a rambling appt update and other stuff too

I had an appointment and ultrasound this morning. I have an appointment on Friday morning too, but it's more of a formality and meeting with one of the many docs more than anything else.

My weight was 296 so up one pound. That's 5 pounds total gained from my initial weight at 291 at 9 weeks. At that point my home scale said 286, which is what I was before becoming pregnant so I'm equating a 5 pound difference between home and doc office. They took my blood sugar, so they have a base level. The appointment was the MFM side of things and they like to have at least ONE on record. My blood pressure was high at 136/88, but it was also one of those automatic things (which recorded high last week too) and those seem to always come out higher than having a person do it. I think it's a little elevated, but it's also hot and muggy here, so retaining water and the headaches are part and parcel of that. I measured at 44 today. 3 weeks ago it was 38. I forgot to ask this past Friday what I was.

Both babies are currently head down and it seems like they are back to back. Jack's head is in my pelvis where it "should" be and Abbey is trying to edge him out, though she is up a bit higher. That certainly explains the recent increase in pelvic pain and pressure! For at least the last week I've had horrid pain my hips and it has felt like someone was driving their head between my hips and pelvis and shoving them apart. Now I understand it is actually SOMEONES and they are both doing it! They may or may not stay both head down. I need to ask on Friday if they'll do an ultrasound if/when I go in in labor to find out where the babies are laying.

Jack's kidney is fine. The dilation is right at where they worry about it being an issue, and it may in fact be a little smaller because he kept moving they weren't able to get a really good look at it. They want me to do kick counts, but it seems like a joke. How do I keep track of which baby is kicking, especially when they are both in what seems to be CONSTANT motion? Jack is weighing in at 4 pounds and Abbey is 4 pounds and 13 oz. I asked about the size difference, especially considering that up until now they have been really close together, and they are still within a close distance so I'm told that there is no worry there. I had to schedule an appt to go back in 4 weeks and have the babies measured again, however there is high doubt that I will still be pregnant then, so I just had her put me on the schedule for whenever and if it looks like I may make it that point, I'll reschedule it because it is currently set for 7:40 in the morning. Yeah right, I already know there is no way I'd make it to that appointment, not that early in the morning!

I'm going to pick up evening primrose oil and start taking that tonight. I'll start doing the vaginal suppositories next week once I hit 34 weeks. It has the added benefit that it helps stabilize my mood so I get that along with softening the very stubborn cervix. With both babies being head down, it'd be a midwife that delivers if I were to go in to active labor on my own. When I asked a couple months ago, I was told it'd be a midwife checking on me the entire time I was in labor anyway and the doc would only make an appearence once I was moved to the O.R. for the delivery and to "catch", which is something I'm very ok with. Now the trick is for my cervix to actually cooperate and open on it's own and put me in to labor. The contractions my body can do, it seems the cervix is the stubborn part of the equation. Once I get to 34 weeks they won't try to stop any labor and once the cervix gets to 4 cm they would keep me as being in active labor and delivering soon.

I reserved and paid for the kids' train tickets to Wisconsin today. They'll be gone from July 7th to August 4th. The come back date can be changed to a later date if we really need to because the babies are born much later (actually making it to July 31st or there abouts) than what the current thinking is. Honestly it'll be nice to have them gone for that long. It will give me one on one time with Izzy. Also things will be a bit more relaxed and less stressful, at least until the babies are born.

We are doing the final prep stuff to get ready. Jason has the next 3 days off (he had today off as well) so we are going to be focusing on getting our regular laundry caught up (so I can start organizing and getting the kids packed up) as well as getting the newborn and 0-3 month clothes and the baby bedding all washed up. On the agenda as well is getting the last bit of the office reorganized and getting one of the moses basket stands (we only have one, the coffee table will work very well as the other) up and reinforced (it's just 2 bars, one at each end of the basket right now, and are not comfortable with it like that). We need to try out where we are going to put the infant seats in the van. I'm thinking the far back and they can go in and out over the top of the back seat, but we'll see how that works. We'll get those installed once the older kids are gone and we no longer need those seats for them. I would like to sew another moses basket cover (the current 2nd one is fleece and I think it will be much too hot) but I don't know if that will get done or not.

The heat is really killing me, but we'll make it work. I need to pick up some box fans for the upstairs. We are on putting ceiling fans in up there, but right now, we have our focus elsewhere. I would like to get those in before the kids come back, or shortly after that. 2 of the lights up there stopped working anyway and they have to be replaced, so we are just going to buy fan/light combos. We know that having those in the 3 main rooms (boys room, girls room, play room) will really help with the air flow and keeping things cooler up there. Shoving box fans in the windows will help as well. They'll bring in the cooler night air and have the added benefit of keeping Izzy from pushing stuff out of the windows.

I'm thinking that is all for now, I'm going to go veg in front of an A/C unit until it's well after dark and then head to Walmart to pick up some much needed stuff, like stuff for my hospital bag that I need. I told the kids I'd make smoothies at 9, and it's almost then, so that MUST get done.

On a side note, no we haven't done the maternity pics yet. We were both just too wiped out after Jason's folks left last friday to do them. We waited until the last minute when I was pregnant with Izzy (it was just over 41 weeks when we did them).Considering Jason has the next few days off so they WILL get done. It'll give him a reason to hide in the cool basement setting stuff up during the day so once the kids go to bed we can do them.

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope your weeks are as mundane and rather same old as mine seems to be. Try to stay cool in this heat.

More Rambling Words

I haven't put it to Jason yet, but I'm considering talking to the midwife about just scheduling a c-section instead of attempting to do a vaginal delivery. I'm VERY up in the air about it. I know the recovery would be much easier physically with the vaginal birth, but there are so many unknowns going on with this pregnancy that maybe having that one known, knowing HOW they will be born may help me worry less. I know that we, as in the midwife and I, won't even really discuss it until i'm 36 weeks, but I'm going to put it to her at least when I see her in 2 weeks.

I'm tired tired tired. I went grocery shopping last night and I made sure to buy some foods I can snack on that have some higher protien in them. I got some Boathouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea, which is SO good and has 10g protien per 8 oz serving. I'm going to make sure to drink at least one cup a day. I picked up some trail mix that has cashews, peanuts, almonds, raisins, and m&m's, which has 4g protien for a 3tbsp serving. It's a nice filling snack. I bought some of that pre made chicken breast chunks, so I can make a quick chicken sandwich (with buffalo sauce and cheese, yum yum) and I pulled the package of roast beef slices out of the freezer (yummy with cream cheese). I'm going to go digging for the ham (again yummy with cream cheese). I'm also trying to up my calcium because I've been getting charlie horses, something I NEVER got with my other pregnancies, so it's telling me I need more calcium.

