Jul 7, 2008

Panic!

Don't worry, everyone's fine.

We just had a little bit of a scare tonight. I got off the phone and it was strangely quiet in the house.

"Katie, where are you?"

Silence.

"Katie??!"

thump thump thump of footsteps.

"I drinkin' medicine, Mommy!"

The child drank 3/4 of a bottle of children's ibuprofen that I thought was safely out of reach. Needless to say, I called 911 and we spent our evening in the ER of Connecticut Children's Medical Center. First time I've ever been in an ambulance. They took Mommy's pulse to show Katie the finger clippie thingie was nothing to be scared of... 115. Yeah, Mommy had a little adrenaline going. Just a wee bit.

I can't say enough about our town's first responders - they were there within probably 2 minutes of when I picked up the phone - or the children's hospital. They were very good either her and got us all packed up (because, of course, I was home alone with the kids - John was at a wake in New Haven) and in the ambulance quickly.

She showed no ill effects at all, thank God. And we're all home now several hours and much adrenaline later.

Jun 30, 2008

Same Old, Same Old, Less $4,300

Well, I can't say much has changed in the last couple of weeks but it's been a while so I thought I'd better post or y'all'd think I'd taken a bridge or something. I haven't.

What's new?

Well, we got our tax stuff back from the accountant finally (we've been on extension). $4,300. No, we're not getting that back. It has to be paid to the IRS by 7/15. Ok, yeah, I haven't exactly got $4,300 - not quite sure where it's coming from. And the other lovely thing about that? Our quarterly estimated taxes (one of the joys of self-employment) went up by about $2,500 a quarter. And one of the quarters is due now. (Actually, it was due the 15th of June but I paid it today.) Yeah, I'm starting to think that PeppyPilotGirl ain't going to be piloting again in this lifetime at this rate. Maybe I can be a fighter jet pilot in my next life.

We're headed to my sister's for the Independence Day weekend. It's about a 4 hour ride with just adults; about 5 with Katie. I'm figuring I need to add another 1/2 hour for Evie. We'll be staying at my parents where all 4 of us will share a room. Anyone care to guess how much sleep we'll be getting those 2 nights?

Finally sewed my Stargate patches on the black messenger bag I use as a diaper bag. It's always bothered me how cutesy accessories become once you have kids. I'm just not much into cutesy - not only does it not reflect my interests, it looks ridiculous on a woman of my stature (isn't that such a nice way of saying "on a woman as fat as I am?). I think I need to start a website for parents who don't want to have their identities subsumed by their offspring. Anyone having any contributions (photos/ideas/how tos on keeping the geek in their life post children - be it music/gamer/scifi/fantasy/comic book/computer/etc geekdom - drop me an email (peppypilotgirl (at) hotmail.com).

I suppose I really ought to get back to work.

Jun 12, 2008

Dark Clouds Are Comin' In Like An Army

Soon the sky will open up and disarm me
You will go just like you've gone before
One sad soldier off to war, enemies that only you can see.

Dishes stacked, the table cleared
It's always like the scene of the last supper here
You speak so cryptically that's not news to me
The flood is here it will carry you
And I've got work to do.

Come on home, the team you're hitched to has a mind of its own
But it's just the forces of your past you've fought before
Come back here and shut the door
I'm stacking sandbags against the river of your troubles.

There is fire there is lust
Some will trade it all for someone they could trust
There's a bag of silver for a box of nails
It's so simple the betrayal
Though it's known to change the world and what's to come.

Just come on home, the team you're hitched to has a mind of its own
But it's just the forces of your past you've fought before
Don't you recognize them anymore
I'm stacking sandbags against the river of your troubles.

There's the given and the expected
I count my blessings while I eye what I've neglected
Is this for better is this for worse
You're all jammed up and the dam's about to burst.

I hear the owl in the night
I realize that some things never are made right
By some will we string together here
Days to months and months to years
What if everything we have adds up to nothing.

Come on home, the team you're hitched to has a mind of its own
But it's just the forces of your past you've fought before
Come back here and shut the door
I'm stacking sandbags against the river of your troubles.

Indigo Girls | Come On Home from All That We Let In

I'm both people in that song today, oddly enough. I can feel the dark clouds gathering on my horizon. A drop is falling here, a drop there. It's odd that, this time, unlike most, I can feel it coming. I, for once, recognize what is happening. I'm stacking my own sandbags though I have no idea how effective it will be. But, when the deluge comes, at least I will have tried.