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21
Jul
13

the prodigal returns

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children and Family
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Good news! IRP has returned home. In her words, the friend’s house she was staying at had “too much drama”. She first called to ask me what the conditions were for her return. I told her that the only condition was that she let her father and me make her medical decisions for the rest of this year. I told IRP that we would not seek to have her hospitalized again unless she refused to go to the doctor or the doctor told us that IRP needed to be hospitalized.

IRP agreed to these conditions and moved everything back in Thursday night. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. And, thank You to God for His mercy.

TSG

07
Jul
13

I am smart

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family and Thoughts on turning 50
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There! I have said it. I did not say this to brag or boast. I said it because it is a fact of my life and one that is causing me trouble.

I’ve discovered that some people are afraid of anyone who has above average intelligence. I once greeted two of my female classmates on the stairs in junior high after school. They were going up and I was coming down. They obviously did not know that stairwells carry sound. When they were out of sight, one said to the other, “she is so smart”. “Yes,” replied the other, “but she is very sweet.” Thinking on this, I realize that the sweet statement was meant to be an buffer to the smart one. In other words, it was okay that I was smart since my niceness counteracted it.

When I was at home with the children, this was not as much of a problem. However, there were those who wanted to know why I was “wasting” my talent by staying home when I could be sharing it with the world. I think that passing on my knowledge to my children is sharing it with the world. Now, there are four of me where before there was only one. Not many jobs give you the opportunity to quadruple your strength.

When I did go into the workforce, my brains gave me more trouble. One co-worker was so disconcerted that she actually stood up in the middle of a temporary office in a conference room and began to yell at me about something off the wall that I had no idea I was even doing. After patching things up, my supervisor (who has since moved on) told me that the co-worker saw me as a threat to her job because I was smart. I had absolutely no designs on her job and had never even considered what it was.

The biggest problem, though, is me. Yes, I am afraid of my own smarts. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Never the less, it is true. I often make mistakes half on purpose to keep others from feeling threatened. (PS-EB, this is the main cause of my inability to speak French with the proper accent.) I don’t volunteer for projects whose solution will showcase my thinking skills. Finally, I am in a job where I am greatly underused because I do not want to risk offending others by seeking one that is more of a challenge. Periodically, I have to take one of my Xanax just to keep me calm enough to get through the day. I am antsy because I am bored.

If I could, I would quit tomorrow. Then, if we had the money, I would do research for the rest of my life and write books on what I found. That way, if anyone felt threatened by my smarts, I wouldn’t know it.

But, I hold the insurance that allows us to take care of IRP, so I will go on. I will try to gain the courage to find a better job. Unfortunately, this may mean that I have to go to a new place. I hate new places because I never know who is going to be offended and what they will do as a result.

My greatest fear is that I have passed on this reluctance to use my intelligence to IRP. She is also smart, but she very rarely shows it. Forgive me, sweetie, if I have made you afraid. Be bold and do what your mother didn’t. Love to you!

TSG

11
Jun
13

Here for the Party!

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Categories: Children, Family, Friends and Fun
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When I graduated high school, my mother began the tradition of taking the graduate out for dinner with four of his/her friends to the restaurant s/he chooses. CPI chose P.F. Chang’s. We had so much fun that it was almost illegal. One of CPI’s friends has mistaken the day and had to be lured away from another graduation party. We ate huge amounts of delicious food and topped it off with dessert. In all, we spent two hours. My mother and I paid and got the leftovers together and waited for there to be a break in the fun. After twenty minutes, we stood, gathered our things and edged towards the door. Realizing that we were alone, we turned back to discover the “children” absorbed in conversation and laughter. Finally, I said, “CPI, we are leaving”. Everyone looked at us in shock.

Here is a picture of, from the left: L, M, H, CPI (in the suit) and G. Don’t they look pretty/handsome and happy?! I think so.

TSGMericandtheGang

09
Jun
13

Pomp and Circumstance for the Last Time

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Categories: Children, Family and Fun
Tags: , , , , ,

Yesterday, CPI graduated from high school. This marks the end of an era for us. We now no longer have any children who are not full adults. This is a little sad, for I greatly enjoyed the years in which I stayed at home and cared for played with the children. We had many great adventures and a few (now) laughable disasters:

1. One year, IRP received for Christmas a kit of beads to arrange into artistic patterns and then iron together. She left one of her projects on the table. The two-year-old CPI decided that one of the beads would look most artistic up his nose. Accordingly, he placed it there and then PANICKED! It is 4:45 on a Friday and I am trying to remove a bead from the nose of a panicked toddler. I say to him, “Blow your nose, baby!”. He inhales sharply. “No, no, stop!” I look up CPI’s nose to determine the position of the bead (I know, I should have started here). It is visible and I think I can get it. I cannot. RTA (10) and IRP (6) look up CPI’S nose and begin to argue; RTA, “It’s blue”. IRP, “There are no blue ones in the kit. It is black”. You must imagine this argument as a backdrop to all that now ensues. I begin looking around for something smaller than my finger. I find a bread tie. I make this into a hook and proceed to carefully thread it up CPI’s nose in an attempt to get the bead. I cannot. It is now 4:55. I call the doctor and plead with him to stay open until I get there. Everyone piles into the car. CPI is now screaming AND crying. The argument still rages. It continues while we drive to the doctor’s office, check in and go to an examining room. There is NO way I am leaving RTA and IRP alone in the waiting room. It takes two nurses and me to hold CPI down while the doctor removes the bead with a long pair of slanted tweezers. IRP triumphantly remarks, “I told you it was black!”. We all go out for sodas. Except for CPI. He gets the “Brave Child Award” of a small shake. He consumes very little of it and then falls asleep, exhausted from his adventure.

