I know it's what I get paid for, but sometimes I am completely disgusted by how fake I am on the phone with customers. If some variation of the previous sentence ends up on Postsecret, it wasn't me :)

long time, no post.

I guess that's what happens when we don't have much going on. I do like the peace though, and I like not having too many surprises. Wow, don't I sound boring.

Brian's dad did not have a stress test this past week. His cardiologist said no. So now he's taking some nitroglycerin pills, I'm not sure why. I mean, I know it's for his heart but I don't know anything more than that. He's doing well though, which is really all that matters since there's not a lot they can do for him anyway.

The girls are doing well, school is going okay. I wish Hannah would apply herself a little more, but that is always true. We haven't really heard from the boy. He stopped by a week or so ago to pick up some of his things but he didn't say a word to me or to Brian. He talked to Casey when she talked to him so I was glad about that. Otherwise, I probably would have told him to leave and come back when he was done being a dick.

I found out from Hannah that he burned all the pictures he took from the scrapbooks and picture frames and photo boxes. That sucked, so many of them were irreplaceable. I can't do anything about it now, other than be devastated everytime I see the big black scorch marks on the garage floor. But enough about that.

Casey got a hamster the weekend before last. He's really cute and tiny. His name is Larry the hamster, named after my stepdad who helped her pay for him and his stuff. We love him, he's so funny somehow. I guess because he's so small, whatever he does makes us laugh. He's been hours of fun so far :)

Not much else is new, just the way I like it.

news

• Brian's dad got out of the hospital Tuesday. We saw him that night and he looked fine. Good as new almost. He is going to have a stress next sometime next week, I hope that goes well.
• Hannah's senior pictures are back and they're beautiful. I can't believe how well they turned out. I already want to go back and order more!
• Casey made dinner for us last night. How funny is that :) She made pork chops and green beans. Brian wasn't home, he had band practice so it was just me and the girls. It was really yummy and I hope she had fun. I guess she really didn't want leftovers!
• Fun plans this weekend: Going to a show in Lancaster tonight, staying at a hotel afterwards, birthday party for my niece tomorrow and a hog roast at the Eagles, and football on Sunday! Brian beat both of my fantasy teams last week. Boooooo!

exhausted but relieved

We got a call from Brian's sister at just before 6:00 last night, telling us to get to the hospital right away because his dad was having a heart attack. He's had trouble with his heart before and it's really weak because of it so it's always extra terrifying when anything like this happens.

We got to the hospital first, before the ambulance even. When his sister got there, she said that it didn't look good. That he was in more pain than she had ever seen before. A minute or two later, his stepmom arrived and told us what happened. When the ambulance arrived, Brian went over to see him and to let his dad know that he was there before he was rushed inside.

He looked terrible, you could instantly see how much pain he was in. But when they got him into a room and gave him some morphine, he was a lot better. The chest pains subsided and he started being really goofy from the drugs. For a while, no one could understand what he was saying but once the medicine started wearing off that got better. They ran a bunch of tests and couldn't find any evidence of a heart attack, but his doctor wanted him to stay overnight for observation. When we left, he was falling asleep, waiting to be admitted.

There's a possibility that he might have to have surgery later to have a heart catheter put in but we're not sure yet. His cardiologist says that his heart is too weak for that unless it's absolutely necessary. And they're still not even sure if it was his heart. Hopefully we'll know more today.

I'll take all the good wishes and positive thoughts anyone wants to send our way :)

news

My mom got approved for her Social Security disability benefit! That is such excellent news. We just heard about it yesterday and I'm taking them to the Social Security office on Tuesday to get everything taken care of. I really am so happy about this, it means that they're going to have a lot fewer money worries, which is always a good thing.

We found out recently that our nephew/godson has PDD/NOS which is a form of autism. It does explain a lot about his behavior and in some ways, it must be a relief for his parents to have this explanation. So he's on a special diet and will be starting preschool in November. Both of these are good things because his diet was pretty bad and unhealthy before. And interaction with children his own age is always good.

Football season starts today. GO BUCKS! We're watching the game with friends. Should be fun :)