End of a crazy week

 It has been a crazy week to say the least. Tuesday I was off from work and working on logging the Minnesota Twins into TCDB. I had planned to get my hair cut, then Wednesday we had band practice planned, and then have Karen's brother come over Friday night. All that changed while Kyler and I were getting our hair cut. I had mentioned that Karen has been fighting a cold for a few weeks in my last post and that the insurance hadn't approved her IVIG infusions for 2 months or so. Well, she always has a 'don't let them be able to tell that you aren't feeling well' attitude, so I was kind of surprised when she texted me that she was thinking about going to the emergency room while we were at the haircut place. Driving home, she calls me and decided to go, and let me know that her mom was going to take her. We met up with her in the waiting room once we were done, and stayed for about an hour. After making dinner, they admitted her and started getting some lab work. Right before bed, I don't believe we had gotten any news other than her white blood cells being high, but then I was kind of shocked when I got up for work Wednesday morning. Her lactic acid levels were very high, and they decided to put her in ICU. She had like 4 or 5 IVs hooked up to her, giving her antibiotics, insulin, and various other meds, as well as nebulizer treatments every few hours for the asthma and breathing problems. It was kind of scary knowing how bad off she was at that point, and she was kind of scared as well. It took a turn for the better Thursday, as they were able to get her some IVIG at the hospital, and her lactic acid levels started trending downward. Exhibit A for the insurance to approve it. That night, she got approved to leave the ICU and go to a normal room, and Kyler finally got to visit her, and they both were happy for that. I brought her a few things from home that she needed, and she looked and sounded better, although not completely back to normal. I guess the plan is for her to stay another day, and depending on lab results and how she is doing, she could go home tomorrow night. I just know her, and I know she is going to plan to rest at home, but won't. It's just been kind of crazy. Luck would have it that I started a 5 day stretch of working on Wednesday, so Karen's mom has been coming to the house around 4AM when I leave so she can watch Kyler and bring him to school. Work has been crazy as the a$$holes at corporate decided to put some cookies on sale buy one get one free, and also hit me with the other side of the hammer and put donuts on sale as well. I have never set up so many cookies in my life as I did today, and I didn't have a choice, I was mixing on Thursday, and the idiot who baked yesterday only had to set up 1/5 of what it called for today. Lucky bastard. I was just happy I somehow got it all done by 2 so I could get Kyler from school on time. I'm baking again tomorrow, but I don't care how much it asks for, I don't have to be out at a certain time, and I can take a lunch (which I skipped today to give myself extra time). The rest of the sale should be relatively easy, as Monday I will be off, Tuesday (when I have to be out at 2 again) I will be mixing, and Wednesday I'm hoping won't call for hardly any cookies and the sale won't be as brutal. I just always get nervous when I'm under pressure or a time crunch, and sometimes it doesn't turn out pretty. 

Well, needless to say, I didn't make band practice Wednesday. Karen's brother is coming over tomorrow, but he will be more visiting with Karen at the hospital and helping her mom out with Kyler. Y'all's prayers must've worked because Karen's Aunt and Uncle (who are buying Karen's late Grandmother's house which her mom is living at) let her know that they didn't mind if her mom lived in the house after they purchased it, and weren't too concerned with us getting the furniture out. Don't get me wrong, there is trash everywhere and it does need a good deep cleaning, but if it somehow keeps Karen's mom from moving in with us, I will go there on my off days to help clean it for them. I've lived with her before, and it just got old pretty quick, and that was before we had a kid and had to fight her when she is over about letting us discipline Kyler when he needs it and to not add her 2 cents when we are finished. He has such a tough time figuring out who to listen to when she is over, and she is constantly undermining us by letting him play on her phone, watch TV, and the aforementioned disciplining issue. If I can have our house be a place of solitude and somehow keep her at arms length (my mom as well), I can deal with everything else. Thanks for the prayers again, and just in case it was the prayers that did it, I need my bakery manager at work to be transferred to another store yesterday. 

After the day I had at work today and the stress and craziness of Karen being away at the hospital, I needed something to take my mind off of the bad stuff. Well, Rod of Padrographs came through with a nice package of Florida's 2 teams, the Rays and Marlins.