I think I'll have Jason do some belly pics later tonight or tomorrow. It may not be til Sunday when we have family dinner at his sis's place. I'm sure he'll be bringing his camera (cause I'll tell him to) so he can play with it and get family photos and what not.

I need to touch up the part of the wall and the closet door and then I'm done with the wall painting in one part of the office. I need to take the stuff off of the book shelves and tape it up and start the edgework and painting on the other part of the wall. It has an L shape in the wall that is going to be dark, it's where the tiny closet is. I'm also working on getting the dining room rearranged a little so I can get some of my craft stuff out there. I'm nervous about that however because it will be a TON of drawers for Izzy to go through and toss stuff everywhere. All of this is so that we will have room for the crib in the office.

Less than 16 weeks until I get to 38 weeks! These babies may even arrive before then!

I did get through all the kids clothes I have stashed on the main floor of the house, they are somewhat organized, much better than they were at least, and I have a nice BIG bucket of newborn, 0-3, 3-6 month clothes. We really won't be needing much more in those sizes at all thankfully. We'll need more girl stuff in 6-9 as I only have stuff from Izzy then, and I have very little in 12 month for boy or girl, so lets me know where to ask for clothes and what sizes the babies will need when people ask what to get them. I figure the 6-9 month stuff will be winter/spring and the 12 month stuff should be spring/summer.

I'm still deciding on what bouncy seats I want to get, though I think that purchase will be something I put off until May or June, most likely June. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to budget in the dresser we'll need. I'm thinking a nice double one would be good. Big Lots has some really nice dressers in REAL wood, though they are a little on the pricey side. The babies may end up getting their clothes out of plastic tubs for a little bit until I get that figured out.

I'm thinking in May I'll be getting my new papa san cushion. My current one is rather beat up as I've had the chair for at least 5 years and the papa san is a FAVORITE place for all in the family to sit. It's my "nursery" chair. Rocking chairs always give me headaches and I want somewhere REALLY comfortable to sit and doze and nurse that is near the crib. The added advantage of coarse being that the computer will be right there and I can watch T.V. shows online, and we will hopefully have a new dvd burner/player for the computer by then and it will WORK and I can do that too. If I can find the room, I'm thinking of moving my big bucket of knitting in to the office as well.

Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope your "holiday" weekend is uneventful and filled with family and fun, however you choose to celebrate it.

Rambling Words

Being sick and totally dependent on Jason to take care of me yesterday just reminded me of how much I hate that. I have a very independent streak, it's like a smack to the face when I just can't do it on my own. Yes I know it comes from all the crap from when I was a kid and I know Jason doesn't mind, he feels it's what he should do, but that doesn't make it any easier. It reminded me of when these babies will be here. I'm going to need SO much of his help. Even if we do have a vaginal birth, taking care of two tiny babies is going to be hectic to say the least.

Jason and I have "reversed" roles in the house, at least stereotypically. I am very much the "man" with the discipline and all of that and he is very much the "woman" with the caring and nurturing. There are times when it bothers me, I feel like I *should* be more caring and all of that, but it seems like I just don't have that in me. Maybe I do and I'm underestimating myself, or I just don't know how to "access" that part of me, who knows?

Jason tells me I worry too much. I worry about taking care of the babies. I worry about how they will be born. I worry about all the other kids and things that are going on with them. I worry how we are going to be able to afford a 2nd car. We are going to need one, especially if Jason gets the job he interviewd for on friday. However we just don't have it in our finances to buy one outright and we REALLY don't have the credit to be able to afford a decent car payment, let alone the extra money to make the payment.

It doesn't help that I am so tired all the time. This pregnancy is really taking it's toll that way. That usual "2nd trimester energy" just is not here this time around. I'm also getting a lot of those 3rd trimester difficulties happening now. I'm having a hard time walking a lot, or even just standing still. I keep my water intake really high so that I don't retain water, I would like to be able to wear my wedding ring til the end of the pregnancy. I'm even having difficulty going from sitting to standing and bending over is a serious JOKE! I have about 16 weeks left, that's figuring I deliver around 38 weeks, and I can see all these issues becoming more prevelant.

I'm wondering if I should just say "screw it" to planting a garden this season, which thankfully we can't even do for another couple of weeks because I'm definately not ready to do it right now! All that sitting on the ground and bending down and all of that, it makes me cringe at the thought. I hate the fact that all the housework is now on Jason's shoulders. I'm trying to get the kids to help out. There are still plenty of things that I need to do, but the day to day upkeep is up to Jason. He doesn't want me walking up and down the basement steps for the laundry. When I fell and sprained my ankle earlier this year it scared the bejeesus out of him. I have difficulty getting up to the upper level because Izzy keeps throwing his toys down the stairs, even though I make him pick them up, and I trip over them all and Jason doesn't want me falling down THOSE stairs. The office still needs to be rearranged and painted. The dining room is in a state of chaos while I figure out how things are going to go in there. The living room is a mess because I'm trying to find all of the baby clothes we have stashed in 14 different places and get them all in to one giant plastic tub so I know what we have and what we need.

Being sick yesterday just made me realize how reliant I really am on everyone else to help me get this stuff done. OK, I'm done being pregnant now, can we skip the next 4 months and just get to the end already? At least with the babies out, I'll be able to walk on my own. I swear, in the next month it's going to get to the point where I need one of those motor scooter things at Walmart when I go shopping. I suppose it's a good thing james always wants to push the cart! I'll just need to plan my shopping trips when I will be more likely to get a scooter and make sure I take at least James with me. Oy Vey.

Prayers and blessings everyone, if you made it this far through my ramble and rant. Some days, I just need to write out all the randomness that comes to mind, and lately, unfortunately, it isn't the most happy of things. I hope you are all having happier and easier days than what you found before.

If My Camera Weren't Elsewhere

I would take a pic of my middle of the night snack. I was hungry. I remembered we had chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge. MMMMMM. Oh, we have ice cream too! Yum YUM! Anyway, I take a little spoon of cookie dough and some ice cream, and voila, cookie dough ice cream!

OK, I'm awake that the LOVELY hour of 3:26 in the morning because my DARLING (heavy HEAVY sarcasm there) almost 3 year old son is ALSO awake. Apple pie and ice cream at 10 at night was apparently a BAD idea....jeez. Or he just doesn't want to go to bed, either way, he's watching "Meet the Robinsons" right now. He already made it through "Over the Hedge". I'd like to head to bed myself, but there is no way it's going to happen with him awake!

