Holiday shop, sleeping in, and kidney stones!

It must be Thanksgiving! Jana and I are in full fledged Holiday Shop prep mode. Last week we spent hours on the phone while looking through items for the holiday shop online. One of us would find and item and tell the other one the items number to look up, I think we each had a billion different windows opened while we laughed at some of the weird items we found, like this one. Really, who does not need a Spooky Toilet Paper holder? I mean at least you are in the right place when you get the crap scared out of you! *ducks*.

We had a blast looking at items and I was afraid to look at my shopping cart because I kept adding stuff to our cart. We figured we could clear out some of the stuff and we did. . .although we did spend over $1000 on items for the shot though. We did good and got some great items for the kids. Next week we will be pricing items, trying to get volunteers to help us and organizing the holiday shop.

I am looking forward to sleeping in for 5 days straight! NO ALARM CLOCK!!! Whoo-hoo!!! I tried to sleep in this past Saturday, but ended up in the emergency room at 6:30 am. Not cool at all! Not sure yet what is wrong, I think it is another kidney stone. The ER doctor said that all of my blood, urine and CT tests were "clear" and sent me home with 4 prescriptions. I am very thankful for the medicine that I got in the hospital because I went from a pain level of 10 to a 1 or 2. Hopefully I will not have any more problems. The next day I had an MRI for my migraines. . .that was fun. I felt like a burrito in that MRI machine and I am very glad that I did not get stuck in it. . .ROFL! Well since I am under the influence of mind altering meds and it is late, I am going to finish for how. I hope that this all made sense. . .lol.Time for bed.

The Drummond's did not disappoint!

Well, it is hard to believe, but exactly 24 hours ago, two of my best friends and my daughter and I arrived at Unity Temple on the Country Club Plaza to see Ree Drummond, better known as "The Pioneer Woman". To say that we enjoyed ourselves would be an understatement! We had a blast! We acted like giddy school girls. . .well one of us still is a giddy school girl, but you know what I mean. Even though there was cold, dreary rain outside, we enjoyed ourselves so much.

It was like Christmas for us! Even though we already had our numbers tickets for the book signing portion, we wanted to get there early to get a good seat for the event. And my good, I mean, close. Those seats were very uncomfortable! And for those of us that are fluffy, well. . .they were downright torture! But knowing we were actually breathing the same air as Ree (and Marlboro Man!!!) was worth every minute (and by the time we left there were over 400 minutes!!!) My friend Karen, literally skipped to the car when my daughter and I picked her up! She got in the front seat and clapped

her hands in excitement and looked at me and squealled! Then, noting my earrings, she leapt from the car yelling, "I forgot earrings!!!". ROFL. Did she think that Ree would kick her out if she did not have earrings? Ha ha, seriously, though Ree does have some awesome taste in earrings (and jewelery in general I might add). After Karen jumped back in the car, with her earrings, we were off to pick up Jana.

Jana was all dolled up and ready to go! She said in her Facebook status that afternoon and I quote, "Dear Pioneer Woman, I am

so excited to see you. I have put more effort into my hair, makeup, and clothes than when I am going out with my husband. And you're not even putting out. =o)" Jana is funny like that. Here is a picture of her after we arrived. . .cute, huh!?

After a quick stop for Advil and drinks ( the non-alcholic kind. . .lol) we were on our way to the Plaza. Not even the cold rain and threat of the first snow of the season could dampen our moods! My Google Maps directions were fail, but luckily I had 2 gals with me or navigated us exactly where we needed to go with 15 minutes to spare! We parked in the covered garage at Unity Temple and made our way inside where about 15-30 people were already in line waiting for the doors to open. Jana stood in line while we filled out our tickets for the door prizes and asked about where we could eat our picnic. We were told the lobby would be fine, but not the sanctuary. We were just glad we did not have to eat in the rain!

Maeghan, my daughter and Karen left Jana and I to save our seats while they went window shopping on the plaza for a bit. They missed the arrival of Marlboro Man(MM) and Ree's boys! I know, it is not in focus. . .but we were caught by surprise! One minutes all of us ladies (and a couple of men too!!) were waiting patiently for 7 pm to come so we could listen to Ree speak. . .then the next minute. . .MM comes in carrying a huge bag like it was a feather! The whole room was in a state of shock. I grabbed my camera as quick as I could (I had literally JUST put it away!) and snapped this picture. When MM came back in with another bag of shirts, you would have thought a major movie star was arriving on the red carpet with all of the flashbulbs going off! There were even a few cat calls!

