And Speaking Of "Stunning Acts of Immaturity"...

Schecky's 4th grade class is working on a study unit about the planets.

He's decided that his absolute favorite planet is Uranus.

He's all totally into it.

He's drawing pictures of Uranus.
He's writing poems about Uranus.
He's full of interesting facts about Uranus, that he can and will rattle off at the drop of a hat.


And, God help me...

Because it's all I can do to stop myself from bursting out laughing every time he says it...

Seriously, I'm pushing 40.
Shouldn't I have outgrown this by now????

I'm Loopy*! Who are You?

Are you loopy, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring blog!

(With many, many, many apologies to Emily Dickinson)

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OK - all silliness aside here...

I've had a bit of a medical scare this week, and now I've got nothing but time to dwell upon it for the next couple of days. I thought that maybe getting some of this out on paper might help me to get it not-so-much in my head, if that makes any sense.

However - if you stopped by hoping the knitting, or the cooking, or the Schecky's poeming was going to be featured - well, you might want to check back another day. Today's prospects are not so good.

The important stuff. I'm going to be fine. I should be fine. This is probably not going to turn out to be much of anything... Just wanted to get that out of the way for those of you sweet peas who worry.

Long story short - I've had crushing headaches and vertigo for a week now. Not fun. It started off mild, but persistent, but by the weekend it was on and off. So I chose to ignore it. Anyhow, I'd decided that it was probably something sinus-y, and that if I ignored it, or willed it to get better, it would go away.

But then it started being more on than off. And when the dizziness struck, it struck hard. And personally, if I'm going to be stuck with a terrible case of the room spins? I'd like to have earned it the fun way - too many margaritas! Not just getting hit with it out of the blue...

It reached a point yesterday where the headache and nausea were persistent and bad. And I was driving - WITH SCHECKY IN THE CAR - and all of a sudden, the world turned absolutely upside down. It scared me silly. I didn't lose control of the car, but I realized that it could have just as easily gone the other way. I headed immediately to a doctor's office.

Oh yeah - side note? I'm a freak. I don't like to go to the doctor. I'm not anti-doctor, by any means. At the slightest sign of sniffle, I take Schecky. I am religious about going to the dentist, the dermatologist, the OB/GYN as many times as year as you're supposed to go. It's just the plain old regular doctor that I'm not a fan of. Don't know why, I just don't. I seem to have this misguided notion that I can cure anything that's wrong with me by sheer. force. of. will!

Anyhow - this doctor was wonderful - explained to me all the possible causes of vertigo, etc. - while reassuring me that I probably didn't have any of the scary ones. Until he started ruling out the not-scary ones. No sinus infection, no middle ear infection, etc.

So we moved on the the scary causes - like tumors. Or metabolic disorders (never have I had to give so many tubes of blood) So there was some scary waiting time as test results trickled back in. Then, the nurse noticed that by blood pressure and heart rate were all wonky. When I laid down it was normal. Like textbook normal. Ditto if I sat up. But when I stood up? It plummeted. Apparently a small drop is normal, but they were really worried about mine. Enough so that I got hooked up to an EKG machine, and that tests were immediately run to determine that I wasn't having a stroke, or a heart attack. (Or that I hadn't already had one, and just didn't know it!)

I was trying to be all brave - but on the inside I was really scared. Holy crap! I'm 38 years old. I know, I know - bad things happen to 38 year-olds. Even heart attacks and strokes. But I'm not supposed to be one of those 38 year-olds, you know???

This is getting too long, so let me wind it up. I've not had a heart attack, or a stroke. YAY! They are baffled as to what is causing my heart rate and blood pressure to drop - and it's something I've got to keep an eye on. Best guess? That the wicked-ass inner ear infection they suspect is causing the vertigo has really done a number on me, and that my whole system is stressed. Hopefully, when the inner ear infection gets cleared up - the rest should follow. Frustratingly, though - the inner ear infection is a virus, so it has just got to finish running its course.

In the meantime, though, I have some very, very, very sweet anti-vertigo medicine. It basically deals with the vertigo by knocking you out. Which isn't bad. And, before the knocking out occurs - I feel very dreamy, very floaty. I love everybody. Which is definitely not bad. I'm kind of loving my meds...

I'm forbidden from driving a car. For the next few days - I am not supposed to do anything except lie around and sleep. My doctor even ordered Bubba to wait on me hand and foot. And, as embarrassing as it is to have to call your husband in the middle of the day and say "Can you come get me?", like you're some 13 year old calling Mom after you got stuck at the mall - let me just say that when your husband comes into the doctor's office and sees you hooked up to an EKG machine??? He'll pretty much agree to do anything the doctor says!

