Today, she wrote about going to get her flu shot. The person administering the shot saw her age – 53 (same as me) – and called her a “young hen!” This made me smile. 53 is young! This is proof, right?! I need to run up to the local Tim Horton’s and let the gal at the drive thru window read her blog!
A couple days ago, I had both of the kids in the car. They were in their car seats and being unusually loud. I was getting a coffee and some Tim Bits for them. The woman handed me my coffee, which I set in the cup holder, and the donuts, which I set on the seat next to me. As she handed me my debit card, the kids got really loud and I kind of gave her a “kids will be kids” look. She handed me my card back and said, “Take us for a ride, GRANDPA!”
It took a second for that to register, and had there not been about 5 cars behind us, I may have said something. Instead, I drove away. Ok, it did bug me a bit. I know I have some grey in my beard, but I’m only 53! I’m still YOUNG – well, at least according to that flu shot gal…
Thanks, for reminding me that we are still young, Britta. Next time I drive through for donuts, I may open them up and throw a few at her … and hopefully not throw out my shoulder!
Many readers know I work in Sleep Medicine. Every year there is a sleep conference in Detroit that we try to go to to earn our Continuing Education Units to keep our registry. That conference was last week.
Sam and I drove down to Detroit early Thursday afternoon. (The kids got a sleepover at Nana’s house.) The conference took place at one of the casinos. When we checked in, they asked if we wanted an upper or lower floor (we chose upper) and whether we wanted a city or river view (we chose river). It was a nice view!
After speakers were done on the first night, Sam and I went to a small mixer where guests could have a drink together. We hung out with a couple of my coworkers and folks who graduated from the same sleep program. They had raffles while we were there and Sam won a Tim Hortons gift card. My coworker won a $100 Amazon card.
We went up to our room and we were exhausted, but hungry. We decided to order room service ($$$$$). She ordered nachos and I got a burger. When it arrived, it was apparent that we should have just shared the nachos because it was HUGE!!
After the conference on Friday, we had hoped to go out to a nice dinner. Because room service was SO expensive, we decided to get something on the way home. After getting the kids from Nana’s, we ordered pizza and brought it home.
Just a side note: As parents, you can’t wait to get a night or two alone and away from the kids. Of course, when you do, you can’t stop thinking about them and are overjoyed when you see them again!
Clubs
My son, Dimitri, turned 16 on Sunday. I told him I wanted to take him out golfing. It’s something he and I have never done together and I knew it would be a good time for us to connect and chat. We decided to go Saturday morning, and the weather was perfect.
I haven’t been on a course in at least 3-4 years. I knew I was gonna really golf badly. He hasn’t been out in at least a year, since leaving the golf club at school. Thank goodness it was a slow day in the course.
I hate when you’ve always got someone waiting for you to tee off or shoot. I realize it’s part of the game, but I always feel rushed and often just want to hit so we can go. Dimitri and I were far from professionals out there, so it did take us a bit longer than usual. We finally let the twosome behind us play through.
He is like me in that he has his favorite clubs. He rarely uses his driver, but he can crush a ball with his 5 wood. I have a 7 wood that I used to hit well, but topped it every time Saturday. I had a few good drives, just enough to keep me coming back.
We bent the rules a little bit, and had plenty of mulligans (redos), and impost probably a dozen balls in the woods and water. Despite all of that, it was a great time together. He, naturally, beat me by two strokes. I can’t wait to do it again.
Croup
Sam called me while I was out golfing and said that both kids sounded sick. Both had low grade fevers and a cough. By the time I got home, Ella was sounding better after taking some allergy meds. Andrew’s fever was gone but still had a cough and that raspy voice.
Sam wondered if we should take him to urgent care or ER. Everyone we talked to said wait to see how he was in the morning.
That night at bedtime he cried a lot. He wound up in our bed. He woke us up with a nasty cough and wheezing about 3am. He fell right back to sleep, but it was enough to freak us out a bit.
At 6am he woke up sounding worse, so we rushed him to ER. Nana met us there and brought Ella back to her house. We planned to be there a while and Sam packed loads of snacks just in case.
They got us right back and he was seen almost immediately. We weren’t sure what to expect because we were there right at shift change. However, once we were in our room, the nurse came in, followed by the doc. Once the examination was done, she told us it was croup and she gave him a steroid and told us he should be back to normal in a couple days.
How fast were they? Well, we had finished with the nurse and the doctor AND the meds were administered all before the registration gal came to our room! We actually had to wait to get registered before we could leave! Total ER time – about 70 minutes.
