Helen's Retirement

Here are a few pictures from my friend/coworker Helen's retirement party. She retired after 26 years of nursing at M.D. Anderson.

Second day of school, First day of quiet!

Today is the second day of school for the boys and the first day in a long while that the house has been empty and quiet. I just woke up from a nap (my favorite afternoon activity) and am gearing up to accomplish something before it's time to pick the boys up from school. After I dropped them off this morning I went to Home Depot to pick up paint for the bathroom, returned some school clothes that didn't fit and made it through Wal-Mart for groceries and such. My plan to start painting as soon as I got home was revised into TV, lunch and a nap!

The boys' first day went so much better than I had hoped. This is the first year that I didn't have everything laid out and ready the night before (even though I've taken them on the first day every single year). So bright and early in the morning we were choosing outfits (favorite shorts still in the dryer, oops!), ironing, going through school supplies, putting labels on some things, eating breakfast and blow drying hair. Boys at this age worry about their hair more than girls I think!

I was open to completely messed up schedules and much frustration, but that was not the case at all. Of course dropping them off in the morning was a challenge - the first day of school is always crazy (Debi, I should have warned you), but they made it in plenty of time. I went back home and scrubbed down the kitchen with bleach, vacuumed and mopped the floor and did laundry. After my shower I went to a couple of stores in search of more shorts for the boys. They had a growth spurt over the summer and are in need of a few more things.

I picked the boys up after school, dropped off some equipment in the band hall that the band director had loaned us over the summer and the boys and I headed to the shoe store in the rain. They had a good day, everything went smoothly and they are in all of the correct classes. They have the same Language Arts teacher from last year (they knew that they would) and she was their 1st period class. Because they are in Tier 4 classes and in band, they have basically been grouped with the same kids since elementary school. This year they get 3 electives and they were placed in different ones for 2 of them (the 3rd is band). Ryan has Spanish and something else that I've already forgotten! Something to do with engineering and building things (?) - I'll ask him again for a more detailed explanation. Justin has Health (a requirement) and a computer class (forgot the name of that one too). The electives are not what they had signed up for last year, but they each think that they will be happy with what they are given. I told them to figure out for certain by today so that if I need to call we can get it done quickly. I've learned after last year not to be shy when it comes to not being in right class - too many reasons to post.

After driving in the rain to several stores and not finding the shoes Justin wants, we returned home, ate leftovers for dinner, ordered the shoes on the Internet and I filled out their usual packet of forms. The homeroom with the most turned in by Friday gets a pizza party for lunch one day. Their homeroom is, as usual, the more organized, intellectual students (they don't like me to say "geeky") so they have a good chance of winning. I think they did last year. We fixed up their band binders from last year, filled out the permission slip for the band party at Incredible Pizza and a miracle occurred when I discovered just the right amount of cash in my wallet to cover the pizza and game card!

We then picked out outfits for today - this requires my assistance because they own similar outfits, don't want to "match" or wear the same color on the same day. They do have many identical shirts (band camp, flute camp, school sports, etc.) and if Ryan wore his red Flute Fire shirt today and Justin wore his tomorrow many students and teachers may become confused and think that Justin is Ryan. So, you can see in the picture from yesterday that Justin wore a polo style shirt with blue shorts and Ryan wore a layered look with khaki shorts and they have different colored shoes. They do share clothes (Ryan wore an outfit today that Justin had picked out at the store) but Ryan is opposed to striped polo style shirts unless they meet certain criteria (one background color, one color stripes and they must be skinny stripes). Gone are the days I just bring home a bag of clothes and they simply wear them! You'll hear more about this as the year progresses.

More later, dirty dishes and clothes are calling me ...

Beauty Pageants, Band Registration & Baby Showers

Right now the boys and I are watching the Miss Teen USA pageant. We were glad to see that the reigning Miss Teen wasn't stuck in rehab or whatnot and was able to make her final walk down the runway! Just kidding - she's cute and I'm sure she will continue to be a positive role model for all young women in America and have a very successful and productive life (I just live by the words of this year's host - Mario Lopez). Unless one of the girls actually stumbles headfirst down the stairs during the evening gown competition I will consider this 2 hours of my life I can never get back. Just joking yet again. They are all absolutely adorable with their fake tans and shiny hair. There's a reason God gave me 2 boys - I'll spare you my opinions on girls and modeling.

Work has been busy as usual this week both in regards to patient care and the personal dynamics that occur with any group of people that work closely together. We have another nurse retiring this month - after 25 years with MD Anderson. Myself and 2 other nurses make up the "party commitee," but the party for the nurse next week is being planned by another group of nurses and not without a few problems, disagreements and even a few tears. Anyway I have 2 baby showers to plan and am excited - they are my favorite. Have you ever seen a diaper cake? They are fun to make and are so cute as a centerpiece. I will post pictures when they are done.

On Monday I took the boys for band registration - fancy term for filling out about 5 forms per child and paying an assortment of fees. Somehow by the time I had turned in all the forms, chatted with some other moms, the band director and the new assistant director (who is the identical twin brother of the boys assistant director from the 6th grade) I had somehow been nominated, elected and sworn in as the Band Booster's Secretary! Actually, it shouldn't be too bad and might actually get me out of working the concession stand at the football games this year - my real goal. I don't mind chaperoning (even the 18 hour trip to Sea World last year was fun) and volunteering at the school, but I just can't get excited about serving gooey nachos and hot dogs for hours to screaming middle school kids after running around work all day. Must be getting old!

School clothes are all taken care of and school supplies purchased so I suppose we are all ready for school on Monday. This is the second year their school has been open and although the campus is beautiful and everything is fresh and new, we had a FEW problems last year. I love their principal and over the course of last year got to know her quite well (with as many e-mails as I sent her and trips to the school that I made, it was inevitable). I guarantee that at the other 2 schools that the boys have attended I was only known as "the twin's mom," and am fairly sure that none of the principals could put a name to my face! Anyway, I have such hopes for this year and am sure to have much to report in the near future. Stay tuned!

My South Texas Saturday Adventure

Yesterday was the busiest "day off" I've had in a while. I drove down to Texas City to have lunch with my Mom, her husband Larry, Grandpa Hughes, my brother Jay, his wife Brenda and their son Clint. Some other people couldn't make it, but I won't even try to explain the details. The boys were at a birthday party in Galveston with a group of their friends so I was on my own for a change. Hopefully they will blog today about their rainy beach adventure - stay tuned!

Anyway, lunch was somewhat comical but very tasty - Gringo's has great chips & salsa. My family is very dynamic with many different personalities - if I had time to write a screenplay I could make a fortune! It's also nice that after 30 minutes with them I realize that I don't really have any problems and that I should really pray for them more than I do. Just kidding - I love them all and wouldn't be who I am today without the influence of everyone. Try to figure that out. (Hang in there Brenda - there is light at the end of the tunnel - squint and you will see it!)

After visiting at Grandpa's house for a while I started the next leg of my journey. I was off to Fresno, TX to help my friend Josie from work get school supplies for her son Michael who will start 4th grade on Monday. Josie has a new baby (Kadiana, my Goddaughter), works full time and goes to school part time so can always use a little help. For someone who can juggle so many things so well you would think she could give somewhat accurate directions. Had I followed the instructions she gave me over the phone I would have ended up somewhere in Canada I think. Luckily I have some experience with this so the 1st thing I did was stop at CVS and buy a nice Texas road atlas which I really needed anyway, some Motrin and a some fruity water to wash it down (not the whole bottle, but close).

We had decided along the way that since it was raining that I would just stop at Wal-Mart and she could read me the list over the phone and I could simply drop them off at her house on my way home. Not!!! Reality was that I would end up at the Missouri City Wal-Mart that had a broken air conditioner, she and her son would alternate in attempting to read me the list while the baby screamed in the background and I wouldn't be able to find one item without asking at least three people (2 of whom usually didn't speak English). Anyway, when I finally made it to her house we had a nice visit (I'll put pictures here) and I was glad to be heading home. The boys actually made it home an hour before I did and Justin made them both some dinner - thank you so much, Justin.

Here are some pictures of Kadiana's Christening & my visit with her yesterday:


















That was my Saturday adventure - any questions?

Babysitting, Bisexuals & Band practice

Wow - I had forgotten how tired I am after a busy day at work! I was recently elected to the Nursing Practice Congress (I'm a congresswoman!) and spent part of yesterday at the monthly meeting and the rest of the day doing other administrative stuff which wasn't too bad. Today was hectic - I was in charge and had 3 patients to take care of. Basically "charge nurse" is a euphemism for "baby sitter" with a higher pay scale! So I not only had a hyper-anxious patient literally following me around most of the day wanting to go home, but also had to trouble shoot everything from the broken supply scanning system to the workmen who couldn't figure out the code to the lock on the bathroom (3 times!). Also, the hospital rolled out a new version of our main computer program that I have no idea to use. My last decision of the day was to decide which pretty nurse I could ask to be my date to tomorrow's luncheon hosted by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Network (GLBTN)! I'm not kidding and hope I don't offend anyone. This group really does exist on the hospital campus and anyone is welcome to attend their meetings. I was supposed to post their flyer for all to see and struggled with posting something that I'm not exactly comfortable with. Anyway I think I'll take a male PharmD and a female Nurse Practitioner and let the rumors begin!!

After work the boys and I went up to the Woodlands to pick up their flutes that were supposed to have been tuned and cleaned. The store was packed so we told one of the girls there that we would eat and come back. We ate at Pei Wei, which was quite excellent and then made our way back through the parking lot to Music & Arts Center. I had the boys inspect their flutes and discovered that they hadn't been cleaned. Oops!! So... they will call me tomorrow to let me know when I can pick them up again. The boys start Symphonic Band practice on Friday, so they will probably be using their beginner flutes which they say is okay with them. Glad they are so very flexible - I could learn much from them!

