KG's Hideaway

June 29, 2005 2:24am

I'm going crazy. I wanted to get to the point that my 2 dogs and 2 cats could be in the same room and I wouldn't have to worry. I've got big Labs, and Woody (my male black lab) loves to chase cats, so I waited until the cats were big enough to protect themselves or get away if they needed to. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about with Jade, my chocolate lab. She's a wuss... terrified of everything.

So now they all hang out together. Jade is constantly licking on Trixie, and chasing Trinket around. Trinket is the feistier one, and is always playing. Woody will take a sniff every once in a while, but he pretty much just avoids them. Trixie tries so hard to get his attention, but he looks away. We were in the kitchen and Woody had just come in from outside, so he laid down on the ceramic tile to cool off. Trixie goes and plops down right beside him, stretched out on her back and using her paws to sort of poke at him. He simply snorted and rolled over to face the other direction. Jade's tail is always wagging 90 mph so the cats are constantly trying to catch it. They are on the prowl at night, but the dogs sleep with Craig and I, so we don't want them in here or they'll just play all night. Hmmmm.... so now you know why I'm up at 2:30 in the fucking MORNING, right?

In other news; I got a letter from the attorney general's office. They have served Marshall with papers to go to court due to his non payment of out of pocket medical bills. He's almost 4,000 behind, so I can't WAIT! Bastard.

Alright, I've got to go shut this zoo down. Night night! kdgr

Posted by at 2:32 AM | Permalink

6-25-05

Wow... I just decided to pop in for a peek and found a whole new place waiting for me. If you've ever been in my house you know that I collect angels, and purple is my favorite color so this is the most perfect blog for me! I love it! Teresa, you're f'ing awesome! I could just stare at it all day- but I just got in from Ryan's tourament and my back is killing me...seriously. I'm done. kdgr

Posted by at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

6-23-05 6:03pm

I actually got out of bed at 7 this morning and was at my doctor's office by 7:45. He loaded me up on drugs and sent me out the door, saying that if it wasn't better in a week or so, he'd send me for an MRI. If you saw the sheer number of pills I had to swallow in order to get my to lay down in one of those things (claustrophobia) you'd understand how awful it is for me. I can't do it. So I'm really hoping this latest round of drug therapy works.

Austin called me from Tarleton a little while ago and has decided to go with physical education and physical therapy as his major. I suppose it could change a bajillion times between now and graduation, but it's a place to start.

Craig made it to Austin this morning and will be home sometime Saturday. Ryan's got a tournament on Saturday and Sunday, so he'll miss some of it. But Kevin flew in from California to go to some meeting down there and since that's Craig's new area he mysteriously "had meetings" to go to today and tomorrow. They're going to get in a round of golf tomorrow and one on Satruday, so he'll come home a happy camper.

Ryan's happy, because when Craig's out of town she sleeps with me. And my new bed is sooooooooooo very comfy. We stuck with king size, but the pillow top is divine! Night! kdgr

Posted by at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

6-22-05 2:19pm

If I knew what was good for me, I'd check my entire family into the hospital NOW. Good God, it's so bad that even the dogs have aches and pains.

We'll start with Austin- He left this morning for three days of hell during Freshman orientation at Tarleton State. But not before getting a speeding ticket yesterday for going 81 in a 70. IN MY TRUCK! Look, you can fuck up any car sitting in my driveway, but my truck is MINE and I only let him use it because his Lexus is a 5 speed and with his hand still in a cast it makes driving, especially an hour and a half away, hard for him. So he got a ticket... that I refuse to pay for. Won't do it. It looks like his girlfriend will be moving in here for the two months before they leave for Tarleton. Her mother is making her life a living hell, and they are fighting on a regular basis (and by "regular basis" I mean daily). Her mother is calling her names (ie Whore) and saying things about her that even I wouldn't say about someone I hate! Keep in mind, this girl was National Honor Society, Head Cheerleader for 4 years, and a host of other awards.... not to mention she's sweet, compassionate, loving, has a great head on her shoulders and is an all around good person. So we've offered her the front living room (that we can convert to a bedroom) or she can stay in there with Austin. Alot of people will disagree with me on that one, but their sleeping together anyway, so what's the big deal?

