Another FM System Update :)

We walked to church today for the Thursday evening services. The pastor was in early. (Sometimes I don't see him till the service starts, then it's too late.) I have been trying to get in church earlier so I could talk to him about my Zoomlink (FM system transmitter-it's the second one in the link provided). I talked to him about it last June. Finally. I always tried to just point the Zoomlink at the paster, but it didn't work so well. This time I was able to explain it to him. The church has a different FM system in place, and it didn't interfere with the frequency the Zoomlink was on. I was able to get more of what the pastor was saying than I ever had before. I would say I got about 25% more out of the sermon and managed to follow along with the hymns. I always got lost and had to wait for the "beginning" sound when a new hymn verse was started, only to get lost by the time I get to the third line. I don't understnad what each muscial note means so I don't know if a song is slower or not. I may read the song faster than I need to. It's been a long time since I was able to follow a song in the litergy ("O Lord, Our Lord"). I always got lost with that one. All in all, with the church being a quiet setting (the best listening environment), I was pretty satisfied with the Zoomlink's capabilities. :)

There were times when he turned around, his back to the audience, I would get a lot of static. I guess that is only because the frequency waves were cut off by his body-if he faced the crowd, there's nothing blocking the connection.

I am no longer scared of taking the boots (audio shoe) off the hearing aid (HA). Another friend who has a Phonak hearing aid (I have Oticon Sumo DM) said her boots always broke. It's not cheap to replace the boots. But the Phonak boots are different (longer and/or smaller) than the audio shoes I have for my HAs.

I can't always wear the HAs with the boots (my ears get sore-I mean the auricle, not from the noise.) and receiver (MicroMLxS) on- it adds more bulk from the additional weight. It really doen't weigh that much more than my HA, but it just gets sore. To compare different boots for different HAs, click here (if you are interested) for video demonstrations for how to put the boots on. Some do look like they may break easier if you aren't careful.

Okay, I have been yakking long enough. :) Night-night.

Note to Self...

I found a sport cup my youngest daughter left outside. The grape Kool Aid she had became dried syrup in the straws. Aaaccckk.

from Popcorn Popper.com

Note to self:

1. Do not buy anymore plastic drinking cups with the straw wrapped around it or get crazy straws. Whatever drink is used (chocolate milk, soda, Kool Aid, orange juice, etc) doesn't wash out very well. Arrrggghhh.

2. Be sure to keep track of where the cups are.

3. Make sure the kids are responsible about bringing their cups back in the house when they are done.

4. Be sure cup gets rinsed out ASAP.

Woman-child

Warning: Tear-jerker. Have Kneenex nearby. (Recommended by a blogger.)

Woman-child



She’s almost fully grown
This woman-child of mine;
The years flew by so fast
For her babyhood days I pine.

Thinking of her
As I gaze at the sky;
Snapshot memories flit
Through my mind’s eye.

She was my little miracle.
Sweet, blonde, and fair.
I long for the fresh smell
Of baby-scented hair.

Her many firsts;
First steps, first day of school…
Her many struggles;
Hernia surgery, recovery…

Teaching and scolding.
Helping her grow…
Learning from mistakes…
Where did the years go?

No longer needs me to
Bandage scraped knees…
She’s a woman-child,
Seeking autonomy.

So many letting go’s.
I am always near.
Find a purpose, a goal.
I am always here.

I still see potential growth.
Learning never ends.
Blossom, my woman-child.
Learning never ends.


July 8, 2007



Poem for my daughter’s 13th birthday-from Shari (Mom)

Labor Day

Labor Day: Saturday, August 20, 1994 at 11:05 a.m.

Flare: 10 weeks old (I was supporting her back and my hand slipped up so that's why the shoulder looks like that.)

I had a pre-natal check-up on Wednesday, three days before Flare was born. This was when all my checkups went from monthly to weekly. It was the last month of my pregnancy.
The doctor said I was dilating two centimeters.

I look at him, exclaiming worriedly, "I am walking around with a hole down there?" (Gimme a break! This was my first pregnancy. You know…fear of the unknown...)

The doctor calmly says in a matter-of-fact tone, "It just means that you are going to have a shorter labor."