Katy's Christmas gift is coming in handy however. My mom and step dad gave her a portable DVD player for a gift. This evening I've been entertaining myself with season 1 of "That 70's Show". I love that show. I can so see myself in Kitty, and in Redd too!

We met the new therapist today. Her name is Elsa. Apparently once a week we'll be meeting with her as an entire family and then once a week with her and Jason and I. She mentioned something about working on parenting and what not. It was my understanding that James would have to stop his therapy with his other therapist because this new person would be working with him on that. I'll ask her about that next week.

Poor Izzy. He was outside playing today with Jason and the olders. He slipped on some ice. He fell face first, as usual. He skinned up his nose and his lips pretty well. His top lip is pretty fat. Poor kid.

I thought about baking bread today. I took a nap with Izzy and slept til about 5:30. So much for baking bread for dinner.

I see the intake nurse on Friday afternoon. I'll have to do the glucose test, and some other blood tests too I'm sure. I have to do the glucose test twice because I'm fat and I have a family history of diabetes. I've never had gestational diabetes, however it seems they need to make doubly sure I don't get it.

Once I see the nurse, in a week or two I'll see a mid-wife for the 1st time. The mid-wives have delivered all of my kids, with the exception of James. I lived in Chicago when I was pregnant with him, so it was a bit of a long drive to use the same mid-wives. I'm familiar with most of them, with their group. Usually they won't do an early ultra sound, however I'm hoping that with the miscarriages over the past year and a half that she might order one. I know that I will feel a bit more at ease once I see the baby, or hear the heart beat.

One of my worries is twins. I know that there are no twins in either mine or Jason's family, at all, ever. I really don't want to be the parent of the first set! From what I understand the chances of twins increase with age and with the number of children you have. I'll be 32 in June, so I'm not that old. However this will be my 10th pregnancy. I've given birth to 5 kids and had 4 miscarriages. ACH!!! That means the odds seem to be pretty high, at least fluke wise.

Ok, I should go, I think the sneaky boy just snuck a piece of apple pie. Which he really doesn't need. I'm going to try to get him to go to bed. In his own bed. He keeps trying to sneak in to my room and crash out on my bed. The little heathen. Prayers and blessings everyone. Have a pleasent rest of the week.

Clarification

And more Rambling. After all, what else is there?

Ok, the clarification. Yes, I'm pregnant. We've known since the beginning of December. Given my history, we played "wait and see". At the moment, I am 8 weeks and 3 days along. I'm due August 12, though I think I'll have the baby around the 25th of August.

I don't know what we are having. I think it may be a boy, however I was very wrong about Izzy, so who knows. We have names in mind that we would like, however nothing is really set in stone until we know what the baby is. Odds are, we'll find out around the end of February or the beginning of March. I'm not in a big rush to find out. I haven't bought anything for the baby, though I've looked. Part of it is because I want to see the baby on an ultra sound or at least hear the heart beat first. The other part is it is ALL either BOY or GIRL. The middle ground no longer exists it seems. Why is it that I HAVE to dress my boy in all blue and brown and my girl all in pink? It seems wrong and out of place to me at least.

My poor van. My poor poor van. The axle and tie rod on the passenger side need to be replaced. We have taken to driving the van as little as possible. We are nursing it along until we get our income tax return in, hopefully, February. I can take the bus to a lot of places, or walk. It'll be good for me to get up and moving like that more often. We'll use the van only when ABSOLUTELY needed. As it is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go pick up Katy at the end of January. I am going to talk to my sister about using her car, but she may not be available.

It'll cost us less to repair the van, it also needs a tune up, and possibly some transmission work, than to buy a new one. The van has about 140,000 miles on it. It's old, a 1999. The only way we could afford a new van would be to get one that has payments. That is bad. We don't have payments now and we really can't afford them.

I left our camera at my mom's house when were there for the Christmas festivities. We were very neglectful in taking pictures as it was, so we have none of the kids opening their gifts. Oh well. My sister will pick it up for me on the 10th, I hope.

That's all for now. Oh, I do consider growing a human a New Year's resolution. I resolve to make it to the end of the pregnancy and give birth to a human being. Seems like a good one to me! Prayers and blessings everyone. Have a great weekend.

Probed by Avitable via SciFi Dad

I'm playing along here. I said "interview me" so here are the "thought bending, mind probing" 5 questions that SciFi Dad came up with. By the way, he's funny and I recommend reading him regularly, hint hint Jason.

1. How often do you get google search hits from people looking for Cheerios?
I have no idea because my site counter doesn't tell me about google searches. I've thought about using one that does, but then I'm afraid I'd get sucked in by it all.

2. Share one of your experiences giving birth in haiku form.
I had to go look up the rules of a haiku poem, I admit it. Apparently it's 5-7-5. So here it goes.

Birth sees me induced
it always hurts and takes hours
when it's done, I'm glad

Not the greatest I admit, but hey, it follows the rules.

3. Have you ever been to the "thumbs down" next to the mitten?
I have never been out of the U.S. I have seen Canada from Sault St. Marie and I have seen Mexico from Arizona. I also have never seen an ocean in real life. I'm not well traveled.

4. Where would you move to if money and employment were no object?
Alaska or Australia. I think Australia is gorgeous, though the heat would get to me. Alaska has the perfect climate for me. Cold and more cold.

5. Are you really going to stay in and watch movies and order in Chinese on Christmas?
We've talked, and we may go out to the chinese buffet place in town we really like, other than that, yes, we really are going to sit at home and watch movies and eat chinese food. We do so much travelling AFTER Christmas, it's our treat to ourselves. Oh, the kids get to open their stockings and ONE gift from under the tree.

Do you want to be part of it? Then follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Honest Scrap Tagged

Well, Sophie has gone and done it now! She tagged me. I'm supposed to list off 10 Random Things that are honest about me. I'm also supposed to tag 7 people to follow suit. I'll see if I can come up with that many! So here we go!

1. I'm bi-sexual. Honest to goodness. Everyone in my family knows, well at least kind of. I don't think I've ever come out and said to Jason's family (hi Marian and Audra!) and I KNOW I've never come out and said it to my mom (hi Mom!). I've dated men and women. I've been in caring and devoted relationships with men and women.

2. Angelina Jolie, to me, is the sexiest person on the planet. Johnny Depp is right there with her. Mmmmm mmmmmm. By the way, it's not just their looks that make them sexy. It's their attitudes, their behaviors. I feel that they are as true to their selves, their actual, grew up in hicksville selves as they can be given what they do for a living. I don't blame them one bit for not living full time in the states.