At this point I might have been the only one who knew what he was carrying! I happened to be in Rainy Day Books earlier that day picking up our 3 copies of the cookbook when the owner, Vivian Jennings, called the store to announce that MM was giving every one who was at the evening event a Pioneer Woman t-shirt! They are so very cool, but I digress. (What else is new, right?)

I called Karen to tell her that if MM was there, then Ree was not far behind (she does like to follow his behind after all. . .) and that they should hurry back. After a few minutes we were all seated, with about 1000 other adoring fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of Ree.

Following a few minute introduction and instruction session, Vivian Jennings, brought out Ree and they sat in comfy ( well they looked comfy at least) chairs from Will Wyatt's Cowboy Couture. Vivian asked Ree questions that the audience that had been submitted a few minutes earlier. There was much laughter at some of the questions and even more laughter at some of Ree's answers. Ree even channeled Ethel Merman at the end. . .of course right after I turned off my video camera! ACK! Man those Drummond's know how to avoid having any photographic evidence! LOL!

The boys helped their mom with the door prizes. Here is how one of them helped. (click on the word helped) This picture was taken by MM himself! This next picture is almost the same exact picture, but from my perspective and taken with my crappy camera! One of these days I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a camera as nice as PW's!

I have video of the boys balancing the gift basket that had ceramic tea cups in them on their hands like they were walking a tight rope. . lol. The crowd was amused and I am sure that P-dub was mortified! So stinkin' cute! I was disappointed that none of my friends won a prize. BTW, what ever happened to the KitchenAide Mixer? There was supposed to be one in the drawing. I guess we should not complain, since we all got t-shirts, but I really wanted a bigger KitchenAide (and Jana wanted my older one! )

I bought one of my books over a month ago, so I had 2 tickets that were relatively low numbers, 155 and 156. So Jana and I were in the 4th group to go up and get our cookbooks signed. I went to the car and brought back the picnic basket and we has our dinner in the lobby while we were waiting for our turn. Maeghan and Karen's numbers were 509 and 541 I think, so they had a REALLY LONG wait. Actually we all did since we waited together.

While we waited we got to see:

• Marlboro Man signing books
• The boys 'rastling- a LOT ( reminded me of my boys without the boots!)
• lots of cute little babies with headbands
• April from Coal Creek Farm
• 1 other person on their laptops (we brought ours b/c we knew it would be a long night)
• Ree greeting each person very sweetly. . .down to the very last one.

Here is a link to the rest of the pics. . .I do not know why they are not posting right. Karen's camera is better so she will have some more pics too. I am especially looking forward to seeing the one of April taking pictures. She looked like a giraffe trying to take a picture of a mouse! Right now I have to go be the mom and get my boys cleaned up and do some laundry. At least the laundry is easy with Purex 3 in 1 sheets!

Pioneer Woman is coming to town. . .

. . .and we are going to meet her and get our cookbooks signed. We are extremely excited to go to the Girls Night Out Event at Unity Temple. I will be posting pictures tomorrow night or possibly on Tuesday. I am still deciding whether or not to let my 2 daughters come with me. The older one does not want the younger one to come and I (and the other ladies) do not want our evening to me ruined by squabbling children.

I just came back from the viewing for a friends 19 year old son who took his life on Sunday. I just do not know how to process all of this. I wish I had the words to say to help this family deal with this profound loss that they are going through right now. There is no way I can understand what this family is going through. It has been tough on me recently and I have been so stressed that I have thought about ending it all. When I started thinking these thoughts I went to the doctor right away. Seeing what this family is going through makes my problems seem so small.

I am so blessed that I have such great friends who have helped me. I have taken a break from school until around the first of the year and I have been working with the doctors to see if we can figure out what is causing my migraines. Already the break from school has helped me to relieve some stress. Now if only I could find a job to help relieve some of the money stress that would be awesome! One thing at a time I guess.

Right now I am waiting for Cat and Zach to get home from opening night of the musical Honk. I think we will go see it on Saturday or Sunday.

The Lord is our Protector

Do you believe that? I do, although many times I "forget" that I do.

Today, while I was in church, when the pastor gave us the scripture reference I flipped past a tattered tract that I keep in my bible as a reminder that "The Lord is Our Protector" (that is the title of the tract). The tract is a small slip of glossy paper about the size of a dollar bill. I remember when I got this I felt like God himself was speaking directly to my heart.

