What a Week

This has been one doozie of a week. Well actually, if I'm going to complain, and I am, it's been a heck of a month. But this week capped it off perfectly.

At the end of last month, SuperHubby had his first ever migraine. I say first ever because it was the first one he's ever had that has been totally, completely, 100% debilitating. The neurologist assured us he's been having them for years and just didn't realize it because they weren't as bad as the one in May. That's very comforting.

I spent 2 days ferrying him back and forth to different ERs for different treatments. During that time, my grandmother's husband fell at their assisted living facility and hit his head and had big issues from that. He had to have brain surgery. Yes, really.

Fast forward 10 days. SH has another migraine. Only minor stuff was going on that week, so while it really stunk for him, it was more of an annoyance for me. Just some schedule adjustments and all was well. During that time my grandmother's hubby went to hospice, so I had to juggle some things, but it was do-able.

Fast forward another 10 days, to the beginning of this week. Granny's husband passed away on Monday. He was 91, loved the Lord, loved my grandmother, and had a really good life. So we were sad but rejoiced for his homegoing. Funeral was set for Wednesday, with SH and Spanky and 2 of the pallbearers. Froggie's job was pushing Grandmama's wheelchair.

Yeah, that apparently was too much planning, because on Tuesday SH got hit AGAIN. Yes, really. Third major migraine in 4 weeks. He ended up missing the funeral completely (actually, he missed this week completely, but that's another story), and I started something I'm fondly referring to ask Lori's Taxi ... Service with a Frown. I was shuttling kids everywhere (because, of course, we had camp and therapies this week on top of everything else!). After many calls to the neurologist, I finally decided yesterday they were going to get the not-so-pretty side of Lori. Luckily, I was wise enough to ask for prayer before I called, and I didn't go crazy on them right away. He's my neurologist too, after all.

End result: SH had an infusion treatment yesterday, which just means he got an IV cocktail that went straight to the migraine, which I still find very confusing and extremely cool all at once. It seems to have done the trick, and he's feeling much better, although the doctor told me to keep him immobile for 2 days. That should be a challenge.

So we made it. I'm grateful for all the prayers of my friends and family, and I'm grateful that my hubby is feeling better. Most of all, though, I'm grateful this week is finally ending.

Happy Easter (+7)

So we have a strange little "tradition" in our family. Since SuperHubby and I both work during Easter services, we usually aren't able to go out to my aunt and uncle's for Easter and the massive Easter Egg Hunt. Most of the time we just miss it altogether; last year, because of unforeseen monsoons hitting the area, our egg hunt actually happened at Thankgiving. This year, we postponed the celebration one week, which happened to also be my grandmother's birthday, and we had a great time with what I'm afraid may be the last of the big egg hunts. We stuffed and hid almost 300 eggs (the boys and I stuffed, SH and The Professor hid).

I helped hide a couple of eggs. We have a tradition of hiding 2 special eggs...a gold and a silver egg. The silver egg has silver coins in it; the golden egg has 5 gold $1 coins. The Professor and I hid the silver egg inside my gas cap. Hey, the kids are older now, let 'em work for it!

Spanky found the silver egg...but only after my sis-in-law gave the hint "THINK SILVER!"

And Froggie found the golden egg. He was so proud. He didn't even care that we told him where it was.

Cell-abration

So everyone always uses their blogs to complain about companies; I'm guilty of that myself. But how often do we use our blogs to give kudos when we get superior service? I'm here to start that trend, friends.

A few weeks ago, I got my cell phone bill. I have been with the same company for 10+ years. First it was Suncom, then a few months ago they were bought out by T-mobile. I wasn't sure how I was going to like the change, frankly, but with 3 of us having phones (and no landline), they were the only ones I could afford.

Anyway, I got my bill. And it was TWICE what it is on a normal month. So clearly they forgot to apply my payment, right? Wrong! I looked it over and found $132 in texting charges, courtesy of the Spankster. Not good.

