My nightmare

Yep. That describes my whole day.
DH was gone so I was all alone to enjoy the crisis.

Today I woke up with high hopes. Eldest was going to march in his first parade.
I bought his 'farmer' outfit, I had the chairs, the water bottle and the money for the rides all set. We were going to go to the fair after the parade. We even had ideal beautiful sunny yet cool-ish weather. Perfection.

All went well. I didn't think too much about youngest's wish to walk all the way up the main road until he came to the street his buddy lived on.
I should have.
All was fun and entertaining until my son and his band came by playing a very fun song. The first inkling of disaster came when I realized 1- he had NO idea where we were sitting to find us. 2- he was supposed to go back to the school to pick up his instrument case after they were done, to go by bus and be picked up from there.

Big issue with #2. My car was in a lot that I could not get out of because of the parade. HOW would I get him? He'd be left standing at this school for over 1 1/2 hours until I"d be able to go and get him?

And I had another child to think of. What do I DO? Beg the father of other child that my youngest was talking to and ask if my kid could stay there. He said yes and within a minute, I'm doing a brisk walk down the main street trying to catch up with the band, to get him before he boards that shuttle.

I make it. I also have to decide to have him leave the case at the school and hope it's there for him come Monday. Monday I'll have to figure out HOW to transport a trumpet without a case on a school bus. One nightmare at a time.

Now, we have to walk all the way back up to where I left my other kid. My eldest sees the buddy he's going to spend some time with at the fair and says'Mom, I need money." I give it to him and I said, I'll meet you at her shop!

Parade ends and I have to carry the chair and my youngest has to carry his chair and his hoard of candy he got from the parade participants. He loves it when they throw candy because most of it is peanut-free. It's so nice.

We get there and I have to drive out of the parking lot to find another parking lot closer to the fair. Still a decent amount of walking, but doable, until I realize that I have to walk from the new parking lot (at our local bank) to the shop. By the time I got there and dodged people, horses and more people, the shop was closed and the mom was just about to leave. My son and hers had already left for the fair across the street. I never had a chance to talk to him. Don't ask me if I talked to him when we were walking up earlier. I can't talk and walk - I"m that out of shape.

So, I and my youngest go to the fair. The next hour was pleasant. We went on the Scrambler and the Tilt 0'Whirl and a few others. We bumped into my son twice. Both times I tried to tell him, to remind him where our meeting place was and both times, he ran off with his buddy, never hearing me and a sea of people closed in between us and I lost sight of him.

And I really lost sight of him when it came time for meeting at the rendezvous spot and he's not there. Nor does he show up. I lost him. For over an hour I looked. I went to the police and the fair's Lost & Found and went to every person I knew who I knew, knew what my eldest looked like.

Eventually, he was found by one of the mom's I'd asked for help from. Thank Goodness.
So, after crying and feeling completely, totally emotionally wrung out like a wet dish rag, I said, we're going home now.

Except, we could not.

Remember I had to find another parking lot closer to the fair grounds??
Well get this.

AS I TYPE THIS , MY CAR IS STILL THERE!

The attendents allowed my car to get boxed in and I could not leave!
I had to call my DH to come and get us.

And.
Just now?
DH just found out that our boiler is leaking. A valve or something let go.

CAN THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE????

What a loss

I just heard that Patrick Swayze died.
He was only 57!!
What a loss.
I loved him in Ghost and Dirty Dancing. I think everyone has either seen the movies or at least heard of them. They defined an age.

He will be missed.

*************
I don't feel chatty right now.
I'll get back to you as to how the Citizen's Police Acadamy is going.
So far, we toured the station and got to look into the police cars.
We got an overview of what we'll be hearing and seeing.
It's not a surprise that the first class ran over 30 minutes longer.
LOL
Lots to ask questions about, that's for sure!
TTYL

I'm Allergic to What?

That's my question.
I just got those Disney Freeze Dried Fruit thingys for my kids.
You know, thinking it was a good healthy alternative to candy?
I tried the pears.
Youngest HATED them, said they tasted 'yucky'.

So, not one to let things go to waste if I can help it, I ate three.
And lived to regret it.

It came upon me so fast!
Mouth, tongue, gums, back of throat..a burning itch that reached
a screeching crescendo.
Sure, I have an Epi-Pen.
But I didn't get the sensation that I was having a systemic reaction.
I DID get that I was having a reaction that made me want to have a mouth transplant.

I raced downstairs, poured a cup of black coffee and searing my mouth and throat
with its heat, fresh off the burner, I downed half the cup.

I'm better. Throat is a little sore. Not known if it's from the allergic reaction
or the hot coffee.
I don't care.
At least I'm not having the horrid feeling any longer.
So, what I would like to know is.. WHAT AM I ALLERGIC TO IN FRUIT? DRIED PROCESSED FRUIT AT THAT?

You see, most fruit, once processed, doesn't bother me any longer. Fresh apples, pears, peaches, plums; all make my mouth itch. But this itch was exponentially increased. Yikes!

On the book front.
Read the final book in Emma Holly's Fitz Clare trilogy. Oooooh, I do like Graham. At first I thought it was Edmund who was the star. How clever that it's not. Seems throughout, I got to see Graham grow and evolve as a character. The last book finally gave him his HEA.

Emma is very sneaky.

Yep, kids are back in school and a different sort of chaos ensues.
The fight with the school system will continue.

Oh, the good news. That Zonagram medicine..even though it has the unfortunate side affect of suicidal thoughts, seems to be the ONLY medicine that has any affect at all on my youngest's epilepsy. Depacote, Depakote? ... did nothing.
All that tutoring during the summer I think helped. And in two weeks we'll continue it for a month since the first 2 months of school is usually a recap from the previous year. I think he'll catch up. He's a smart boy. :-)

OOH, and I'm a JAFRA consultant again! Yep, I re-upped. I really missed their products.

Whereas a lot of companies that sell perfumes and skin care and body oils use man-made chemicals to simulate the wonderful smells in nature, JAFRA is botanically based and their products have NEVER EVER caused my asthma to kick in. I've never had that choking sensation, like my breath is trapped in my throat, with any of their scents. So, I'm a big fan because of that. Do you realize they've been around 53 years? Yet loads of women and men have never heard of them!

Oh..and my DH is like,incredibly difficult to find cologne scents for. Most over the counter colognes require him to take a bath in them just for the scent to last most of the day. You can imagine how fast a guy can go through an 8oz. bottle while having to do that.
Not so with JAFRA. Nope. Four quick spritzes and he's good to go. And the bottle lasts for up to three Months, not one. I'm all for better value for the dollar. Especially during these times.

I'm a happy camper.

Oh! Oh! Oh!
And guess what? I was accepted to take part in our town's Citizens Police Academy!
Is that cool or what? I can't wait to start. It's very official and serious but I'm excited too!

So, that's my update. Lots of stuff going on and for a nice change, most of it is pretty darned good.
::knock on wood::

TTYL!