games – Page 2 – Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

Fun and Games

April 2, 2018

Fun and Games

Yesterday for Easter Sunday we went to an Easter Party with the Landmark Family. Any time we get together is a party. (You should come on Saturday nights at 6:30pm, it’s never boring!) We call ourselves the Landmark Squirrels, which inspired a group of children’s books too!

This time there was food, (we have some amazing cooks in our church!) games, (the relay race had a sack race, egg-n-spoon-carry, and hopscotch – it was very entertaining!) and lots of good company.

While the adults were eating and chatting, two almost-three-year-old boys, flaunting their independence and comradeship, had wandered off. They had discovered a sand pit!

I decided to get a little closer! One of those sandmen was mine – Lucas, in the striped shirt. I know, they are both in blue & jeans but that was not planned! Lucas loves playing with Grayson. Anytime we are going to church, he reminds us days in advance, “I go to Grayson’s church!” We’d been planning attending this party for at least a week, so Lucas kept reminding us anytime someone said “Easter” – “I’m going to play with Grayson on Easter!”

Trying to get a close up without disturbing wild animals in their play is challenging! I managed two more shots before Lucas spied me.

The children found hidden Easter eggs. Most were filled with candy (the prize ones had money!) but Kimberly said she found the best prize egg of all – it had a lovely little flower in it!

We played bean bag toss and the little ones chased bubbles. We chatted about fun things and ate delicious food. Most of my youngsters chose carrot cake and brownie-like cupcakes over their candy. That is, until the boys drifted away and demolished an entire basket of candy, secretly (or so they thought!) but they’d been spied. (Moms are wise here; they knew the boys dropped more chocolate in the sand than what got in their mouths so this piracy was actually a good thing.) We had a wonderful time! It’s always fun to get together with family! I always wish I never had to leave.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

The Demon – (aka jab test)

March 2, 2018

The Demon (aka jab test)

Well, it ended up that the evening of the day someone broke into our van and I got sick, it wasn’t just a fever and go thing. The fever didn’t want to go away (all my life low fever & cough might take a while, but rest, food, and a few days and it’s usually gone) and the cough felt deep and odd. I have a sneaky feeling I’ve fought this off before (as a kid, when “sleep, hot potato soup, and pink medicine” made it disappear in a week) but at this stage in my life the distant memory of a thing called “sleep” and the vibrant energy of my work and home was not working in my favor. Nine days and low fever, I wasn’t doing a good enough job – I needed antibiotics.

I didn’t want to go to the clinic because, although Louis thinks we have a “plan” nothing ever works in my family’s favor financially when I get hurt/sick. So I was worried about the cost of clinic plus antibiotics. Louis is like, the clinic is free. (no, it was $75) Then when I see a doctor, she’s like “we can’t help you because your O2 (oxygen) levels are too low, you have to go to the ER.” (2 pts, just 2pts!)

Really? I was so frustrated and totally wanted another clinician’s opinion as hopefully someone would just give me the antibiotic I needed and send me home. I did not want thousands of dollars of garbage so I could get a bottle of pills. (I knew it was pneumonia: why couldn’t I just call old man Gower’s Drugs and get a prescription delivered to my house? I don’t care how many release of liability forms I have to sign.)

Instead, Louis has my mom on the phone when he picks me up – and instead of trying Healing Arts for a second opinion (where I wanted to go in the first place) – it’s just ER. (Oh, side note? I think the O2 machine at the clinic was straight-up-kooky-dooks because my O2 levels at the ER? 94.) Supposedly way higher than at the clinic. No wonder the physician looked at me like I was hissing words. And have you ever done a flu “jab” test? (I will 100% avoid the hospital FOREVER simply because of that demon – I now have a fear worse than needles! this makes my white-coat-phobia totally valid!) After that assault, my perfectly healthy nose was bleeding, swollen, running, and the next CNA to enter asked if I had been like this for 9 days? (HAHA, no, some dude jabbed a stick up my nose, and this eyes watering and burning, nose running, bloody discharge, is brand new. Want to know how afraid of this place I was before this? Now you won’t get me in IF I’m really dying.)

