Jayden is sick

This morning started out completely normal with Jayden bouncing around before the sun was up and asking for breakfast the second he hears someone stirring. That all changed when I got a call from his preschool teacher and they said he was feeling feverish and had spit up some. I talked to them for awhile about how it's very hard for Jayden to puke because he has a stomach wrap done. I left it at that and carried out a sick little boy.

About 5 blocks later I could hear gurgling in the backseat and knew exactly what it was. Jayden was vomiting in the car. And he continued to do so the entire way back home. I didn't know if I should stop or keep going. I knew there was nothing I could do if I stopped, so I kept driving. I feel bad for making him sit in it, but just didn't have the means to clean it up on the side of the road.

We got in the house and got him stripped down and into the bathtub. He sat there not really moving or saying anything. I washed his hair and got him out and he was covered in goosebumps, so I knew he was cold. He started to shake and shiver. I got him dressed in some jammies that were comfortable and put him to bed. He said he was tired. I gave him a bucket in case he got sick again. Before long I could hear that sound, so I went and checked on him and sure enough he was puking again. I rinsed out the bucket and brought it back.

15 minutes later I thought I would check on him. He was laying in bed throwing up. All over the bed, his jammies. Ok since I started this paragraph I have had to clean this up 3 more times. I've lost my thoughts.

Jayden has it coming out of both ends and is mad on top of it, so it's making this really challenging. Not to mention I'm running out of clean sheets and blankets. Got to run. Say a prayer for him!

giving away grapefruit

We spent quite a bit of time on Friday night and then again on Saturday morning preparing to give away mass quantities of grapefruit. We went through all of our bags, plus the bags that people brought on Saturday morning. Several cars filled up their trunks and backseats to the top with bags of grapefruit.

One friend of mine came with her husband and bagged up bag after bag of fruit. I learned later that they delivered 500 pounds of grapefruit to one of the dairy farms they own for the workers there to enjoy. She said all of the grapefruit were gone within 2 hours.

Another friend filled her entire car up to take the to Brookings Habitat Restore to give away as customers came in.

A third friend came and also filled up her car and trunk and delivered bag to more than 20 families here in town.

My friend's mom took 13 bags to give to the assisted living center where she works, to neighbors who live on a low income, and to her own family. She was extremely grateful and felt so blessed.

There were other friends who came and appreciated the opportunity to pick out grapefruit for their own families to enjoy.

Towards the end of the giveaway yesterday, we had 2 men from a local colony show up with boxes. They filled the boxes and filled the back of their truck. When asked what they owed us we said absolutely nothing. One of the men asked if he could bring us a smoked turkey, to which we said sure. Later last night, Mike received word that 2 more colonies want to come get grapefruit today.

We are down to 1/4 of a truck full of fruit and a big cow water bin. I have also contacted 2 local churches in attempt to give them fruit to giveaway.

It has been such a good feeling to know that these fruits could have all been dumped at the landfill, but instead will be going to many people who were so appreciative to receive them. Whatever isn't gone by the middle of the week will likely go to the landfill, but I'm guessing that after the colonies are done there won't be much left.

grapefruit

I'm used to having my plans in the winter changed because of the weather with Mike's job. What happened today though I wasn't prepared for. My plans changed because of grapefruit. We were supposed to go to Sioux Falls to finish shopping fairly early this morning, but after Mike received a phone call that there was a rollover on the interstate plans changed.

The driver of a semi fell asleep and hit a guard rail, later swerving and then rolling over, spilling his loaded trailer of grapefruit all over the median and road.

The tractor came to rest on the road.
And the top peeled open just like a can. Full boxes of grapefruit spilled everywhere. Mike called me and said it was probably going to take awhile to clean up the mess.

Little did I know it was going to take 6 1/2 hours to get the mess cleaned up. They had to hand pick every fruit, finish unloading the truck, and continue to clean up the median. Two tow trucks hooked up to the wrecked rig and pulled it upright.

The employees of the DOT and Dakota Service came to help get things stacked up. I'm sure they didn't expect that call either....to find out they were coming in to clean up grapefruit.

They loaded some of the grapefruit into another truck. Then the rest of the grapefruits filled an entire plow truck and half of another one.

Tonight we have been dumping the fruits out of the plow truck through the sander chute into a cow water bin, then sorting out the bad ones, which are very few. The good ones are getting tossed into sacks and will be given away. Tomorrow we have many people coming to get fruit, including people who are eating them and even a farmer who wants them for his chickens! Whatever is leftover will go to the landfill. So like I said, I've seen my plans change because of snow and ice, but not because of grapefruits. :)

time change

I really dislike time change as an adult. It doesn't mean we get an extra hour of sleep. What it really means is that my kids internal clocks haven't changed meaning they will wake up at 5am for the day. After many attempts at telling them it was still dark out and it was still bedtime, I crawled out of bed, crabby none the less. Oh well, I've gotten a ton of housework done this morning.