Now Ryan- She'll play a tournament this weekend, then Atlanta in two weeks, New Orleans the week after that, then two days later she hits the operating room to remove a chunk of bone from the ball of her foot. The stress fractures continued to splinter off (because she never takes a break) and the chunk of bone is now lodged in a tendon, so I can't even figure out how she's been playing on it! She has to stay off of it completely for two weeks (that's when volleyball starts) so depending on how fast it heals she could just start volleyball a little late or skip it all together and just start school basketball with the rest of the team. When Austin has foot surgery, they told him he couldn't even walk on it for 4 weeks, but three days later he was walking on it so I have no idea what to expect. She is a returning Varsity player in all three sports, so her spot on the team is secured. She really wanted those three patches again. Crap! I've got to order those to have them ready to sew onto the jacket in time for cold weather. *Sigh*

Now Kyra- all I can say here is, Who the fuck knows what's going on in her brain? I sure don't. I think we're going to fly her to So Cal to stay with Craig's parents for a couple of weeks. Of course, they'll baby her to no end and she'll come back unable to even tie her own shoes (She's going into the 7th grade), but I guess that's just life.

Craig- working his ass of, as usual. He's going to Austin for the next three days so I'm going to miss him, but with Austin gone, Kyra and I will probably just hang out at Ryan's basketball tournament this weekend. They just keep piling on more and more areas for Craig to handle. It's good in many ways, like the President of the company coming up to him at the Colonial Gof Tournament and telling him how much he's hearing about Craig's work. But he's tired, and overworked right now.

Me- blah. Some old, same old. Actually, my panic attacks are getting worse and my back pain is increasing (probably as a result of the increasing panic attacks) so I'm going to the doctor in the morning. At 8am. Lovely. Afterall, I'm such a morning person. I've had so much trouble sleeping that I've not been falling asleep until 3 or 4, then sleeping until noon (or 4). I lay in bed at night, tossing and turning and keeping Craig awake.

The dogs- Woody's back is getting worse and I guess we're getting closer to the time when he'll have to have the surgery. His spinal column narrows at it gets towards his back legs and, especially during weather changes, the pain is unbearable for him. He takes Rimadyl, but that doesn't kick in for three or 4 doses, so he'll cry and pace. His back legs feel mostly numb to him now (according to the vet) but you wouldn't know it by how he gets around. He'll be 6 on September 8th, so he's not old. But being a big dog (he's an 80 lb black lab) he's probably moving into the second half of his life. Typing that sentence just made the tears start pouring, so I'm going to leave that alone. Monday will be three years since Whiskey, my yellow lab, was shot and killed by a Crowley police officer for chasing a cat. That bastard is in Iraq now, and I hope some hungry Iraqi dog takes a good bite out of his ass.
Jade (the chocolate lab) is happy as a clam, and getting chubby. She's not as long and tall as Woody and she's not nearly as active. We've recently introduced the kittens (Trixie and Trinket) to the dogs and it's the funniest thing EVER. Jade is mostly terrified of them, and if one of the cats gets on her bed, she'll stay off of it even though the dog bed is big enough for either dog and BOTH cats, altogether. The cats love to chase Jade's tail, because she's always wagging it 90 to nothing. In the mornings, when Craig leaves for work, Woody climbs up on the bed and lays on his pillow, Jade lays on my feet, and the kittens curl up with them in various ways.

We didn't want to introduce the dogs to the kittens until they were big enough to protect themselves or get away from them should the dogs get aggressive. My dogs aren't aggressive, but then again they chase cats across the yard all day long when I let them outside, so I just wanted them to all be safe. It appears, the worry was for naught.

