Michele’s Musings

Two weeks ago James and I took Keely back to the hospital for a check up.  She had her cast cut off and arm x-rayed.  She had pins sticking out of her arm!  Of course they had to be yanked out, I’m not sure who was more traumatized, James, me or Keely!  I’m glad I didn’t take her alone, it took both of us and a couple nurses to hold her down while the nurse practioner pulled them out and she screamed her head off.  Afterwards a new cast was put on, she chose red this time.  That cast was on for 2 weeks, then James took her this past Tuesday morning and had it cut off.  Her arm looks very weird…. it’s just an odd shape.  She’s very happy!  But still suffering from some pain.  Here are some pictures.

Sad little girl after her cast was cut off, knowing there are pins sticking out of her arm and dreading what that means….

Some shots of the x-rays with pins in her arm.

Where the pins cross in her arm is where she broke it.  Straight across both bones.

New red cast, posing on the pedway betweenthe U of A and the parking garage lol. 

Next batch are pictures taken this week after the cast was taken off, but before she had bathed….. *yuck*

These are the holes from the pins.

Here is some of the swelling and the way it makes it look like her arm is twisted.

Dirt, discolourtion and general yuckiness.

Her oddly shaped arm..

So no monkey bars for her for awhile, but with some exercise, like swimming, she should be ok.  She had a nice soaking bath tonight to clean her arm and it looks much better after a good wash and some moisturizer

We had a great Victoria Day weekend!  Lazed around the house for much of it, got a few things done like a building a dresser for our bedroom we bought a few months ago.  We took the kids to see Iron Man, it was pretty good, different than what I expected, but I’m interested in a sequal.  The weather was gorgeous!  It started raining today though, Rowan’s soccer game was cancelled….  We have been watching the original Indiana Jones movies this week, we bought the set of three on Sunday, watched Raider’s of the Lost Ark on Monday night, Temple of Doom tonight, and plan on watching The Last Crusade Thurs or Fri night, have to prepare ourselves for the new movie coming out this weekend!

Reading - I started reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon again, I’m about 1/2 way done, but have set it aside to read a few other books.  My boss leant me Mariah Stewart’s Last Word which I read this past weekend.  I also read a small Linda Lael Miller book on Monday.  Currently I’m reading Johanna Lindsay’s The Devil Who Tamed Her, I should finish it tonight, it’s pretty funny!.  Next on my agenda are two new to me authors, Christine Feehan and Kressley Cole, who write vampire romances I have a couple of Feehan’s books out from the library, and I used a $50 GC for Chapter’s to order a bunch of Cole’s books because my library doesn’t offer them.  I’ll let you know what I think of them!

It’s been awhile since I posted…. been a little busy and stressful around home the last few weeks.  James has been working a lot… and volunteering a lot…. leaving me home alone with the kids every evening with soccer season started…  which I did NOT sign up for.  I had a bit of a breakdown this week about that, plus our wee Rowan went missing for an hour Thurs night which put me over the edge.  He decided it would be a good idea to go to a convenience store with a friend, which he is NOT allowed to do and did NOT ask permission to do.  James just found him by chance while doing a drive around the neighbourhood, I was about 5 minutes away from calling the police. Not a good feeling!  This “friend” of his is not a good influence… he comes around every once in awhile, plays with Rowan for a month or so until he gets Rowan in a huge mess of trouble, then Rowan is banned from playing with him…. another 6 months or so rolls around and this “friend” starts showing up again and the cycle starts all over.  So Rowan is now grounded for a month and the “friend” issue is being taken care of because their house is for sale so he’ll be moving, and Rowan won’t have a chance to play with him again.  Rowan gets in trouble with this kid because he is a follower, he pretty much does whatever his friends want him to do even if he knows it’s wrong *sigh*  My other two are not like this, Arran is a non-conformist, and Keely is a leader, so I’m struggling with parenting this last child of mine…..  what I don’t get is if he’ll do whatever his FRIENDS want him to do, why does he never do anything *I* want him to do??????  We have spent some time talking this weekend, about thinking for himself…. he said he told his friend he wanted to go home while they were at the store, but the friend didn’t want to go so he wouldn’t take him home.  Rowan knows he’s not allowed to go anywhere alone (safety in numbers) so he wouldn’t leave his friend and come home alone. Points for following one rule at least…. although I would have preferred him following the “don’t go anywhere without asking persmission first” rule…. which would have saved everyone a lot of worry and stress and tears.

Friday night James and I were able to go out to dinner alone and talk about everything bothering me, it’s hard to find time to do that at home.  Our only chance is after the kids are in bed, then he’s too tired and doesn’t want to listen, which gets me more upset….  anyway, we seem to have settled things.  He needs to work on balance and the word NO with his volunteering.  He’s also going to do more work from home so he’s not at the office till all hours.  I am going to work on getting the kids doing more around the house so I am not so overwhelmed.  Not that I do everything for them….. but they tend to whine and complain and ignore when I DO tell them to pick up after themselves, which I am now taking a zero tolerance policy with.  They are perfectly capable of putting their dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and getting their dirty laundry in hampers etc….

So with everyone tip toeing around me …. I got a pretty good Mother’s Day ;)  Flowers, chocolates, breakfast and dinner made for me.  Plus we spent time today working on a CSI mystery puzzle and watching TV while I cross stitched.  The only “work” I did today was folding the laundry I washed yesterday!  James even cleaned up the kitchen after supper!  Oh and I called my mom in Ontario to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, I ordered her flowers which should arrive tomorrow.  With all the crud going on lately I didn’t get around to ordering them in time to arrive for Mother’s Day.

So I am hoping for a better week….. relaxing tonight, watching the season finale of Survivor :)  Do a little reading before bed, back into the Outlander series by Gabaldon.