Results are in...

My youngest's MRI was completely normal.  While this is a huge relief, we still don't have any idea what's causing her lightheadedness.

In a word

Last night while in the car, the following conversation occurred as driving past the 3M Center in Maplewood.

Sarah: "Gary, look!  That's where you work!"
Mom: "Yes, that's right, but that's not what you call him."
Sarah, not missing a beat: "Gerald, that's where you work!"
While Mom unsuccessfully fights back snickers, Madi yells "He's DAD!"
Sarah, unfazed: "Dad, is that your work?"

(After posting this yesterday, I realized that it is much funnier if you know that my husband's given name is Gerald, but he goes by his middle name...)

Family Fun

Tonight, for our family night, we went to check out a lighted sledding hill.  This outing had a dual purpose - the youth group wanted to have a sledding night on Wednesday, and I wanted to scope out the hill in advance - but that didn't mean that we couldn't have fun doing it.

Wow!  I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time.  I caught air a couple of times, but the best (?) run was (unintentionally) flying backwards down the hill in a small saucer, which hit a bump, flew off the ground, hit the ground at full speed, and then snowballed - with me executing a perfect backwards somersault.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop.

Sarah stayed in the car the whole time, but Madi was loving it, in spite of the fact that she claimed "I almost died!" after every run.  She did a really great job, and didn't even complain about climbing the very steep hill time after time.

We ended the expedition with hot chocolate (except Sarah, who vetoed the idea) and a quick trip to Menards and Fleet Farm to try and buy new sleds.  Turns out that it's pretty hard to find them in March, even in Minnesota.  All in all, a great family night.

The youth group is going to have a great time on Wednesday!

On Painting

As I have been doing a LOT of room painting recently, I've decided that it's a lot like childbirth.

Lots of planning beforehand, HATE IT when you're in the middle of it, but then the end result is generally so pleasant that you forget how much you hated actually doing it, so you end up doing it again.

Ditzy, Dizzy, or Lightheaded?

I love my youngest daughter terribly.  She is a wonderful person with a tremendous heart.  But seriously, sometimes she can be seriously... blonde.  (I'm allowed to make blonde jokes; I used to be one, naturally speaking)  As such, I often take what she says with a grain of salt.

She's been complaining of being "dizzy" since the beginning of February, so for about a month now.  I took her in to the doctor on the 9th, and he diagnosed her with a mild cold.  Needless to say, she didn't get to stay home.  But every day since then, it's the first thing she says when she wakes up.  "Mom, I'm dizzy."

Practical one that I am, I watch for signs of imbalance, and see none.  Off to school!  Finally on the 28th, she combines it with a sore throat, and I let her stay home, since her sister is home with a bad cold also (the day is already ruined, right?)

As the day progresses, she complains of black spots in front of her eyes.  She gets them several times a day, and sometimes, she says, they get so big that they obscure her vision, and she walks into walls.  What??  Further discussion reveals that this has been going on for weeks!  When I ask her why she didn't tell me, she says that I would make her go to school anyway... (she has definitely inherited the guilt gene).

So, I took her to the doctor today, and he suspected that she was dehydrated, based on her sitting, standing, and laying blood pressure/heart rate stats.  He prescribed LOTS of water.  To be thorough, he also ordered a hearing test to check for any loss.  As he was leaving, he said that the test would likely come back normal, and if so, the water's the trick.  If there was loss, then he wanted an MRI to check her ears and brain.

Well, there is a hearing loss, so she's scheduled for an MRI in two days.  I'm trying hard to not be scared.  

Big girl bed

So, I've turned 45, and I am just now getting my own "big girl bed".  Since moving out of my parents' house, I haven't had a bed with anything other than a metal mattress frame.

Ok, that's not entirely true - I did have a brief flirtation with an improperly-sized headboard as a newlywed.  When we got married, Gary's mom gave us the bedroom set that she and Gary's dad had purchased when they married, and it had a headboard.  I say had, because although I was able to repaint and recraft the other furniture to something more my style, I just couldn't make the headboard work.  So, we still use the bedroom furniture, but the headboard went to charity.

But that's not the point of the post!  I actually ordered a new bed, and will be getting a new mattress to use with it!!  After hearing me complain about our current mattress for the last 7 years, my husband has decided that it's time for a new one.  I jumped all over this, and have already ordered the bed frame, shown below.

Details to follow after I order the mattress... we're thinking Tempur-pedic.

Why I Hate February

There are many reasons that I hate February.  Here they are, in no particular order.

• All I hear about is balloons.  All month long.  Starting on February 1st, Sarah is allowed to start talking about her birthday and related topics, like balloons.  I really, really, need to change this date, since her birthday is almost the last day of the month.  Anyone who knows Sarah knows that the girl has a master's degree in perseveration, and by the 3rd of February I am ready to scream at the mere mention of anything balloon-related.

• Girl Scout cookies.  They come out in February, and our house becomes filled with boxes of overpriced sugary, calorie-laden treats.  With the new system, you order boxes of cookies that you think you can sell without taking orders first.  That means that the cases of cookies don't actually belong to anyone, making temptation that much harder to resist.  At least before I knew that if I allowed myself to morph into Cookie Monster, I would have to be accountable to someone for eating their order.  Now... all bets are off.

• Tagalongs.  These are a subset of "Girl Scout Cookies".  They should be a controlled substance.  They are my crack.  I CANNOT stop eating them once I start. I get big googly eyes, sprout blue fur, and leave a path of destruction in my wake.  It's not pretty.

• Valentine's Day.  When I was single, I used to hate it for different reasons, but the truth is I've never been fond of this holiday.  Now that I'm married, I treat it with resigned distain, wondering how my husband will ignore the holiday this year. And how I will refrain from raging jealousy when my friend's husbands don't.

• Chocolate.  It's everywhere this month, and that's not a good thing.  I need a little each day to keep me going, but having it around in so many forms is just not healthy.  It doesn't stop after Valentine's Day, either, because retailers move straight to Easter, and we all know it isn't possible to celebrate Christ's victory over death without chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs.

• The skiing gets bad, but the cycling isn't good.  The season for one hobby is slowly dying, but it's not yet time for the next, leaving me in exercise limbo.  I guess that's why I've got a treadmill.  But combine this ennui with the aforementioned cookies and chocolate, and I've got a real dilemma.

• My birthday.  I have reached an age where even the receipt of gifts does not compensate for the sadness of adding years to my age (and face, and... well, you get the idea).