Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Babies, Fall and Me

I don't know about you all, but I love this time of year. I love the cooler temps, the changing colors of the leaves and bushes, I love the wind and the smells of Fall.  And who doesn't like some Football with the hot pants? I guess you could say, I am in love with Fall, and that's ok. Fall won't lie to me, Fall won't ignore me, and Fall will never be mean to me.

Growing up in FL, I remember this time as cooling down some, and though there wasn't a whole lot of foliage going on, I do recall my hair wasn't so difficult to style and for me, that was a major plus in my somewhat slack routine. Sooo wasn't the Princess I am now about hair and make up. I barely wore make up in FL because when you have a tan, why put on blush? My cheeks were always rosy anyway so it was redundant. I barely swiped my lashes with mascara, much to the horror of my Mum and BFF. I remember both of them were always trying to get me to apply mascara and eye shadow but alas, I can't be forced to do anything I don't want to do. THAT still has not changed in my 900 years of me.

Another reason I love this time of year is it's close to Beloved #2's birthday, he's an October baby and now I have my other BFF who is due in October,  it may happen in September, but it's still Fall and it's still something I will now add to look forward to. My birthday is in the fabulous month of November, so obviously, that is my favorite month. Beloved #1 is a February baby, so that's my second fave and then October. I also love Halloween and we all know what month that's in. Complete win win if you ask me, Fall is the diggity bomb!

My spectacular friend that is giving me my second  nephew, is due any day, and the rest of us are so excited. But as a new Mom to be and after hearing all the labor horror stories we all told this past weekend, she's a wee bit nervous and perhaps even a smidge terrified. I keep telling her, we were all there. No one can truly prepare you for your first labor, delivery and hospital stay with your first child. You've seen too many movies, shows, and heard way too many people's labor stories. But she is a trooper and I know my gal Holly will be a pro her first time. She's one of the strongest people I know. This baby is going to be quite lucky with her and her huzband for parents. Both of them are artistic, (not autistic people), fun, intelligent humans and I know Grant will be just as amazing as they are because he will have the best of both of their talents. I just hope his head is big enough for how much brain he will be born with. By the same token, I don't want an alien headed nephew either. Hmmmm, what a conundrum.....Till we read again, Kissy Kissy.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Vertigo...the best dizzy condition there is....NOT

This week I had the delightful return of Vertigo. For those who don't know what this is, it's when your mind decides to f*ck with you. It's quite similar to having one too many adult beverages except when you wake in the morning, it doesn't leave. You experience dizziness, feeling foggy headed (which let's be honest, I already suffer from this without help), sometimes a headache will accompany it. The worst I had ever had was the very first time I was graced with this affliction. We were at my Mum's house celebrating her birthday, so it was August. I had a sinus infection a few weeks before and they thought maybe that triggered it. I go to get out of my parent's bed, since there was four of us, they gave us their room. Beloved #2 was 10 months, and just the cutest, naturally. He woke me up to change him. I picked him up, the room started spinning, and I literally, threw him to his daddy and ran to the bathroom to throw up. I then laid my arse down on the bathroom floor and didn't move. Baby daddy came in after an hour and dragged me out to the side of the bed because he needed to take a shower. Yeah, don't worry about me down here almost paralyzed, take your shower, yea, nice. I say paralyzed as any movement to my head and the room would spin and instant nausea hit.

After 8 hours of laying in this same spot, they called the ambulance as I was dehydrated not being able to drink and or eat. Great diet, right? Anyhoo, my Beloved #1 was soooo cute telling the paramedics to 'take care of my mommy'. Now he would probably just tell them to move me because I was blocking the TV and he couldn't play his games. Love you Skyler. :) My Mum rides with me to the hospital and they inject me with saline and then give me an anti-nausea medicine. After a few hours they let me leave since Mum was a nurse, they knew I would be ok. Back to bed I went and stayed there for 3 days as I could not sit up without puking. I have to do the unthinkable and let my baby daddy drive us from Chattanooga to our home in Lawrenceville. Haven't I suffered enough I ask?

Since that began  17 years ago I occasionally have a recurrence. Thankfully, nothing as bad as the initial time. Usually, it starts when I roll over to the right for sleep, and my body sends a message to my brain that says "ABORT! ABORT!" and I have to roll over either on my back or to the left.

There is no cure, but they give you meds like you were sea sick. I have tried accupuncture and this trick my ENT showed me. You'll love this little nugget, you lay on your side and wait for the spinning to stop and then you roll, yes I said roll, to the other side in a complete circle to move the crystals back into place. Basically, Vertigo is a condition where the "rocks" in your ears become loose and offset your balance. By doing this trick it's supposed to put them back in the correct spot. Sounds fun, right?

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and until we meet again, kissy kissy.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

When A Man Loves A Woman? How About When A Woman Loves A Man?

There are movies called "When A Man Loves A Woman" but what about when our dumbarses love a a man? I have seen women drop their friends, lose all touch with reality and completely engulf themselves into their mans life. I had one count it uno boyfriend when I was in high school. And after a few months we both knew it was done. I have known friends who had to have a man in their life or they weren't complete or they weren't worthy to be in the world. UM WHAT THE F*CK DID YOUR MOTHER TEACH YOU? My Mum raised us to be independent, self sufficient and to love ourselves. Now, she wasn't Mother Teresa, meaning, that if she thought we looked bad she would ask us "Are you sure you want to wear that out?" So if we ask our friends now a thousand times, "do I look ok?' you know why. My dad was a dance teacher, manager and then owner of Arthur Murray Dance Studios. He worked late mornings and then would come home for dinner and then be back to work by 5 until 10 every week night. My Mum is a nurse and then she walked the hospital floors. She would work the night shift so that rarely, we would need daycare. My Mum worked up until a few years ago. She had long quit the hospital floors, but she was in management for a health care provider and spear headed a new program. I'm quite sure she was an excellent, proficient and thorough boss. I know what we had for a Mum. There was no pulling wool over this lady's eyes. Not gonna happen, like ever.

But what I took from that was, I never needed a man to pay my bills or complete me or even to survive. Even when she was younger her parents didn't send her to school with the attitude of 'catching a man'. God knows the one she did catch my grandmother wasn't initially thrilled with. My dad hailed from Canada, so my grandmother, who was very proper as a Dr's wife, called him "the foreigner". hahahahahah. But my grandmother was kind, independent and handled her business too. She didn't work outside the home, but she and my grandfather had such love and respect for each other, that sadly, I rarely see it now. My grandmother also showed you didn't NEED a man, but it was ok to WANT a man. But want him for companionship, love, friendship, not for his wallet or his social status.

When I see some of the girls today and listen to the reason they want someone around, I don't feel bad that I'm not married, engaged or have a boyfriend. I like doing things with my friends, without having to ask permission or get it cleared with him. And let me state that when I say "cleared with him" I mean that he makes my social decisions, not me saying 'hey I want to go here with so and so and him saying no". That doesn't happen with any man I date because if it did it would end quickly. If I tell you where, what with whom I'm doing things, that's ok, but if you feel you have the authority to tell me where, what and with whom, we have a problem. I don't do well with people telling me what to do. I'm a grown up, I got this.

In closing let me leave you with this. If you are liking someone and you want to share your life, do what feels good to you. But don't let them dictate who you see or who you become because then you are no longer the person they once were interested in. Change for you, change for your personal happiness, not someone else's. As always, kisses to you all.

Monday, July 14, 2014

My Beloveds..My Loves, My Heart (what's left of it)

Where to begin when I speak of my "Twin Towers", my  "Bouncers", my life. I always knew I would have kids, I just didn't realize how much time it would take to achieve them. But once we had a hold on the issue, I was blessed with two beautiful bouncing, happy sons.

