I've never seen so much blood!

Last night, the girls and I went to the playground/ballfield up the street to watch one of their friends practice and so I could chat with their mom, my friend Jen. The girls and her daughter were playing peacefully on the playground with her dog, while her son was practicing. As we were walking to the car afterward, I hear a girl screaming, it sounds like T. I call out to see if they are ok. (It sounded like a blood-curdling scream). There is no answer and the screaming had stopped, so I think it must have just been a game and all is ok (I can't see the playground from the car, its behind a portable building). About 30 seconds later, T comes running through the gate yelling that W got hurt, and T's hands are COVERED in BLOOD! OH MY WORD!!!!

I take off running, and don't know what to think...
Did she fall off the monkey bars and split her head?
Did she fall off the slide and gash her leg?
Am I going to find her laying unconscious under the monkey bars bleeding?
Fear has obviously taken over. The fear of the unknown, added to the fear of the 'known'. I KNOW that was a lot of blood on T's hands. That is a whole lot of blood. That is too much blood for a little scraped knee. Something is terribly wrong. I am running as fast as I can (in my darn flip flops!) I really wish I had tennis shoes on right now! I round the corner of the building and now I can fortunately see her. She is sitting (praise GOD!), on a bench next to her friend B. I reach her and she is COVERED in blood.
Her face.
Her hands, which are up to her face.
Her arms have blood running down them, and
her skirt and shirt are splattered in blood.
I have never, EVER, seen so much blood before.
I am freaking out.
I whisper "oh God", not in a take his name in vain kind of way, but in a truly "oh, God, help me now, and help her NOW" kind of way. I don't scream it, even though I want to, because even though on the inside I am REALLY freaked out by how much blood there is, I don't want her or the other kids to get scared or worried any more than they already are over the situation. So I say it quietly as to not let them see how really worried I truly am. (Later , T even says to me, 'mom, you need to apologize to God for what you said(we've talked to her about using His name lightly or in vain), I then explained to her that in this instance I really wasn't just wasting His name, I truly was asking Him for help, I was calling to Him. She said ok, and understood then).

I peel W's hands from her face, her lip is definately cut, I feel her teeth, they are all there (thank you God!), I run my finger up the sides of her nose to see if it feels broke. It doesn't. It appears to just be a split lip, and scuffed up chin and elbow.
Wow, that's a LOT of blood for just a split lip! Its weird too, its like in droplets of bright red coagulated puddles on her skirt and shirt, almost like ketchum. Too weird, I've never seen blood like this, but I guess that's what it looks like when there is a lot of it.

We walk her back to the car, wipe her up with some wipes (thanks Jen!) and drive back home to fully clean her up and get her all bandaged up and get some ice on that lip. While cleaning her up more, I realize her top tooth feels loose. Uh-oh. Fortunately by morning it feels back to normal, and by mid-afternoon (after lots of ice), the swelling in her lip has gone down to a semi-normal size.

Turns out, she ran into a pole. Yes, I said she ran INTO a pole. She had the dog on the leash and wanted to go one way but I guess the dog pulled her the other way and she went smack-dab, face-first into that pole! Then proceeded to bounce off it and land on the concrete on her elbow (another owie, but no blood). Poor thing. She was such a trooper though, by the time I got there she wasn't even crying (the screaming had been B). I still can't get over though how much blood had been on T's hands and all over W. Wow, that was a lot of blood. But all is well now, thank goodness! No stitches even-woohoo!

catch up

As u know, this is more of my "personal/family" blog. I tend to not do posts unless I have pictures to post with it, to help tell the story. Consequently, I don't have any new posts because I haven't uploaded new pictures lately ( I do this at the end of every month, to keep them organized in my computer system). However, I do have some little tidbits to share with you... I have planted my first veggie garden. Don't get too excited, its pretty small. I mean REALLY small. Its above ground in a little planter box thing that I think is about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. I planted zucchini, carrots, parsley, a tomato plant, cilantro, cucumbers, and yellow squash. Its a little crowded in there but hopefully everything will grow. I bought pumpkin seeds on a whim (W asked for them) and I thought "yea that would be fun to grow the pumpkins then the girls can get them out of the garden instead of buying them at the pumpkin patch this fall". HOWEVER, I didnn't read the label till I got home. I says u have to plant them fifteen (FIFTEEN) feet apart! My whole garden isn't even 15 feet big. I guess they take over too, so its just not going to happen this year in this garden. I may plant a few seeds at the edge of our yard/forest and see if they grow there. If I could keep them in the rough area, and not have them stretch out into the yard, that would be ok, but I just don't know how easy that will be to accomplish. Anyone have any suggestions? It would be fun for the girls to have pumpkins they grew, that's for sure :)

