Have I Lost My Mind???

I cannot believe what I just agreed to do.

Let me preface what I'm about to tell you all by explaining that we're not staying in New York for the next week because Dovi's too sick to fly. We're staying because, G-d forbid there are any complications, Dr. Feldman doesn't want anyone else to deal with his leg/surgical site.

So.

Raphi, Dovi's counselor, called me on Tuesday asking me if Dovi wanted to go to a Chai Lifeline/Camp Simcha Special mini shabbaton (weekend get together thingy) this weekend (in Lawrence-not up at Camp Simcha).



"NO WAY" was my immediate response. He just had surgery on Monday!

But Raphi continued:

"Sara, it's in a big lovely house. The head nurse and head paramedic from Camp Simcha Special will be there. One of the camp doctors lives right nearby and will be on call. He'll have more medical supervision than if you're at home. C'mon. You know he'll have the best time!"

So I contemplated.

I asked Dovi what he thought.

He said he wanted to be with me.

Then, this afternoon, he changed his mind. He wants to go.

Raphi is picking him up tomorrow at 4pm.

Have I lost my mind?????

Reassure me here, folks.

Hee Hee

So we're in our hotel in the city...my brother will be picking us up in a few hours.

Dovi and I just said goodbye to Benjie who is on his way home to the kiddies and work.

He took a taxi to the airport-and got there and through security so quickly that he jumped on a flight leaving an hour earlier-slick :) He left us at 29th and Madison at 3:35 and was through security at LaGuardia by 4:05 pm. Wowza!

So I'm blogging while Dovi is lounging and watching Aladdin (for the 100th time in the past week).

We walked to the Empire State Building for lunch-a pizza store there just became kosher. Of course, the second we walk in, Dovi has to go to the bathroom-the boy has impeccable timing! There was no bathroom in the restaurant, so we went out to the hallway and asked one of the security guys where the bathroom was. He told us that there was no public bathroom. I looked at him:

"My son is disabled and he was just released from the hospital yesterday. Would you like him to make in his pants?"

He went and talked to his supervisor. Waddaya know, they escorted us downstairs and to the bathroom.

Then we went to lunch.

And I noticed the following sign.

Am I the only one who finds stuff like this incredibly amusing?

How is it that no one at all in the making of the sign thought...hmmm....maybe we have a misspelling here?

Hee hee.

Hi!

From the Carlton Hotel.

We were seriously out of the hospital less than 10 minutes after they told us we could go :)

Now....to order dinner...hmmmmm.....yummmmmmm.......

And NOW we are OUTTA HERE!

Came back negative for blood.

Just red poo.

Who knew?

Buh bye.

Can We Get One at Home?

Benjie really, really, and I mean, really, really really LOVES Purell. He always gets dry hands when we're in the hospital because he's constantly Purelling (is that a verb?). NYU patient room have his dream: an automatic Purell dispenser. Ahhhh. Bliss.



D is cute. He's been playing Playstation since 10 am. It's 4:45. Benjie is losing it.

We're still here. Waiting for the poo culture to finish. Lovely.

I knew it couldn't be that easy

A minor crimp in our plans.

Dovi's poo (my I've been speaking lots about Dovi's digestive system) is a lovely shade of red. I wish I could say that he just ate tons of red koolaid, but nope.

So we need to wait until he makes again and then they need to check for blood. I was hoping that they'd tell me that suppositories cause reddish poop. No such luck.

Oy. I knew it couldn't go so smoothly.

WooHoo!

And we are OUTTA HERE!!!!



Dovi's doing great-our "interventions" worked well. Maybe a little...ahem...too well.



The child woke up three times overnight to make. But make he did.



So now he's playing Playstation again with Benjie, and when he finishes his breakfast (yes, it's 11:45 here in New York. Go with it), we'll give him a sponge bath.



At 3pm the wheelchair with elevating leg rests should be coming.



Then we are leaving!! We actually have our hotel room until tomorrow (oh-did I tell you all that thanks to the lovely Chai Lifeline NY people, we've had a hotel room at this super fabulous hotel a few blocks from the hospital. And we have it until Thursday. So we think we're going to have a little mini-vacation until tomorrow!

Then we need to figure out how we're getting from the city to New Jersey tomorrow. But I'm not overly concerned.

We have success!

Just what you wanted to hear.

