memories...

room 6139...the big one in the corner

same room
same doctor
same nurses

i went to see a friend who just recently found out he has leukemia and WOW...i was not expecting the feelings that i experienced when i walked into that cancer unit.

it was like a flood gate opened up and all these memories came pouring out...i actually admitted to his wife that surprisingly the memories were not all bad ones. i guess having spend the better part of 3 years in that environment you learn to make the best of each day.

i just am not sure how to shut them off...i actually went back to past blog entries and re-read a lot of what i wrote (some really bizarre stuff i found...sometimes i wonder who wrote that stuff)

some made me smile...some made me cry
some i remember like it was yesterday
some i had to think about and then it was "oh...i remember that"

there seemed to be a lot about the kids...looks like they were getting hurt a lot??

if i wouldn't have been the one living it i would have to say that some of it seems a bit fictional...

well...my time alone is over. kelsey made it home from field hockey camp and i am happy to say (sorry britt) that the one girl on the team that needed stitches from a hit to the head was NOT my daughter. i know...hard to believe.

update on ashley's jellyfish sting. after about 24 hours of being in pain and very sick to her stomach she has recovered just fine, although i am not sure how much actual "in the ocean" time she is getting since the sting.

two more come home on saturday.

thanks for checking in

tammy

STING

i have heard that the sting of a jellyfish is excruciating...

if you were to guess which one of my kids have found this fact out first hand...which kid do you think it would be? you guessed it...ashley spent quite a bit of time with RODNEY (well, it probably was not actually rodney the lifeguard at ocean city because she is in virginia beach but she did say that he was a "hotty")

i guess if you are a 17 year old female who just got stung in the small of your back you would want your lifeguard to be:

#1 be a guy

#2 be a hotty

#3 have a bottle of vinegar

i was not aware that vinegar was the treatment of choice for this type of sting...she called early to see if she could take some pain meds...the red mark is the size of her guy-friends hand. the poor thing said it hurt and she cryed...i felt really bad for her.

megan survived the severe thunderstorm and tornado warning in the mountains of new york

kelsey...so far so good

can i just tell you that since my kids have been gone i have talked to them more than i did when they were home...go figure. i actually went to a movie tonight and had to leave the theatre to give ashley permission to take pain meds. this is NOT how i envisioned my empty nest to be.

thanks for checking in

tammy

empty nest...

some people love it and some people hate it...the kids get upset when i say this BUT i think i am going to be a fan (but time will tell)

i am practicing this week...

kelsey leaves in the morning for field hockey camp at PSU

megan is in the mountains camping with a friends family all week

ashley is at the beach with a friends family all week

and i am left home to work so i can pay for these little excursions.

it has been a kinda sad week for me this week...as you all know i am not a huge fan of the cancer bug and in addition to craig who starts his chemo on august 6th i just found out that another family we know has been hit. one of megans friends dad just found out that he has leukemia and he actually started his chemo today. both will be treating at hershey med center.

craig's family has been there and done that so they are kinda more mentally prepared for what is to come (if that is actually possible)...the W family is just starting out and they are learning as they go. pray that this family can cope with all that is heading their way...the emotional and the physical and the spiritual and the financial and the kids (they have 2-one in college and one in middle school maybe?)

just spent the biggest part of the day making amends for a failed diet week...yes, my accountability partner is back in action and after the day that i had it may actually be a little while before i sway off track again. (that is if i can even get out of bed in the morning) anyone besides me notice it was a little toasty out there today.

well...that's it for tonight. exhaustion is setting in and i best get going.

sorry it has been a while...

thanks for checking in

tammy

so...what exactly is a dukedog?

we had a wonderful day driving through pennsylvania then a portion of maryland and then a portion of west virginia and finally arriving in our destination state of virginia.

and all that only took us about 3 hours...i love living in the middle of this state.

we went to tour james madison university...and i don't know about you but that duke thingy looks an aweful lot like my old high school mascot...only instead of wearing blue and white he wears purple and gold.

kelsey loved the school. it was a lot bigger than i had imagined...unless it was the fact that they took us on an intense 90 minute WALK of the campus that they claim is uphill both ways. (i am starting to think they were right). i was really INTO the tour until they got to the part about the tuition and things got a little foggy...does anyone else besides me get heart palpitations just thinking about next year?!?!?! three daughters in college at the same time...

keep praying that i can keep my sanity and that we can work out all the necessary details..like potentially moving three kids onto three different campus's the same weekend. and convincing the federal and state government that perhaps we could use a little help...just little things like that...

no sence worrying about that yet...i still have to get the twins through their senior year of high school. (which i am anticipating this to be a great year...we need to make up for last year a bit)

thanks for checking in

tammy

how much would you pay for a roll of tape?

teenagers...my kids are at the funny age slightly above a child and slightly below an adult

there comes a time when we have to let them make decisions on their own and learn some of life's lessons as they do...

one of my girls just spent better part of a week at a camp in new jersey. while there a couple of the gals decided that they NEEDED something from target. they were "car-less" so they decided to ask at the front desk the best way to get to the target just down the street. the lady said..i will just call you a cab.

so...off these three girls go. they get into the cab and say target please. (i now know that there was a target 1.3 miles to the north and 4.3 miles to the south). guess which target my kids went too...yep...the one that costs the kids $40.00 ONE WAY!!!!

now i don't know about you but i don't send a lot of money with my kids when they go to these all-inclusive sports camps and apparently neither do the other parents. once they got out of the cab they weren't sure that they were going to have enough cash on them to get back...

to make a long...hysterical story short...they ended up walking to a bakery down the street to ask for help in finding cheaper transportation and ended up finding a cab that would take them back to the hotel for $20.00.

now you all are wondering if she ever bought the tape for her stick...i don't even know for sure but it was one EXPENSIVE roll of tape if she did. live and learn.

i bet she will never get into a cab again without FIRST asking how much it is going to cost her.

i am taking one kid and a friend out to james madison university for a campus tour tuesday...the twins are at this scary place where they need to start thinking about the future and start looking at colleges. pray for us.

thanks for checking in

tammy

I AM BACK...

...thanks for that little motivator deb.

lets see...in the last few days i have been:

from from harrisburg to princeton nj

from princeton nj to harrisburg

from harrisburg to hershey

from hershey to harrisburg

from harrisburg to berwick

from berwick to east stroudsburg

from east stroudsburg to princeton nj

from princeton nj to harrisburg

our air conditioning went out (but is now fixed praise the lord)

our dodge stratus is acting up(we are working on that)

and tonight i go into work the midnight shift

and people wonder WHY when i go out to eat i order dessert first!!!

so why the little dragon-guy from mulan???

that is one of my favorite movies and that little guy is one of the ancient ancestors that was called up to help mulan when she headed out on her venture...although she is not an ancestor she is OLDER than me (don't worry i know she doesn't blog). my AP has been called back into active duty...YES...i really did go to a restaurant with 20 plus co-workers and ordered desssert first!!! (and none of them STOPPED me)

so it was time to get back on the diet track...i am back to exercising and back to limiting my carbs and back to having someone hold me accountable...yuk!!!

so...if you see me out and about you have my permission to stop me from ordering dessert and make sure i am eating the salad instead of the fries. (or just threaten to tell my accountablity partner...that should do the trick)

thanks for checking in

tammy