(I did not intend for this to be another "birth story", but it is. . .not graphic though. . .lol)

On a cold day in January 1997 I went into labor with Maeghan, my third child. My daughter Catherine was 5 and Zachary was 4. We dropped Catherine and Zachary off on the way to the hospital at a friends house. After arriving at the hospital and getting all checked in, we settled into the hospital excited about welcoming our newest Thomas into the world! I should have known that this delivery would not like first two were since the pregnancy was nothing like the first two. I did not have 1 day of being sick with the first two pregnancies, but with this third one I was sick for 6 months straight!

I was laying on my side all hooked up to monitors and the nurse left the room to check on other patients because I was only 3 centimeters along. My doctor was somewhere else in the hospital calling to cancel a procedure he had scheduled so that he could be available to deliver the baby. We all thought that the delivery would go quickly since my first two has gone fairly fast. Ralph was sitting in a chair next to the bed rubbing my arm when a contraction came on. I looked at him and said something like "It's time" or "the baby is coming". He kept stroking my arm and agreed, "I know she will be here soon" or something, to which I responded, "No, you don't understand. I mean NOW. Go get the nurse, the baby is coming!" He looked a little surprised, but was spurred into action by the grip I had on his arm because of the intense contraction!

The nurse walked into the room (way too slowly, lol!) and sweetly said to me (like I was a child who had not clue what I was saying) "So you think the baby is coming?"

DUH!!! Sometimes I wonder where they get these people!

"Well, lets check!" she said, unconvinced that I had a clue as to what I was talking about. After all she went to nursing school, I had only had 2 children already and was the one in LABOR! The nurse helped my turn very ungracefully onto my back so she could see how many centimeters dilated I was now.

This is when I wished I had a video camera for her reaction. She practically screamed, "There's the head"

You think? Maybe I do know what is going on with MY OWN BODY!!!!!

So the next several minutes were a flurry of activity that would have been comical if I was not in agonizing pain! There was no time for an epidural or any kind of pain medicine. Heck there was barely time for the doctor to put his surgical gloves on!

Maeghan was born after 1 push! I could tell right away that something was not right as the baby was taking over to the warmer. The doctor continued to work on me and was stitching me up as the pediatrician worked on Maeghan. A few minutes later Maeghan was taken to the NICU. I had never not been able to hold my baby right away. I wanted to run to be with her, but I could not since the doctor had to stitch me up (Maeghan was 9 pounds 9 ounces and I pused once, so there was a lot of tearing), so Ralph went to be with her in the NICU.

Turns out Maeghan had TTNB or Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn from being born too fast! Normally the fluid in the baby's lungs gets "squeeszed" out during delievery, but there was not enough time for that to happen with Maeghan. I was not allowed to get out of bed to go see Maeghan for what seemed like forever because I was not allowed to walk since I had just given birth.

I was not prepared for what I did see when I finally was wheeled into the NICU. Among all of the tiny preemie babies was Maeghan, who looked like the linebacker of the NICU- with a cake plate over her head (or at least that is what it looked like!) and iv's in her head and tubes in her nose and montitors hooked up all over her! Maeghan ended up staying in the NICU for several days getting antibiotics and breathing treatments and has no lasting effects from the TTNB.

Ok, all of that long story to tell you where I was in my life when I got this tract. It was the morning after Maeghan was born and I was alone in the hospital. Ralph was home with Catherine and Zachary and Maeghan was in the NICU. I did not have any family close. With my breakfast tray came a small paper folded in half. On the front was beautiful mountain scene reflected in a blue lake and the title "The Lord is Our Protector". I am sure that the hospital worker who put that tract there did not know about my story, but God did. He knew I was scared and He met me where I was. I opened up the tract and read it.

The Lord is Our Protector

I look to the hills!
Where will I find help?
It will come from the Lord,
Who Created the Heavens and the earth.

The Lord is your protector,
and he won't go to sleep or let you stumble
The protector of Israel doesn't doze or ever get drowsy.

The Lord is your protector,
there at your right side to shade you from the sun.
You won't be harmed by the sun during the day
or the moon at night.

The Lord will protect you
and keep you safe from all dangers.
The Lord will protect you
now and always wherever you go.

Psalm 121

WOW! I replaced the words "You" and "I" with "Maeghan" and prayed that prayer over and over. I felt like I could rest and let God take care of Maeghan, something I did NOT do the night before!

I have gone back to these words many times in the past 12 and a half years.