I'm sure you were on the edge of your seat waiting.

But, lovely, lovely, his oxygen levels were low right before he went to bed.

Smashing.

Evening Report

Dovi's been ornery today. Ornery and crabby. Just ask Galiah and Kovy. Who are Galiah and Kovy you ask? I've "known" Galiah for about 5 or 6 years now from a list group that we're both on. She happened to be in the city today taking her son Kovy to an appointment, so she came by to say hi! It was so lovely to meet her in real life! Kovy is soooo adorable. His voice was just too cute. And they brought cookies. And Uno and baseball cards for Dovi. And cookies. Homemade super super yummy cookies. What more could I want? Well maybe a boy who poops. More on that in a moment.

Isn't Kovy adorable?


Dovi has found a new love: Playstation. Specifically, MLB The Show 2009 on Playstation. Of course, Benjie has now decided that Dovi needs a PSP. I think that Benjie wants Dovi to want a PSP so he can play. But look! One of Dovi's few smiles today.

The screen from the Playstation-do you see what it is? It's a Cinderella carriage, complete with carriage wheels! Hee hee.

Back to the poop.

My loyal readers might recall the 4 day crisis that Dovi was in in January.

The cause?

Poop, or lack thereof.

Dovi has not pooped since Shabbos or Sunday (I don't remember when). We gave him Miralax, but it didn't do anything. We just ticked him off and gave him a suppository. Hopefully we'll get some results (literally)

He's one crabby guy. It doesn't help that, ya know, he had three bones broken and screwed back together yesterday. Or that he's been up since 3 am.

I'd be crabby too.

Yay! Boo!

Dovi went to sleep so nicely last night! Yay!

Then he woke up at 3 am. Boo!

He was complaining that his catheter hurt him. Ummm I don't blame him! So our amazing nurse went and woke up the residents asked the residents if we could pull the catheter or if it had to stay in for any specific reason.

It could come out. Yay!

The saline in the balloon holding the catheter in would not pull back. Boo!

So our amazing nurse went and dragged the resident out of bed got the resident to do an ultrasound to see what the story was with the catheter.

Remember, it was 4 am at this point. Dovi was not pleased at all. So we gave him morphine, which helped a little. The resident did the ultrasound. It turned out that the balloon was not inflated at all.

So out came the catheter. Yay!

He still did not fall asleep. Boo!

By this point it was 4:30/4:45. Now anyone who has spent time in the hospital knows what starts happening at 5/5:30am....doctors start rounding.

Dovi fell back asleep at 5ish. Yay!

Dr. Feldman came at 5:30. Boo!

But he said that Dovi looks awesome.

Maybe we can be discharged tomorrow! Yay!

But we have to stay in NJ for two whole weeks! Boo!

He said that while Dovi looks awesome, if, G-d forbid, there are any complications, he would not want another surgeon to deal with the leg. So as of now, we're going to see him on May 12 and fly home that night.

I leave you with 2 pictures:

Look, ma, no oxygen! Woo hoo!

And notice that plastic bag on his upper arm.

His IV infiltrated and had to come out. Yay!

But his arm was warm and hard from the infiltrated IV. Boo!

So when that happens, you need to put a warm compress on the site to help the fluid dissipate. What makes a great warm compress? A baby diaper, wet (with water, silly) and warmed and placed in a plastic bag. Who knew? Well I've heard of this before. But Benjie had not.

Cute toes in his cast. Lucky for me I remembered to pack his big blue blanket.

Back Upstairs

So we're back in our room.

Dovi was in recovery by 4pm and now at 7pm we're back in our room.

Dr. Feldman was very pleased with the outcome of surgery. He was able to do both surgeries as he had hoped and did some repair to the big toe. It's still big but will not get bigger.

His leg is casted to right below the knee in a cast wrapped with an ace bandage (not waterproof-boo!)

I've been told that if he did not have the cast on we would see a screw of some type protruding from his skin (Benjie says I turned a tad white when Dr. Feldman told us that). But when he changes the cast in a week or so he'll take out the screw. Phew. I would not be able to cope with screws protruding. Yikes.

Recovery was interesting. He was really really irritated at everyone and everything-he made the nurse pull his extra IV. Then he was agitated so we gave him morphine. Then he fell asleep and his oxygen levels kept dropping so we put him on oxygen. Then he fell back asleep again and his blood pressure went sky high-190s/160s. Yikes!

A little valium and blood pressure meds took care of that nicely and now we're back in our room.

He's on oxygen we hope he'll come off that quickly.

All in all we're happy with the way the day went!

on our way to recovery

Dr. Feldman just called us. Surgery was successful.
We're on our way to recovery now.

Still in surgery...

He should be out soon-they said 3 hours and it's almost exactly 3...

And now the pictures

From two posts ago that I didn't have time to attach.

the overweight bag that caused all the problems. Look closely at the picture. There is a dinner fork on the floor to give you an idea of the size of that sucker. It weighed 70 pounds.

the toe that has caused the problems. Now to be somewhat repaired.

the boy that has caused all the problems. Little stinker.

It's Like Twitter

but not quite :)

We just took Dovi down. Met up with Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Feldman. Dr. Feldman signed his name on Dovi's left leg.

The anesthesiologist gave him those meds in his IV that make you fall asleep almost immediately and forget what happened (I forgot what it's called).

We left him in their hands, cuddling his num num and a little perturbed. But he won't remember.

They said about three hours, and they'll update as they progress.

So that's that.

Think good left leg thoughts!

Waiting...

Hi everyone...

I just got online-I was having some problems with the hospital network but my computer seems to have figured itself out.

We're hanging out in our room waiting to be taken down to surgery.

It was scheduled for 10 am but we are?were? the second case and I guess they are running a little behind. No worries.

Dovi is currently lounging with his feet up on Benjie's neck while watching ESPN.

It was quite a trip yesterday.

Jet Blue, shall we say, left a little to be desired in the whole-you know-be accomodating to disabled people? department. I'll write more later, but for the first time in eleven years of being Dovi's mom, I had to pay overweight fees for Dovi's enormous suitcase of medical supplies.

I wa a tad...overwrought?

I think my father in law was a little scared of me. My problem is that when I get really really angry, I cry. It's a girl thing. So my father in law had to defend my honor. Which he did quite admirably. More on the whole saga later.

But we're waiting to go down. Should be any minute. We actually got as far as the elevator before but they decided they were not ready for us anymore.

So we're back in our room.

Think good thoughts for the D as has major surgery on his leg. It's officially a leg-lengthening osteotomy and a foot reconstruction, as well as repair of the growth plate in his great toe. Yes, your big toe is officially called the great toe.

For my Hebrew speaking readers, his name is Chaim Dov ben Sorah Yehudis.

10 points

To the person who figures out the incredible irony of this picture. :)




I'm his mom. I can mock him this way.

Dovi 's Saga...continued

We did decide to take Dovi out that night to dinner. We decided that, darn it, he was our baby, and we'd take him with us, even though he had a strange looking tube taped to his face that we really didn't 100% understand.

Once Dovi got his NG tube, things got soooo much easier. Rather than spend hours (literally) trying to get some food into him, we'd try for a bit and then give the rest of his feed through the NG tube. I once decided to spend the time and get Dovi to take all 2 ounces from his bottle. It literally took me 3 hours-and then it was time for his next feeding.

We also started the umpteen hours of OT, SLP, and PT that would begin to fill our rapidly diminishing hours of free time in the day. By the time Dovi was a few months old, we had 4 sessions every week of OT, PT, SLP, and developmental therapy. We kept very busy.

The speech therapists were at a loss. They could not figure out why he just couldn't get it together to coordinate eating. Every baby eats. Or so we thought. Dovi taught us quickly that that was not the case. Additionally, once Dovi was getting a full tummy, his then undiagnosed reflux kicked in. He spit up continuously-it got to the point that instead of using burp diapers, we used kitchen towels-they were able to hold more spit up.

But through it all, Dovi was the happiest, most content little guy. He slept beautifully (wouldn't you sleep nicely if someone fed you in your sleep? We used to get up at 3 am to give him an NG feeding-even though he didn't wake up!)

All of the metabolic testing came back negative. Aside from an abnormal EEG, they could not find anything wrong with Dovi. My pediatrician had not a clue what else to do-so she had us follow up with the neurologist.

Benjie and I took Dovi when he was about one month old to see the neurologist. He decided to do a tear production test on Dovi. You see, people with FD don't produce overflow tears (emotional tears when crying, or the tearing of the eye when, for example, you get sand in your eye). They also have diminished baseline tears (the tears that keep your eyes moist). The test involved sticking little pieces of special paper into Dovi's eyes and measuring the amount of moisture produced (the name for the test escapes me. It starts with a S). Dovi passed with flying colors. Yes, he did. So the neuro said that Dovi did not have FD, he may have some other undiagnosed illness, and told us to come back in another month to follow up. Hopefully many of his issues were from his being a tad early and everything would work itself out.

We were in that lovely grey area of "no diagnosis"

One month later I took Dovi back to the neurologist. Benjie didn't come with me-after all, we had ruled out that nasty neurological disease, so why should he take off of work?

The neurologist informed me that he had found "one more" test for that Jewish Genetic Disease, FD. It seemed that people with FD did not have a normal reaction to histamine. So he wanted to perform what is called a histamine test. Anyone who had taken their kid for allergy testing knows that I'm talking about-the "control" reaction in allergy testing? Yup, that's what they were doing. So he did this test. Benjie was not with me. It was a Friday afternoon. He did the test, looked at me, and said "Mrs. P, your son has Familial Dysautonomia". He gave me the contact information for the Dysautonomia Treatment and Evaluation Center in New York, told us to make an appointment, and sent me on my way.

But you see, I knew already in my heart of hearts that Dovi had FD. After the neurologist had mentioned FD to me in our first visit, I went to my mom's house and used her computer. She had this cool thing called the internet. I did a search (in alta vista maybe? remember it? before google took over our loves and our speech) for FD, and found the FD Foundation. I went to their website. I read about FD. I knew right then and there that Dovi had it. He had every. single. symptom. of FD. He's textbook. But for that month, I clung to the neurologist's negative diagnosis from the tear test. But I knew. C'mon. It was obvious.

And here's the thing-bizarre as it sounds, the diagnosis was comforting. No, no, being told at age 20 (today's my birthday! I'm 32!) that their child has a deadly disease is not comforting. But I always say that I can do anything with a plan (note my extreme and inappropriate use of Excel spreadsheets). Without a diagnosis, there is no plan. You flounder forward, treating issues as they come up.

But without knowing the real cause of the symptoms? There is no plan. Ask any parent of a child with special needs and no diagnosis. Half the struggle is the not knowing.

So now we had a plan.

It Occured to Me

That I have spoken very little about Dovi's early childhood-how he was diagnosed, etc. etc.

So I figure why not.

Dovi was born at 36 weeks gestation. I was induced because he wasn't moving around as much as he should have (decreased fetal movement), and because I was having small contractions and with every contraction his heart beat dipped.

I still remember what my Ob/Gyn said to me before she sent me home to get my bag and meet Benjie: "I just think he'll be safer outside of you than inside you."

So I went home to pack my stuff pick up my stuff and meet Benjie. We left for the hospital with a quick stop at Baskin Robbins for a Cappuccino Blast. Something funny-they were new in 1997 and a big thing. So we got one. The pink plastic spoon from that Cappuccino Blast is still in my dairy silverware drawer, 11 years later. Well the bottom of it-the spoon part got lost in a move. But that pink plastic handle isn't going ANYWHERE :)

After a fairly uneventful labor I had a fairly uneventful birth. Dovi was born at 7:31am on Thursday, November 13, 1997, weighing 5 pounds 1/2 ounce. After what I thought was a fairly uneventful 24 hours in the hospital I chose to go home in time for Shabbos.

I was 20. Benjie was 20. This was our first baby.

I thought it was normal that he didn't really nurse well-babies need to learn, right?

I thought that it was normal for babies to be like limp little rag dolls.

I didn't know how many wet diapers he needed.

I didn't know babies aren't supposed to sleep 22 hours a day.

Remember, why on earth would I have thought to look for something to be wrong? After all, everyone has healthy babies, right?

Not right.

Since I left the hospital at 24 hours post partum, a home health nurse came on Saturday to check on him. She was not pleased. He hadn't really eaten well, and he wasn't having enough wet diapers. She also said he looked a little jaundiced. She recommended that we try and give him some bottles (it's easier to give a bottle-you can see what they've eaten), and take him to the pediatrician on Monday to check on the jaundice.

I still remember what my pediatrician said on Monday morning:

"I don't particularly care about his jaundice. I care about his muscle tone"

And thus it began.

At a time when most mothers are staying home cuddling their new baby, Benjie and I were taking Dovi to the neurologist. Who was not happy either.