Ok, I'm fairly certain that I've covered everyone, and everything, going on in this house. Well, other than the massive argument with my parents this past Friday. I'm beyond angry with my mother, and of course my dad stood up for her even though she LIED... so I'm pissed off at him, too. I don't have the energy to write about it right now. Suffice it to say, it will be quite long and detailed. But right now, I'm choosing to think about the upcoming Charlie & The Chocolate Factory! I can't WAITTTTTTT! So for now, it's back to bed for me, dr's orders. kdgr

Posted by at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

6-21-05 2:24am

It's been a pretty hectic week around here. Last Wednesday, the pain in Austin's hand was so bad that he couldn't stand it any longer. He actually left the speedway DURING a race (anyone that knows my boy knows he wouldn't leave a race event for anything.... so this was bad) in TEARS and got home. I called the doctor the next morning and begged for a quicker appointment, but because the xrays didn't show any fractures in his hand, they didn't see any reason to expedite his visit, so my primary care physician (someone I've known since we were in the 5th grade) got him in to see another orthopedic surgeon. He walked in to the exam room and within 5 minutes diagnosed Austin with compartment syndrome.

I had to attend a seminar on compartment syndrome when I was in nursing school, so I was pretty confused. It is usually something that can happen when you get a compound fracture of one of the long bones in the body (femur, tibia and fibula). The fluids build up and once the skin can't stretch anymore, the fluids start putting pressure on the veins, arteries and nerves. The pain becomes excruciating and nothing will help it. They have to then go into surgery and bifricate the limb. My patient had compartment syndrome on his lower leg, so they bifricated the skin on both sides of his shin... all the way down. Imagine having two wounds, each extending from your knee to your ankle and being left open, with stitches allowing the skin to remain open by about an inch and a half wide all the way down. This allows the fluid to drain and eventually they sew the skin back up. I was confused as to how Austin had acquired this.

When he jammed his ring finger, his friend offered to "pop it out" and when he did it Austin said he heard it pop two or three times. But when we went to the ER, there were no fractures, so they splinted it and told us to call an orthopedic surgeon if it wasn't better in two or three days. By that Sunday, we knew it was bad, but he was in agony by Tuesday night. Wednesday, when we got to the doctor at 1:15 and he was in Surgery by 4. Thank God Craig left work to be with me because I was a mess. I held it together for Austin, but the doctor had told me that there was a good possibility that the damage to his radial nerve could jeopardize the use of that hand. Craig was giving a presentation to the vice president of his company, and when he got my call he was really nervous about walking out of that meeting, but thankfully the VP told him to "get out of here" and was great about it. (My husband works for a GREAT company and they take very good care of us!)

So Austin is getting prepped for surgery and he's hurting so bad that he doesn't care about the needles they are sticking him with (he's TERRIFIED of needles). While we were trying to get him registered, he was hurting so bad that he was pacing the lobby of the hospital. So they get a needle in and start giving him some morphine, but he's hurting so bad that it's just not helping. They were really pushing hard to hurry him into surgery, but the paperwork was frustrating everyone. Finally, as he's almost writhing in pain they get enough meds into him to calm him down... and that started to let the morphine work.

I kissed him on the forehead as they rolled him away, and I realized I felt much better now that I knew he wasn't in pain. I realized that it wasn't the surgery that had me so worried (though as a mom, that was certainly part of it!) it was seeing him hurting so much that bothered me. The surgery took about an hour and a half, and during that time Craig ran home and got all my stuff and Austin's things so that we had everything we needed for the night.

When he was taken to recovery they let us go in, but again his pain levels were so high and when I was near him he kept trying to talk to me. So I told him that we were going to go up to his room and wait for him, hoping that he'd just close his eyes and let the meds help him. They brought him up about 45 minutes later and he was still hurting. They gave him morphine through most of the night and by 8am the next morning he was on vicodin only. His girlfriend also spent the night with me at the hospital and they evidently had a great time listening to me talk in my sleep (both of my kids and I all tend to be quite talkative in our sleep anytime we're under the least bit of stress!!) All in all, it went well.

He doesn't get the stitches/cast off until Monday, but he's got to go take a test at Tarleton tomorrow and then Wednesday morning he has to be back there for three days of Freshman Orientation. They are staying in the dorms for that so at least he won't be driving back and forth each day, but he's still hurting pretty badly, so I don't know how he'll do. I don't want to send him with a bottle of vicodin, but I also don't want to take the hour drive each way to take it to him if he needs it. I guess I'll just send him with a few.

