It's That Time of Year Again!

I came home tonight after church and checked the Weather Channel online to see what is happening with the weather. Some folks on a local blog are all excited because it looks like Middle Tennessee will see some bad weather tomorrow, unless this front falls apart.

I hate storms and I love them. They are just the best for sleeping to, if you know that you are not going to blow away while you sleep. It is not much fun to huddle with trembling children in our little hallway of choice, sometimes moving to the bathtub if the walls begin shaking.

Last year was not too bad, if I remember correctly. We did not have that many scary storms. This is the second of this year already. I thought it was going to be bad enough tomorrow that I moved some appointments with doctors back a couple of weeks. The only thing worse than being in the hall with scared kids is trying to keep the car between the paint while little girls shriek from the back seat, "We are all going to die!"

According to the posts tonight, tornadoes were on the ground south of Kansas City. I have a friend out there and a few family members on my husband's side. We will have to say some prayers for them and for the Arkansas people tonight. They can return the favor for us tomorrow.

This weekend will be filled with reunions. Dan wants to see his true love over Spring Break from college, so I guess we will go with him to see her. Micah turns 13 on Saturday and Sarah turns 7 on Wednesday! Mother-in-law Ginny also has a birthday that same day (Wed.), as does my dear old Uncle Doug. It is a busy week with the birthday preps! I guess we will celebrate the kids' birthdays with Jennifer and Daniel while we can all be together. Next week, we will play catch up and celebrate my dad's birthday, which happens on the 5th! Whew!

In other "news,"I am getting ready to teach a 4-month class for the young girls at church! This is always something I have wanted to do (teach this age group.) I am really excited about it! I will have some help, as 3 other ladies are going to co-teach with me. We get to cover all those lovely teen topics like dating, drinking, peer pressure, etc. We met Tuesday and got a rough outline of the 16 weeks put together. I think I will learn a lot from these ladies, too. They are a quality group--smart as whips! Three of us are younger, and one is older. She (the older lady) will have her hands full guiding all of us into the study of some tough subjects. We have a fellow in the congregation who is a world-class artist, and he is going to make some visual aids for us to go along with the theme of the class, which is taken from II Peter 1:5-9. Hopefully, we can accomplish our objectives as teachers, and the girls will take away something good from the class.

Well, that is my wondrously exciting update for now. I think I am going to play a little internet Scrabble and go to bed! I have a lot to pack and to wrap tomorrow, if the good Lord wills! Night, my dear ones!

Sweet Sleep!

O.k., I know I said I was going to be more faithful about posting since I added my third reader recently. I haven't been doing such a good job keeping up, but I plead....sleepy!

I have been sleepy for about 20 years now. Coincidentally, 20 years ago is when I gave birth to the first of the five little eaglets. Daniel was not a lethargic baby by a long shot. Then, when Sam came along 18 months later, things really got rough. I can remember staying up with them until midnight, and then they would wake back up at 4 or 5 a.m. ready to go again. Folks, I can't make it on 4-5 hours of sleep a night. 10 is better, and 12 is more like it. I took them to the pediatrician for help, and his summation was that when they got to be teenagers, they would sleep. They do. However, I have always had babies in the house, too. And babies do not sleep! At least, mine never have!

The only problem is that when you sleep 10 or 12 hours a night, you don't get a lot more done. I have been fighting incredible fatigue for years. Finally, my internal medicine guy, being the genius that he is (this is the guy that asks me what dosage of medicine I want--good thing I am honest and not a drugie) figured out that I needed to have a sleep study done. Having ruled out heart disease and most other physical things that could cause tiredness, I decided to give it a shot and see what we would find.

So, a few weeks ago, I go in for part one of the sleep study. I did not know what to expect, because very little had been explained about what they would do. I was just told to pack pajamas and show up at my doctor's office at 9:00 p.m.

I arrive and am ushered back through the typical medical building hallways, through the exam room area, and down a hallway to a series of suites. Walking into one of them is like walking into a high-end hotel room--better than Best Western, though not quite as good as the Hilton! The decor is lovely! I have my own queen-sized bed, with comfy pillows and linens, a flat-screen t.v., and my own private bath. I also love the recliner chair. In fact I love it so much, I may have to find two for my own house. It is the most posh leather chair, with a high back that must have been filled with down. I could not have asked for a more comfy room.