3. I hate James' middle name, I always have. It's Harold by the way. When Homer and I were picking out names for James, he got to choose the middle name. My choices to choose from were Larz (the drummer/guitarist/someone from Metallica), Wolf (cause he liked wolves) or Harold (which was his best friend at the time's given name, that he never used by the way). Given those choices, I picked the most "normal" one. When Jason adopts James, James has decided he would like his middle name to be Robert. Oh, and I wanted to call him Jamie or Jimmy, but again, Homer said NO. Grrr that man!

4. If Jason and I are blessed with another baby, we will name that baby Max. Maxwell David for a boy or Maxine Audra for a girl. I really like the sound of Izzy and Max together. However, given our traumatic history over the past year and a half, we doubt it will happen.

5. I got married on Friday the 13th. It has been the best day of my life since.

6. Jason is a great man. He likes to grumble and put on the appearence that he is angry and cranky, however all I have to do is make a funny face at him and he is all smiles. I'm definately the opptimist to his pessimist.

7. I'm going to paint my office purple. Even though I share the room with Jason, it's where the computer is, I'm painting it in the palatte of MY choice. Jason has agreed and really doesn't care as long as it isn't pink with green polka dots.

8. I'm all done Christmas shopping. I'm VERY happy about that. Now we can focus on other stuff all month long. I was able to accomplish the gift shopping along with paying the bills. Woohoo!

9. We don't celebrate Christmas on Christmas day. In fact, we order Chinese Food and watch movies all day, going no where and doing nothing else. I let the kids open the stuff in their stockings and ONE gift from under the tree. Otherwise they have to wait for Katy to be here AFTER Christmas. I'm evil like that, I know. Oh, I often take them shopping with me, so they have a good idea of what they are getting AND we don't believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny.

10. I'm a Mt. Dew addict. I love the stuff. My day just isn't complete with out it. Don't get me wrong, I have come to really enjoy a good cup of coffee, however there is nothing like cracking open a Mt. Dew to help get me going. We drink it from the can, because I have been known to leave partially empty cans all over. Can you imagine how much would go to waste if we used bottles?

Now for those I'm going to tag. I hope I can come up with 7!

Mrs. G at Derfwad Manor
Brandi at My Mountain Morning
Nikki at The Martin Family
Liz at From Somewhere near Mt. Laundry
Meg at Life and Love in Our Home
Rambleman at Rambleman
Aimee at Momzoo

I Know, I Know

So Nablopomo is sucking for me right now. Now, technically it says 30 new posts in the month of November, so I'll do a couple of makeups and we'll go on our merry way, ok?

A few things.

Today is my daughter Vyky's birthday. She is 14 today. I thought of doing a post just to her. I don't know if I will or not. It's still very emotional. I can sympathize with parents who have lost a child. Not having her near me, in anyway, is similar to her dying. However, I KNOW she is still out there. She's growing and learning and maturing. I wish I could see her, to hear what she thinks and has to say. I imagine she is amazing. And beautiful. It might be easier if I had a picture, however I don't. I've thought of writing to her dad and asking for one. I'm not sure if it is fear of him not answering, or fear of him answering that keeps me from doing it. I am sure that at some point, I will write it all out. Maybe even later today, but right now, at 4:16 in the morning, it's not happening.

My sleep schedule has been SUPER weird the past few days. I stayed up all night on Sunday night. I was told to call Jayden's doc first thing (8 AM) on Monday to schedule her an appt. By the time I was ready to go to bed, I would of had to be up in about 3 hours. I was having Jason wake me up before he left for work so that I knew I'd be awake. He leaves at 6:30 in the morning by the way. He would have woken me around 6. I napped on Monday during the day. Then at 6:30ish that night, I went to bed and slept til 3 in the morning. Last night, I went to bed at 9, and slept til 3 this morning. I'm hoping that tonight I can stay awake until at least 10, so that I can sleep a little later. It doesn't help that Izzy has been getting up between 3 and 4 every morning to come down stairs and crash on the couch.

Thanksgiving is next week. We'll have a big old dinner, lots of family time, a good time (I hope) will be had by all. Then the chaos of the "official" shopping season will begin. We are using Jason's Christmas bonus to do our gift shopping. I'll be working on handmade items as well.

The goals for this weekend are to get the house in tip top cleanliness shape for the dinner on Thursday. That means I need to work on the dining room every day this week until it's ready. It would help if Izzy would stop going behind me and taking all the books off of the shelves, but oh well.

I think that is all for now. Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope you have a great week.

Random Saturday

The thoughts meandering through my mind went a bit like this today...

I see the signs all over town "Pray for our New Leaders" and I have to wonder if the "conservative" guys would have won would those signs still be up there? I would think that ALL political leaders need our prayers, especially with the way this country is right now, don't YOU?

I'm going OUT on Friday with my HUBBY on a DATE! Like DINNER and SYMPHONY!! I feel so GROWN UP!!! I know that's funny, however I actually had to go buy a dress. Why buy a dress? Oh come on, you know what stay at home mom's wear. Jeans on a dressy day. Yoga pants on a non-dressy day. Pajama pants on a "Why the HELL did I get out of bed" day. I don't see "DRESS" in there at all.

So many projects to accomplish. I was hoping that I'd have the curtains for the house made by now. Um, I don't even have the curtains for the extra doorway in the girls' room finished!

I've been thinking of a list of things I'd like to work on in therapy. Just so I can give it to her. Part of the paperwork was asking what I felt I needed services for. I also asked Jason to write stuff down. He sees things differently than I do after all.

I'm making beef stew in the crock pot right now. The left over pot roast from last night, some fresh potatoes, and fresh baby carrots, all cut up. YUM YUM. At least I hope so. Tomorrow night we are having a whole chicken. Then I'll boil the carcass and have a nice good chicken stock in the freezer. I want to look for a buttermilk biscuit recipe online and make some from scratch and make chicken and dumplings from the chicken stock and the biscuit mix.

I need to buy my turkey this week. That is quickly approaching and I need to be prepared! I also need to figure out what else I am going to be serving. It will be just Jason's family joining us this year. My dad and Sue are going to be up north with her family. Her parents usually go south for the winter, but didn't this year, so they are going to enjoy the holiday with them.

Jason was supposed to call his sister about Thanksgiving. Oh well, I'll remind him again tomorrow. I need to send out my annual "this is our holiday schedule this is what the kids are in to" email to the extended family. Coordinating Christmas dinners for us is a plan that takes a month's notice. It's also why we do NOTHING on Christmas day aside from rent movies and get Chinese take out. From the 26th to the 31st we are running all over the state like chickens with our heads cut off!

