed it. He said he was so glad I moved to TX. So am I. I would do it again in a heart beat. God bless y'all out there who were affected.

Puppylicious

These are for my dad who is begging for more pics of the totally adorable puppies whose poop he does not have to pick up and whom he does not have to train. Here you go, Dad - Bailey and Coach doing what they do best - looking cute and fooling everyone.

Knickers and T-ball

T-ball season is here again. I can't believe how much my boy has grown. An insider told us that this year during skills assessment (aka tryouts), Jacob and his best buddy Jake ended up being in the top ten of each coach's picks. WooHoo, Boy! And, yes, I have become that Little League Mom, you know the one who screams like crazy and yells to(at) her kid to keep his eye on the ball. I embarrass myself. He has grown so much, though. He went from being a little kid to the best kid on the team!

To honor this special pro-t-baller I fixed his pants for the season. He wanted knickers like the real baseball players. Since last year's pants' elastic had gone out around one ankle and really had seen better days we decided to cut them off and re-purpose them into these high fashion knickers. Does he not look totally pro? He debuted them for his first game - playing first base he made the key 3 outs and helped them win the game! I am sure it was the knickers and not his natural gift of athleticism (that he totally did not get from me) that allowed him to make the plays.

Muffin Tops

Last month sometime, while at the hospital, I was cursing my old black scrub bottoms that were not fitting as well as they used to. It seemed as though they had shrunk or my body had somehow outgrown them. A loving coworker suggested that it might be my detergent secretly shrinking my clothes. Oh, how I would like to believe that. But, alas, the evidence is there spilling out over the top of my favorite scrub pants - a muffin top.

I cringed at the thought of my extra midsection actually being plentiful enough to spill over. How fit and thin I had been only a year (or two) ago! How could this be? Was it the night shift? Was it TX and the fact that everything in TX is bigger - including me? While flogging myself for letting it get this bad another nurse, who is tall and thin (even though she is prego) and gorgeous, brightened my night by reminding me that the muffin's top is everyone's favorite. Ha, so there!

Then just in case I had forgotten about my extending midsection now that I am not wearing the offending scrubs I get an offer from Weight Watchers in the mail today. How do they know? It's like they were watching me - me and my muffin top.

Puppies are Contagious

I swear, puppies are contagious. I was just visiting a friend's blog (another ADD-er I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus) who was blaming the ADD for her impulsive puppy purchase, and I was commenting on how eerily similar we are - though she is a couple of decades wiser. I laughed and laughed, and Brian did not think it was funny at all. My dog habit has gotten me in quite a lot of trouble over the years.

Fast forward two days and my sister (who lives with us for the time being) is seriously looking for a dog to keep her company. She had just missed an opportunity for a particular dog she'd been looking at and was heartbroken. I consoled her by saying that another dog was out there that needed her (and I really believed that). Within 24 hours of that missed opportunity we were headed over to "Bob's" house to look at some lab puppies. There were about 7 little squirmy puppies who we figured could not be more than about 4-5 weeks old. Black, Chocolate and Yellow Lab puppies accompanied by two beautiful parents a Yellow and Black Lab were roaming free range around a disgusting, flea infested, poorly fenced, dirty back yard. When questioned how old they were "Bob" kept telling us they were 8 weeks. Yeah right, "Bob."

I picked up the cutest little yellow one. She was too precious. I looked at her belly to get an idea of whether she was a she or a he and discovered FLEAS! TONS OF THEM! I looked at Jenny and she read my mind. We made a quick decision about a little brown boy for her and without hesitation when Reba asked if we could have the little yellow one, I said, YES! I would have taken the whole slew of them just to get them outta there and take them to my wonderful vet. If I had known Brian would agree to it, I would have.

I have never seen that many fleas. Really, never. Not even on a large animal. It was inhumane. I literally ran into a pet store on the way to the T-ball game as though it was a true emergency and got some very small puppy flea spray. What was funny was the pet store guy sensed my urgency and acted accordingly. We literally went running through the store. He even offered to help de-flea them. But, alas, we had a T-ball game to get to.

Puppies could be contagious or I could be predisposed to getting puppies. One will never know. What I do know is that our two newest babies are super cute and very smart. And the other thing I know is that these two definitely needed us. The pics below are from the first night they were with us. Look how pathetic they look. Poor babies.