NY Trip Wrap-up…

I think the last I posted was the stuff we did on Wednesday – which I posted on Thursday morning and backdated it to the time and day I actually wrote it on Wednesday.  (I loved having Live Writer on my computer…such a handy tool!)

Anyways, the rest of Thursday, Mom and I took the K-man and went yard-sale hunting again.  I LOVE NY YARD SALES.  It’s soo cool.  There are tons that start on Thursday.  This one bunch we came across was about 15 houses through a development.  SWEET!  I’m gonna do a separate post on some of my favorite deals.  *grin* 

Unfortunately, Munchkin woke up Thursday morning with a fever and sore throat, so we left her watching movies with my dad.  She wasn’t mad.  

While we were out driving, we ended up on Lake Rd (which, oddly enough, happens to meander alongside Lake Ontario) so we stopped there for a few moments, too.  *grin*

    

And here’s the rest of the pics in which I didn’t blur out K-man’s face and therefore must post privately…

I also used part of Thursday to walk through Grandma’s house and take pictures of things…

I especially loved looking through her sketchbook.  She told me lots of details about it…about 8 times.  But that’s okay.  If she didn’t tell me that many times, I probably wouldn’t have remembered all the details.  *grin*  She’s 83…I’m only 26…what’s MY excuse?  Hehe. 

I think you can click on any of the pictures to view them larger.  I don’t know if you can see it on the picture of the cover of the sketchbook, but it’s dated 1944.  WOW.

Here’s some of the sketches:

Sketch 1: According to Grandma, the woman on the left is Aunt Bernadine and the woman on the right is my Great Grandma Rita(Grandma’s mom).  Bernadine and Rita were sisters.  I think she told me a few other details regarding birth order and how many sisters my Great Grandma had, but I’m not recalling them right now.  I do remember she said the sketch is of them sitting at the table in Aunt B’s house. 

Sketch 2: This is Great Grandma Rita’s husband (Grandma’s dad).  She might have told me his name, but I don’t remember.  For some reason I am thinking it was Thomas, but I could be way off.  I never met him, he died long before I was born.  One of the reasons I took a picture of this page was because of the note from her class instructor (?).  I didn’t understand some of the grades her work received because it looked pretty good to me!  I think this particular one got a (D).  I was a bit confused.  It really does look like the guy, too…I’ll show an actual photo in a minute.

And then Sketch 3:  I picked this one because it’s another one of Great Grandma Rita and I recognized her without Grandma telling me who she was. 

Now, let me show you a picture of my Greats.

Mom, if you’re reading this, could you leave a comment and remind me of what Great Grandma Rita’s husband’s name was?

Anyways, I think they look quite like Grandma’s drawings.  I could tell who they were anyways.  *grin*

Speaking of old photos, here a picture of Grandma at her wedding… 

And because I just love comparisons, here’s my wedding picture….don’t you think I look like her?  Well, maybe not JUST like her, I think I might have more of Grandpa’s features…LOL!  ANYWHO.

There’s some definite family resemblances there.  I should totally go try to find my other side’s wedding picture.  And it would be cool if I had KC’s grandparents wedding pictures, too…oh well.    

Dude.  I have to get moving….this is turning into a REALLY long post and I’m not even close to being finished.  Okay.  Next…Thursday night’s ER visit.

Yep.  Munchkin’s throat got all swollen and although I really tried to hold off till we got home, it got to the point where it was causing her trouble breathing.  Of course, that didn’t happen until like 10pm when I went in to check on her and realized she was worse.  So Dad got dressed, I woke her up, we looked up the nearest ER in the phone book and found it on our maps, and off we went. 

Now, Rochester, NY is not like NEW YORK, NY, but from some of the stories my cousin was telling us from some training she is taking, there’s quite a bit of gang activity.  Not that we are totally crime free down here in the south, but at least in MY mind, the difference between a redneck and a NY gang member is….well, you know what I mean. 

Anyways, I managed to NOT think about all that as Dad and I were navigating the streets of downtown Rochester in the middle of the night, looking for the hospital. 

I didn’t think about it all the way up to the time we got into the ER pediatric unit and got checked in.

I wasn’t really even thinking about it when we were standing at the check in desk in the Pediatric unit and the guy directly behind the check in station getting his vitals taken could barely walk in a straight line.

Then we got back to a room.

I took a couple of pics of us with my camera phone.  Don’t we look ZONKED?

 

 

 

 

Then, while Munchkin and my dad were watching Toy Story 2 on the kid channel, I was distracted by the…distraction in the room across the hall. 

I was texting KC with updates and mentioned the distraction across the hall and he said take a picture, but by the time I got up the nerve to attempt it, the dude never came out again.  Probably a good thing…he probably would have figured out that I wasn’t REALLY texting with my phone held up at that angle and then he might have hurt me.