The first thing he did was admit us to the hospital. The thought process being that he needed tons of tests-and it would be easier to just do them all inpatient. I still remember a few things. Dovi wore a bright green (this was 1997) thermal one piece outfit with Tigger on the front. The room had pastel colors. There was a mother pulling her 1 year old daughter in a wagon down the hall as we were being admitted. She had no hair.

They did tests. Lactation consultants came.

"Don't worry, he'll learn. He was early. The suck/swallow reflex doesn't always come in until 37/38 weeks. All babies learn how to eat. Just be patient."

So we were patient. Somehow Dovi choked down enough to survive.

After tons and tons of tests over a few days, we were sent home.

The hypothesis was that he had some type of metabolic issue that could hopefully be treated with medication. But the blood had to be sent to Denver. And would take a few weeks to be cultured. So we were sent home.

We waited.


We saw the neurologist again. Lucky for us, he had done some residency at NYU, and had heard of this obscure Jewish genetic disease called Familial Dysautonomia or some such thing. Which had no test because the gene had not been found. But he didn't think Dovi had it. But he wanted to keep it on the back burner in case the metabolic idea didn't pan out.

We went for weight checks.

Dovi was not gaining.

His bris got pushed off. Not because he was jaundiced (which he was and needed bililights, the first of many medical equipment deliveries that came to our home) but because he was not 5 pounds. He was born at 5 pounds 1/2 an ounce and it took him almost 2 weeks to get back up to 5 pounds.

The day after his bris, it was decided that he needed an NG tube, a feeding tube threaded from his nose, down this throat, into his stomach. It was temporary-"until his suck/swallow came in". It was the night before Thanksgiving. A home health nurse came to our house, placed the NG tube, showed us how to use it, and left us to our own devices. 99% of people are admitted to the hospital when getting an NG tube. To this day I have not a clue why on earth we were not.

Benjie and I debated if we should take Dovi out to the planned family dinner in a restaurant for Thanksgiving with the NG tube. What if someone sees him?

We took him.

More tomorrow.

I'm so much more relaxed!

Because the spreadsheet has been made.

You can view it here

Now to fill in the blanks.

Hang On...It's Going to Be a Wild Ride...

I'm back.

I cannot believe I took off two weeks from blogging! I must say that I tip my hat to all SAHMs who blog...I have no idea how you find the time!

Pesach was great. Hectic but great. I have a bunch of posts to write, but first I need to update you all on the upcoming few weeks.

As I've written previously, Dovi is having surgery on his left leg. And his big toe, as he makes sure to remind us every time-I'm not sure why it excites him so much that he's getting the growth plate in his big toe fixed but as long as he's happy, I'm happy.

Dr. Feldman felt pity on us and the madness that is our lives and is currently planning on combining both surgeries into one longer surgery on Monday, April 27.

Yes, that's one week from today.

I'm nowhere near ready.

Remember my panic this past summer trying to get Dovi ready for camp? And my lists and craziness?

Umm...yeah.

So today begins the great push to move to New York for two weeks.

Yes, you read that right. Dovi's surgery is Monday. We're going on Sunday, April 26. My return ticket? Monday, May 11.

No, I'm not panicking. At all. OK, only a little.

Dovi is not going to be in the hospital for two whole weeks. We think. We think (notice my generous use of italics) that he will be in the hospital for three-four days. But this is Dovi. This is the kid that ended up spending three weeks inpatient post scoliosis surgery in 2007. And needed a second surgery six months later. And contracted MRSA in his wound. And had his wound open up. And cannot use dissolving stitches anymore because they don't seem to hold his wounds closed, and then, y'know, he contracts MRSA. And needs IV antibiotics for four weeks. In New Jersey. Over Pesach 2005. Yes, we spent Pesach four years ago in Teaneck in my brother's house (They weren't there. They went to my mom in Philadelphia. Speaking of which, family members that read this, why didn't you all just move the family Pesach to Teaneck that year? Remind me what the story was).

So.

I plan on being in the Tri State area for about two weeks.

And I have

1. three other kids
2. a job
3. a home
4. three other kids
5. a job
6. a home
7. no nanny this time around

Should be interesting.

