Simple Woman's Daybook

For September 27

Outside my window... it's raining. The sun tried to come out for about an hour in the late afternoon, but never quite made it. You could really smell fall in the air this weekend, crisp and smoky.

I am thinking... how truly amazing it is that I had fairly major surgery a little more than two weeks ago and today I really feel completely normal (well, you know, normal for me!) And also how much of my previous stomach distress was likely caused by a bad gall bladder. I feel so much better.

I am thankful ... for the two little girls who at this very moment are turning crazy cartwheels around the house. They can both do them one-handed now and I'm pretty sure flips are in their future, too. God help me!

From the kitchen... pork roast for dinner, studded with garlic, doused in some olive oil and then rubbed with French thyme, rosemary and some ginger. Also biscuits, mashed potatoes and applesauce. After the girls are in bed I'm going to make some banana bread with some too-brown-to-eat bananas.

I am wearing... black shirt, black leggings ... still have my jewelry on from church this morning, too.

I am creating... VERY busy in that area. I have a meeting with an agent in three weeks and she wants to see my middle grade novel (Play Dead) that I suggested on a whim. It's done, but NOT input on this computer. I wrote it about 8 years ago and it's on a floppy disk somewhere that is useless. I've also got several interviews coming up, a couple of story pitches and need to come up with something fun for the Brownies do do with the invitations. Busy busy busy!

I am going ... to try and get to be early tonight. I've only been getting six hours a night and it's not enough for me. It's just soooooo hard to go to bed before midnight or 1 a.m, when I've been doing that for years (and then usually getting up around 8 or 8:30 a.m.)

I am reading... Just finished "Emily's Ghost," a fictional account of Emily Bronte's relationship with William Weightman. I enjoyed it. Next in my To Be Read pile is The Tory's Wife.

I am hoping... to stick to my eating plan despite THREE invitations for lunch this week.

I am praying ... in thanksgiving that my friends who had been in dark places with decisions and life throwing them curves are finally seeing the light. And for my little friend Tory (and her mom) whose brain cancer seems to have returned. Tory's defied the odds her whole life and I pray that continues.

I am hearing... Rob reading Tom Thumb to the girls and the washing machine spinning so that Hannah and Liz will have something to wear to school tomorrow.

Around the house... things are finally getting back together after my 10 day or so hiatus of cleaning because I couldn't bend down. The kitchen needs my attention, and I'll get to that after I make the banana bread.

One of my favorite things... is how much better Hannah and Liz behave towards each other now that they aren't in the same class at school. Yes, they still fight, but they also play together for hours on the weekend and after school and it is a joy to behold.

A few plans for the week ahead... Busy! On Monday (hold onto your hats, readers!) I'm going to the church to pray as part of a day-long Eucharist vigil (I've only got to do 15 minutes). Then I'm having lunch with Terry and Beanie. On Tuesday I'm having lunch with my friends Tina and Christine. Then there's dance class and homework starts this week and it doesn't supervise itself and, oh yeah, I'm celebrating my 15th anniversary with my sweetie pie. Then on Saturday Rob's family is coming to take me out to lunch for my birthday. YAY!!

Here is picture thought I am sharing... me, a year ago on my birthday and now nearly 365 days later I'm very happy I don't look like this so much anymore Last year I couldn't button this shirt and now I can!

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Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday ... the day of the week in which I expound upon how much and how little things have changed since I was a mere lass. In other words, I'm reminiscing. But since there are no days of the week that begin with R, we have Throwback Thursday or perhaps the occasional Way Back Whensday...

Today's post is about the Brownies.
On Wednesday I met my Brownie Troop. You can see two of the members of it, in the picture at the top of this blog. The Brownie Vest or Brownie Sash has replaced the Brownie Uniform. They do have things like a Brownie Shirt or Brownie Knee Socks, but to be official you just need the vest or the sash. Oh, they also have official Brownie Rubber Bands for hair. They cost $4.75 for a pack of 10. I know this because I bought them.