2. TSG decides that it is a good day to go to the zoo. FMP remarks that it is supposed to rain at about 10:00. TSG assures him that, if we get there at 8:00, we will be long gone by the time the rain comes. Guess who is right? Yes, FMP. We are at the back of the zoo in the children’s area when it begins to pour. This area is about half a mile from the front of the zoo. We decide to wait it out. It is still pouring thirty minutes later when we decide to make a run for it. We are soaked before we go ten feet. There is now no point in trying to wait for anything. We stop near the entrance to the zoo and go into the Bird House to warm up. TSG almost ends her skating careen across the floor by falling, but is saved by the 16-year-old RTA. It is warmer in the bird house and the birds are very entertaining. Now, back to our flight. We have another half mile to reach the car since everyone else had the same idea we did (except they brought umbrellas). We reach the car literally streaming with water and begin a desperate search for something to dry off with. I cannot drive as water is pouring down my face from my long hair. RTA braves the weather once more to search the trunk. Nothing. About six months before, I had had abdominal surgery. Under one of the seats, far back, we find the girdle I wore to support my stomach as it healed. I had not put it back on after my last doctor’s visit and had forgotten to take it in. This is the only dry thing in the car. So, I dry my face and the younger children do, too. RTA resists. Finally, he says in disgust, “At least this isn’t our side of town and none of my friends will see me!”. We now refer to this as “Swimming at the Zoo”.

Hopefully, our new chapter will include more fun and adventure. Much love to all my lovely children!

TSG

04
Jun
13

A Sad Necessity

By thissideofgaudy 1 Comment
Categories: Children, Family and Medical
Tags: , ,

As I mentioned in my last post, IRP began to show signs of severe depression again Thursday. She even posted a letter on her bedroom door that she had written the day before. The letter talked about her urges to cut and otherwise harm herself. She said that she had given up. These and other things obviously alarmed us.

When IRP would not accept our help and moved in with a “friend”, we had to do something. We were afraid she would either actively harm herself or neglect herself until she was once again critically ill. Reluctantly, FMP spent most of Friday filling out a mental health warrant on IRP.

Yesterday, the warrant was served and IRP has been taken to a mental health facility involuntarily to be given help. As expected, she is very angry with us. In fact, she is currently refusing to see or speak to us.

Obviously, this is not something we did lightly. In fact, we feel horrible about it. But, we would rather have a live daughter who hates us than a dead one who does not. Please pray for IRP and for us. We believe we did the right thing, but it is still so very hard.

Thank you!
TSG

02
Jun
13

Won’t You Please Come Home?

By thissideofgaudy 2 Comments
Categories: Children and Family
Tags: ,

Thursday night, we realized that IRP was beginning to be severely depressed again. When we began asking her how we could help and offering to take her to get such help, she decided that we were over-reacting. As a result, she has moved to a friend’s house.

We are afraid that IRP will not take care of her wounds from the surgery properly and that she will not take the medicines and eat the proper diet as the doctors have told her to do.

Please, sweetie, come home and let us help you!

30
May
13

Success!

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Books, Children, Family and Fun
Tags: , , ,

When the lovely children were young, I would buy classic children’s books at garage sales cheaply so that I did not need to worry about their getting torn up. At first, I read them aloud. As the lovely children grew older, they read some of them again for themselves.

Recently, CPI’s 12th grade English class read “Gulliver’s Travels” and we were obliged to buy a new copy. Marsh, our aged Labrador, had chewed up the first one we had in his puppyhood. CPI left the book in the back seat of our car until I was sure that he had forgotten it. Finally, I brought it up. “Oh,” he said, “I apparently remembered enough from your reading it to me as a child that I made an ‘A’ without reading it again.” Score! I win! Hurrah! Etc……..!!!!!

22
May
13

Hippo birdies, two ewes

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children and Family
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Happy, happy birthday to IRP! We are so glad that you made it!

Love forever!

Mom (aka TSG)

21
May
13

The Pollen Farm

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family, Pets and Texas my Texas
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I am convinced that we live in the middle of a pollen farm. As you know, CPI put off dying of allergies to attend Prom. Yesterday, however, he had to stay home since they were still in force. He has gone to school today since he is now merely coughing loudly as opposed to shaking the house. FMP was not so lucky. He spent most of last night getting rid of the gunk in him by a much less pleasant process than coughing it up. I, on the other hand, am the Queen of Sneezes. The only one not affected is IRP. I guess God thinks she has had enough to deal with this year already.

Last night, when the door was open, Whiskey decided to take himself for a walk. He had never even tried this before, so no one thought he would do it. We had to go in search of him since apparently his map did not include return directions. I had this problem with a GPS I once owned. It kept wanting me to go up non-existent ramps. It is now in FMP’s possession. We found Whiskey and brought him home. We do hope he doesn’t subject us to that type of panic again. I guess we will have to be careful when we open doors.

TSG

20
May
13

Too much fun?

By thissideofgaudy Leave a Comment
Categories: Children, Family, Friends and Fun
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CPI had so much fun that he slept until 5:00 yesterday. I think he might have gone on sleeping, but we made him get up to eat and so that he would sleep that night. He is currently “awake”, but lolling all over the couch. It is ridiculous how tall he has become. He takes up virtually the entire length of the couch and his feet are still hovering over the floor.

Apparently, I misunderstood. There was no putt-putt golf. Instead, there was bowling, arcade games, laser tag, pool and a ROPES course. CPI thinks we might all like to go there sometime. Given my grace and elegance, I will not be going in for laser tag or ROPES. For evidence of the above statement, see here: http://thissideofgaudy.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/keeping-out-the-dogs-or-how-to-injure-yourself-in-a-ridiculous-manner/.

TSG

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