Monday, November 27, 2006

It's bazaar time again

This year none of us ladies at church signed up for a table at the school Christmas bazaar. We've had a table each year for about the last ten years. One of the ladies at church got a call from the organizer. It seems they have space available...were we interested? Today after the meeting we decided to go for it. I agreed to it figuring I had 13 days to get things done. I didn't realize that the first Saturday of December was THIS Saturday...giving us 6 days to make things. YIKES!

Tonight I worked on fabric backed glass plates. 6 of them are drying now. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some sealer and finish them. I'm also hoping to get some of my lightbulb snowmen started tomorrow. I'd have worked on them tonight but everything is in my bedroom and Tom was in bed by the time I was ready to dig everthing out. Tuesday I'll probably make up a batch of gingerbread dough ornaments, dipping them in cinnamon wax Wednesday evening. On Friday I'll make up a bunch of the candy mugs.

I'm thinking of doing a bit of sewing this year. I have some funky fabric samples that I want to make into small purses. I'm also hoping to get some lap blankets made. I have some cheerful children's fabric that will do well with the fleece I bought this summer when Hancock Fabric was closing. Maybe even making a Christmas stocking or two. :o)

I'm looking for other things to do quickly. The girls have crafts on Friday and we thought it would be nice if they could do something simple and quick then. So I'm on a search for them.

Pregnancywise, all the kids know (Carrie was told today...she was gone this weekend). I told my mom on Saturday. She didn't say congrats and was a bit reserved. I'm sure she's probably thinking I'm getting old and chances are it'll be a m/c again. Was a bit hard to swallow though since she's the one of my parents that congratulates me and acts happy when she hears it. It also made me miss my MIL all that more. I can't call and tell her about it! :o(

I was EXHAUSTED this morning and thought...what a change since yesterday! Then about 2ish I started getting a headache and it hit me...I never had any coffee this morning before church. So I'm not sure what the exhaustion was from now. The need to snack often is here and I've had one brief episode of feeling icky. Unlike with Danielle's pg where m/s made me uneasy. I'm really hoping it shows up and lets me know I'm pregnant!

Friday, November 24, 2006

What I bought this morning.....



NO! It wasn't used when I bought it. It took all my self control NOT to break the box open and run into the bathroom at Denny's after we finished up shopping. Good girl that I am, waited until I got home to use it.

I'm finding myself a bit reserved with the excitement. I didn't tell the kids right away like I normally do. Although they know tonight. I had the hpt in my skirt pocket and it fell out. Eileen found it before I could and figured it out. Some are excited. Some are reserved. Some asked if this baby can'/will die like the last one, :o( Some older ones wanted to know if I tried to get pg on purpose (not sure why that matters). Others were plugging their ears and singing lalalalala cause THAT is NOT an activity you want to know your parents are participating in. There was talk of the possiblity of me having babies when Drew and Allison do...in a few years. Told them it was my goal in life. lol

My edd looks to be August 2nd. I'll probably deliver 2wks early which puts me around Eileen's birthday...July 16th. She's excited. Says if I don't have it on her birthday, I can have it on Daddy's birthday (July 11th). So a 23mo age gap with Danielle.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Update....tired rambling may ensue

Thanks for all the hugs and such over my grandmother's passing. We're all doing well but I think we're still in survival/shocked mode also. Tomorrow (Sunday) will most likely be a hard day. Tom, Drew and I are headed to her apartment with my parents. We're packing up all her stuff and storing it in my parents' basement. There's tons of stuff to go through and pack up. I know it's going to be really hard for my mom. I feel like it's too soon but everything needs to be out of there by the 27th.

This lack of online time is really bugging me! I want to be able to just sit and surf all day! On Tuesday I usually have the computer no matter who's using it (unless it's a school assignment). It's just a given....Tues night...TOK chat time for mom! I was SICK with a major headache!!!!! So sick I spent most of the day in bed, sleeping. I'd planned on going to my mom's to visit my family from out of town but couldn't do it. It's the last thing they needed was to be dealing with an illness ontop of grieving too. In my weakened state I totally forgot it was Tuesday and I had chat. I couldn't have tolerated the brightness of the monitor anyways.

The headache was mostly gone by Wednesday morning. I was really worried that I'd be too sick to attend the service for my grandmother. But I did, and we made it on time, although it was pretty tight timewise. Tom totally underestimates the amount of time it takes to get on the other side of the city from here. There wasn't enough room for all of us to be seated in the viewing room. Some of the younger kids sat in an adjoining room. Danielle wanted to nurse so I stood in the other room with the kids and nursed her. I could look across the hall and see everything better then if I was sitting in my seat.