(And poor Bubba was already freaked out before he saw that. He found out that I had gone to the doctor's only when he called my cell to ask a question about "when's dinner" and Schecky answered it and informed him that "Mommy can't come to the phone right now because we're at the doctor's office and they're taking all her blood!" He absolutely freaked, because he KNOWS I never go to the doctor. Poor Bubba, that call aged him 5 years...)

So - good drugs and bed rest are all that's on my plate for the upcoming few days. I like it when the meds make me floaty (and not care that the room is going round and round and round) but I like it better when they knock me out.
Because then I stop thinking about all the scary stuff.

Like having to think about your own mortality.
And how healthy you really are.
And how things can turn out so differently...

Anyhow - the siren song of the little yellow pill is calling, and I am going to succumb to it. And if you've made it this far - my apologies for all teh rambling...

Did I mention that one of the major side effects of my medicine is "inability to think clearly"???? It's listed right on the patient info insert...

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*I started to use a word that don't mean nothin', like looptid.

There's A Little Black Spot on the Sun Today...

Actually, technically, there's not a little black spot on the sun today.

At least I don't think that there is...
Seems like I'd actually have to be able to see the sun in order to tell for sure.

But I've now gotten that song stuck in my head, and you know how that goes.

Let me tell you about this morning, and the 15 different kinds of craziness going on around here...

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I woke up this morning, in the 4:30-4:45 neighborhood (not my favorite, by the way!) with the vaguely annoyed sense that someone had just blown out a bunch of candles.

I say "vaguely annoyed" because I really, really hate the smell of candle blowout. I'm kind of a freak about it. But if you light a candle in our house, you have to take it outside to blow it out because I don't want that smell in the house.
I know, I know, weird...

So anyway, I woke up thinking "Who's blowing out candles at this unGodly hour?" Which rapidly turned into "Sweet Cracker Sandwich - the house is on fire!" Which immediately turned into me leaping out of bed to investigate.

The smell was pervasive throughout the whole house, which was not helping me pinpoint the source. Until I opened the front door - when the smell of smoke was so strong that it literally made me gasp.

Which was a dumb move on my part - because that led to a coughing fit of monumental proportions...

Seems that the smoke from the South Georgia wildfires has once again made it up to the metro Atlanta area. With a vengeance this time. It's impressive in a terrible sort of way. It really makes my heart go out to those in South Georgia - if it's this uncomfortable up here, I can't even imagine what the air quality is like there. Nor can I even imagine the stress for those who live in the fire's path - some of these fires have been burning for weeks, now...

This is what the sky looks like this morning:

This is the "famous" Atlanta skyline view - the one that you see pictures of all the time*. It more commonly looks like this.
(And here's a random pretty one at night...)

To really compare and contrast? This is what the sky looked like yesterday:

I took that yesterday outside of IKEA. I just liked the yellow and the blue. And the security camera...

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It's just as well that today is a good day for staying indoors - there's too much going on here. Ah yes - the aforementioned "15 different kinds of crazy"...
(That's the other song stuck in my head - and you can take your pick: the Gnarls Barkley, the Patsy Cline, or the Pylon. They all apply**...)

I started to list out all the different kinds of crazy - but I'm not going to. Basically, they aren't particularly interesting. It's just that time of year, as I am sure so very many of you know...

I will share some of the high points though...

Bubba turned 40.

So there have been all kind of birthday goings-on. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. My Bubba is a good egg. I'm a lucky grrrrl.

The end of the school year.
Need I say more? There is at least one event every single day at school which requires my time and attention, etc.

Such as this -


That's right - "Third Grade Greek God Presentations and Feast" Behold the Mighty and Fearsome Poseidon! And behold - I freaking made that tunic! Woo-Hoo! There was measuring and cutting and ironing and even a tiny bit of basting involved... And a WHOLE LOT of safety pins...
My favorite part? The octopus that I used to hold the thing together on the left side...

And lastly?
We've got out of town company coming this weekend.
And the lovely Autum and her daughter, Alyssa, taught me that there's a whole lot more to being a good hostess than making sure the sheets on the guest bed are kinda clean. I still can't get over the hospitality that I was shown on Daisy&Cookie's Big Weekend o' Fun! And I am trying to emulate that to the best of my abilities - so there is all kind of meal planning, activity planning, and the house cleaning... Oh! The Humanity! There is house cleaning, the likes of which this house may not have ever seen...

And - sigh - guess I'd better get back to it all!

Hope you have a great day today!
(and breathable air!)

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*It's easy to get this shot - there's a bridge over Freedom Parkway which has nice wide shoulders for parking, and good sidewalks for walking over the bridge. I think that's why you see this angle of Atlanta so often...

**Although, today may be leaning more towards the Pylon....