It's FLOAM!!!!!

Have you ever tried that stuff? If you haven't, don't waste your time. Not only is it expensive at almost $7 a tub, it sucks. I bought some for my kids and even they were disappointed. All it did was make a mess. I'm still finding bits of Floam everywhere. Avoid the floam. Wasn't there already something like floam before? Made by Nickelodeon I think. Where do people get the ideas for this stuff?

Today is free movie day. We saw Hoodwinked. Katie and I saw it for the second time today actually, but it was new for Mikel. I forgot how funny that movie is. Mikel's friend T came over to play after the movie and is going to hang out until it's time for Karate. I think he's finally starting to like me. He let me make him a pb&j sandwich and actually ate it. This is the first time he's eaten at our house, well not counting fast food.

We got some really good news from our credit union this morning. They finally agreed to re-finance our loans and lower the payments. That was a HUGE stress reliever for both dh and me. Now we'll actually get to benefit from his raise instead of just being able to make the payments. Ah relief.

We started a new nighttime routine. Ok, we started a nighttime routine. Yes my children have never had an actual bedtime before now. We're shooting for a 9 o'clock bedtime and we're getting there. They actually go to bed, they just don't go to sleep. I'm sure that eventually they'll catch on and actually go to sleep at the right time. We've only been doing the routine for three days. We still have a month before school starts, I'm hoping that will give us enough time. Eventually I want them in bed by 8 o'clock, but with being light until 8pm, I don't want to push my luck.

It's been well over 100 degrees here for the last 19 days and doesn't show any sign of cooling off sooner. Don't you wish you lived in Southern California? Not to mention the storm systems that have been moving through so that every afternoon there are dark clouds and thunder. The kids don't want to play outside because of the heat and they're driving me insane. Stark raving mad. Loony tunes. Coocoo in the head. A few sandwiches short of a picinic. Not playing with a full deck. You get the picture.

Random stuff

We went out for a bit of shopping this afternoon and we stopped to get something to eat at Quizno's. While we were eating a couple came in with their two kids. One of their kids was a baby, still in his carseat. The woman set the carseat on the floor and then her and her husband and older son went to the counter to order. Nobody stayed with the baby. Then I noticed that the baby was only wearing a diaper and a button down shirt that wasn't buttoned. Granted it's pretty hot outside, but there was also a major storm blowing in and it was pretty damn windy. While they were standing at the counter ordering the baby started to move around in his seat, that's when I noticed, he wasn't strapped in. So not only were they carrying around the baby in windy/rainy weather, barely dressed, and not strapped in. Nice.

Then we went to WalMart. Oy. WalMart, on a rainy Saturday afternoon. What were we thinking? I'm going to backtrack a little here. Before we left the house my husband asked if I wanted to go with him. I initially said no because I thought I could at least enjoy some semi-quiet time with only one child to watch. Then LaKatie decided she wanted to go and dh said that she couldn't go if I wasn't going to go. His reason was that he didn't feel comfortable taking both of them out without me there to help watch the kids. What a sissy. Anywho, of course the kids start asking if they can get a toy. Which is one of the reasons I didn't want to go. I knew there would be the ritual begging for toys. I left the decision to dh since the shopping trip was his idea. So that means the kids got the toys they were after. Again, what a sissy.

On the way home dh decided he wanted to stop at Jamba Juice. We parked and got out of the truck and walked up to the store. I noticed two pieces of paper taped to the doors and read only one of them which stated that they were unable to serve wheatgrass shots due to some mechanical problems. Well damn! That was my whole reason for going there. Now what was I going to do! I didn't pay any attention to the other piece of paper because I figured it said the same thing. So we're standing there waiting for someone to take our order and a guy walks out and says that due to the weather and the power going off and on so many times that they're unable to use any of their equipment or registers. Now why, if you can't use any of your equipment or your registers are you still open? Why are the doors unlocked? Why doesn't the notice on the door say "closed due to weather"? That was just annoying.

Take my children, please!

I was having a problem sending emails and pictures with my cell, so I called my service provider. While we discovered the problem and had it fixed, the kids were fighting in the background the whole flippin' time. They were trying to construct a fort in the living room and were having a difference of opinion as to the design of said fort. So after confirming that the problem with my phone was fixed the nice lady asked if there was anything else she could do for me. I hesitated about half a second and asked, "want to take my kids?" She laughed and said no. Big surprised huh? So I told her that no, there was nothing else I needed help with.

I'm still cracking up over the fact that I said that to her.

Lost Tooth

Fwd: FW: Mikel
Originally uploaded by princessr92004.

This is what I got when I told him to give me a big smile. I wanted a picture of him after losing his front tooth. He's lost four teeth on the bottom, but you couldn't really tell. Now that he's lost his first tooth on the top he looks so funny! What a goofball.

Paging Dr. Daniels, Dr. Jack Daniels!!!!

Oh sweet lord have mercy on me. The man is driving me insane. I'm seriously making a concerted effort here not to pull every last one of my hairs out. It started with a conversation about money. Dh did a side job and was paid with a check. He IMed me to say that he needed to cash the check and we needed to have him added on to our new checking account. So I offered to meet him at the bank to accomplish this. He then stated that he wanted that money to be used as a payment on the credit card. I told him that we needed to use that money to pay the car payment and loan payments. He then replied that the money was there when he deposited his last check from his last job. I said that well yes at the time the money was there, but with needing to put gas in the car and him needing some things for work and his inability to say no to the children, the money is now gone.

Breathe. Try to make this sound intelligible.

I would so love to post the actual conversation. That would probably be a little much though, wouldn't it?

Any who, it all boiled down to the fact that he couldn't remember a statement I had made not five minutes before and in writing no less. He just couldn't understand my frustration. He said that I called him a jackass, which I did not. He said I made him feel like an illiterate fool. All because I said that I was frustrated at having to repeat myself, more than once I might add. He also said that he's not some pathetic punching bag. I'm still not sure where that came from. I didn't resort to name calling or being rude,yet he's acting as though I did.

It's driving me up the freakin' wall. Now he says that he's becoming increasingly concerned with my anger at him. WTF? I don't know how he gets the impression that I'm angry with him. All this week I've greeted him with a kiss and hug when he gets home from work. Dinner has been ready when he gets home. I just don't get it. I really don't. Not only does it frustrate me, but it hurts my feelings. He's the only person I seem to have this problem with.

The last time I saw my therapist he said that I'm smart and very practical and that I have a good head on my shoulders. He said that I'm one of the most practical people he's ever met and that I'm only a small portion of the problems we're having. Dh is taking medication, but obviously it's not working. He really needs to be seeing somebody. Now that he's changed jobs we won't have insurance for 90 days and our current insurance runs out at the end of the month. This could go really, really wrong. I've made a follow up appointment with his doctor and I'm going to go with him. The doctor has tried two different medications and has doubled both and neither of them has worked.

Frankly I'm nervous and scared. In the past this type of thing hasn't gone well and I really don't want this to drag me down. I've been doing so good for a while now that I really hate to see it end. Oy. Sorry to get all dramatic and depressed on you, but it needed to come out.

Thank you. I feel better now.

When all else fails, blame it on the dog

My son asked me to make him scrambled eggs this afternoon. He even carried an egg into my daughter's room where I was cleaning. Since it was about 10 minutes before we had to leave for their karate lesson, I told him no. I went to grab an oh so delicious diet dr. pepper out of the fridge and I see a yellowish puddle on the floor. I asked my son if the dog had peed in the kitchen. He answered yes and it was over by the sink too. Since it's been a while since the dog has done this I thought it was weird that he'd done it once. Much less twice. I looked for a towel to clean the mess up with and it wasn't where I usually hang it. Then I noticed the two PS2 games propped up against the cupboards. When I picked them up I found my kitchen towel stuffed underneath the cupboards. When I picked up the kitchen towel I found a broken egg. In the sink I found another broken egg. So not only did he try to cover it up, he also tried to blame it on the dog. I sense a trend starting.

I just love it when my son feels compelled to tell me to ignore my daughter when she tells me she hates me. It's a good thing he's around. Otherwise, I might get my feelings hurt.

I don't know what caused it, but suddenly my husband has stopped his daily phone calls to ask if we got any mail and what's for dinner. I'm not complaining. I just find it fascinating that it stopped all of the sudden. It was one of my biggest pet peeves. I shall now do the dance of joy.

Washing your sheets is like washing your car. You wash your car and it rains. You wash your sheets and one of the kids wets the bed. At least for me any way.

Bits and pieces

We had a lovely weekend. Very quiet. The kids and I were still tuckered out from our beach excursion. Nothing wears you out like being in the sun all day. Sunday we visited dh's aunt and uncle. We barbequed chicken and carne asada for dinner. After dinner things finally started to cool off and it was actually enjoyable outside. Dh's aunt filled me in on all the latest family goings on. Some major drama involving a family friend that was pretty much family. Although I'll say she's definately not like family now. I wonder what posses people sometimes that causes them to just go off for no good reason and ruin a relationship. Or in this case several.

La Katie has decided that I'm hers and hers alone. She told me the other day that I'm not allowed to kiss her big brother or scratch her daddy's back. I'm only allowed to kiss her and I'm only supposed to love her. Now I'll admit that a little part of me just loves this and is doing the snoopy dance. But the majority of me is less than thrilled. I've always tried to instill the value of the brother/sister relationship. That they should love each other and look out for one another. I don't expect it to be all sunshine and roses. I know they'll be fights and whatnot between siblings. But I want them to know and understand that I love them both equally. My connection with them is special and unique with each of them. With Mikel because he is my first child and only son. With LaKatie because she is my baby and my only girl. I'm close with both of them, but in different ways.