What I also have is

1. three kids who are in school 8 hours per day
2. a job that recently cut me to ten hours per week (darned economy. darned recession. once this whole surgery inconvenience is over I need a new job.)
3. a helpful husband to deal with said home
4. A mom who is coming in from Sunday night until Thursday morning to care for said three other kids
5. A mother in law and sister in law who are very generous with their time to help care for said three other kids after my mom leaves
   
6. Many friends and family, both in Chicago and in New York/New Jersey, that have offered to help.
   

So here's to hoping that it will all work out.

Many lists need to be written and phone calls have to be made.

Much planning.

Much organization.

You all know I'm good at that.

It's not the actual doing, it's the lack of lists that do me in.

I'll be busy in Excel this afternoon. Just for entertainment, I might share my list once I'm done. Don't run away screaming.

Happy Pesach Everyone!

This morning at 7 am, I, Benjie, the children, and 2,000 of out nearest and dearest gathered in the field behind the JCC to do Birchas HaChamah. Bircas HaChamah translates to "Blessing of the Sun". Every 28 years, the sun returns to the exact place in the heavens as it was during the Creation of the World. Read HERE for more explanation. I was 3 years old the last time it occurred, and the next time, my children will be older than I am now. It was amazing. I took a bunch of pictures on my mom's camera but cannot get them onto my computer! Such is life.

But since it was such an exciting event, I wanted to let my kids celebrate a little. Kinda cute, huh? Jello Parfaits in sunshine colors. At 8 am. What more can you want?



I probably won't post much for the next week or so-I'll be offline through Sunday, and then we have fun outings planned-Museum of Science and Industry on Monday and the movies on Tuesday. Then I'll be offline again through Thursday night.

Much food has been cooked and floors have been washed. I leave you with my table all ready for the seder, as well as my mother's seder plate (that I LOVE! ) that she shlepped all the way from Philadelphia for me.




See you guys later!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Pesach...

OK here we go....

Observe...the paper goods shelf. I don't use any paper goods during the year, but it seems impossible to escape this time of year...

my broom that my sister told me I don't need to throw away! I've always bought a new broom every year. But Rebecca (the silver polishing G-ddess) told me that I don't need to. Yay! I love me my fancy-pants broom :)

The kitchen table post-lunch. Note the free Windex. Also please notice the random food items scattered about. That is after I screamed like a lunatic asked my kids nicely and calmly to please, for the love of G-d, to leave the chametz items on the table. Or Mommy will blow steam out of her ears.

My shelves over my sink. Do you notice my very-stylish linoleum over my counters? Adhered with nothing but the best clear packing tape money can buy. And do you see the bea-yoo-tee-ful brown and white transferware-esque pitcher? $2.99 folks, TJ Maxx. It's amazing what happiness that little guy has brought me.

Ahh my stove looks so lovely all shiny with tinfoil. Not.

Do you see how ENORMOUS that pot is? It is FILLED with chicken soup! The first year I was buying Pesach kitchen supplies, a dear friend told me that I couldn't buy a pot that was too big. I'm not sure. I believe that we should be able to bathe my nephew in that pot.


Chicken, anyone? Roasted, Duck Sauce, or Lemon? Oh and those were some repulsive hairy chickens. Took me 45 minutes to skin and clean. Ewwww.

Ahem. For all you who think I am Suzie Homemaker, I bring you the mountain of 12 pairs of boys' dress pants and 32 (yes, 32. I'm not exaggerating. I've been the recipient of lots and lots of lovely hand-me-downs. Nothing makes my heart beat faster than a bag of hand me down clothing) dress shirts that I had to iron. Because I had neglected to iron for...ummm...the past month and a half?

Ahhh....looking a little better.

Getting there...
Only took me four hours! (Don't worry, not four hours straight. We also ate dinner and I ran some errands. I am on a quest to buy popsicle molds for Pesach. It seems that I am a few weeks to early. I went to like six stores. No one had anything! Every other summer item was available. But not popsicle molds. I'm bummed)

And now some random pictures of some cute kids. Which is lucky that they are cute because I almost killed them when they acted like I was torturing them by OMG! expecting them to (gasp) clean up their toys. I know. I'm a horrible, evil mother.

In Which My Sister Teaches Me How to Polish Silver

So last night I was chatting on the phone with my sister (what else is new) while getting ready to polish my silver. I was complaining to her that I feel that my silver does not get really shiny, no matter what I do. And that it really ticks me off because I paid like $16 for my darned silver polish.

