"Long, Tall Sally"

There aren't any really tall people in my Mom's family.  My Gramps was shorter than my Gram. My mom was about 5'2".  She had two brothers that were around 5'11", but her other siblings were all fairly short.  I don't remember exactly how tall they were, but all of her sisters were somewhere around 5' 1' or 2" and the other uncles probably 5'6" or so.  On Dad's side, he was about 5'8" (even tho his dad and his uncle were over 6'.)

I hit my top height as a freshman in H.S. topping out at 5'' 2 1/2."  I wasn't exactly a "Long, Tall Sally", but I was taller than my mom and my sister too.  I couldn't swear to it, but I think my niece is about my height.  When Rachlet was growing up I used to tease her that if she ever got taller than I, she would have to move out.  She never did think that wa s very funny, nevertheless, she topped  out at only 5'2";....a full 1/2" shorter than me....so her place in our house was secure until she was ready to move out on her own!   lol!   I remained the tallest woman in our immediate family.  Perhaps that is why I never felt particularly short!  Because I had family that WERE short and I was taller.

Rachlet's hubby, T.A. is 5"11".  His dad was about the same.  His mother and his sister are both around 5'5" or so.  His aunts and uncles are all over the map, but none very, very tall or very, very short.  Just average.

You may remember that when our Maddie-the-Great came along she was a tiny preemie....only 1 lb. 14 oz. and 13" long at birth!   She stayed in the lower percentiles for weight and height for several years.  Nothing all that unusual, she was just on the low side of normal.  I never really gave it much thought, but I guess I assumed she would be on the short side....like the rest of the women in my family.  I remember when she was first born, I was talking with an acquaintance (no one I knew well), and this woman told me her son had been a tiny preemie too but now, as an adult, he was over 6' ft.  That just confirmed for me that being a preemie only affects children when they are young and there was no correlation to being a small adult.  It didn't occur to me, that M-t-G could be tall!

Well somewhere about 3 or 4 years ago M-t-G began to have growth spurts that would add several inches to her height over the course of a year.  Her place in the percentile rankings began to inch up (pun intended!)
That was reassuring.

It's also a little disconcerting!  It seemed like she had grown every time I saw her!  Well, it finally happened!  When we saw her last weekend, she had grown again and when we stood back-to-back, it was clear that she was as tall as I was!!  There is very little chance that she will stop growing right now and never get any taller.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she nudged past me during the last week and when I next see her she will be ......(sob)....taller than her Grammy!  (Which means she would be taller than her mom too.)   She's still only 11 (6th grade) and won't even be 12 until April.... and she is as tall as a grown-up!  (Okay, a short   grown-up, but a grown-up just the same!!)

I wasn't finished with growing until I was 14.  If she does the same that means she still has two whole YEARS of growing left to do!  She could end up not only taller than her mom and I, but taller than her other Grandma and her aunt!

Either way it's pretty much the end of my reign as the tallest woman in my family!  Of course, it's ridiculous to talk about being the tallest anything at only 5' 2 1/2"....that isn't tall by anybody else's definition.   A fact that I am reminded of every times someone stands next to me and says, "Boy, are you short!"   Still, it was my one claim to fame in our little family, I was the tallest woman.

So our M-t-G could be a "Long, Tall, Sally" before long, depending on how tall she actually gets before stopping, after all kids are bigger these days.  But it's okay for her to be tall, tall women have a stronger presence, they are harder to overlook, and tall people have more self-confidence....all good things!

When I look at the photos of M-t-G when she was tiny, I am so grateful that with all she had to go through, that she is so healthy today.  Our double-miracle grandchild continues to beat the odds in nearly every aspect of her life.  I do have to giggle just a little though, we were all so worried when she was born and it took her 9 weeks in the NICU to grow to reach 5 lbs, so she could go home.  It seemed like forever back then!  I guess we needn't have worried quite so much,  growing seems to be one of her very best things!

