89 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

  1. ok.. tried this once before and mothertalkers ate it. Tomorrow i’m going to do something I never do – take a sick day . I need to just calm down and get back on track.. everything hurts, joints, back, chest… I’m not sleeping and I need to. So I am going to take a sick day, drop liza at school and go home to sleep. the last sick day I took was 3 years ago so I think i’m due

  2. Mysteries of life: newborn sleeping soundly through the night in her cradle but I am awake for more than an hour at 3am with an almost-3 year old tossing around and pulling my hair. She is sleeping so horridly these days, ugh!!! She goes to sleep fine and usually ends up in our bed around 5am but this wanting to play at 3am must end.

  3. Oh and here’s another irony from my life: we are renting now and want to break our lease early. The landlords are going to show the place so we are in yet another “showing” mode! We are obligated to pay till they find another tenant so it’s in our best interest to make the place look as appealing and charming as possible. But I really thought we were done with all this! Someone is coming Saturday and I’m hoping they take it so we don’t have to play “hide the kids and pets” again!

  4. Yet another day at home with my sick boy. I can’t tell if he’s getting better or not- he didn’t have a temp at all, just a horrible cough and fatigue. His “normal” temp is around 97, so when he had 99 this morning, I was torn. I know that “fever” is 100 or higher, but does 99 mean it’s on its way up? I dithered around and finally decided to see how he is at noon and try a half day. The fact that he’s still in bed at this point makes me think it’s a good choice, but I’m afraid the people I work with are going to think I’m never coming back in.

    Thank goodness for e-mail. At least I’m sort of caught up on that. If by “caught up” you mean “ignoring the 10 that need responses because I’m a lazy bum.”

    Kitchen is clean though and I threw a load of laundry in. Floors next. The whole infection protocol may be hell on my hands, but things sure stay clean.

    • 99 doesn’t tell you anything, especially if it’s 99.0 which is hardly even above 98.6. It’s pretty common for the body to be in that range when sick or fighting something off but it’s on the higher end of the normal range, even for someone whose baseline is on the low side. My older son can feel a half degree rise so we monitor temperature very closely (both kids). Around 99.5 I watch more closely, but it doesn’t necessarily predict anything as far as I can tell. 100 is definitely something, though it isn’t really a fever until 100.5 (ear).

      • Yeah, I’m less concerned about the temp than about the lethargy. H is usually a bit of a whirlwind, so for him to stay down for more than 30 minutes (unless there’s a screen involved) is unusual. Doc always said pay more attention to behavior and numbers with this one, so I’m going with my gut. One more day of rest won’t kill him and it’s not like I was going to get to the office today anyway.

  5. I woke up with a raging sore throat. I already called the doctor. It feels like strep again. Do you suppose the ed reform people who claim that 30 + kids in a classroom is just fine, fine , fine with an effective teacher take into account that it becomes a petri dish? I’ve been sick so much this year and the room I’m in is a first grade classroom with that many students during the day. They eat breakfast in there in the morning and then my afterschool kids have snack in there when I have them and that’s about 20 kids.

    • I don’t think anyone realizes what a germ fest the average public school really is. DH has had to wear a mask at school at times this year because the flu bug going around doesn’t appear to have been included in the flu shot. He’s got the kids trained to wipe down their desks before and after snack and they have very strict “no sharing” rules for everything- scissors, markers, pencils, etc. The number of absences in his class have been lower than the rest of the school, but it’s still been a bad year. I can’t imagine how specials teachers do it- you get every single kiddo through your room over the course of a week. Hope you get to feeling better quickly!

  6. i want to get some advice on something quite sensitive. My cousin found out she was pregnant, super early, like at 4 weeks and she started bleeding, and cramping.At this point we are pretty sure that she is no longer pregnant, (going to follow up at dr’s again today) but i feel so bad for her,
    so i wanted to know, what can i SAY or DO that will make her feel a bit better, make it less worse? i know it’s probably NOTHING but i figured i’d ask anyway.
    thanks!

    • I think “I’m so sorry” is a good start. Bring some soup or something so she doesn’t have to cook anything. Be willing to sit with her or not, depending on what she needs. Don’t try to make her feel better though. I don’t think anything can- but you already know that.

    • It’s sweet that you are thinking of her. Maybe send her a card with just that message — you’re thinking of her, you know it’s a loss for her, if she needs a night out, dinner in, a shopping buddy or even just someone to listen, you’ll be there in no time. Maybe deliver it with a fancy cupcake?

    • Just be there for her, a small gift is nice, or take her for a cup of coffee or tea. When I miscarried last time, a friend took me for lunch, I vented, then we chatted about life & God & stuff and it eased the pain.

    • I can tell you that when I had my miscarriage (my first pregnancy) the things I HATED hearing that were:

      - You’re young so this will be ok.
      - 1/3 of pregnancies end in miscarriage so don’t worry so much. This happens all the time.
      - It was just 10 weeks so something was clearly wrong and this is much better than the alternative.
      - And some general sentiment of “you shouldn’t feel so sad as others have it so much worse” followed by examples of human suffering

      While all of these statements may have been true, hearing them was not helpful to me. Others may not have the same reaction – as many seemed to repeat these statements – but they just made me feel alone and wrong for being sad.

      I liked simple “I’m sorry” and hugs and little things that made me realize people were thinking of me. And the invitation to talk if I wanted to talk, but not the pressure to talk when I wasn’t ready.