Tomorrow, Ryan has to go to the orthopedic surgeon again for her foot. It appears that she'll need to have surgery for the stress fracture on her left foot. It heals, but it keeps breaking and then she plays basketball on it anyway. We've got to go to Atlanta in two weeks and then to New Orleans right after that, both for basketball tournaments... then I guess she'll have to take the time off for surgery. But I'm hoping we'll get good news tomorrow instead.

Night night! kdgr

Posted by at 2:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

6-11-05 7:52pm

It's pretty fucking hot outside. No clue what the temp is because I didn't drive my truck today. Yes, I know there are other ways to find out the temp but I'm too lazy. My truck has a thingy on the ceiling that tells me what direction I'm going and what the internal and external temps are, so it's nice and easy. Perfect for someone as lazy as I am.

Ryan and I went to Kohl's today. They are having a magnificent sale, but sadly there weren't too many things that I couldn't live without. I got Ryan a really cute little skirt, Austin some flip flops and Craig some shirts. Nothing for myself, if you can believe that. Nothing! I was just totally disinterested. Blah.

I have a prong on my engagement ring that I've bent. It's pretty bad and that prong is almost all the way up to the top prong. My engagement ring is .75 ct marquis diamond surrounded with .75ct of baguette diamonds. I need to take it in and have the prongs rebuilt but I don't want to be without my rings. I'd still have my wedding ring, but I don't take my rings off... ever. Not even when I had surgery. They had to just put tape over my finger because I wasn't going to take it off. Now, I guess I don't have a choice =0(

Well, I got another email from the soldier we "adopted" in Iraq. The last time I sent a package I threw in a box of that Crystal Light- On the Go packets. I guess those were good and the guys liked 'em, so I'll probably throw in a few boxes, along with snacks and magazines when I mail him a box on Monday. He was home last month for a couple of weeks, but he's back in Iraq now. I feel bad for him. He's got a wife and kids but he's having to spend a year away from home, like our other troops, to try and fight that battle. It's just sad all the way around. Hopefully, they'll all be home, safe and sound, sometime in the not too distant future.

I feel like crap again. It seems to be a viscious cycle and I can't stay feeling good for more than a week or two then it's right back into the shit hole. I'm actually sick of being sick. I'm tired, but I can't help but wonder if I'm tired from getting too much sleep. I'm just going to go lay down til it's time to go to the airport. If I'm lucky, Craig will be able to leave the speedway and go get him for me. I feel awful enough that I'm not even worried about missing the race tonight. THAT is bad! kdgr

Posted by at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

7:35pm

I'm going to die. Fucking drop like a rock and DIE. I'm bored out of my mind. I should go shopping. I really should. However, I've learned N.E.V.E.R. to shop when bored. Not only will I do SERIOUS damange, I buy shit. Shit, I say! Look, all girls learn while still in the womb that we can do damage when shopping, so it's really no big thang to bandy that title about. I personally enjoy doing damage AND buying good stuff. And let me tell ya, when you're really aiming high, nothing is better than hitting TIffany's or Haltom's Jewelers. Ohhh la laaaaaaaaaa

Alright, so I'm watching "The Cut" and these guys are just soooooo funny! This is the biggest group of goobers ever assembled on primetime television. I mean seriously, it looks like they can't put forth a fashionable bone between all of them. Good God, I'll probably watch this mess all season, because they'll probably put it on right before or right after Big Brother, which I LOOOOOOOOVE. OMG I damn near went through DT's when it ended last year. I SOO loved Jake's crazy ass! When he stood on that little thingy trying to freak everyone out by acting like Goatboy from SNL... too damn funny! I cannot WAIT!

hmmm let me see, what else can I discuss? Oh yes! I have found the absolute quickest way to get back at your teenage children! Austin and his friends were still lazing about a little bit ago and they had started to get a little loud. They were watching some show like "One Hit Wonders" or something like that, and I heard the Vanilla Ice song, "Ice Ice Baby" to which, sadly, I still know all the lyrics. So I decided to get my children back for every ounce of mortification serve up to on a platter, and jumped into the living room doing every dance step (also lodged in said memory) and sang the whole freakin' song, never missing a beat. Their friends were laughing their asses off (nothing I do surprises them anymore *sob*) while the blood ran screaming from my children's faces. It was SO worth it! I recommend it to all parents! Rekindle some ridiculously shameful song from your own past, like SuperFreak (I'm Rick James Bioooooooootch!) and let it fly!

