Just spent $360+ for groceries.

Kill Me Now.

Here’s the tally:

$141 at Sam’s (because you know with three boys I NEED industrial sized boxs of chips, cookies, fruit rollups, applesauce).

$48 at HEB

$22 at Aldi’s (which after all the hype I was hearing I was dissappointed. I will not be returning there.)

$148 at Walmart.

Keep in mind we spent $200 LAST WEEK on food.

And

Hubs went back to HEB and got the premade hamburgers we LOVE..and I forgot this morning…to grill tonight.

I took Middle and Blondie back to walmart and waited in the car while they went in and got cool whip for the 3lbs of strawberries that Blondie is making for dessert.

of course they also got a jumbo bag of skittles, milk duds, choc. milk, a 6 pack of crappy fruit drinks too. That’s another $14.

Best part? I have to make their dang lunches….

If I don’t I am guaranteed to hear about how they ate bags of chips, sleeves of oreos and juice  boxs for lunch.

This is NO BUENO.

I don’t even like making MY lunch.

So along with paying daycamp tuition every week…the higher AC bill because someone is home during the day and it needs to be knocked down a few degrees…and all this food….

Holy Moly….

and they don’t go back til the END of August this year?!

I’m gonna be broke.

Broke and hungry because I doubt this food will last more than 2 wks tops.

 

 

 

I am being terrorized by a giant raccoon.

 

Nope not a joke.

I wish it were.

Let’s recap.

I live in a suburb of Houston.

SUBURB. As in lots and lots of houses. Residential area.

There is not a nice sized field, farm or forest even remotely close.

I have a giant raccoon that has been coming in my garage and eating the cat’s food.

My family swore I had lost my mind and was seeing just a very large stray cat.

You know, kinda like that Eye glass commercial where the lady is calling “here kitty, kitty” and letting a raccoon in her house because she’s blind as a bat….

Then they saw it.

It didn’t even flinch. She just looked up and kept eating.

Seriously?! So now I realize not only is she huge…scary…possibly rabid (okay probably not but STILL)…she is accustomed to being around people…and that freaks me the hell out.

Hubs had to throw something at her to make it leave the garage. (For all the PETA people I assure you he didn’t hit her..just threw it near her to scare her away).

This thing is enormous.

It’s like the mother of all raccoons. Larger than my full sized cats. More like a medium sized dog.

So…after a bit we realized she has torn down a vent cover under my soffit and is getting in the attic/crawspace area.

Now THAT freaks me out.

Raccoons are not cute and cuddly. They are disease carrying. Even after they have long gone any feces left behind can dry out, turn to dust, be churned up by your AC and spread clouds of parasite eggs into your living areas.

YES! I am serious.

You can most definitely ingest these teeny tiny eggs and a real live giant worm will be living in your gut….slowly making you sick and can even kill you.

Before I was just pissed.

I mean I am living in a house that is half air conditioned right now because that $%^&*@ tore through the ductwork for three of our rooms. Hubs went up there. Clamped the ducts closed. Put up a trap. Repaired the hole in the soffit.

Yes we still need to do a closer investigation to make sure she didn’t leave any ick behind. As in I am going to have to like put on a mask, arm myself with a gallon of bleach and some old rags and do a complete clean up of any areas she was hanging out. Remove any surrounding insulation and replace it (that’s Hubs part).

But for now…we really can’t do much.

We are waiting for the ducts to be repaired. I don’t want to stir up any ick that could get sucked down into the house…and make us sick.

So…after all this ….

I am sitting here drinking my cold coke over ice when I hear noises from the attic.

ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?

I think she’s smarter than we thought.

When hubs went up and looked around.

She hid.

She won’t go in the trap.

Now she’s stuck up there.

This is WAY bad.

I am seriously annoyed at this point and am seriously thinking about doing the whole “soak some tennis balls in ammonia and throw them around you attic” trick and leave the crawl space door in the garage down so she can climb out when the smell gets too much for her.

or

I will get smart and call the exterminator but last time they did what we are doing now.

Traps with cat food in them and they charged us a fortune and never did trap her……apparently since she is back.

We did get a squirrel last time….

It’s something I guess..

 

 

 

Revisiting the Boric Acid v. Borax debate

I don’t even know WHAT to say.

My Boric Acid V. Borax post continues to be the most viewed blog post EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

It is the most searched and to be completely honest, some of the search terms scare the beejeezus outta me.

“Boric acid suppositories”

“Boric acid to kill parasites”

“Can I eat boric acid”.