It kind of goes down from there. Two nurses appear, and the wiring-up begins. First, they part my hair and make dots on the scalp with an ink pen. Then, while one begins putting all this goo in my hair, the other one is scrubbing parts of my arms and legs with alcohol so the electrodes would stick. For this reason, I would not recommend shaving one's legs just prior to going to a sleep study. I ignore the inferno-like sensations on my legs and try to focus on the cool dippity-doo that is going into my hair.

The nurses make small talk. "Do you think you can sleep here?"

I smile fiendishly. I want to say, "I have five children who never sleep. I have not slept in 20 years. Usually, there are at least two kids in the bed with me and my husband. I am all alone here in a posh room with every comfort. What do you think?"

Instead, I reply, "Yes, I think I will sleep very well!"

In about 30 minutes, I am wired. Then the fun really begins.

It is kind of disconcerting to hear a voice from above. (Just ask Moses.) The voice out of the ceiling says, "Dana, please close your left eye."

Easy enough.

"Now, close your right eye, while looking to the right with your left eye." (HUH?)

"Point your toes at the ceiling 10 times." (Ouch, toe cramps)

"Now, make the loudest snoring noise you can." (O.k., this is weird)

(The real indignities now begin.)

"Hold your breath and move your stomach in and out." (long pause, and just before I pass out....) "You can breathe again."

The "tests" continue. Finally, when I am entirely frustrated and having leg cramps, the voice says, "O.k, Dana, you can sleep now. Good night!" So, I grab my pillows and situate them the way I like and attempt to sleep, though the oxygen sensor clipped to the bottom of my nose is pinching and I want to pull it off and throw it.

I am just drifting off into dreamland, when the voice awakens me. "Dana, could you try sleeping on your back?"

I never sleep on my back. It makes me feel like I am choking. I guess that is a good sign that I have sleep apnea. I try to comply with their wishes. I am so sleepy now. It has been a long day, and I am two hours into being here. Then, the two nurses come back in. Something is wrong with the wiring. It is not picking up correctly at the desk. I am so tired that I think I will fall asleep in mid-sentence with them. They discuss whether they need to get me up and re-wire me with another set of wires. (NOOOOOOOOOOO!) Finally, much to my relief, they find the problem.

They leave, and I immediately start to fall asleep. The voice wakes me again! "Sleep well, Dana. We will leave you alone now!"

The rest of the night is uneventful. Occasionally, I wake and realize that, in order to turn over, all the wires have to come, too. Finally, thankfully, morning comes. I am a free woman.

The next week, I got my results. When on my back, I stopped breathing 72 times an hour. It was not as bad on my side, but I think I still stopped breathing about every 3 minutes on average. When you stop breathing, your brain puts out a hormone which tells your body to "WAKE UP!" You cannot ever get into deep sleep with this happening all night.

It is scary hearing all of this. I think of people who died in their sleep for no apparent reason. I feel fortunate that they have discovered my apnea.

So, part of the mystery is solved. It remains to be seen if the treatment (wearing a cpap mask at night) will do all the sleep doctor says it will for my body. He says I will start to lose weight, because all of this affects my metabolism and my heart. My blood sugar should improve. The endocrinologist will love that.

I went back after church Wednesday night and did part II of the study. I wore the mask all night. It hurt somewhat, and it will take some getting used to, but I had an excellent night of sleep. One of the funny things I have found from all of this is how many people have this same problem and sleep with the mask. They would not do without it now!

One guy I know said that he woke up in a hotel one night unable to breathe. He was determined that he was not going to die in that room and maybe be found in several days, so he got up and crawled outside onto the walkway. He eventually started breathing again, but he got a cpap and would not trade it now for anything. I hope I will feel the same way.

Meanwhile, I am convinced that a certain husband and a certain father I know need this, too. However, each one has to get to the point where he or she cannot endure feeling badly another moment before they do anything about it. Maybe they just need a night out at the spa! Just check your sleep study place out before you go. A cousin of mine said his room was like a cot in a storage facility. You have to be careful these days. I heard an "OB-Gyn" was running his business out of a storage facility, too, and his "patients" were not smart enough to figure out that something was amiss.

