Looka here Huck......

Carlie recently checked out the book Tom Sawyer from the library. Carlie told Granny that it was an 8^th grade level book. So Granny asked her if she was having any trouble reading it.

 Carlie said “No, not really. Because Pepaw talks that way all the time.”

The Pool brand of Stubborn!!

 

 

I am tired of the Pool brand of stubborn tonight!!! First I chase Carlie all over the living room this evening with a wooden spoon trying to get her to clean the living room up. It should have taken 30 minutes.  But I had to stand over her for TWO hours to make her get it all done.

 

Then Pepaw Pool decided that he was going to leave the hospital tonight whether he was signed out or not. He snuck out on them and got in the hallway and wouldn't go back to his room. They brought him a wheelchair so he wouldn't fall down. He stayed out there FOUR hours. Bob had Libby with him and Bob was SO tired.  He's been trying to visit him Dad twice a day in the hospital and we are taking turns staying with Memaw as she needs 24/7 care.

 

He told Bob and Libby that if they loved him, they would take him home.   Bob told him "Dad you know you can't just walk out of this hosptial without checking out."  Pepaw said "No, I don't know that."

 

I finally went up there at the 3 hour mark and we finally got him back to his room.  I used the Momma-Guilt-Trip skill on him that all women automatically get when they become Mom's.  I told him that Memaw knew he was sitting out in the hall and she wouldn't go to bed until she knew that HE was safely in HIS hospital bed.  (She knew no such thing....but he didn't know that).  Finally about 9:30pm we got him back to his room.

 

When the doctor came to see him the next morning he told the doctor "You'd just best let me go home today or I'm going to sit outside in the hallway again today until you do."

 

 That's some kind of stubborn. I told him that Carlie gets that from him!!!

Reflection on 2011

I didn't post anything for the whole month of January.  No I didn't abandon my blog.  It's just been even crazier than usual around here.  I went to my first Physical Therapist appointment last week (that's a whole post on its own).  And as he was look at my back issue he asked what was going on in my life......well let's see.

In January I was just getting settled in at my new job at Via Christi.

• On January 28th, Lena's baby Amira was born and I got to be there for her birth.  That same night, we found out that my 55 year old Aunt Marsha had passed away. 
• In February we moved in to the 3 bedroom 2 bathroom trailer house permanently because we got tired of running around like crazy people trying to clean up our house in town every time they had a showing.  We thought it was only going to be for a few months.
• Late in February, I took Libby by myself to a basketball tournament in Ark City.  Between games I ran her to a department store and had a major grand mal seizure (never had one before) and was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
• In May my Memaw went to the funeral of her first husband in Indiana.  While there she had a massive stroke.  They transported her to a major hospital. We weren't sure if she was going to make it.
• As a family, we decided that my Memaw and Pepaw didn't have access to the health care they would need on their rural farm. So we started working on getting her moved to Wichita.  We could not find a way to transport her.
• Finally in June she was well enough to ride in a car, and my Sister-In-Law and Pepaw drove her (while she was on a matress in the back of their mini-van) all the way to Kansas and we got her into a Rehab Facility.  Carrie (my Sister-in-law) decided to stay in Wichita to help take care of Memaw.
• Pepaw brought his large RV up from Oklahoma and parked it on our land, and he and Carrie lived there while Memaw was in Rehab.
• Lena totalled her car in July.  She had to wait on insurance money before she could get another one, so she and Amira rode the bus to her school and baby sitter until she could get another one.  And we also helped pick her up and get her places.  She stayed with us alot that month that she didn't have a car.
• In August, both Frank and Libby were in Junior High.  And Bob started his first year as our head football coach.  He wanted to make a good impression so he was immersed in football.
• The first week in August I took the kids to get School Supplies at Walmart and had my second grand mal seizure and during the seizure was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher which gashed my head open and required six stitches and twelve staples and caused a concussion.  I had to have an MRI and was officially diagnosed with Epilespy.  I couldn't drive for 2 months, and had to carpool with my friend Sarah who blessedly lives a few houses down and works nearby the place I was working.  It SUCKS not being able to drive BTW. 
• Our whole routine also changed as Madi and Carlie went to their new grade school and the kids began riding the bus for the first time.  Frank was playing football, Bob was coaching football, Libby was playing volleyball.  I couldn't drive anyone anywhere.  And I was terrified that I would have another seizure.
• Dec 7th we found out that Memaw had to leave the Rehab facility THAT DAY.  We had no place to put her.  They were working on selling their farm in Oklahoma, but it wasn't done yet. They couldn't buy a house here in Wichita until their house was sold.  So we rented a hospital bed and moved Memaw into our living room.  Along with a lift, port-a-potty, wheel chair, etc.
• Then we had Thanksgiving and Christmas sandwiched in there.
• Then Dec 30th, we learned that their house in Oklahoma was finally going to close on Jan 7th.  So we rented a UHaul and went down there to pack up and move 30 years of house stuff and farm stuff.

