So for Valentine's Day, Daija gave me heart failure. I was fixing dinner, Halle was doing her chores and Tyler had been outside, and was coming in and out of the garage to get various toys. I should have known something was up when Daija wanted me to help her put her monkey back-pack on. While Tyler was in his room, and I was in the kitchen helping Halle with sweeping, Daija opened up the garage door. Now, this would normally be no big deal because she was just looking for Tyler and wouldn't have gone any further than where he was. But, Tyler wasn't outside and in the process of opening the door, Daija let Ramie out. Ramie does love to sneak outside for a little jaunt, and if you follow her she'll run for an hour but leave her alone, and she'll be back in 20 minutes... so Ramie took off for her cruise around the neighborhood. Daija followed her. So I'm still in the kitchen, and had just asked Tyler, who had come into the kitchen, where Daija was, when someone pounded on my door. The mailperson, recognizing Ramie from the backyard, asked me 'Do you have daughter?' I knew what was coming next... 'I just saw her following your dog.' Now, why the lady didn't take her hand and lead her in our direction I don't know. I took off running and caught up with Daija and Ramie who had crossed two or three neighborhood streets, nearly two blocks from the house. I asked, breathlessly, 'Daija, what are you doing?' and she calmly pointed at the dog 'Ramie go.' It took some doing, but I convinced her that Ramie would come back but I needed Daija to come home now. Thank God Ramie headed back into our housing development and not for Southern Avenue. I am kinda glad that I've gotten the lost child out of the way early this year. I shouldn't lose another one until 2006.
Oh, and I flubbed the tooth fairy duties. I forgot to leave money under Halle's pillow Monday night. Tuesday, I told her that because she lost her tooth so late in the evening (right before bed), the tooth fairy probably just couldn't get it on her schedule that quickly. Well, while Halle was brushing her teeth, Tyler shook some change out of his bank and left two nickels and seven pennies under her pillow, and then led her back in there to show her where it was. She came running into my room all aglow over her 17 cents (little does she know the going rate for a tooth is now a dollar). I was a little freaked out until I asked how she found the money and she told me 'Tyler showed me' My heart just welled up - I have never fessed up to him that any of the gift giving icons aren't real. It was so sweet to realize that he plays along not only when it comes to himself, but also to create the magic for his sister. Of course, he pocketed two quarters and tried walking very carefully so they wouldn't clink... hoping I'm sure to buy a soda or some candy at school. How very un-tooth-friendly of him!
So, updating on me... I'm good - time will have to tell on the meds, though. Now that I'm off the cough medicine with codeine, I'm coming to realize that at this dosage, Strattera makes me sleepy, occasionally dizzy, and slightly nauseous for several hours after I take it.... the other week I thought it was the cough medicine and/or antibiotics I was taking (I started that stuff the same week I started the 60mg). Wednesday night, I did what a lot of people do, and switched to taking them before bed instead of first thing in the morning. I'm going to have to see how that goes... but if the sleepiness continues in the daytime I'll have to try something else. I was literally asleep (well, dozing) at my desk for almost an hour yesterday, sitting straight up. I feel much better today, so we'll see. I'd really prefer to stay on Strattera if taking them at night does the trick; my only other options are stimulant meds and I can't get a controlled Rx refilled; I would have to go to the Dr. to get a new Rx every month. I already have to do that for Tyler and it's a PITA. And while the Strattera hasn't totally changed my life and made me super motivated to do 'boring' stuff at work, or house work at home, it has helped me be able to keep my attention focused a little better in 'low stimulant' situations (like sitting on a 20 minute conference call where I only need to participate in about 2 minutes of it throughout the call). I have noticed some other really positive side effects that I'm not sure I would get from a stimulant med, since Strattera has similar affects as an anti-depressant (this per the psychologist). One of the common traits of ADHD is people tend to miss social cues. I've come to realize that Ro makes dead pan comments that I used to get really irritated by, and now I realize he's joking so I rib him when he says this stuff that used to really bug me and it's taken some old tension out of our relationship. I've also realized that I have been unfair in the past in regards to him helping. Admittedly, I do think he should help more than he does, but at the same time, I had a tendency to discount anything he did do to help, because it wasn't the way I do it or it wasn't what I considered a priority or what I wanted done. For example, if I leave the bed unmade, that doesn't bother me. However, if he leaves the bed unmade, or makes the bed but the cover is uneven, or pulled to high up, that would bug me. And I would get my panties in a twist with a 'if you're not going to do it right don't do it at all attitude' and remake the bed. Now, I'm just happy that he makes the bed when he gets up after I do and I make sure I make the bed if he gets up first. I still notice when he makes it that the comforter isn't straight, and that the bed skirt is lopsided from him shoving the mattress, but it doesn't bug me and I don't feel a need to 'do it right' or comment on it not being right. I'm just glad he made the bed. And when he gets the kids fast food, I don't get my panties in a bunch because it's not the healthy food I'd prefer they eat or because I had planned something for dinner, I just recognize that he was trying to give me a break from cooking. And he's started checking with me to make sure I don't have something planned for dinner (another thing I'd get pissy about... I'd get home and the kids would have eaten greasy old burgers, and I'd have thawed meat that would go to waste).
I also bought a car last Friday, a 1994 Dodge Intrepid. I made the very difficult decision that I am going to turn the van into the finance company. I have a $360 a month payment, and spent another $2000 in car repairs last year, only $500 of which was covered by my service contract. I had someone check it out while Ro was visiting his family and I had his car for transportation... I have a bad knock sensor and O2 sensor in addition to the fact that the a/c has a wiring problem my mechanic says will probably get very expensive to troubleshoot and there is another electrical problem that no one can figure out; every time I accelerate all the lights in the van come on even though all the doors are securely shut. I only have about 10 thousand miles left on my service contract, and already I anticipate spending at least another thousand dollars in repairs, and that's just what I know of. God only knows what else will fall apart on this thing before I hit 100,000 miles. And the finance company won't defer a payment when I have a car repair (none of which have been less than $300), so I have to short my mortgage and then my mortgage shows late until I get it caught back up. I just can't afford what this van is doing to my budget, and I do not want to get tied up in another 4-6 year car loan... until Daija goes into kinder (in another 3.5 years). If it wasn't for the payment, I could afford car repairs and maintenance. I am getting a nice tax refund this year, and decided to try and find a vehicle from a private owner, preferably a nice retired person who had driven it gently! Ro suggested I start looking now and if I found something really good, he'd give me the money for it (he finally sold his house in December) and I could just give it back when my tax return arrives. So I started looking and it took a week (boy, those sun city 'senior driven' cars go FAST!), but I found this car, which is 11 years old but only had 64K. The couple that was selling it was recently retired and it wasn't being used, as they had another vehicle. Since they were selling their house and moving, they decided since it wasn't being used anyway they'd be better off selling it. It had been the wife's car, and for the seven years they'd lived in AZ, she'd worked only a mile from their house and really only used the car to go back and forth to work. The interior is immaculate except that the passenger air bag cover warped from the heat, the paint looks great, and Chris, my mechanic, checked it out and said it was in great shape except for a leaking compressor, which I'd probably need to replace in the next year or two. It was obvious the car had been really well taken care of and I'd already looked at two that Chris deemed mechanically unsound (thank God for him, I could have been taken for a ride so easily!!!), so I made an offer and we did the title transfer that day. I'm still trying to work out fitting all three kids in back; I can get all the car and booster seats in but the kid have a hard time buckling up... but I'm sure we'll figure it out. Technically, Tyler doesn't 'have' to use a booster anymore but I really prefer that he does, I don't like the way the seatbelt fits him without it. I'm going to look into getting the front airbag disabled; then he could use his booster in the front seat.