Sleep well, all! I will be soon!

Since Winter Has Abandoned Us, C'Mon Spring!

I love this picture! It looks like my kids, except they are on the inside of the window, plastered against it, wondering when we can get out again!

We've all felt awful, except for Sam and Micah who have managed once again to escape the viruses with their good immune systems. The rest of us are coughing, blowing, and aching. I'm ready for spring, if winter is not going to do us any service around here. Being cold is very unpleasant, but I also don't look forward to the predicted record-breaking heat that will be here in the summer.

Like everyone else, we amuse ourselves with American Idol--on our one t.v. station that comes in on the bunny ears, besides PBS. We are glad to be able to see Idol, except when we are at church, and we are going to have to figure out how to tape it via the antenna.

Micah helped me locate some neat clips that show my favorites this year so far.
One of everyoneÂ’s favorites already, Chris Sligh (has some Nashville roots) is looking to be an interesting part of the 2007 show. And yes, he is for real with the hair! I expect any moment for him to reach up and pull off that hair and those horrible glasses and be a fairly good-looking fellow underneath. We will see if he gets a makeover or not. Here, you can see him with his garage band, and they are good! I did not get to see the show where he made it into the final cut, but here is a clip of his great performance that got him through.

Another favorite so far is Melinda Doolittle, from my old hometown of Brentwood, TN. She is such a sweet lady, and I hope she will do well. Here is her original audition.
I am still trying to figure out which superstar she sounds like...Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick??? I can't discern it yet, but I know she is good, because she gives me goose pimples. I can see her going all the way, but then I thought that last year about Mandisa!

And finally, you have to hear this little 11-year-old girl that auditioned on another version of Idol. She sounds like she is decades older than 11! And speaking of child prodigies, if you have not seen the 12-year-old in this video you have missed seeing the next DaVinci/Beethoven!

O.K., that's enough videos for one post! Lots of neat stuff, though. Take the time to view them!

Winter Doldrums

Right after "'Tis the Season to be Jolly" follows "'Tis the Season to be Melancholy!" Yes, it is winter in Tennessee. I never understood why all the elderly flocked to Florida during the winter. I am beginning to understand.

I had to go to the clinic again and get an antibiotic. My ears are infected, and the throat was a mess, too. It's just a given in this weather that if you go out in public enough, you are going to catch something. I am not even going to mention "the illness that shall not be named" that we get every year that we so fortunately have not gotten this year. I am sure that, now that I have blogged about it, we will come down with it shortly. That is how these things seem to go. Let he that standeth....

I have a hard time looking at the pictures from New York right now where they do not even have to get ladders to climb on their roofs. They just walk on the 12 feet of snow they have right over to the roof and climb on. Bet some of those kids are having lots of fun doing what my husband did as a boy in Minnesota--climbing on the roof and jumping off into deep piles of snow. Those of us down here in New Florida, a.k.a. Tennessee, can't even get 12 inches!

The only time I remember one of us jumping off the roof was when my brother Doug went through his Batman phase. He gave poor old neighbor lady Mrs. Starkey cardiac arrest as she tried to dial the phone and tell my mother that one of her offspring was about to become a caped-greasy spot. (Luckily, the roof was not high enough that serious injury was sustained. Come to think of it, that is debatable, considering my dear brother's altered mental state!)

I digress. Well, as we continue the Spring semester of home schooling, we yearn for warm days again. I am mentally preparing for graduation number two, with my sweet Sam being the senior this time. I have to start his photo board, which will take hours and hours to do. Graduates get to have a memorabilia table at graduation. We had one with Daniel, too. I learned then that it is best not to put this stuff off until May!

Sweet Sam! I have to brag on the boy a little. One Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, I woke to the smell of coffee I did not make followed quickly by the wafting of the smell of hot pastry. It was 5 a.m, and Sam was bringing me breakfast in bed. He then informed me that clothes were in the dryer unwrinkling, and he was on his way out to clean out the car before we left for worship. Without having to be asked, he gently guided the little ones towards clothes, coats, and the car. Without knowing it, he provided my "cup of water" for the day. There aren't many teenagers who will extract themselves from the bed at 5 a.m. and lead their families to church. I appreciate this special young man so much, and I dread the day that he moves out into the world, even though I know he must.