I am not going to argue with that. Why should I? I'll take the shorter route. Too much TV. All that shrieking and labor pains I have seen, though I did like the part where they grab the father's hand and squeeze it really hard during contractions...never underestimate the power of a woman..and her revenge.

Still, I say, "But I am gonna walk around like that for another month!!"

He tried to calm me by saying that lots of pregnant women have done this towards the last month. It was pretty common.

I fret about it. I drive home. I take my Golden Retriever/Black Lab mix (though she did have some collie in her, too) out for our daily walk. Krissi loved walking. It was “our” time.

The next day I go to work. My co-worker gave me some baby stuff with money that she collected from the people in the department I worked in. It was sort of a mini-baby shower from the people in the department I worked in. I got a baby bath tub and a bunch of baby bath supplies. Since she was at my baby shower the previous Saturday, she knew what I received from the shower.

But I did not feel right. I look for my supervisor and tell him I wanted to go home. It was Thursday morning. I didn't even start work yet. I just clocked out just before starting time.

I go home. I call the doctor. I get a 10:30 appt. He tells that I am fine. Go home. I feel like a hypochondriac.

I call my mom and Gramma. They come over to see me. They calm me down. I just didn't feel “right.”

The next day I just called in a day of vacation. I felt a lot better. I decided to go shopping. I stock up on diapers and look at baby clothes. I bump into a co-worker who was also pregnant. She was due anytime. I was not due for another month (September 18).

Off and on during the night, I had a funny pain in my back. It was just “there”. I felt some fluttering in my stomach. I learned later that the baby was hiccuping.

My husband (now ex-husband) needed me to take him to work. I complained about my back and how I didn't feel right. He had a delivery he had to make. (He was driving a dump truck at the time.) My "delivery" was another month. It was 3:30 a.m. At this time, my night vision wasn't bad. I could see enough in the dark. I was 27 years old. I drop him off and he started up the dump truck.

Back at home, I try to get some sleep on the couch. Krissi stayed close to me. I am sure she sensed that mommy wasn't feeling right.

Finally, at 7 a.m., I called my sister-in-law. I asked her what labor pains felt like. I told her I didn't feel right. She comes over. I wasn't in pain. I just didn't feel right. I just had a funny twinge in my back. She called the hospital. The doctor on call asked her some questions. How far apart are the contractions? I shrug my shoulders. I don't know. I didn't time them. It wasn't painful. The doctor said to call back when the contractions were five minutes apart.

All of a sudden I get a twinge again. She timed me. It was five minutes apart. She calls the hospital again. They tell her to bring me in. She tried to call my then husband, but the dispatcher said he would get a hold of him and send him to the hospital.

So, we get to the hospital at 8 a.m. I ask her if she'd be my "coach" since the father wasn't there. She was excited. At 9:00 I was already dilating 5 cm!! Then at 10:00, it was 7.5 cm! Flare came out at 11:05 a.m. on a bright and sunny Saturday morning. I received no drugs for this.

The father didn't get to the hospital till after 12:00!! (Later I found out he stopped by his step-father's to talk and no one knew where he was!! Of course, I was one month early!!)

Family started pouring in to see me. I was kept in the recovery room. It was three o'clock before the nurse came in again to check my blood pressure. She was saying something about the baby. I ask, thinking why I didn't get to hold my baby yet, "Is there something wrong with her?" The nurse said, "The doctor will talk to you." That chilled my heart. Now I was worried. That scared me. I was a new mom. Don't they reunite baby and mom after the baby's cleaned up? It's been four hours!!

Then I was moved to a room. The pediatrician on call said that she had some complications. It didn't hit me yet. She was in a ventilator. Her x-rays showed that she had her bowels in her chest cavity. She had congenital diaphragmatic hernia. He noticed that the heart was beating in the wrong area in her chest. This was why he ordered x-rays. It was slowly sinking in to me. Her insides were crowded in her chest cavity. This stuff does not happen. It happens to other people!!

I was in total shock. At 7 p.m., eight hours after she was born, she was flown Flight for Life (medic helicopter) to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. She was the youngest in the family to ever fly in a helicopter.

She was operated on two days later and stayed there for nine weeks.

August 24-three days post-op. So many tubes sticking into her tiny hands and feet!! They had her sedated so she wouldn't move.

August 27-one week after she was born. It was the first time I held her. I was so worried about pulling out the tubes by accident.

