Martha Do-It cooked a Scrumptous Turkey

Mom, you outdid yourself this time. The turkey was EXTRA juicy; the stuffing was fabulous; and the desseret....well two out of three ain't bad.

I still haven't gotten on the scale...I know my sweats are tight...and that isn't a good sign.

Thanks Shalyse for the YUMMY yams; Madison/Bryton for the delicious Mac 'n Cheese; Tisha/JazLynn for the wine and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (i want those for xmas too!!!!); Grandpa for the pumpkin pie/cream; and of course, Mom, for the fabulous turkey/stuffing.

Tayshaun was the only one who didn't stuff himself. He devoted himself to the wii game we rented.

Mom, your pumpkin cheesecake was edible (- the crust). Thanks for having Thanksgiving with us FAM!!!!!

After all the doggies were gone, Fergie came out to see what she was missing.

And Tayshaun was back on the Wii.

The Perfect Storm

On Tuesday, I went into a meeting a little late and one of the attorneys were talking about whether the Company was going to post "it" on the Message Board. He looked pretty concerned while he was trying to contact someone on the other side of the phone line. I tried to eavesdrop in his phone conversation to find out what the "it" was about but then the meeting got underway, so I couldn't pay attention. I didn't ask anyone what the "it" was because, afterall, I was late to the "party".

After the meeting, I opened my email and immediately saw a "Warning". I opened it and scanned the announcement about the upcoming Blizzard in Salt Lake City. At first I thought it was a joke but then realized everyone was talking about The Blizzard. Advisories were announced to stock up on dry foods, candles, and flashlights.

Later in the day, I started to feel a little bit of a panic attack. I've never had one before so I'm not even sure that's what it was. But when my mind started to wander about the possibilities if the area were, in fact, housebound due to blizzardy weather. So I began to text my family to see if they wanted to have a sleepover; to see if they were preparing; to see if they were taking this weather advisory as serious as everyone else seemed to be.

Turns out I couldn't talk anyone into sleeping over except Mom. Thanks, mommie!!!!

Shortly, employees were emailed and advised to leave the workplace by 2:00pm to avoid the blizzard driving conditions. So I left. On my way to pick up Tayshaun from school, I noticed the blue skies as I drove west. I kinda laughed to myself and thought....Really?

Well I went to the grocery store, anyways, like everyone else and picked up some food....mainly because I didn't want to have to face it the day before Thanksgiving. But I did have my reservations about buying refrigerated/frozen groceries since we supposedly could be without power during this Blizzard. But I bought it anyways...along with my slumber party snacks.

We kept watching the weather but it just didn't Blizzard. So we had our slumber party and enjoyed the nice sunny weather, the day before Thanksgiving. And I got an extra day out of the deal....I had made arrangements to stay home to avoid the transit bad weather conditions.

This snowfall was from the weekend after Thanksgiving. It didn't let up all day. By later in the afternoon and even though it was still snowing, I decided to shovel, regardless.

It's three hours later and we're dried off and bundled in blankets. And the snow is still falling. Not looking forward to tomorrow's drive to Tayshaun's school.

My poor gazebo didn't make the weight of the snowfall. Bummer :-(

It Doesn't Matter

I rarely watch television. So I'm mostly out of the loop when people talk about actors unless they're on the big screen. It's very similar for me with the world/local news. I hear snippets of events and pay attention to only those that are of interest to me.

In the past several months, I've heard about the concern for teenager suicide in the gay community. And in the past few years, I heard about reports of gay children being bullied in the school system. I've listened but haven't got into the detail much…not because the subject is about gay/lesbian but because I know that society can be cruel. Sometimes ignorance is bliss for coping.

However, last night I was online shopping and decided to put on the telly for some background noise (Tayshaun was asleep) so I switched on my Oprah recordings.

Can I just saw I'm in love with Ricky Martin? So yummy! The look, the personality, the charisma. Then I listened to Marie Osmond talk about her son's suicide. And I later watched the Portia DeGeneress special about her new book on her eating disorder. Eventually it occurred to me that Oprah was/is focusing on the gay community in her current weeks broadcasts.

In both Ricky and Portia's specials, they talked bout wanting/needing acceptance from their parents. So this got me thinking about my ignorance and my inadequate communication skills I have with my girls, sometimes.

Six years ago when Tisha came out, obviously, "I heard" about how she was feeling but I never heard it from her. Back in the day, Madison was the eyes and ears that kept me informed about certain things. So I learned that Tisha was experimenting with religion. When that seemed to fizzle out in her life, the "secret" came out. The funny thing is….I knew about "the secret" before TIsha did. In fact, I'd had suspicion of "that secret" since she was about 4 years old. I remember talking to my mom about it back then. So before Tisha came out, I kept her secret to myself because she wasn't ready to accept just yet. In my heart, I felt that she was struggling with her identity and struggling for acceptance. I'm glad to say that I think she has finally found both

Anyways back to when Tisha came out.....eventually the cat was let out of the bag. And Madison, who apparently thought she was sly, started to ask me questions about Tisha..."So Mom, how do you feel about Tisha coming out?" As Madison asked me questions, my innerself started to wonder, again, if Madison was also keeping "a secret". You see I had my suspicions when Madison was about 10 years old but then she threw a wrench in the works and she almost tricked me. Because when she entered junior high, I began to see changes in her appearance and in her wardrobe. So then I was confused.

So when Madison was asking me questions about how I felt about Tisha's honesty, I told her how I felt. "I love Tisha and will always love her. I don't care either way. My concern is she is going to have a struggle because life is going to be more difficult for her. Society can be cruel." Madison seemed to accept my comment but responded, prompty, "I could never do that. I could never be that way." That conversation made me feel like she was trying to convince me of something. So again, I had a talk with my mom but this time about Madison.

Not long afterwards, I found myself at my first Gay Pride Parade. And as I'm walking behind Madison and towards the parade line, I noticed Madison's new tattoo. I'm like…"Madz, when the hell did you get a tattoo?" It was VERY obvious Madison didn't want me to see this tattoo but I had already noticed the rainbow. And I have to admit, I was a little bit shocked that it was permanently placed on her neck. Before I had time to comment much though, she told me that she was just supporting Tisha.

I'm not sure Madison when you saw STUPID written on my forehead but did you really think you were convincing? You knucklehead.

So later, I asked Shalyse because obviously I'd lost communication, somewhere. And basically Shalyse's response was "don't ask me, ask her"……but I thought I had asked Madison and I obviously didn't get an honest answer. Or maybe I didn't ask the right questions. I don't know???

I obviously fail to communicate and/or listen when the topic is stressful or emotional. I guess my girls take after me a little, in that way. I know that "the secrets" are now out in the open but I thought it might be appropriate to leave a message on my blog anyway….…

The message is….."it just really doesn't matter". Maybe I didn't need to say anymore than that back then when Madison asked me how I felt about Tisha coming out. "I love all of you girls no matter what." All I want for my family is for all to be healthy and happy….if it were only a perfect world.

So girls, you may not have ever known this, but I'm just saying….I've suspected through most of your lives - and I've always loved you regardless - even as I was watching "the secrets" making themselves known to you. :-)

The Office

Recently, I decided to move my guest room to downstairs because we've using the office more than the guest room, recently. I decided to convert the office to an office/dressing room/library. Since Tayshaun's getting older, he likes to try out website he hears about from the television. And he likes UTube for dance moves. So I've been slowly moving things upstairs.