Ella decided she wanted to have a sleepover again at Nana’s, so when Sam left for work last night it was just me and Andrew. He really improved throughout the day. Before bed, we stood on the porch and watched the thunderstorm together.
Andrew is still sleeping and Ella should be home later today. The house should return to it’s normal chaotic state shortly after her arrival.
It’s a Brew-tiful day for a cup of Joe! It is National Coffee Day (Not to be confused with International Coffee Day which comes up on October 1)! Pour yourself a cup of Go Juice, Go Go Juice, Bean Juice, Brain Juice or Jitter Juice and guzzle that Java!
In celebration, many places have some National Coffee Day deals for you. Here are just a few, courtesy of USA Today:
Krispy Kreme
Receive a free iced or hot brewed coffee, no purchase necessary.
$.25 medium hot or iced coffee all day long when you order through the Tim’s app or website.
In addition, Oct. 1 is International Coffee Day and Tim Hortons is offering a $1 medium hot or iced coffee during the entire month of October when you order on the Tims app or website.
Dunkin’
Free medium-sized coffee on Sept. 29. Customers must sign up for the Dunkin’ rewards program to claim it.
Caribou Coffee
$3 medium brews for Caribou Perks members on National Coffee Day. Plus, if you’re a new Caribou Perks member, you’ll get a free drink after your first visit when you sign up.
What about Starbucks and McDonalds?
Starbucks will not have a National Coffee Day offer this year. Neither will McDonalds, a spokesperson told USA TODAY on Wednesday.
Here are a few others:
Barnes and Noble
B&N Cafes are celebrating National Coffee Day with a free tall hot or iced coffee with the purchase of a bakery item of your choice.
Bean Box
Use promo code FREECOFFEE on the Bean Box website through Oct. 1 and get a free 12-ounce bag of coffee.
Biggby Coffee
Valid on Sept. 29 only, participating Biggby Coffee locations are offering free 20-ounce hot or iced brewed coffee for National Coffee Day.
Bonus Comedy Clip
In honor of National Coffee Day – Here is the great Chris Farley
Perk up a pot today and enjoy – leaded OR unleaded.
Every once in a while, something will happen that prompts me to reach out and give props to someone. One time I called the manager at my local Tim Horton’s to tell them how one of their staff was always so pleasant at the window. I felt that her superiors needed to know she made a difference.
This weekend, I noticed some kids acting suspicious around the daycare behind our house. They had obviously jumped a fence to get back where they were and were attempting to open doors and such. I made a call to the local police station because it sounded like they were up to no good.
The kids must have seen me out on my porch and they climbed the fence and started to walk away. I saw the police cruiser slowly driving around the parking lot. The officer got out and was checking some things out. I started to walk out to the back fence to try to get his attention, but he didn’t hear me. Next thing I saw was the cruiser driving down our street. He pulled into my driveway.
Ella was so excited to see a police car in the driveway that she begged Sam to bring her outside. As I spoke with the officer and told him what I had seen, Ella came out. “Hello, Mr. Policeman!” she said. The officer was so kind to her. He asked her name and then asked if she wanted to see his car. He let her sit in the front seat and turn the lights on. He asked if she wanted to turn on the siren, but she’s not really into loud noises. He gave her a sticker, which she wore proudly for hours! When she went in for her bath, she made sure to say, “Thank you, Mr. Policeman!”
Turning on the lights!
The officer and I spoke for a few more minutes, introduced ourselves, we shook hands and he was off to keep the city safe. I was so very impressed with the entire 5 to 10 minute interaction, I had to make sure I let someone know.
I went to the city’s Facebook page and sent a message to give kudos to “Officer Dan.” I told them that we were so glad that he took the time to do this. He made Ella feel so special and he gained her trust immediately. We feel that it is so important to us that our children know that they can count on the police officers if they are ever in trouble.
I then made a joke about how they probably get sick of people waving to them, but I always do. I then said that I wanted them to know that I appreciate all that they do for our community. I went on to say, “In the 5 years I have lived here, I can honestly say that we feel safe. We know that you are out there every day working hard and doing a job that does not receive enough gratitude.” I then thanked them for a job well done.
I was very surprised to receive the following message back from the police chief:
I cannot thank you enough for your kind words, or for the support you offer. I’m truly proud of Officer Dan. He is the first officer I hired, and he has proven himself, time and again, to be a man of honor, and a professional in every sense of the word. It is all the more heartening that your baby girl was made to feel at ease by his presence.