• Just a year later when Maeghan literally almost died from a virus (that is another post!)
• When Zach broke his leg
• The time Chris needed stitches
• The 4 (yes, 4!) times Robert needed stitches (all before his 3rd birthday!)
• In the ambulance with Zach on our way to Children's Mercy when he was only 6 and had a severe kidney infection
• In another ambulance with Robert who was spitting up blood after he fell
• Driving to Maryland when my mother was dying
• watching Wally die just six months later from the same disease
• and so many many other times

Lord, I ask for your Protection right now for my family.

Protect Ralph, Catherine, Zachary, Maeghan, Christopher, and Robert from the flu that is causing them to be sick with fever and fatigue. Ease their coughing and cool their fevers.

I lift up Jana, Josh, Bailey and Charlee. Touch them right now Lord. Take the pain away from Jana. Calm the cough and allow them to rest peacefully.

Take away the vomiting from Jessi and protect the rest of her family from the virus, Lord.

Watch over everyone else who has come into contact with the germs from this virus and keep them well. Lord, Thank You for reminding me that YOU will protect me and my family.

Good Eats!

I love cooking, but sometimes I am just too busy to cook like I should. Today was not one of those days! I started out the day by making an Apple and Pecan Crescent Tart. It was pretty good, I will make it better next time though since this was my first time experimenting with it. My "inspiration" for this dish was Cracker Barrel's baked apples. They are SO AMAZING! Since I had to go to the airport last week I made a side trip to Cracker Barrel since it is right next to the airport and the airport is an hour from my house! I brought home an order of baked apples, hash brown casserole and Sawmill gravy. Yeah. . .that is the stuff!

For lunch today I am having roasted veggies. I cut up zuchinni, onion, and potatoes and drizzled them with some olive oil and Zach's seasoning (he makes it himself and I don't even know exactly what is in it and the amounts!) Bake in a super hot oven and then eat. . .YUMMY! Very good for breakfast with a couple of over easy eggs on top!

I guess I better start thinking about dinner, huh?

16 years ago today…

16 years ago today, my oldest daughter was born at Shady Grove Adventist hospital. I had gone early in the day with "pre-term" labor and was sent home to "rest" for a little bit before coming back to the hospital. While Ralph rested I ate some scrambled eggs and toast and called everyone to tell them I was having the baby! When the contractions got closer together we made our way back to the hospital. My parents were there, his parents were there, my sister, my brother and sister in law, my niece, our good friends and the god parents of Catherine (and the other 4 children that came after!), and Eric and Betsy were there. The labor was fairly easy, for the most part. At some point most of the people waited in the waiting room for news. The doctor assured us that there would be "hours" until the baby was delivered, so Ralph went to Red Lobster with Eric and Betsy. After all it was down the street only a few miles and he had his beeper on, so he could be reached if we needed him.

Sometime before he came back and after I had gotten my epidural, I started paging him because I was in a lot of pain. Not just pain with contractions mind you . . . but constant pain! The anestisiaologis told me it was because I had a "window" where the epidural could not get to. Great, I thought the epidural was supposed to help the pain, not make it worse! Since Ralph was not back yet and had not answered my pages (and there were MULTIPLE pages!), I had my mom come in with me when I had to start pushing. I pushed for days until Ralph finally arrived! Okay, really, it was about 20 minutes, but it seemed like days!

Apparently Ralph, Eric and Betsy were enjoying a leisurely dinner confidant in the knowledge that I would page them if I needed them. This was before cell phones were EVERYWHERE, folks. So, they figured no news was good news! When they were leaving the restaurant and Ralph went to see what time it was, he noticed the missed pages and they rushed back to the hospital.

So I had Ralph on one side and my mom on one side and I pushed for about 30 or so minutes more. I still had constant pain. The anestisiologis tried to compensate by pushing the epidural, but it did not work, I still had constant pain on one side. Finally, Catherine Elizabeth Thomas was born! I was so excited and could not take my eyes off of her- what a miracle! And what a relief to have her out! You moms all know what I mean! So while the doctor did his "stuff", I enjoyed my daughter! At some point, Ralph went out to the waiting room to tell everyone the good news.

One thing you need to know is I have negative RH factor, which means the placenta needs to be checked to see if the baby also has it. It is not a big deal, but something that needs to be taken care of, especially if I wanted to have any more babies. So the doctor made sure to get the placenta to the lab for testing.

