Nature Songs ~~~~
NOVEMBER, 2001 ~ continued
November 5, 2001 - The day started out as though this would be just another one of those weeks with nothing too much out of the ordinary taking place. My only change of venue was the plans to drive out and pick up Bonnie and her granddaughter to go to exercise with me. I made the turn at the first stoplight with the thought that I was to make a right turn at the next light. Not any surprise to me, I drove right by the light and had to turn around and come back. to make my turn. After all, I’m a creature of habit just like all the other people.
Shortly after lunchtime the phone rang. “Mom, I’m going to need your help this week. In fact I need your help several days.”
So, What’s new? Tbird often needs me to help her out! She continues, “ Hubby and I have the Red Cross classes in Charlotte the next two days and they aren’t over until five. I need you to pick up the children and keep them until we come by and pick them up. Then I’ve got to do something Thursday ... but I’ll talk with you later about that and see what we can work out. Oh, this afternoon can you meet me at five at the church again to pick up the kids? I’ve got a client coming for a session and I’ll pick up the children about 6:30.”
Fine, I agree to helping out. She has to hurry on to her next item of business there at school. I’m thinking about leaving a bit early and visiting with Mother on the way over to meet her later.
Around 3:40, the phone rings again. “Mom, help! I need your help right now.. NascarKid just called me. I forgot that he has band practice this afternoon. I’m on my way to pick up Giggles now, and there is no way I can make it back to pick him up and make it to my appointment on time. Can you pick up NascarKid for me?”
That means I have to leave immediately to make it to the Middle School in time to pick him up. I have to note here that another major part of the afternoon was concerned with Tbird and her house. The burglar alarm went off twice at her house. The first time the police was sent out to investigate. They wanted me to meet the police there, but drive 25 miles for that? They need someone closer to be the first one to call when the alarm goes off. I beeped Tbird, but she called about needing my help about the same time. The second time the alarm sounded, the police was not dispatched; I did not go over; Tbird didn’t answer my beep. I called the dispatch center and told them what they needed in order to reset the system through the phone.
After picking up NascarKid, I drove on out the road and made the turn to their house meandering on down to the end of the pavement, to the end of the road, over the dam along the edge of the pond, around the curves, up the hill to their house to take a peek at things. I drove around the house and checked out visually to see if anything looked askew. All seemed in order, so we headed back to Caldwell County to pick up the other two kids. I was late getting to the church and had to wait for her to bring Giggles out to the car from her office there.
Monday is five dollar day at Little Ceasars. We pick up some pizzas and take them by Mother’s to visit with her as we eat. She eats a piece with us and enjoys watching them as they cavort around the room (in a nice way.)
DynoKid wasn’t feeling very well. Plans changed and he stays with me for the night. That means I have only two to pick up tomorrow.
November 6, 2001 - Procrastinator that I may be, each time the phone rang this morning I changed my plans for what I would be doing. Ms. Jay calls and I tell her that I’ve made plans to not go to the early water class. Millie from up the road needs a ride and I hate to have her stay so long up there since this is the day of the Weight Management Class. Millie calls to say that she can drive this morning and doesn’t need to ride with me. That’s one change in the driving for today. Then Bonnie calls to say that she isn’t going to be able to go this morning. Her daughter is home sick today and she needs to drive her to the doctor. I decide to skip the water exercise today and go only to the Weight Management Class.
The day unfolds slowly ... Quest ... check e-mail ... rest ... pick up NascarKid and Giggles ... but not visit Mother. She hasn’t called today, either. We do stop at BoJ’s in Morganton and I buy her a country ham biscuit which NascarKid runs in to her as we are returning home. I’ll have to make certain to spend some time with her tomorrow.
It’s about seven when Dad comes over to pick up the three young ones. DynoKid has struggled with some of his homework off and on all afternoon. He has an exceptionally difficult word search puzzle to do about the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. NascarKid and I both have difficulty with finding words on it, too. When they leave for home, he still has five more words to find and there is yet ten questions to be made up about the huge palace in the mountains.
November 7, 2001 - Stretch, yawn ... the muscles are taunt, sort of on the whiny side except there’s no one to hear any complaints ... slow gesticulating this morning! My first exercise is reaching for the phone as it jingles. It’s Ms. Jay checking in with me as usual. She has our water class this morning since our regular instructor is not back from up North where she has been the past two months helping with her ailing Father. I tell her I’m planning to be there along with Bonnie.
I’m forced to make another stab at moving when the phone reverberates a second time. This call comes from Bonnie and she announces that since her daughter is still too sick to go to work, she will drive this morning. She has been allowing her daughter to drive her car to work each day is why we arranged to ride together to exercise. That was all the encouragement I needed to decide to remain at home this morning. I rolled over with my back to the world so as to savor the last few moments of sanity before making the rounds this afternoon. Another afternoon doing the County-to-County-School-to-School-to Daycare-Dash. All too soon, I was ready to leave the cocoon and head toward the nursing center to spend a few moments with Mother before the Dash began.