Tomorrow is Almost Silent Sunday and I told Donna (a mommy on the Four or More board) that I would post pics of my scrapbooking stuff. She's trying to find some sense of organization in hers. I can understand that. I'm trying to find some sense of organization in ALL of my stuff!

Jason said he WILL take pics of me all GUSSIED up on Friday. I made a necklace to go with it. I'm working on a headband and a shawl. I'm wondering if I should go with barrettes instead however. I'll argue with the headband a little longer and see what comes of it and take it from there.

I am going to research Craftacular as a possible Etsy store name. I can always go with JDR. I like that. Simple and concise. It also happens to be the initials for BOTH Jason and I, so it easily describes that it is OUR stuff.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Try to stay warm, unless you are to the south, then try to stay cool. It's supposed to be cold and snowy for the rest of the week. It's about time, is what I have to say about that!

You Might Not Know That I...

...Drive no more than 9 miles over the speed limit on the highway because I've gotten so many tickets I'm now paranoid, unless I'm in Chicago, then all bets are off
...have 2 close friends in real life and don't have the desire for more, unless I meet some of my "mommy" friends, as Jason calls them.
...wanted to name Jayden "Jaydenya" (say it with me...Jay-Den-Ya, mom claimed she couldn't pronounce it) and call her Jayd and my mom talked me out of it, and I'm upset because now Jayden is such a popular BOYS name
...grew up with a BOYS name and swore I'd never do that to my girls, and I did inadvertently
...usually read the first three chapters of a book, skip to the last one, read that, and then go back to the rest of the book
...have a very strange thought process and when you talk to me "in real life" I tend to not make sense unless I take the time to explain how my brain went from point A to China and then Antarctica and back
...started therapy yesterday, and I liked it.
...love mood rings and mood beads and all those cool things like that
...feel like I was born a generation too late because I love all that hippy dippy crap
...make jewelry that I give away or shove in a box and never see again, I don't wear it, I don't know why, though I really like what I make
...love to cook big big meals
...collect barbies, not like super crazy collect, but I own 3 that I won't let Jayden play with
...love the Dodge Viper and the F150 Ford truck
...owned a 2001 Ford F150 Extended Cab 4x4 Offroad with the V8 Titan Engine, and I LOVED that truck, and I gave it up for a mini van, which I don't really like, so that we would have more room for our family
...collect teddy bears, when I was little it was stuffed bears, now it is ceramic ones
...would rather have salt than sugar
...love to shop but hate shopping for stuff for myself, I always feel so self-conscious in what I am wearing
...really like classical music and Jason and I are going to the symphony next Friday for a grown up adults only date
...every one of my kids are named after a member of the family or, in some cases, two in some way or another
...recently discovered that I have A.D.D. and I won't be taking meds, at least not right now
...love nail polish and I own all kinds of "weird" colors
...think buffalo chicken ROCKS!
...talk to my ex-MIL on the phone more than I talk to my own mom, though Ma lives in Wisconsin and I see her maybe once a year
...can't accurately remember the birth stats of my kids...oops, there are FIVE of them after all
...think Sweetwaters is the BEST donuts ever ever ever made, hands down kicks Krispy Kreme's ass, and I know because we had a Krispy Kreme in town and it went out of business because Sweetwaters is 100 times better!
...was inspired by Miss Britt
...love shoes, all kinds, but I am cheap and won't pay more than $40 for a pair, and have only paid that much a handful of times
...love jewelry that I never wear, I have a whole jewelry box full
And I don't know that you...

The Things That Come to Mind

I'm a thinker. My brain just doesn't shut off. I don't sleep overly sound. I wake up a few times in the night usually. My point is that I'm constantly thinking of things. Things I want to do, things I want to post, that kind of thing.

At this moment, these are things I'm thinking. Hey, it's Nablopomo folks, you should EXPECT randomness like this!

Jason needs to take more pics of the family. I need to take more pics of the family. We have a great camera but we hardly ever use it. I think a lot of the kids' lives are getting left behind as memories and not being documented. I'm never in the pics, nor Jason. So we need more pics of each other too. We used to take pics all the time. I wonder why we stopped?

Everyone has issues with their In-Laws. It's just how it goes. Why? I have a theory. We go all of our lives with our family. Our mom and dad and aunts and uncles and siblings and grandparents and cousins and what not. That is our family. When we become seriously involved with someone else, either in a very long term committed relationship or legal marriage, the other person's family is SUDDENLY our own. We have all these NEW people who have their own way of doing things, of saying things, of thinking and being, and we are told "This is your family now. Treat them as you would your own." It's SO hard to do that.

In your own family, the one you grew up with, your personalities may clash. Hell, they WILL clash. However, you grow up with "You can't choose your family". So you deal with it. You have your whole life to learn how to handle the clashes. You learn what to say or not to say, how to behave, that kind of thing. With In-Laws, you don't have your whole life to adapt. You are given no warning. You don't know if you'll clash or not. You'll be yourself, and find out that it rubs one or some or all of them in a way that you just didn't intend. You will go about doing your "usual" thing and find out someone takes serious offense with it. You weren't trying to upset or offend, you just didn't know. You are a stranger to them, and they to you. It leads to all kinds of stress and strife for your partner. After all, it is THEIR family causing the issues. Very rarely do we stand up and say "You know, I could of handled that differently and I take the blame. " It's usually more like "YOUR family is crazy/insane/stupid/etc..." Maybe if we all just stood up and said "I'm sorry I don't get along with so-and-so. I will try harder in the future." I think it'd bring a lot more peace to everyone.

I love to bake. I hate the clean up. I'd LOVE a Kitchen Aid mixer, one with a bread hook along with the mixing beaters. I'd make so much bread! It's a dream, on the list of things I'd like to get someday. Maybe with our income tax return this year. Maybe not, I don't know yet. I think it will depend on what else we need to pay, what else needs the money infusion. I know I have my sister's wedding that I need to set aside money for. The bridal shower, the dress, the bachelorette party, etc. It's a nice dream at least.

I hate to clean. It sucks. It almost seems like a pointless endeavor. I mean, why am I cleaning? It's just going to get trashed again by one of the kids, usually the youngest and the one that disciplining is least effective with. *SIGH* I KNOW it NEEDS to be done, but that doesn't make me more inclined to WANT to do it.

ChaCha. It's work. The people using it ask silly questions. Stupid questions. Lots and lots of sex related questions. Can people REALLY be THAT clueless about the sexual things they are asking, or are they just asking to see if they can get an answer? All the questions get answered by the way. Sometimes I answer questions, but more often than not, I send them off to someone else to answer. It's a way to earn some money from home and I'm not going to argue with it.

Why is life so tiring lately? Why is it wearing me down so damn much. Jason says it's because I'm tired. Why am I so tired I asked. He said because I take care of the kids all the time. I can very much see that. Oh, and the messy house makes me tired just looking at it. Go figure. Jason said if I spent 1/2 as much time CLEANING as I did BITCHING about cleaning.....yeah, well, not cleaning means I don't need to clean it AGAIN, so .

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope this week finds you well.

Make Up Post 101

This is the post to make up for missing out on Friday. I don't know why I didn't post on Friday. Oh wait, yes I do! It was an odd day, to say the least.

I had stayed up all night and I made the mistake of laying down on the couch to watch a movie, the 1st National Treasure. I fell asleep, and the kids let me sleep all day. James got food for Izzy. I think I woke up once to change a diaper. They trashed the house. Jayden ate way too much candy. James was on the computer the entire time. Well fuck me. When Jason got home, he was on the computer all night. Past midnight, so no post for me.

Today (I'm still on Saturday folks) was GREAT!!! I only spent about $30. I really didn't go to BUY stuff, it was more just to GO. Ya know?

I DID get some really great beads. I'm a weirdo, I KNOW. I got 6 mood change beads that I'm going to make in to a bracelet for myself. I got some really pretty blue and white glass beads that look like they have little flowers in the middles of them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those yet, but I'll figure it out. I also bought a couple of multi strand clasps. They are pretty and the kind of thing I've been looking for.

Lately, I've been making barrettes. I was thinking about opening an Etsy store with them. I like the name Crafty Intentions, but I feel like I've heard it before in regards to someone else. I don't know if it was another Etsy store (I did a search and nothing came up) or a person's blog or what. I need to do more research to figure it out first. So I'm looking for suggestions on names. I don't want one that is specific to the barrettes because I'd like to eventually list Jason's Fimo creations and maybe some hand made jewelry. Did I post about this yesterday? I *think* so! Oh well, that is just how my mind works some times.

I am going to have Jason take better pics of the barrettes tomorrow, and have them in my hair, and in Jayden's, so I think that will be my Almost Silent Sunday post. Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope your weekend went well.

Randomness

In order to post every day, I'm going to be doing a lot of random things. OK, I admit that pretty much EVERY post on here is pretty damn random, however the INTENT will be just random. How about them apples?

Jason is reading to the kids. Lord of the Rings. It's what he was reading. Jayden wanted him to read to her. And there you go.

Izzy keeps taking things off of my counter in my kitchen. And coloring on himself with markers. He also got stark naked. He didn't need a clean diaper. Jason went to put his jammies back on him and Izzy fought him off, which leads us to believe that Izzy just wanted to be naked.

James went to his first appointment with Doc. O, the psychiatrist. One of James' meds is out the window, to be taken no more. Another is having the dose changed around a bit. We'll see how it goes with it like that. Larry is going to be working on getting James in to getting a full Developmental Evaluation. It will be an all day affair. Oh fun.

We had shredded chicken for dinner. I made a smaller bowl with Buffalo Sauce. I made a bigger bowl with BBQ Sauce. I never knew there were so many uses for shredded chicken! I'll be making that again. It went over REALLY well!

Tonight, we are going to do donuts again. Actually, after this post is done, I'm going to go find space on the dining room table to roll out the dough. Pics will be taken and posted tomorrow.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Enjoy the rambles!

100th Post

Thank you all for participating, the contest is now closed. Brandi, at My Mountain Morning is the winner! I didn't pick it. I had Jenn do it because I couldn't. She randomly picked a number (between 1 and 5, how many entrants there were) and she picked 4! Brandi, I'll contact you over on your blog to find out what color you would like your purse! Oh, and other ladies, if you want purses, just let me know, I have tons of yarn laying about and I'll be happy to make them for you too! I know, I suck at contests. I'm that way with my kids too!


OOOOOOHHHHH!!! Aw come on, you know you wanna say it too! 100 posts! Holy Toledo Batman! I'm sure if I posted every day, I would have suprpassed that long ago, especially considering there are more than 3x that in a year. I digress. No big give away to celebrate, I'm sorry, but we are horridly POOR! Hehe. Oh, I can make you a purse. Unless you are a guy. Then I don't know what to tell you. Let me see, what to do to earn your purse? Leave a comment. In your comment, tell me what you would do if you have a 100th birthday.

I'd post a pic of a purse in similar style, however I can't find the damn camera right now. i'm not sure where it is. I know I need to clean my office, but this is a bit ridiculous! Oh, and Jenn, while you can comment to your heart's content, you are disqualified because I'm already making you a purse.

Anyway, it's my first contest! Ha!

I missed Thankful Thursday. I know I know. Slacker! Um, in my defense I have had a CRAPTACULAR week. It all started on Monday and it just kept going downhill until yesterday. Yesterday cleared stuff up and I was so relieved that my very worn out butt headed to bed at 6:30. I didn't intend on sleeping all night long, I really didn't. However, that is EXACTLY what I did. I woke up at 5 this morning. Yes, I know the date says Saturday, I'm still on Friday though. I will be heading to bed shortly in fact.

Damn, now I'm going to wonder where the hell the camera is. I wonder if Jason knows. We found it behind the t.v. once. This is going to drive me batty!

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope you all have a splendiferous weekend. We will be doing a lot of housework. I will be working on James' costume. Halloween is just 2 weeks away and I took the pattern out of the package for the first time today. Oy Vey.

I Spy with My Little Eye

I've been Memed again. I love how I find them randomly and then get tagged that way, it's fun! Sophie had the Meme from Kat on her blog so I followed good naturedly over to Kat's blog and got memed myself! Her rules are to make it random and long winded, I believe I can do both. After all, one of my labels is "I digress". Uh, yeah. Oh, and consider yourself tagged. I think you should go over to Kat and get it from there, but hey, you don't wanna, that's all right, I'll pass it along from here.

By the way, at some point in the future, I will have my interview with Sophie completed (we are still in the emailing back and forth stage) and will post it up here. Huh? Interview? Why are you doing interviews? Head on over to Neil and you can figure it out. It's The Great Blog Interview. Sign up. Take it from there.

I'm going to do my meme with the help of a couple of pics. It's very random and has the potential for some great longwindedness. We are going to discuss The Things on My Desk at this Current Time. Here are the pics.





OK. See what I'm talking about, lots of things that are random. Let's start with the monitor. That wallpaper is something I won for completely a badge at Pogo . I love Pogo. They have all kinds of games you can play. A lot of them are free. Personally, I feel the $4.99 I pay a month for membership is WELL worth it.

