Working Up Some Thankfuls

I'm too tiiiiiiiired to write a Ten Things of Thankful list! I don't know what's wrong with me this week, but I am EXHAUSTED to my very core. Last Saturday, we were at a volleyball tournament all day in another town. Tuesday night, volleyball in another town. Thursday night, volleyball in another town THREE HOURS AWAY. This Saturday, volleyball tournament in another town.Why does riding in a car and sitting in bleachers watching volleyball exhaust me so much?

Gratuitous picture of Ruby, because I love her.

This is also one of those weeks where it isn't as easy to find thankfuls as it is in other weeks. And instead of a traditional list, I'm going to use the Sandy Ramsey method and incorporate my thankfuls as they come along in the story of my week. 

Last Saturday, Emma had a volleyball tournament in Springfield, an hour away from home. The girls have certainly played better, but they still got third place and had a fun day. My son also goes to college in Springfield, so I picked him up from his dorm and forced him brought him to watch his sister play a few games, then we went out to eat. My baby boy is really growing up; he bought dinner for the family (he actually has more money than any of us, as he is being paid to go to school and then some).

Monday evening, my daughter was dealt a crushing blow. I picked her up from volleyball practice at 6:00. I could see something was wrong when I saw her face as she approached the car, and the moment she got in, she burst into tears. It seems a girl on the varsity team wasn't playing well, so the coach moved her to junior varsity. That seems fair enough, but in moving her, they gave her Emma's position. Now, if Emma hadn't been playing well, I could understand it, but she has worked hard and played very well; in fact, her stats have been so good, they have been in the local paper after every game. One of the coaches told her it wasn't anything she had done, but somehow, she is the one being punished. She is now sharing a position with another player, which now punishes THAT player as well. It's very difficult to understand, for her and for us. And when my child hurts, I hurt. And she hurts.

Tuesday night, though, while playing her new position, even though she was sad and hurt, she got out there and rocked it, including getting 14 service points in a row. IN A ROW! And her stats made the paper again. But still, she doesn't have her position back and is only playing half the time, through no fault of her own. It's really hard.

One thing positive occurred for her this week in volleyball; she and two other friends on the jv team were asked to play in a varsity tournament on Saturday. Now, the reason extra players were needed was because over half the varsity team was taking the ACT and couldn't be there, but the good news is she was one of three asked to play from her team, so perhaps this whole debacle of losing her position will all turn out okay.

Pancaking to get the ball. Not sure it worked this time.

My dad had surgery in August to remove a (recurring) growth from inside his bladder. What at one time was something that was not terribly concerning took a turn when the doctor told him there were some cancerous cells within the growth. Treatment will be in the form of immunotherapy with a drug containing a live virus related to the germ that causes TB inserted by catheter directly into the bladder, at which time the body's own immune system will attack the cancer cells (I Googled it). The drug is kept in the bladder for two hours, then the plug is pulled, so to speak. For the next 6 hours, anytime he goes pee pee, the toilet has to be cleaned with bleach, due to the live virus. This will be done weekly for six weeks, and my 82 year old mother gets the joy of wielding the bleach bottle. (I recommended he work on his aim, and he said he would be required to take care of business from a sitting position.) Hopefully, he will sail through this, especially since the poor man has been diagnosed with type II diabetes and pancreatitis within the past two and a half years.

Emma was nominated for sophomore homecoming attendant. She was also nominated last year for freshman attendant. It was a wonderful honor to be nominated not once, but twice, especially since there are approximately 300 girls in the class to choose from, but she didn't win. And while she is not devastated, she is a little disappointed, especially given how the rest of her week has gone. 

Holy cow, that's a gloomy week! I sound like such a Sad Sack. Let's see, I went to my monthly oncology appointment this week, and all appears well. I got to don the beautiful paper gown for a breast exam, and who doesn't love doing THAT? (Me, that's who.) 

What could be better than a
 selfie in a paper gown?

I rode to Rolla for volleyball Thursday afternoon with the parents of one of Emma's teammates. We had a great time, stopping at the World's Largest Gift Store (I call bullshit on that one, but we still had fun poking around in there). Their daughter got hit in the eyebrow with another teammate's elbow (total accident) five points into the first game, splitting it open and causing much blood to spill. Luckily, there were two doctors and a nurse practitioner in the audience, and she was butterflied together and seems to be healing nicely. And has a great story to tell. 

I leave you with what was supposed to be a video of a bat flying down the hallway at preschool. I spotted it hanging from the ceiling right outside my primary classroom, which is located right across from the sanctuary. I kept to my usual M.O. of running down the hallway screaming "BAAAAAAAAAT!!!" until Mr. Doug comes to the rescue. But rather than the bat being knocked down with a broom (GENTLY - don't get your animal cruelty panties in a wad) and swept outside, this one decided to fly down the hallway, stopping on the floor outside my pre-k classroom. An unsuccessful attempt by Mr. Doug to sweep Mr. Bat into a bucket caused the bat to take off and fly up and down the hallway while I peeked out my pre-k classroom door, slamming it, screaming, every time the bat flew towards me. I THOUGHT I was videoing Mr. Doug as he swung at it with the bat, unsuccessfully, as the bat mocked him by dodging the broom, but it seems I forgot to push the "on" button. When I thought I turned it OFF, I actually turned it on, recording a video of the floor and lots of audio of me arm chair quarterbacking Mr. Doug's attempts to capture the bat. He was finally successful, and Mr. Bat was released outside (where he probably flew right back up to whatever hole allows them to get inside the attic and then, occasionally, find their way into the building). 