The guest room has been completely moved but the office is helter skelter. My book shelf needs to be secured before I can start loading it up again, because it's top heavy. So I have files, books, software, baskets, files, etc, etc all over the office space. While Tayshaun's been ill, I've been working from home. That's been a joke. I've had to run upstairs for supplies and downstairs for the PC. And while I've been on the computer, of course, Tayshaun HAS to use the computer. So throughout the day, I get "Mom, are you done yet? Can I get on CartoonNetwork yet?" again, and again, and again.

As I was working, I also noticed that many of my art supplies, colored pencils, etc etc had been test driven by Tayshaun and probably his buddies when they come down to play on the computer. So a little perturbed, I thought about how I was going to avoid the mess for sharing the PC between Me and Te. An idea popped into my head that sounded kind of extravagant to me but then again, there are only two of us sharing this house. Could it be a fancy but good idea? His and her's offices? I've kept my office colorful because #1, I like the colors and #2, for some fun for Tayshaun and as I was thinking about my office/dressing room/library, I had been thinking about maturing it up a bit. Why, yes, I think I got it!

Since there's an unused computer in the upstairs closet just taking up space, and since it's obviously not a priority for Madison to have it, I think I'll give it to Tayshaun for HIS office. Then he can have all his own little game icons messing up his desktop and we can set up his own desk area with his art supplies that are currently in baggies and boxes under his bed and in his cubbies....right there at his fingertips in HIS own office.

So I called for Tayshaun to see what he thought about the idea and of course he was thrilled. I told him about my ideas and he was all for it. I told him it might take a week or two until I could get the other computer set up and purchase a desk for upstairs. We were happy with our decision and I went back to work.

A little later, he runs downstairs, "Mom, are you done yet? Can I get on CartoonNetwork, now?!" And I explained to him that I was still working. So he looked at me with this huge smile and says, "So when you getting out of MY office, Lady!"

Germs

Since Saturday morning, I've been playing nursemaid. Tayshaun woke up feeling poorly. I had 1,005 errands to run that day. And as usual, I ran my "list of things to do" by Tayshaun in the morning to prepare him for a day of things he wouldn't necessarily want to do. Shortly after that, he started to complain about a headache. I was sure he was trying to make excuses not to go with me. As we drove to my nail appointment, he fell asleep as soon as he was in the car.

When we got there, however, he complained and asked if he could stay in the car to sleep while I did my nails. Since the front of the salon is floor to ceiling windows and my nail tech's station is the closest to the window, I agreed. So I rolled down the window a bit and went in for my appointment. I checked on him several times because he didn't move but he remained fast asleep. I stirred him to chat with him but he just wouldn't budge - he wanted to nap. I knew he must be feeling poorly because it was just approaching noon and he shouldn't be so exhausted. So after my nails were done, I asked Tayshaun if he wanted something to eat. He declined. I asked if he wanted a pumpkin pie, chocolate chip milkshake. He declined. I asked if he wanted a pina colada slurpee. He declined.

So we were off to my next stop....the deli for meat to take to my baby shower. While in the store, Tayshaun told me he thought he needed to vomit. So I sidestepped to the medicine aisle and picked up ibruprophen, cough syrup, sinex, and vicks, instead. We headed home.

After medicating him, I tucked him into bed with a stack of books and the dvd player going. He looked pretty shitty but didn't want to go to the doctor yet. I explained that the doctor would probably just give him new medicines and he wouldn't need a shot. If any of you remember his last episode at the doctor in "Screaming Like a Girl at the Doctor's Office", he wasn't too happy about those four shots. But he didn't think he wanted to visit the doctor, just yet. So I kept him hydrated but couldn't force him to eat.

That night his temperature shot up to 102 but by morning it had dropped. He looked and felt a lot better and insisted that we should go skating at Hollywood Connections, as planned. I had an errand to run beforehand so I dropped him off with Shalyse for an hour but by the time I got back at 1pm, he looked as ill as he had the day before. By this time, Tish, Jaz, and Shalyse were ready to go skating/movies with us but he decided to cancel and asked if we could go next week. I knew he MUST be hating it if he didn't want to go. He was really looking forward to this.

So I stopped at the store for a new thermometer and to get him some art supplies before getting him back home and tucked in bed. His temperature was now 102.5. But by 3:00pm, his fever had dropped again and he was back to his old self again.

By 4:00pm, he was begging to go skating. I didn't think he'd make it for long but I agreed to go because we were both stir crazy. He was very excited to skate and I think he put his icky-sickie feeling aside so he could have some fun. He was so excited he didn't even wait for me to get on my skates. After I got my balance again, I was out on the rink trying to duck and dodge to skate at a distance that was still cool for a 6 year old. Tayshaun skated for about 15 minutes before I realized that he was taking breaks more than skating. He didn't think I'd notice but, of course, I was watching. Finally he just sat down on a chair and pushed his fist into his stomach. I asked him if he was ready to go but he wouldn't give in. With a miserable look on his face, he pushed himself from the chair and went back out on the rink. I followed him for one more go-around and he was back on the chair holding his stomach. We decided to leave but not before those french fries he was craving since 9am this morning. But before the fries could be bagged, he was softly crying in a booth. He forgot about the fries as soon as they were bagged. So I hurriedly got his food and drink and we rushed to the car to get him home. But by now, he was ready for the doctor.

So I drove to Intermountain Healthcare to see if he could just see a doctor. Tayshaun had begun crying when we got in the car and hadn't stopped even while we were in the waiting room. The receptionist sensed the urgency for a dr and we were seen shortly. After describing his symptoms, the receptionist guessed appendicitis but the dr ordered a strep test. Then the dr came in for a visit. Tayshaun was burning up but when the dr pushed on his abdomen, T took it like a champ - so obviously not appendicitis. I asked if it could be a hernia but the dr didn't see anything indicating. He looked in his throat and ears and said he saw no irritation and everything looked good. The strep test came back negative. So the dr sent us home with an anti-nausea prescription and chalked it up to mucus dripping down to the stomach.

Luckily Tayshaun found some relief from the nausea pills and had stopped crying. Later that evening, Tayshaun stopped complaining about his tummy but now found a new symptom....his ears. By 2am, he was crying again and ready to go back to the dr. i didn't understand it because the dr had said there appeared to be no irritation in the throat nor ears. And here it was just 8 hrs later. By morning, Tayshaun's temp was still 102.5 and he wouldn't stop crying so I called his regular pediatrician for an appt. But we couldn't been seen until 4:40pm that afternoon. Tayshaun couldn't wait until it was time to go to the dr and neither could i. Thank goodness for nurses....i could never be one. My patience was thin. Tayshaun was sure there was a problem in his ear. "It feels like something is scratching in my ear." When I'd called for an appt, the nurse did say that an ear infection could develop within 6 hours - which was just about how long it was after the dr visit when Tayshaun began to complain about it. Unfortunately, everyone and their brother were sick at Dr Owen's office. So we waited for an hour and a half before seeing her. Luckily Tayshaun dosed. When Dr Owens arrived, we FINALLY found someone could see immediately that Tayshaun had a HORRIBLE ear infection....with a blister on his eardrum. After I interpreted it to Tayshaun, his reply was "see, Mom, I told you my ear hurt." :-(

Poor kid! i don't think i'll be visiting an Instacare a.k.a. Intermountain Healthcare anytime soon. I'm not sure that his clear throat and ears were so clear, afterall. Now, Tayshaun saw a means to the end and was patient about taking ALL those meds because he knew that by the same time the next day he was going to be feeling better. Fortunately it didn't take that long and Tayshaun gathered a little energy by noon. Unfortunately for his nursemail, I was multi-tasking as computer programmer, cook, nurse, maid, and mom....BUT work came first (right after breakfast and a load of clothes).

Go to Conoco...it doesn't matter if gasoline is a few cents more

So as usual, I was running on fumes. On my way home from work, I had every intention of stopping at a gas station before getting on the freeway to pick up Tayshaun.

