Makin' that Lemonade

The longer I live, the more I see why certain sayings just stick.  The ones that came to mind this week were "Life is tough" and "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  Well, I'm sure trying to make that lemonade this week and look on the bright side of things!

 

Last Tuesday I took our sad-looking dog to the vet.  Tyson had yellow snot coming out of his nose and sounded like he was trying to cough up a hair ball.  The vet showed me his teeth, which looked terrible, and told me that she thought one was infected.  This had caused the runny nose and cough. She said he really needed to get some teeth pulled and have the other ones cleaned, so we took him in the next morning to have this done.  When I called to check on him that afternoon, the doctor was gone, so I spoke to the receptionist.  She said, "Oh, yes, Tyson is ready to go home, but did they talk to you about how many teeth they were going to pull?  I said, "not really--she just showed me three that were loose."  She said, "well...they pulled them all."  SAY WHAT?!!  My dog has no teeth???  I was so distraught about this, although I'm not sure why.  And guess what?  Tyson is doing better than he has in years!  I used to have to make him get up by noon and then he'd just lay around all day and do absolutely nothing.  Nada.  Now he's up at 7am, running around and feeling great!  And he can't get enough of his yummy new soft dog food, either.  It's crazy, but losing his teeth might of been the best thing to ever happen to him! 

 

Last Thursday morning, I got a phone call from my papaw who lives in Greenville.  He didn't sound good and sadly, his wife had just passed away at home.  She was only 61 years old.  She'd had a massive heart attack 10 years ago and her body never really recovered.  But still...she was only 61.  So sad.  Since she passed away, we have found out how much she had been supporting two of her four grown children.  Her burdens were so heavy and she was working the week she died just so she could help them out as much as possible.  I take comfort in knowing that she is at peace and no longer carrying that heavy burden.  I know that God is now taking care of her.

 

Two days later was a bright spot of my week--Jackson got the game ball!

 

This was one happy kid.  He was so excited and took it to school with him on Monday to show his class. 

Saturday night, though, I started running fever.  This is such a foreign concept to me.  I just don't get sick.  I can't--I'm the mom.  Mamas don't get to call in sick.  I took some medicine and really thought I would wake up feeling much better.  Wrong!  I ended up running fever on and off for 5 days.  And it was bad, y'all, getting up to 104.1 at one point.  I finally figured out that I had mastitis and was able to get some antibiotics.  Slowly, I've gotten better over the week, but I had to miss one of J's games, which just makes me so sad, had to cancel Cami's 4 month check-up AND miss my conference with J's teacher, too.  But...I had the best nurse ever--Miss Lila Grace.  This little girl  refilled my water, brought me cold rags and ice packs, brought me my medicine, rubbed my head and neck and was so sweet to me the whole week.  I appreciated her so much.  She was the silver lining in a very dark cloud.  And I didn't have to cook dinner all week either.  Score!

 

Wednesday afternoon we got a visit from a very special young lady.  Karlie is back home from college for the summer.  She came to visit the kids and meet Cameron.  So sweet!  She jumped on the trampoline with Lila and Jackson and Cameron even let her hold her.  I was so thankful that my fever stayed away until after she went home:)

The next day we went to the dentist for Jackson and Lila to get their teeth cleaned.  Lila got a great report, but Jackson has three cavities.  Good grief!  Are you sure?  He's never even had one before.  I guess when it rains, it pours.  But we just make some more lemonade.   I started thinking that his normal breakfast was probably not helping keep cavities away--the kids lives on honey buns, cinnamon rolls, waffles and pancakes.  He completely shuns oatmeal and eggs or anything non-sugar based.  But ya know what?  He's going to learn to try new things.  So today he branched out and ate a sausage biscuit--and he loved it!  Baby steps to scrambled eggs, I guess.  He also is much more conscientious about brushing enough now, and has even been flossing and using the mouthwash that his daddy bought him at least six months ago.  He read the label and told me "it helps to prevent cavities, mom."  So, maybe, just maybe, getting these cavities is going to help him form much better life-long habits that will serve him well. 

 

 So here we are today--I woke up with no fever AND no headache.  I think it's gonna be a great day.  Stay happy, my friends, and just make that lemonade when you need to.