Scary looking, that guy.  He brought back to my mind the thought of NY gang activity.  Why?  Well…

I first noticed him when he came out of his room and went down the hall.  He was shirtless.  (NO, KC, that’s not why I noticed.  HAH)  Actually, what I noticed was the fact that he had a really deep wound in his upper left chest and he was sliced almost to his waist and he was quite bloody.

Then I realized it was the same guy that was weaving when they were checking his vitals as we were checking in a few minutes before.  Yes.  IN THE PEDIATRIC UNIT.  Which means that he was under 18.  Now, he was bigger than I was, but still.  Under 18.  He was harrassing the nurses like crazy.  He wanted to go out and smoke.  And why couldn’t he?  He could smoke FIVE cigarettes in the time it would take for them to come back and get his X-rays.  Why couldn’t he leave his room?  You name it….he wasn’t real quiet when it came to voicing his displeasure.  And yes, I was pretending not to listen.  Are you kidding?  I didn’t want a wound to match!!!  But hey, this was much more exciting than Toy Story 2 (which I could almost quote to you at any given time).  He had to get an EKG, X-rays, stitches, a Tetanus shot…the works.  And he complained through every bit of it.  At one point, he was complaining about how long he’d been in there and said, “Why can’t you just stitch me up so I can go?” and the nurse told him, “With the way you got this injury and the type of injury, you know we have to make sure everything is okay.” 

Ahh, the excitement of a PEDIATRIC ER.  On a THURSDAY NIGHT!  It wasn’t even the weekend.  What’s worse is that they knew him by name.  And you could tell by the way they talked to him that they were quite familiar with him…and his habits…YIKES. 

They finally let us out after midnight.  With a first dose of high powered antibiotics and a prescription to fill the next day.  Oh…and a stuffed puppy dog for the Munchkin.  I’m telling ya…as pitiful as she was (and yes, she was pathetic, the poor dear) she figured out RIGHT QUICK how to work them nurses.  It only took her once to figure out if she told them her throat hurt REAL bad, they’d bring her another popsicle.  LOL! 

So we left stab victim still in the pediatric unit and headed back to Grandma’s.  By the time we got back, got the kid settled, got the rest of my packing up done that I had PLANNED to do during the time that we DIDN’T plan on being in the ER, and got to bed, it was after 1:30.  And we had planned to be on the road by 6.  Yow.  We ended up on the road by 7, which was still later than my body preferred.  I’m still paying for it.  OW.

Almost done….now just to wrap up the trip home.  *GRIN* 

This gorgeous scene was somewhere in Pennsylvania, I think.  After I woke up.  Yes, I was a terrible mom and played movies non-stop for the kids.  I had to.  Operating on that little bit of sleep, I knew I didn’t have it in me to occupy them otherwise.  So while they watched movies and mom and dad drove….I snoozed.  I got a couple hours in…enough to make me a little safer on my driving stint during the afternoon. 

Yeah.  My driving stint in the afternoon.  Dad rode up front with me and decided after one of our stops, that he’d like to watch a movie, too.  So we pulled my computer up front and put in a movie for him.  Only it was quite light outside and he couldn’t see it real well. 

I suggested he borrow K-man’s blanket and make his own little theater by draping the blanket over his head and across the computer to shut out some of the light.  

So he did.  This is dad in his little theater. 

He provided quite a few jaw-dropping moments for random passers-by who happened to glance over as we passed them.  I’m sure it was quite a shock to see a giant Bob the Builder draped over a person in the front seat. 

Watching the jaws drop provided mom and I several rounds of laughter!!!!  BWAHAHA.  At one point he stuck his head out to find out what we were laughing at.  “Never mind, Dad, just get back under there, quick, we’re coming up on another trucker!!!”

TEEEHEHE.  Mom tried to get a picture…it didn’t turn out so hot, but I lightened it up a bit and you can kinda see this woman’s face over in the side…

And here’s me cracking up.  Although you can’t really see me cracking up!!!

It’s quite interesting to me how mom did this….I’m obviously driving, since you can see me in the rearview mirror, but it looks like the driver seat is empty.  Teehee. 

Oh, and do ya like my smelly thing hanging on the rearview mirror? 

Mmm.  I didn’t drink ANY while I was gone…and I came back and drank three on Saturday.  But I forgive myself.  After the last two days, I felt like I deserved it.  *grin*

And okay.  I’m sure there’s more I could put in here, but I’ll have mercy.  Is anyone still reading this?  If you are, then wow.  I’m amazed.  For whatever reason, if you’re still here, then thanks.  =)

Have a wonderful Monday night! (what’s left of it)