Now come along little chickies, it's time for bed! Alright, laying in bed watching a movie! kdgr

Posted by at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

7-9-09 4:57pm

Trying to deal with all of Austin's college paperwork. Good God, it's alot! Sadly, I'm thinking that I haven't seen anything yet... it's going to be worse once it gets closer to time for school to start. *sigh*

I laid in bed until 4 pm today. Can you believe that? It almost embarasses me, but then I remember that I'm "me" and it's all ok again. Craig is out at the speedway today (I'm sad that I can't work it too!!!) so I went and picked up bbq for dinner. Cousin's rocks. I could eat that shit every day!

Austin had Amanda and Brannin over last night but they were all pretty quiet so I didn't hear a thing. Craig and I were both sacked out by 11:30, I guess, and I didn't wake up until sometime late this morning. I laid in bed reading, but now I've finished ANOTHER book and have nothing left here to read. I've gone through 10 novels in 14 days. It's probably time for me to get up and move a bit, but I can't seem to muster up the energy. Blah.

Ryan doesn't have any tournaments the next two weeks. We can't go to Oregon with that team that invited her, because we have to be in Atlanta the day after the Oregon tourney ends. So that team invited her to a camp in Atlanta (with more than 200 college scouts there!) the day after the Atlanta tournament ends, and it's only $250 so she's going to do that. Plus, the cost of the camp covers her hotel and food expenses so that's really a good price. It'll mean an extra hotel cost for us, but we MIGHT leave her there and let her ride home with Allison (Craig's best friend's neice). Just don't know yet.

I'm diggin' the shit outta my Trick Daddy cd. I love "Suga Suga" and can play it over and over! I've been in that sort of mood with music lately. I will hit on one song I like and just play the hell out of it. No clue why.

Other than all this mindless stuff, the only interesting thing in my life right now is my weird ass dreams. They've been really freaky (no, not sexual you FREAK!) lately. One of them scared me so badly it woke me up. I'm used to having bad dreams. I've been diagnosed as having "night terrors" many years ago, but the severity of them combined with the frequency (3 nights in a row) has me slightly worried. They've been brutal, bloody and downright scary. Scarier than ever, really. Anytime I've had them with any frquency in the past it almost always signals some sort of rough going ahead. No, I'm not saying I'm psychic, I guess our subconscious picks up on certain things that our brain doesn't and my brain chooses to let me know about it by having scary dreams. Lovely.

Alright, time to hit the showers. Maybe I'll find something good to read afterwards! kdgr

Posted by at 5:49 PM | Permalink

6-5-05 11:29pm

I am addicted to television. I LOVE AEtv. The First 48 Hours, Intervention, Dog the Bounty Hunter, City Confidential, American Justice... you name it, I love it. I also love Discovery Health Channel's Trauma: Life in the ER, Paramedics, the Golden Hour... LOVE IT! I wonder if there is a 12 step program for it? Hello, my name is Kristi and I'm addicted to reality television. Whatever.

Ryan's team lost their game yesterday so it was a rather uneventful day since we didn't have to stay at the tournament. They lost their first two games and that was that. She got invited by one of the other teams to travel with them to the Nike End of the Trail Tournament in Oregon in July. Her regular team isn't going and their coach lets them "guest" on other teams as long as it doesn't interfere with the team. Not sure yet what we'll do because we've got a lot of out of state tournements this summer (Houston, Atlanta. New Orleans, OK) so we'll wait until a little closer to that time before making a decision.

I've gotten alot of emails about Austin and what happened Friday night with the alcohol, so I guess I'll just post it here. First, let me say that my reasoning behind my decision may not be the one other people will agree with but with Austin leaving for college in two months I felt that he'd be making those decisions for himself without my supervision. I've always kept very close tabs on my kids so I need to know that he will make smart choices.