"Sometimes in the Morning"

Any woman who has ever had a child eventually realizes that every pregnancy is different.  There isn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason as to what makes the difference either.  If you had a difficult time with a first baby, there's no way of knowing if your second or fifth  pregnancy will be difficult too.  Your best friend might have struggled with high BP and needed bed rest; but your sister sailed through her pregnancies like a walk in the park!  Some women cry at the drop of a hat or have mood swings that are world class. Some women will have crazy cravings throughout the whole nine months for odd things like pickles or ice cream (or both at the same time!)   There just aren't any guarantees that pregnancy will be good or bad.  No way to tell!

But most women (not all, mind you, but most) will have some experience  with the dreaded Morning Sickness!  Some will spend the first six months as sick as a dog, where almost all food is disgusting and all you do is throw up!  Some will only encounter it in the first couple of months.  Sometimes it can be so bad that the mom-to-be actually loses weight which isn't a particular great thing when you're pregnant.  And sometimes it never happens at all!

I was pretty fortunate with my pregnancy.  I was young and healthy and I didn't have any swelling, my BP was always fine.  My hormones didn't appear to be too badly out of whack, so my emotions were pretty much under control and I didn't gain an enormous amount of weight.  When I was pregnant, I actually felt pretty!  I was lucky in so many ways.  Still there were a couple of weeks when I was about four months along when "Sometimes in the Morning" I would wake up nauseated and feeling like poop!  I don't recall actually throwing up more than once.  After that I put some water and saltines right by the bed and as soon as I woke up I would have some crackers and some water and then just stay still for about 20 minutes and the sick feeling would go away.   I was fine for the rest of the day. As I said, I was lucky....it didn't last anymore than 2 weeks for me.  The rest of the pregnancy I felt terrific.  Oh I had the standard back ache and eventually couldn't see my feet, but all in all it was pretty much an easy time.

So saltines did the trick for me!  But other women have a horrible time with morning sickness!  Most of us know of some poor mom-to-be who always looked a little green around the edges and couldn't get past that feeling that dinner was about to exit stage left!  Some throw up so much they become dehydrated and can't keep anything down!  And they feel awful almost all the time.  Those are the times when pregnant women wonder if going through all this is really worth it.  Constant nausea can really be demoralizing.  It's like having a really bad  stomach flu for six months straight!  Despite how lousy they feel, it is still pretty much considered a "normal" thing during pregnancy.

In the years since my daughter was born doctors and moms have gotten extremely wary of pregnant women ingesting anything that could potentially harm the baby.  That's understandable and a good thing.  For a long while pregnant women have sworn off alcohol, smoking, all drugs and medications of any sort, won't do x-rays, eat only "healthy" foods, eliminate salt, even go gluten free (which doesn't do a thing unless they are already gluten intolerant) and so on.  That's great, really it is.  No one could argue against keeping the baby safe and as healthy as possible.

Now back in the day of my mother's generation and before, there were very few women who changed their behavior much at all during pregnancy.  My mother smoked throughout both of her pregnancies.  If she had a headache she took some aspirin (not Tylenol or Ibuprofen, aspirin!)  Other women might have  a glass of wine or even a cocktail.  "Everybody" did!  And both of my mom's babies (and most everyone else's) were born healthy, full-term, and perfect.  I am NOT, of course, recommending that women do what ever they want during pregnancy.  There can be serious issues caused by poor diet and bad habits that can affect some babies extremely negatively.  What I am saying, however, is that sometimes doctors get a bit carried away with all the restrictions.

In the last couple of years there has an easing of some of the restrictions, not too much, but some.  And today I read an article that a research team in Denmark had done a clinical trial on the use of a certain anti-nausea medication  by pregnant women.  They studied a large group of women who would take this drug to control their morning sickness over a lengthy period of time.  Here's a link to the article I read:
Study finds pregnancy nausea drug won't harm fetus .

They found that the drug DID NOT ADVERSELY AFFECT  babies either during pregnancy nor did they see any sign of effects from the drug after birth!  What this means is that, according to the study, a pregnant woman having serious issues with nausea, morning sickness, vomiting, or whatever one wishes to call it, can take this medication to get some relief and they will not be harming their baby!  It is safe!  What a wonderful thing for all those women who suffer so.  The researchers indicated that they wouldn't recommend the drug for nausea that is easily controlled by other methods (i.e., the saltines and such.)  However, when the nausea was severe and uncontrollable this medication could be taken to relieve the severity.