But on my walk to my parking structure, I noticed that Shalyse and Madison had called me....within 5 minutes of each other. And being that I turn off my phone volume at work, I didn't notice the calls until the end of the day. Since I rarely get phone calls from the girls, I figured this call had to be of some importance, otherwise, I would have gotten my usual, 10-words or less, text. So as I walked to my parking area, I called and Shalyse answered her phone and explained to me that, at her regularly scheduled appointment, with her kidney specialist, she learned that her doctor had evaluated, from her regularly scheduled tests, that her kidneys were no longer functioning at a healthy level. He then, nonchalantly (i might add), suggested that she gear up for another kidney transplant in the next three months.

Well, I'm leaving this topic for another posting. But needless to say, when I got off the phone, gasoline wasn't necessarily of upmost importance in my mind. In fact, I completely forgot about it, as it was much more important to find a frikkin' napkin or tissue to wipe away the tears from my eyes before I crashed into someone.

Well, after giving myself a long talking to and pacifying myself a bit, I remembered that I was actually driving. I checked my headlights to make sure they were on, that my seatbelt was on, and that's when I noticed my gaslight was still ON.....from yesterday. Dang it!

I happened to notice this irritating, but helpful, light on i-80 westbound, just after passing the i-215 ramp. So I'm on my way to Bangerter or the airport and neither have a close gasoline station. I checked the light again and convinced myself that I've seen it this low before. So I'm sure I'll make it to Elena's.

So the gasoline light is completely forgotten as my eyes began to tear up again and I call my mother. She, however, isn't able to reach her phone right now because she's either away from her desk or on another call. So I just cry to myself. As I approach 3100 South, I decide that Tayshaun nor Elena should see me upset so I compose myself, again.

Luckily when I get to Elena's, Keenan is watching Tayshaun and neither he nor Tayshaun barely look at me. With a cheerful and fake voice, I ask Tayshaun to get into the car and buckle up. Now my mind is back onto "things that need to get done"...what to feed Tayshaun? And then it dawns on me that I HAVE to find a gas station.

So I drive towards 3500 South where I have my pick of two gas stations, each across from each other. So as I drive up, I don't look down at my gas gauger because I REALLY don't want to know how far I've pushed the limit. Since Conoco is the first station and about 2 cents more a gallon than the Holiday station, I, of course, ignore that I'm almost out of gas and wait patiently at the right light. It's now about 5:45pm and LOTs of traffic is behind me waiting for the same red light to change. When all of a sudden, my car gets the shivers. F - U - C - *!!!!!! Yup, I run out of gas and can't drift because I'm at a complete stop with a car to my right, left, and behind me. So I put on my emergency lights and wait for the light to turn green...and then I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Hmmmm....I'm still waiting.


...and waiting. Oh did I mention that I told Tayshaun that I ran out of gas and now he's whimpering like we're going to be killed or something. It probably didn't help that I said, "hmmm, what the hell am I going to do now?"

so.......I'm still waiting. And there we go, the light turns green. And now I step out of my car and kind of look around like "can somebody help me, here?"

Needless to say, there's A LOT OF HONKING going on around me. Um, did I mention that I'm in frikkin' West Valley? The same place that when I do go into a convenience store, young men will let a door slam in a woman's or a child's face before he thinks about holding it open for anyone. Anywayzzzz, so finally a young woman and younger guy comes running up to my car and I explain that I've run out of gas if they could help me push the car across the intersection at the next green light. And they agree to. THANK YOU!

In the meantime, many vehicles are going around me and most of them were not able to make it through the green light before it turned red again. Oh, and did I mention how long the last red light took to turn green? I don't blame them for being furious for having to wait for the light again. 'Cause my stomach was growling too.

