How I Became "The People Of Walmart"....

In Feb of this year I took Libby to a basketball tournament in a city about 45 minutes away. It was just the two of us, and between games I took her to a local department store to get a tank top. While I was in there I passed out. I had started to feel faint and my vision was going Dark. I said "Libby Help Me". She couldn't hold up my weight and down I went.

They took me by ambulance to the local hospital. Libby was so grown up and calm. It scared us all. I had been changing some meds and one of the potential side effects was seizures. So we thought that was probably what happened.

I had pretty much forgot about it.

Well a week ago Monday...seven months later...I had taken the three girls to buy school supplies at Walmart. It was crazy and busy in there, and I was trying to make sure the girls got everything they needed. And they were "helping" buy throwing whatever they thought was cool into the cart.

We were almost done, and I started to feel faint again. I dug in my person and took some medicine, thinking that if I got it down it would keep me from passing out. Well it didn't work. Madi was at the end of the aisle, and Libby and Carlie were around the corner.

I went into a full Grand Mal Seizure. I fell backwards and into one of the support poles. This particular pole at Walmart happened to have a fire extinguisher attached to it. I don't remember any of this, but Madi said my head clipped the bottom of the extinguisher and knocked it loose from the pole. It flipped upside down and followed me down to the ground and the metal handle of the extinguisher slammed into the back of my head making a huge gash.

The girls said I was laying there in the aisle at Walmart with blood pooling around my head. Head wounds always bleed horribly. One of the employees ran over to the clearance rack and grabbed a shirt off of it to put pressure on the gash. I'm sure there's a good joke in there pertaining to that...I just can't think of one right now!

Libby was again very calm and cool in a crisis. She was able to tell them what meds I am taking, and used someones cell phone to call Granny. Bob wasn't answering his phone. They called 911.

They worked on me a while in the ambulance in the parking lot. My blood sugar was 63 and my heart rate was 180. I came too briefly in the ambulance. My Mom called Bob's sister and she came and picked the girls up at Walmart. Someone called the Butler County Sheriff's office and had them go find Bob out on the football field.

The first time I really came back to my senses it was 8:30pm. My parents were at the ER and so was Bob. The seizure had happened right after 6:30pm.

They gash went to the skull. They had to put in six stitches and fourteen staples. CT Scan showed that I did not have any tumors or skull fractures.

I saw a neurologist a few days ago. He says that I have Epilpsy and put me on anti-seizure meds. He said we'll probably never know why I'm having seizures or suddenly started having them in "Middle age". And YES he did use the phrase middle age. Humph!!! And yes he did look like he was 14 or 15.

He said he believes the meds will take care of it and that once we get it to the right levels I won't have any more seizures.

Being carted out of WalMart on an Ambulance stretcher in front of half my friends and acquaintances was definitely NOT on my list of things I wanted to do before I turned Forty. Just trying to be grateful it wasn't something more serious.

It really scared Madi and Carlie. They thought I'd lost all of the blood in my body.

Kissin' Cousins

I have always suspected this is true. Now Family Tree Maker (Genealogy Software) has proven it. Bob and I are 6th cousins once removed. Me on my Maternal Grandma's side and him on his paternal Grandma's side. Explains alot!!!

The Wheels On The Bus....

Now that we are living out in the country, the kids are getting to ride the bus for the first time. I have been warning them repeatedly about how unhappy I will be if they miss their bus...especially since their school is in the opposite direction from where Bob and I work.

Carlie is a bit ADD, she can't keep up with her shoes. If she can't find hers she'll grab the first pair she comes across and puts them on.

It just so happens that I can see the girls waiting for the bus at the end of our driveway from my bathroom window as I'm getting ready for work. I see Madi come flying back towards the house in a tizzy. She comes in bawling that Carlie has HER shoes on. So I told her to tell Carlie to come back in the house and find her own shoes. I watch as Madi goes back out there. I see yelling, shouting, waving of arms. It's clear that Carlie isn't going to give her the shoes. So I open the window an inch and yell out there for Carlie to give Madi her shoes.

About a second after I shut the window, the shoes come off of Carlie's feet one at a time and she throws them at Madi as hard as she can throw them. Carlie charges back into the house....puts on someone elses shoes and makes it back outside about two seconds before the bus gets there!!!

Carlie on Face Book

Carlie Pool
i love my sisters and my brother and i'm thankful for them god bless them and bless my hole famliy wel i'm gonna take a nap soon bye

7 hours ago

Brenda Morgan What about your granny???

4 hours ago · Carlie Pool Granny you are included in "hole family"
about an hour ago ·

Bad Things Come in 3s...times two

We've had a hard Summer. First Memaw had her bad stroke. Then a few weeks ago I had to take Carrie to the ER for high blood pressure. This weekend Lena wrecked her car...had to go to the hosptial via ambulance. Luckily just bumps and bruises, but now she has no car until she gets insurance settlement.

