HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam . Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany . In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

Take a look at HEMA's product page. It's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds for it to load and watch what happens.

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer.

B is doing better today, but he's still in quite a bit of pain. That's expected, but still hard for a mother knowing her child is in pain. His dad took him to get his hair cut yesterday & hoped that it'd help him to get out of the house, get some fresh air, & to try to get used to being up & moving around. His real test will be tomorrow when he has to return to school. He'll be on crutches making it had to carry his books & get around, plus he has to wear his knee immobilizer brace that keeps his right leg totally straight. He has Lortab for pain, but I'm not sure how he'll handle that & school. B goes to vocational school for the last part of his day to machine shop. I'm not sure they will or should let him work on machines while under the influence of the pain meds. He's not supposed to.... I know he'll be completely wiped out by the time school is over.

Tomorrow (Monday) is the last regular-season basketball game. Lucky for me, it's a home game. I won't have to hurry after work to get Lulu, & rush to some gym across the county (or in the next one). Thursday starts the Area Tournament, so we'll see how that goes. We know we won't be in it for very long.

Friday evening, we had a parents cheer meeting for the little ones. This lasted nearly 1 1/2 hours! I now have Lulu registered for the 2008 football season. Sometime in March, they'll have to stay after school every day to learn a cheer, chant & dance. Then the tryouts will take place either that Friday or Saturday. I hope it's Saturday so I can get her ready (hair fixed, shirt tucked in...big points for appearance!), & be there. I was at work last year & got there just before they announced who had made the squad.

I inquired about Lulu's registering for her softball as I've never received notice, & found that they already are! So, I got another form for that. I got it completed & took it up to the gym Saturday morning. Now she's registered for her softball. Her practice will be starting up pretty soon.

Yesterday was Tay's try-outs for softball. Yes folks, those games will be starting up by the end of this month or first of March. Tay did really well & is now a member of the high school varsity softball team. Last year she played on Jr Varsity. I'm looking forward to another season of exciting fast-pitch softball, ball-field burgers, & sunburns (NOT!). I WILL be getting a couple new chairs for this. The ones I've been using are worn out from extreme use over the last several years.

So, there is another weekend in the busy life of me.

Well, yesterday was a stressful day indeed. We were at the surgery center first thing yesterday morning. We went back to his preparation room with him. He held my hand while they inserted his IV & nearly broke it! He's not too keen on needles & blood. He nearly did, but he didn't pass out or throw up, so that was good. It was about 10 when they took him back.

While I was sitting back with him, the school nurse called me. It seems my Lulu suddenly broke out with some allergic rash. I asked if she had some Benedryl she could give her & told her that I was with my son about to have surgery 40 minutes away. She said she'd find some & for me not to worry & to just take care of my son. Cool! Their school nurse is very sweet. The kids LOVE her...so much that they all ask to go to the nurse when they're not really sick. She knows this too. I called her back when they took B back & she said she was fine. WHEW!

11:30 the doc finally came out to talk to us. Relief! He said everything went very well for him. Turns out there were 2 problems. He had a small tear in the avascular part of the meniscus (no blood flow there) so he had to clean that part out (remove it). The back side had completely torn away, but about half of it had been healing back together (scar tissue). He had to tack the other part back. This was why he was having sporadic shoots of pain.

A bit later, we got to go back to see him. He looked like he just woke up! He wasn't in any pain & was still groggy from the anesthesia. His leg is in an immobilizer brace held in place straight. He'll be in that & with crutches for a few weeks. We'll know more when he goes back for his post-op checkup on the 13th.

His dad took him to his house for the weekend & I went to work. This place was slammed! I didn't even have a chance to eat my lunch.

After work, I picked up Lulu to go to Tay's basketball game. We drove (in the dark) to where the school USED TO BE. Back roads in the country that you're unfamiliar with, in the rain, isn't fun at all. I finally had to stop & ask someone. Seems they school moved to the other side of the county last year sometime. So, here I'm thinking I'm already late for her game & will miss it. We hurry up to get to the new school & run in. Thank God the "B" boys weren't quite finished with their game yet (they won!) so I made it in time for Tay's! WHEW again! I sat down & calm my stressed-self down....

The girl's game was pretty exciting. They were back & forth up & down the court with us scoring...them scoring...& back & forth. Tay fouled out in the 4th period (as usual) but didn't deserve 2 of them. We always get bad calls by the refs for some reason. We won this game 48-43 in the last 2 minutes of the game. It was nerve-wracking tho. These girls have come a long way. You don't normally see a varsity team starting mostly freshmen players. They're getting experience for next year.

When we left the gym, it was pouring down rain & lightening pretty bad. We had a stressful drive home as the roads were like a river. I was SO happy to get us home safely! It kinda felt like you've been lost at sea & found land - ya wanna kiss the ground!!

This morning, I called to check on B & he said he is in pain & not feeling so well. He's laying around to sleep & recover - which is what he's supposed to do. I figure tomorrow will be his worst day as the 3rd day usually is. I'm going to his dad's to see & check on him tomorrow afternoon for a few minutes.
I hope he feels better soon... I dont' like my babies to be hurting or sick.

Hope you all have had a good week & have a wonderful weekend!!
HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Hiya streamers! I can't believe I haven't made a post since last Friday, & that wasn't even much of one.... Anyhoo, here I am.

Today is a great day for Tay. She gets her braces off! She's so excited about this! Now she can eat corn right off of the cob instead of having to cut it off like she did Monday night. I remember how happy I was the day I had my braces removed back in high school. We won't discuss how long ago THAT was....

*************** UPDATE:

Tay's teeth are SO BEAUTIFUL! She had the BIGGEST smile on her face!! I'll take her Feb 11th to get her retainer.

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Tomorrow isn't such a happy day for B. We'll be at the surgery center for his knee surgery first thing tomorrow morning. It's scheduled for 9:00am. He's getting more nervous the closer it gets. I'm sure he wants to hurry up & get it over with so he can play basketball again, but he's got a road of recovery still to go after tomorrow. Hopefully they can repair the torn (meniscus) cartilage, but the doc won't know for sure until he gets in there & sees it. He's about 90% sure he can, so that's good.

I'm nervous about him being put to sleep - as any mother would be. When he was getting tubes in his ears at age 2, they found he had an irregular heartbeat. We've had him to the heart doc several times over this earlier years to keep a check on it. They said he would probably outgrow it. He's only been once a couple of years ago & seems to be doing fine since. Still, my heart & mind remembers like it was yesterday.

I would appreciate prayers for him while he's undergoing his surgery tomorrow, & for a complete & speedy recovery.

Hope you're all having a great week so far & remember...it's HUMP DAY so HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

TGIF!! Hope you all have a great weekend!!! Stay warm & safe.