Weekend

We have had horrible winds and many people are without power. We had no internet connection from Thursday until last night.


Brain will now be called Cryptic. I will change it over on the side soon.

So I spent Friday in the kitchen all day. I had a cookie exchange to go to that night and had to make 8 dozen cookies. I will post the recipe soon, they are our ultimate favourite cookie, EVER. My kids can be picky, even when it comes to sweets. This is one cookie that they all beg for.

My feet hurt SO BAD by the time I had to leave for the exchange. My legs too. I have had bizarre right ankle issues of late, as well as a cyst on the back of my left knee. Normally it doesn't bother me, but if I walk too much or stand all day, it is painfully obvious and tends to swell up. This was the case on Friday.

While I was making the cookies, one of Cryptic's best friends EVER called and wanted to come over for the weekend. So his parents brought him, along with his 5 month old foster sister. They started fostering this year. She has asked me about it over the years and said my parents are an inspiration to her. We had a short visit and the plan was to take Brain and J (afore mentioned friend) to "Eragon" that night, since it just came out. I was going to pop in to the exchange, leave my cookies, collect my cookies and take the boys to the movie.

They ended up changing their minds and staying here to watch the latest Pirates movie that we just bought. So I stayed at the exchange and actually socialized with some women. That was nice and it was REALLY nice to sit and rest my feet.

Brom kept me up a bit in the night, but he is getting better every night. On Saturday...I can't remember. Ah yes, I took Cryptic and J to the movie and we shopped a bit. When I came home, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Stud had done some things outside. The wind storm had knocked some of the tiles off of our roof all around and he went up there to fix those. He also plugged in and hooked up some new holiday decorations that we got this year. Candy canes that light the pathway to the front door, etc. Looking very nice, now all we need is some snow! I wish we had gotten those set up a few weeks ago when we got that gorgeous snow!



We ordered pizza and Stud went shopping. Many calls home to check in with me later, he has gotten almost all of it done. Just needs another thing for Cryptic and some things for me, and we are finished. We have some left to wrap but we are close to done, so that is nice. A week from today, the kids are going to be very pleased with what they are getting. We got them one small thing each and then Santa gets them three. Of course Stud went over on Jock, so each of the others will get a bit more now. We try to spend the same amount and then keeping them getting the same number of gifts is hard. Jock and Cryptic are harder, since they are older. We could spend $40 on each of the other two and get them four of five things they would be very happy with. That same amount would get the older two ONE thing, perhaps two. Makes things tricky and one needs to tap into their creative side, I find. So I left it up to Stud this year! LOL


Sunday morning, we were awakened at about 4 or 5 A.M. to poor wee Clown standing at the side of our bed, gasping in pain and holding his head in an awkward position. Something was wrong with his neck. If we held him against us and shuffled along, it was manageable, but if we let go of his head and neck, he screamed and was in agony. I got up so suddenly and in such a panic that as I was holding him and trying to figure out what to do, I was suddenly extremely nauseous. I was very shaky and thought I may vomit on my poor boy's head.

I had Stud come over and get him held against him and I ran to the bathroom. I was dripping in sweat and freezing cold and was sure that I was going to erupt all kinds of fluids from both ends. Most odd. I actually did a few dry heaves, which brought back horrid memories of pregnancy, and then it passed and I was fine. Lasted all of two minutes.

So we somehow got Clown settled on the couch in a position that was least painful, with his neck on a heating pad and we all got some more sleep. Stud and Jock got up and went to Jock's hockey game, that I wanted to go to but thought I should stay home with Clown. Good thing I did, things got worse and the child was screaming. I took him to the walk-in clinic. It was very difficult to get him in his seat in the van and he screamed the entire way. I tried to prop things up against his neck and shoulder, but by the time we got there, he was actually laying in a freaky pose and screaming at the top of his lungs. It would be funny, if he was not in such pain and if I did not feel so helpless. I carried him in, with his head propped against my chest. He calmed down a bit, but when I had to put him down to sign him in, etc, the screaming started again. There was no pressure against his neck.

A sweet young man sat with him, patted his leg and kept on calling him "Big Guy", telling him that his mother would be right back. He was so sweet, telling Clown the same things I had been saying, but coming from this "cool" guy, it seemed to really mean something. Asked Clown's name, told him his, etc etc. I was so grateful and told him so when I was able to come over and hold Clown again. Clown had been concerned before we left that he would make a spectacle of himself once in the office, and he was trying to tone things down. He was ashamed that he was still in his PJs but I explained that happens sometimes, no worries, no one would mind.

Long story short, he has a hereditary thing...can't remember the name. He has always suffered from what we thought were horrible growing pains, but it turns out it is this muscle issue. Starts with a "T" and I have suffered from it over the years. Always in my neck, as it has now manifested itself in Clown. Lasts a few days with me typically. Really is terribly painful and I could relate and knew how he felt. I was 18 when it first started, however. Not seven. So that is no good. It happens to me every few years, sometimes a few times a year.



Once we got that sorted out and got him medicated and settled, Stud, Jock, Princess and I went to Jock's hockey Christmas party. Stud had totally forgotten about it and called me on the way home from the game! *sigh* Not only did he forget that, but he didn't tell me about the gift exchange. So we took cookies from my cookie exchange Friday night, and had a great time at the party. Played Dodge Ball, threw frisbees, etc. The food was yummy and I showed off pictures of the new puppy. I did not want to leave Cryptic and J watching Clown for long, but they did great. They did their gift exchange and Jock sat back and watched, smiling and having a good time seeing what everyone else got. I was not impressed, but it didn't phase him at all, so that is great. I asked Stud about it. He said he knew about it, but chose not to participate. *sigh* again. Why not ask Jock?? He has his own spending money, may have been something fun for him to do. Oh, he is cleaning here in the Rec Room and I just asked him if it bothered him. He says yes it did. "Dad never told me". Ah well, worse things can happen. I feel like he was robbed of a fun experience for no reason. What do you think of THAT, Stud?? LOL

Poor Stud is sick:( Princess is a little bit also, but the rest of us are fine so far!

After the party, Stud went to sleep and I took J home. He had a small group gathering to go to with his parents and sisters and then had to babysit his ten year old sister and the foster baby while his parents went to a Christmas Production at another church. I visited with them a bit and then rushed home to wake Stud and drive him to his hockey game. Silly man. He is sick, but insists on playing hockey! Took Jock with me and Cryptic stayed with the puppy and younger two kids. They lost and Stud took a puck to the jaw AND a stick to the jaw! A friend of our's (Jock's team's head coach) was on the other team and they totally slaughtered Stud's team. What a night!

I will add some pictures and then need to help the kids clean. This house is a total pig sty and we don't want wee Brom choking on anything laying around.






Look at this face! I know you all want one!

I hope to catch up on all your blogs very soon! Happy Holidays!