A couple of quick updates

I feel like I am behind on what is really going on in my life. This has been a crazy week and a half, with the Wachovia/Citigroup/Wells Fargo menage a trios! Whew!

So you can follow the news for that information. Highlights of the week; Katie is just so close to crawling. She is up on all fours, rocking, pushing herself backwards and actually lunged forward today. So close! Sean has been saying "Mama" for the past few day! Oh so sweet! Cole has just been his regular sweet little self. Lots of hugs and kisses and I just eat him all up! The AC man came yesterday and I am so happy to say we have air, glorious air again. It's amazing how much we are all getting along better suddenly!

Amy is still looking for a new place...Keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Paul and Kris have been working really hard trying to get the Cigar store opened. Soon! Soon!

Miss Olivia! I am so thrilled with her. She is fantastic. She stayed late after school today for Chemistry tutoring for a big test tomorrow. She helps me with the kids and I just really enjoy her. Not only do I love her, but I like her. I don't think you can say that about teenage girls often.

The other big thing going on for me, personally, is that I have submitted my blog into a contest with MomsCharlotte.com. They are looking for three bloggers to contribute regularly. They will take all the entries and narrow them down and post the finalists. Then all the people who are on the forum will get to vote. I submitted these last week and thought they may have the finalist up by now. The suspense is killing me! Maybe I'm not cut out for this. It would really be nice to have a little income coming in for something I already enjoy doing.

OH! I went to the ENT doctor today. The ear pain I've had for the past 6 months is TMJ. Alex calls it: Too Much Jawing. He said I have talked myself into arthritis of the mouth! I still maintain this is his fault. His hearing is not as good as it used to be. I call it selective hearing, but who knows. I told him if he'd start listening to me and stop making me repeat myself 2 and 3 times I would be in this boat! You know, we've only been married for 5 years, so he doesn't realize how everything can and will be turned around to be his fault. He's still 'Hubby-in-training.' Luckily that will be a lifetime job, so I do have some job security even if it's not with a bank!

Amy, Amy, Amy. What to do, what to do?

So back in April my sister, Amy, called me and told me she was really sick and couldn't go out to dinner with us all. We had reservations at Kabutos for her daughter's 16th birthday. She was spray painting the Rock outside Olivia's high-school and thought she had spray paint poisoning. She called me and said she was throwing up and had the worst headache in her life. The wind kept whipping the paint back into her face. My thoughts were why in the hell did you paint into the wind and not paint the other side of the Rock? But I knew she didn't want to hear it just then. So I got online to research huffing and tried to figure out if she should go to the ER. She doesn't have insurance and can't afford it. She cleans houses for a living and doesn't even make enough to get by, but you do what you've got to do, you know? Well, everything came back about respiratory symptoms and nothing about a migraine or vomiting. So I told her to lay down, rest and take some Tylenol.

During the following week, I called her everyday to check on her. She tried to work a couple of days but just couldn't make it and had to take off. The whole time, she and I laughed that only she could get spray paint poisoning outdoors. It's typical for her. (Remind me one day to tell you about the helicopter story. It's hilarious!) I had been thinking all week something was seriously wrong, so I called Poison Control for their advice. They thought she was a teenager who had been huffing. They said there is no way she had spray paint poisoning from paint outdoors. It would have to be in a bag and breathed in intentionally. So we thought it was just a standard run of the mill migraine. But after a solid week of having a migraine without relief, she decided she should probably go to the ER. Olivia went with her since it was about 10pm. The Doctor said it had nothing to do with spray painting but it was definitely a migraine. She sent her home with Fenergan and Ibuprofen 800mg. That was a Monday night. They didn't get home until almost 3 am in the morning, so Olivia didn't go to school on Tuesday. Wednesday, I called to check on her and she had not gotten out of bed all day and didn't take Olivia to school! I'm was getting pretty ticked off by this point and thought she was just milking the situation. I could understand why she was depressed but Olivia HAD to go to school. Her only chance at paying for college is with a scholarship. I made arrangements with Paul to get Olivia to school on Thursday, just in case Amy didn't get out of bed again. Which surprise, she didn't! So Paul took Olivia to school and told her to ride the bus to his house after school and he would take her home. I planned on meeting Paul and Olivia at Amy's house to have a serious family talk with her after school. At this point it had been almost 2 weeks since she had worked and we were really worried about how she would be able to pay the rent. (Oh, Paul is our Step-Dad, Mama passed away 3 years ago) Plus bad enough as that was, we were not going to let her neglect Olivia. That is just out of character, her life revolves around Olivia. Oh Amy, what to do, what to do?