Until next time!!

Planning my trip back to reality!

Since I return to work tomorrow after my 2 week "vacation," I've spent the last couple of days prepping up for the work week ahead. Yesterday after church Roland took the boys to Splashtown (they haven't got to use their season passes much this rainy summer) and I was able to weed through a couple more piles of stuff. The boys spent the night with their friend Josh with the intent of staying up very late to watch the meteor shower. I tried watching (like Debi) from my trampoline with my little dog Angel, but didn't see anything and was eaten alive by mosquito's! I stayed up priming an old chair for repainting, vacuuming and doing dishes. The bathroom is at a standstill while some of the drywall compound finishes drying. I ran out of the little bit of paint I was using on the walls and think I want a different color - that decision will take a while too!

Today the boys and I went to the library for a while, went to Wal-Mart to get the boys' some milk and lunch stuff for the week for them to eat while I'm at work. Our church is doing backpacks full of school supplies for local underprivileged kids so we took our list, Justin picked out a backpack suitable for a boy or girl (grades K-5), and we filled it up! Ryan spent the whole time "guarding" the basket while reading his Harry Potter book. I finished it last week and the boys are trying to keep up with each other - constantly comparing which page each is on. A nice friendly competition. We also stopped by TCBY for a cold treat on a very hot day. I had a berry smoothie that was quite cool and refreshing!

I'm now trying to figure out how to get to sleep early tonight after staying up very late with the boys for the last couple of weeks. Back to reality - I love my job but hate having to get up so early to catch the bus. The good thing is I get in a little nap on the ride downtown and usually read a book or crochet on the Metrorail into the medical center. Trying to look on the bright side!

Time to get things set out for tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Bowling, Dancing & Cleaning

Yesterday the boys and I went bowling AGAIN and then ran some errands to collect some salvage supplies for my bathroom disaster. It was nice to get out of the house and take a break from the construction chaos and I actually had a couple of strikes at the bowling alley! The music they were playing was straight from the Senior Prom of 1986 - Tears for Fears, Prince, Howard Jones, The Bangles, Van Halen, Wham and stuff like that. If I even nodded my head in time to the music the boys would accuse me of "dancing" and say that it was embarrassing - imagine!

Today I did a pretty good job of getting some stuff cleaned up. My bedroom no longer looks like the aftermath of a dumpster explosion and things are starting to shape up a little. The problem is always that once I start cleaning one thing then I want to clean something else (drawers, closets, boxes full of junk) and if I don't force myself to stay on task everything will be an even bigger mess! Anyway, I can now see almost every surface in my room and the floor is virtually clear. Tonight I plan to finish some small sewing projects that make a big pile on my "crafts" table in my living room (actually an old dining table covered with a table cloth, my sewing machine and piles of fabric/projects).

I'm happy that each of the boys has started a blog and we've had a good time together setting up their individual pages. I also have to limit the time I'm spending personalizing these pages - it's addictive!

Tomorrow I will resume work in the bathroom with a fresh perspective. Roland worked on the counter top today and it actually fits well, the sinks will be in the right place and it will look very nice. Hopefully tomorrow I can glue it in place, connect the sinks and continue working on the walls.

Until later!!

My First Blog!

After spending much time reading everyone else's blogs, I've decided to start one of my own as sort of a daily diary of my life with teenage twins!

So far this summer the boys have gone to a Career Camp at one of the local high schools for a week of 4 hour days, Flute Camp at the University of Houston for a week of 8-9 hour days and overnight Band Camp at the University of Houston for a week. Justin made 1st chair in the Honors Band and Ryan made 1st chair in the top Symphonic Band. Although I was traumatized at first that they were in separate bands, it worked out well that they each made first chair as they each got to do solos in a couple of songs during the final concert performance. We had many compliments from audience members on how talented they are and of course that made all the overtime I had to work to pay for it all well worth it!!

I'm in my second week of "vacation" from work and we are just hanging out at home, going bowling and to the movies and I'm working on renovating my master bathroom (currently a big mess). I go back to work next Tuesday but have really gotten the hang of staying up WAY late and of course, sleeping in a laying around.

The boys will be starting the eighth grade in a couple of weeks so we need to get haircuts scheduled, do a little clothes shopping and start going to bed much earlier! The flutes are in the shop getting cleaned and tuned up, school supplies are purchased and we finally cleaned out their backpacks from last year just the other day. This will be their second year at the new middle school and though last year had many challenges associated with opening a new school, I am sure this year will run much smoother and I'm starting to look forward to it! I'll let you know how it really goes.

Well, back to painting and sanding in the bathroom and I guess I should start dinner soon too, so that's all for now!