Sleepless nights

We had a string of Saturdays, where we just were not getting enough sleep.

The first Saturday, was Valentine's Day.  We hosted a very fancy meal at the church.  We had someone make prime rib.  We cooked the rest.  We made baked potatoes, a Normandy veggie plate, salad - along with my "famous" Parmesan Peppercorn Salad dressing, bread, etc.  We put out real plates, silverware, glasses, cloth tablecloths, and cloth napkins.  I folded the napkins up so nicely - lol.  Anyway, it did look very nice.  Just one problem, with all the real cloth table stuff, and all the real dishware, it's a lot of work to clean up after 40+ people.  So, we were there quite a bit later.  Then, a gal wasn't looking so good.  She thought she was having a stroke.  Do you think we could find any aspirin??  A lady, who lived right down the street, ran home to get some.  We stayed with the gal, until the ambulance came to get her.  We then brought the kids home, and we took off for the hospital.  We got home around 1:30 AM.  (update on the gal--she is doing good.  It wasn't a stroke)

The following Saturday, we received a phone call after 2 AM from the police department to come pick up a drunk young fellow, and get him to safety. 

Then, the next Saturday night everyone lost an hour of sleep because of the time change. 

Dan had an episode last Saturday, where he passed out.  We skipped breakfast, and had brunch.  We called the kids to the table, and Dan came from about 8 feet away.  He got to the table, and face planted right on the table.  I thought he was goofing off.  He had passed out. He said he was surprised he made it to the table, he had felt it coming on, and thought he could push through the dizziness.   He is doing well.  We took him to his primary care doctor, and they ran some in office tests.  They checked his blood pressure while resting, and again after he stood up.  They did the same with his pulse.  What they found was upon rising, his blood pressure drops, and his heart speeds up.  Kind of a double whammy.  The temporary diagnosis is POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which is just a fancy way of saying that when he changes positions, his heart speeds up, and he tends to faint.  He will be going to a cardiologist for probably further testing (he sees the heart doctor this week).  They told him it is very important to drink water!!  If he begins to feel faint, he needs to sit down, and wait for it to pass.  And, if it happens a lot, they would put him on some medicine.

Blessings!

Book Review: "Patriots, Redcoats and Spies" by Robert J. Skead

"Patriots, Redcoats and Spies" by Robert J. Skead is a fun to read book!!  I enjoyed reading it outloud to the family after eating dinner.  It really held everyone's attention!!

It starts out with the twins, Ambrose & John with their father, Lamberton Clark, running away from the redcoats.  Their dad, Lamberton, had been shot by the redcoats.  He has an important message that must be taken as soon as possible to General George Washington.  The message is written in invisible ink.  Their dad tells them to trust no one, and to stick together.  Even though the twins look alike, they couldn't be more diverse in their attitude and personality.  Will they get the message to General Washington in time??  Will they be caught and discovered as patriot spies??

We really enjoyed this book!  It was fun to see the interaction between the two brothers.  It is a fun read aloud to the whole family.  Even though the language wasn't true to that era, it made it reading easy, and enjoyable to the family.  I think the family would have cringed if it was outdated verbiage.

I received this hardcover book free from the publisher for my honest review.