My parents had their new travel trailer break down on them. Then their truck got hit by a big limb from a freak storm. Then a few days later Granny and Libby were going to the post office and were hit by a run away truck that had gotten out of gear.

I hope we are done for a while!!!

A little squirrelly

When we were kids, one of Mom's favorite jokes was "How do you catch a squirrel?"......"You climb up in a tree and act like a nut!!!"

So Mom posted this joke on Facebook the other day. “It’s so hot I saw a squirrel the other day holding his nuts with a potholder.”

I thought that was funny, and we were talking about it in the car on the way home last night, and Frank goes “Mom, Mom, I forgot to tell you this!!!” And I go “What?” He said “The other day, I was mowing the yard and I saw this squirrel jump out of a tree and land in our POOL!!!”

I go “Frank, you are SO lying.” And he goes “Really, Mom, I’m not I saw it!!!” So I said “So there’s a dead squirrel in our pool right now?!?!?” And he said “No, it swam across the pool and climbed out on the ladder!!!”

We continued to tease him and he goes “Really, I heard a BIG splash and I looked over there and saw it!!!” So I said “So it was a GIANT squirrel that was so hot he decided to take a dip in our pool???”

It was so funny.

Carlie put on her Towanda Suit....

So the whole next day we still couldn't find Duff. He was under the trailer somewhere...we could hear him. Bob told Carlie and Libby that they needed to get under there and find him for me. Libby told Carlie that she'd pay her $5 if she'd go under there by herself. So Carlie went under there two different times but couldn't find him.

When I got home they tried one more time. Carlie got way back under the trailer. She had Libby's flip-flop to kill spiders and a knife to cut away the lining of the trailer house ('cause we thought that's where Duff was). She was crawling along when suddenly she sees the lining bounce down because Duff was walking above her head. So she used the knife and cut a hole in the lining. And she starts yelling..."I can see 'im....I can see 'im!!!" She cuts another bigger hole and starts pulling out pieces of fiberglass. Then the hole is big enough that she sticks her whole head and arms up there. She grabs him by the head and pulls him out!!!

She starts hollering and yelling. She said "That is the most extraordinary thing I've done in FIVE YEARS!!!!"

She was so excited. So I took her and Libby for a treat. They wanted to go to the convenience store. Libby just got a drink since all she did was direct and cheer. Carlie got a drink AND a snack. She picked out a giant bag of beef jerky.

I was proud of my girls. AND I got my cat back. Made up for that bad day the day before.

Lost cat, ER, termites, crazy boss, late for work...

need I say more?

I knew it was going to be a long day when I realized about 25 minutes into my 45 minute drive to work that I'd left my laptop at home. At had to turn around and go back and get it. So I was 30 minutes late to work.

I hadn't been there very long, and I got a text from my husband saying "Your $600 cat got out of the house and we can't find it." Well Duff only cost $250...not $600 but he is a house cat who is declawed and doesn't ever go outside. I asked Bob to have the girls look for him under the trailer.

Then I had a meeting with my boss...well we aren't even going to discuss that.

THEN, we are supposed to sell our house on Friday. And I get a call late that morning (four days before closing) that the termite inspector found live termites in the garage. So I am on the phone trying to find someone to treat them...making sure the buyer isn't going to back out on us. The house is only 5 years old...how did it get termites!?!!?!

Work is crazy we are trying to plan an implementation that is going to start on Fri and end Monday night with people working shifts for 24/7 the whole time.

I finally get to head home. I get there, and Carrie (Bob's Sister In Law) said her blood pressure was high and could I help her make an appointment. She lives in Michigan, so I suggested that I run her up to Walgreen's Take Care Clinic. We get there at 7pm and they close at 7:30pm. Her BP was 209/102 and they told us to go straight to the ER. So I took her there. They gave her nitroglycern and put her on two BP medicines. We got home at 11pm.

When we got home, Bob insisted that I look under the trailer and call for the cat, because they hadn't found him all day. So I pull back a section of trailer skirt. And he's sitting there under the trailer about 20 feet away. So I crawl under there to get him...its just 20ft. I still have my work clothes on. I just touch his tail and he gets up and moves 20ft further under the trailer. I go after him. Finally he gets so far under there that its too low for me to follow. So I crawl back out with spiders in my hair and dirt all over my clothes...and no cat.

What a day. I sure slept good that night.

Madison Days

We always have a great time at Madison Days. This year they added some new activities including watching The Wizard of Oz on the side of one of the buildings downtown, mechanical bull riding, and Minute to Win It.

