My list of things.

Lindsey Stirling. Love her.


The 5 Browns. I saw them live. Be jealous.


Herb Alpert. He still rocks.

--I can remember my dad and I listening to him when I was little. I love that my dad has always encouraged my love of music.

Music Man. 76 Trombones. End of story.

Oklahoma. Possibly, one of my favorite musicals. Altho, every time I am reminded of one, I remember how THAT one is my most favorite. Whether I saw it with my band, or played it in the pitband, or in concert band/jazz band/marching band, I have yet to come across a musical/piece of music I have not loved, or memorized most the lyrics to.

Ragtime. Chicago.

Moulin Rouge. My FAVORITE musical. EVER. I know I said this about "Oklahoma", but this is my favorite. Hands down. It's a category all its own. Period. I have watched it a million times. I have memorized every word to every scene. I have the soundtrack. In high school, on the way to school/work, my friend (equally as band geeky) would sing (loudly/badly) to all the songs.

Gone with the Wind. My favorite everything. My favorite movie. My favorite book. My favorite everything. I have watched this as much, if not more, than Moulin Rouge.

Elton John.  I <3 him. I have his greatest hits collection. Which I remember blaring and singing loudly/badly in the beautiful warm weather the year I lived in Florida.

Billy Joel. Another of my great loves.

Angela's Ashes. Love this book. Not real sure why. I have a few more by this author, and his siblings, but they remain in my stack of books that is growing taller by the day. Added on to my NookColor book collection, which seems to be growing faster than I can read.

Friends. I'll admit it. I have watched every episode, a million times. I own every episode on dvd. I counted down to the final episode of this show. I crawled into bed with my best friend, and we cried when it ended. We were pathetic. However, it will always be my favorite show, and I will not be afraid to admit it. I still chose to watch re-runs of this show over any others.

Gwande. Excellent reads. If only I had time to read the more of his books that I have already started.

Summer Sisters. SSVA. A book I worshiped. My best friend/Summer Sister and I read this book. We thought we lived this book. It was everything to us.

Go ask Alice. Another book my friends and I poured over. Spent our time in lunch reading. (Yes, we were THAT group).

Candide. First discovered this book in school, when we learned about Voltair in Global Studies. Bought a used french/english version of the book. Now own it on my Nook. It's a must read.

As I lay Dying. William Faulkner. My mother is a fish. Another book I read in high school, loved and still love today. One of my favorite things has always been to read the 'classic' writers. Or, pretty much, anyone not still alive today.

Beowulf. Read this in one of the many lit. classes I took. I spent hours reading the many poems/stories, many that weren't required.

Auschwitz. An interesting view of concentration camps from a doctors point of view. Very good read.

Salmon Rushdie. A fun read.

Slaughter-house five. One of the many I am halfway thru.


The Front Porch Prophet. The title intrigued me. So, I am reading it on my NookColor.


Ray Bradbury.  Farhenheit 451. Heart this book.


Animal Farm. 1984. Other great reads.


I Used to Know That. Best Free Friday book I could ever acquire on my Nook. Buy it. It's worth it.

I could list every book that I have ever loved. But, I will spare you. This list could go on for days. Every book I have ever read, I truly believe, has impacted me in some way. Even if just for a few months, a few days, a few moments.

This started off as my posting about Lindsey Stirling, because I discovered her a few months ago, and I love her. Then I remembered that I also love The 5 Browns, and had never posted about taking my Dad to see them for his birthday. Then I remembered about Herb Alpert because I was thinking about my dad, then thinking of trumpets, obviously would lead to trombones, which of course could only lead to one thing--76 Trombones in the Marching band-- which led to me thinking about music in general, then books-which I love second to music, and so it goes. Kind of like my favorite book as a child,

appropriately edited by my Grandmother. :-)

Asthma

Well, Gracelyn has officially received the diagnosis of Asthma- exercise induced, cough variant asthma, (which, ironically, is the exact same kind of Asthma that her cousin has)Hence, all the coughing she does when she gets running around, upset, excited or has a cold. We've been trying to manage this coughing for years, (singulair when she was a year old when symptoms first started-then down to Claritin for the last 5 years-which managed it decently most of the time). I had been (what I thought was pro-active), and taken her to the Dr's to start being a little more aggressive about it, as her coughing was starting to get out of control with this latest season. Not pro-active enough, apparently as my husband ended up taking her to the ED (where I conveniently met him, since I was working) d/t her uncontrolled coughing. 6 hours, an albuterol treatment, and a diagnosis of Asthma later, Gracelyn and I were home. Then off to the Ped's office with her on one hour of sleep, and myself on none since the previous morning. That was a fun trip, let me tell you.
 She is now continuing her Claritin, back on the Singulair, on Flovent twice a day, and Albuterol as needed (the 'as needed' seems to be decreasing, slowly, thank God). Oh, and Amoxicillan for her ear infection that we discovered was "cooking".