Now we have unlimited texting, but Spanky, being Spanky, got into trouble as only he can manage. He found a way to send (and receive) texts to chatrooms...stupid kid chatrooms...at 99 cents a pop. Do the math...that's almost 150 texts! Oh yeah, I was ticked!!

We had some intense moments of fellowship. We had some grounding going on. And then, 2 days later, it hit me...He probably didn't stop with the texting before he knew that I knew about the texting. So I checked online and found that waiting to be applied to my next month's bill was another $567 in text charges. Yes, really. Almost 600 more texts.

I was livid. First, that amounted to $699 additional on our cell phone bill. We don't have that kind of cash. And we can't afford to be without our phones. So I was a wee bit upset. Second, he was texting during hours when he should have been sleeping, studying, or at the very least NOT texting. Angry didn't come close to describing how I was feeling.

I was also worried about the $699. So I called T-mobile. I asked for help. They graciously blocked his phone from ever sending or receiving one of these chatroom texts again. I was grateful. I was also feeling confident, after talking to the representative, that they might be willing to help me out a little. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do until the bill processed through the system. I was instructed to call back in a week. Until then I was stuck.

So a week later I was in bed with the flu with nothing to do but wonder how we were going to pay this $699 bill. I called back to T-mobile, and after spending over 30 minutes on the phone with a new rep, he backed off the original $132 and made a note in my file to back out the other $567 next month when it processes on the bill.

So....long story long...I love T-mobile! They were nothing but kind, respectful, pleasant, and extremely helpful every time I called. Every one of them sympathized with the fact that my 14-year-old had run up such a high bill...one even complimented his ability to get a bill that high. They had to get all sorts of approvals to get the $699 taken off my bill, and they never acted like it was anything but a pleasure for them to help me.

The end result? I'm a lifelong T-mobile customer now. They've earned it.

Oh, and anyone who needs cheap slave labor, Spanky still has to work off the bill...and donate the proceeds to charity. Just don't tell him I got T-mobile to back out the charges. We haven't told him that part of the story yet. We're waiting to put the exclamation point on our lesson with that one.

What Do YOU Want to Be When You Grow Up?

On the way home from school yesterday, FrogBoy asked, "When's payday?" How strange. I said "Tomorrow" and figured that was that. It wasn't.

Seems my payday is his payday. Or so he thinks. I tried explaining that he doesn't get an allowance, to which he responded, "Aw man. I really need to get some money. I need to buy some things."

Since it would never occur to Spanky to EARN money, I figured I'd take this as far as it would go. I asked what he thought he might like to do to earn money. His first choice? A lemonade stand. Sounded like a lot of work to me, so I told him we didn't have any lemons and asked for another idea. Then it got fun.

"I could be a personal chef."

"For the family? Are you going to help Daddy cook dinner?"

"No, I'll be a Lego chef. I'll make Lego meals."

"Well, that doesn't really help the family, so I can't see why we'd pay you for that. What else do you have?"

"I could be a weatherman."

"Oh, you mean you'd tell us the weather?"

"Sure."

"Well, they do that on TV. What else?"

And then, the angels sang.

"Well, I could help you with the laundry. I could fold clothes and hang up shirts. Would that help?"

Oh yeah, Froggie. Now you're speaking my language.

365 - No Way. 24 - Possible.

My sis-in-law is a kooky one. I mean that in the most loving way. She's a big photo-taker, and she came up with this idea to chronicle her family's year in pictures. Specifically, she will take a photo every day and post it on her blog with a little caption - or maybe a story - telling what it's about. Hence her "Project 365" and the first part of this post's title.

I take a pictures a lot...of things most people probably wouldn't...but I don't think I can come up with an idea every day. Sis-in-law takes pix of her kids, and her car, and the grass, and toothpaste. (Not yet - but she might now that I've given her the idea!). She takes pix of dishes and people watching TV. And she weaves a family story out of it. It's pretty cool. But I don't have it in me.