Doing Dishes

Frank said that he couldn't do dishes by hand because he had never done them before. Bob said "Well I can sure show you how to wash some dishes!!!" So here is a picture of Frank washing dishes by hand for the very first time!!!!

The Pool's Pool

The kids have really enjoyed having a swimming pool in the back yard this summer.

Libbyisms

We were at a ballgame a couple of weeks ago and a girl from the other team hit her head really hard on the wall. A couple of hours later, we are driving to Granny and Papaw's house and Libby goes "Mom, you know that girl that hit her head?" I said "Yeah, she hit it pretty hard." Libby says very seriously "I bet she'll have anesthesia when she grows up!!" Ummmm....I think that's amnesia, Libby!!!

Then we were at Madison Days, and they converted the old pharmacy to a really neat cafe.







At the back of the store there is a window where you can see back into the kitchen. Granny said "When this was still a drug store people went up to that window to get their prescriptions." Take a good look at the picture above.

We kept eating and a few minutes later Libby goes "But I don't get how they did the drive by, with the window up so high like that!!!" Ummmm Libby....they didn't have drive through windows at pharmacies back then!!!!

Attack Donkey

This is Lizzy




She's my attack donkey. She's a little over a year old. At first she wouldn't let us touch her, but I came home from work one day after she'd been with us a few days and Libby was out there brushing her. I told Libby that the donkey liked her because they are two of a kind!!!

She we have her in the pasture with the fainting goats. Bob had several high school boys helping him move our trampoline and play set from the old house. When they got to the farm to unload the stuff, Frank told them about the fainting goats.

So these big high school boys run at the pasture to try to make the goats faint. The goats couldn't have cared less, but the scared Lizzy. She started braying and charing at them and those big old high school boys took off running!!!

Dead Land

Carlie was with Granny the other day and they drove by a cemetery. There was a fresh grave dug there, and they were discussing it. A few minutes later Carlie declares "When I grow up, I want to own a cemetery!!! In fact, I think I'll name it Dead Land"

Anyone who wants to reserve a spot, please contact Carlie Pool

Fishing and Camping with Granny and Papaw

Man up!!! It takes a real man to get his daughter's fish off the hook.





Granny took the kids fishing for the first time last week. Carlie was the only girl who would put worms on the hook. To break the worms into pieces for the hooks, she would wind a section of worm around a finger on each hand and pull. When I told her that was gross she said "What...its just worm poop!!!"



Notice the worm breaking technique

She asked Granny if she could fish from those things in the the "cackle box" instead of fishing with worms.



The Cacklebox

Last night Carlie hooked Madi in the butt, whapped Frank on the arm with her pole when she cast it, and then hit Bob smack in the nose with a wad of worms on the end of her pole. Luckily the hook didn't get him in the nose!





A nibble

They spent the night in the camper with Granny and Papaw. Bob and I went back to the house to sleep. This morning, Libby was killing flies in the trailer with the fly swatter and she slapped at a fly on the ceiling and it went right in Papaw's mouth! Yummmmm....extra protein!!!



At the end of the day a rainbow came out over the lake

Dear Diary

I found Carlie's Diary the other day. Hey I didn't go looking for it...it found ME. Here are a couple of my fav entries.

May, 30, 2011 3:00pm

I Luv Cory!!! But he does not Luv me. What should I do? Wah, wah, sniffle. OK. I'm goiong to slap him so he learns a lesson!!! I Luv him so bad.

Luv,
Carlie

10-1-10

I can be myself if I pay the price.

11-07-2010

Dear Diray,
I have a problem everything is geting in my life. Please help me.

Sincerely,
Carlie

11-07-2010 19:27

Dear Diray,

I need help. I'm trying to sleep but I can't do it.


Sincerely,
Carlie

May, 31st, 2011 10:00pm

I'm reading and writing tonight. I'm bored. So I don't know what to write. I'm reading Rio!! It's an awesome book! I Luv writing!! I Luv friends. I Luv Family. Well that's all folks!!!

Luv,
Carlie

Horseback Riding Lessons

Libby and Madi are really, really liking them....Carlie not so much. But it's so nice to have a great teacher right down the road from us. I want to ride!!!

The Farm In Summer

We are quickly acquiring animals on our “farm”. We now have two pygmy fainting goats, two angora rabbits, one dog, three inside cats, five outside cats, a litter of kittens outside. AND my kids are saving their money for a horse. They are currently taking horseback riding lessons and they beg incessantly.

I work on the farm with the tractor at least once a week. I’m turning into a farm girl. I have cut down trees with a chain saw by myself. And recently changed the box blade on the tractor over to the brush hog by myself. And that was NOT easy to do, certainly not alone.

And I got my first case ever of poison ivy last week. I’m trying to get in as many new experiences as possible before I turn 40 this Fall!