I also learned overnight, while picking up OT on a medicine floor, that Albuterol (a stronger/longer treatment) is also used to decrease a pt's potassium (by forcing the potassium out of the bloodstream and back into the cells, by acting on the Na-K recpetor-ish). I found this quite interesting. When I get some time, I am going to research the exact mechanism of this.


I also have to say that I find it incredibly heartwarming-ish that my husband worries enough about our children to have brought Gracelyn to the ED for a cough that worried him, in the middle of the night. I don't know why. I just find it nice to know that he worries about our children as much as I do. Well, not 'as much', since I do not think it is humanly possible for a single other person in this world to love/worry about our children as much as I do.

He is also incredibly adorable when he texts me to figure out exactly what the box looks like/says that is the correct inhaler for Gracelyn to use, when she has a coughing fit, or which/how much cough/cold meds to give one of them.

My family makes me proud.

Being a big girl in the ped's ED.

On my previous post, I posted that it was 1AM on a Wednesday morning. It is Tuesday. Fail.

Time

Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.

William Faulkner

OK. I do love William Faulkner and all the genius statements he has made. However, it bugs me that the time on my posts have been wrong since the beginning of this blog.  Obviously, not enough to care to attempt to fix it, before now--1:09 AM on a Wednesday morning.  (Yes, now look at the blog time. If it is correct, use your thought to send me an internet  pat on the back- you may also send back rubbing thoughts while you are at it. I don't mind).

Eight seconds later.....  Ok. It wasn't that hard. Took about 8 seconds. Take back your congratulations on my well-doing. Now, just feel pity for me on how lazy I have been, seeing the wrong time on my blog post for well over a yearish, yet not taking the 8 seconds to fix it. Or even attempt to fix it. Or even thinking about fixing it. Ok. I have THOUGHT about fixing it. But, thinking apparently does not often lead to something productive on my part. Fail.

"Keeping secrets is a lonely business..." --Desperate Housewives

Gracelyn showing off her handy math skills.

Gracelyn. Her sense of direction is better than mine. When we first moved to where we live now, I am not going to lie- I may have made a few wrong turns trying to get home from places. Gracelyn, however, would immediately point out, "Mom! You're going the wrong way". Thank God for kids. She tells this to my mom as well, because she will take a different way to our house than we usually do.

Today I was taking her to the doctors for her Asthma-ish s/s. (Verdict- Singulair then follow up with her dr. in 2 weeks, as her dr was off).
          **Side note. Her pediatrician was mine from the time I was 3, and all of my siblings doctor - and still is. She is the only pediatrician that has seen all the children in our entire family. We follow her from office to office. I find this amazingly cool.**

So, back on track. We have followed Dr. Chaudhary to her new office, which is inconvenient-ish for us. It is near my parents, so we usually stop there, but 40 minutes-ish away from us. So, this was our third time going to this office. In the past I have turned a few blocks up, and taken the back way in. Today, I didn't. I passed the road that I have turned on twice before, and Gracelyn states, "Uhm. Mooom. You missed the road".  I found this amazing since we have only been there twice before. She could probably give me step by step directions to almost anywhere we have been at least twice.

Seedless oranges. She finds these amazing. (As do I). "How do they grow without seeds? Aunt Karina says everything grows from seeds". Aunt Karina is my 9 year old sister who is a person of worship to Gracelyn.

Her comments on Reagan's driving, (My 16 year old sister who just obtained her permit)?
"What car does Aunt Rea drive?"
--"She has driven our car before"
"Really? Were you crazy"? (In a completely straight faced manner).
--"I think I might have been"
"You think? Oh. You forgot because you are crazy?"

haha. What a crack up.