So, while I am in the room with Catherine and my mom, Ralph is in the waiting room telling my family and friends about our daughter being born. As they are ALL there listening to Ralph, an orderly comes out to the nurses' station and PLOPS a Ziploc bag with my placenta in it and very loudly says, "This is the Thomas Placenta that needs to be taken to the lab for testing immediately!" You can only imagine the reaction of my whole family, it is probably the same one you are having right now! Let's face it, we woman want to keep our placentas private!

So after the shock of seeing more than they ever wanted to see, my family and friends came into my room and met Catherine. We spent about an hour or so talking and enjoying each other's company. Then everyone went home. Ralph went to the nursery with Catherine while she got some shots and tests, normal newborn stuff. When he came back to my delivery room it was time to transfer me to the recovery room. The nurse, who was about 75 pounds soaking wet, asks me if I can get into the wheelchair from the hospital bed. Good grief, that is easy I thought! So of course, I told her sure!

Little did any of us realize the implications of all of that extra epidural I was given. . .

So, here is the scene, just so you are clear about it. There is Ralph, who is over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds and a nurse who was probably about 1/3 my size standing on either side of the wheelchair waiting to help me from the hospital bed to the chair. So here I am on the edge of the bed and let's just say I was not tiny (we do not need to get into numbers here do we?) and I had just given birth less than 3 hours before. I slowly slid to the side of the hospital bed being careful not to flash anyone since I had a hospital gown on. As I try to put my feet on the ground to basically stand up and turn around into the waiting wheelchair, I do not realize that I had NO FEELING in my right leg because of the epidural! So what happens? You guessed it! My right foot hit the ground first and just buckled under me because I could not feel it! But, do I fall to the ground like a normal person? Ha! No way! On the way to the ground my lovely, fashionable mesh underwear that I was given in the hospital gets stuck on the side of the hospital bed! I am literally hanging about 2 inches off of the ground! Ralph tries to help me by ripping the panties off of the bed, and I fall the remaining 2 inches to the floor. The tiny little, slip of a nurse was totally useless to help me, so Ralph came up in front of me to try to help me stand up. Squatting down and putting his arms under mine, he wrapped his arms around me and told me he was going to stand up. As we stood up I told Ralph I did not feel well. He said that was okay and continued to stand up with me.

Then I fainted! Yep, that's right, as my poor husband was squatting down helping me up; I became DEAD WEIGHT and caused him to fall back into the wheelchair. Ralph broke my fall, but he fell right into the wheelchair. Knocking it backward with a very loud crash. I remember waking up on the floor and shaking uncontrollably. I looked around and saw Ralph on the ground, the nurse looking like a deer in headlights and several other hospital personnel standing at the door (they had come running when they heard the noise). One of the people standing at the door was the anesthesiologist who gave me so much epidural and I just looked at him and said, "Well, you did a good job!" I had to be picked up and put back in the hospital bed. Needless to say, I stayed in the bed and was wheeled to the recovery room!

I called my mom to come back up to the hospital and Ralph went to the ER. He stayed in my room that night on a cot.

I am always looking for other moms on the web who are interested in the same things I am. . .found another today. . .Take a look at The Dirty T-shirt for yourself!

Confession(s)

    

Ok, so my first confession is that in the time it took me to open up Microsoft Word, type the title "Confession(s)", and start writing this blog entry I forgot what confession I was going to blog about! That could be partly because I was distracted by: My husband coming into the kitchen opening up the fridge and asking why no on ate the chicken yet (and then proceeding to heat it up for his breakfast lunch), my youngest son coming into the kitchen and asking if he could have the rest of the pancakes I had just finished making, my oldest daughter coming into the kitchen and asking me where all the pancakes were (to which I replied, "In the container, just add water and mix!"), then other son coming into the kitchen asking if he could watch the Redbox movie we rented for free last night from Hy-Vee, my daughter responding to my husband who noticed her "Debate" t-shirt (it is NOT hers, it is a friends) "I am not on Debate! Debate ruins your life! You have to do Debate every weekend. . .(insert more debate bashing/ranting here)" to which I replied, "That's different from Drama, how?", and no less than 25 other interruptions. . .what I was talking about again?