You need a vest or a sash in order to place your badges. Yes, Brownies now have badges. They are called both Try-Its and Journeys. I have no idea what the difference is, except that Journeys allow you to work on one thing and get multiple badges, while Try Its means you work on one thing to get one badge.

When I was a girl Brownies did not have badges. Or sashes or vests. We did have Brownie Beanies which they still sell today. I didn't buy them though because as cute as they are, I don't think Hannah or Lizzie would wear them. Ever.

One other change is that all girls recite the Girl Scout pledge holding up three fingers. When I was a girl we held up two fingers as Brownies and three fingers as Junior Scouts. Oh, and there doesn't seem to be any saluting. I remember at an investiture ceremony when I was a Brownie I was complimented on my ability to salute crisply, just as my father had taught me. It was a skill that I have to admit, I've never used since -- and one that has apparently lost its place in scouting.

Other than that, though, Brownies is largely unchanged. At our first meeting we learned the pledge, the Girl Scout Handshake and the friendship circle where you send the squeeze around. We ate cookies and learned the "Brownie Smile" song.

There's a Gal and Pal dance at the end of October that used to be called the Father/Daughter dance, but with families being what many are today, now it's Gal and Pal.

I remember going to the Father/Daughter Dance when Aunt Anonymous and I were both in Brownies (and Mom was the Brownie leader). Since there was only one father, my date was Mr. Pauli, our next door neighbor and he brought me a corsage.

Until my wedding shower I think it was the only corsage I ever received from a man. The dance was some sort of square dance and Mr. Pauli was a bit of a crazy guy, so it was very very very fun to have him as my partner. Also I thought it was cool that Aunt Anonymous did not get a corsage.

So this year Hannah and Liz will go to the Gal and Pal dance with their dad and their Uncle Dude (who may not know this yet, so SURPRISE UNCLE DUDE!)

It's nice to think that some things haven't really changed since the 1960s. That girls can still get together and enjoy the innocence of their youth without all the hectic running around that life has become. There's still a place for girls to learn about leadership and sing campfire songs and make friends who could literally carry them across the Appalachian Mountains (or stand under a huge tree on top of mountain in a thunderstorm which is something and my other not-so-bright girl scout pals did one summer while hiking the Trail).

One thing that should have changed though is all that sitting cross-legged on the floor. I had to sit cross-legged on the floor at our meeting and it took me a good 2 minutes to get up to standing position again. But you know, anything for the Girl Scouts.

And speaking about anything for the Girl Scouts, cookie time begins in February. You've been warned.

This and That

You'd think with the girls gone for seven hours a day I'd have plenty of time to blog, right?

Well, I don't.

I would like to say that I've been sitting in the recliner trying to heal my body from the surgery, but I haven't been doing that either. And I should have been because I learned the hard way that doing four loads of laundry is not a way to rest and heal. In fact, it put me right back in the recliner for another day.

The good news though is that I discovered "The Match Game" is on the Game Show Network at least twice a day. And I'm much better at getting the answers on "The $100,000 Pyramid" when I've seen the shows three or four times.

But there is some news to report and I probably have some pictures you've not seen, so here we go.

* First and foremost, I heard from the other author of my book, that we have sold 10,000 copies. It's really a benchmark that publishers look to, so it was very exciting.

* I found out in that same conversation that my book is now being translated into both French and Romanian. Yes, Romanian. I think there's a deal with a publisher in Brazil, too, but so far no one has signed on the dotted line. I hope to be able to get copies of the books in the other languages, but don't know how that happens.

* I spent part of last week polishing up a young adult paranormal (think ghosts and telepaths) that I am pitching to a couple of publishers next week. I wrote it about 10 years ago, stuck it in a drawer and never did anything with it. I happened to find it at the same time I was considering this online writing conference, so it seemed a sign that I should pitch this particular book. I am not expecting anything, but it was fun to see some of the things in my book that had to be changed because of the passage of time (like my heroine didn't have a cell phone, which I'm pretty sure ALL high school kids have now!)

* It's my birthday in two weeks and while I was talking about what I wanted I mentioned that I would like very expensive jewelry, a poodle and two daughters who were good for the whole day. To which Hannah responded, "Well, Mommy, you get what you get."