It's not too late to link up YOUR Ten Things of Thankful. Or there's always next week....

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A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That

It's been a rodent-y week.

The church building has been inundated with bats. They are always in the attic above the sanctuary in the summer, and occasionally one will find its way inside the building, but this time, they've REALLY dug in, to the point that some kind of professional bat-remover had to come and do some bat eradication in the attic.

And don't give me the "but they eat mosquitoes" argument, because the first time one is in the hallway with you at the preschool, diving towards your head, sending you screaming into a classroom and slamming the door, you'll want them all dead and gone, too.

This past Sunday morning, I was walking down a little hallway that leads to the women's restroom, I stopped short when I saw a bat hanging above the doorway. I looked in the room, trying to decide whether it would be worth it or not to make a dash under the sleeping bat and go on into the lounge area when I saw yet ANOTHER bat hanging from a window valance. That's when I turned tail and ran screaming down the hallway, "BAT, BAT, BAAAAAAT!!!"

He looks poised to drop on my head.

Taking a snooze.

Our trusty Mr. Doug, as usual, came to the rescue with a broom and a bucket and swept them both down and carried them outside.

Two days ago, I was putting some stuff away in a little-used closet in our fourth bedroom. We keep a glue board on the floor of the closet for spiders (because we have lots of them, especially in little-used closets and especially in hot weather), and I glanced down at it as I opened the door.

There were lots of dead spiders.

And a dead mouse.

GAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I haven't opened that closet door in several months, so there's no telling how long it had been there.

And now I'm wondering what in the hell we have cats for, since it's obviously not for their mousing skills.

Completely. Worthless.

* * * * * * * * * *

My husband is on an iced tea kick and is making it in Mason jars and storing it in the fridge, looking not unlike jars of moonshine. 

I am a tea purist. I like it sweet and otherwise unflavored. No fruity crap, including lemon. 

My husband likes to experiment with flavors, but usually (always) forgets to tell me that he has done so.

And that is why I just took one swig of tea, gagged, and poured the rest of it down the drain. Cruel joke. Cruel. I should just stick to Diet Coke at home.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I made a chocolate cake today, because on oncology appointment days, I deserve chocolate. 

I hate oncology appointments. They just remind me that I'm not completely okay.

Blood draw. Ow.

Monthly injection site, along with (fading)
tummy tuck scar. I look fat. Optical illusion, I swear.

I made my favorite chocolate cake recipe. It's quick and delish. Some people call it "Texas Sheet Cake," although I can't imagine what it has to do with Texas. Our family calls it "Marilyn's Sheet Cake" after a family friend who used to make it a lot.  Here's the recipe:

1/2 c. shortening
1 c. margerine
1 c. water
3 T. cocoa

Put all ingredients in a large saucepan and heat, stirring often, until everything is melted and smooth. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and whisk in the following ingredients:

2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Alternate adding the next two ingredients:

2 c. flour

1/2 c. buttermilk mixed with 1 tsp. baking soda

Last, whisk in:

2 eggs, beaten

Pour into greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is still hot, make the frosting:

1/2 c. margerine
6 T. milk
3 T. cocoa
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 c. chopped pecans

Melt margerine in medium saucepan. Add milk and cocoa, remove from heat, then add powdered sugar and stir and stir until the cocoa and powdered sugar are completely dissolved.*  Pour over hot cake.

*I did not complete this step, because I was impatient, so mine was lumpy. And if I had included the pecans, no one would have been able to tell, but SOMEONE at my house doesn't like nuts in anything, so lumpy frosting it is. (I don't know how I raised this child who does not like nuts, because I come from a family where pecans make just about everything better [except chocolate chip cookies, which should never have nuts, but that's just personal preference]).

* * * * * * * * * *

Fantabulous news of the week: I FOUND MY THIRTY-ONE INSULATED LUNCH BAG! I have whined about the loss of this bag for two years.

Our preschool year winds down with a graduation ceremony for our pre-kindergarten classes. Two years ago, on the night of graduation, I received a Thirty-One insulated lunch bag, embroidered with my name, as an end of year gift from one of my students. I took it home with me the next day after closing down my classroom for the summer and put it, along with the other gifts I received, on the dining room table.

Two days later was the tornado. Within a few days, our house began to fill up with salvaged items belonging to friends and from the dance studio, and pretty much every available surface was covered with damaged photographs that were in the process of drying out. Over the course of the summer, items were returned to their owners , and eventually, the house was back to normal (except the basement - still have some tornado stuff down there, and it STILL smells like tornado, for those of  you who know that smell). 

Soon enough, it was time to get my classroom set up for the new school year. As I was packing a lunch to take with me and was pulling out a crappy old bag that I got at Walmart years earlier, I remembered my beautiful new lunch bag. Looked in the back of the cabinet where I kept the crappy lunch bag, but no new one. I opened and closed all the cabinets. No lunch bag. Checked the pantry. Checked the back closet. Gave up for the time being.

I continued to hunt for the lunch bag over the course of the next two years. Poked around the basement. Checked every closet. Bemoaned that it was lost forever with my preschool sidekick Melissa. The only thing I could figure was that I had accidentally thrown it away. 

Then today, as I was trying to get a plastic lid for the jellyroll pan out of the cabinet above the refrigerator, I created an avalanche of seldom-used stuff that I keep up there, such as ice cube trays and melamine serving plates. 

And there it was, behind the plates, MY THIRTY-ONE BAG!

Lunches shall taste SO MUCH BETTER from now on.