Thursday, February 21, 2013

Sleep WHAT???

My lovely doctor (don't get me wrong I LOVE her) has been pestering me for weeks to get a sleep study done, thinking my snoring could be sleep apnea.  Finally at the urging of my son who said, "mommy if you get the study done maybe they can fix your snoring so you don't wake me up at night" (he sleeps across the house from me).  OKAY OKAY OKAY I get it!

I signed up for the overnight study, with the reassurance from a few people (you KNOW who you are) I know who have taken it that it's not that bad.  I have one word for those "no longer friends" - LIARS!

I arrived at the sleep clinic at 7:30pm and was escorted to my private room - which is a miniature hotel room without the potty (only a sink/mirror, nightstand & bed).   "Each room is quiet, sound-attenuated" - if attenuated means you hear everything then yes their web site is correct  The technician is very nice and you have DISH television to watch, water, tea, etc.  Once you're ready for bed (in your jammies) they come in and "hook you up".  This whole process takes an hour - no joke!
  • There is a sensor on each calf (the wires go down your pant legs).
  • There is a sensor on each side of your chest.
  • There is a strap on your tummy and one on your chest to "guide all the wires".
  • There are about 5-6 sensors on your scalp (yes your scalp, and the icky gooey wax they use to attach them is uber difficult to remove).  My hair looked like a rats nest in the morning!
  • There are sensors on every muscle in your face - no I am NOT exaggerating.
  • There is a sensor in each nostril and one that goes in front of your mouth to gauge your breathing.
  • Then last but not least there is an oxygen sensor on your finger.
 All of these wires are then gathered into a "ponytail" and run behind your head and plugged in.  I so wish I'd taken a photo - I'm sure I looked like someone from a mental institution about to undergo electro shock therapy. 

Then the technician (or the stalker as I've begun to think of him) tells me to lay still, he's going to run diagnostics on the leads and turn on the camera - yes the camera, as if I weren't freaked out enough, now I know they are watching me (this confirms the stalker-ishness of my technician don't you think).  There is a microphone in the room so they hear every cough, sneeze, moan & fart - yes everything we ALL do when we sleep but don't admit in public.   

The stalker then tells me do several movements to establish a baseline.  Roll your eyes, move your toes, fake snore, breathe thru your nose.....then you are free to go to sleep.  oh SURE!

Like it's THAT easy.  You see I LOVE my bed, my house, my puppy curled up next to me.  I do not sleep well in strange places. 

I'm are expected while being hooked up to more leads than a car battery and being video taped and audio taped in a strange bed without my hubby or puppy to go to sleep.  I am convinced that whomever came up with this idea never actually tried it themselves. 

After tossing and turning for what seemed like an eternity, normally I would've gotten up & gotten a drink of water but I didn't want to "speak and be heard" by the voice of God watching over me so I just suffered in silence.  The stalker came in at 1:00am to fix a lead that had come loose, when I asked he said I'd gotten a good hour of sleep.  Obviously his definition of "good" and mine are on two opposite ends of the good/bad spectrum!

After the longest night of my life - truly - the stalker returned at 6am to wake me up.  All I wanted to do was get the leads OFF OF ME and run out the door screaming all the way home (after stopping first to go potty).  But alas, after getting dressed and trying to get the goo off my face and out of my hair I thought I should brush my teeth.  HINT:  do NOT forget your toothbrush for a sleep study...thankfully a washcloth worked just fine.  After about an hour the doctor came in, after reviewing the study results and we talked......

The story does not end here - I have to return to the sleep study hovel and spend another night so they can find the right treatment (machine) and the correct settings. 

I'm sure you're asking yourself WHY IN THE WORLD would I subject myself to another night of torture (I know I am).  The answer is simple.  I am tired of being tired.  I wake up tired, I'm tired all day, I cannot remember the last time I truly felt refreshed upon waking up.

So - in 4 nights I will begin my quest for sound sleep and return to the den of sleeplessness for one more night of impossible sleep.....hopefully my knight in shining armor on his gallant white steed will find me and whisk me away to his castle in the sky...................oh wait that's a totally different story.






Thursday, February 14, 2013

Judging the character of others.....a story

Thank you goes to my mother for this jewel of wisdom:
 



A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a old suit, stepped off the train in  Boston and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard & probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge .

'We'd like to see the president,' the man said softly.

‘He'll be busy all day,' the secretary snapped.
 
'We'll wait,' the lady replied.
  
For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

'Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave,' she said to him! 

He sighed in exasperation and nodded.

Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.  The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, 'We had a son who attended Harvard for one year.  He loved Harvard. He was happy here.  But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed.  My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.'

The president wasn't touched.  He was shocked. 'Madam,' he said, gruffly, ‘we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died.  If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.'

'Oh, no,' the lady explained quickly.  'We don't want to erect a statue.  We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.'

The president rolled his eyes.  He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, 'A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs?

We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.'

For a moment the lady was silent.  The president was pleased.  Maybe he could get rid of them now.

The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, 'Is that all it cost to start a university?  Why don't we just start our own?'

Her husband nodded.  The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.

Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name,  Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
 
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Life gets away from me......

This is how life gets away from you...one day you're folding the towels, watching the news and the next thing you know the dog has pooped in the dining room (and for some reason no one in the house but you knows how to clean it up), the soccer uniform needed for the game in 30 minutes is still in the washer, the doorbell is ringing and the daughter is crying that she's sick and has a fever.......