We have pre-registered W for pre-k in the fall. She is very excited and looking forward to going to school. Mommy, on the other hand, is a bit melancholy... its my youngest little girl, going off to school. They are growing up, aaahhhhh. So sweet, yet so ... something. I can't put my finger on the word to describe it, but if u are a mom, u know what I mean. She said the other night at dinner "mom, when I go to school I'm not going to talk much". I said, "oh really. Why is that?" She answered, "because I don't want to pull a ticket" LOL (that's what happens in T's class when the kids get in trouble for talking, they pull a ticket off the wall, and after 3 they get in big trouble. But at our house, they get in trouble for just one, so she knows she wants to behave. I thought it was so funny to hear her already planning out her school game plan. :)
Anyway, that's it for now. If you are interested in my fitness blog, you can check out the new posts here.

solicitors at dinner

Ok, I know everybody hates phone solicitors. I know I certainly do. What I've realized though, is that they are fine tuning their approach in order to try to reach us while we are at home. Now they are going so far as to call right smack dab in the middle of everyone's standard dinnertime. Yes, from 5pm-6:30pm these lovely folks are making their calls in an effort to reach us while we are home. They figure we'll be home for dinner right? Well, they are right, and that makes it all the more annoying to get those calls. Especially since not many people in America get to sit down to family dinners together every night, it makes it all the more annoying that as we ARE sitting down to this dinner (which I feel is an important part of the family and an important activity to try to keep alive in the household), those blasted callers are calling and interrupting our family time! Drives me nuts! Just thought I'd share my frustration with you today.

remember when-Black Lake

When I was growing up we had a tradition where every summer our family, along with my mom's side of the family, would gather together and go camping at Black Lake. It was a UAW camp where only UAW members could go. Since my Grandpa and Uncle had both worked for the auto manufacturers they were members and it allowed our whole extended family to join them there. We usually got 2 sites and we all crammed onto these sites in tents. This was back when I wore glasses/contacts which had the heater sterilization technique. Which meant that if I wanted to wear my contacts I had to sit in the public bathroom for an hour while the sterilizer was plugged in to the only accessible electrical outlet. I never enjoyed this aspect of camping, but besides that, I have many fond memories of these times during the many years we did this. To also give you some feedback so that the following post makes sense (in case u aren't one of my family members who also remembers this), my brother and I are the oldest grandkids on this side of the family. My other aunts and uncles didn't start having kiddos till I was 7, and my youngest aunt is only 10 years older than me (and single at the time) so she was always very involved in any activities I was involved in. Also, my family lived in the "country" so-to-speak (not really, but in comparison we did), while my aunts and uncles lived in a very big city. My two uncles and my parents played tennis back then, so every year we had a "Slicks v.s. Hicks" tennis tournament at the camp complete with a revolving trophy. This camp was really cool, not only were there campsites but there was also some sort of lodge where they had a game room with ping pong tables and a cafeteria/buffet type thing that we would eat at on one night as a special treat. There was also a beach (on Black Lake), tennis courts, a trolley thing that would carry you from area to area, and an old lodge/building/type thing---don't really remember what it was for---but supposedly Lucille Ball had something to do with it. Don't remember if she vacationed there (maybe b4 it was turned into a camp) or something. But every year when we'd get off the trolley at this stop (seems like it was near the tennis courts, because we would be on our way to watch the 'tournament') my mom would remind us about Lucille Ball and the fact that a famous person used to come here.
So along the lines of my "remember when" series, here are my memories of those camping events:


I remember the joys of summer as a kid.
I remember Black Lake.

Fun times with my 'extended' family.
Aunts and Uncles all around,
Grandma and Grandpa as the revered elders.

