Who needs TV when you've got all this drama in your life?

March roared in like a lion again this year!

It began with my co-worker calling in sick for 3 days and then going on vacation for a week. There are only 2 of us secretaries manning the office and little or no back up coverage if one of us wants to take any time off. We usually stagger our vacations so that there is always someone covering the office. So in those 2 weeks I ended up with just over 13 hours of overtime. (This will be important later in this blog.)

Next my grandma K. (Mom's mom) became very ill and had to be taken via ambulance to the hospital. It was discovered that she had diabetes and blood pressure issues. There is also the possibility that she had a stroke, but we can't tell for sure since she is already dealing with dementia. We spent a couple weeks dealing with hospital stays and nursing homes and all that good stuff. The good news is that Grandma's now back home and doing moderatly well.

Then, my parents and I split babysitting duties for my one year old niece Susie while my sister in law took my other niece to visit her family in California. Both mom and I took 2 and a half days off to spend time with the munchkin. I had so much fun these couple days. Susie is so different than Leah, but so similar to her it's scary. She learned how to safely go down stairs and started to learn how to ride a trike. (She sits on the trike and we push her around.) One day Susie Sue and I had an adventure day and went to the butterfly house, out to eat, and shoe shopping. I discovered that she LOVES mac and cheese and pineapple. She loves to cuddle. There's never a dull moment with Susie, she's a mover and a shaker. I love the way she says my name. "Yo Yo Yo" for Jo Jo.

(Here's where that overtime comes in.) I planned to use the extra money that I got from working all those extra hours to get my muffler repaired on my car and then use the rest on some books, groceries, and a gift or 2 that I needed to get. So, I headed over to Muffler Man after work on Monday to get that work done with the OT $ burning a hole in my pocket. As it turns out, I had to get the entire exhaust system replaced. The mechanic came in and said that the muffler itself had a "HUGE" hole and another part had rotted out and the 2 gaskets were blown. There went all the OT $ in one swoop.

But, I'm not complaining. The faulty exhaust system had been filling my car with Carbon Monoxide. Compounding the problem was that it was a long cold Michigan winter and I had been riding around with all the windows rolled up for months. It totally explains the headaches, dizziness, and exhaustion that I had been experiencing. This is my second experience with Carbon Monoxide poisoning and its not fun. They say everything happens for a reason, so all that overtime in a sense saved my life.

Then last night (Tuesday) around 11 (ish) PM, I got a call from my mom. Apparently the plane that was bringing my niece Leah and Sister in law home from their California trip was forced to make an emergency landing in Chicago. Somehow the windshield shattered and the plane lost pressure and had to turn around to for the emergency landing. Oddly, even before they left on their trip I had a bad feeling about them being on planes. My gut churned each time I thought about them flying. Thankfully, they were able to land safely and are now home. And, no one was hurt in the incident. I know God answered our prayers for safety! I'm glad Hilary and Leah had a good time. But hope they don't decide to fly again for a long long time!

The way I figure it, we've gotten all the bad stuff out of the way for this month. Now it's time for good stuff to start happening. So, as the Cajun's say "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" "Let the good times roll!"