I guess it bothers me that she doesn't want to share me with dh and her brother, because I want her to see me have good relationships with both of them. That's her role model for her future relationships with men. I'm trying to set a good example. I think it's a part of the phase she seems to be going through. She's testing her limits and learning how to express herself. It's difficult to remember that all the time. She's a very bright, emotional girl. I want to be so careful of the values I give her. I want her to be confident and not be afraid of asserting herself, butI don't want her to be a bully either. Ah, such is the life of a parent. You feel like someone has told you to program a vcr and forgot to give you the instructions. You're flying blind and taking daily leaps of faith with something so incredibly close to your heart.

My son is learning to read. Right now he can read most of the smaller words. He likes to play his PS2 games and games on our computer. Obviously he has trouble reading the directions. He'll ask for help and instead of spelling out the words, he spells out the whole entire sentence. Since I have my laptop on the dinning room table and our desktop is in the corner of the dinning room, he usually asks me for help. By the time he finishes spelling the sentence my eyes are rolling around like the wheels on a slot machine and I'm bleeding from the ears. He hasn't quite gotten the concept of the space between words. We'll be working on this a lot during the week.

Holding on

Dh got a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt the same day he found out his dad had a heart attack. The traffic court sent us the little courtesy notice telling us how much the ticket cost and when to pay by. They gave us over a month to pay. It was due today. Yes, I waited until today to pay the stupid ticket. I literally tried all flippin' day to get through to an actual human being. It's like calling the DMV.

Finally, I got through and this is what I listened to for 45 minutes. "All our representatives are busy right now. Please continue to hold and the next available representative will assist you." No crappy on hold muzak. Just static and that horrid, horrid message. For 45 minutes. That right there should be considered punishment enough and you shouldn't have to pay the fine. It has to be a form of torture in some small countries.

The whole 45 minutes both of the kids continually called my name and asked who I was talking to. There were several requests to shut up my phone, my ear piece wouldn't work so I had it on speaker phone. I was just sharing the joy. However, during the 45 minutes I was on hold, I made two bowls of cereal, took La Katie to the bathroom, and caught up on some blawg reading. I'm all about the multi-tasking.

Ouch!

While preparing dinner this evening I dropped a huge hunk of frozen cauliflower on my foot. It hurt. A lot. I wonder if that falls under workman's comp? I doubt it. I dropped it on my already messed up foot, so maybe I could some how work this in my favor. Not only does the bottom of my foot and my ankle hurt, but now the top hurts too. I really need to play it up. You know, limp and moan in pain. Dh might not fall for it, but the kids might be sympathetic. Stop laughing. It could happen.

So far I'm taking my baby steps with FLYlady and loving it. Seriously, if you haven't tried it, you should. If you're having any trouble at all managing home, kids, and everything else, she can help you get it under control. My house is clean, my sink is shining, and there are no huge piles of laundry built up.

Today was craft day at the library. The little girl with the worst mullet I have ever seen was there again. I feel for her, I really do. I sincerely hope that she didn't choose that style for herself. Her mom is a little odd. Not like scary odd, just very quiet and I don't know, there's something not quite right. Back to the mullet. She has bangs straight across her forehead, then the hair on the sides of her head is cut to just above her ears and the rest is long in the back. It looks like a bowl cut gone awry. I've never really been a fan of the mullet. I dig dudes with long hair, as long as it's kept clean. But I never really got the whole "business in the front, party in the back" deal. My mom loves the mullet. She thinks it's a nice hair style for a man. I was switched at birth, I swear.

Hey, did you know?

Mikel has a new friend, a fellow teeball player. They are getting along smashingly and T really keeps Mikel out of my hair. Whether we're at T's house or here at our house, I can actually sit and have an adult conversation, or actually have more than five minutes to myself.

Wednesday we went to free movie day and then over to T's house to play for the entire afternoon. Yesterday afternoon I took Mikel over there to play for two hours. Today we took T with us to go swimming at the waterpark. My sunburn has mostly healed. I'm still a little red in some places, but doesn't hurt any more. It looks really gross because it's peeling massively. It's horrifying really. I've tried multiple applications of aloe vera and scrubbing with a loofah, but I still look like I've got some sort of hideous disease. I debated over wearing a t-shirt to cover it, because I didn't really want to subject the other children to the horror. I don't have a cover up, and obviously I need to get one.

While I was enjoying the water and playing with La Katie a lady walks up to me and pretty much yells, "Do you have sunblock on? I can see three different colors on your back. I can see where it burned and peeled, and then burned again!" No, freak I'm striving to burn the holy heck out of my back until it scars. Sunblock? What's that? I probably shouldn't be sitting out in the SUN should I? I know I don't look my age, but I know I look old enough to know better than to let myself get barbequed like a chicken twice. The first time was an accident, an oversight. I didn't do it on purpose and trust me, I made damn sure that I had about half a bottle of SPF 48 sunblock on my back and shoulders. Yes, I know that my back looks awful, and I'm sorry for causing the visual trama.

It was quite a full week. The summer is going to be exhausting what with trying to keep the kids busy and my house clean. Only 7 more weeks to go!

The boys went riding yesterday while La Katie and I went on a search for a Hello Kitty nightgown. She had outgrown the last one she had and just had to have a new one. We went to five different stores, not one of them had any sort of Hello Kitty pajamas or a nightgown. I think we got the first one at Mervyn's and of course there isn't one in the town we live in. I'll have to check on line. By the end of our excursion we were exhausted and overheated, so we stopped at Cold Stone on our way home for some refreshment. Yummy, yummy cheesecake ice cream with strawberries mixed in.

Thank goodness that's over with!

Why is it that the holidays are so much work? Meals and decorations, places to go, and people to party with. Are we making things harder on ourselves in the name of fun and celebration? I'm still recovering from yesterday. We spent the entire day at the park. We must have been there for almost 10 hours. With three children and one infant. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, that's for sure.

There were a couple of playgrounds for the kids, as well as games and a bounce house. They had music going and some different types of demonstrations. It certainly wasn't boring. We mostly just hung out and munched all day and people watched. We went with our new friends from teeball. We really had a lot of fun. It was nice to spend time with another couple. We hadn't gotten around to discussing ages. I figured they were somewhere around dh's and mine's age. Dh is 37 and I'm 29. It turns out that S is 38 and K is 39. After everyone else had told their age, K looked at me and asked me how old I was. I just smiled and ducked my head when I told her. I new I would get some teasing for being the youngest one there. I'm used to it.

Today was free movie day. We saw Doogal. It was a pretty cute movie. I had no idea that Kevin Smith did one of the voices, so that added some extra interest on my part. After we followed K back to her house so the kids could play. It really wore Mikel out. When we got home he went straight to bed. He's never done that before! I might take him over there every day.

I started following FlyLady. So far it's working great. My house is clean and I'm very happy with the way things are working. It's pretty easy to follow the routines and do the daily tasks. Maybe eventually I'll be able to get back to excercising every day.

Grin and bare it

My back that is. I just baked some chicken for dinner just by standing with my back to it. I didn't notice it at first because of the pain from my back, but my chest and knees are sunburned too. My chest is just slightly pink, but my knees hurt almost as much as my back. Aloe vera, lots and lots of aloe vera. I've taken to laying on my bed on my stomach with my shirt pulled up and the fan blowing on me. Luckily the kids think it's really neat to rub the aloe vera on my back. There's no way that I could reach it myself.

I actually got to go grocery shopping by myself today. Woohoo!! Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!!!! I took my time and cruised through Costco and bought lots of delicious fruit. A whole flat of strawberries and some pineapple. Then I went on to WinCo and got a huge watermelon. I was going to save that for the 4th, but after setting it on the counter in the kitchen it rolled off the counter and split open. So I settled for cutting it in half and we'll save half for the 4th. It was so nice to shop without being harassed for toys, candy, and other stuff. I could actually think. Of course it's still hotter than the seventh ring of hell here and I almost completely dehydrated myself. I've never guzzled water like that before. I must have drank a whole liter in the car after leaving WinCo.

Tuesday we'll be going to a BBQ with our new teeball friends. The men are going to the park where the fireworks show will be early to stake out a spot and unload the barbeques. There will be live music and games for the kiddies, so hopefully we will have a nice 4th. We're new to this whole having friends as a couple thing. But we get along very well with them and all the kids play well together. Hopefully this will be the start of something new.

Dh got himself a new job. It's only half the distance away from our house than his old job is. Plus it's a substantial increase in pay and better benefits. He's really excited and pleased to be moving on.

Have a great weekend everyone. Happy 4th of July!!

Oh my achin' back!

Note to self: make sure you have someone put sunblock on your back for you.

My friend and fellow teeball mom invited the kids and I to the new water park that just opened here in town. It's not really a water park so much as it is a very large pool with one giant water slide and an area for the little ones. The tot area was really nice. One end gradually sloped into the water and the other had a small set of steps. There is a huge structure in the middle with two different small water slides and all sorts of water activities around the outside. Water spouted from all sorts of different openings and there was even a tunnel to crawl through near the bottom by the water.

Mikel and Katie had a blast. The didn't want to get out of the pool at all. Not even when I offered junk food from the snack bar. The only time they willingly left the pool was when they had to while the lifeguards took a break. The second the whistle blew to signal break time was over they were right back in the water. Katie still doesn't like getting water in her eyes, so we'll be getting her some goggles before we go again. The one time she went down a water slide she got water all in her face and cried for 15 minutes. Mikel didn't have any problems getting his face wet, but he still doesn't want to go under water. Swimming lessons are obviously in order, and soon.

Before we left the house I slathered everyone with sunblock including myself. I forgot however to have one of the kids help me put some on my back. Oops! During break time I reapplied and had Mikel help me out with putting some on my back. Too little, too late. I'm a nice lobster red on pretty much most of my back. Now the kids are helping me put aloe vera on my back. Oy my back hurts. You could fry eggs on my back with all the heat coming off of it. Hopefully it will turn into a tan within a couple of days. It's a good thing I don't like sleeping on my back.

Maybe I'm just bitter

Oh yes, you should have seen her. I so wish taking a picture wasn't so obvious, cause it would really driven the point home. I'm speaking of the Hustler Barbie and her husband that brought their little boy to the karate lesson this week. He was wearing a Hustler basketball jersey making it evident that he plays for Team Flynt. Who doesn't right? She was wearing 5" wedgies, it looked like she was literally walking on her toes. To complete the look she wore hot pants and a halter top. Her hair was three different colors. Platinum blonde, then mixed in underneath were black and red, bright red. It was quite a look let me tell ya.

Now, I'm not one to judge and I'm not making any assumptions about their character. I'm sure they're very nice people. However, when I'm in the presence of my children and the unsuspecting public I try to dress appropriately. Notice I didn't say anything about when my kids aren't around. Then I dress like a $2 hooker on Wednesday night when business is slow. You know, the usual. Clear plastic platforms, a thong and starfish pasties. But I digress, because I love to do that. I'm somebody's mother and as such when attending family oriented functions and any other time for that matter, I dress appropriately or at least comfortably. I spend about 90% of my time in a t-shirt and jeans/capris.

My point is, there are young, impressionable children around and in this case hormonal teenage boys. We all know that they can be easily distracted. Lord knows if I had a body like hers' then I would definately dress differently than I do now. I would still dress appropriately for my age and the occasion. I'm not 18 any more, but I'm not older than dirt either. With all of the messages about body image sent by society and the media, do we really need women enforcing to our young children that it's ok to go about dressed like that in public? I'm all for freedom of expression, and I certainly don't expect to keep my children from seeing the world as it really is. But, I don't need my 6year old son asking my why that ladies chi-chies were showing. Or why her husband had his hand on her ass while walking across the gym floor.

But, maybe I'm just bitter. Because even if I lost all my fluffiness, I wouldn't come close to having a body to dress like that. I'm also short so there'll never be any chance of anyone mistaking me for Barbie. I'm also frustrated because my efforts to lose weight have as yet proven to be unsuccessful. Yep, that's it. I'm bitter and possibly jealous. Now where have Ben & Jerry gotten off to?

What were we thinking?

Early Saturday evening we decided that we would go camping in the desert and do some riding. It didn't seem like that big of a deal. We would drive out there, sleep in the back of the truck, do a couple of hours of riding in the morning before it got too hot and then come home. Ah, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and lots of lovely places to park. You've heard that the desert cools off at night right? Not this particular patch of desert. It was 100 degrees at 2am. I think maybe it cooled down to a chilly 92 degrees some time between when I finally passed out from shear exhaustion and when I woke up because the dog and wrapped his leash around the trailer.

I have spent the night in the seventh ring of hell and lived to tell the tale. I knew I should have just stayed home with Katie and rented a kid's movie. I could have spent a snore free night with Ben & Jerry.

You may not be surprised to find out that we were the only people out there. Shocking I know. So there we are in the pitch black darkness and suddenly Katie wakes up and is deathly afraid that the bad skeletons are coming to get her. I had no idea there was a difference between a good skeleton and a bad one. Maybe not enough calcium? Mikel then informs her that there are skeletons buried every where. Thanks for the help buddy. You can be quiet now. I calmed her down and convinced her that the skeletons were not coming to get her, just her older brother. She was cool with that. More toys for her.

I never would have imagined that I would spend the night in the middle of the desert in our truck with all the windows and doors open. Something could get in right? Wild animals and bugs, oh god not bugs. I think I woke up once with a June bug in my hair. There were stink bugs every where. The kids had fun kicking them and running from the field mouse that apparently adopted us in hopes of us sharing our food. Alas, it was not too be.

There is a bathroom out there. I didn't totally rough it. Jeez people, I'm not that crazy! The bathroom is basically an outhouse with a light and a toilet to sit on that covers the huge hole in the ground. I went armed with Lysol wipes and spray. I was not messing around. That seat was germ free, I guarantee it. It worked out great for the kids, they never remember to flush any way.

I digress, because damn this is taking a long time to type and I'm getting hungry. Dh and Mikel rode for about an hour and then we packed up and got the hell out of there. It was already 99 degrees at 7am. Over night a storm front had moved in, so it was overcast and muggy for extra fun.

Oh air conditioning, how I love thee let me count the ways:
Frigid air blowing in my face.
Non-sweaty feet.
My t-shirt not being soaking wet for the first time in hours.

To answer your question, yes we are completely crazy. We purposely drove into the desert in the middle of June and expected it to be tolerable. I'd say it's about time that we had our meds adjusted.

Hello?

Katie wanted to call someone on my cell phone. Actually what she said was, "I'm going to take care of your phone for you mom." Yeah, like that was going to happen. I could just see the cell bill with calls to China on there. I asked her if she wanted to call someone and she nodded her head. At this point she still wouldn't let go of the phone. I told her that I would have to dial the number for her and she reluctantly released custody of the phone. It's pink and cool looking, I can't really say that I blame her.

I knew my dh was sitting in the living room and had his cell with him, so I called him and gave Katie the phone. I handed the phone to her and told her to put it to her ear. "Who is it?" she asked. I told her it was daddy and she should say hello. She asked me if that was her other daddy. What other daddy would that be? Who does she think this mysterious other daddy is? I think maybe she thought it might be my dad. She hasn't quite grasped the concept that my dad is her grandpa. I heard dh answer his phone and her eyes lit up. "Mom it sounds just like my dad!" When I started to laugh she got mad. She's having embarassment issues lately. No laughing at La Katie! It will not be tolerated.

When I explained that it was in fact her dad, she gave the phone to me and told me to talk to him. I told dh what was going on and he said "oh, ooooookkkkkkkkkkkkk" like I was the freak in this situation. Obviously it was him. The call made perfect sense to me.

Ugh!

I sat down at my computer and had what I wanted to say all planned out. Then the kids sat down at the table with me and started asking me how to spell things. Mikel asked me how to write his address. Katie asked me to help her with her workbook. Do you know how hard it is to type while trying to spell? It ain't easy. They're still talking to me and my brain is going into overload. Make them stooooooopppppp!

I know have a plan for the summer. Go to the movies in the morning, home for lunch, go to the park, and the go to the library in the afternoon. The kids were hammered last night. Dinner, bath/shower and then bed. They went to sleep, without me giving them benadryl. Shhhhhh, that last part is a secret. Wear the children out. That is my mission. Make them tired and they'll go to bed early, then I can have some peace and quiet. The only time it will be better is when dh is gone on his business trip and then I'll have the bed all to myself! I won't have to sleep hugging the edge of the bed. I can leave the french door open all night. What I wouldn't give for a vacation!

I actually managed to clean my living room today. It's clean for the moment. Tomorrow, the kitchen! It's horrifying, absolutely horrifying. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing growing in the sink or the fridge. However, I did find the pan from Katie's tea set in her room and there is an unidentifiable substance in there that has hair like Don King.

Note to self: no caffeine for Mikel after 2pm. He's positively vibrating right now.

Two loads of laundry are sitting in my living room waiting to be folded and I'm avoiding them like they're my ex-boyfried with the hairy back. I know there are women that love a hairy guy, but does anyone actually like a hairy back? Dh occasionally sprouts a hair on his back. I like to wait until he's asleep and then pluck it. It's hysterical the way he jumps. I'm going to hell aren't I?

I'm on a hair rant for some reason. While I'm at it, I hate my hair. It's frizzy and none of the de-frizzing hair products I've tried work. Every time I dye my hair the color only covers the gray for about a week and then it's back with a vengence. I'm trying to decide if I should just cut it short again and wake up with the There's Something About Mary do, or perm it and possibly have an afro. I'm all for self-expression, but I'm really not the afro havin' type.

Oh grasshoppa!

The kids started karate lessons today. Originally I was just going to sign Mikel up, but at the last minute asked Katie if she wanted to try it. She had lots of fun and now both of the kids will have something to do over the summer. One of the other boys from teeball is taking the lessons too and I get along really well with his mom. We were talking during the lesson and the woman in front of us kept turning around and giving us the evil eye. We weren't talking loudly, we weren't being rude. I think she was just hatin' cause we're beautiful.

Tonight was the team party for teeball. Again, not all of the kids showed up. Who doesn't show up for free pizza and a trophy? Why, why would you not take your child to something like that? It's sad really. Free pizza. Those two words alone brought me running. The only thing that would have made me run faster would have been free pool boys. So what if I don't have a pool?

Mikel just told me that his head is a meatball. I'm so glad he's not delusional like most men.

For some reason for the last two weeks I just can't seem to get going. All I want to do is sleep, and then sleep some more. I've been sleeping until 10 or 11am every day. Yes, the kids are sleeping that late too. They've been staying up late with dh. What is summer for any way if you're not going to rock n' roll all night and party every day? I'm on my third day of trying to finish the laundry and so far I've only gotten one load actually done. The house is a total mess and it's driving me nuts, but I don't want to clean it. It's not the lack of caffeine or ice cream, so I'm not really sure what the problem is. Maybe the visit to the doctor next week will provide some answers.

We went to the library today and got lots of nifty books. The library is starting their summer reading program again, but we missed the visit from the firemen. Damn all this sleep! I missed the firemen! I know they're hot because the fire station is right around the corner from my house. I really was hoping for a mouth to mouth demonstration. I'm a married spud, I'm a married spud.

About the title

The "home of the depressed vagina" thing, ummmm sort of an inside joke. It was a comment I made on someone else's blog and it was a lot funnier there. Any way, she replied that it should be my new tagline, so I'm going to try it out for a while.

I'm working on updating my blogroll, if I have linked to you and you'd rather I didn't, just let me know. It's probably going to be about ten miles long since I read so many blogs, but I like to help promote the people that I think are good writers.