I remember Grandma getting stung by a bee,
that someone had caught in a jar. The bee was half under the lid and half out. The stinger end sticking out of course. She didn't know this and picked up the jar and got stung. Ouch.

I remember my little cousin Rhonda clinging to her momma's legs.
I remember cots and sleeping bags. Sand and dirt. Pots and Pans.

I honestly don't remember ever eating at camp, but I remember seeing all the pots, pans, and dishes packed in boxes and bags. And listening to my aunts and mom complain that Grandma should just leave all that stuff packed for the trip instead of unpacking it and using it in her house each year. Too much work, and she had extra dishes anyway, so why not save the trouble and leave them pre-packed for the trip? Grandma always said no, and wouln't change her ways.
Her daughters just shook their heads.

I remember playing frisbee.
I loved the trolley. So fun to ride.
I remember the old buildings, covered in mossy greenery. Beautiful and shaded by the growth. Beginning to decay, but still sturdy enough to show you of the beauty they once posessed.

I remember the beach on Black Lake. The water was cold, but still fun to play and swim in. The sand had a black hue to it, hence the name, so the sand looked dirty, but it wasn't.

I remember my hip aunt wearing shorts OVER her sweatpants (yes, this was the 70's), and my other aunt not understanding the style.

I remember shorts and flip flops. Few showers, and lots of dirt.

I always looked forward to our special night eating at the cafeteria. They always had fried shrimp and that was my absolute favorite. I was a pretty picky eater, so camp food was not really appetizing to me, but oh, that shrimp always got my attention!

I remember the fun we had at the game room. Ping Pong and candy machines!
For someone not eating much camp food, those candy machines sure had a strong lure for my hungry tummy!

I remember walking from place to place with my single Aunt, and sitting in the bathroom while my contacts cleaned watching her do her hair and makeup.
If I was 9 or 10 yrs, that means she'd have been about 19 or 20 years. Obviously, even though we were camping, SHE wasn't going to be looking scraggly, like the rest of us! ha ha.

I remember the boasting and trash talking that went on between my uncles and my parents over their "Slicks vs Hicks" tennis games.
My uncles, being from the city, were the Slicks. Therefore, my parents being from the country, were the Hicks. I remember not liking being affiliated with the word "Hick".

I remember blue skies, and beautiful weather.
Fresh air and squirrels chirping.
Huge trees, and overgrown, shady undergrowth, complete with the damp smell of moss.

These were fun times, and I'm glad I experienced them. As a kid it was neat to watch the adults interact. My favorite though, was listening to my mom and her brothers and sisters tell stories about their childhoods together. Such interesting tales, which always gave more perspective and depth to each of their personalities. I really loved these times.

I remember the joys of summer as a kid.
I remember Black Lake.

misc. stuff

Here are just a few miscellaneous pictures from the last several weeks. Above is our back deck cover in snow on Valentine's day. I can't believe how much snow we have gotten this year!

This is T putting on lipstick one of her friends gave her for her birthday. No, I don't let her wear that stuff, I just let them use it at the sleepover. They had a ball. For having a mom who doesn't even wear any of that stuff (so she doesn't see ME primping with it), she certainly has a big desire to wear it!

I woke up Sunday March 21st to find my hubby and T making homemade monkey bread together! Wasn't that sweet?! Yes, in the background you'll notice I still haven't taken down that Christmas wreath we received this year made with real boughs. At first I figured I'd just keep it up till it started shedding all the needles, but it really hasn't , and now that its April I'm sort of on a mission to see how long it actually WILL last. I know , silly, but that's me. :)

Here is T with her sister and friends at her birthday party. Aren't they adorable?

Snow again (!) on T's birthday! crazy weather!

Easter eggs

Here we are coloring Easter eggs last Sunday. We only did 6 dozen this year. You may laugh, but we've already eaten 4 dozen of them and Easter hasn't even arrived yet! We love hard boiled eggs, and of course the girls love coloring them. They made some beautiful colors this year. You would have died laughing at W's description of her "color recipe" as she tried to duplicate her beautiful deep purple eggs! She is a RIOT! cccrrraaaccckkksss me up!