Well, I hope that Spring is at least in your heart, and may the love of God carry each one of you through the gray days, whenever and wherever they occur.

3 Whole Readers!

I got a note this last week from a dear fellow in Florida, who started his note with "Yo, Dana!" Now you might guess that the fellow was in his teens or twenties, but noooooo! He reports that he is a very-young-nearly-81!

Brother Roy has been a special part of my life for as long as I can remember. He and his dear wife, Sister Dot, who departed this life some time ago, were members of the church where my earliest memories lie. That was a special church in so many ways. Many of my family members were baptized there. Many of the same people were married there. I attended there and wedged myself between my dear grandparents for the better part of 10 years, until we moved away. I still look to the right and see Brother Roy and Sister Dot sitting across the way in my mind's eye. Brother Roy served as a beloved elder there, and he is one of the finest in that role that I have ever known.

When my parents decided to move nearer to Nashville for my father's Highway Patrol job, I was devastated to leave that wonderful assembly, with some of the people who shaped my spiritual self. The Bible class teachers there were so devoted, and they assisted my parents in teaching me the ways of God, His precepts and laws and His love! People like Brother Roy and Sister Dot made huge impressions on my little psyche that have stayed with me to this day. So you can imagine how delighted I was when I found out that Brother Roy and Sister Dot were going to be moving, too, and living very close to us in the new place.

Brother Roy and Sister Dot had two precious daughters, too, and they always doted on us a lot when we were children. In time, they married and moved away, and so did the children of our family. Through the years, however, we have managed to have some contact, occasionally running into each other at church services somewhere.

Now, Sister Dot is gone to heaven, and Brother Roy has moved into a condo development which has been overtaken by Christians so that they can have a little piece of heaven in their retirement community in Florida. My dear Uncle Fred and Aunt Fran live around the block from Brother Roy. It is such a small world.

Brother Roy has become my newest reader! Welcome, Brother Roy! As my 3rd reader, he probably ought to get some prize or something. I will have to think of something good to send him! (Need a Rottweiler, Brother Roy? Or maybe a two-for-one special with a stupid Retriever?) I have told Brother Roy that I shall try to be more faithful about writing, if he is going to grace my "blob" with his presence. That is what he calls weblogs, and he reads them on his "contraption." He is learning to access links via email now without the assistance of his lovely daughter Claudia. Good going, Brother Roy.

Brother Roy sent me a story about my grandfather that I should like to share with my other two readers in closing. You will remember that my grandfather is the reason behind the naming of this blog. (If you don't recall, you can follow the links below and read the post, "Why Grit Gravy?") My grandfather was a character. He is worthy of a book, for sure, and I may just find my pen for the first time in such a biography. At any rate, I loved this story, and I shall add it just as he told it. My grandfather is Mr. R.R. (Railroad) Pollock (pronounced Paahh-luck, for those who don't know. He was in the tire business for over 60 years, patenting several tire machines.) Here's the story:

Yes, your grandparents were unusual hard working individuals who were successful in so many ways. RR's inventions were just amazing!! I'll never forget an incident that showed his remarkable ability. I had stopped by his tire shop on a Saturday to get a trailer wheel balanced. He was there that day by himself and several customers waiting in line (and all in a hurry of course).. He was running around like a whirlwind trying to accommodate them all. Leo Bunt from Ethridge drove up about that time with a huge tractor tire that needed fixing in a hurry so he could finish plowing or harvesting or whatever and Saturday was his only day off to do it. RR said he didn't see how he could he could possibly get to him but finally said if Leo would remove the tire from the rim, he'd do his best to work it in. So I volunteered to help him. We got this big wheel on the ground and RR tossed us a wedge and sledge hammer to break the tire loose from the rim. I held the wedge in place and Leo swung the sledge with all his might time after time but the tire didn't budge. So I tried the hammer while Leo held the wedge until we were both worn out. RR passed by about that time and saw the mess we were making of it. He pushed us aside, picked up the wedge in one hand and the heavy sledge with the other and whammed it one time and that tire popped right off while Leo and I hung our heads in shame.
Rufus Clifford said he would never stop shaking the hand of anyone who could stop the baptistery from leaking. They had tried painting it, then lined it with galvanized tin which promptly rusted through at the joints, then lined it with copper which turned green and leaked at the joints and didn't have a descent way to heat it. RR had seen someone put a new product (fiberglas) on a boat so he took all that stuff out lined that baptistery with it and it didn't leak one drop for 50 years when they tore the building down. He also hooked up an electric water heater in the room just below and piped it up into the baptistery and it kept warm water in it continually until the last day. So much for that.