We had a pretty low key weekend, after last weekend it was a nice change. This was dh's first regular weekend back since all the drama with his dad and then having to travel for work. Saturday we just hung around the house and didn't do much. On Sunday we took a nice drive and found a really neat fruit stand/deli type place. It was so cool, they grow all of their own fruits and veggies and make great food. We'll definately be going back again soon. Then we came home and dh BBQ'd some pre-seasoned steaks. The kids ate outside since it was so nice. I myself enjoy having a table to put my plate on, so I used the dining room table.

I've been feeling pretty lethargic, so it's time for a doctor's appointment since I'm having some other problems as well. I have a feeling that I might have diabetes, which is pretty scary since my grandma died of complications from diabetes. It took me all day to just get the laundry sorted, then I went to check on some clothes in the dryer and was about to get all frustrated and pissed off because the clothes weren't dry. I started to think that our dryer had died a sudden death, but then I realized that I hadn't turned the dryer on in the first place. Usually I find that turning things on helps. In life it's the little things that are so important.

I finally finished washing and cutting up all the fruit I bought on Friday while grocery shopping. I really don't know what I was thinking. Instead of waiting until Saturday and possibly being able to go by myself, I took both kids with me on Friday. I took them to lunch at McDonald's first hoping that it would burn off some excess energy. That was some wishful thinking. I held it together pretty well, I only threatened to ship them to Namibia twice. It was some heavy duty shopping. I went to Costco and WinCo and actually had to fold up the third seat and have Mikel climb in the truck to help me push stuff forward and stack boxes so it would all fit. I filled up the back of a suburban people. I was so happy because I really stocked up and I probably wouldn't have to go shopping again soon, but then I got home and realized that I would have to actually unload and put away all of that stuff. It was so horrible. I must have cried at least half a dozen times. I was tired, the kids were tired and I still had to cook dinner. I just finished putting all the groceries away today. Not the food, but the stuff that could wait. I need more shelves in my garage, and a freezer with a lock on it. That probably makes for a good place to stick dh when he pisses me off. He's going to be in there a lot.

It was like having something stuck in your teeth

The waiting! The not knowing! The curiosity was literally killing me. I was almost to the point of psycho calling every five mintues until I got an answer. Thank goodness I didn't actually do that, but I really, really wanted to. Finally on last Friday just as I was getting ready to walk into the deposition for my workman's comp case, she called! The baby's momma of course. Apparently they had gone out of town and she forgot the charger for her cell phone. So not only had she forgotten to tell me that she was going out of town, but then her phone died and she didn't get any of my messages and couldn't call me. I suppose she could have used a pay phone, or a friends phone, but whatever. So I watched the little sweetheart last Friday night. Holy cow! A week ago he was just scooting around. Now that little boy is hauling some serious tushie! He was into everything. I have soooooo gotten completely attached, can you tell?

Dh got home safely on Saturday afternoon after being gone for a week on business. Things turned ugly on Sunday over a "discussion" about money and then things got really ugly and personal. I ended up taking the kids and leaving. At first I was just going to take them to the park and out for dinner. Then dh called to say he was sorry about the things he said to me and I stood my ground about not using me as his trash can and then things got fugly, really fugly. The kids and I spent the night in a motel with my cell phone off. Around 11pm Mikel asked if he could call his dad. I didn't want to keep the kids from dh,so I let him call. Long story short, we talked things out and we came home on Monday. We're going to start counseling again, but it's not anything we can't work through. Hopefully.

Thursday will be Mikel's last day off school, then I'll be home alone all day with both kids and sometimes the baby. I'm stocking up on the magarita mix and emergency flares. I'm putting a deadbolt lock on my bedroom door and putting a refridgerator in my closet. Seriously, the first day of school is my favorite holiday. I celebrate it like most people celebrate Christmas or their birthdays'. I've already counted the days on the calendar and have all the emergency exits clearly marked.

Thank You Wellbutrin

I just realized this evening that I made it through a visit from Aunt Flo without thinking about killing myself, crying several times a day, and wanting to hit my husband over the head with my cast iron skillet. This means a lot. Even the months when Aunt Flo didn't visit, I had those problems. It's like the worst form of PMS you can imagine. I finally feel like a normal functioning human being. This could take some getting used to. It's been so long that I had almsot forgotten who I was. Now I can look at myself in the mirror and smile. Even though I'm still unhappy with my weight, it doesn't send me into the depths of despair like it used to. Praise the lord and pass the medication!

The week without my husband in going surprisingly well. I discovered that making my son sit in the corner actually works as punishment. I don't make him face the corner, well only if he does something really bad. It's not that I'm against spanking, but why do it if you don't have to? He seems to be able to tolerate it and I set the timer for 6 minutes and he knows when it goes off that he can get up. I think the kids are still a little unsettled from all the upheaval of dh going out of town to visit his father and Mikel being out of school. Dh was only home for about five days before he had to go out of town on business. Mikel understands what's going on, but Katie is having a little trouble with the concept.

I'm not quite sure what happened with the babysitting. I watched the little doll once after I came back from visiting my parents and fil and I spoke with his mommy once and I haven't heard from her since. When I called to see if she needed me to babysit, she said no and then asked if that was the only reason I was calling. I'm really puzzled by what she meant by that? I miss the little guy. He was such a little sweetheart. I've left multiple messages for her and even sent her a text message. I'm just really confused about that and would like to know if I did something wrong or offended her somehow.

Shots Hurt

I took my daughter for her kindergarten admission physical yesterday. It went great, right up until she had to get her vaccinations. The TB test didn't bother her much, the shots however caused major trauma. There was much crying and yelling ow and telling the nurse to stop and that was just me. I'm kidding. She did cry for a while and asked me to get her out of there. My son was extremely helpful, he yelled "wow! it's bleeding!". Yeah, cause we needed to know that. After she recovered she found the strength to complain about the Taz band aids and the lack of more Disney princess stickers. For the rest of the day she kept reminding me to not touch her owies.

Dh has officially been gone almost three days and so far I haven't had any urges to tie the children to chairs and go hit the bars dressed as a nun. The kids are having fun helping me cook dinner and last night I gave my son's mohawk a trim. He was quite impressed that I managed not to screw it up. Kids are so easily impressed. I changed the tags on our truck this morning and my daughter was shocked to find that I actually know how to take the licsense plate frame off. Apparently she thought only daddy knew how to do stuff to the truck.

Mikel only has a week of school left. The thought of him being home all day makes me break out in a cold sweat. It's not that he's a troublemaker, cause he is. But it isn't anything I can't handle. The challenge is keeping him occupied. He's never been one to really play on his own. He will occasionally, but prefers to have company. Also he's just a little to smart for his own good. We're talking about a child that figured out how to open the door after I put the knob covers on . . . . . . before he was two years old. Seriously, I spent all day driving to every store I could think of that sold baby proofing stuff only to get home, put all the covers on, and it took him about thirty seconds to figure it out. More recently we put a locking door knob on the door to the garage because he was getting into Dh's tools and other stuff in there that he wasn't supposed to. About 20 minutes later he got a hold of the keys to our truck, went outside and used the garage door opener. Can you imagine what he'll be like as a teenager? I'm looking into renting a cell in Alcatraz.

I'm in serious trouble

I ran out of ice cream two days ago and I'm almost out of diet pepsi. This is a national crisis. Forget the border. Send in the national guard with Ben & Jerry's and crates of diet pepsi. I know what you're thinking. I'm supposed to be trying to lose weight so why am I eating ice cream. I eat the low fat kind, I swear. I recently discovered Dryer's( i think it's dryer's any way) light ice cream. It allegedly has half the fat of regular ice cream. I love the coffee ice cream. It is sooooooooooooooooooooo good. I'm talkin' have a burning hot pool boy that doesn't speak any english kind of good. You know that's some good stuff.

It's been well over 100 degrees here all week and it doesn't show any signs of cooling down any time soon. We're living on popsicles ok, some of us are living on ice cream, and iced tea. Every single fan in the house is running. I moved my laptop to the dinning room table so I could sit under the ceiling fan.

I have a confession to make. Hello, my name is Princess and I'm addicted to Myspace. I started a profile just so I could look at someone else's like a year ago and then recently one of my cousins found me on there. It's escalated so quickly that I've had to be forcibly ripped away from the computer. If I had an endless supply of ice cream, diet pepsi, and cable internet, I might never leave my house. A lot of restaurants deliever now right? You can even get groceries delivered, and think of all the money I would save on gas!!

It's just wrong

My son's teeball game was at 3pm this afternoon in 103 degree weather. I sent my child out to play teeball in the heat. I was sweating like a virgin on prom night and I was sitting in shade drinking ice water. The other parents my have noticed if I filled the water jug with strawberry margaritas and then I would have had to share and that would have just sucked. Maybe I could have set up a margarita stand! My power hitting son managed to hit one over the fence and would have done it a second time, but the coach on the opposite team stopped the ball with his hand so we could finish the game sooner. At least that's what I keep telling myself in order to repress the urge to scratch nasty words into his car.

Dh leaves tomorrow on his week long business trip. The stripper will be here five minutes after he leaves. I already have my stash of booze hidden in washing machine outside. I'm going to be alone with my kids for five whole days. Perhaps I should have purchased a crack pipe.

Monday is La Katie's appointment for her kindergarten physical. I'm so excited about both my kids being in school I could fart rainbows. Just the thought of a potential three hours all to myself makes my head spin. It's almost as good as being given free rein inside Louis Vuitton.