She was breathing on her own almost immediately. She stayed at the hospital for the first nine weeks of her life. (Dismissal day: Oct. 21, 1994.)

Since then, she's had been a very healthy, very normal child.

Autumn of 1995

July 8, 2007

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!!

You're a miracle!!

Love,
Mom

A TImely Quote

"You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment." -- Unknown

Tagged Myself Again

I saw this meme at Jennifer's place. I decided to tag myself and play this game.
Since I have always liked playing it, I thought I'd give it a whirl. :)

The game is SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:

*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
*They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
* If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!

My Name: Shari

1. Famous Singer/Band: Styx
2. 4 letter word: Stay (This was not the first word I thought of, but didn’t want you all to think that it was all I said every time I got mad or frustrated. ;) )
3. Street: State Street
4. Color: Sienna
5. Gifts/Presents: Sweater
6. Vehicle: Saab
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Salt and Pepper Shakers (My aunt used to collect salt and pepper shakers from all the places she vacationed at and we always bought her some to add to her collection. too.)
8. Boy Name: Sean
9. Girl Name: Stephanie
10. Movie Title: Sleepless in Seattle
11. Drink: Sunkist
12. Occupation: Sign Language Interpreter
13. Celebrity: Sandra Bullock
14. Magazine: Seventeen
15. U.S. City: San Francisco, CA
16. Pro Sports Teams: Saints (New Orleans) I had to think about that one for a while.
17. Fruit: Strawberry
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Starter didn’t work on car
19. Something You Throw Away: Shoes, when they are worn out
20. Things You Shout: "Sh*t!!!" (Okay, please look at #2. I couldn't avoid it this time!! Too bad I didn't have a kid named Sara or something...)
21. Cartoon Character: Scooby Doo

Tech Support

How many of you really aren't tech savvy? Ever need to call the Help Desk for anything?

This should help: You'll wonder why you didn't learn this in kindergarten! After this lesson, you'll find it's so easy, a caveman can do it!!

"In Your Home" Support

Scary

glitter-graphics.com

Step aside, Boogie man.

Move over, monster in the closet...you've got competition.

My oldest-usually so logical, got scared by an email sent to her by a peer. This email said that if she didn't send it to 12 other people she would be in mortal danger. It affected her more than a scary movie would.

I tell her it's just a chain letter. Nothing's going to happen. She was afraid to sleep last night. Nothing I said to her calmed her down.

I reason with her. Still nothing. She's afraid that "Teddy" will be under her bed, waiting.

She asked me, "Mom, when you were my age, wouldn't you be afraid of a scary email?"

Me: I really can't answer that. I didn't have a computer when I was your age.

Her, smirking: Oh, yeah, ancient history.

Oh, the smartie pants! I pretend to be insulted: Hey! It's just that I didn't have a computer in the house back then. Nowadays almost everyone has one in his or her house.

Her, clinging to me: I don't wanna be alone.

Can this be happening? Can chain letter emails put fear into people like that? Just delete it. If I had gotten an email I thought was "cute" but had threatened me bad luck if I didn't send it to 10 people, I copy and paste it and omit the bottom part. I also use "blind copy" to send when I want to send it to others. This elimates the long list of emails before the email body from previous senders. I do admit that this particular email didn't have a "cute" message, though. It was sinister, it threatened bodily harm.

I admit that scary movies affect me. I am glad to be able to turn off my hearing aids during a really scary part because of the eerie music. That helped. The other night I watched Ghost Hunters. I totally freaked. I reason with myself that it's all special effects. I guess that I have to meet a ghost in order to believe that there is one. But still, my heart pounds as I check to make sure the doors are locked before turning in...

I was soooo tried last night. I couldn't reason with her. She was afraid something was going to happen to her. I tell her she's going to be okay. (Sage advice from someone who spooks easily, though I know it's ridiculous.)

I tell her to pray and put her trust in God. It comforts me. Of course, I don't have to listen to the sounds of the night. When my hearing aids are out, I am deaf. I can't hear the "bumps" in the night.

Still, it's crazy that a little email can put such fear into people-without eerie music coming out of the computer speakers.

A wise man once said, "You have nothing to fear except fear itself."

Maybe except for this:

glitter-graphics.com