My Dream

I had a dream last night that I was passing by a shop window and I saw my Grandma Jody in there. She had on her dark blue dress with the black scarf around the collar that she used to wear when she would dress up. She had the biggest smile on her face. She looked absolutely radiant.
I looked at the sign and noticed that it was a scrapbook place. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I didn’t know how she could be there, and she never did scrapbook herself. She loved mine and would always want to look at them.
Anyway, I went inside the shop and a woman greeted me at the door that actually does own a scrapbook store here in town. The shop looked amazing! It was so big! Everything was organized and colorful. Twinkling lights were hung and dangling from the ceiling. I noticed that they must be having a special theme night because the owner and a few of the other people were wearing grass skirts and had flowers on.
I saw my Grandma Jody sitting at a big round table and she looked so comfortable in her skin. It made my heart full of joy to see her so happy and it ached at the same time at how much I’ve missed her.
I ran to her but when I got to her she wasn’t there anymore. She was over by a paper rack. When I got to the paper rack she wasn’t there.

About the time in my dream that I realized I was in heaven I woke up.

Now, I’ve read the Bible from leather cover to leather cover, and I never saw anything about the great Scrapbook Store in the Sky, but all things are possible. There may just be one and if so my Grandma Jody is finally able to sit down and do something for herself, which I guess is scrapbooking.

My whole life I remember my Grandma Jody’s plans to get her photos in order. She would recruit me every couple of years to get me to put her pictures in order. She always wished that she had labeled them better. She always made a new resolution to get her pictures in order. This woman took a lot of pictures! Believe me I know! I was the one that organized them all after she died. There were 8 plastic tubs of photos.

So Jody, if you’re up there in heaven scrapbooking, do a page of me and you together. Know that as long as I live nothing will fill this void in my heart where you’ve been since I was born. I think of you more times in the day that I ever knew was possible. Your memories are all around me. My heart aches to see you all the time. And, in case I never told you…I love your blue dress.

I am more than a conquerer.

Surely there has to be something to talk about right?

Right?

Well, I guess I'll brag on my laundry skills. Maybe I should change that to the laundry skills that God has given me.

Many of you know that for about 4 years I didn't do our own laundry. Candy and David did it and it was magical.

Candy began weaning me in January and then in March I had to start doing it all on my own.

It felt tragic, and I went through a bit of mourning.

It was so overwhelming. I didn't know how it was possible to get it all done every week.

Well, after making a huge mess with it and one week spending the whole week digging out of baskets I made a declaration. I said, "Lord, may it never be again!" I heard an agreement from Randy in the bathroom.

Since then it's been supernatural! For about 2 months now there's not been a week that the laundry was not ALL washed, dried and PUT AWAY.

Dare I say it...I've actually enjoyed it! There's a rhythm and organization to it that I've grown to like. It's such an accomplishment to get a family of seven's laundry all finished and put away. It feels so good.

I've been staying home on Thursdays and getting it all done. It's a huge chore, but it feels like victory!

Medical Supply Drama

I don’t get it.

I just don’t understand it.

Why is it that I cannot find a medical supply company that will just do what it’s supposed to do and when it’s supposed to do it?

Why?

Miles gets about $1,200 worth of stuff every month in medical supplies alone. That’s big money coming in for a company and yet he’s not a priority.

I was using a company out of Houston that sent his supplies by UPS. It was a great company called Medco. I used them for quite a while, but there was a major problem between the company and Miles’ pediatrician. Every 6 months all the supplies had to be resubmitted to the insurance company which required lots of paperwork done in a very particular way. For some reason Medco and Dr. Wiley’s office never could get all the right X’s signed so Miles went without several times.

I liked the company but decided that I needed to switch to a local company so if all else failed I could go to the medical place in person or the doctors place in person to make sure all was signed correctly.

I decided to go with Hendrick Medical Supply because it’s with the same hospital as Dr. Wiley. This seemed to be the logical choice. Before I did anything I called Hendrick Supply and told them everything that Miles was getting from Medco. I asked them if it was possible for them to order the same things. “No problem.” Okay, then I asked them about their communication was between them and Dr. Wiley. “No problem.” As a matter of fact they said they had a liaison that went back and forth to offices to make sure all paperwork was signed just right so that wouldn’t be a problem. The lady I talked to was so nice and helpful. She was positive that all would be easy and taken care of.

So, I made the switch. I called Medco and told them that our weekly phone chats about “Where the hell is my son’s stuff?” was over. Of course I didn’t put it that way. I let them off gently like, “It’s not you. It’s me.” No, not really. I told them the complete truth. They tried to keep me, but I had made my mind up.

It’s a good thing that I made the switch when I did because less than a month after I called them to cancel Miles’ stuff the hurricane hit in Houston. There’s no way that he would have been able to get anything from that company.

So anyway, there I was excited about the prospect of a smooth sailing local company that knew Miles’ pediatrician personally and one that seemed to have it all together.

Well, I’ve been dealing with this company since the end of last summer and it’s not been all love and bliss like I thought it would be.

Every single month there’s been some kind of glitch. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when all his supplies were delivered one time without something being left out. I know they haven’t ever come without me calling them to ask, “Where the hell are my son’s supplies?” Of course I didn’t say that…YET.

On the phone and in person the people at Hendrick Medical Supply are so nice. They’re pleasant to talk to and they promise to send supplies, or call back or check on whatever you’re asking them to check on, but they never come through. There’s no follow through. They don’t send supplies when they say they will or if they do then the order is not complete, they’ve never called me back when they said they would and they do not check on what they say they will check on.

I’ve called and talked directly to the person who is supposed to be in charge of Miles’ account. I’ve gone up there with Miles so they could be wooed by his charm as I explained why I need these supplies on time. I’ve called them monthly a few days before his supplies were to be delivered to inform them that we will be needing everything. I’ve gone up there to pick up the supplies myself, but the complete order was still not there.

I don’t get it. There’s no surprises on what Miles will need. They have the list. The list doesn’t change unless it’s been added to by the doctor and gone through insurance. It’s the same main supplies every month and they do not keep them in stock. Why? As a $1,200 a month patient I would think they could keep his supplies pre-ordered.

I’ve thought about switching companies again, but it’s such a pain and there are no guarantees. Am I going to have the same monthly headache with another company?

Here’s what Miles gets every month:
10 packages of Huggies size 5
4 Right Angle Feeding tubes 18 French
1 Suction canister
2 Suction tubing 18 inches
30 Top fill bags for night feeds
1 Nebulizer mask
2 Packages of underpads
4 Bolus feeding sets 18 French
2 Suction tubing 6 inches
1 Nebulizer kit
1 Yaunkauer tapered bulbous suction handle
2 Packages of cleansing cloths
1 Decompression tube 18 French
8 Syringes 10 cc
8 Syringes 20 cc
120 cans of Pediasure with Fiber

To get this accurate list I had to compile 3 partial lists that I’ve received from Hendrick Medical Supply. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been nice and professional with them, but I’m so aggravated that they can’t seem to get their stuff in order.

Any suggestions?

Who Knew There Was A Difference?

Okay Pam…You picked #3. Of course you did. Who doesn’t enjoy a good embarrassing story…when it’s not your own of course.

BOYS, you’re not allowed to read this one.

Now you really want to know don’t cha!

Here’s my most embarrassing story about myself.

It happened when I was pregnant with someone. I’m pretty sure it was Miles but it could have been Melody. I’m really thinking it was Miles. I had an appointment to go see my OB doctor. It was somewhere in the middle of my pregnancy where the appointments are a little boring. Well, if it’s your fifth pregnancy it’s boring. I don’t know why I have to go to an appointment, wait for 2 hours to see the doctor, be tortured on the scale, listen to the heartbeat and then schedule another appointment for 4 more weeks. Come on! Why can’t I just weigh myself at home, lie to them about my weight gain when I get there, slap on some cold jelly on my own stomach and then listen to the heartbeat myself? If I have further questions then I could just shoot the doc a text on my own time.

Aw, I digress.

Anyway, so I knew I had an appointment that day. As I recall it was summer because I had to get a babysitter for all my other kids to go to the appointment. Several times I took the other kids with me, but the doctor made it a habit of walking into the little room with me and all my kids and saying, “Wow. It looks like a daycare center in here.” Then to my shock he would always follow that up with asking me, “Who are all these kids?” “Are you kidding?” I would wonder. They’re mine! “Um, helloooo…You’ve delivered a couple of these kids.”

That doctor was strange. He could always remember Randy’s name, what Randy did for a living and where Randy used to work, but he had trouble remembering that we had a million kids and one more on the way.

I digressed again.

Okay, focus.