Because this comes up so often….

and yes, in my real life job I have had to counsel patients that NO, you cannot treat yeast infections with boric acid

and NO you should NOT ingest boric acid to kill “bacteria” in your intestinal tract….

and yes…even NO you should NOT wash your clothes with boric acid

I have found that this is a topic that NEEDS to be revisited.

I just don’t know how much clearer I can be.

Boric acid is simply…. a POISON.

Borax is a CLEANING PRODUCT.

They cannot be used interchangably

and NEITHER should be ingested.

One will surely make you sick…if not kill you.

The other is far more dangerous and could very well kill you.

Does it matter which is which in that context? NO, not really.

DON’T eat or drink EITHER of them under any circumstance.

NEITHER will cure  your yeast infection…. go buy the 3 day kit at walgreens for $10. It’s in the feminine hygiene section. Stop searching the internet for “home remedies”.

Use this stuff for what it is intended.

Your health is too precious to make such a stupid and irresponsible decision.

If you have some weird parasite…see a freaking DOCTOR.

If they can’t cure you I assure you ingesting Borax OR Boric Acid won’t either…in fact it may very well kill you before the parasite ever gets close to that point.

Read all the fact about Borax and Boric Acid HERE

And please for the love of all that is holy…please don’t take medical advice from your Aunt, Cousin, Neighbor, Baby Mama’s cousin or Grandma…..OR the internet.

See a freakin’ Doctor. A real licensed to practice DOCTOR before you try anything you read online to cure some ill or disease you think you have.  You can do far more harm than good.

Yard guy part 2

Two hours later and I am STILL waiting for the rest of my pictures to be delivered to my inbox.

Had a quick lunch with Hubs and have returned home.

This is what I have:

These Oleanders were all supposed to be RED or Hot pink. I ended up with WHITE, Pale Pink and the last hasn’t bloomed yet…?

The smallest of the Hibiscus plants. Living happily in a giant planter next to my back patio

Front yard Hibiscus plants. Blooming daily!! They are small still but seem happy there.

Poor sad lily’s next to my gardening box of herbs, tomatos and strawberries.

 

I will be updating with photos often.

I love seeing how much they have all grown since I planted them.

and….My strawberries have actual berries on them! Ok half eaten berries…the squirels are getting a nice treat and the bird net isn’t doing much to keep them out.

 

Am I the only one that gets excited when I see the yard guy?

I LOVE our yard.

I love the front with all it’s dips and waves. I love the slight mound where we had to take out a tree that came down on our cars during Hurricaine Ike. I love it all.

My front flower beds are a  work in progress. Every year I spend a small fortune on flowers that wither and fry in the hot summer sun leaving a barren wasteland.

….But NOT this year.

Newly planted Hibiscus braid (pricey at $12) and the smaller versions ready to go in the ground $6 each

This year, I decided, would be the year that changes.

I bought $80 worth of Day Lily’s and another $40 worth of Hibiscus (because that’s the ONLY plant I can’t seem to kill) and pulled everything out of the flower bed.

I spent an entire Sat in the hot May Houston sun digging and weeding….I built some rather ghetto looking trellis’ to go behind last years jasmine climbers (that aren’t climbing mind you)….

$80 worth of Day Lily’s. Worth every penny being that they will come back year after year.

My reasoning was simple…i priced some at Home Depot and found that they were ugly, basic and expensive. I could make them just as ugly, basic and cheap. $20 and I made 3 that reach from my flower bed to my sofit. Savings of over $40

Just hours after planting (Mid May)

 

Yes the Day Lily’s lasted only a short time but they will rebloom when the time is right. The stalks are green and healthy.

Mid May. Right after they went in the ground

My hibiscus’ have proved to LOVE where I planted them…and are blooming daily. The red and peach flowers make me smile every time I pull up to my house.

The jasmine have resumed climbing…and will hopfully cover my awful ghetto trellis.

The one plant I splurged on…a $26 potted climbing flower vine of some sort has exploded with new growth and I will need to add a trellis for that soon.

A splurge at $26! But the only one in RED they had! (Mid May)

June 1st. Explosion of growth!

The backyard…that has never recovered from a 54 child birthday party we had here over 5 yrs ago, complete with a 17 ft water slide and turned my beautiful yard into a mid calf level mud pit….still has waves, low spots and is as uneven as they come.

My Canna lily’s that I planted washed behind a side fence and I found them all one spring day when I opened the gate for a shovel. 4 feet high, all in full bloom…a small field of lily’s in yellow and orange. I carefully dug them up and moved them back to where I planted them.

I guess when I split them and threw out some of the excess roots they fell out of the trash can because I found 3 tall and beautiful lily’s blooming behind the trash can enclosure a few weeks ago.

This year only two bloomed in that spot.

Overcrowded is my guess. After me and my bestfriend Google figured out a solution…

I dug a few up and carefully separated them again…this time lining my fence with them.

Sad looking little patch that is struggling. Last wkend of May

Two of the those have already bloomed again.  The second area I replanted isn’t doing as well. I am not sure why but I’m watching them closely and if I have to I will dig them up and move them again.

I bought three pepper plants and put them in my veggie area….and they seem to be growing slowly but surely.

I never remember to water them so that is a major issue. I am going to buy a water timer this week to keep them from frying.

My three last minute and end of the season purchase of Oleanders from Houston Garden Center (sale $3) are doing well in the back yard and blooming. They aren’t the prettiest things all scraggly and rough but in a few years they will grow out and be beautiful.

Watering right after Bausilo and his crew worked their magic (Mid May)

This photo is from a few weeks ago. I have since staked them to the trellis’ and they are doing great.

For Mother’s Day my husband woke all my boys up super early and they cleaned the whole backyard. Gone was the collected junk that got put on the back porch over winter. Gone was broken planters and empty cat food bags. They wiped down the furniture and set it all up for summer.

It was one of my BEST gifts ever.

I love to sit back there and read. I drink my coffee and admire my gardening handiwork.

The Chair Hubs made for me!

I see how much my strawberries have grown and watch for the red of the tomato plants as they mature. It just makes me happy.

My yard guy took one look at my yard that weekend and said “Malo”….. “BAD”… yes. two feet of weeds was bad. Soon it was cut, blown and pretty again.

Best $50 ever. And trust me cutting down that jungle, weedeating and blowing all the debris AND blowing off my back patio to pristine condition was WELL worth $50.

When I heard the weedeater last night I ran through the house yelling “Bauselio is here!!”.

My kids think I’m nuts.

But being that he hasn’t been here in two weeks my yard looked horrible. We water and it grows…where once every two weeks works in the early spring….Summer brings the need for him to make an weekly appearance.

Honestly…he is the best $30 a week I could spend.

We don’t spend ALL of Sat working out there in the heat to bring it to a decent level of civility and he is in and out in less than hour. Leaving it for us to enjoy…instead of work on…the rest of the weekend.

My kids don’t get it.

Of course they don’t. They aren’t out there pushing the mower feeling the heat so intense your eyeballs feel like lasers or sweat til you think you will pass out. They sit and play video games, play online, read alittle…watch tv….all in the comfort of the 75 degree house.

I told my hubs last night…I would rather give up our weekly dinner out alone than give up the lawn guy.

and he gets it.

It is now June 1.

I just went out and took some new photos…which thanks to my crappy Lucid phone (never get one ..they suck) I am STILL 45 minutes later waiting for them to hit my inbox so I can upload them to this blog post…..ONE…the explosion of growth on my $26 climber loaded. So I will post a part 2 with todays photos. Mostly because I am impatient but also because I have a lunch date with Hubs and need to go clean up since I am sweaty and nasty from playing with my plants.

Thanks for visiting! Happy Saturday!

Wow what a week.

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I garden to relax.

It’s just something about the feel of dirt under my nails, yes, I take off my gloves as much as possible when gardening.

So it’s Sunday May 19th and it’s 94 degrees outside. Seriously.

That is what my outdoor thermometer says. I am not amused.

It’s only the occasional breeze that makes it bearable. Hubs thinks I’m nuts because I’m on the back porch with a nice big glass of sweet tea and playing with my laptop. Before that it was my phone but I killed the battery.

Yesterday I dang near killed myself working with my canna lilies in the direct sun. I could feel the heat coming out of my eyeballs. Not good. Went in and striped down to cool off.

I split my lilies because they were so overcrowded that they won’t bloom anymore. I replanted the in two other locations in my backyard. I planted my little tomato plants I rescued half dead from HEB and put my pepper plants in the ground (tip: they are 3 for $12 at Home Depot this weekend).

After hubs fixed my treillis’ I staked up my oleanders that were drooping.

It was a good weekend for my yard.

So let’s talk about WHY I was working in the yard with it being 94 degrees outside.

I had a problem with a coworker on Friday.

She kinda freaked out. I asked her to do something and it went downhill quickly.

I am still shocked at all this.

I just don’t know.

I know she ain’t quite right sometimes but nothing like this.

 

Maybe I should dig some more……..

Mother’s Day! Almost…

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day.

Today I am attending a fashion show luncheon to support a local charity that is near and dear to my heart…..with my Mama.