On the bright side, I was met just inside the door with the ice cream brigade. Today being sundae making time, some of the staff was passing out cones of the cold delight to those who chose to remain in their rooms instead to joining the fun in the dining room. There was a choice between strawberry or cookies and cream. I chose some strawberry, but the girls thought I should taste the other flavor and put some in another cone for me. There I was with a cone in each hand as I walked into Mother’s room - and disaster.
Seems Mother had come down with the flu bug that has been making its rounds through the center. Already, her bed had been changed two or three times today. She was in the bathroom (thank goodness since I had the ice cream). The CNAs were running up and down the hall to find a hospital gown to put on her and one of them came in flaunting a disposable diaper in hopes it would make keeping her up a bit easier for all concerned. I have to wonder if part of her problem would be all the apples and other fruit she has been eating since Monday inasmuch as she is not up-chucking. Her huge fruit basket is nearly empty which means she has eaten about five apples or so, not to mention the strawberries, oranges, raisins, a pear, grapes and the four tangerines I had left for her.
Before I know it, I’m going to have a thousand miles of driving on my new car as I chase around with the Grandkids. I found myself being like my favorite aunt this afternoon. She was always so particular about taking care of things and keeping them exceptionally clean. NascarKid reached over to change the volume up on the CD he was listening to and I noticed he left a greasy print on the dash of my new car! Before I knew it, I was telling him to wipe off his prints. Ouch! I don’t want to be overly cautious of taking care of the car to the point I become obsessive. note to me: be careful about those little things and don’t over do it. I might also add that for the “X” number of miles we spent riding from the middle school to Morganton and back to Lenoir was spent turning the volume of the music up by NascarKid and back down by me. Think I’ll start charging him each time I have to turn it back down..... I could get rich doing that.
Lady was here spinning her magic when I had completed making my rounds today. I was a bit sad to notice that my summer cocoon is beginning to emerge back into the world around it again. As the leaves twirl downward, the house is peeping through the dwindling foliage of the massive oaks that surround my abode. I could see Lady’s car in the driveway and caught a glimpse of her carrying out the recyclables as I turned off the boulevard. She would have to work around the children again today.
Lack of rain is very evident in our area. There is a ban on all outdoor burning; even campfires and such. Already, there has been some major burns around because of the dry conditions. Since 1987 we have about a 40 inch drop in the amount of water we usual get with rainfalls. Seems like the past month or two has been about the worse for dry conditions. In fact, I need to get out and water the new things I planted back in the spring. They are not looking good at all. I may have waited too late to water one of the shrubs. That is to be at the top of my list for “To-Do’s” for tomorrow. ER, maybe I should say, the second on the list since I also have to take DynoKid to his Orthodontist for work on his braces ... another day of running ...
November 8, 2001 - I couldn’t help but notice that the message I left for the others on the message board for the Perl class I signed up for with Barnes & Noble had been removed. Close to a hundred or so had left notes about not being able to get the first lesson of the new class. Some of the others wrote that the Help Desk was not working and wondered how you get through to let them know we had a problem. I had already sent an e-mail earlier to them. I learned from past classes that e-mails cannot be sent through the Help Desk Site.
I only left a message: (Title)EVERYBODY CLICK and wrote: Click on “Contact BNU” at the bottom of the list on the left hand side of the screen. Then choose “Help Desk” and everybody send a note that we cannot get our November lesson.
Whereas it has taken several days for them to answer an e-mail and even longer to fix an error, we had our lesson working within hours and I had a reply to my e-mail thanking me for letting them know about the error they had made. Now why would they take my message off the board? One would think they don’t want everyone to know how to contact them. While taking the Feng Shui Class, it took B&N until the eighth week and final class to get our Glossary working for us. That was almost too late for all of us. It was about three weeks before they answered my e-mail then, informing me there was a problem and they would be working on it - later.
Tis early for this day. My hopes are for me to make it to the water class today. In fact, I need to make it to both classes inasmuch as today is Thursday and we have the early class. I’ll have to check and see if Bonnie wishes to ride with me. She may have her own car available if her daughter is still too sick to work. again today.
I’ll have to pick up DynoKid in time to get him to Morganton for his 1:30 appointment. He is not a happy camper about going for this visit. My only hope is that my plan will help with having him accept having his mouth and teeth worked on. He refused to let them do anything the last time his Mom took him. I let NascarKid buy a CD yesterday when I stopped at Kmart to pick up some ink for my printer. DynoKid was not happy because I didn’t allow him to buy something. I told him if all went well today we would go shopping for him this afternoon. We will have about two hours that he can look around and choose what he wants within my price range for him.
I’ll wait until around suppertime to visit with Mother. Hopefully, she will be lots better than she was yesterday. I ordered her two new colorful caftans to wear. They came yesterday and I’m thinking about going ahead and giving her one of them now instead of waiting a week and a half for her birthday. It may cheer her up.