I had the appointment, got the other kids with my mother in law and rushed to the doctor’s office for an early morning appointment so I could wait forever in the waiting room.

I did wait forever. Then I got the cold jelly stuff squeezed on my belly and had an enjoyable 7.4 seconds of bliss when I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Then shock and horror came upon me when the nurse said, “Go ahead and take off your clothes because the doctor has to blah blah blah blah to check your blah blah blah.” I can’t remember what the doctor had to check because all I could think was, “WHAT?” The thing is that I just thought it was a normal in and out appointment so…I didn’t bother taking a shower that morning!!!

Now I didn’t have anything crazy going on down there, but my gosh! I like that area to be presentable if someone’s going to be poking around in the area.

Well, I got my clothes off and wrapped up in the cloth they gave me. I was sitting on the table and scheming on what in the world I could do. If I had brought the other kids then I would have had a diaper bag and I would have had access to diaper wipes. That would have been great, but I didn’t have any. That got me thinking though.

I hopped off the table and began rummaging in the all the drawers and cabinets for some paper towels that I could wet in the sink. No paper towels. There were tissues, but I didn’t want it to shed from being wet. Hmmm, I kept looking because I thought that I might find some moist toilettes’. Nope, but I did find some alcohol preps. “Sweet!” I thought.

I hurried up, opened the alcohol prep, wiped around very well and threw away the evidence. I jumped up on the table so my buns wouldn’t be showing when the doctor came in when all the sudden Fire was upon my Female part! It wasn’t a burning sensation! It was a pulsing burn. My face felt flushed and my heart began racing. I was just picturing the doctors reaction when he took a peek at my pulsing red you-know-what! I can’t actually say it was red because I was pregnant and couldn’t actually see it, but I’m pretty sure it had to be altered in color!

Well, I was pretty sure that the pain would pass quickly and I was just praying that the doctor was going to take his sweet time like usual! FIVE MINUTES LATER it was still burning!!! I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t know if I should stick my head out the door for a nurse and tell on myself or what. I decided to call Randy. When I told him what I did he couldn’t help but laugh at me. He said, “You used what?” He was shocked that I didn’t know there was a difference between a moist toilette and an alcohol prep. Excuse me but I missed the seminar!

He talked to me enough to get me calm. As I was on the phone things started to settle down there. My pulse slowed down, and to my advantage the doctor did take his own sweet time.

By the time he got to the blah blah blah part of the appointment all was right with the world. If he noticed that I was a little more disinfected than usual he never made mention of it. For that I’m eternally grateful.

And that’s my most embarrassing story & the reason I don’t ever want to be pregnant again. Well, one of many.

Next Topic

Okay, it was fun letting you pick.

I'll give you another three topics to choose from. They're not the same three topics. Maybe I'll come back to those. I like to keep it fresh ya know!

For the next post would you like to read about:

1. The story on how I got my only broken bone.

2. What I wanted to be when I grew up.

3. My most embarrassing story that boys should not read.

Rachel...You Picked #3

Here’s a quirk of mine…yes, apparently I have more quirks than the average human being or I’m just willing to share mine. Or, it’s possible that my friends just feel comfortable enough with me to point out all the weird stuff I do. That’s the case with this quirk.

Honestly I didn’t even think it was out of the ordinary, but three against one proved that it was strange. Well, I’m still not convinced, but they certainly were.

So, here’s a hint…




I don’t eat foods with the word Devil in the name.

That’s not weird is it?




I don’t see why in the world I would eat a food with the word Devil in it. It doesn’t make any sense to me. The kids see the little chocolate snack cakes and want to buy them, but if they’re called “Devil’s Food” then I won’t buy them. However, if the same little chocolate snack cake can be found without the name Devil then I don’t mind it. I thought most people felt the same way as me, but from the looks I got from Cherith, Amanda and Jennifer I could see that this was not true. I don’t know how we got on this topic, but they had quite the laugh about this one.

Also, I will not order any kind of dessert that is described as sinful, as in sinfully delicious. Even if the name is a play on the word Sin I won’t eat it. You know, like SINsationtional or SINnamon.


Chocolate SIN cake


Cardinal Sin Cake

So there...Quirk # Who Knows How Many.

You Pick

Okay, for my next post I'm giving you a choice on what you would like to read.

Would you like to read:

1. The birth story of one of my babies.

2. The story of how Randy and I met.

3. Another one of my crazy quirks.