The Walking Wounded and Other Miscellany

Please forgive the length of this post. I really do try to keep my posts relatively short (CLEARLY I have failed in that endeavor!!!), but I've had a lot on my mind and a lot going on! So here we go!


My home, of late, has been THE place to be for the physically afflicted. First of all, both The HOFFER and Little Bit have really bad allergies anyway, but this allergy season has been horrific for them. I have never seen them suffer like this. One of Little Bit's teachers recommended a pediatric allergy doctor to us, and we had our first visit today. He agreed that Little Bit needed to be tested to see exactly what she's allergic to, but tests can't be run until all Claritin and Benedryl are completely out of her system. It only takes one week to get completely off Benedryl, but 3 WEEKS to get completely off Claritin. Poor girl. She's going to be fairly miserable for a while. That means her parents are going to be fairly miserable as well! He did give us a few other medications to help her get through till her testing.

As if that weren't enough, Little Bit tripped coming down our staircase yesterday and hurt her foot. Oh my goodness, you should have heard those screams! Miraculously, nothing is broken or even torn. Not even really sure what's hurt or what happened to it. We gave her some Motrin and kept her foot elevated all day Sunday, and there wasn't much, if any, swelling. Today she was able to get her shoe on for school, although it was quite painful. By the end of the day, she was walking on it pretty well. Still hurts, but she's doing really well in spite of it all.

Okay, want to hear something spooky? The HOFFER was walking down the stairs about a week ago, took one step too many, slipped and landed wrong on HIS FOOT! Is that bizarre or what? The really scary thing about it was that shortly after I got to him, he very quickly turned white as a sheet, started sweating profusely, then promptly passed out. I was worried he was having a heart attack and couldn't breath. He had slumped over forward, then he fell back against the wall with his chin touching his chest. I had never seen anything like it and was TERRIFIED. He was out for about a minute (although it seemed like an eternity!), then he came to and slowly regained his color, stopped sweating and was okay. He didn't remember passing out and was understandably nervous about going to sleep for the night, so I stayed up to read for a while and kept an eye on him. He slept for about 45 minutes when he woke up again. I told him I thought he was okay for the night since his color was back and his breathing was good and steady. So he slept, albeit a bit fitfully, for the rest of the night (only about 3-4 hours). Needless to say, what little sleep I got was also full of fit. After getting up and getting Little Bit off to school the next morning, I came back and joined The HOFFER in getting a bit more sleep. We slept till noon, but we needed it. Here are the God-parts: as with Little Bit's foot, nothing was broken or torn...it just hurt like the dickens. Lots of Advil, Vitamin C (my mother's cure-all) and rest helped it heal pretty quickly. He was putting weight on it in just a couple of days. AND--The HOFFER already had a doctor appointment scheduled a couple of days later! He was able to talk to his doctor about what happened, and he reassured us that everything looked just fine. The passing out was even a normal occurrence.

With all that has happened to The HOFFER and Little Bit...I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen to me!!!

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As I mentioned in my last post, Little Bit and I went to see the new Veggie Tales movie on Friday after school. I had invited several friends from school and church, and we had a great turnout! Even better, the movie was HILARIOUS! Even if you don't have any little kids to take with you, GO SEE IT! You won't be sorry! The only thing I didn't like was audience-related. Apparently, a man sitting in the row in front of us didn't think the people at Big Idea had done a good enough job, because he kept adding his own sound effects! At least his kids enjoyed it...!

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Have you ever had to put a pet to sleep? We had to do just that on New Year's Eve. We were adopted by a mama cat and her three kittens when we first moved to Austin. That was in 1992. Mama Cat passed away about four years ago. Birdie disappeared right after Thanksgiving and we haven't seen her since. We wouldn't see Mulligan for days, then he would reappear just fine. Well, this last time he reappeared he wasn't so fine, so Little Bit and I took him to the emergency animal clinic right away. Given that he was around 15 years old and any kidney treatments weren't guaranteed to set him right (renal failure is very common in elderly cats), I made the decision to let him go. It was really difficult for Little Bit to understand, and she took it very hard. They gave us a few minutes to say goodbye to our sweet kitty. They also gave us his paw print in clay for us to have as a keepsake. It was a lousy day.

At least we still have one kitty left.

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I believe I have previously discussed the fact that my favorite sports are, in order, baseball and football. Notice there is no mention of basketball? Would you care to guess what sport Little Bit is drawn to? Of COURSE it's not baseball or football...it's BASKETBALL. No offense to you basketball fans out there...basketball just never "clicked" with me. Austin has a minor-league basketball team, and we had been talking about taking her to a game when one of The HOFFER'S business associates gave him four tickets--and very nice ones, at that!--to Saturday's San Antonio Spurs game! Is that cool or what? We picked the worst possible night to go. San Antonio has a HUGE military presence, and Saturday night was Military Appreciation Night at the Spurs' game. Don't get me wrong...our military is ridiculously under-appreciated. I think our military deserves far more thank you's than they get. We civilians have no clue about what these soldiers AND THEIR FAMILIES have to put up with. It humbles me and I get really emotional when I hear about the sacrifices made by these people, the incredible feats of heroism, and the fact that these men and women see it as just doing their job. There were at least a couple of guys from a nearby burn unit at that game...others with missing limbs or other wounds. They honored as many soldiers as they could. There was a Purple Heart ceremony at halftime. Standing ovations throughout the game to say thank you. It just wasn't enough.

I spent nearly the entire game crying my eyes out.

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And last but not least (hey, what's all that cheering about???), I finished two books from my "Big Christmas Box O' Books". One was really good and one was GREAT! But I will save that for my next post. Until then, here's hoping I continue making it down the stairs safely!!! Thanks for making it through to the end with me!!!

Quite Possibly The Best Pirate Movie Ever

For those of us who are devoted Veggie Tales fans, January 11th is a momentous occasion. It is the day of (drumroll, please) Big Idea's second theatrical release, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"!!! TA DA!!! (insert thunderous applause)

Their first venture onto the big screen was "Jonah--A Veggie Tales Movie", and it was FABULOUS! (I still cry nearly every time I hear "God Is A God of Second Chances".) "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" promises to be another winner. Yes, I know, they don't look so fierce. Perhaps it's because these pirates are here to show us what true heroes are like. WHAT??? You're one of those fuddy-duddies...uh, I mean people who just doesn't care for cartoons or kids' movies??? Do you have a pulse? Please, for your own sake as well as that of all mankind, I beg you to reconsider. Remember the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons? That should give you an idea of what it's like to watch a Veggie Tales show: a lot of fun for the kids while sneaking in some clean adult humor to make it enjoyable for the adults.

Still need convincing? It's a show about "a bored gourd, a sour grape, and a cucumber who wants to be cool", according to the trailer. You'll get to see the new music video "Rock Monster" (sung to the tune of the B-52's "Rock Lobster"). Does the name Steve Taylor ring any bells? He contributed a song called "Yo Ho Hero" and performs it with yet another favorite of mine, the Newsboys. And if THAT'S not enough, it will be worth seeing just to see cheese curls turn evil! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Still not convinced? Then YOU need to see it more than anyone. Quick...buy your ticket early and camp out by the front door of the theater. It's okay...your therapist agrees with me.

When "The Bee Movie" came out, I put together a very casual Friday afternoon at the movies with several classmates and friends. It was great fun and we had a great turnout, so I'm doing it again for this one too. After school gets out on Friday, we are heading to the theater!

So if you're looking for something to do this Friday, check out "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". It's my favorite way to get my daily dose of vegetables.