Thanks for sharing those memories, Brother Roy. And thanks for always being one of those rare heroes of the real world that "kids" of 44 like me can look up to.

It Snowed, Mama!

If it is going to snow in Tennessee every year, it usually does it on February 2nd. I don't think I can remember a lot of "Ground Hogs Days" that did not include snow. It also happens to be my parents' wedding anniversary. That is the real reason I can remember that tidbit of information.

Yesterday morning, my wee ones bounded down the stairs to look out at the strange white covering on the ground. I was surprised that they could identify it as snow, since this is the first time in a long time they have seen any! It was not a very respectable snow, but some is better than none at all, I suppose.

Sam and I went to Wal-Mart after church Wednesday night and stocked up on essentials in case it iced instead of snowed. We well remember the ice storm of a few years back which left us immobile for a few days, with no electricity. We bought plenty of drinks, and of course, the essential bread and milk that every Southerner is obliged to buy when snow is predicted. It is amazing how many things there are to think about at a time like this. We bought batteries, as we were down to barely any, t.p., pull-ups, and lots of snacky food that does not have to be refrigerated. I have to admit that I was a little miffed when I saw the light dusting of snow on the lawn. All that for nothing--again. Oh, well, it is nice to stock up on those things for lots of different kinds of crises. Crises or not, you can bet that food does not go to waste here.

Today is my parents' 46th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Dear Parents! (That picture above was last year's attempt to get all attending grandchildren to sit still for a picture with their grandparents at their 45th celebration!) I know my mom is very grateful to have Dad around this year after all his heart troubles last year. We are all grateful to have him with us.

It's going to be another whirlwind weekend. You can't ignore (though I wish I could) Super Bowl Weekend in this family of football-playing men, and so I am sure there will be a gathering. We may miss the first of the game due to church, but I am sure we won't miss much. We are planning to leave the girls with their grandparents for a week or so, so that I can do some deep cleaning and hopefully make some headway that is not negated by their daily messing up! I surely will miss them, but I hope that they will have a good time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and best of all--big brother Dan who will see them after classes every day.

I have to go back and do part two of my sleep study this next week. They found out that I do, indeed, have sleep apnea. I stopped breathing 72 times an hour when on my back! I did better on my side, but they said that I need the c-pap device to force breathing. The doctor gave me hope that I may see improvement in a lot of things that have troubled me for years now. Sleep apnea affects blood sugar, your heart, and of course, keeps you tired all the time. It may speed up my metabolism when I sleep properly, he says! Hey, I'll do anything to lose weight effortlessly! The funny part is that I never would have thought that I stop breathing that many times! I won't tell you who else needs to go see these people! Some folks just won't believe that sleep apnea can do all that to you!

I don't mind doing the sleep study thing again. They treat you like a queen. You are in a hospital setting, but the rooms look more like hotel suites. I had a big old plush bed with a flat screen t.v. on the wall, the most wonderful leather recliner, and a nice bathroom all to myself. Of course, I'd rather he were with me, but the object IS to sleep! :) So, I will just have to tough it out another night in my plush suite, although I will have 50 jillion electrodes and a c-pap mask attached, but I can request a sedative if I cannot go to sleep. Last time, I was so sleepy by the time they let me go to sleep that I was begging to be left alone!

The new puppy, which some finally guessed correctly to be a Rottweiler, has been doing very well for a little puppy. She has cried minimally, and she is potty training better than Hannah. Perhaps she can teach Hannah. I have just about given up. Hannah just sees no practical value in potties.

Well, that's the update. May the best team win this weekend, whoever they are. (Will someone tell me who is playing?)