The article did not go into great detail about obstetricians' reactions to the study, nor did it include any reaction from pregnant women.  Given the general mindset of women these days who will do absolutely anything and everything to keep from harming their babies, I have a feeling that there won't be any great increase in the drug's usage any time soon.  So many people don't trust scientists or drug companies or even their own physicians.

At some point, I hope that other studies will be done that will either confirm or dispute the findings of the first study.  If those results are indeed confirmed and the drug does not harm the unborn, I hope that the information is provided to obstetricians in a timely manner.  I also hope that those women who encounter this extreme type of nausea more than just  "Sometimes in the Morning"  can unbend enough to recognize that there is help out there and  believe that their babies will still be safe.   We'll see!

"They Call the Wind Maria"

There has been a wind advisory all day today and it is still in effect until 10:00 pm tonight  We've had winds of 20-30 m.p.h. with gusts as high as 50 m.p.h.  That's windy!  In fact, Hurricane force winds begin at 70 m.p.h., just to put it into perspective!    There was no precipitation accompanying the wind.  In fact it was most sunny outside....with a lot of blowing!

Trees and shrubs are bending and whipping around, and fences are blowing down all over town.  Tree branches and yard debris litter lawns and parking lots.  Dust and dirt fill the air at times, looking very much like a dust storm that you often see in open desert-y kinds of terrain.  Street signs and stoplights are bouncing around in the wind and look none too secure.  I didn't see any that actually came loose, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it did happen!

I was having lunch in a restaurant this afternoon and the lights flickered and went out  about 5 or 6 times.  Every time the lights when out and the emergency lights came on, you could hear a chorus of groans and muffled yells of frustration coming out of the kitchen.  As I mentioned it was a mostly sunny day, so the seating areas of the restaurant were not plunged into darkness periodically.  There were lots of windows, so you could still see.  The kitchen however, is buried in the middle of the building with no windows at all.  I surely wouldn't want to be slicing, dicing, or frying something in the almost dark!  And after the sun went down, the almost dark was probably a lot darker!

The servers said that it had been happening all day.  The lights didn't stay out for long, probably no more that 30-45 seconds, but when it happens 5 or 6 times in an hour for about 5 hours, that's got to be annoying!  The servers also said that every time the lights go out, of course, that means that the computers go out too.  That was wreaking havoc on orders to the kitchen and on creating the bills for customers, because unlike light bulbs which immediately re-light when the electricity comes back on, computers took a long time to get back up and running again.  I overheard part of a conversation from a table across from me, and learned that the mini-outages had been happening in the nearby mall as well.

To give credit where due, however, my lunch was not affected at all that I could tell.  It was served in a timely manner and was piping hot just as it should have been.  Kudos to the staff of The Olive Garden.  Nice job guys!

It is frequently windy in Austin, partly due to all the hills and valleys (I think), but today was over the top.  Because of the high winds they have also issued a fire weather alert.  The wind could quickly fan the smallest spark into a major wildfire.  Since the wildfires of a couple of winters ago in several sections around Austin, everyone is aware that, yes, it could happen here again!  So they are a bit more vigilant about fire safety.

I have never much cared for wind.  I'm a small (okay....short) person and if I'm outside, some of those gusts can make me feel like I could just be picked up and blown away.  Strong winds usually mean that a cold front is moving into the area, so usually the winds are cold too.  The wind chill for today as 49F while the actual temperature was in the low 60s.   This kind of wind blows cars around on the road and that is not a great feeling either!  As I sat in my car for a few minutes after lunch, I was bouncing around just like I was flying into turbulence at 30,000 ft!  It was disconcerting!

Since I got home, the winds have died down a little.  I can still hear things outside so it's still pretty blowy out there, but it's not too bad.  The good news is I don't see any evidence that the power went out (clocks are still correct) and our fence seems to be all in one piece, thank goodness.

