A day of unexpected adventures

Rob stayed up later than usual to keep me company but didn't stay up long enough to watch the end of A League of Their Own. At the one point in the movie where one of the girls breaks down and begins to cry and Tom Hanks looks at her - I echoed the famous line - Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball. Rob looked at me and asked if I watched the same movie the previous night - I looked at him and said no it is like the best line in the movie.
In partial fear of Dr. Marsh not renewing my ativan I decided to try a half dose last night - probably not the best idea on a day with hormones out of control and anxiety about Ellie and the bully. I waited until I was constantly yawning and went up to bed. I noticed about 10 minutes later I was still not asleep - then an hour later, 2 hours later. Finally around 4AM I got out of bed and thought maybe if I went to the washroom I could fall asleep - no luck. Nick tapped my leg around 6AM and crawled into bed with us - I think I got about 3 rounds of 10-15 minutes of sleep between 6AM and 8 AM. Horrible night - I have taken my full dose of ativan already.
We had no real plans for the day - I knew I had to stop in at Mom's for a bag change out. I had read about the Ravenswood Art Walk but the weather was so icky. There was a rummage sale in Evanston. No real plans. We went over to Mom and Dad's and Nick played while Ellie, Mom and I went to change out. Ellie and I had in-depth conversation last night about "my bag" and she decided she wanted to see everything first handed. The thing with the convex wafer - it really sticks - It took a lot of slow pulling and oohs and ahhs to finally peel it away from my body. Ellie asked questions as they came to her - rapidly and we answered. My skin irritation is almost all gone - we used the stoma powder but only needed a bit. The thing that is bugging me right now is that until the stupid referrals go through to the drug company for my ostomy supplies - I am left using the stuff from the hospital which doesn't have all the bells and whistles - specifically - a gas filter on the bag which alleviates the bag pillowing and dispels the gas out of the bag - I am feeling a bit like the marshmallow man right now. I was relieved Ellie was not grossed out or vomiting my the end of the change and Mom and I are confident that if an emergency were ever to keep Mom from helping Ellie could probably fill in.
Ellie pulled about a dozen books from Mom's bookcase for Nick to look through - all about school and friends - in preparation for Nick starting preschool this coming week. We left Mom's and decided to stop by the rummage sale - I was totally thinking of the wrong church and was so bummed because if I had known it was this church I would have been there first thing in the morning - I usually load up on clothes there - what was left was a couple things for Ellie and a new overnight bag for her - Nick was very jealous. We decided since it was raining we were not going to go to the art walk and decided to have lunch out instead. We had a nice lunch at Kappy's - Nick ate his entire plate size pancake - Ellie couldn't finish hers. On the way to Kappy's we passed a shell station that was having a customer appreciation day and hey, we needed gas. We were met at the pump and the employee pumped our gas for us and offered to clean our windows. The kids got out to spin the wheel for a prize and jump in the money machine and Rob hit the big hammer game. Another employee brought me over a yellow and red carnation. The kids got popcorn and water and then headed over for a pony ride - the whole thing was awesome and bizarre all wrapped into one. The pony rides are the ones you would find at a fair or festival that usually charge about $5.00 a ride and Ellie and Nick got to ride for free. They came back to the car with their goodies - a king size candy bar, an air freshener and a couple hand fulls of candy. An unexpected adventure.
We came home and I just about collapsed on the couch. Rob took the kids downstairs to play but they eventually ended up outside watching our neighbors put out their Halloween decorations. Rob was invited to have dinner with a couple of his classmates tonight - so I had decided it was going to be Movie night. We had asked if Catherine and Su'nana could join us and we also invited Jo and Tony and Mom and Dad - it was a full house and Ole surprised us and joined us. We had dinner together - alfredo pasta courtesy of Terese and Jo bought nuggets for the kids. We had yummy desserts - brownies, pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cheesecake bites and then tons of candy for movie time. We all went downstairs and found our spots - we made a beach on the floor and the kids all camped out there. We watched Ponyo - Catherine hadn't seen it and we knew the kids would gladly watch it again. Tony and Nick half watched half played - it was a fun night.
Mom and Dad dropped Catherine off at home and Jo, Ole and Tony went home - Nick and I walked next door to see their decorations - so nice to see another family decorating on our block. I got to do something I haven't done in about a month - put the kids to sleep. I stuck with Rob's routine and Ellie and Nick got into our bed for story time and some songs - Nick was out quickly and Ellie re-located into her room for a final song.
I emailed Ms. Doolas this morning to discuss all the crap Ellie is having to go through at school and I got a response this afternoon - yesterday was the first time Ellie brought it up and it will be addressed Monday. I said I was leaning toward calling this bullying behavior and there is a school rule against that with consequences. I just need to get into the classroom - when I volunteer I have my eyes and ears in tune and can help Ellie out with some insight but there are so many kids I don't know this year I don't know if they are good seeds or bad seeds.
Visualising my healthy body, my continued healthy recovery and the new normal me - whomever that shall be, Tree