Wow, I think that I would fail English is I wrote a run on sentence like that in a paper! But that is what my life it, a long run on sentence, filled with "rabbit-trails" and interruptions! No wonder I am always staying up until 2 am finishing school work! Right now the oldest is asking to be taken out for driving and parking practice. Like I can do that right now with 4 assignments due to day (ok, 2 are due tomorrow, but they are bigger assignments that I need to work on today), children that need to be fed, a house that needs to be cleaned, laundry that needs to be washed, dried, folded, and put away (like that ever happens!), dinner that needs to be taken care of (what do I get out of the freezer and make that will make "most" of the family happy), go to the school to help my PTA Wife run off some copies, clean out the sunroom, clean out the fridge (I am sure there is a science experiment in there somewhere. . . ), feed the kids lunch…maybe parking practice with a moody teenager in a FULL SIZE van would be relaxing. . .

Confession number two: I still don't remember what confession I was going to write about. . .

Confession number three: I need a nap now. . .

What I want to be when I grow up. . .

So, I was thinking today about what I want to be when I grow up, and I realized that there is a lot I want to be when I grow up. I was catching up with a friend I had not seen in awhile (they were over our house for dinner a week ago) and she encouraged me to write a cook book. She said that she and her family have been talking about how good the food that we made for our dinner together. Cooking is definitely a passion of mine. Some people, who shall remain nameless (Wuzza), HATE to cook and only do it out of necessity because their families want to eat. Me, on the other hand, I LOVE cooking and baking! I seriously could cook every day. . .if only someone else would clean up for me that is! Not cleaning the mess I make while cooking, that I can handle. My problem is the mess the "fam" makes every day. Cooking is great, but finding the room to cook around all of the mess- that I HATE with a passion! It is annoying to want to come make dinner and have to clean off the counters, load dirty dishes (and probably unload clean ones too!), and wash pots and pans BEFORE I can even cook anything. So, sometimes, even though I love cooking I don't because I don't feel like fighting the mess. Or, more often than not, I am too busy to clean the kitchen and THEN cook dinner. Maybe it is time to go back to a chore chart for the "fam". I am sure they would hate that, but that's life, right?!

I used to cook sit-down dinners every night, back when my father in law lived with us. I felt like he deserved a sit-down, family meal with a main entrée, a vegetable and another side (usually a starch). He was not really a demanding person, but he was "old school" and had certain ideas. Family dinners was one thing that he seemed pleased about, so we had family dinners almost every night, unless I was sick. Very rarely were the meals convenience foods, either. Most of the time they were good ole, homemade meals. My father in law lived with us for about 4 years- that is a LOT of dinners! I think after he passed away I needed a break and we went through a period of convenience meals and many nights of no real dinner plans at all! Now I have come back around to making more family dinners, although now with the kids being older it is hard to figure out when everyone will be home!

I have some standard recipe favorites that I make on a regular basis like: Chicken Splot Pie, Tacos, Spaghetti, Hamburgers, Stir Fry, Black Beans and Rice, Chicken and dumplings, Garlic Studded Pork. . .and others. And of course the standard desserts like Cheesecake (baked and no baked), Homemade Chocolate Cake, Oatmeal Choc. Chip Cookies, brownies, and Jell-O Cake. My kids think that I should try to become the "Next Food Network Star". . .but I am not sure if I could do that. I don't really have any formal culinary training. The closest I ever go was to send in a tape to the Rachel Ray show for her "So You think You can Cook" competition. I never heard back from her about that. . . Here is the link to the video.

Anyway, I have always thought about doing a cook book. Not just a book with recipes, but also with stories about the recipes and tips for the kitchen as well. Maybe I should just start writing one in my "free" time? I mean, it is not going to write itself, is it?

Other things I want to be when I grow up-

• Writer (not just cook books, but humorous non-fiction and maybe even a novel or two!)
  
• Bed and Breakfast owner (except I hate mornings so I would probably make it a Bed and Brunch. Who goes away for the night or weekend and wakes up at 7 am to eat breakfast?)
  
• Restaurant owner (not that restaurants don't have a high failure rate or anything. . .)
  
• Personal Chef
  
• Personal Shopper (grocery mainly
  
• Teacher (that is actually what I am going to college for. . .because I love working with kids and helping them learn!)

Visiting family

I booked my flight last night to go back to Maryland and visit the "fam". I will be staying for a week. During that week I will help my dad go through my moms stuff and clear stuff out. I think he wanted me to have an opportunity to look through her things. . .esp her jewelery. It will be nice to see family too. And of course I will visit my moms grave. I have not seen it with the headstone. It is hard to believe that it has been over 2 years since she passed. I still want to pick up the phone and call her. I am also trying to figure out if I will be taking a break next semester or not. We will see. . . right now I have to work on a paper that is due tomorrow. Oh joy!