At least these two came in to do the one thing needed that I guess a clinic can’t do. XRay. Bingo, with that picture, even a laymen could see junk in half of my left lung. Great. The blood guy (who used to work with Louis – everyone in this town knows Louis) asks if I know why I’m here. I’m like, yes, pretty sure what I thought was a normal cold with a cough is pneumonia. He asks about pain. Only in my nose. Supposedly there’s great chest pain associated with pneumonia that I had lacked to mention (guess my body is just a unique biological specimen – maybe that’s why taking Benadryl for a few bites turns my entire body into a solid rash worse than chicken pox for a week). Louis says I have a huge pain tolerance.

Becca, Mom, and Anastasia show up (I’m sure Becca is here just to remind me of children.) By this time they know its pneumonia the only guess is am I staying? Another nurse does a breathing treatment, during which Becca is constantly asking me questions and I’m giving her eyes. Anastasia sits with her Ipad and Minnie Mouse and is smiling. Louis still looked worried. Then we’re told, “oh, you can go home, we’re just waiting on paperwork.” A pill for 10 days with orders to sleep and not work. (WHO am I kidding?? That isn’t going to happen. But I will try my best.)

So I’m home, trying to rest playing a weird game with my girls. The perfect question pops up (this is some teen personality game for “what faction would you be in Divergent” so I do not know why this question is there) it reads “you are trapped on an island with your crush: you do… a) b) c) d) or e) relax and enjoy! You finally have some alone time! (And this is making me laugh the entire evening away – because I’d totally be YIPPPEEEE NO PHONES because I could totally go all Swiss Family Robinson and LOVE it forever as long as my family was there.)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Chilly Hill Fun

Our fun outing to see the St Augustine boat parade at Castillo De San Marcos (rolling down the hill is their “best” part!)

December 10, 2017

Chilly Hill Fun

We’re usually busy on the weekends. Because of an unexpected break, we discovered we could go to the bayfront to watch the boats parade by dressed up in Christmas lights.

So, Mom, sisters, cousin, and brother all gathered into the van (we had to go pick one sister up from her event to join us!) and made our way to the free “nights of lights shuttle” parking area. This was my first time using this service, and it was fantastic! We arrived at the bus stop (county health department) about 4:30pm. The girls played “rock, paper, scissors” and softly sang along to the Christmas songs while Lucas announced the passing of every bus, big truck, and string of Christmas lights; usually adding “we on a bus, Mom!” We were at the parking garage drop off & did the short walk to the fort to arrive just before 5pm.

At that moment, although it was Florida chilly (low 60s) the wind chill wasn’t too bad. I kept reminding the girls to put on their jackets (which, like most younglings, they had tried to “forget” both at home and in the van).

Four girls and Lucas rolled down the fort hill (Lucas actually rolled in the flat dirt, much to the entertainment of his older sisters), ran about playing some version of “Tag” with any other child who crossed their path, and periodically bounced to the older girls’ perch on the bayfront wall asking, “are the boats coming yet?”

Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Anastasia spied a Fire Department boat with red lights and a Police boat with blue lights that appeared to be racing! They each cheered for their favorite color – blue won. But the red one stayed right in front of our spot so Lucas yelled “Hi, red fire boat!” almost every time he glanced that way for the next 20 minutes.

Finally, the boats started to line up. It was nearly 6pm and the temperature was reading low 40s with 30s wind chill! The girls were huddled together like ducklings next to mom while Louis turned into an “emperor penguin” wind barrier.

The boats were beautiful! (I have to get a camera that takes good night pictures! Everything after dark was blurry.) The first was a pirate ship! The cannon from the fort fired three shots! The girls claimed the pirate boat fired back… they were too cold to duck and cover. Then came the gingerbread-cookie boats. Anastasia and Jillian decided they tasted good and began to make chomping noises and say “yummy boat” in deep voices. By the time the neon purple one circled to the far side, the girls were frigid and when Anastasia said, “can we please go to the warm bus?” Lucas added, “bye bye boats!” and we started back.

We also had to get Christina back to CAP before 8pm!

After the fastest .7 mile family walk with Louis timing (aided by a sturdy double stroller), we boarded the warm bus and sang songs while Jillian and Anastasia goofed off and Lucas reminded everyone about each boat he had seen.

We got Christina back in time. Before we got home, only Mom and Rebeccah were still awake. So we will leave you as we snuggle with the sleepies on the couch and start watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” to end our perfect day!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Tag: games

Fun and Games

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The Demon – (aka jab test)

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Chilly Hill Fun

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