The first born beloved was beyond easy in terms of pregnancy, cravings, size. The foods I craved while pregnant with him, is now his favorite foods. Kind of neat when you think about how your cravings were from another life you grew. The only "complication" I had with him while pregnant was that he was causing PreEclampsia. No biggie. So I gained a few extra pounds, and I got bloated and had the "mask of pregnancy" pshhh, Skyler was totally worth it. As I have written before, I had to have a C-section with both of my children. Skyler flipped and had his head up and was sucking his thumb and they didn't want to try and turn him inutero. Thank the heavens for small miracles, as I have a high pain threshold, however, none of that sounded comfortable. ;p

As Skyler grew,  he was a happy, smiling, gap toothed baby who loved Goofy. I think it's because he could relate to his gap teeth. :)...Every year we would take him to Disney World for his birthday. He loved hugging the characters, and wouldn't care if there was a line, he would just run up there and hug them. But because he was so adorable no one said anything. Naturally, I was always screeching "there's a line!" but people would say it was "ok" or wave me a sign. That's how much charisma this child had. He had blond spiky hair, and deep blue eyes. He was our little "Rooski".

My second baby boy Spencer, was the biggest baby I had ever seen, but you know, 10 pounders don't tend to be small at all. I was eating pepcid like it was candy, oy! He won his pediatrician the "baby lotto" the day he was born. Claim to fame at only hours old. He too was a sweet baby, and by 4 months was sleeping through the night. Unlike his brother who didn't sleep completely until he was 3 1/2. But I blame his Dad on that. Skyler would make a slight noise and Dad was in there comforting him. With Spencer he could scream bloody murder and Dad would say "he's ok". Nice. Spencer was Mommy's little Pooh Bear.

 I sang songs to both my sons and I even made some up while I was changing them or cuddling them or putting them to bed. At bedtime, both of them received a book reading. Like most kids, they loved to be read to. Both of them still read, just one does it off the computer and the other likes to actually read from a book. I'm with the latter, I still like holding the book and flipping pages. Old school like his Momma. :)

Now one son is a bonafide adult at 21 1/2, and the other will be 17 in 3 months. Sniff. Where did the time go? It goes by way too fast, and I tell new parents now when they talk about the sleepless nights, or the sickness, or the terrible two phases, you will miss this, ALL of this because before you know it, you are the grandparent and wonder how all of that happened without you feeling like you got older.

Kisses to all.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

10 Signs your man is more of a girl than you.....

I have dated some unique men in my day, but some of these guys took the tiara from me. Exhibit A:

10. If you open your sunroof and the first words out of his mouth are "OH! My hair!".

9.   He takes longer to get dressed than you do.

8.   When meeting your friends he extends a limp handshake. (side bar they still make fun of me)

7.   When he has a tramp stamp, and you don't.

6.   When he has a toe ring, and you don't.

5.   When he tells a story or gets super excited and his hands flail more than a 15 year old girl whose 
       crush just asked her out.

4.   His hands are softer and more feminine than yours and most of your girlfriends.

3.   He has less body hair than you do.

2.   He hires people to fix things around the house and do yard work.

And the number one sign you're dating a girl-man:

1.   You think he is done with his hair and he has to go back upstairs to finish. When you  ask  why, his reply is "It's a process!".  

God save the Queen.......until we meet again, kissy kissy

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Depression...it's not just for breakfast anymore..

I try to be real, honest and forthcoming in my blogs. This will be no exception. I will also include some humor so that you get this may be sad but it does have some funny moments.

I have dealt with depression since I was a teen. Of course then I thought it was because I was a teen. I felt so lost, lonely etc. As I got older I would have 'sad' days but it would pass. When I first went through my divorce it was really hard, I was very sad and hated the fighting and arguing that would ensue regarding custody. But again, I rebounded as I have all through my life.

A few years ago I was given a prescription for Prozac and it wasn't for depression it was for anxiety. Things at work and home that had never bothered me before were now too much for me to handle. Which if you know me, you would know that's not me. I deal, I handle and I conquer all that needs to be done. Always have and I always will. I'm not Tom Cruise who thinks people with depression need to just exercise or eat better or just "suck it up". Hey freakazoid, not all of us are special or pretend as well as you.

Last fall I started feeling down and really lost. I didn't want to do anything for my birthday, it wasn't an exciting year, I was dreading the holidays because the only sibling I had was now gone. I felt like a total bitch because my kids and my Mum were being caught in the middle of how they were going to celebrate the holidays. Thankfully, my kids get we will never have the Korol family get togethers we had in the past. They will have time with me, their Dad and their Aunt. I'm completely ok with that. It's nice to see she is finally spending quality time with them after all these years. The problem that I have is that she goes to my baby daddy's house for dinner and invites him to her house as well. But hey, whatever makes it right in her mind. It no longer bothers me. But this is when my depression started hitting, last September.

