Wow, I can't believe...

...how long it's been since my last blog. There's no way I can possibly catch up almost a month of life events in a single blog, so I'll just focus on my birthday last week and go from there. My birthday was on Wednesday, 9/23, but Mike & the kids treated me to dinner on Tuesday, my sister-in-law Lani's birthday. It was a good thing because Aaron had a football game, Alisa had tutoring and Mike ended up working late on Wednesday.

I was exhausted from going to bed much too late on Monday night and waking up way too early on Tuesday morning for clinicals, so the grouch in me groaned when everyone shuffled in from football practice and Tia's house, etc. excitedly telling me to change out of my uniform because they had a surprise in mind. Aaron asked why I never answered him about my favorite restaurant. I told him I don't really have a single favorite restaurant; it just depends on what kind of food I'm in the mood for (or where I have a coupon for). So, he asked me where I'd like to go for dinner. I shuffled through some coupons on the table and found one for Red Lobster, so that was decided. Alisa went in my bedroom and laid out an outfit and some jewelry. All I could think of was how much paperwork I had to complete and how tired I was, but I forged on ahead. Why be a party pooper, right?

We went to Red Lobster and PaPa & Tia (my parents) joined us. We were seated promptly because we arrived before the evening crowd (which might not have even been that bad on a Tuesday night anyway). Mike, Aaron & Alisa ordered the all you can eat shrimp feast, I ordered the hardwood grilled tilapia topped with shrimp salsa. Mom and Dad split an order of the same. Of course, I was just about full after eating the cheese-garlic biscuits and my salad! My stomach hurt watching the rest of the crowd eat shrimp after shrimp: cajun shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp teriyaki, garlic butter shrimp scampi, coconut shrimp (Forrest Gump come to mind?). I had peeped a cake from the Red Oven Bakery in the fridge at home, so I brought home most of my entree in an effort to save a little room for cake. Besides, I like to eat when I'm hungry and the food still tastes good. When you just keep going through the motions of eating when you're already full, you lose half of the pleasure of eating, in my opinion. Anyway...PaPa & Tia followed us home for the cake and ice cream, then PaPa watched some of whatever game was on TV with Mike while Tia, the kids and I visited at the table. Finally, I shooed little people away to get going with baths and homework. My eyes were heavy, and I was overstuffed to boot. The cake was Italian Cream with cream cheese icing complete with pecans and coconut-YUM! Mike had also bought Blue Bell homemade vanilla and my personal favorite, Moolinneum Crunch. I had to pass on the ice cream, though. I'd already wreaked havoc on my digestive system with everything else I'd consumed. There was a single message on the answering machine from Rodney (female with a male name), a friend of mine in Dallas. She sounded out of it, and the message sounded like she said her father had passed away. Never having met her father, and thinking he had been deceased since before I met Rodney, I called her back and got her answering machine after PaPa & Tia had left for the evening.

After I helped A & A with their homework, I didn't think I could go on another hour without a nap at least, but I knew I had paperwork due first thing in the morning from clinicals as well. I decided to catch about an hour nap, then forge ahead until I couldn't make it anymore, then get a couple hours of sleep before getting everyone off to school in the morning, including myself.

As soon as I laid down Rodney called me back (this was about 9:30 p.m.). It turns out it was her mother who had passed away (her father had been deceased for some years). I'd known Cynthia as long as I've known Rodney, and she never had been in the best of health due to a history of diabetes (not very well-controlled) and a stroke almost 20 years ago. Still, the news was quite unexpected. I allowed Rodney to explain all of the events of the past few days leading up to her mother's death, but I could tell I was nodding in and out of conciousness. After an hour she "let me go" so I could get on with whatever I was doing. The house was quiet. I think Mike was still up watcing television, but the kids were in the bed. I attempted to delve into the paperwork, but I was just too tired to focus, so I laid down around 11:30 and got up again at 1:30 a.m. and went back to the drawing board. I arose from the table satisfied with what I'd come up with on my paperwork only to find it was 5:45 a.m. I knew there was no going to sleep for fear that I'd oversleep since I normally get up at 6:30 a.m. Needlesstosay, on my actual birthday I was exhausted.

I got everyone off to school and made it to class myself. As tired as I was I stayed a while in the computer lab to print out some notes and review some online case studies. After I picked up Alisa from school and dropped her back off I made a beeline for my bed. I got a bit of a nap before I picked Alisa up and we headed to Aaron's football game at Ferguson Jr. High. Mike was working until 10 p.m. When Alisa & I were headed to the bleachers I couldn't believe my eyes. Those kids in pads & jerseys were huge! I thought for a minute that a high school game must have just finished up, but quickly realized that high school students wouldn't be playing on a junior high campus. Aaron's shoulder pads were at the waistline of the guy Aaron was supposed to be "blocking." Our Gators had some pretty big kids, too, but they lost their game anyway.

Then, it was home for dinner, homework, baths & bed. I think I made it to bed before midnight. I honestly can't remember a week later. So, that was my big day