So through noboy's fault....just that crazy thing called life....in the month of January we ended up with five adults (one of whom was in a wheel chair), four kids, three dogs (two mine and one theirs), three cats (Carrie is allergic to them BTW) living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom trailer house.

Oh, and did I mention that we were also building a house during that month, Madi and Carlie were playing Rec Basketball on Saturdays, Frank was wrestling at the Jr High, and Libby was on the Varsity Basketball team for Junior High.  Oh and Frank also call 911 on us...but that's another post too.

So that brings me back to why I went to see a Physical Therapist.  I hurt my back while we were doing all that moving and it wouldn't heal up.   So when the PT asked me what was going on in my life, I started rattling all this stuff off.  He looks at me with his mouth hanging open and goes "Well, you've got a few things on your plate!"  A Yep!!!!

60 is the new 50

My Dad turned 60 this year.  "Still crazy after all these years."  And good looking too.  Just ask him and he'll tell ya!

This is what he had to say on his 60th birthday.  "My Dad always said that if he'd known he was going to live so long, he'd taken better care of his body.  So my Dad did teach me one very important lesson. I took it to heart."

In the same year, I turned 40, Angel Pool turned 50, My Dad turned 60 and Pepaw turned 70.

Libby Regarding Summer at the Lake

Oh how I wish Memaw could read this!!!

This summer I went to Oklahoma To vis my grandma at the Ufalla Lake.  My cusin Jody, J.C., Ema and Samal.  My Uncles and Aints to.  I swam in the lake.  And I Drove the 4 wheeler in the forest with my cusins Megin and Buba and Frank.  Frank almost ran over a dear.  We sall lots of dear and rabbits.

And then my Aint had 3 cookouts in a row.  First night I don't know because I wasn't ther I was at my grandma's house.  The 2nd ay they had Fish they Fried us some Fish.  The 3rd day we had hamburgers and hot dogs. The Food was vary vary good.  That was the bestest thang I ate.

Then I go fishing with my grandpa evry morning.  It is vary fun.  I got to cut the fish.  And clean the fish.  And when were Done, I got to spash bleach water on the tables and floors.  And then get the hose and sprad the tables and floors.  It sormed bad 2 will we were cleaning the fish.

Then I went to My Memas house and we cleaned the houl house.  When we came back to the lake nobody was ther but us.  I was leving to come back to Kansas.  We met my Dad at Ponca City.  We at at a realy good Cina Star bufet.  The End

Manic Monday

Wow. School starts on Wednesday, so today was our "dry run" to practice getting everyone into a routine. There was much screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth, and it wasn't all from me.

Memaw and Pepaw are staying with us the next few days because we didn't have a babysitter. Madi wailed for close to an hour that she couldn't get up because she got NO sleep last night because Memaw snored all night.

Libby bawled for an hour because her contacts hurt when she put them in....she wailed and screamed. I wouldn't let her take them out. Frank got in trouble for shoving Libby....couldn't hardly blame him....I wanted to shove her too.

The only one who had a great morning was Carlie. Tonight is the Meet Your Teacher day. She woke me up at 4am asking if it was time to get up yet. I told her no...and she preceded to wake me up every thirty minutes until 6am asking the same question. At 6am....when I got up.....she sprang out of bed tearing around the house getting her clothes on and eating breakfast. She was ready to go at 6:15am....a world record for her.

I got to work and had to wait for a train to go by. While I was waiting and thunderstorm hit. I had an umbrella, so I decided I could run in from the parking lot. The sidewalk was flooded and by the time I made it to the office I was literally soaked to the skin from the waist down. I was so soaked that the vitamins in my pocket were melted.

I was freezing to death, so after it stopped raining I ran over to Kohls and got dry shoes, socks and pants. What a way to start the week!!!!

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!!!

We spent the weekend helping out my in-laws with their acreage. They brought in dirty, and we filled in holes and leveled out areas so that it would be easier to mow. It was fun to play in the dirt, and I think my hubby looked pretty hot on the tractor!!!!

New Years with the Pools

Memaw and Pepaw came to bring in the New Year with us. We had a quiet evening with the kids and Arlena. We had tons of snacks, funny hats and noise makers. We actually had to bring in the New Year twice...once when the ball dropped in Times Square and once again when it was Midnight our time. The little girls barely made it...they were drooping when Midnight finally rolled around.