Then I told her that I was settling down at the table to polish.

"You're doing WHAT?" asked Rebecca

"I'm at the table to polish" I replied

"But how do you rinse your sponge and your silver as you're going along?" She asked

"I let it all sit and then rinse at the end. And the sponge? Oh I dip it in water" I responded.

Now anyone who knows how to polish silver is rolling their eyes at my stupidity.

"No, silly, you need to rinse each piece immediately. And you need to constantly wash out your sponge, otherwise you're just transferring the tarnish you just took off right back onto the piece!"

Oh.

I stood at the sink.

I polished.

I rinsed.

Waddaya know! After twelve years of marriage and much dull silver, I am the proud owner of some shiny candlesticks and kiddush cups.

I feel kinda dorky.

I apologize by the way to everyone for all my boring housekeeping posts. But it IS a week before Pesach and I'm a tad distracted.

So far here's where I'm holding:

Basement Fridge cleaned
Basement Freezer cleaned
Stockpile reorganized and ready for covering. But first I need to take pictures of my 38 cases of kids' water bottles that I got for free to share with you guys.
Silver Polished
Shopping Done (still need to buy a tablecloth for the kitchen. Oops.)
Baked Goods Made (thanks, Michelle for graciously letting me use your Pesach kitchen! It was a lifesaver)
Car vacuumed. Let me tell you, that was one nasty car.
Kids' rooms cleaned
Purse emptied

To Do:

Kids need to clean out their backpacks today after school
Turn over kitchen (Saturday night and Sunday)
COOK
Get paper goods order
COOK
Kasher Silver
COOK
Drink Slurpees without touching them (I always have a big craving for Slurpees-half Coke, half Sprite-try it-it's the best-while cooking and cleaning for Pesach. I put them on the floor and dramatically lean over while holding my arms out to the side like a bird and drink!)
COOK
Pick up all my guests at the airport-woooohoooooooo
COOK
COOK
COOK
COOK

Happy Week Before Pesach Everyone!!

And one more excellent deal

If you (or you know someone) are going to be in the vicinity of North and Elston, Stanley's Fruit Market (on the corner of North and Elston) has romaine lettuce for $.49 a bag!

I am set for both seders and all my salads for Passover for $6!

I figure I haven't given you all any good deals for a while...

Soooo....

Here goes. I will admit that this isn't the most thrilling of topics for most people, but some of you might enjoy it.

Sale at Dominicks:

Buy any Windex, Pledge, or Scrubbing Bubbles between 3/27 and 4/19

Buy 2 get 1.50 catalina towards a future purchase
Buy 3 get 3 catalina towards a future purchase
Buy 4 or more get $5 catalina towards a future purchase.

Additionally, as of yesterday, the Pledge Multisurface Spray (blue can) is ALSO giving you a $1 catalina for each can you buy.

There is ALSO a printable coupon for $2 off a bottle of Pledge Multisurface spray here. You will have to register but you can select not to get emails-I also have an extra email address that I use for all things coupon related on line. You can print the coupon two times per computer-arrow back after the first time you print. If you have two computers (or can harass your hubby at work-something I do all the time would never ever do) you can print four coupons. There were also coupons in recent ad circulars.

Here's what you'd do:

Buy 4 Pledge Multisurface Sprays @ 3.99 each = 15.96 + tax
Less your coupons (4 @$2 each) = $7.96 + tax
Pay the $7.96 + tax (here in lovely Chicago that would equal out to $8.77)
Get 4 $1 catalinas towards a future purchase and 1 $5 catalina towards a future purchase.
The coupons will print out of the little catalina machine next to the scanner.
Pay $8.77, get back $9-you will MAKE $.23!!

Additionally, yesterday, all types of Windex, which is also included in the $5 catalina deal was on sale (BOGO) Buy One Get One. Not sure if it still is today-but when you go get your Pledge you can check it out :). If you are a coupon clipper, there were coupons in recent circulars.
Otherwise, here's the story:

Buy 4 Windex @4.49 BOGO = $8.98 + tax
Less any coupons if you have them (I had some .75 ones and some $1 ones)
Pay at most $9.90, get $5 catalina-so you'll pay $1.22 per bottle, less if you have coupons.
I was unable to find any current internet printable coupons. Sorry!
But even without coupons it's still a good deal.