Recently I had a great epiphany.

As I walked into a exam room and found a coworker crying. She lost her mom many years ago. That devastation never leaves her.

I almost lost my own 15 yrs ago to Breast Cancer.

I realized how lucky I am. How blessed I am.

My mom has ALWAYS been my rock.

When I was young and pregnant and all alone she put her arms around me and said it will be okay. And it was.

She held my hand as my son was born. After working 8 hours at her morning job and another 6 at her night job.

She worked three jobs to support us…even when she was too tired to think she never complained. Never asked me for anything.

My mom has supported every decision I ever made, even when she didn’t agree with it.

She stepped in to help when I went back to school full time, she cooked, cleaned and chauffered my kids around.

She was there when I walked the stage and received my LVN certificate, as always cheering me on. I couldn’t even look at her or I would have fallen apart.

and I pray she will be there when I walk the stage to get my BSN…and again I won’t be able to look at her without completely falling apart.

All I know is I don’t tell her how much I love her enough. I don’t spend enough time with her. I don’t call as often as I should.

I know one day I will wish I had….

but how can you thank someone for doing so much, for being there every moment of every day? For always being your hero. For showing me how to be a good mom and a good wife?

Somehow because I am my mother’s daughter in every sense of the words….I think she knows.

I love you Mom!!

Possum and her Mama

 

Difficult week. A lesson learned. A prayer answered.

I don’t know what to say.

I am human. I made a mistake. A big, huge, awful mistake.

Every nurse makes mistakes.

That is why we have procedures and protocols to minimize errors.

I won’t call it an “accident” because that implies that it was not preventable and it was.

It was an error.

BUT… it was 100% preventable.

and

I am 100% responsible.

Had I followed protocol. Had I done my job the way I was taught…I would have caught it before it became an incident.

Yes, we are understaffed. Yes, we are rushed and distracted.

But…..that is NO excuse.

When it comes to our job….lives fall in the balance. We MUST find ways to minimize the risk to our patients. We MUST follow the protocols and we have to slow down, focus better, minimize distractions and come up with routines that prove to be “best practice” and follow them religiously.

I refuse to blame anyone but myself.

I am very very lucky. My patient was okay and that in itself is a gift.

I COULD have lost my job. I COULD have lost my license and I may still be sanctioned, I don’t know what happens next on that front but none of that matters in the least to me.

I am just so glad that my patient was not harmed. He could have been.

I know I did the right thing. I immediately reported the error. Everyone was notified that needed to be. I immediately filled out an incident report.

I took full responsibility for what happened. Yes there was an error made by someone who may have caused a chain reaction kind of situation but had I done what I was supposed to do…it would have been realized before it became an error and corrected easily.

There is NO ONE else to blame for this but me.

Looking back there were things that stood out to me as odd…but I didn’t stop to investigate. I should have. Tiny little nagging things that should have made me double-check the situation at hand.

Even AFTER…when I discovered the error…it is pure luck that I even discovered it at all. I didn’t follow my normal routine and that is why I immediately noticed the error. Had I followed my normal routine I don’t think I or anyone else would have even known it happened.

This is by far the most difficult thing I’ve been through as a nurse.

I feel terrible. It’s an awful thing to do and to deal with.

I cried when I showed my Nurse Mgr how this error occurred.

I cried when my Nurse Mgr told me my patient would be okay.

I cried as I signed my formal write-up.

I cried as I thanked her for giving me a second chance.

I cried when I told her that I was sharing what happened with my coworkers. Yes, I am embarrassed and upset but I want to prevent them from making the same mistake I did.

I cried each and every time I went from nurse to nurse and explained how I made this mistake and physically showed them how easy it is to make if we are not diligent in doing things the way we were taught.

I cried when my co-workers hugged me and showed me support.

I cried when I apologized to the Doctor.

Bottom line is…..

I cried RIVERS.

I learned a valuable lesson.

This is something I will NEVER forget.

I can honestly say I am human and as humans we are not perfect, we make mistakes. This one, however, is not one that I will ever repeat.

 

 

 

 

Blogs that make me laugh til I cry…

My all time favorite blog posts …

These are the ones I revisit and read again and again.

I don’t mean the blog…I mean the specific blog post because they are HYSTERICAL.