Rod has always been kind with other collectors. For a while, he has been taking any teams that aren't Padres, and sending them to guys who collect them. While I try to send cards of non-Rays/Tigers to guys who collect them, I don't send every single card I get. That could get really expensive really quick. I don't know how he does it, but the cards that Rod sent made my day 100 times better. Many sets that I don't really get packs of (Allen & Ginter, Holiday, and Bowman) made it in the groups of cards, as did ones I haven't even seen packs of since the rebranding (Big League). I'll talk about Big League later. Rod got me a number of cards of Taj Bradley, and my collection of him is starting to get nice. As is my Jonathan Aranda collection. The Xavier Isaac card is nice, as well, because I hear people on this Rays FB group rave about how good he is going to be in a few years. 

Another Bradley and Aranda, and a cool 2024 Topps '89 tribute of Randy Arozarena. I hope he goes 40 HR's and 40 Stolen Bases this year. The Marlins were filled with nice parallels, SP's, and cards of Nick Fortes, a DeLand native who I collect. I was kind of hoping to run into him around town this offseason, but didn't. The Chisholm Allen & Ginter is an SP, and the Khalil Watson is an Ice parallel. I kind of treat Khalil Watson cards extra special like he is going to be a star since his Bowman rookie was on the sell sheets of whatever year Bowman that was. He hasn't done anything yet, but there's still time. 

I also got a few Luis Arraez cards. I've been getting a few parallels of him lately. I don't collect him, but I really respect him because he is the guy who kept Aaron Judge from winning a Triple Crown. The Chisholm Big League card is a parallel, while the Meyer card is one of those unnesseccary SP's. 

I am really excited about the Fortes Rabbit (?) parallel. Don't think I'll ever complete a rainbow, but I'll take all that I can get. Thanks, Rod, for the great cards and for your generosity with non-Padres cards. I'll be looking through my Padres stuff and getting you a package in the coming weeks. 

I guess 2024 Topps Big League will be coming out in about 2 weeks. They started out one of the first sentences on one of the articles I read online by saying it was a product geared towards kids, but then also noted that the friggin SP's are back. What a kick in the 'nads. Opening Day is gone, so the only way to get mascot cards geared towards kids is to get them from Big League packs, but they aren't going to be available in the wild, since flipper brah's are going to be hoarding them for the SP's, and it really doesn't matter anyways, because you aren't going to complete the team sets you want to anyways with the 10 card SSSSSSSSSSP portion of the set. What I find odd about the release isn't the 2 week notice, it's more that NOTHING has been mentioned or said about 2024 Heritage. How do we even know it's a thing. This lack of communication with Fanatics is absolutely unexcusable. Topps at least let collectors know in 2021 that they were pulling back the '21 sticker set (even after making sell sheets, talk about eating humble pie). Fanatics says that '23 Opening Day isn't a thing because they are getting used to the whole making cards thing, but it will be back. No word about it, and it's been a year. Now we get 2 weeks notice with the first drop of the design/sell sheet and the release of a product. There are guys that have been looking forward to '24 Heritage for over a decade, and you can do better that that. A least let collectors know it will be a thing by putting up a sell sheet without a release date. I feel like I won't be getting too many packs of cards this year because I'm just going to get the 2024 complete set, so other than a pack or 2 of Series 2 and Update, it's a waste. Heritage may or may not come out, but it might not be till June, who knows. I've never really been a Stadium Club or Allen & Ginter guy, so unless Panini puts anything out, Target and Wal-Mart shelves will be stocked with stale packs of 2024 Topps Series 1 for the time being  (unless you are a flipper and can beat all of the other ones to packs of Big League). Maybe this will bring an end to the junk era we are in now and put Fanatics out of business and some other company can buy them out. I'd be up for it. 

I have been able to get the Twins into TCDB, and might be able to finish the Athletics tonight. If I really pushed it, I could almost get done with a few more teams, but my next off days, I'll probably pull some stuff for future meetups/trades, probably start figuring out and packing stuff for our vacation (13 days away!!!), and probably do some stuff around the house. Hopefully Karen will get better and ready to go by then and we'll have a nice little vacation I can post about.

Lastly, before I forget, one of the pineapples in our front yard looks like it may be starting to flower and grow a fruit. It's about time!!  I've been waiting a few years. Maybe I can get some of the other ones to follow suit. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy