Coolest Invention Ever?

A homemade fire pit!!!  This past weekend my husband finally gave into my plea for a fire pit and instead of spending stupid amounts of money on buying one, he decided to make me one out of curved patio bricks and mortar mix.  Can I say he is just so clever???  After it cured and we let it sit an additional day or two, we finally tested it out last night.  We roasted marshmallows and made smores and talked and had real conversation.  Not the two or three word texts that have become the normal family way of talking.  We had so much fun we did it again tonight... well most of us did anyways and we also roasted hot dogs along with the marshmallows.  I also got to burn 2 great big bags of paper that needed to be shredded as well!!!  I saved my shredder and made sure that copies of my old bills and bank statements will never be pieced back together, lol!!!  So now that most of my family is in bed, and the fire is out after 7 buckets of cold water... I am going to grab a shower and find my bed.

The Start of Summer Vacation...

So... last day of school was a little hectic... wait, let me back up to the Monday before the last day of school...everyone tells me how my life is so full of excitement and drama and how I should just write a book about the things that has happened to me and my family... well you know what?  As much as everyone else finds it so interesting; I fucking HATE it!!!!  Monday was a crazy day...just like all the others, lol... I went to work, was getting stuff ready for the big end of school and on my way home after picking up the kids... My cell rings, and I hear Bon Jovi's I'll Be There For You chorus, and I smile to myself until I realize that is my Mom's ringtone and she hardly ever calls my cell unless something is wrong!  So I answer it hopeful and she informs me she has been bitten by one of those growing kittens that were born in the wild behind her house and that have also been eating with a skunk!!!  GREAT!  So I go over there and sure enough, she had been bitten and its been like 20 years since her last tetanus shot, so I take her to the ER because both her doctor and my dad's tell her we don't do tetanus shots any longer, you have to go to the ER!  So off we go and there we sit for nearly 3 and half hours waiting for a damn tetanus shot!!!  She wanted to leave, threatened to leave and after being told by the nurse oh no, you can't the police have been called and you need to start rabies series unless you can catch this cat,  we stayed until they came back and administered the tetnaus shot and gave her antibiotics.  The guy nurse (can't remember his name to save my life) was TERRIFIC!!!  We LOVED him!!!  So off we go and I drop her off. 
  Tuesday rolls around and I call animal control to follow up on the report from the ER about the cat bite and see what they can do to find the cat... Officer Anthony asks me what report?  WHAT REPORT???  After sitting in the ER for over 3 hours, waiting because the police have been called and all that bullshit he informs me he was never notified???  WHAT????  So I proceed to tell him everything and he assures me he'll find out what's going on and give someone a good ass chewing!  LOVE ya officer Anthony!!!  So then the health department is notified about the bite case, they need the cat ASAP to test for rabies, so we begin our quest to catch it. 
  Wednesday animal control has no luck, so I go home dig out my ancient cat carrier and off to Mom's I go on a mission to prove that 1) I can catch a cat and 2) I don't need a degree or badge to accomplish this feat.  So we set up shop behind a neighbor's house that feeds the little bastards (there's 5 of them plus the mother and a skunk) and we wait... about 45 minutes after sunset, BINGO!  We get one... just not the one that bit her.  DAMN!  I spot the little furball but it takes off into the woods seeing that I want to catch it.  So we reset the carrier and I go home...
 Thursday... last day of school, have to serve breakfast to my little darlings, wish them well, clean up and leave by 10 after 10.  I go to my Mom's because today is the big "replace dad's pacemaker at Lady of Lourdes hospital" day!!!  I wish him well, take the cat we caught down to city hall and begin my wait for officer Anthony.  So while I wait I find out damn, I know more MPD then I realized.  Could come in handy, lol!!!  Caught up with a very old friend who used to buy me hot chocolate when he was a special cop and carried no gun at the high school football games!  It was a fun trip down memory lane.  