So in November I ask for a refill for Prozac, as I had stopped taking it for 2 years. My doc did and this go around it just didn't lift me the way it had in the past. I wasn't suicidal but I wasn't "me" either. I don't like being the gloomy, party pooper in the group. I like to be the postive, uplifting, glass is half full girl. I completely believe in karma and giving out good thoughts and vibes into the Universe for good to come back to you. February through Father's Day is no longer a good time for me as when my Dad passed he was hospitalized from February until his passing in April. Every year it still brings that all back. This year however, went so much better. I didn't cry this Father's Day so go me. I had spent the weekend with a high school bestie, Stephanie and her husband Michael. I've known these two since I was 16, and they still make me laugh. She has not changed one bit, which is good. Her sense of humor is what I love about her. I was also blessed with friends calling to check on me to make sure I was ok because they knew it was a tough day. I've said it before and I will yell it again, my inner circle rocks like no other. They are good to me and hopefully, I am just as good to them.

I had started going to the doctor for tests as I couldn't figure out why I was so tired and listless. I love hanging with my peeps, but some days I literally had no energy after either meeting them for a meal or a shopping trip. Again, this is not me. After taking all the physical tests and them returning negative for anything, which is really a joy, I'm at least healthy body wise. I was referred to a shrink so she could see if perhaps another medicine might help Alana get her groove back. This kind woman asked me when these symptoms started and what has happened since then. I relayed everything and watching her face and comments made me realize, ok, it's not me being a brat or being stubborn, this really is fucked up. My friends all told me that, but you know, your friends are going to support you. But when a professional tells you these scenarios are not right, yeah, it made me feel better.

I have always been a self preservation type of person. I will strike first if I think you are going to hurt me. If you hurt me, I will recoil and disengage. After getting my new script and feeling like "me" again, I know that I cannot control others actions or decisions, I can only control how I deal with it or not deal with it. If you read this blog and it upsets you, I'm sorry. I will not, I can not, change how I feel just to save your feelings.  And no, I don't want to discuss that event any further.

 As they say "you do you boo!" That's what I'm doing.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

All Things Thrilla...

I have several men friends that I have had for awhile now. My one friend G, likes to say it's going on 23 years, it may seem that long but in reality it's more like 8. I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not?????? hmmmm, anyhoo, as I was saying.

I first met my beloved Keith when my friend's Mum was in an apt complex and we were at the pool. I have always dated, prior to recently, big, hulkish men. I consider myself a "big" girl so I don't want to feel like I'm going to break my dates. Thrilla is HUGE, I mean he's not tall HUGE, but muscle HUGE. So large in fact, people ask him if he wrestles or plays football. It's so cute how embarrassed he gets all the while loving it. For the record, he did play football and then an injury sidelined that dream. Lucky for us, not so for him, I guess.

Keith came strutting down to the pool, my friend and I were already there. I believe at this point she was already saying hi to one we call "Matthew aka Window Licker". He was always bringing some girl of the week back then. He had a bad break up and didn't want to get tied down, no worries dude, you are young, go for it. So Matthew and my friend are very, very chatty people. I like to stay close to my peeps unless I've had a few brews then I can be just as chatty. Keith was like me. He comes down quietly in his God awful UGA swimsuit, barf, and even that didn't deter us from getting to know him. He was sweet, quiet and once he got drinking would say stuff and we'd be looking at each like " wtf did he just say?" We tease Keith because he mumbles and his brother Ryan tells me, he has always done this and does it with the fam so I no longer feel it's just us. We used to say to him that it was a good thing he was pretty, bc sometimes the brain wasnt working. But we all have those moments, they call mine AlanaLand.

Like all my friends, Thrilla would be there for you when and if you needed him. No questions asked. He is kind, thoughtful, loving, sweet, hot, funny and sometimes a big dork. But he has a lot of kind hearted friends around him that he has known for years, that tells you something. Thrilla makes our vacays, our pool time, and our club time more funny and special. Love you for all you are and all you do Keith. Muah!