So I've decided to do my own project. I chose 24 because there are 24 hours in a day, and I figured if it came down to December 31 and I hadn't done anything, I could just take 1 picture every hour for a day and still meet my goal. The real goal, however, is to take 1 photo per week at least every other week.

So far I'm on track. We'll see how long it lasts.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's official. We've had our last Valentine's Day class party. They tend to not be quite so much fun when you move to middle school. (Why is it things go from awesome to stupid in the course of 3 months? Why do we think our kids are so grown up after those same 3 months?)

Yesterday was FrogBoy's class party. And just like every other elementary school student in America, we were instructed to bring in a decorated shoebox to collect Valentine's. Do these people not realize how stressful something like this can be for the FrogMan?

We started a week ago. Seriously. And we weren't having much luck. Then SuperHubby hit on a fantastic idea. (There's a reason he's called SUPERHubby). What if Froggie made the box out of Legos?

I cleared it with the teachers, who were all for it. Good thing, since we already mentioned it to Froggie. He proceeded to make a really cool box, the exact size of a shoebox. I thought he'd make a flat top, SH thought he'd making a slanted top (like a mailbox), but no, he surprised us and made 2 towers with a slot in the middle. He likes to keep us on our toes.

When I picked him up at school yesterday, I thought he was going to explode. Apparently there was a contest (who knew?) and he won. His Valentine's box was 1st Place for being Most Decorative and Most Creative. The prize? A coke and a free homework pass.

You would have thought he won a million dollars.

The Difference Between Men and Women (Vacation Version)

The Fitzes are thinking of taking a vacation this summer. It's been 4 years since our trek to PA, and my memories of the flight are starting to fade somewhat, so I have convinced myself it wouldn't be too terrible to venture out yet again and see SuperHubby's BFF in Ohio. Sadly, SH isn't too keen on driving to Cleveland, so while I'd LOVE to park my butt in the Sebring and cruise on up to Ohio, it would appear I am not going to win that particular argument and we will be airborne at some point in the next 6 months.

I do these things to myself. The whole trip was actually my idea. It's only fair; my BFF lives in Greenville, so I can technically see her whenever I want. SH's BFF is in OHIO, and they haven't seen each other since the BFF came to see Spanky when he was 6 months old (13 years ago for those keeping track at home). That's a long time! (Sidebar: Spanky is named after this particular BFF).

So yeah. I figured I could probably handle the plane trip. After all, I'm older, wiser, more mature. And I plan on taking drugs, which I didn't do last time. So it's all good. And we're all excited. Except we have a little issue...

See I actually want my children to join us on our vacation. To me, "vacation" means "family." SH is more inclined to think "vacation" means "drop the boys at Aunt Linda's and don't come back until the last possible moment she'll watch them." Forget that we probably won't get to do this again. Forget that hubbies never actually DO a whole lot with kids while on vacation, forget that he's never packed a suitcase for anyone but himself, forget it all...all SH knows is that this sounds like a great trip for THE 2 OF US.

We've had some fellowship over it. I have a free flight that I can use, which would mean only paying for 3 of us to get there. The bad news is tickets are $328 each. To Ohio! I mean, who actually goes to Ohio? When I told the BFF we were coming, he asked why. (He was thrilled when I said it was just to see him; we don't care a thing about Cleveland). Seriously, the airline should pay us to fly us there.

My big problem is this: If we all fly togther and the plane goes down, well then I've just killed my kids. But if SH and I go alone and the plane crashes, guess what? I just orphaned my boys. And it will ruin their lives forever and they'll need massive amounts of therapy and it'll all be because we didn't let them go on vacation with us. These are the things that keep me up at night.

I guess SH doesn't want to have to take care of 2 kids AND a doped up wife while travelling. I already informed the BFF that I probably won't recognize him when I get off the plane, and he shouldn't take offense at that in the least. We'll get there early enough so I can sleep it off and be great by dinner.

So I'm hoping the boys can go with us, SH's hoping the cost of airline tickets remains steadily unaffordable until after this summer, and the boys just want to go anywhere outside of the state of South Carolina. We all have dreams.