It's gettin' hot in here! So take off all your clothes

I put away laundry this morning in just my underwear and t-shirt. TMI, I know, but it felt so darn good! By 8:30 in the morning it's already in the mid-eighties and by noon it's in the high ninties to in the hundreds. I don't own a single pair of shorts because I feel that it's unfair to make the public suffer at the sight of my ultra-white, flabby thighs. I have great calves on the other hand so I only wear capris. This morning it was so freakin' hot and I was so sweaty after giving the dog a bath that I decided to put the laundry away half dressed. I was getting ready to take a shower any way. I'm avoiding turning on the air conditioner because we finally got our gas bill to go down after running the heater almost all winter. It's lovely living in the desert, really it is.

I went up north to visit my family and my fil for a week over the holdiday weekend. My fil is doing a little bit better, but is still having difficulty with his heart and with problems resulting from his stroke. It was nice to get to see everybody and we got to celebrate my father's birthday with him. It was pretty relaxing not having to keep the house clean or worrying about running errands or getting other stuff done. My brother barbequed some chicken that was soooooo good. I'll have to invite him down here to visit soon so he can do it again! I got to meet his new girlfriend and her children, they seem really nice. His girlfriend is actually a little older than me and we went to high school together. She says she remembers me, but I don't remember her at all.

Finally being back at home is always nice though. I missed my own bed and the kids having their own beds to sleep in. I don't really relish living out of a duffle bag. Dh will be traveling next week to North Carolina for his work so he'll be gone pretty much all week. After being home for only five days! That's ok though, there's always the welcome home sex to look forward to! TMI again, sorry.

Ugh

I'm tired, let's face it. I'm pooped. I'm so ready for Mikel and dh to come home. They've officially been gone a week and that's long enough. Unfortunately my fil is still pretty sick, he had a stroke about three days ago. I'm not babysitting for the next three days so I may drive down there and get Mikel and bring him back. He's missing school and baseball games and I know he's not sleeping right. Plus I'd really like to see my parents and my fil. I'm not looking forward to the 6 hour drive, in a stick shift. Blech! I've done it before, and it wasn't pretty.

The babysitting is going well. C is an angel, most of the time. He's getting his first two teeth so he can be a little cranky, but over all he's sweet. He's learning to crawl so he pulls himself along with his arms and is pushing with his legs. Feeding him is a challenge. He's figured out how to blow raspberries with a mouth full of food. I feel like I'm at a Gallagher show. Just about every other bottle results in a massive flow of puke. Almost excorsist like. I know feed him wearing a very large towel and rain gear.

I Love Lucy

I'm telling you, my life is an I Love Lucy episode. Last night my daughter woke up and wanted a glass of water. So I got up and went to our water cooler. Usually Katie leaves her cup on the shelf next to the water cooler. The thing is, she only likes cold water. So I picked up the cup and dumped the contents into the fish tank. That was not a good idea. It wasn't a good idea because Katie hadn't left a cup full of water there, she had left a cup full of hours old chocolate milk. Yes you read that correctly. I poured probably four ounces of curdled chocolate milk into the 12, oh yeah, 12 gallon fish tank. Nothing wakes you up like realizing you probably just killed two of your children's pets. When they say "death by chocolate" they probably didn't mean it that way.

So this afternoon I finally worked up enough nerve to clean out the tank. Amazingly the fish were still alive! Hardy little suckers aren't they? So after emptying the tank and washing the rocks, the filter, the little fishy toys, and the inside of the tank I start filling it back up. After the third trip with the pitcher I decided that there had to be a better, faster way to fill up the fish tank. With the water hose of course!!!! That's brilliant! Wile E. Coyote suuuuuper geeeenius, yes that's me. I enlisted the help of my loving daughter. Here kid, hold this hose in the fish tank. I've mentioned that she's only four years old before right? I turn the water on and what does she do? She lets go of the hose. The wall and the carpet are now soaking wet. Oh, and so is Katie. I ran out to shut off the water and the tank overflowed.

Don't you wish you were me? Seriously, I know you want it. You ain't got ta' lie baby! Thank goodness I own a lot of towels. Water mops up pretty easily and now my carpet is clean! Sweet. What I really can't wait for is to hear Katie's version when dh finally comes home from visiting his dad.

Btw, my fil is at home now. Turns out he didn't have medical insurance and so the doctors decided to release him back into the wild. He's doing about as well as can be expected for having had a heart attack a week ago.

Oh no she didn't!!!!

My daughter called me a freak today.

The sad thing is, she's right.

My hands smell like a baby

The first day babysitting went rather well. Being a mom is like riding a bike, you never forget how. I did get puked on several times and it didn't bother me at all. My daughter however was completely grossed out, especially by the poopy diaper. The baby is a complete doll and is incredibly easy going. I'll most likely be taking care of him five or six days a week. Right now it's easy, we'll see how crazy I go once my husband and son come back from visiting my fil.

I totally smell like baby puke and that sweet baby smell and I LOVE IT!

Please, take a moment of your time . . . .

and help me support my friend Lisa in collecting donations to take part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Los Angeles in September. She lost a dear friend to breast cancer and is doing something to help insure that we find a cure. Someone you know has breasts, so please do your part in seeing that we don't lose any more wonderful women to breast cancer. You can donate at Lisa's Personal Avon Walk Page or through paypal to labsnabys@gmail.com . I appreciate any help at all.

Someone pissed in our cheerios

After that bouncy, bubbly post yesterday just as I finished publishing, my husband called. I was all set to tell him the good news when he dropped the bomb. "My father just had a heart attack". Amazing how you can go from walking on air to crying in a dining room chair. So far as we know my fil is in the hospital and there has been no change in his condition. I'm extremely fearful as heart disease runs rampant in my husband's family and my fil smokes like steam train and lives on coffee. My husband is be rather calm about it all and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to have to meet him at the door with a packed bag and tell him to "just go already!" I really like my fil, unfortunately he can be a complete ass just like taught my husband to be, but when he visits us he's always on his best behavior and I really enjoy him being here. He's always been very nice and polite to me and if he should not recover from this I will miss him a great deal. I can't begin to comprehend how I'll tell my children that their Papa is gone if that happens.

Yeah baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called this morning to see about my disability check and found out from the recording that it was being mailed today. Then, the check showed up in the mail!!!!! Money, money, sweet money! I am so going grocery shopping by myself tonight even if I have to hold a gun to my husband's head. Hot damn I might even put on makeup and a clean shirt.

That's pretty pathetic isn't? I'm more excited about grocery shopping than I am about getting new shoes. I'll most likely start receiving hate mail and death threats, but I don't care. I'm going to go buy four cases of diet caffeine free pepsi and bathe in it! The only other thing I'm excited about is that now I'll have money to buy ice cream to eat while watching America Idol. It's a ritual. I may actually be giving myself OCD. But again, I don't care! I also got a job babysitting an adorable 6th month old baby boy starting Wednesday. Can anyone say spending money??? For me and me alone. Hello haircuts, pedicures, and manicures. I haven't seen the lady that does my nails in so long I might very well french kiss her when I see her (I won't, but it's tempting). My feet are horrifying. They actually scare my children.

Workout - weights (chest and legs), abs, and half an hour on the treadmill

God, Grant me the serenity . . . . .

To not roll my eyes,
grit my teeth,
pull my hair,
scream at my kids,
talk to myself under my breath,
or sharpen the carving knife excessively.

Make me grateful,
for the gifts I have received
and continue to receive.
My health (if you can call it that),
my sanity ( I only talk to myself when I'm alone, so it doesn't count)
my children ( to quote Adam Sandler in Big Daddy "children are great, as long as they're not moving or speaking" )
my loving husband ( he still hasn't wished me happy mother's day, the jerk )
and my home ( it looks like shit, but the roof is still holding )

I love my children, I really do. I don't scream at them, ever. I have raised my voice many times and intend to do so many more. If you're wondering what brought this on, it could be the fact that the gift my husband gave me for mother's day was a pair of sunglasses that he bought for himself and decided he didn't like. Yes, he regifted me, the bastard. I know, it's the thought that counts. So on father's day I'm going to give him the white purse I bought last year and no longer use. He did buy me a caramel frapuccino from Starbuck's and took me to dinner at Outback Steakhouse, so he's not a total loss.

Despite that I love him, cause well, he's hot.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

A little early, but still good. My son's class held a mother's day tea complete with little finger sandwiches with the crust cut off. Among the many gifts were coupons good for various favors such as hugs and cleaning up his own toys. The big gift was a Kentucky Derby like hat made from a pastel colored plate. The teachers took pity on us and actually assembled the hats so they actually looked somewhat wearable. If you're into that sort of thing. Although there was one mother sporting what looked like a firework exploding from the top of her head. They sang us many "mother" themed songs and then actually served us the tea and sandwiches. It was very cute and I was extremely surprised that my son actually stood on stage. He didn't sing so much as move his lips and swayed from side to side, but it's the thought that counts.

He's asked me about a dozen times since then if I'm still proud of him. I think he's waiting for me to change my mind. Especially after I found him throwing my daughter's Hello Kitty slipper at the dog repeatedly just minutes after we got home. I told him I'll always love him and always be proud of him, but the animal cruelty has to stop. For that, the dog is pretty proud of me too.

I want a soda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm craving a soda so bad right now I'm ready to sell some of my jewelry to get one. Or at least put one of the children in a sweatshop for the afternoon for a case diet caffeine free pepsi. Yeah, I know that doesn't really seem like soda. But to the addicted, it is god! I had to give up caffeine because of my acid reflux and because my shrink says it causes anxiety. Doesn't that just suck. I never noticed the anxiety because I was to busy sprinting around my house cleaning at the speed of light and leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Sure I had heart burn like hell had suddenly taken up residence in my chest, but hey, my house was clean!

I ran out of soda about four days ago. Since the workman's comp money quit coming and the state disability checks haven't begun to arrive. I have no money. Well, I'm not completely broke. We have money for the essentials, like the house payment and asthma medicine, but the diet pepsi isn't really a priority for the rest of the household right now. I thought only caffeine withdrawals were supposed to give you a headache, but that's not true. It's the lack of carbination. We've been lied to people. It's an honest to god conspiracy.

I have to quit typing now as Katie is standing next to me giving me the evil eye. She wants to play her Reader Rabbit Game and if I don't get it started soon she will emit a high pitched whine that will shatter ear drums all over the world.

Workout - 30 minutes on the treadmill

Be good to yourself

You have to take care of yourself so you can be healthy and fit to take care of the people around you. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. I often put others before myself but to the point that it is unhealthy for me. I find myself stopping now and considering what I do, so that I make the right choices that are healtiest for everyone, myself included. I'm really not doing my children any favors by cleaning their rooms for them and not waiting for them to ask for help before giving it. I don't want to raise a Jessica Simpson or Jesse Simpson in the case that one of my children is a boy. It's my job as a parent to teach them to become well-rounded adults that know how to take care of themselves. Sometimes we think that it's easier just to do things ourselves instead of taking the time to ask or show someone how to complete a task. It can be even harder to watch them do something not exactly the way we do it. Breathe and let go, because in the long run, you make it easier on yourself and you teach those around you that they too are capable of doing the things you do for them by themselves.

I realize that it's easier said than done. But once you start and you see the power that you hold, it's really almost hard to stop. You don't have to turn into a dictator, but you must be the adult/parent. Stepping up to the plate takes courage, confidence, and strength. If I can take the step, so can you.

Workout - weights (back and triceps), abs, and treadmill

Oh my achin' head!

I have a monster headache today. Probably because I didn't get any sleep last night. Between my daughter being sick and forgetting to take my sleeping pill it was a really rough night. I was awake more than I was asleep and just couldn't get comfortable. My doctor says that in two weeks we will mostly likely be switching my meds and that may help things a lot. I'm still looking for the pill that will make me slim and fabulously rich. If anybody finds it, let me know.

I took Katie to the doctor yesterday and while he isn't diganosing her as having asthma, that what he thinks she has, and the non-diagnosis because????? So after three, yes three breathing treatments and three different prescriptions we were allowed to go. After racing to get Mikel (my son) to school half an hour late!!!! We dropped off the prescriptions to be filled and then I got to take Katie for her first ever chest x-ray!! I'll consider that preparation for future mammograms, even though there was no squishing involved for her. Now we just have the daily struggle of getting her to take her medicines, which only takes about an hour of bribery, threats, and pleading. Not necessarily in the order though.

I'm contemplating taking classes to become an accountant or CPA. I've always liked bookkeeping and have a talent for it and I think that it's something I can start my own business with and work from home. Or at the very least I'll have more skills to get a better paying job. While I would really prefer to work from home, it may be unavoidable for a little while. At least both of the kids will be in school this fall and that will give me time to work on whatever it is I'm going to be working on. I think I might enjoy trying some freelance writing work, even though I have doubts about my writing ability.

Workout - weights (chest and triceps)

Huh?

My doctor gave me some sleeping pills because I told him that I wake up several times a night or I wake up and am awake for hours. Last night was the first night that I took one. Whoa baby did that sucker work! I was able to wake up when the kids needed me, but this morning when dh's alarm clock went off, I couldn't find the snooze button. The button is huge, it takes up the whole top of the alarm clock and I couldn't find it. I just stood there holding the clock looking at it with one of those confused dog looks with my head tilted to the side with the alarm blaring the whole time. Finally my husband grabbed it out of my hand and shut it off. Maybe I'll just take a half pill tonight and not risk my brains turning into mush.

I did my weights yesterday morning, but totally wimped out on the cardio. My doctor said it could take up to a month for my sleep to even out and for me to feel normal again. Who knew that trying to live on two hours of sleep a day could do so much damage! I started taking a multi vitamin in the morning, hoping that will help.

Our sliding screen door is on it's last legs. The handle just broke off, it's all stretched out and now it's bent. Probably because I kicked it when the handle fell off.

Worth Every Penny

For some completely insane reason my dh insists on driving with the windows down. Why did we pay extra for the air conditioning if we're not going to use it? The point is, while drive to the air show at March Air Force Base yesterday, ( with the windows open! ) I killed a fly with my sunglasses. Well, the fly hit my sunglasses, thereby killing itself. The really super gross part was that the dead fly landed in my lap and after finding something suitable for fly removal I then had to clean fly guts off my sunglasses. However, it makes the $182 I spent on these veree cool, sophisticated looking sunglasses completely worth the outrageous amount. Who knows? If I had been wearing my cheapo $5 from WalMart the fly may have shattered the glasses and lodged itself in my eye! Maybe next time I'll try catching the bugs in my teeth.

moving on . . . . . .

What is up with headbands? I bought some for myself when my hair was shorter and the darn things kept slipping off! So I gave them to my daughter thinking that maybe my head was just too fat. Fortunately that's not the case because they kept slipping right off of her head too. I suppose it's possible that we just have really small heads. Today while shopping I bought her some child sized headbands, not the kind that are like giant rubber bands, but regular head bands. Those won't stay on her head either. I know these things work, cause I've seen several people wear headbands succesfully. I just refuse to accept that my daughter and I have misshapen heads.

and another thing! . . . . . .

Why is it that when you go to the trouble of cleaning out the car your children then find something that instantly converts to crumbs and dump it on the back seat? I spent a good hour on saturday cleaning out our truck and what did my daugther do today? She brought along for the ride to school half a dozen barbies and for the ride home, a bag of potato chips which are now residing on the back seat of the truck in a million tiny pieces. Just the chips, not the barbies. I just had a horrible visual of dismembered barbies all over my car. Yuck!!!

this is the last thing, I promise, really . . . . .

We had a nice weekend. The weather finally decided to straighten itself out and give us something that actually resembled spring. Saturday I helped my son practice baseball, then I convinced him to help me clear all the crap from our lawn so dh could mow the lawn. The lawns have not been mowed in a good two or three months, probably longer for the back lawn. Our backyard looked like a rain forest and our frontyard looked like we were trying to start a weed farm. After the clearing of much trash, toys, and lost small animals I went inside and told dh that we cleared the lawns so he could mow them. Not exactly subtle, but the fact that every time we let the dog go into the backyard we lost him for three days didn't really seem to be driving the point home. After that we just lazed around and enjoyed the lovely weather. Katie ( my daughter ) and I sat on the patio and ate lots of yummy fruit and made fun of the boys.

Sunday we went to the air show, as I mentioned before already and on the way home stopped off at a park to play. I went down the twisty slide several times and enjoyed the swings to the amazement or embarassment of my children. Even better was that I didn't have to cook dinner that night!

And now, back to our regular scheduled program

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had gone back to work for about three weeks. Not only did my back hurt really, really bad, but I was only getting about 2-3 hours of sleep a day. I'd get home around 5:30am and go to sleep and get up whenever the kids woke up in the morning. Usually around 7:30 or 8am. I did that five days a week and on the weekends when my husband was home I would sleep continuously and only wake up to eat. I'm sure that you've figured it out by now, but that's not a good way to live.

I've had problems with depression since my early teens. I've seen several therapists and psychiatrists and have had to go on medication about three or four times. The medication always helps and sometimes I need to be reminded to get myself outside in the sunshine and take a break. I have a rather bad habit of thinking that I have to do everything myself and that usually results in me not taking care of myself like I should. So about two weeks ago I just about fell apart. Not really a nervous breakdown, but something close to that. I didn't just need a break, I needed a serious vacation. Basically working two full-time jobs on no sleep isn't really good for the body or the mind. My husband took a couple of days off and handled the kids completely, asked what needed to be done and did it. My wonderful primary physician wrote me out work for as long as I need it and will sign the disability forms for me. I love that man so much!

Now that I'm getting some regular sleep and I've almost finished getting the house back in order I'm actually feeling the urge to exercise again. Exercise really helps with depression. I feel so much better it's really unbelievable. The house looks great, I feel great, the kids are doing a lot better. My doctor said I need to find a job that I can do from home. That way I hopefully won't let myself get overwhelmed and can still be here for the kids. I truly enjoy being a SAHM, it puts peace and contentment in my heart. I may go back to school, but I doubt I'll be doing the real estate appraisal thing. But for now, I'm just getting back to being my happy self and trying to live my life the way I should be.

Yikes!!!!

Boy did I get lazy once I went back to work! No posts in about a month. Any way, I'm back off of work again. Not only because it was too hard on my back, but because working nights and being home with the kids during the day just wasn't going to work. All work and no sleep makes this girl a very cranky girl. I couldn't concentrate and worst of all I wasn't paying attention to my kids. The house looked like a bunch of animals lived here and everything just went to pot. So now I'm trying to get myself back into the routine and get started with the workouts again. The good thing is that I didn't gain any weight back and in fact I think I lost some more.

That's better

Today was a little bit better. I started out pretty down, but as the morning went on and I got out and about running errands, I started feeling better. I felt like I actually accomplished something. I didn't workout, but a day off now and then won't kill me, as long as I get back on track tomorrow. My neck and shoulder is almost completely better, I'm sleeping better again. I finally saw the physician's assistant for the othropedist today. Apparently there is some degeneration of the spine and a couple of the discs are starting to bulge. Nothing hugely serious, but definately permanent. I'm going back to work on modified duty until I can get my schooling done. I want to become a real estate appraiser. It's 90 hours of schooling and then I have to pass the test. Hopefully I can get started here within the next two weeks and then I can get myself a job that's not so hard on my body.

I'm not really looking forward to going back to work, but it needs to be done. Disability doesn't pay all that well and we could really use the money. We're in the process of re-financing our house and that should lower our payment considerably. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's getting brighter.

Just one of those days

Today was just one of those days. The kind of day you have when aunt flo is visiting and you didn't really want to see her. I was way emotional and definately too impatient. I had my appointment with my primary physician and he changed my meds and hopefully this will be the last change to the birthcontrol pills. Then we had to rush to baseball practice and were almost late because of the doctor's appointment. The kids seemed extra tired too.

I got up this morning and did most of my workout. My son woke up and told me he had wet his bed. That should have been my first clue that the day was going to be off. I drove all the way down to work to see if I could get my schedule changed to work better with my husband's new schedule. The manager said he would approve it, but that I had to be released back to work by my specialist before he could sign off on it. I basically drove down there for nothing since I'll have to drive back again tomorrow any way.

There was one really bright spot though. My husband called me on his way home to ask about a direct deposit from my job. I'm on disability so I'm getting paid through the insurance company, not my job. Apparently we got our annual bonus today. I wasn't expecting it and it will certainly help a lot. I felt like my prayers were answered.

Workout - weights(back), back stuff, and abs

Delayed

Apparently there was a problem with my appointment for the othropedist because they neglected to say anything about it until I was standing there trying to check in. So I've been rescheduled for Friday with a physician's assistant and will then be referred back to the surgeon. Lovely. Who knows how long that will take? Hopefully not another month, I thought maybe we were finally going to make some progress. It's getting pretty frustrating.

I have my appointment with my primary physician tomorrow and will tell him about my shoulder. It's feeling a little bit better, but is still pretty sore. I'll also see if I can have him bump up the strength of the birth control pills so I won't have any little visitors during the month. For any men that happen to read this, that means I won't be spotting or aunt flo won't be making any unexpected visits. Hopefully I'll have lost a few more pounds and that will make up for having to drive all the way to the orthopedist's office only to get shut down.

I'm getting itchy to redecorate the house or I should say, start decorating the house since we moved in almost a year ago and the fabric I bought to reupholster the dining room chairs is still standing in the corner. We need a look other than moving chic. Don't even ask how many gallons of paint we bought that never even made it inside the house!

I over slept a little this morning but still managed to get my workout in. I was seriously dragging when I got up, but after a few minutes I got with the program. I'm finally up to a 4.5 incline and 3.2 miles an hour. I'm trying to work up to a 5% incline and 3.5 miles an hour.

Workout - weights (legs), back stuff, abs, 45 mins. on the treadmill

Ouch!

I'm not sure what I did to my shoulder. I don't know if I slept wrong or I pulled a muscle, but it hurts! I slept flat on my back last night because sleeping on either side hurt to much. Even after taking two tylenol with codeine and a muscle relaxer! I stretched extra this morning and that seemed to help, then a long hot shower with the shower set on massage helped A LOT. I'm pretty sure I slept really wrong, especially when I woke up the other night and my son was practically sleeping on my head. Out of curiosity I weighed him the other day and couldn't believe my eyes, 65 lbs.! He just barely turned 6. He's not the least bit fat, he's just a really big boy. Most people think he's 7 or 8. Which reminds me I need to call and schedule his well check. What happened to me, I used to call three months in advance for these things!

I'll most likely have to skip the weights the next few days until my shoulder starts to feel better. I already have a doctor's appointment on Thursday to discuss the new birth control pills, so I can ask my doc then about the shoulder. I've been on three different types of birth control pills in the last three months. You don't want to try this! Talk about hormonal, oy vey! Hopefully the fourth one will be the charm and the rollercoaster can come to a stop. My ultrasound was normal, so it's all in balancing the hormones. Tomorrow I see the orthopedist for my back and hopefully he'll be able to tell me about my MRI and what's wrong with my back.

Workout - weights (arms), back stuff, abs, and 45 mintues on the treadmill

What a weekend!

I did manage to finally get my house clean with my mom's help. Aren't moms wonderful? She helped me clean up all weekend and even supervised the games for the birthday party. Only one guest showed up for the party. Poor kid, that's happened to him two years in a row now. I promise from now on I'll give out invitations two weeks in advance and harass everyone until they RSVP. Well, I might skip the harassment, but I'll definately get the invitations out earlier.

Still, the big 6 year old had a good time and got the presents he wanted and there was cake left over! We had a nice visit with my parents and hopefully they'll be able to come back in June for a whole week. I was a good girl and didn't skip any workouts although I did skip the treadmill for the weekend. I was back in the saddle this morning though. I got up early and made my coffee and got down to business. Thank goodness my daughter's birthday isn't until October!

Workout - weights (chest) back stuff, abs, and treadmill

Yeah baby!!!!!!!!

Woohoo!!!! I lost three more pounds! I wasn't too bad I guess. Always nice to see the scale move down instead of up.

I went grocery shopping today and got lots of fresh fruit and veggies. All stuff on the approved diet. I was sooo hungry while I was shopping. I can't believe I didn't eat lunch before I went. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast and I'm only slightly hungry. It's a little weird not feeling hungry all the time, but I can get used to it quickly.

My son is having a hard time waiting for his birthday to be here. We got him a much longed for Gameboy and the Tony Hawk game he's been begging for. Tomorrow we'll have a nice dinner for him, whatever he wants and cupcakes for him and my daughter. No cake for mom and dad! Then saturday we'll have his party with six of his friends from school. I have to bake cupcakes tonight and the cake tomorrow night so I can decorate it Friday for the party on Saturday. I still have laundry to do, not to mention cleaning the house and cleaning up the backyard for the party. Does all that stuff count as excercise?

Workout - weights (chest), back stuff, abs, and 30 mins. on the treadmill

I was bad!

Ok, I'll be honest and admit to not doing one bit of excercise yesterday. But in my defense I did have an MRI in the morning and an ultrasound in the afternoon. All that waiting and driving over half of the county just did me in. That and the coordination of getting my son to school and picking him up, and my husband's doctor's appointment. It was too much.

I did get up this morning and did my back excercises and my abs. Hopefully I can squeeze in 30 minutes on the treadmill somewhere in between baseball practice, grocery shopping and American Idol. I know, I know, but I LOVE that show. I'm such a geek. Oh, and I need to do laundry too. Thank goodness I'm not working right now or I'd be losing my mind. On second thought I lost that a long time ago and that explains why I waited on the laundry until everyone was one pair away from being out of clean underwear. TMI, sorry.

My dh's triglycerides were so bad (800) that they couldn't even get a reading on his cholesterol. So now he's on the ultra-restricted diet. Poor guy, I think he can eat green leafy veggies and drink water. Pretty much limited to nothing with sugar in it and no fats. Doesn't leave a whole lot. I'm going to have to get creative with the cooking. I don't really need sugar and fat either or the kids for that matter. It's just a matter of fixing things that the kids will eat too.

Workout - back excersises and stretches, abs, and hopefully treadmill

I'm pooped

Late yesterday afternoon my daughter came down with some sort of stomach bug. The poor little thing threw up all over my bed and carpet and continued to vomit off and on until about 3am this morning. It was a really long night. After I had stripped the bed, washed and dried the sheets and re-made the bed again, I ended up sleeping with my daughter in her bed. My husband and son slept in our bed and around 4am my son wet the bed. So I washed the sheets again this morning. Thank god for vinyl sheets to protect the mattress! I now have the cleanest sheets known to man.

I did drag myself out of bed around 8am and slobbed around until about 10am, when I got off my big ol' booty and excercised. After a nice long, extremely hot shower I put some stew in the crock pot and sat down to go through the paper and clip coupons. Since it's been snowing the last few days in the mountains near by we decided to make a run up and let the kids play in the snow. We made our first ever snow man complete with pine needle hair. The kids had fun throwing snow balls at mom and dad. I couldn't believe all the people up there running around without jackets or snow gear on! Talk about asking to get sick, crazy crazy. We came home and I stole my husband's hooded sweatshirt and put on my comfy pants and now I'm going to nap until the Soprano's come on. I'm so excited, I can't wait to see what's going to happen this season.

Workout - weights (back), back excercises and stretches, abs, and 30 mins. on the treadmill

Oops!

I think I bit off more than I could chew. I didn't overeat, but boy did I get myself into something. It turns out that being team mom for my son's baseball team actually involves being responsible for informing all the parents for my son's team about all the fundraising. There is A LOT of fundraising for baseball. I got this binder crammed with all of the fundraisers we're going to be doing. The season actually lasts from mid-March until the end of May. I think there are at least four fundraisers for amounts to be about two months. Yikes! I also have to get people to work at the snack bar. Oy vey!

It actually snowed here today for about half an hour. I live in Southern California, we don't get a whole lot of snow. I interrupted my workout so I could wake up the kids to see the snow falling. My son was really excited and quickly dressed to go outside to catch snowflakes on his tongue. My daughter however, was really not happy with me for waking her up. She likes her beauty sleep. I did finish the workout, about an hour after I started it. It's really cold here, in the low 40's. For a SoCal girl, that's pretty cold!

My parents are coming to visit next weekend for my son's sixth birthday. He's counting the days and can barely contain himself. Upon waking, before his eyes are all the way open he asks how many days until his birthday and how many days until grandma and papa get here. They're going to take him shopping for his first skateboard.

Workout - weights (legs), back excercises and stretches, and abs

Two in a row!

Hopefully I can make it a threepeat! I got up early again this morning, although I admit to hitting the snooze button once. Had some good for me oatmeal for breakfast and enjoyed my coffee before the kids woke up. I was on the treadmill when dh left for work, he said I'm making him feel bad. He still hasn't worked up the energy to start working out. I even managed to clean my kitchen while my son was at school. I can see my counters now and that's always nice.

Note to self: don't leave the digital camera sitting out on the desk. The kids will find it and take pictures of anything that will hold still including every Barbie and toy car they own.

Workout - weights (shoulders), back excercises and stretches, half an hour on the treadmill

Busy, busy

I actually got out of bed at 6am this morning. I had done my workout and was ready for the day by 8:30am! It felt great to get up and have some time to myself and get my workout done for the day. I had my last session of physical therapy today and I'll miss the nice ladies at the therapy center.

My son had his first little league practice today. He was so excited he was counting the minutes! He had a lot of fun once he got over his meet new people nerves. I'm going to be the team mom. It was a very busy day for sure.

Workout - weights (chest), back excercises and stretches, and half an hour on the treadmill

I've never heard of those

Yesterday I was talking to my mom on the phone about my son liking the Special K waffles I had bought. My son heard me talking and said "yeah mom! Can I have some KY waffles?" I was laughing so hard that it took me five minutes to tell my mom what he had said. I just wonder where he heard KY or if that just came out like that.

I noticed on the form for workman's comp. that I have lost another pound. Woohoo for me! I made spaghetti tonight and some garlic bread. I'm glad there was some spaghetti left over, now I can have some for lunch tomorrow!

Workout - weights (biceps and triceps), back excercises, and half an hour on the treadmill

Rain, again

It looks like it's going to rain again. For like the third time in the last week and a half. I love the rain, really I do. I just don't love what it does to my children when they're stuck in doors all day. There's only two places in town that have indoor playgrounds and of course they insanely crowded when it rains. The worst thing is that half the parents don't bother watching their children while they're there. They sit in a completely different part of the restaurant while their kids terrorize the playground.

I slept in late again, this time until 9am! Horrible. I feel like a slug. It must be all the medications I'm taking for my back. All of them can cause drowsiness and boy they must be! I had a hard time waking up when my daughter was calling for me last night. Kind of scary actually. I think I'll have to talk to the doctor about that. I have two more days of physical therapy and then I won't have to go any more. It's not really being effective. Thank goodness, having to go three times a week was getting old.

I took the kids to the library after my son was done at school. The library is hosting a program that for every five books they read they get a free hamburger or cheeseburger from In and Out Burger. I see a lot of free cheeseburgers in my future since the kids wanted to check out half the library. I'm suddenly reminded that In and Out doesn't offer salads. I'll be praying for strength later. Oh and they're shakes! I also see lots of time spent on the treadmill.

Workout - back stretches and excercies, half an hour on the treadmill

Darn!

I went to my doctor's appointment today and I didn't lose any weight. But, on the plus side I didn't gain any either so I'll just be glad that I've lost what I've lost and haven't gained any back. Today was a busy day with taking my son to school and going to my physical therapy appointment and then having my doctor's appointment this afternoon. My poor daughter is having a sever allergy problem and has had quite a case of the sniffles for the last two days. She woke me up at 3am and wanted to watch Corpse Bride (her new favorite movie). We ended up sleeping in until 8:30am. That's pretty late for us.

Hopefully I'll be back to work within the next week or so. I finally got my MRI scheduled and that will determine the extent of the damage. I'll most likely have to go back to work even though I'm still in pain because we just can't afford to live on my disability checks. All of my husband's income goes to paying for the house and car. It's only temporary though as I'll hopefully be starting school soon to learn how to do real estate appraisals.

Workout - back stretches and excercises, half an hour on the treadmill

I'm so proud

I actually got up this morning, ate breakfast and excercised. No sitting around doing nothing until noon. It felt really good to get up and get moving. Around lunch time we left to go see my husband's aunt and uncle that live an hour away. His aunt made some delicious chili with beans. I wasn't really in the mood for chili, but once I got there and smelled it I wanted some. It was nice to spend the afternoon catching up on what was going on with the extended family. I haven't been there for almost a year! His aunt and I went to the mall to check out the closing sale at Robinson's May. Not much was left and the stuff that I was interested in wasn't marked down enough to justify the expense.

I have physical therapy tomorrow for my back and another doctor's appointment for my back as well. I hurt my back at work a couple of months ago and it's really taking a long time for it to heal. The doctor thinks that I might have chronic back pain for the rest of my life. It's not too bad, but definately uncomfortable.

Workout - weights (back) back stretches and excercises, treadmill for half an hour

So far so good

Today was a good day. I think I did pretty well. Had Special K waffles for breakfast. They taste different from regular waffles. It will take some getting used to, but they're better for me than regular waffles. I took the kids to McDonald's and managed to just have a diet soda. Don't worry I ate before I went. All the better to keep my face out of the french fries. The food smelled really good though. It was a nice time. The sun was shining and the kids had fun playing on the playground.

After being there for two hours we came home and took a nice walk. I prefer to walk outside instead of on my treadmill. It's just so much nicer being out in the fresh air. My daughter got another chance to ride her new big girl bike. It just cracks me up that she stops and walks it over every crack in the road. Cracks that she used to ride her other bike over no problem. It must take some getting used to.

Tomorrow is my husband's day off so hopefully I'll get some time to myself and maybe be able to take a good long walk with just my music to keep me company.

Workout - weights (shoulders) and back strengthing excercises and stretches

Switchin' gears!

I've decided to use this blog as my weight loss blog. I no longer want to be unhealthy and most importantly I no longer want to be fat! I have a little over one hundred pounds to lose. I'm hoping that this will help me be a little more accountable and be motivation for me to keep goin' when the tough gets goin'. Along with my feelings I'll be posting my daily workouts and what will hopefully be my weekly weight loss. Thanks for stopping by and good luck to those of you that are in the same situation I'm in.

My goals:

To lose 102 pounds safely.

To workout with weights five days a week.

To do at least half an hour of cardio per day.

Keep my face out of the cheesecake.


Workout - weights (bench press and flys)

Hello There!

So I guess somewhere there must be a link to this blog, cause I'm suddenly gettin' comments on here and I don't think I ever have before. So howdy to all you people. I started this particular blog because I wanted to read and comment on the blogs here. So I really don't post here much. If you wanna, check out my other blogs. http://www.princessr9.tripod.blog/Princess or http://www.princessr9@mindsay.com. You have to join mindsay to read my blog, but you don't have to post or anything. If you're wondering how I found you, it's most likely from the Poppy Club. I'm Princess Poppy, lovely to meet you!

Chicken Soup, STAT!!!

I don't feel well at all. I think I'm losing my voice. I keep clearing my throat and it doesn't help. I'm being overwhelmed by phlegm! Doesn't that sound tasty? I hope you're not eating right now.

I felt bad last night, and I knew I would have trouble sleeping, so I took some Thera Flu and it did knock my ass out. But when I woke up this morning I felt worse than I did last night. This totally blows. I hate it when I don't really feel sick, but I don't feel 100%.

I need a nap.

Hatin' on Plumbers

I live in what I guess is a really freakin' old house. I saw that because the electrical is so old that if you use the hair dryer and the wall heater in the bathroom the lights actually dim. The plumbing is really bad too, if someone is taking a shower and you flush the toilet, not only does the water turn to absolutely freezing cold, but also slows to a trickle until the tank fills up.

So, I'm hating the plumber right now because our kitchen sink is backing up into the sink in the garage and I called and left two messages for our landlord and she just forgot to call the plumber. Nice! So I called the plumber myself this morning and have yet to hear back from him. This is putting a rather large crimp in our lives because the washing machine drains into the sink in the garage and I can't do laundry because then the sink will overflow and I can't run my dishwasher or run the water in the kitchen sink because then the sink in the garage will overflow.

That makes it really hard to cook or anything, cause how am I going to wash the dishes so we can eat again later?

Ok, so maybe I don't hate the plumber, I'm just irritated cause it's been three days and I NEED to do laundry. I'm thinking happy plumber thoughts and hoping that he calls.

To My Health

I don't have timeSo, I went for my follow up appointment with my doctor to discuss my lab work that was part of my yearly physical. Turns out, I'm not actually diabetic, but I might as well be. I guess my blood sugar level is right on the border line of being diabetic. I'm also having some problems with my liver and I now have high blood pressure. Lovely, lovely.

All of these problems are as a result of being overweight. My doctor said some people can be fat and handle, I can't. If I don't begin to lose weight soon, and I mean very soon. I will be having MAJOR health problems. The interesting thing is, I'm not what doctors consider obese. I'm not 100lbs. overweight. But pretty darn close to it. So, I'm supposed to walk or eventually be able to walk four miles a day and do circut training twice a week. And here is the kicker, no sugar, or as little as possible. Merry Christmas to me, no fudge or cookies, or pies. Shame on me really, for sitting on my butt and for not keeping the pie out of my pie hole.

But, the silver lining in all of this is that I now have no choice but to get up of my rather large booty and turn myself into a Baywatch babe. My hubby seems a little worried about all this and I think he's been secretly sabotaging me in all my previous diet attempts. When I tried the Atkins diet a couple of years ago, three weeks into it, for Valentine's day he bought me a two pound box of Godiva chocolates. Hmmmmmm. His girlfriend before he met me, was not overweight when he met her, but weighed I'd say pretty close to 300 pounds when they broke up. I see a pattern forming, don't you?

Anyhoo, it sucks that this happened right before the holidays, but as my doctor told me, "some people have time to take care of things like this and can take the whole getting healthy thing at their leisure, you don't have time, you need to start on this right now". Scary, very scary. My Grandma died from complications from being diabetic and was on dialysis (sp?) for several years and finally one day just gave up. She chose to quit dialysis. She was really tired and I won't even go into all the complications she was having and I guess if I had been her, I would have done the same thing. She died three days after stopping the dialysis, she was 62 years old. I was really close to her and it was really hard to watch my champion die when I was so young myself, just 9 years old. She stood up for me when nobody else would, but that's a whole other story. So to make this very long story short, I can't put myself and my family through something that awful again and my kids deserve a healthy mom to chase after them and beat them with a wooden spoon. That last part is a joke people. I have a hard time spanking my son and an even harder time spanking my daughter. But I would like to live well into my 90's and enjoy being a grumpy old woman and poke people with my cane.