According a lovely musical, named Paint Your Wagon, "....the rain is Bess, the fire Joe, and  They Call the Wind Maria", but today in Austin, they just call it a pain in the rump-us room!

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"

I am deaf.  The Big Guy is deaf. Communication is lots of fun at our house!

Well, okay, neither of us is completely deaf, but we both have real hearing loss. It is frustrating to us and it is annoying to other people.  Some people have no patience with our problem and are constantly suggesting that maybe it's time we get hearing aids. Neither Mikey nor I feel that we have reached a point where we think it's time to go the hearing aid route.  For both of us it is not really that we can't hear others speaking to us, it's that we sometimes cannot distinguish what is being said!  It is particularly bad when we are out in a public place.  There is so much background noise!  Not only that but most people talk very fast, they speak softly, they do not face you when speaking, and truth be told, they just flat out mumble!  When that all happens at the same time, neither Mikey nor I have a prayer of being able to get it all!

Unfortunately, my hearing loss is complicated by an ongoing battle with sinus congestion exacerbated by a deviated septum.  You see, the deviation prevents normal sinus drainage and that causes congestion and the congestion localizes in my sinuses, causes inflammation and swelling, which in turn presses on the ear drum which results in............diminished hearing!  I know that part of my hearing problem is caused by this because pretty regularly, when I'm driving, if there is a change in elevation (i.e. going up or down a big change in terrain....like a BIG hill), my ears will pop and I can hear much better for a short time.

In addition to the sinus problem though, there is a definite loss of being able to hear certain frequencies that is probably due to the many ear infections I have had over the course of my life.  Mikey's difficulties appear to be more just the regular hearing loss most folks get as a part of the aging process.  The two different kinds of deafness in our house can be kind of funny.

From what I understand, certain vocal frequencies carry different kinds of sounds.  For instance, I was told by an audiologist that vowel sounds are carried at the high frequencies and consonants are carried on the low frequencies.  Most age-related hearing loss occurs first in the high frequencies.  That is Mikey's problem. He cannot hear high frequency sounds.  For instance, there is some sort of sensor in his car that has a two tone, high pitched beep as the engine cools.  Every time he comes home and turns off the car, the beep will start and continue at longer and longer intervals until the engine cools to a certain point.  I know this because I can hear it.  Mikey, however, cannot hear it (and at first thought I was delusional!)

On the other hand, my problem is the reverse.  My hearing loss is in the lower frequencies.

So, in other words, Mikey cannot hear some of the higher frequency sounds....like vowels!  So when someone is speaking to him, particularly a female, all he can hear clearly are the consonants so it sounds something like, "kfgjl ldlrjd lkkfgll; dkt;d jgmvnn!"  Whereas, I cannot hear some of the lower frequencies so all I can hear clearly are the vowels, sort of like, "eioo  ooa iauuuu oioaa yyaoo eeoiii!"   And neither of us can understand half of what is being said to us.  It is really funny when he and I are alone.
sometimes our conversations go back and forth like this:

Mikey:   (high frequency gibberish)
Me:   Excuse me??
Mikey:   (repeats louder)
Me:  What?
Mikey:  (repeats again)
Me:   (low frequency gibberish)
Mikey:  Huh??
Me:   (repeats louder)
Mikey: (mumble, mumble squeak)
Me:   I'm sorry but I can't hear you.  What did you say?
Mikey:  Oh never mind.

Then we go about our business until the next time one of us has something to say.  Now of course, many times, this doesn't happen because we are in close proximity and can add in a little lip-reading.  It's amazing how just being able to see someone's mouth can make such an enormous difference!  But when we are at opposite ends of the house, it's frustrating.

If there is some random unusual sound that occurs from time to time, one of us will say "Did you hear that?"  The other will say "Hear what?"    If the sound is too high, he can't hear it.  If it's too low, I can't hear it.

The trouble is, we kind of forget about the deafness  in between conversations and thus we are doomed to repeating these frustrating talks increasingly often!