  7. Whoa – who told me about the Advil PM thing here? Last night I had a raging headache and was really tired. I took a generic one of those Advil PMs and went to bed. The next thing I knew, it was 6 in the morning. 7+ hours of sleep and I’m not sure I moved. I certainly didn’t wake up when I moved. I’ve been having a little stress n anxiety over my way, too, so this was GREAT. SOOOO GREAT.

  8. DD’s birthday is right around the corner, and I’m planning a Karaoke Night for her and her friends. I waited until the last minute to send the invites out because we’re including ALL the girls in her class, plus a few friends who are not in her class. I figured that would lessen the chance that we’d get 100% attendance, and in our small house 16 nine-year-olds is waaaay too many. So far every reply has been yes and we’re at a head count of 8. Yikes! Gonna be crowded!

    I asked everyone to reply with some favorite songs so I can plan on what music will be available on the Karaoke machine. It’s all One Direction and Taylor Swift, which I expected, but I can’t help but wish girls liked better music! I love me some fun pop tunes, but I’ve just had this thing against any young pop star who says things to the press against feminism, like TS did. I’ll have to be subversive and mix some Robyn in their play list…

  9. Well, I guess we can set the “Days since a Republican said something stupid about rape” clock back to zero.

    NM Republican (woman!) proposes a bill to make abortion after rape a felony because it would be “tampering with evidence.” Sentence would be 3 years in jail.

    I guess you had better hope the doctor who sews you up after that stabbing doesn’t refuse to tamper with the evidence.

  10. Bit of a dilemma: tomorrow is DH’s birthday and the plan is for his parents to take the kids to their house after school so we can have the day to ourselves (sort of: we have a teacher conference in the morning and an IEP meeting at lunch time and then we’re free), go see movies, and stay in a hotel overnight. Birdies! Room services! Booze! Flicks! No extra people in the bed! I’ve even booked a kennel night for the dog and have informed people I’m skipping our big chorus coaching session.
    BUT! Both boys have a nasty cough. DH’s grandmother lives with his parents, so if they are actually getting sick we cannot send them over there. Do I cancel the hotel and kennel now, or wait till /if we need to? DH wants to wait, I don’t want to get charged… wonder if I should run it by MIL. One kid is acting normal and the other is crankier than usual. WWMTD?

    • Oh good grief, that’s a toughie. I’m always a fingers-crossed, last-minute type of gal, but that can easily backfire…and when there’s a deposit on the line, it’s not good. How about rescheduling, just in case, as in, plan the reschedule before cancelling.

    • At work when we have to cancel at the last minute, we sometimes have luck with calling and changing the reservation to 2 weeks out, then we call back after a few days and cancel it all together. That could buy you a little time.

    • DH wants to stay optimistic…will check again in a bit when he gets home (before running out to the family-PTA meeting which we were all planning to attend, but that ain’t happening. I need these kids to go the F to sleep tonight! )

  11. Sean had his first guitar lesson today! We tacked it on after his regularly scheduled piano lesson. He seems thrilled! I, on the other hand, might not survive guitar practice. It’s, um, loud. Could we get back to practicing the Chopin piece now please? Or maybe I’ll spend even more time on my bike. Or find those earplugs I stashed around here somewhere. I don’t think I can turn down the amp without spoiling the fun.

  12. So remember the weird head/neck/jaw pain I have been dealing with? Yesterday I woke with a swollen left eyelid and numbness on the left side of my tongue. Today I noticed slight drooping on my left side. Went to urgent care and was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy. Not the end of the world, but not fun.

      • Acyclovir and methylprednisolone. One’s an antiviral and the other’s an anti-inflammatory. Apparently raging headaches are a less common symptom. Just lucky, I guess ;-) On the other hand, my face is only slightly droopy so far. I am hoping the drugs will nip it in the bud.

      • Apparently it can clear up in as little as two weeks, or in more serious cases up to six months. Some people’s nerves never make a total recovery. I will be getting facial massages to keep the muscles supple and elastic.

      • I have no idea as I haven’t had any fevers or vomiting or anything. I do know that I WAY overdid it this weekend, and the urgent care doc mentioned stress as a possible culprit. And here I was patting myself on the back for throwing a birthday party, running a half marathon, visiting Disneyland twice and going to a Lady Gaga concert in the same weekend. Joke’s on me!

    • Ok. ready for the totally in appropriate but hilarious story?

      Several years ago Kelly and I went out on a double date withour friend Jackie (who has since passed away) and her girlfriend du jour. I was seated next to the girlfriend to my right and Kelly to my left. this meant the girlfriend was facing Kelly but I only saw the left side of her face.

      I thought she was lovely and interesting and had a great time. We got in car and Kelly said “JEEEZUS… how awkward was THAT?” I said “what? I thought she was nice.. ” Kelly said ‘Yeah but it was so hard not to stare” I said “what are you TALKING about?

      Well apparently she had Bells Palsy PLUS some kind of tic disorder but ONLY on the right side of her face.. but I only saw the left side but Kelly sat across from her the whoel night trying to act nonchalent at how droopy her face was PLUS how she kept WINKING from her tic disorder. I had NO idea b/c the left side of her face was totall normal.

      When Kelly told me and then demonstrated what she had been seeing all night i couldn’t believe it — it was like we were out with two different people! We still laugh about it…

  14. I just had DH go out and get me a burger and chocolate shake for dinner and told him it was cheaper than therapy.

    Ugh. When can I retire already? Oh, in 30 years? F.

  15. If you don’t follow LOLGOP on twitter or FB, you’re missing some fun. I saw this earlier and giggled:
    “Now that women can serve in combat that leaves the only group that apparently can’t serve in war is neo-cons”

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