OOPS! It happened again. Why do all these little emergencies keep changing any plans I think I may have? BingoKid called close to noon. He was calling from the office of middle school to ask if I would come pick him up since he felt sick. There was barely enough time for signing him out of school and leaving him at my house before heading out on the trek to pick up DynoKid for the trip into Morganton to see the Orthodontist. Oh what fun we mortals seem to have with the little surprises of life.
Tbird breezed by like one of the leaves blowing past on the wings of a passing windstorm. Meeting a friend for supper in Valdese, she and the kids were off to a ballgame for the evening. Dad was on his way to Wilmington for a two-day seminar. Since Wendy is in Concord again this week with her school placement training, Wes picked up food from BK for his crew and me for our supper. Allan and his folks came by as well. Buddy Boy stayed with us while Mom and Dad went to pick up Mom’s car which had to have surgery on the rear fender because Mom backed into her Mom’s van.
By day’s end I was exhausted.
. I truly intended visiting Mother, but the day was short a few hours.
November 9, 2001 - Brrrr-ing, Brrr-ing. No, that can’t be the phone ringing so early this morning. Of course! None other than Tbird. “Mom, I need your help. With Hubby gone, I can’t cover all the bases this afternoon. There’s no way I can pick up everybody. NascarKid has a meeting at school. I will have to pick him up after DynoKid has his guitar lesson in Hickory. Can you pick up Giggles in Morganton and meet me in Valdese at the hospital at five? With Hubby gone to that seminar I can’t cover all the bases.”
I had already agreed to keep the three children for the night. She has the first meeting of parents and children concerning this year’s People-to-People group. Because of the terrorists concerns in Europe, they are making plans to return to Australia. This year, Tbird is none other than the honcho for the trip.
Recognizing the worth of looking ahead and stopping by to spend time with Mother on the way to pick up Miss Giggles was the best decision I made for the day. I took her an early birthday present of a brightly flowered aqua caftan which delighted her. She enjoys bright, cheerful bursts of color and held her new possession on her lap taking pleasure from it for a while.
After loading up all three grandchildren in my car in Valdese for the last leg of my day’s journeying, Tbird threw me an unexpected curve. “Oh, Mom, I need you to run by Wally World for me. Can you please pickup a pair of tan pants for NascarKid? He has a band performance tomorrow afternoon and doesn’t have pants to wear. He also needs a pair of soccer socks and a mouthpiece for his Blast tryout tomorrow, too. If you would pick them up for me, I’ll write you a check for however much they cost.” Yes, I had already agreed to take him to Morganton for the soccer tryouts at noon on Saturday. I told her I would get his pants.
Oh, life is becoming complicated. I decide to make the rounds and get everything done before heading for home for the night. Getting the glasses fixed was a breeze. No one was in the office which is a miracle in itself. Leaving NascarKid in the car with Giggles, the two of us run in to get the lens quickly replaced and secured with a new screw. Less than ten minutes later we are all heading up the road to Wally World. Funtime was advancing.
All three of the children had to go in at Wally World. Luckily there was a parking space for me right beside the return spot for empty shopping buggies. Giggles happily climbed from the back seat of the car into the cart for the jaunt around the inside of the store. She promised to make the tour of the store riding in the shopping cart. Little thought was given to what may occur once inside. Little did I know of what was about to happen.
The episode unfolded with the greatest of ease. DynoKid wanted to go over into the Toy department to purchase some accessories for his new robot. He promised not to stay too long since he knew exactly what he was looking for. NascarKid chose a pair of pants he liked and was trying them on. They were too small and I handed him another size to try while he was in the dressing room.
Urgency in her voice, Giggles proclaims, “I got to go potty.” I have to wonder if she has to go or is she only wanting to do something just for doing it. She is at that Terrible Twos Age. I decide that I best not take chances with her. Telling NascarKid to stay there in that department, I head clear across diagonally to the back of the store. I said a brief silent prayer that DynoKid would be okay as I pushed Giggles back toward the restroom.
Store policy states “No shopping carts allowed pass this point” at the entrance to the hallway leading to the restrooms. I lift Giggles out of the cart and take her into the Ladies Restroom. Sure enough, she was in no hurry. In fact, she was more interested in choosing which cubicle was to be used. When we returned to pick up our shopping cart, it was not around! Someone took it upon themselves to take it as their own. There I was in the back of the store with a red-headed, energetic burst of ingenious rebellion determined not to have her hand held for the walk back to the front of the store and her brothers. At one point she lay prong on her back screaming because she wanted free of my hand securely holding her hand. We made it back to the boys, but my weekend was changed.
DynoKid ran over and got another buggy for Giggles to ride in. I took NascarKid’s word that the pants fit him. He wanted a kids gospel music CD before going on to the sports department to chose his socks and tooth guard mouth piece. No one could ever be any happier than moi when we were once again in the security of the car and ready to head home. A stop at KFC for Popcorn Chicken for kid’s supper and another stop to fill the car up with gas and before long I arrived back at the house. It had been quite an adventure since leaving home around one thirty. Now it was around 7:30!
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Lenoir,NC 28645
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©2001 by Stormy Jeanne
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