Sound familiar?  This was my weekend.

I can say that having a sick child coupled with the ability to work from home to take care of her provides me with the perk of extra time to clean-up the house and generally get caught up.

HOWEVER, when there are 30+ episodes of Criminal Minds taped to watch, and 4 episodes of American Idol Hollywood week to watch my best intentions are instantly derailed.

As of this morning - the laundry is upstairs - though still in baskets (that's an improvement from it being all over the couch downstairs); the downstairs is vacuumed; the new comforters are washed, dried and on the kids beds; the dishes are clean in the dishwasher (let's not talk about the dirty ones stacked window ledge high in the sink).

Remember to stop and smell the flowers....because sometimes they stink and you wouldn't want to miss it!!!






Friday, February 8, 2013

It was a tremendously long day yesterday, was away from home for over 12 hours!
 
Finally trying to get to the kids ready and in bed, the dog went out to go potty, as usual he started barking.   Our dear son looked out and screamed "there's a possum on the fence".  Of course we thought he was joking, as he tends to do a lot of these days.  Not this time, a possum truly was walking along the top of our backyard fence behind the bamboo, I think the dog wanted to play with it.

We corralled the dog and got the camera, in 12 years of living in our neighborhood we've never seen a possum, let alone this close up.  He became cornered behind the arbor vitae at the corner of the fence and just sat there for a good hour.  What poor ugly creatures with red glowing eyes and freakishly long tails that inspire the heebie jeebies.





Thursday, February 7, 2013

Stay where you are needed....a story

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. He refused.

Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients. Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her, "Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed. I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this Gentleman's Name? "

The nurse with tears in her eyes answered, "Mr. William Grey........."

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.



~Story from our friends at Operation Ooh-Rah

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Complacency

I've become complacent.  I've become lazy.  I've become boring.

I've been at the same job for 15 years, and when someone says "wow, that's a long time" - they truly have no idea.  My actual job has changed only once in the last 15 years, from an Administrative Assistant to an Executive Assistant.  While not many people will know what that means - it's easier but harder, rather than supporting a lot (75+) people, I only support one.  But at the same time it's a higher level of support as well as having to run interference with our Corporate office and at times play politics. 

So I did a little job searching today.  Not only am I extremely well paid, I decided I really do have a great job.  Flexibility to work from home if my children are sick, or if I am.  The ability to meet the appliance repairman, or cable guy during the day if I need to (NOT the Jim Carey type of Cable Guy either!).

Then I realized we all become complacent in our lives, our jobs, our relationships.  I think it's an inevitable evolution, but I also think once we become aware of it there are things we can do to reverse direction. 

Stop and smell the roses, laugh more, complain less.....try it, I know I'm going to!

CHL...what's that?

Today I went in for my concealed handgun license appointment at the County Sheriff's office.

Yes I am getting a license to conceal/carry a handgun.  I do not plan on being a gun toting Annie Oakley, but if I want to carry my handgun (my Smith & Wesson 38) then legally I can.
I will not apologize for this decision nor do feel I have to explain or justify this decision to anyone.  

What people need to remember is:

~ just because you can doesn't mean you should~


This little gem can be applied to a lot of areas of our lives and if we all were to just take a moment to think before we act or say something - the world would be a lot nicer place to live.

So back to my story - I went to the Sheriff's office expecting to have to go through security - like when I had jury duty at the Courthouse - or even the airport.  NOPE!  nothing - I walked right by the "information officer" and into the building.  I need to point out here that it is a beautiful new building with marble stairs and a nice tribute to fallen officers.  I went straight to the cashier's office, paid my fee ($65 for those who are curious) and headed upstairs to the Concealed Handgun License office.  Once there they pulled my application, confirmed my passport, ID and certificate of CHL class (which is a whole other story), I was photographed, fingerprinted electronically (no more messy ink pad) and sent on my way.  My license should arrive in the mail in 3-4 weeks, as long as I pass the background check, which is a bit strange - what if I don't pass?  Will they tell me why?

Now the "whole other story".  We (the hubby and I) attended the required CHL class offered at a gun show a few Saturday's ago.  The class was totally packed (this was after the NewTown school shooting) with about 50 people.  Honestly it was not what I expected at all.  We paid $35/pp to take the class and were supposed to learn:

  1. Basic Handgun Safety
  2. Oregon laws on weapons and deadly force
  3. Self-defense principles and defensive mindset
  4. Concealed carry equipment and techniques
Basic Handgun Safety - well that my friends is NOT what we got.  Going to the range and shooting with my Dad gave me WAY more safety information and instruction.  Really they just talked about common sense things that if you didn't already know well then you SHOULD NOT have access to a gun (in my opinion)!

In fact there were a few people (based on the questions they asked) that DEFINITELY do not need a concealed handgun permit!  They don't even need to own a gun!

Be safe out there my friends~~




Monday, February 4, 2013

Hypocrite

It will never cease to amaze me how becoming a mother can change even the most outspoken person into a hypocrite. 

It's very difficult to remain positive and supportive when those who wholly criticized my work schedules after both my babies were born are now taking even more liberties with their work schedule and expecting positive support from me.

I really do want to be as supportive of them as I wished they had been for me....but it sure is difficult. 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Monday...again

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday again already. Another day to make a positive difference in my life and others.