Another one bites the dust!

It was a fairly rough week and it's my own fault to boot! Since my earliest memories my parents would pop a huge pan of popcorn in the evening and we would sit around and munch on it as we played games or watched T.V. I continued the practice. Not so much of an addiction as it was a source of comfort. So much so that on a pre-school 'survey' about their Mom's, Julia had listed my favorite comfort food as popcorn(: I had been so good about avoiding salt as a way to manage my Meniere's that I had a good week or more with almost no dizziness. Then Monday night I felt I could splurge with a little bit of popcorn. Tuesday was a bit wobbly but I managed until I made fatal mistake #2...homemade chicken soup with dumplings!!! Now I had very deliberately used a low sodium broth and had added no extra salt leaning on the garlic and pepper to give flavor but I totally forgot about the fact that the Bisquick mix's baking soda = SODIUM!!! By Wednesday morning I was back on that tilt-o-whirl. This lifestyle change is going to take some mastering since the amount of sodium used in EVERYTHING is crazy! I mean MILK has a bunch of sodium?!?! Who would have thought that??? Label reading is my new sport and there is a new cookbook to read to reteach me how to cook salt-free. Here's hoping I can control myself in the future...boy am I missing my Mexican and Chinese favorites! A second consequence of the vertigo is a serious upset in my sleep cycles. Now at this I know a few of my family members who lurk on here are spitting Diet Coke at the computer screen as they laugh. (By the way, there's another whole dilemma!! I'm also supposed to reduce my caffeine consumption as a way to control the Meniere's but do you realize that there is TWICE the amount of sodium in the caffeine-free Diet Coke as there is in the regular Diet Coke??? For now I'm satisfying my Diet Coke addiction by alternating between the two in a weird and bizarre logic in which I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too!) This is because I've never had a 'normal' sleep cycle as far as they are concerned. I really do, it's just a nocturnal cycle which isn't particularly compatible with work and parenting! Post vertigo means I just want to sleep for a day straight and then a day or two of feeling hung over...also not compatible with work and parenting! So I found myself last night completely unable to sleep! I absolutely hate laying, looking at the ceiling, while I count down the hours until the alarm rings so I stay up and keep busy. Decided to start another knot style jumper in spring colors for the eBay venture. This one is 3t/4t as it has an elastic back band which allows for a range of fit. As I was sewing I also mulled over a plan to do a 'give away' like a few of my blogging buddies are doing! So keep coming back as I plan to announce my give away early next week!!! Then this afternoon we headed off to Julia's school for their Winter Carnival (a.k.a. PTA fundraiser). Mixed feelings since she would get into it and be so happy and then all of sudden she would run back over to me and ask, "Are you dizzy Mom?" I hate what this has done to her sense of security in having Mom as the rock to lean on and just have to get this under control so she can relax and just be a kid again! To that effort I really bit my tongue when she got in the line for the goldfish toss. Pets and Mahoneys don't really go together. We started with three parakeets who were 'free' from my brother who had waaaay too many due to his uncanny ability to breed them. UGH, the mess was overwhelming! Besides the cage cleaning there was the spray of seeds and feathers all over the room! When we moved from the city they went to Uncle John's until our new house was 'ready' for them which has been NEVER. Then came Butterfly and Flounder, the Beta fish that some wacky parents thought were the coolest party favor for their daughter's little mermaid themed 4yo birthday party!?!? I didn't protest too much because I figured they were short lived anyhow and that I would soon be recreating a scene from Nemo where all pipes lead to the ocean. Noooo, we get the only two Beta fish that just do not die! Eventually after more than a year Butterfly did develop some kind of tumor. After weeks of trying to explain humane euthanasia to a child who had just finished a unit on the miracles performed by Jesus who fully expected that Butterfly was surely a worthy recipient of a 'miracle of healing', Butterfly did go 'belly up'. Surely Flounder wouldn't be far behind?? Yeah, no such luck. What's so unbelievable about the whole Flounder saga is that I was so convinced that he couldn't last much longer that we never invested in a 'real' fish tank with aerators and heaters!! So every week I would have to transfer him to a cup while I scrubbed the bowl and washed the gravel of all his muck. When the end finally came and we stood in reverence around his porcelain coffin, I was earnestly in prayer...I REALLY was...prayers of thanksgiving for being delivered from the pet care servitude!!! So there she stands. Waiting so patiently. Waiting with the earnest hope that she would land one of those bouncy ping-pong balls in one of those little glass fishbowls. Meanwhile, I was waiting with more than a little hope that those balls missed their target mixed with a little, teeny, tiny tinge of guilt that our current pet-free state is due to her allergies and asthma. You see, after Butterfly and Flounder we did not remain pet-free for long. I was consumed by some warped sense of guilt over the fact that my children were being deprived of pets due to my lack of self-discipline. I convinced myself that I just had to suck it up and agree to accept the responsibilities of pet care and that is how we 'adopted' Kelty. Baby brother was simply the most people loving, good dog that a family could ever hope to have BUT after two years of escalating asthma/pneumonia cycles with Julia we broke down and did the testing we were dreading. As documented in one of my earliest posts, Julia was off the charts allergic to dogs...and a BUNCH of other things as well! Kelty's good natured ways had made it easy for Aunty Peggy to assume guardianship and though he's not gone he is also not a 'pet' anymore. So it was finally her turn and she launched her ball loaded down with all her hopes and prayers....... and here is where you are thinking that because of the title I tell you that she wins a fish who was indeed SHORT lived. Oh, noooooo. Here is where I get to tell you that not only did that ball land cleanly in the fishbowl but so did a second one!?!?!?!?!?!? The fish are still very much alive because the school did not want the aggravation of live fish at the carnival so Julia is asleep with a coupon under her pillow that entitles her to go to our local pet store and pick up TWO goldfish BEFORE February 7th...which to her means TOMORROW. But the reason I am having to tell you about this incredible feat is because what bit the dust was my CAMERA! In all the excitement of that first ball landing in the bowl I instinctively went to clap which resulted in my camera taking flight. The landing was pretty ugly. But now, with a smile on my face, I get to say how I actually PURCHASED the insurance this time and it's COMPREHENSIVE! I never buy that darn insurance but this time I just had this sense. Lucky for me because otherwise those would be two of the most expensive darn pets we've ever owned!!! Now, let's just hope they replace the camera QUICKLY.