The green mug in the foreground is a coffee mug. I have two of them that size. I got them on clearence from Meijer last year around Christmas time when I got my teapot. I've recently started drinking coffee. I've never been a coffee drinker before. I always found it too bitter for my liking. However, I need something that is less sugar than soda, and keeps the caffine kick up for a while. I tried some mixed flavored stuff at the gas station. It worked REALLY well. Now I'm making it at home. I take Folgers French Vanilla and some Instant Hot Cocoa and brew them together. When I make my cup of coffee, I use International Delights Irish Cream Refridgerated Creamer. MMMMMMM. Not a ton of sugar, like soda has. The caffine benefits are still there AND I'm not getting the sugar crash after a couple of hours like I would with Mt. Dew, Cherry Coke, and Dr. Pepper. Also, the coffee is cheaper per serving.

I love the lamp on my desk. It used to sit in the dining room. We moved things around out there and it wasn't being used, so I put it on the desk. The shade has some great beading on it, and the base is wood. It's cute and ecclectic, like me! We have 2 of them. The other is in the bedroom on Jason's side of the bed for a reading lamp.

The bottle of lotion is Bath and Body Works Pleasures in Mango Mandarin scent. They don't make it any more. I've had that bottle for a couple of years at least. The lotion doesn't work so great as lotion any more, however the scent is still strong and wonderful so I'll use it for that.

Ah yes, the pill bottles. The ones that are free standing belong to James. I turned them so you can't read his full name, our address, or the meds he's taking. I don't think the world at large needs to know those things, do you? yes, there are 4 bottles. He actually takes 5 meds a day. 2 in the mornings, 3 at night.

Next to James' meds is a dragon Jason made for me out of polymer clay. The green thing laying down is a really cool green man also made of polymer clay. When it is daylight, I'll set it up so I can take a better pic of it (the green man). He's really cute. The brown woman is also made of polymer clay. She's a tree nymph. Jason has a LOT of talent when it comes to using the clay to make shapes and what not. I've asked him to make me beads for my knot work. Like me, he is Gemini and we are procrastinators. I suppose if I ever get to the point of needing the beads, he'll get to the point of making them for me.

We only drink Aquafina water. I've tried others and I don't like the flavor. I like aquafina because it's flavorless, no after taste. To me, that's how water should taste. More often than not, the kids drink from the tap. They need the flouride. They have large refillable bottles to drink from.

The packet of papers next to the monitor is my notepad, a bill I need to call on, my checkbook, and some forms I need to fill out for James. The notepad is all important. When I'm writing things down while on the phone, or making shopping lists, that pad is where I go.

The metal pen holder is a recent addition to the desk. It's been about 4 or 5 months that I've had it. I needed something more suited to holding pens and misc. desk crap. Currently it has my scrip for folic acid, my bottle of baby asprin, a bunch of pens, sharpies, and highlighters, a staple remover, 2 nail clippers, a pencil sharpener, a nail file, a seam ripper, and a heart shaped piece of jade. In the drawer are staples.

My mouse pad says "Little Miss Trouble". I thought it was cute and for only $1 at Target, a deal I couldn't pass up. That mouse pad changes regularly, about every 6 months or so. I've got quite a few of them around the house.

There is a regular deck of Bicycle brand (in blue) cards and a deck of cards specifically for the game war. They are big and meant to be a little more child friendly in size. I recently (as in the last month) taught the kids how to play war and I am still teaching James how to play Gin. Once he has Gin down, we are moving on to Rummy.

The screwdriver is my favorite and most used tool. It has an adjustable shaft/tip combo that is good for 5 different needs. 2 philips, 2 straight edge, and one nut tightener. I am CONSTANTLY trying to figure out where the thing is. It gets put in all kinds of places.

There are coupons for ciggies for Jason, and for a local pizza place. Receipts from shopping that need to be tossed or organized. A strand of hemp that I'm using as a belly measurement for the Biggest Loser competition I'm in on one of the message boards I belong to. I can't find any of my fabric tape measures, something else that happens frequently around here, so this is my substitute. I also have the ruler I used for it on here as well. The papers have random numbers and needed info on them. Notes from Jason's game playing.

If you look under the monitor, you will see a window lock (it came off and hasn't been put back on), another seam ripper, some misc papers (cards for hot tubs and bank account info) and a lot of water bottle caps. I take the caps off and then just never put them back on once the bottle is done. Go figure. On the main part of the desk there is also a pen (black) and a half eaten pretzel rod (thank you Izzy). The 2 cd's that you can see are The Sims Making Magic, both discs.

The batteries are AA in size and the size that we most frequently go through. I really need to buy stock in Rayovac because it seems like once a month I'm buying a big pack of them. Behind James' meds is a roll of wide masking tape.

Now keep in mind, I have no idea how or why most of this random stuff is up here. It just is. It either is in it's place, or it hasn't been put in it's place, or it doesn't have a place and it is using the desk as it's temporary home. Do you think you can learn a lot from someone by looking at their desk? Did you learn a lot from mine?

Prayers and blessings everyone. Monday was a pretty stressful day to me, and now Tuesday won't be much better, so I hope you don't mind my random meanderings as a pleasent distraction. Yes, it really is 5:43 in the morning now. It's a long drawn out story for another day. Have a pleasent day yourselves.

I've Been Tagged

I got it by default really. Shimmy Mom had it up on her blog. She said "if you haven't done it and you are reading, you are now tagged". Cool, I've never been tagged, so here it goes.

So here are 7 random facts about me

1. I have given birth to 5 children, and have been pregnant a total of 9 times.

2. I live in a house that is almost 120 years old and I LOVE it. I think old houses have character and warmth in a way that a new home just doesn't have.

3. We have 2 cats, Ringo and Paul. At some point in my relationship with Jason, we have had all of The Beatles, in cat form, living in our home. George was an orange striped tabby. John was an all grey barn cat that had a mean streak. George (along with his compatriot Nathan) were left at a farm when we moved from one place to another (at least we didn't just shut them out of the house) and John ran away, and were all a little thankful for that. Ringo is an indoor only cat, and looks siamese, but he's actually a tabby, and Paul is an indoor/outdoor cat that is a grey and white tabby.

4. I am an overly optimistic person. My thinking is ALWAYS "It could be worse". I've actually lived through worse and I still thought that!

5. I dye my hair, a lot. Currently it is strawberry blonde with chunks of bright pink. I love to play around with my hair color. I have also shaved my head more than once. I have no real attachment to my hair. Oh wait, yes I do. I love my hair. I love how it feels, it's always so soft and silky. Thankfully, all the playing with color hasn't affected the texture of it.

6. I have the oldest and the youngest grand kids in my family. My oldest daughter will be 14 this year, my youngest child is 2 1/2. My mom has 13 grandchildren between those ages. 5 of them are mine. We would really really love another baby too.

7. Jason is my 2nd husband. He is my best friend, the love of my life. We even each other out like you only hear about in stories. I'm up when he's down. He's always a little on the melancholy side while I'm always on the sunny side. We met online, of all places. In his profile he stated how cool it would be to be able to tell his grandkids that he met their grandma online. We share so many of the same interests it's scary and we have so many different ones too. We are both artists, but express it differently. I can keep going on and on about him for forever and a day.

Now to do the onward tagging. Considering I read so many blogs (I do, just take a look at the list, and that isn't even the most updated list at that), I'm going to do this. If you haven't been tagged, you now have. Go on, it's fun!

Prayers and blessings and have a wonderful day everyone!

The Longer Post

I was going to come back on Friday and make a longer post, I just got sidetracked by life. What can I say, it happens, especially around here.

I was thinking about death last night, and what it is like to die. No, don't go all freaking out, I'm not thinking of killing myself off, it's just a random wandering that my brain took while laying in bed hoping for slumber to find me. I was wondering where does ME go? Is that the part that goes to Heaven according to the Christians? Then I got to thinking, what makes me ME? Does everyone see their world like I see mine? I mean, out of my eyes and looking at things? I've always wondered what it would be like to be in someone else's head, to be thinking their thoughts and looking out of their eyes. That is what got me back to thinking about death. Do you come back as someone new? I'd like to remember this life if I do so that I can compare them, that's just how I am though.

Jason and I were talking about Merlin the Wizard today. How it is said that he lived backwards and we were trying to figure out exactly how that worked. Jason had no clues and just thinking about it made his head hurt. Me, I think when he was born was actually when he died and he lived backward from dying to birth. So on the first day that you met Merlin, it was the last day that he would know you. His yesterday is your tomorrow. Make sense? Yeah, Jason didn't get it either.

James is going to the doc tomorrow morning. He saw the endo last week. She told me I need to feed him more, and she increased his hormone shot a smidge. Tomorrow he sees the regular old ped. He hasn't had his Strattera for a week. Not from fault of mine, mind you. I called in last Tuesday for a refill because I knew he was running low and the pharmacy told me he had no more refills for that. The triage nurse called me on Thursday to tell me it was ready. I went to Walgreen's to pick it up, no refill, and none in their system. UGH! James is more hyper without it, but he is also in a better mood, happier. Though he does get frustrated with his school work a bit easier. I want to talk to the doc about that, see if she suggests a different med, or lowering his current dose and trying it during the day again or something like that.

I'm doing a new online money thing. I am expediting questions for a site called ChaCha. The questions come in, I rephrase the statements as questions when needed, correct capitalization, find a coordinating category, and send it on to someone who will answer the question. It takes from 20 seconds to 1 minute to do one inquiry. I set my own times for doing it. I'm getting paid for taking some time from the stuff I'm going to be doing anyway, like surfing the internet, reading blogs, and posting on message boards. Every little bit helps after all. I'm also listing more stuff on EBay, at least more regularly. That is helping to pay for homeschool materials and the groceries in the middle of the week when we need them.

Speaking of homeschooling. We started our first major project of the year this week and so far, it has been a MAJOR disaster. I got a poster board, and the brilliant idea that we would cut out the states and piece them together like a puzzle and make a map of the U.S. The problem here lies that the map outlines I had gotten were all of different scale, so when I printed them out, some were too big, like Rhode Island and Deleware, and some were way too small, like California and Texas and Alaska. Jason is going to put the map together for me in PhotoShop, and then I'll be able to print out the states individually so they will all fit together. Apparently, PhotoShop can do nifty stuff like that. I don't know how to use it, so it's Jason's project.

Tomorrow is another shopping day. We will be getting child support. I need to head off to Wal-Mart after James' appointment. We need cat food, Izzy's diapers, paint for the play room, rollers to paint the playroom with, and drywall tape. The drywall tape will actually be coming from Lowe's or Home Depot. I've looked at Wal-Mart and at Meijer for the stuff we used before and they don't have it, so it's time to go to the specialty places.

I know it's technically Thursday now. However, I'll do the Thankfull Thursday post later today. Everyone have a wonderful day. Prayers and blessings.

How was Monday?

Well, around here, I was sick. Aching in the head dizzy and nausea inducing sick. However, I did do a couple loads of laundry, kept the kids fed, kept the house somewhat picked up, and completed 1/2 a puzzle. So not too bad. My eating I didn't log. I also didn't eat much of anything. It's hard to get excited about food when every time you stand or move your stomach churns. Blech.

Today I'm feeling a bit better. Not so much with the head pain and what not. It seems that everyone in the house has it. It all started with Jayden. It also seems that we each have our own version of whatever it is. Her strep test came back negative, so it's not that, thankfully.

I'm watching my nephew Allen and my neice Jessi this week. My brother Jack started a new job and while he will usually work evenings after his darling wife Christina gets out of work, his training this week is during the day. I'm home anyway, so what does it matter adding a couple of extra kids? They are pretty well behaved so that's good at least.

James has all kinds of appointments this week. He has a check up bright and early Thursday with his endocrinologist. And he has therapy on Thursday too. I'll be bringing the entire crew with me for those.

My food journal will be sketchy at best this week, however I'll be working on the housework as I come back from whatever it is that is making everyone in the house feel like crap.

This afternoon I'll be setting up the pool for the kids. I'll actually be setting it up BEFORE this afternoon, to give it a chance to warm up, however they'll be able to play this afternoon. I think they'll have a lot of fun, and it will give me a reason to get them all outside while I pick up the house and wash dishes and get some laundry folded.

On Thursday evening, we are doing family photos. We haven't done full family photos since Izzy was 2 months old. We do the kids individually each year around Thanksgiving so we can give them as gifts to family. We are all going to the park Thursday evening and Christina will operate the camera for the few shots that have all of us and Jason and I together. I am hoping they turn out well. They'll be done on film. We currently don't have a digital SLR, though it is on the wish list of both Jason and I for our income tax return next year. That along with about a million other things.

I hope you all have great days. Oh, and Miss Britt, it will get better. I know you want to reach through your screen right now and strangle me, but just take my word for it, it will get better. If it helps, think of how much worse it could be, that usually helps put it all in perspective. Prayers and blessings.