* Both girls seem to like first grade and have told me that they do NOT eve play together at recess because they want to use that time to make new friends.

* And speaking of new friends, I have the first meeting of my brownie troop on Tuesday. I bought the girls their vests and troop number and I'm really very excited about it!

This is the stream at Poole Forge with Hannah and Lizzie in it:

This is the stream at Poole Forge without Hannah and Lizzie in it, but with horses in the distance:This is Hannah and Lizzie at the top of the rock climbing wall at Poole Forge, which is near the stream, but not near the horses:This is what the weather was like on the last afternoon of our trip to the Poconos this year:But the torrential downpour gave way to this sunset ... I think there's a lesson in there somewhere, don't you?

Feelin' Stronger Every Day

The good news is that I came home the same day from my gallbladder surgery and have been feeling better every day.

The bad news is that my gall bladder did not weigh 40 lbs. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it didn't even weigh ONE pound. AND I'm also pretty sure that the surgeon didn't do some complimentary liposuction while she was rooting around my stomach area.

So I'll just have to be happy that the surgery went well, the recovery is going smoothly and that I should be back at the Weight Watchers scale in a week or two.

I DID manage to score some really cute (I'm serious) yellow booties in the hospital. I was a fall risk, so they had to give me the booties. Not that they wanted to. The conversation with the nurse went something like this:

NURSE: Why do you use a cane?

ME: I have cervical spinal stenosis that causes me to have leg weakness and balance problems.

NURSE: But do you ever fall?

ME: Well, I trip a lot, but the cane keeps me from falling.

NURSE: Have you ever fallen?

ME: The cane keeps me from falling, when I trip.

NURSE: So when was the last time you fell?

ME: THE CANE KEEPS ME FROM FALLING.

NURSE: So you've never fallen?

ME: I fell once.

NURSE: So you'll need the booties.

I also got a bracelet that said FALL RISK and a big sign on my IV's stating FALL RISK.

I also got a special RED bracelet announcing to the world that I have an allergy. My allergy is to surgical adhesive strips, which I need to explain to everyone because it's not (I guess) a normal allergy. I frankly wouldn't even mention it except that if a real adhesive strip is used and someone rips it off, it takes the first few layers of my skin with it. And that hurts and blisters and bleeds. In fact, during my second surgery about 10 years ago I did not mention this sensitivity (because it wasn't considered an allergy 10 years ago ... now everything is an allergy) to the nurses, who ripped off the dressings to my surgical wounds and then (I'm not kidding) ran screaming from the room because of the mess left behind. Then she yelled at ME for not telling her to be gentle.

Anyway, I got the special red bracelet and then had to tell everyone what I was allergic to. And what happened when the adhesive was used (they have paper tape that doesn't do this, by the way, so I think the bracelet should have read PAPER TAPE and not ALLERGY). By the fourth or fifth telling of this, the nurses were trying to figure out if BAND-AIDS were all right to use. I told them that band aids were fine as long as they let ME remove them. So when I woke up in the recovery room I had a bunch of band aids AND the adhesive strips. So clearly no one was listening to me. Or no one cared. Or both.

I did manage to get out of the hospital pretty quickly. I had to wait about three additional hours for my surgery, which meant I had to get me and my leg compressor thingies and my IV with the big FALL RISK sign to the bathroom two more times than I should have, and they finally decided to turn ON my IV because I was getting woozy from lackofoodia. But once things started to happen, they happened fast.

I noted the clock in the operating room at 3:05 p.m. and then woke up fully in recovery at around 4:30 or so. I did wake up sooner than that, when they were suctioning out my throat after the breathing tube was removed, surprising the nurses who then gave me a shot of something to put me back to sleep. (It wasn't gross or painful, just sort of funny when I spoke to them about the junk in the throat...)

They gave me four saltine crackers and a can of ginger ale and Rob came and got me. I was home in my house by 6:30 p.m.

The last few days have been fine with recovery. I took a couple of percocet for the pain, but stopped taking them yesterday. I managed to get the girls off the school bus Thursday afternoon and onto the bus Friday morning, so things are slowly returning to normal.

Oh, and I MUST say that Rob has redeemed himself as a nurse. He managed to keep the girls out of my bedroom that first night, managed to get everyone off to school the next morning and even made me some toast. So, he's a keeper.

Thanks also to my friends and family who made dinner, sent flowers, called, prayed or in any way supported me, Rob and the girls during this time. I'm glad it's behind me now and hope that the recovery continues as smoothly as it has.

And that by this time next weekend I'll be eating a cheeseburger and fries! With a side of butter. :)

Oh and for those who only come to see cute kid pictures, here are two of Hannah and Liz at one of our last times at the pool this summer (can you see Hannah in the bottom photo?):

First Day of School Reflections

How can it be that I have first graders? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in a hotel room in Delaware wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into? TWO babies? At my age?

And now here they are, nearly 7 years later going off on their own and by themselves and, you know, we've had a really good ride so far.

Which is probably why I know I'm going to miss them more this year than last. Last year they were only in school for about three hours and by the time I dropped them off knowing they were together for the afternoon, and then ran a few errands, it was nearly time to wait at the bottom of the driveway for the bus to bring them home.

This year they leave in the morning, spend the day in separate classrooms and then come home in the middle of the afternoon. I wondered, until today, how they'd cope; how I'd cope.

Last week though, I had a clue of what today would be like for them. I took them to the bike park so they could get some exercise (in other words, not drive me CRAZY for a few minutes). The playground part of the bike park sits on a hill, so you can look over the kids as they race around the bike paths (actually walking paths) that circle around several acres of land, over a bridge and around a tennis court.

The girls started off on their bikes together, laughing with each other and racing as they sped over the bridge and came to the part of the path that circles around the tennis court. That's when Hannah went to the right and Lizzie went to the left.

They went their separate ways without a glance back at each other, without a word. They zoomed around the tennis court and passed each other without a word, too.

Then they both came back to the bridge, Lizzie first.

And she waited for Hannah. They high-fived, laughed at something so funny I could hear them way up on top of the hill, and then sped back up towards me, together.

They were ready, whether I was or not.

So, I should have known then they'd be fine today. I should have known then, that even though they can be intent on their own tasks and their own futures, that they'd likely circle back to each other no matter what. That they are joined in the inextricable threads of twinship no matter what the world is like or where they go or how far they travel. They are joined.

Me? Well, I need to work a little on the letting go part. Those babies who relied on me for everything in that hotel room are ready to ride off a little more on their own. Not into the sunset or anything, but a little further away from me; away from each other.

I need to see them more as the individuals they are rather than the unit they present themselves as. I couldn't see this day back in that hotel room. I couldn't see them as anything other than my babies, forever. But I knew it was coming, this first grade, this first taste of real independence from each other; from me. It just seemed to happen so quickly.

So as we sit here now, with this first day behind us, it turns out we were all ready for it.

So here they were this morning, getting ready to go to the bus stop. For those who don't read my Facebook, Hannah had a run-in with a picnic table on Sunday at the park (playing tag with Lizzie -- the picnic table was home base) and she split her eye. This was after being stung by bees three times on Saturday. Needless to say, we didn't go anywhere on Monday. They are particularly proud of their Littlest Pet Shop lunch boxes because this is the first year they've NEEDED lunchboxes, but the iCarly sneakers are a close second:
We're not alone at the bus stop (aka the end of our driveway) as our new neighbors have a daughter, Abigail, who started kindergarten today. Hannah took it upon herself to take Abigail under her wing, sit with her on the bus and tell her how much fun school was. I got to meet Abigail's mom who was very teary-eyed at sending her baby (and only child) off to kindergarten. We had a long chat after the kids got on the bus and it was nice to have a neighbor with a child roughly the same age as Hannah and Liz:

Here they are on the bus:

TIME PASSES! I mostly organized things in the house to prepare for my surgery tomorrow and missed Hannah and Liz until I realized I could go to the Library BY MYSELF and choose books FOR MYSELF. So I did and it was grand! I also ate lunch without anyone making me get up for more milk or another handful of pretzels. So, there are some very good things about having the day to get things done BY MYSELF.