We are undoubtedly going to have to break down and look into the hearing aid thing pretty soon.  I just wish that what I have heard about hearing aids was more positive.  I'm kind of hoping that by holding off, we will be able to take advantage some wonderful new state-of-the-art technology that will make hearing easier without all the problems that others have reported.  We'll see.

In the meantime, though, conversations at our house are pretty haphazard and if we're not careful, can lead to ALL KINDS of misunderstandings!  Husbands and wives frequently don't understand their spouse's actions or opinions to begin with, if we can't even hear each other, that lack of understanding becomes a real challenge!

It's really kind of surprising , just how much "attitude"  can be conveyed through "kfgjl ldlrjd lkkfgll; dkt; dm jgmvnn!" and  "eioo  ooa iauuuu oioaa yyaoo eeoiii!"      Not to worry though, we've been married so long that we've already said all of the important stuff!!!   LOL!!

"Sorry, what did you say???"    You know, this getting old thing is really beginning to lose its charm!

"World Gone Wrong"

The following is freely admitted to be a RANT!  These are my words and opinions and not those of anyone else.  They have been written in outrage, and incredulity, and blinding-hot anger.  I am completely responsible for this content.  The thing is though....every single man and woman in the U.S. needs to understand where this could and most possibly will, happen as a result of this event in Alabama!  


Have you seen the latest??  The Alabama's mostly Republican House has shown it's true colors and made it absolutely clear that as far as they are concerned, women have no rights, they have no say,  they are unimportant and the only acceptable activity for women is to crank out child after child after child, and --- this is the really important part, even though it is never stated as such --- stay home to care for those children and get the hell out of the work force!   After all, if women were not working they wouldn't be taking jobs that belong to men!  Women wouldn't be demanding equal pay for equal work because every man knows that women can never be as good at anything as men.  Women wouldn't be asking employers to fund pregnancy leave or safe child care.  There would be no need for any employer to pay for a woman's healthcare except as a spouse and then only when the male employee is willing to cough up extra money for his wife and children's healthcare.  The "religious-based" employers or the legislators could then begin to dictate that their employees must be Republican or must join their church or can only marry "appropriate" individuals.... you know, people just like them!  What happened to "separation of Church and State??"

This is a very slippery-slope and could lead to other outrageous activities.....Pretty soon they will be putting up signs like "Jews need not apply" or "Men"  "Women" and "Colored" on rest rooms, and the KKK will rise again!!

Am I over-reacting??  Are my comments over the top??  A couple of years ago I would have said of course!  But today I find I am living in a world that is changing before my eyes.  And changing for the WORSE!  I am no longer sure that wisdom will prevail.  I am no longer confident  that the forces behind this and other incredibly stupid actions will be stopped.

What the State of Alabama has done is to completely ignore the intent and provisions of the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments, the Bill of Rights and have publicly revealed through this action that they despise and fear women.  This cannot go on.  Really, it can't!

WOMEN:   Get off your asses and exercise your rights before they are completely taken away.  Make no mistake this is NOT about religion or religious beliefs.  This isn't even about abortion or contraception.  This is about MONEY, GREED,  FEAR, AND MALE DOMINANCE.  Women cannot count on our lawmakers to be fair and just and protect our freedoms.  And any legislator (man or woman) who supports this incredibly discriminatory and misogynistic  legislation deserves to be summarily dismissed from public office for blatant and egregious misconduct!!  This is NOT what the United States is about.  At least not the United States that I used to live in.  This is what happens in a "World Gone Wrong!"

My fellow women, look deeply at this issue and it's UNSPOKEN CONSEQUENCES!  We cannot allow this to happen!  Although it may not  happen overnight, at some point our daughters and granddaughters will have to try to break free and regain the freedoms that this generation is so blithely allowing to disappear.  Women, use your own thought process, don't just accept what your husband, father, brother, church, preacher, or congressmen tell you!   Their agenda is NOT your agenda!  You are allowed to make your own decisions and choices.  You are a U.S. Citizen and your opinion is every bit as valuable as anyone else's!

It is up to US, the women, to ensure that our freedoms are not blocked by any congressman, president, lawyer, church, or political organization.  Because if we don't do it, you can bet the farm, that no one else will!