So Tayshaun is still whimpering in the back seat and says, "What are we going to do Mom?" I said, "Don't worry babe, we've got a couple of people who are going to help us.", and I'm looking to my right as I'm talking to him and that's when I noticed this BITCH in the vehicle to the right of me imitating me and throwing her arms around in an exaggerated motion like "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO" and she's got this frown on her face like she's about ready to cry and she's moving her mouth but I can't read her lips because she's probably jabbering in Spanish....but I got the jest of what she trying to do.

If there weren't so many cars behind me and if I hadn't already made them wait through the last red light, I was ready to walk over to her car and knock on her window to ask her if there was something she needed to say to me in English. But...Tayshaun had already heard me call her a Mother F***ing biatch and I didn't need him to witness me giving that lady a black eye. So I just dared her to look at me...but she wouldn't. Thank godness the light turned green and she sped off.

So me and the other two people pushed my car across the intersection fine but couldn't get it across to the east side of the street nor into a parking area because of the traffic. So we just pushed it to the curb so I could run across the street and get a can of gas to start the car again.

So I thanked my helpers and calmed down Tayshaun and we walked over to the gas station. At bout this time, I noticed Madison texting me if I've found out what her blood type is yet. AM I HOME YET? Um, that's a big fat, NO!!!!!!

Well, when I get in the station, I ask the attendant how much gasoline I'll need for the container and he asks if I want to borrow theirs instead of buying one. So he and another attendant go in the back and look, and look, and look, as the line behind me is backing up again at the cashier area. Did I mention that it's quitting time and everyone behind me has a case, or six-pack of beer and other items to purchase. And I'm not kidding. Well, the attendants make it back witha container and I'm hoping no one has ripped them off at the pumps while they've been trying to find it. Anyways, so they're both struggling to take off the nozzle so I can fill it with gasoline. And the line behind is getting longer. Finally one of the attendants asked the other if he'll help the customers at the other register.

So I'm thinkg if they're having this much trouble opening the damn thing, then I certainly won't be able to close it so I tell them that I'll just purchase the one I had brought up to the cash register. Well I thought I better be safe than sorry (and the people were already used to waiting in line behind me) so I tried to take the cap off the one I was purchasing and with my long fingernails, I couldn't. So I asked for some assistance. Well, the attendant couldn't take it off either. So I suggested that he cut off the plastic thingy attached to the cap and handle. After he did that, the gas bottle was ready to be filled.

So I got my damn 2 gallons of gas and walked across the street. Did I mention that I have EXTRA long fingernails that were supposed to be done last week. In fact, my middle fingernail has NO acryllic at all. Nevertheless, I put that frikkin nozzle in my gas tank, and I'll be damned if there was more gas spilling on the street than going in my tank. So I take the frikkin thingy out and squeeze down where it says "secure the nozzle" and I push where it say "push" and I pull down where it says "pull down" and try it again. Well, the damn thing is still having spillage all over the place including my hand, wrist, and acryllic-less fingernail. And then I realize that I'm in West Valley and practically in the middle of the street so I figure that I have enough drips of gasoline to make it across the street to the station. I'm hoping that I won't blow up my car when I turn the ignition on with the spillage down the side of my car and roadside.

I get in and turn the ignition and my car kinda jiggles and starts, really weakly. So I look behind me and there's all that 6 o'clock traffic coming towards me....so I wait. Well, by the time the traffic clears, I softly put my foot on the gas pedal and my car kinda farts and shuts down. F-U-C-*~!

So I get back out. Now it's slightly dark. Did I mention I'm in West Valley where men don't open the doors for women/children and Mexican ladies try to belittle a fellow-driver whose run out of gas. God I hope that woman blows a tire....in the winter....in a deserted area.

Anyways, I finally get the frikkin' bottle car secured so that it drips instead of pours on the pavement and it pours instead of drips in my gas tank.

And FINALLY I drive across the street to the gas station.

Oh, shoot! I forgot to post what I was thankful today.