So anyway, Austin called me I guess about 2:30 in the morning to "check in" even though I'd told him he didn't have to. I didn't ask any questions but he sounded fine, so all I did was verify that his plans hadn't changed and told him to check in with me tomorrow. His call woke me up at 8:30 the next morning. He told me that he was over at his friend's house and planned on camping out at the lake that night. I asked him if Amanda and Whitney got drunk (didn't ask him if he had drank anything) to which he responded with, "Nah... I mean, they had like two jello shots each then decided they didn't really want to drink." *deep sigh of relief*

I am really proud of him and his choices! He showed a maturity that I haven't seen in him before when he came in and told me what was going to be going on that night. We've always told him that if he was at a party or something and either drank himself or was riding with someone who had started to drink, then all he had to do was call us. We promised not to make a scene or even talk about it that night, and that he'd be able to come home and we'd talk about it the next day. The important thing is that, even if he made a mistake and started drinking, he could always redeem himself by making a responsible choice. We stand by that to this day.

The college he's going to is a "dry campus" and alcohol isn't allowed even if the student is of legal age, so there is some relief in that, but students will find a way. Besides, we want to trust him, and right now that trust level is higher than it's ever been.

Alright, it's past my bedtime. Gotta run! kdgr

Posted by at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ryan's team lost tonight. They played like shit as a team, but she had a pretty good game in spite of her migraine. Everytime the coach subbed her out she sat with a bag of ice on her head. Tomorrow they will need to buck up and play hard, because it's a double elimination tournament.

Tonight was a milestone for Austin. I'm still not sure I did the right thing... Austin came in and told me that he was going to stay at Amanda's house tonight because her mother is "out" (I'm not even going to address what this woman is doing) and Amanda and Whitney (her best friend) found a bottle of Tequila under the sink and had decided to make jello shots. He told me he wasn't going to drink but he wanted to be there to make sure that they didn't do something stupid... like get into a car. He offered to call me throughout the night, but I told him it wasn't necessary. All I wanted him to do was give me his word and stick to it. I walked out into the livingroom where Amanda and Whitney were sitting. They looked terrified once they knew I knew what they had planned, but I told them that if Amanda's mom came home and started a fight with her (that's been happening alot lately) they had to promise me they wouldn't get into a car, even though Austin (supposedly) won't be drinking. I told them to call me or Craig and we would come get them... we wouldn't say a word to them about drinking, but just let them come in and sleep it off. They all agreed to that. I'm not sure if I did the right thing... maybe I should have discouraged the drinking, but I don't think it would have helped the situation at that point. I'm hoping that the way I handled it tonight fostered some trust and they know that I'm not going to jump all over them. Now, in a couple of days I'll probably catch Amanda when she's over here and talk to her about things... I don't know. Any ideas? kdgr

Posted by at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

6-3-05 9:36am

What a strange night it's been! I woke up with a severe migraine yesterday and it's still here this morning. They usually last me about 4 days so this could get rough since Ryan's Super Regional basketball tournament is this weekend. She just stomped into my room a few minutes ago, in tears because she hasn't been able to sleep all night. We found a stray dog yesterday and animal control won't come pick him up after hours, so I put him in the back yard and just kept my dogs in the house. Well, he's not too happy out there and he's howling a couple of times an hour. He's a cute little thing and just as friendly as they come. My dogs definitely want to go play, but Woody would probably not like him getting around Jade and since Woody is about 15 times bigger than this little guy, I don't want him to get hurt.

We're making some changes to our blogs. We've switched our hosting service over so that T at redeaglespirit is now hosting ALL of it. It's great having her host it because Craig and I don't know squat about programming and she's making all the changes we wanted AND redecorating for me!! (As you can see, that's still in the process!) She is also creating a new blog for my daughter. This chick can do anything, so if you're looking for someone to do computer stuff, whether it's hosting or just needing someone to build a site for you, you should give her a shout. She moved it all for us and it doesn't appear that I've lost anything.

Alright, I'm gonna go lay back down and see if I can shake this headache a bit. I'm bound and determined to have a good weekend! kdgr

Posted by at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)