Then the bus came again...Hannah LOVED LOVED LOVED school. She said she DOES have to find a new boyfriend, since last year's boyfriend is no longer in her class. She was also very excited that she made a new friend at school and that little girl ALSO has a twin sister (identical twins).Lizzie was exhausted after school although she did manage to tattle on her sister about a few things that happened during lunch and recess, so that made her happy. Her teacher is very organized and sent a bunch of things home that will make my life easier. Unfortunately Hannah's teacher had a family emergency (her father died unexpectedly late last week -- principal informed us of this yesterday, although the Mom grapevine was in effect so I actually knew about it last week) so Hannah started the year with a sub, but that was fine with her, too. Oh, and Lizzie said she isn't sure if she missed Hannah, but she did try to peak into her classroom a few times to see what she was doing. Hannah said she missed Lizzie, but saw her a few times, so it was okay:

And here they are with their after school cookies and juice. As I type this they are trying to pick each other up and screaming and laughing and all seems right with my world. And loud. I live in a very loud world:

Simple Woman's Daybook

For September 4

Outside my window... A beautiful day. Sun is shining, the sky is blue. No humidity and temps in the upper 70s.

I am thinking... that we all survived the summer intact. We had several great vacations lots (and I mean LOTS!) of time at the pool as well as time to relax and enjoy family and friends. Nearly a perfect summer (except for some gall bladder attacks).

I am thankful ... for those surrounding me with their healing energy and prayers as I prepare for Wednesday's surgery.

From the kitchen... we're baking cupcakes for Aunt Terry's party tomorrow evening. I'm doing the baking and Hannah and Lizzie are doing the decorating. Prepare for a lot of sugar!

I am wearing... tan pants, yellow shirt, pink flip flops.

I am creating... actually I'm helping the girls do their back-to-school book reports which also include some sort of art project. We're making bookmarks for the books they've selected. I'm not sure how I feel about summer homework between kindy and first grade, but we're doing it anyway (because I actually AM sure that I DO NOT LIKE IT!)

I am going ... to make myself some coffee, and the girls lunch and then probably take everyone over to the pool. Or maybe I'll just let them climb trees outside while I watch General Hospital.

I am reading... Mary Higgins Clarke's Take My Heart. It's okay. I don't really like her writing style but I am interested to see how it all turns out. Thanks to my summer reading program with Hannah and Liz (reading for a few minutes every day) and our time at the pool I've read 10 books this summer, which is probably more than I read all last year.

I am hoping... that I won't need the conversion surgery for my gall bladder next week. Also that the surgery goes as planned in all ways and that the snack they give me when it's done is tasty!

I am praying ... since all of you are praying for my easy surgery and quick recovery, I'm praying for a teacher at the girls' school who lost her father this week. May the comfort of happy memories soon replace the grief you are feeling now.

I am hearing... my own thoughts and somewhere off in the distance the television show 64 Zoo Lane and little girls plotting to climb the biggest tree in the yard.

Around the house... messy messy messy. I'm going to spent much of Tuesday (back to school day) getting the house in shape, so I'm not exactly motivated to do it now. The girls have told me they are going to clean the basement, but so far they have not.

One of my favorite things... the lakeside collection fChristmas catalog. It's great to just hand it off to Hannah and Liz and have them circle things they might like to receive as gifts. The prices are very reasonable, although the shipping is really slow. Internet addy is http://www.lakeside.com/!

A few plans for the week ahead... Party at Terry's house tomorrow (the girls can't wait and are planning to attend with their inflatible dolphins) then some time in the backyard barbecuing and maybe an end of summer trip to the ice cream parlor. Next week, as we all know, unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, is my surgery to remove my gall bladder, and also the girls first day of first grade where they will be in separate classrooms. Lots to be brave about in the coming days! They also start a new year of dance this week. So as you can see, I really don't have time to have anything OTHER than a quick recovery!

Here is picture thought I am sharing... Rob skimming the pool AND showing off his incredible fashion sense at the same time. !!!???!!!

For other daybooks see, http://www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/