So officer Anthony comes in (and I gotta say he was very easy on the eyes...CUTE) I hand over the cat, he gives me a REAL cat trap (after I sign a consent form of course) and I'm off to catch me another one to add to the bunch...I go check on my furry sister, Gabby and then head to Wa Wa for some lunch (courtesy of the PTA gift card they gave me; THANKS girls!) and I wait for school to end passing the time with Bonnie...I pick up the kids, we go back to check on Gabby and take her outside and home we go to get Jess ready for her sleepover.    This is the day that never ends mind you.  I have heard nothing about my dad's condition, I start to worry, texting to my siblings begins and then hubby comes home.  I make him dinner, go back to check on Gabby and take her out, feed her and then I set the cat trap because it will be getting dark soon and the neighbor informs me that the cat I want to catch eat everything out of the cat carrier earlier...I set the REAL cat trap, and go back to Mom's to sit for a spell and relax because my adrenaline is on 10 by now not knowing what's going on with dad!!!  Finally get a call, he's good, they are headed home, so I wait.
  Okay, they are home...Dad is weak and worriment starts.  Mom tells me about his surgery ordeal in what is supposed to be one of the BEST hospitals in Jersey...HA!  Not anymore as far as I'm concerned...rude, ignorant staff and what they did to him during surgery was atrocious!!!  They were only supposed to replace the battery to his pacemaker because it had been determined that he was far too weak to sustain a full blown surgery.  They gave him gas to numb him up, not knock him out... general anesthesia wasn't goign to be used.  He would be awake, but not supposed to feel anything...so they open him up and find out that the pacemaker is shot, needs to have the whole thing replaced.  Well the genius who was doing the gas gave him too much, so they couldn't give him general anesthesia because it would kill him.  Do you know what these morons did????  They covered his face with a fucking towel so he couldn't see what they were doing to him, but he sure felt it!!!  There wasn't any pain as far as the incision goes, but when they tried to remove the old pacemaker, he said it was embedded into tissue and they had to kinda of yank on it... well my dad thought they were going to yank his heart right out of his chest!!!  He was actually scared of that happening!!!  Can you imagine that poor man's blood pressure???  I felt so bad when he told me about it.  I hugged him and told him I loved him and he cried a little...that is one thing I'm sure he'll have nightmares about! 
  So back to the cat from Hades... after getting my dad settled into his hospital bed in his bedroom, (no easy feat let me tell you)I get ready to go and my mom's neighbor comes over and says, Vicki go get the cat trap, you got him!!!  I GOT HIM!!!  Hallelujah!!!  That made my night let me tell you!!!  So the next day, my Mom turns the cat over to officer Anthony who was kind enough to come to the house and pick it up and the trap and now we wait and see what happens with the quarantine..
  So we think the worst of it is over until the weekend hits and my dad takes a turn for the bad... he's swelling up, he's weak and *gasp* there is redness at the incision sight!  Needless to say, Sunday mid morning, he was rushed back to the hospital and they kept him because of the things I mentioned above.  Fluid in the lungs, feet and legs and a possible infection... let's hope that things get better...I think it's time for a family meeting because my mother is exhausted and she can't take care of him any more. 

So the next time you think, "Oh my life is sooo boring, I wish there was some excitement in it..." remember this... your excitement could be like mine and it's not the kind you'll want.  God, I hope this week is better...

So much for my good mood...

well I was in a good mood this morning... got up early, had my cup of coffee undisturbed, surfed the net and checked some email and then my darling daughter and her wonderful teenage mood emerged from her bedroom just a lovely ray of sunshine because I didn't wash enough of her clothes over the weekend!!! HELLO!!!  Do you have 2 hands?  Are they perfectly capable of washing clothes just as mine are???  I think the answer is a resounding YES!!!  Why is it the ones we bring life to, the ones that have us to thank for bringing them into this world, the ones we'd give our life for and most of our paycheck are the ones that just seem to enjoy screwing up our moods the most???  I don't get it... it seems as though she is not happy, unless I am unhappy and I don't understand the need for her to go out of her way to make me feel this way?!  Okay, simple solution... I am going to let this one go today and breathe, I am going to pretend this didn't happen for the sake of my sanity because the last few days/weeks have been enough to drive a preacher man to drink!

  Okay, done ranting... done whining... done!