Friday night. . .

Well, it is Friday night and I am doing what I seem to be doing every night, trying to catch up! That is the story of my life lately. I have had a migraine all week and finally got rid of it. . but the meds made me extremly tired! Ugh. I still need to write the introduction and conclusions to my research paper on technology in the classroom. I can not seem to get anything done recently! Oh well...I really must go write now. . .too bad I don't have technology that can do it for me!

Cooking. . .lots of cooking!

Well, I did a lot of cooking today since I had to make a couple of Chicken Splot Pies for people. One for my best friends family whose lost a beloved Grandpa, one for a friend of a friend who lost a beloved son (way way too soon!), and of course I made one for us and one for Karen because I can't make Chicken Splot Pie and not give her one! I also had an 8 and a half pound Pork Roast, so I cut off 12 chops and froze them in a Balsamic marinade and garlic studded the rest of the roast.

For dinner tonight we had Garlic Studded Pork Roast with baked beans and rolls. Most of the kids made sandwhicheds with the roast and rolls.

I think I might run away now. . .I can't even finish typing because the kids keep coming inside (they are out playing football in the nice weather) and complaining about EVERYTHING! UGH! Is it any wonder I can't think straight?

Oh well, cooking reminds me of my mom. And it was also a small thing I could do to help those around me. Since I can't bring back my friends loved ones, I can give them some small comfort in their time of need. It is what my mom would have done too. . .

Random stuff

Well it is almost 2 am, and I should be in bed, but I am enjoying the quiet- a rarity around my house! I am not, however enjoying the fact(s) that I am itching like crazy again (cuz I forgot to take my allergy meds yesterday), my house is a mess, my dishwasher is broken (agian!), I can not find a job that I can do while the kids are in school, and that my number 1 key keeps popping off of my laptop!

I am up so late (early) because I had an assignment that was due for school 2 days ago (there goes my 1 key again) so I had to finish it. There was also an assignment due today that I will have to do tomorrow cuz I was working on the one due 2 days ago! LOL. Why did I ever think that I could do this college thing againg with all the other things i have going on in my life? I an getting zero suppor/help from my family and truth be told I am going to call my advisor this week and just tell her that I can not continue after this semester because I am too stressed and also because I need to find a job. The phone is ringin off the hook from 8 am until 9 pm. UGH!111111 (key again!!). I am not a quiter, but I just can not continue on this way, I am so stressed right now. I suspect that may be why i am getting hives. I don't know, but it could be.

Between the one car for 7 people, the college courses, the bills that are due, the house that is always a WRECK, the obligations at the school (volunteering), and the gazillion other things i have going on, I am wiped out all the time! When is it going to be time to focus on me. . .probably never, so I should just get used to it and stop trying!

I have never inhaled. . .

Someone asked the other day why no one cared about Michael Phelps smoking pot. Well, that is an interesting question. I actually do care. Yes, I do care. Everyone says that he is just a kid and it was a mistake. Okay, I get that, really I do. But, lets me serious, not everyone has inhaled. People say that "everyone" has tried drugs or alcohol. Well, I am here to say that is NOT true. I have never ever inhaled or even touched the nasty evil stuff! Drugs are just stupid and there is no redeeming factors about them. . .at all! Alcohol is a different story, since it is legal. I don't have a problem with people who have a drink now or then. I personally just do not drink. I did try one drink on my 21^st birthday though. . .just did not like it. Don't like the smell or the taste.

 

My problem with the Phelps thing is this, he is not a young teenager. He is 23 years old, he is old enough to know better. He knows that he has a TON of kids who look up to him. I think his apology was lame. Dude, you have worked so hard for what you have gotten and you awe gonna throw it away so you can get high!? What the heck were you thinking! Was winning so many gold medals not high enough? Really! Give me a break. Grow up already. I have a feeling Phelps mom kicked his ass when she saw him after she found out though. . .she seems like the type who would do that!

 

FYI to my kids. I will kick your asses if you EVER try to do the same crap. Just don't even start it. . .EVER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! There is NOTHING COOL at all about it! Find other ways to get your "kicks", please!

and the Craziness continues!!!!!!