Our goal is to always make you and your family feel as safe as possible, and with that in mind, I’m happy to tell you we are in the process of hiring our final three officers. Each one is a pro in their own right, and I expect the community will be truly pleased. If all goes according to plan, we should be having their swearing-in ceremony in just a few weeks.
Further, we never get tired of having good people like you waving at us. You might be surprised just how much of a boost that can give us on a rough day. I thank you again, and invite you to stop by one day if you have a few minutes, so that I might shake your hand.
Respectfully, Chief W. M.
You can rest assured that I will make it a point to stop by to say hello, sir.
I’ve been drinking coffee for a long time. I have gotten to the point where I know which brands I like and which ones I don’t. I very rarely stray from them when I am home.
While I tend to prefer certain flavored coffees, when it comes to just plain coffee, I get Tim Hortons. At our Sam’s Club I can get a big bag for what it costs for a small bag in the store.
Last time we went, I bought two bags. I have a container I store it in that seals up tight, so it stays fresh. I poured them both in the container one bag on top of the other.
Yesterday, we reached the half way point of the container. So, I’m guessing we are hitting the first of the two bags. Something suddenly tasted different.
I’m not sure what it is, but it is almost like the coffee is extra weak. I made a second pot with more scoops wondering if that would help, but it didn’t. It still tastes weak.
We bought new coffee filters, and I thought it might be those. So I brewed a pot with the old filters. It still tasted the same. The only thing I can think of is that it was a bum bag of coffee.
Is that a thing? I mean, I’ve been buying it for years and this is the first time it has tasted funny. Bad beans? I don’t know.
We have to do some shopping this week. I may have to buy a flavored coffee and brew a pot just to be sure it isn’t the pot itself.
In the meantime, I need coffee and it is the only stuff in the house. So I suppose I will be stuck with it for another day or so ..
Normally, I sleep until about 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon on work days. I was pretty exhausted when I got home this morning, so I was looking forward to a good sleep. That didn’t happen.
I have sleep apnea. I sleep with a CPAP machine. With it on, my apnea issues are resolved and I sleep through the night (or day). I was abruptly awakened this afternoon around 2:00pm. I didn’t quite know what happened and then realized that my CPAP was not on. I reached over to turn on the light – nothing. No display on the CPAP, either. The power was out.
Sam had come in about 1pm to nap while Ella napped. The baby monitor, which she had turned on when she came in was now beeping because it lost the connection to the camera. The camera runs on electricity, while the monitor has a battery. So, now we were both up. I tried to go back to sleep, but my apnea would wake me up the minute I fell asleep.
Eventually Ella woke up and I went in to get her. Naturally, for the next couple hours I was reminded of all the things we just take for granted. There were no lights in the bathroom, so I had to shower by the lantern light before work. Our oven/stove is electric, so the dinner we planned on having didn’t happen. We ended up grabbing drive thru. Worst of all, no power to the coffee pot. I had to drive through Tim Horton’s on my way to work, because I needed my coffee!
No power meant no TV, which was actually very nice. Ella was in such a fun mood when she woke up. We read books, played peak a boo, and goofed around with toys and such. One on one time with our kids without the distraction of modern technology is actually a good thing.
Sam called around 8pm to say that the power had finally come back on. I was glad to hear that because I’m not sure Ella would have fallen asleep without her sound machine on. Not only that, it is supposed to get cold tonight and that would mean no heat. It was still a bit windy tonight, so fingers are crossed that the power remains on through the night.
Funny Story From The Weekend
I neglected to include this story in the Weekend Review Blog from yesterday. As we get closer to the baby’s arrival, we’ve come to realize how NOT ready we are. One of the things we did on Saturday was build his swing. Our living room is basically THE room in our house. When we built Ella’s room, we lost our dining room, so the kitchen table when out in the living room. As we gathered more and more stuff for Ella, the table went to the basement.
So Saturday, we are looking at all the stuff we brought back up for the baby. We have the pack and play, the swing, the furniture that was already in the room, and of course, all of Ella’s stuff. Sam and I stood in the middle of the room deciding just how to rearrange everything to make it all fit. We tossed around a few ideas and eventually moved things to where we have as much space as we can, and still have room for everything. (I still think the ottoman is going to end up back in the basement.)
We crawled into bed that night just exhausted from moving everything around. I turned out the light and laid down. The only sound in the room was the sound of the music from Ella’s room coming from the baby monitor. As I feel my self beginning to doze, in true Sam fashion, she turns to me and says, “You know what I just thought about?! Where in the world are we going to put the Christmas tree this year?!?”
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 