I follow and read many blogs and I admit some are really funny but these are my all time favorites…

5# – I LOVE Heather over at (B)itch Log. Yes she goes places I sometimes don’t want to tread but oh she is so funny.

http://heatherchristenaschmidt.com/2012/07/31/my-trailer-trash-mom-returns/

#4 – Wrinkled Mommy has the most awesome illistrations using those little playskool people. This one is my favorite:

http://www.wrinkledmommy.com/2012/08/life-illustrated-the-bath/

#3 – It’s a Dome Life  -she is a fabulous artist and funny to boot. Her tale of being an invited guest to a theme wedding.

http://itsadomelife.com/2012/06/if-only-the-wedding-had-been-a-spoof-of-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon.html

#2 – Crappy Pictures

I laughed and laughed. My kids kept asking if I was okay because I had tears streaming down my face and was gasping for breath…. yes THAT funny. Mostly because I too have had the experience of Penis Pizza. And no it isn’t dirty. It isn’t gross it’s just plain funny!

http://crappypictures.com/penis-pizza/#comment-160632

#1 all time favorite is  My Brain on Kids  (ok…ALL her posts are pretty funny but this one really takes the cake).

http://mybrainonkids.net/2012/08/19/the-vagina-monologue/

OMG I TOTALLY forgot to tell y’all that I have been labeled a devil worshipping Pagan!!

 

 

It started innocently.

A close friend mentioned on facebook that she wonders if when her kids are older if they will feel cheated because they do simple little baskets with a chocolate bunny and maybe a toy…and so many people make a big ta-do about the Easter Bunny Baskets.

I commented that when our boys were young we did more…because of course they believed in the Easter Bunny. We dyed dozens and dozens of eggs. We over bought for sure but my thinking was my kids didn’t get alot of ‘extras’ between holidays. No big toy purchases. No new videos or things like that. We kept toy purchases for Christmas and Birthdays…along with a few small ones from the Easter Bunny…and I don’t think her kids will be upset or slighted. Tradition is tradition. Everyone does it different.

Next thing I know a mutual friend is commenting on how they don’t do Easter. It’s a pagan holiday. Eggs and the bunny symbolize worship of the devil… and she is thinking of baking something to symbolize “Resurrection week”.

What the hell is Resurrection Week?

Anyway… apparently because we incorporate anything outside the RELIGIOUS belief that Easter is the day Jesus rose from the dead…we are pagan devil worshippers….who I am sure will rot in hell. Ok, she didn’t say the last part but I can read between the lines.

Did I mention that the original poster…is by far one of the most upstanding Christian women I know. She walks the walk just as she talks the talk. All in a non judgemental and accepting even tolerant way. If I could be even a little like her I would be happy. And she celebrates Easter sunday with church and a big meal….as well as an easter basket and dyed eggs.

If anyone is going to hell…it isn’t going to be her. I can assure you.

Our friend…who is misinformed on a regular basis about even the most basic of ideas….completely missed the boat when I declined to agree with her and mentioned that I felt the way I did when my cousin informed my Son when he was 5 that he was going to hell because we dressed him up as a clown and took him trick or treating.

Oh no…another “Pagan” holiday that ensures our foothold in our descent to hell.

She took this statement as positive…in that she is delighted to have been able to “inform” us of our misdeeds and directed us to a website that showed all kinds of Pagan nastiness in order to keep us from going to Hell.

Yeah…uh no. I guess next time I just need to point out… the more you type the more I want to punch you in the throat you misinformed backwoods lack of social graces piece of trash……who may I point out doesn’t even go to Church! But feels she has the right to inform us sinners what we are doing wrong.

This is a girl who has a special needs kid. One that definitely has some problems….but is so afraid of government involvement in her personal life that she refused to have him evaluated or diagnosed. So she walks around saying he has a specific condition (which I can say as a nurse he does not, He has A condition…yes, but not the one she says he does) and that her other two also have issues…one I agree…has issues and should be evaluated but again…we can’t convince her that by applying for Medicaid/Chip doesn’t give the government open access to her home so she won’t ever know for sure.  She won’t even take them to the Dr for a check up and forget about any vaccines. She refused to allow them to even be seen by a doctor no less vaccinate against even chickpox or the flu. She rarely takes them out in public. These kids don’t know how to deal when they are around other kids because she keeps them isolated.  She has anxiety problems…. ya think?! But she’s passed them to her kids by not letting anyone around them.  They live in a bubbly of her making. She homeschools all of them …and is doing a fabulous job but still has no REAL idea what the hell is wrong with them…so how can you meet their educational needs if you don’t know their deficits?

Am I being unfair?

Am I just lashing out because I was essentially called a devil worshipping pagan?

Should I just pray for her?

I think one thing is for sure. I need to block that crazy bitch because I don’t know how much of her self righteous crap I can take before telling her I really want to punch her in the throat.