Here is a random pic of Catherine's 15th bday party. Just had to post it.. .lol

Right now my head is stinging from the Ovide lotion (although it is more like a liquid really...) that I applied to my head a few minutes ago. If you do not know what it is used for...well, I will just say it, it is used to KILL LICE (and I really hope that it works and kills those nasty buggers! All 5 of my children and myself have had those nasty little things and come on now, after almost 2 weeks. . . I am SO OVER it already! Mix in one child with strep, 2 college courses with work that needs to be done (it does not matter that I have to pick lice and nits out of every one's head, including my own!), physical therapy for my knee and back, normal household chores as well as extra with all of the sanitizing of bedding, clothes, couches, carpets. . .you see where I am going, right? and yes, the craziness does indeed continue.

I am trying to play catch up on my school work and for the most part that is going OK. One of my instructors is not being cooperative though, but what can you do, right? I am really enjoying the courses I am taking and until this "speed bump" I was doing well. But of course with the lice making their appearance I have gotten way behind in EVERYTHING (I mean WAY more than normal, people!)I just do not have any extra time at all to do anything. As a matter of fact, right now I should be doing: laundry, dishes, cutting and organizing my coupons, planning my weeks meals, school work for the week, PTA stuff, faxing receipts to our health insurance so we can actually USE our medical credit card (would have come in handy on the 100's of dollars that has been spent on killing lice), taking out trash, doing the exercises my physical therapist gave me, going to bed (ha ha, yeah right. . .can't do that until all of the kids go to sleep. . .I could go on and on here really. But I am writing this blog post instead, because maybe someone else will read it and not feel so bad about that CRAZINESS that is going on in their life at the moment. Also it feels good to be able to get it all out of my head.

Testing

Testing Microsoft Word Blog Creation

So, I saw my good friend Karen using Microsoft Word to create a blog post and I thought I would try it. . .you know since it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything on my blog! So here goes.

I have had a very crazy few weeks. . .but what else it new around here, right? I have been taking online college courses since September and for the most part, I LOVE it. I am still learning how to make ME a priority. I am so used to making everyone else a priority, but the fact that I am even taking classes is a step in the right direction I think. So in addition to my college I also have my PTA obligations, my kids, the house, etc. Needless to say, my life if very busy. Over the Christmas break I told myself I was going to "get ahead" in my college work since I get my assignments at the beginning of each course. Well, of course, I did not even touch any work over the "break"; I just relaxed and spent time with the kids (and tried not to lose my mind!). The first week back after break I had a PTA meeting on Thursday. Monday-Wednesday I was pretty much out with a monster migraine. I mean, I was in bed and feeling like I was going to throw up it was so bad! So Thursday's meeting came around and since it was the first one after vacation we did not have a whole lot on the agenda. The meeting was fairly short and the next day we were going to hand out treasure to the kids who brought "Trash 2 Cash" items.

Friday morning my oldest daughter knocks on my bedroom door, waking me up. She and her brother are old enough to get themselves up and ready, so I do not get up to see them off to school. When I open the door she tells me she found a "bug" in her hair. I asked her to show me and she said that she threw it. So I checked her hair and did not find anything. Of course I was barely awake though! So I told her to go to the nurse's office when she got to school. Since it was almost time for me to get up, I turned off my alarm and got dressed. Then I woke up the other kids and started getting them all ready for school. Right after all of the other 3 kids were gone on the school bus, I got a call from the school. It was lice and I had to come pick her up. WHAT! YUCK!!!! So I called the other kids schools. . .all 3 of them to inform them and have the other 4 kids checked. Then I went to pick up the one who had a confirmed case of lice. On the way I got a call from one school saying yes it was lice and another saying no he is fine. So I stopped at the last school, the one I was supposed to be at anyway, to see if the kids had been checked yet. School had not started yet, so they were just getting checked. One had it, one did not. So I took the one with it with me and then picked up the other one with it. And so began the LONG week. I am so tired of picking at kid's hair I cannot even begin to explain! And I am very, very behind in my school work, which I should be doing now as a matter of fact. But I am very tired. This evening I went to Water Zumba class and then spent another 2 hours at the pool with the kids. I was not swimming after the class though, I was looking for a place to plug in my laptop so I could do some work. Then I got sidetracked talking to people from church. The church we have not been too in like 3 months or something. But that is a blog for another day. Right now it is time to go to bed. I just heard the timer on the washer so I can put the clothes in the dryer and go to sleep. Maybe one day the kids will actually remember before their bedtime that they HAVE to have clothes washed for school. Yeah, right! I can dream can't I?! I love this pic and I just wanted to see if I could insert a picture using this application. . .LOL