After the service we headed to my parents'. I'd given Allison a list of things that I wanted them to do to set up. When I informed my dad that they were immediately leaving the service to go set up he told me my brother was doing it. OK. Well he started. Guess who had to finish. I busted my rump getting and keeping everything in order/filled. Luckily my nieces love holding and watching Danielle so I didn't have to worry about her. :o)

Thursday was parent/teacher conferences...joy of all joys! Actually they didn't end up being half bad. Eileen's teacher had been out sick with the stomach bug all week. She called and rescheduled for this Tuesday afternoon. With that conference gone it allowed me to get out of school half an hour early. Luckily Olivia's teacher (last conference) was available early for me to talk to or I'd have had to wait. If Luke continues playing his homework games I might find myself a bit more compture time....since he'll be GROUNDED off of it! LOL

Friday found Carrie and I gone from 8:30am until 3pm at her TODAY clinic appointment. It's what they call a supervisit. She does fasting bloodwork, a glucose tolerance test (GTT), physical test on a bike and gets a DEXA x-ray (full body) ontop of answering lots of surveys and filling out tons of forms. Everyone there tries to make it as easy for us as they can. Danielle wasn't feeling so great so made it difficult at times. Poor Carrie the GTT totally wiped her out. I couldn't believe the difference in how she was. One second talking and smiling, the next half asleep, in a stupor and on the verge of crying. It effected her the whole day. I've never heard how her numbers are during that but I'd love to find out. We stopped by my parents' so I could see how my mom was faring. We didn't stay too long since the kids needed to be a kids crafts at church after dinner.

After the kids got back from church Tom decided he'd watch Danielle. It was my turn to go watch Drew perform at a local bar. Other then the fact that it was my son performing, I had NO desire to go but I went anyways. Pat drove so I could have a drink or two which was nice. They put on a great show! I got to see Drew sing 2 songs I've never seen before, both Collective Soul songs. After we left the bar we went to a local diner where I had a nice juicy burger and fries! YUM!

Tom had ulterior motives for staying home. He was planning on going hunting at teh crack of dawn. The guy got his sportsman license for the first time in quite a few years. He came back empty handed but saw a few deer. He might've taken a shot if he had a doe permit but he doesn't. I'm not sure if he's planning on going out before we leave tomorrow or not.

Today I was planning on getting tons done around here but managed to do very little. I just needed a slow no stress day. Cleaned bedrooms are highly overrated anyways. lol I was so lax that I failed to help Jake bake the pumpkin muffins for his Native American project. (yep the same ones I mentioned making with Carrie for her project 2yrs ago) I wanted to get it done today so I wouldn't have to worry about getting it done before leaving tomorrow. So now I have to squeeze that in before I walk out the door at 10am. Shouldn't take too long. (I know, famous last words!)

The kids only have 2 days of school this week. I SO wish they could have the whole week off! It seems like a waste of a week to only go for 2 days! LOL Doesn't help that mom doesn't want to get laundry done so they'll have clean clothes. Mt Washmore isn't at the screaming WASH ME NOW! phase yet. ;o)

OK...enough rambling for now. Need to get to bed!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

As life would have it...

I've got the goods but can't use them! DSL isn't worth a lick if you don't have the time to sit down and click or type. Life has been insanely crazy here. ATM I'm dealing with the loss of my maternal grandmother this weekend. :o( She passed away quietly in her livingroom chair after having her coffee and toast Saturday morning. They found her late Saturday night after my aunt from VA couldn't get ahold of her all day by phone. Danielle and I spent all day Sunday at my mom's house with people coming and going. My mom is the oldest of 4....My mom and her baby brother are local, sister in Virginia, brother in Tennesse. My uncle came in Sunday afternoon, my aunt will be here Tues night.

My grandma didn't want a wake so we're having a private service on Wednesday night. It'll be a late night since we'll go to my parents' house afterwards. Luckily most of the kids have a half day of school so I'm not sweating them getting up in the morning. Liz and Val have a full day though so they'll have to as will the college kids.

Today on the way home from Michelle's classes I stopped and ordered two sets of flowers. I hate making decisions for a group of people! I know I'm not going to please everyone and it bugs me. I had to order one from the grandkids (there's 10 of us (I'm the oldest)...3, 3, 2 and 2) and another from the great-grandkids (16, all my mom's grandkids, 11 of them are mine lol). It's an interesting makeup with the grandkids. My mom and aunt both had 3 and we're similar in ages, my aunt's being a tiny bit younger then us. Then my uncles each had 2 and they are similar in age to my older kids. So while we've done things with them, we haven't been pals. Although my kids IM them once in a while and keep me up to date on what they're up to. lol

I felt like a heel waiting to hear when services would be. I just don't have time for a funeral! And of course life isn't going to slow down or stop even if I wanted it with all my heart. (the continuing pulse is a good thing though). A prime example of how things have been around here...

I found out at 8:30 this morning that Val needed to have a test done. I asked the receptionist is she could schedule it for 1:38 tomorrow afternoon. Oh yeah, it would be nice if it was over with by 1:40. lol She called me back 15mins later and told me her appt was at 10! ARGH! Oh well, breakfast/coffee is highly overrated.

As usual things worked out ok and I knew they would for the funeral. At least for me, I know my sister has to reschedule one parent/teacher conference that was set for Wed night. Luckily I have all 5 of mine on Thursday afternoon. Especially since I managed to schedule Carrie's all day TODAY clinic appt for Friday which was the other day (and the little kids have off, not the highschoolers). I told Val if she needs more tests or dr appts she'll have to wait until next week.

What's up with Val? She's been having on and off back pain in the kidney area since she passes a kidney stone in Mar '05. 2 or 3 wks ago the pain become a constant dull ache with frequent sharp episodes. I got her into the urologist last Friday. Her blood pressure was up, her output is weird, her culture came back negative for UTI. So today we had to do a renal u/s and more bloodwork. I'm hoping to hear on it in the morning. I'm a bit worried this might put a damper on her volleyball season which just started last week. She's a bit more optimistic.

Carrie is plugging along. She's complained that her knee with no bump hurts and I ran her into the ped's office QUICK! He thinks she just strained it. With this freaking lump growth thing, I didn't want to take any chances. I certainly didn't feel comfy waiting until her speicialist appt on Dec 1st. So we're in wait and see mode with that right now.

Me, I'm beating myself up. I'm eating for comfort/stress relief and don't even know it! I weigh just about what I did at the end of Danielle's pregnancy. (which was actually lower then my all time high, where I started the pregnancy at). I've also been pretty bad bout remembering my meds. I jumped on the machine at WM this week and saw a 15X/103 reading. :o( The little girls noticed my pill box hadn't or couldn't have been touched and were on my case about it. I have NO idea why I'm sabotaging myself like this. It's not like I want to die. I have too much going on to do that. ;o) How hypocritical of me....to be on Carrie's case about testing her sugar and not forgetting her meds.

Danielle is getting cuter by the second. She's turned into a little monkey and copies everything and everyone. She's a jabber but doesn't have tons of words. She still manages to get her point across to everyone well. She's keeping me busy with her exploring and getting into everything. I'm too tired to gush anymore about her so I'll save it for a later date (and shorter post). I will include a picture of her someone sent us. It was taken at our church harvest feast the Sunday before Halloween.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Look at me!

I'm faster then a speeding bullet! Able to leap tall videos in a single click. My new best friend from the telephone company came by today and hooked us up big time. YEAH DSL! I can now see all the graphics, videos and sounds that I've been missing all these years.

We've already been by youtube to watch a few videos including this wiggles video.

I'm also enjoying my brand spankin' new computer. The deal was too hard to pass up. Get superfast internet (1mbps) with a new computer for $20 more a month then what I was paying for a second phone line and dial up (24kbps). Even if I figure it was just for the computer...where am I going to get a new one of those for $240? (2yr commitment required)

Our livingroom now looks like a computer lab. On the coffee table behind me are my and Allison's computers. Unfortunately it means that wires are all over the place. Eventually we'll be wireless but for now we're all willing to live with the mess.

This whole week has been busy. On Tuesday I picked up the school kids after their parades and parties and headed to my parents' house. I'd bought a bunch of lunchmeat so we could have subs. YUM! I had Val, Janna, Luke, Carrie, Jake, Eileen, Olivia and Danielle. My sister had her 2 youngest. My brother had his 2 kids. One of Tom's brother had 1. We made quite a group but it was fun. We traveled the mile around my parents' block, hit the firebarn for cider and donuts and then back to my parents'. Total time....1hr. Total candy...just enough.

Monday night Carrie complained that her arm hurt and it had a bump on it. She'd shown me a "bug bite" earlier. I told her it was fine and to go to bed. Tuesday she complained and showed it to me again. This time I really looked at it. It wasn't a bump...it was a BUMP! Her whole upper arm was huge. She looked like she'd gotten a shot recently, or was on steriods. OOPS! Guess I shouldn't have blown it off the night before.

I took her to the dr's on Wednesday morning. We were there for about 2.5hrs. She was sent off for x-rays and then bloodwork while we waited for the x-ray report. The dr wanted to check for relapse or secondary cancer without coming right out and saying it in front of Carrie. I was getting nervous when the nurses started being really social with us in the waiting room. Her counts were fine! The nurses were just bored during their lunch hour. lol Unfortunately the x-ray showed the bump is calcified/solid like the bruise on her knee. Unlike the knee we have no idea where the shoulder bump came from. "S" at the KNOT (long term cancer survivors) clinic mentioned something about growths post transplant. So now I'm wondering. We're waiting on a referral to a specialists.

This morning I got a phone call from the TODAY study coordinator. Seems I forgot Carrie's ALL day (need to be fasting) appointment today. *blush* I HATE when that happens! I didn't put it into my calendar/planner because it's written on her log book which theoretically we should be updating everyday. Early this morning I had the thought...I have to check Carrie's logbook and see when her next appointment is. I thought it was in the beginning of December. We've rescheduled it for the 17th.

Pat had orientation at his new job this afternoon. :oD I haven't talked to him yet so not sure how it went. This weekend looks be busy with 2 birthday parties...one from 12-4. The other one is an overnighter at a local hotel. My sister invited me to bring the girls Liz age on down. I haven't decided if I'll go yet. Oh yeah and there's pie baking too, don't think we'll make that at all. On Sunday I'm thinking of going to an auction of a furniture store's overstock. What I really need to do is stay home and do some WORK! (or surf on my new computer lol)