Summer Plans!!

Two really cool things my mom did for me when I was a kiddo were a) send me to summer camp and b) plan mother/daughter trips for the two of us. We went to London, and New York City, and Disneyland/Universal Studios and Washington D.C. and Hawaii together. And I got to go to a summer camp that I dearly loved (and still do) every summer from age 10 to 16. I know she had to save like CRAZY to make these things happen, but she never made it seem like a sacrifice. It was just fun. Now that I'm a parent of an almost-six-year-old, I can fully understand how much being able to do these things for me meant to her.

Dah and I have taken The Geej to a couple of places--the beach on South Padre Island and the Hyatt Hill Country/Sea World in San Antonio--and both of those trips were really fun and nice. But I just booked our best trip yet: In August, we're going to San Diego to stay in a kick-ass hotel with awesome pools and kids' stuff AND we're going to go to LEGOLAND and the San Diego Zoo.

Here's the kick ass hotel:

See? GORGEOUS!! Holy crap, the smoke is still coming off of my MasterCard after all of the online booking and pre-payment that went on today. However, I'm so excited that it doesn't even matter.

And how sweet is this: They've got this special "Africa" thing going on at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and I'll be damned if the summer camp she's in right now isn't totally focused on learning about Africa! It was meant to be, people. Hakuna ma tada!

So my plan is to give her a card on her birthday with a calendar page in it marking down the days until we leave, along with a map that shows where we'll be traveling to and pictures printed off of the hotel, Lego Land and Zoo websites. I'm about to burst!!

Speaking of her birthday, I booked this (yes, on my poor MasterCard once again) for Miss Thang's party:

She'd only been asking for a "bouncy house waterslide birthday party" since, um, Christmas, so I figured it had to happen. Our back yard is wide, but not very deep, so we had to (thankfully) opt for one of the smallest options. But, as they say, it's not the size that matters.

I'm also happy to say that I've booked a weekend trip to see some of my girls in Florida in July. Yes, it's the same crew I visited in spring '09 (plus a couple of additions), so I can only imagine what kind of fun we're going to have. I doubt we'll be aggressively flauted again. But you never know...

Seriously?!

My last post was on June freakin' first?! Wow. That's lame. Even for me. But the truth of the matter is I have been one BUSY lady. Between work being cranked up to eleven and having to do the childcare mambo during the week-and-a-half between school's end and the beginning of The Geej's first summer day camp, I've been running around like the proverbial recently headless chicken.

So here are a bit of the recent haps:

My baby is officially not a kindergartner any more. I haven't fully wrapped my head around this fact, due in large part to the fact that she's going to be attending a 6 wk. day camp at the school she just "graduated" from starting Monday. So yes, she's done with kindergarten, but she's not finished attending her old school yet. Which is JUST FINE, mind you. I'm not nearly as ready for her to start first grade as she is. It's going to be a big adjustment for the both of us, but I may be the one who freaks out the most. We'll see...

Speaking of The Geej, I'm trying to figure out what to do to celebrate her big SIXTH birthday that'll be coming up at the end of July. She's requested a "bouncy house waterslide" party, which is possible (I think), but now I'm wondering if a surprise trip to San Diego/Legoland might be a bigger hit. Hmmm...

If we DO do the San Diego thing, then it means I won't be able to do a girls' weekend with some old friends like I did last year, and that would sort of suck.

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Other news--

So far this new thyroid hormone replacement prescription seems to be working MUCH better than my previous dosage. Thank GOD! I'm not at 100%, but I'm far better than I was when I wrote my last post.

If you've seen me recently, then you know how HORRIBLE my roots are. I've gone longer between a haircut/highlight this go 'round than I have in, well, forever, and the results are downright fugly. So now that my roots are (literally) at least 3 " long, I'm thinking of telling my hairdresser I want to try my natural color with just a few highlights around the face. Mind you, my natural color at this point is probably 30% gray, so when I say "natural" I'm actually talking about the color that makes up the other 70% of my root color: a gloriously boring dishwater blondish brown. Sounds sexy, no? But hey, I need to face the fact that I just don't have the time, money or physique to pull off the "No seriously, I AM this blonde" look anymore.

Next thing you know, I'm going to purchase a monagrammed, Bedazzled fanny pack and some denim capri pants with an elastic waistband.

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I SWEAR I have more to write about, but I'm just too tired to do so this evening. So, until later...

On the going crazy

This morning I went to the endocrinologist for the first time since beginning the Levoxyl (thyroid replacement) meds about 6 weeks ago. It's been a wild ride, as I've mentioned, and I wasn't surprised at all when I was told that my TSH level (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) was too high. What this basically means is that my meds need to be adjusted so that I'm not having to struggle against hypothyroidism and all of the wonderful perks that come with it. I got a new prescription with the upped dosage that I'll start taking tomorrow. Then, in six more weeks, they'll test my TSH levels again to see if I'm where I should be or if I require another adjustment.

I knew that all of this was going to take time and that adujustments would need to be made. But the only thing that's kept me clinging to a slim sliver of sanity is the fact that I know that (most of) the craziness in my head is due to my system being out of whack and that it's a temporary situation that's in the process of being "fixed". Because people, I've gotta tell you, if I DIDN'T know this? I would've checked myself into the loony bin or swallowed a handful of sleeping pills weeks ago.

I literally feel like there's someone or something else punching the buttons in my brain. I have little control over how I react and respond to things. I cannot focus to save my life (which is making work very difficult for me). I can't remember shit. I have days of relative normalcy followed by days when I can barely force myself out of bed because I am overwhelmed with fatigue and depression. I cry at least once a day. My skin is so ashy, dry and itchy, that it's maddening. My hair is falling out by the handful, and I have one helluva a time sleeping through the night.

When I am around people (other than my immediate family), I work hard to "keep it together". But the effort required to do that is exhausting and only adds to my feeling of insanity. And then my poor family has to deal with the full-tilt crazy Karla May. It's not been fun for any of us.

I just had no idea that the absence of one little gland could cause this much internal chaos. And just so you know, I'm not looking for pity with this post. Just understanding.

Headline News

Remember the Kactus Kitteh Kollection (tm) given to me by my mom some time ago? I hate to tell you this, but it seems as if one of the kittehs has developed a pretty serious looking brain tumor. It's growing right out of head above her right ear. Sad, no?

In happier news, some Morning Glory seeds I planted a while back have taken off, and we got our first bloom last weekend:

And in non-plant related news, it appears that Doug is a big fan of warm, clean piles of men's underwear and socks: