A Heart in Progress

The Annoying Truth

2012-02-06T22:43:00.000-05:00

Every time I fold laundry in the living room, Trey inevitably takes items from my meticulously organized piles and launches them one by one over the baby gate separating the living room and office. He has a mischievous grin plastered on his face the whole time.

If left alone in a room for any extended amount of time, say 3 or 4 minutes, Trey will strip down to his {cute, sweet, adorable, pinchable} birthday suit....well, he still has the IV line and dressing covering it, so does that still count as nekked? Either way...

When we tuck him in at night, within minutes he strips AND takes off the protective netting that keeps his IV lines from flapping in the wind. *this is actually kinda dangerous and makes me nervous*

Several times a day, he fights his way into the kitchen, swipes food from the fridge, carries it into the living room, then throws a fit when we try to put it back.

Why did I list all these things? And believe me, this is certainly not an exhaustive list of frustrating things...not to mention, his partners in crime, Joe and Bella. Well, throughout the past year several people have commented that because of the difficult things Trey has had to go through, they try not to get annoyed or frustrated with their kids. Or that they feel guilty for getting annoyed with their kids.

While, we certainly try to treat our children with an over abundance of grace and patience...

The annoying truth is that we still get annoyed.

*editors note: We cherish every moment we have with all 3 of our wonderful children that we have been undeservedly blessed with.

I Made....

2012-01-26T22:47:00.000-05:00

My own pore strips!! Anyone else like (okay, love) to peel stuff? Just me?

I will give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Pinterest, I stumbled across this tutorial. The mask only has 2 ingredients!

Here's my version of the original...

You'll need:
Gelatine (unflavored) powder. {There is also a vegan style powder if you're into that kind of thing}
Milk (any kind)
dish
measuring spoon
craft stick (or something to apply the gel to your face)

In the dish combine 1 Tablespoon of the gelatine with 1 to 2 Tablespoons of milk. Mix until it's a chunky consistency. Work quickly! It'll start to set fast! Put the dish in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Keep stirring, work quickly, and apply it to your face with the craft stick. It's warm, but not too hot.

Tips: Start with a clean face. Remove any facial jewelry. In the original tutorial, she {bravely} put the gel all over her face. I had noticed in the comments that people were saying that it hurt to peel it off more sensitive parts of their face. Not wanting to peel my own skin off, I opted to only put it on my nose and chin.

*Let it dry for 10 to 15 minutes. It'll harden and you'll know when to peel. It definitely brought tears to my eyes when I peeled off the little bit that had gotten on my septum. But! It does peel nicely and took a lot of gunk with it.

*It smells bad! Like, yucky bad. But, for 10 minutes, I could tough it out.

*I rinsed my face after and put on lotion. It's been a little more than an hour and I can still feel a slight burny feeling in my cheeks. So I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with sensitive skin!

I will absolutely do it again when the need arises. Or maybe I'll luck out and not be in my thirties with acne.

Sound Advice

2012-01-13T21:54:00.001-05:00

What is some really good advice that you've been given? Something that you have really taken to heart and used, not just shuffled to the back of you brain Rolodex only to realize too late that you should have actually followed the advice.

Cliches don't count, either. "Things happen for a reason."? Not advice. "When one door closes another door opens"? Potentially true, but kinda vague.

Let's skip over 'common sense' advice, too. Everyone knows NOT to: eat the yellow snow, trust a magician or eat undercooked meat.

Being told that your Triple A card can be used for bail (thanks, Dad!) or that expiration dates don't ALWAYS have to be followed, or that allowing a Deaf student to test YOUR hearing with a set of headphones and a volume knob is a bad idea are all good things to know, but not (hopefully) life changing.

When Jay and I were engaged, we met with a friend/financial adviser. He advised us to do whatever it takes to eliminate any debt BEFORE we got married, and from then on DO NOT use credit cards. We didn't have much debt...I think Jay just had school loans. I had just recently discovered the joy of credit cards, but my fear of getting in trouble for not paying the bill in full every month prevented me from having a real credit score. Apparently, one has to prove herself capable of paying off a debt over time. Only a few times over the past decade +, have we had to use a credit card. Sometimes to get a good deal, we've opened a store credit card, but then cut it up once it was paid off. See? That was some good advice.

When our Joe was a teeny baby, I was excited and ready for him to make all these huge leaps developmentally....walking, potty training, toddler bed. When I mentioned a big boy bed, Jay's brother jumped in to say "No! Leave him in the crib as long as possible...until he can figure out how to get out!" At first, I didn't get it. Why would I want him to stay in a crib if he's big enough for a bed??? Freedom, he explained. If Joe (then Bella, then Trey) can get out of bed, he (she, he) will. All. Night. Long. You know how you can leave him safely in his crib in the morning while you brush your teeth and get dressed? If he's in a bed, forget it. Instead, you'll wake up to a dragon breathed toddler staring at you with frightening intensity. He was right. We kept each child in the crib until they were about 3 1/2 and the transition was pretty smooth. Trey has been the toughest to keep in his bed at bedtime, but even at his worst, he's still so dang funny and cute and only lasts about 15 minutes. See? More good advice!

So what's some good advice?

A For Real Easy and Cute Tutorial

2011-12-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

I finally found a craft that meets a need for me, the kids can help, it's not expensive and does not take a long time. Whew! I have a hard time throwing things away...even broken, seemingly unusable things. Take crayons, for instance. We have approximately 4 million and 12 crayons in this house. I keep shoe boxes full of crayons in our craft closet, a stash in my purse and a stash in my "to go" activity bag. This might be too many crayons. Plus, throughout this past year, people generously sent things in the mail for the kids and the number one thing they received? Coloring books and.....yep, more crayons! So, here's my cute (Not new by any means! Have you looked on Pinterest lately?) way to reuse/re purpose old crayons.....

The kids helped by peeling the paper off the selected crayons.

This didn't even make a significant dent in our crayon collection! Bella helped by picking out the colors I asked for. I used an old cutting board and old knife to chop the crayons into little pieces.

I love rainbow order. This is a silicone tray that I purchased at Jo Ann's. It's the only thing I spent money on for this project and with a coupon, it was around $6. I didn't want to overfill the cups, but after baking them, I could have put even more crayon bits in each section.

See how there's room at the top of each cup? These still turned out perfectly, though. I put them in the oven at 290* for 15 minutes. I put a regular cookie sheet under the silicone tray for stability. Spilling melted wax on myself was not high on my "to do" list. After taking them out of the oven, I actually put the tray outside for a while to cool. One tutorial I read said to put the tray in the freezer, but Jay (again, more practical than I) thought that putting something so hot in the freezer would not be good for the rest of the frozen food in there. Once they were cool, I just gently pulled the edges of the tray a little and the gingerbread dudes came right out.

Bella and Joe are excited to give these to their teachers and to be able to say that they helped make them. Cute, right? p.s. Once you've used the tray to melt crayons, you shouldn't use it for actual food products anymore...just sayin'.

I Got a New Toy!!!

2011-12-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't blogged too much recently...but I have my reasons. My newest reason is that I got a new camera! I'm so excited! I have no idea how it works or what all the functions are, but by golly! I 'm gonna learn! I have a few post ideas brewing in my head, so stay tuned, I'll get there. In the mean time, here's a few of my 'test shots'....

Bella's Beautiful Bedroom

2011-11-25T23:45:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's been a busy time around here. With what, you ask? Well, mainly, Bella's bedroom needed to be totally redecorated. Allow me to set the scene...Our house has 3 bedrooms, though the third may or may not be an actual bedroom depending on which home assessment you look at. It is teeny tiny and does not have a closet (that's why it's sometimes not considered a bedroom). Anywho, this room started out as our home office then morphed into a nursery. It's the perfect size for a crib and changing table. I carefully picked a gender neutral brick red, navy blue and cream color scheme (because the room already had a dark blue carpet). The room was so cozy and warm and dark. Perfect for rocking and nursing. When Bella came along, Joe moved into the second bedroom. Then when Trey came along, Bella bunked in Joe's room. As the kids got older, we felt that it would be good to have a boys room and a girls room. Bella moved back into the nursery and Trey moved in with Joe. Bella has clearly outgrown my Americana obsession with stars, so from top to bottom, her room has been transformed. Most of the artsy ideas came straight from Pinterest....enjoy the pics! They're not great pictures, but you'll get the gist.

This bed was a labor of love! I sanded it, sawed it, painted, and built the headboard. The drawers are huge and make up for the lack of closet space.

Here's Bella's vanity table (sorry about the pajama top!). Isn't that headband tower cute? A friend made that! And the frame was super simple to make....just hot glue ribbons in an empty frame and viola!

Cute little art wall. The stars were red, white and blue...easy change to simple white. I painted and stenciled the plywood, and Bella wrote the words. I love that she help create the art! The letter "B" was made with a combo of puffy paint and Elmer's glue, then mod podeged onto canvas (seriously easy!).

I bought silver trays at my favorite antique store and painted them with chalkboard paint. Super easy, super fun. The dresser was a basic cherry wood from Target, painted Mickey's Shadow gray with the drawer fronts painted with chalkboard paint.

And bookshelves for good measure. Since taking this picture, the corners have been covered to prevent bleeding head injuries and I glued ribbon to edge to spice it up a bit. Like I said, the pictures don't really do the color justice. The walls are painted in Princess Tiara pink, also from the Disney collection. That's what I've been doing. Oh yeah, and recovering the dining room chairs, hosting Thanksgiving, etc,etc.

Bonus!!!! Remember my friend Drew's "monkey tail" beard?? Well, he did it again! This beard is called "Oh no! My beard fell off!" and it's just great...

Trick-or-Treat Success???

2011-11-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it! Our first year going door to door on Halloween. The kids lasted about an hour and STILL managed to collect 4 gallon bags worth of loot (not including Huggies, chips or crackers). I'm probably most excited to say that I have not had one single piece of blessed chocolate! Hooray for me! There were a few things that I took note of to improve the quality of Trick-or-Treating in the future...

1) Move to a warmer climate. It was about 40 degrees AND raining! My face hurt from squinting against the stinging, incessant drops. Yes, we had umbrella's, but they were not always the convenient choice.

2) When handing out pillowcases, avoid t-shirt style cases. They tend to stretch and stretch as the candy piles up, then drag on the ground and trip the child holding it.

3) Visit the houses on ONE side of the street only, so that when we find ourselves about a mile from where we started, we can backtrack and get the houses on the opposite side of the street. The kids zigzagged the whole way! Eventually, Jay walked back to get the van to avoid making the kids retrace their route.

4) When holding my husbands pride and joy (a large plastic refillable cup with a handle and lid), do not set it down on someones mailbox post to help a child. It WILL get left behind much to hubby's chagrin. Sorry, dear! Though, on his trek back for the van, he found the cup!

5) When buying costumes, buy sizes much larger than you think they'll need. For one thing, I think costumes run really small...we got Joe a 8-10 Green Lantern and it was almost inappropriate it was so small. Plus, unless we really stick to #1 on my list, we need to be able to bundle up underneath these flimsy, yet ridiculously priced, costumes.

All in all, I think I was the most negatively affected from the experience. All the kids loved it, including Trey! No one even fussed when they heard it was only 7:00 and Trick-or-Treat lasted until 8!!! I think everyone was chilled to bone...and ready to dump out their bags and count their goodies!

How was your Halloween?

Funny Business

2011-10-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Parenting can be hard. Days like today are long. Trey started another round of chemo, which means a long morning/afternoon at the hospital. Later, he threw up all over the carpet in the basement. Bella knocked the new tube of toothpaste into the toilet at bedtime. Joe gave me an elbow to the nose. Yada, yada, yada...BUT!!! There are parenting moments that make Jay and I laugh wholeheartedly.

Yes, Bella fell asleep for several hours last night with a quilt, another blanket and her Taggy blanket shoved under her sleep shirt. Fearing that she would wake up in a sweaty panic exactly 45 minutes after we fell into a deep sleep, we woke her to remove the blankets. Between giggles, we asked her why she did that. Her reply? "I wanted to look fat." Okay, Bella, whatever. Parenting can be hard. Being a parent can be hilarious.

A Terrible Tutorial...

2011-09-20T12:53:00.000-04:00

Recently, I made a wreath made of book pages. It turned out fine, but rather than trying to teach others how to create such an exquisite piece of craft that can then be posted on Pinterest, I'd like to write out my non-tutorial directions. Do not follow these directions under any circumstance unless you have a lot of spare time and extra fingers.

1) Decide to undertake the task of making a Book Pages wreath quickly after looking at just one tutorial with vague instructions and a hand model with chipped nail polish.

2) Take a ridiculously long time to mull over the decision to actually destroy a couple of books. Then, worry about what type of book to cut up and fret over the content on the pages in the case that an actual word might be visible in the finished product.

3) Cut out the pages of the well chosen books with a dangerously sharp knife, then use an out-of-date circle cutter to make circles of an arbitrary size based on the incomplete directions of the original tutorial.

4) Cut each circle into a spiral incorrectly by making the spiral wider towards the center resulting in cone shape rather than flowers. Realize your mistake and begin cutting appropriately proportioned spirals one at a time. Once you're almost done cutting the spirals, allow the knowledge to dawn on you that you could have been cutting several circles at a time.

5) Make sure to now look at other {better} tutorials that will make you feel like you found a wedding dress you like more than the one you already bought.

6) Create about a hundred paper flowers making sure to burn your fingers with the hot glue gun each time. Make empty promises to yourself that you'll "Do it differently next time!" then do it the same exact way.

7) Wrap the wooden loom with book pages to hide the loom itself. Quickly come to the realization that it's impossible to wrap a rectangular page smoothly around a curved piece of wood. Swear a lot.

8) Rub the edges of the flowers with a brown stamp pad to give it an antique/rustic/burned look. Drop the ink pad at least twice on yourself during the process.

9) Glue the flowers to the loom. Now, go make about a hundred smaller paper flowers to fill in the gaps between the large flowers. Make sure to show the unfinished wreath to as many people that will look and ask their opinion...then don't believe them when they say they like it so far.

10) At this point, start obsessing about the BACK of the wreath that won't be seen by anyone. But, since glue is visible and the flowers are uneven...find a way to cover it.

The wreath should be done at this point, so put it in a box where you can't see it until it's time to give to the recipient. Here's my incomplete, poorly focused, photo montage.

That, my friends, is crafting. Thank you.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-31T09:27:00.000-04:00

Today...

2011-08-14T11:18:00.000-04:00

My sister-in-law gave me the book "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman...and it truly is an amazing devotional. Each day that we've been in the hospital, the devotion is absolutely appropriate. Since the book was written so long ago, 1925 I think, I've been reading from the updated language version. Here's today's devotional....

"You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above." ~John 19:11

                  Nothing that is not part of God's will is allowed to come into the life of someone who trusts and obeys Him. This truth should be enough to make our life one of ceaseless thanksgiving and joy, because God's will is the most hopeful, pleasant and glorious thing in the world. It is the continuous working of His omnipotent power for out benefit, with nothing to prevent it, if we remain surrendered and believing.
Someone who was passing through the deep water of affliction wrote a friend:
Isn't it glorious to know that no matter how unjust something may be, even when it seems to have come from Satan himself, by the time it reaches us it is God's will for us and will ultimately work for our good?

              "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28). Think of what Christ said even as he was betrayed: "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" (John 18:11)
              We live fascinating lives if we are living in the center of God's will. All the attacks that Satan hurls at us through the sins of others are not only powerless to harm us but are transformed into blessings along the way. Hannah Whitall Smith

    In the center of the circle
           of the will of God I stand:
   There can come no second causes,
          all must come from His dear hand.
   All is well! for it's my Father
           who my life has planned.

   Shall I pass through waves of sorrow?
         Then I now it will be best;
Though I cannot tell the reason,
          I can trust, and so am blest.
God is Love, and God is faithful.
         So in perfect Peace I rest.

With the shade and with the sunshine,
        With the joy and with the pain,
   Lord, I trust You! both are needed,
        Each your wayward child to train,
Earthly loss, if we will know it,
        Often means our heavenly gain.
                                                                      I.G.W.

Can I get an AMEN? *Any typos are a result of my misguided youth, not the author of the book.

Rejoice in the Lord!

2011-08-11T11:40:00.000-04:00

Rejoice in the Lord by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
	"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18). Observe, I entreat you, how calamitous a circumstance is here supposed, and how heroic a faith is expressed. It is really as if he said, "Though I should be reduced to so great extremity as not to know where to find my necessary food, though I should look around about me on an empty house and a desolate field, and see the marks of the Divine scourge where I had once seen the fruits of God's bounty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord." Methinks these words are worthy of being written as with a diamond on a rock forever. Oh, that by Divine grace they might be deeply engraven on each of our hearts! Concise as the form of speaking in the text is, it evidently implies or expresses the following particulars: That in the day of his distress he would fly to God; that he would maintain a holy composure of spirit under this dark dispensation, nay, that in the midst of all he would indulge in a sacred joy in God, and a cheerful expectation from Him. Heroic confidence! Illustrious faith! Unconquerable love!--Doddridge. Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain, And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain, Making all the sweeter the music of the strain. So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will, Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill It may be that sunshine floods the green world still. He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear, Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear. I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing, Listening to your music with its lilt of spring When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing. --Eben E. Rexford

Rejoice in the Lord by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18).

Observe, I entreat you, how calamitous a circumstance is here supposed, and how heroic a faith is expressed. It is really as if he said, "Though I should be reduced to so great extremity as not to know where to find my necessary food, though I should look around about me on an empty house and a desolate field, and see the marks of the Divine scourge where I had once seen the fruits of God's bounty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord."

Methinks these words are worthy of being written as with a diamond on a rock forever. Oh, that by Divine grace they might be deeply engraven on each of our hearts! Concise as the form of speaking in the text is, it evidently implies or expresses the following particulars: That in the day of his distress he would fly to God; that he would maintain a holy composure of spirit under this dark dispensation, nay, that in the midst of all he would indulge in a sacred joy in God, and a cheerful expectation from Him. Heroic confidence! Illustrious faith! Unconquerable love!--Doddridge.

Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain,
And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain,
Making all the sweeter the music of the strain.

So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will,
Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill
It may be that sunshine floods the green world still.

He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer
Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear,
Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear.

I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing,
Listening to your music with its lilt of spring
When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing.
--Eben E. Rexford

Seriously???

2011-07-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

This makes me want to poop my pants and never go on the back porch again.

Clutter Control

2011-07-07T23:27:00.000-04:00

As if I didn't have enough things burdening my brain these days, I have decided to tackle my clutter. I pinpointed 3 problem areas where things tend to just pile up. Do you have any spots like that? I did not have the foresight to take 'before' pictures, so I only have the 'afters'....

Here we have the kitchen counter. This is our communication center. I tend to hoard pens and pencils and scraps of paper, yes, scraps. Waste not, want not, right? I'm not even sure what that means, just that it applies to my scraps of paper. Anywho, this area tends to pile up quickly with other papers that need to be filed elsewhere, toys, rocks and any other items confiscated from children, etc.

This is my supposed crafting table in our office...otherwise known as the table that holds everything that doesn't have a home. It's such a source of frustration because it's so easy to throw things on it and leave the room. Outta sight, outta mind, right? I got a million of 'em.

Here, we have my dresser in our room. Most of the time, the top cannot be seen. It tends to get covered with things that need to go downstairs, but quickly get forgotten about. What goes up must come down, right? Wait...that's not right. oh well...

So, I have committed to let ANYTHING sit on these surfaces that doesn't belong there! I will be implementing the concept of 'O-H-I-O', Only Handle It Once. If something has a home, it needs to go there immediately. If it doesn't have a home, I will make one for it. Since Trey and I will (most likely) be going to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to continue Trey's treatment for more than a month, I really felt like it would be a gift for Jay to NOT have to look at my clutter the whole time we're gone. (It really is only my clutter!)

On a completely unrelated note, I read about a new hipster phenomenon called 'the Monkey Tail' and I challenged our friend, Drew, to grow one...and he did!!! And it was great!

Can you see the monkey tail? Awesome sauce!

How To Introduce an Elephant?

2011-06-07T22:09:00.000-04:00

I know, I know...I hang my head in blogging shame, it's been so long since I've posted more than a picture. Though, I do think I have the best "Get Out Of Blogging Free" card to play.

I just haven't known what direction I wanted to take this blog in...Get all serious and cancery? Even though we, as a family, are not walking around like stricken souls? Keep it light and jovial? Even if it seems insensitive to Trey's current situation?

I figure that most of you who read this are already a 'member' of Trey's Facebook group, so to simply repeat what you've probably already read seems pointless, too. Not to mention, I'm not exactly rolling around in free time these days...I mean, when Trey gets discharged from the hospital, there are A LOT of TV shows that I need to catch up on.

But, I have a thought that has been poking my brain for a while and maybe, just maybe, you have $.02 to throw in. When Trey was first diagnosed, we obviously let all of our family and close friends know immediately. Then, Jay pretty quickly set up the "Pray (and more) For Trey" page on Facebook. I had sent out emails to Joe and Bella's teachers to fill them in on what was happening, and Jay preached at church the Sunday after Christmas (Trey was diagnosed on Christmas Eve) and filled in the congregation. My point to all that was pretty much everyone we knew (plus a ton that we didn't/don't know), knew about Trey. Our community is relatively small, so I became accustomed to people that I didn't know personally coming up to me to talk about Trey, and people from all over the world (literally!) posting on Trey's FB page. So, for me, it's an awkward situation when someone doesn't know Trey's story and I have to choose to tell them or not.

That's my question...How do you introduce the big, white elephant in the room? I have 2 situations that have come up. One resolved itself, though.

Jay and I had discussed setting up Trey's page on FB and keeping the very detailed updates on that page only. This, in turn, freed up peoples news feeds that we are 'friends' with but who aren't necessarily interested in ALL of Trey's updates, plus since Jay and I have a long list of 'friends' in common, they would all have to see the updates twice. Very considerate of us, right? But, that also meant that some 'friends' were totally unaware of Trey's condition at all. If you're not a FB regular, you would easily miss my status updates about what's been happening. I noticed that one friend in particular wasn't a member of Trey's page and had not posted anything on my wall...and this is a person that I'm friends with in real life. (IRL for those of you who are 'down') I didn't know if I should be offended, or just fill them in. What should I do? I don't add people to Trey's page unless they ask to be added, lest I be presumptuous. And I certainly wasn't going to post on the person's wall "Hey, even though you haven't asked, here's what's been happening!" This is the situation that resolved itself when I commented on one of the friend's pictures...they commented on my wall "Thanks! How are you?" I took that opportunity to send that person a private message explaining what was going on, and Trey's diagnosis really was a surprise to them.

The second situation is stranger to stranger. Let's set the scene. I'm home with all the kids, Jay was out and about. Everyone was ready for bed, waiting impatiently for their bedtime sack when the doorbell rang. Who could be calling at this hour? Oh, wait...it was only 7:45. So, I left all the kids safely upstairs to answer the door. It was 2 college age guys going door to door selling sets of children's books. I've been down this road before...or should I say, they've been down our road before (every spring! different guys, same shpeel!) and I already knew I wasn't going to buy a set from them to the tune of $12/book. But, dude was pretty aggressive and sat himself down on a lawn chair and keeps chatting away despite the cries of hunger spilling out the front door. A minute later, Joe and Bella were outside and all over them and their books. I think they mastered the Spanish language by the time the guys left. I, of course, had to retrieve Trey from the top of the steps and bring him out, too. So, clearly Trey is bald...and not just bald, like a military 'high and tight', but shiny bald with no eyebrows or eye lashes either. Plus, you can see the top of his bandage dressing that covers his IV peaking out of the top of his over sized sleep shirt. The book guy obviously noticed but was too polite to ask why he was bald and bandaged, so I said nothing. I had no idea how to broach the topic, so I said absolutely nothing about the big, white elephant.

What would you have done? "This is Trey. He has cancer and that's why he doesn't have any hair"? "If you're wondering, he has cancer"? What's the appropriate action here? Jay is so good at talking to people and can easily parlay Trey's journey into a gospel message, but not me! Especially not with two book sellin' dudes, 3 kids and a looming bedtime. But, did I miss an opportunity? Should I have to state the obvious? Is it Obvious? Really. What would you have done? How would you introduce an elephant?

Sweet Baby Trey

2011-05-12T13:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Trey!!!

Next year...let's not celebrate in the hospital, okay? Okay!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

Still here....

2011-04-14T21:16:00.000-04:00

I'm here! I'm here! I know it's been a while since I posted, but ya know...that crazy little thing called life gets in the way. Plus, I've been feeling stumped or maybe it's writer's block. I have post ideas, just can't get them out of my head! Here are some things floating around in my head....

*We spoke to a nutritionist at the hospital and she blew our minds with her simple, yet totally foreign ideas about how to get our kids to eat without a battle. I just got the book she recommended (for $.01, by the way), so I wanted to read it first before trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about.

* March birthdays! Joe turned 8, Bella turned 6 and Jay turned the big 4-0!

* Shhhhhhh....gasp...I want to blog about periods! And I don't mean punctuation!

* Trey's progress and updates! He's doing great, by the way. We're in the hospital right now for his fifth round of chemo and so far so good! The next few months will be even crazier as we prepare for scans, surgery, more chemo and a month (maybe 2) long stay in the hospital!

*How do you occupy a kid during the summer that's not allowed to get wet???

Once I kick this cold and clear my head, I'll be all over this list!

Still Thankful...

2011-02-28T22:34:00.000-05:00

A couple of months have passed now since we learned of Trey's diagnosis. Has it really been that long? Has it only been 2 months? Some times it seems like December was years ago...and some times it feels like it's still Christmas Eve. I can't decide which feels more comfortable...moving slowly through this process or hurrying to get to the other side??? Either way...Trey is doing great, as are the rest of us. We continually find more things to be thankful for....

*Trey's scans have come back with positive results! His treatments are doing their job!
*The overwhelming pouring out of love and support from our family and community! Trey's Facebook group has over 700 "friends"...I don't have over 700 friends! Heck, I don't have more than 500 FB friends! If you haven't joined in over on FB, look up "Pray (and more) for Trey"! (Shameless plug!!!)
*Christina, who you know from this blog, faithfully sends out prayer reminders to hundreds of people every Tuesday. Our sister, Cathy, from this blog, sends out weekly emails and keeps Trey's Caringbridge page updated. Carley started the Team Mitlo-One bracelet trend. Todd and Kelly order, distribute and collect funds from the bracelets. Tracey is organizing a "Team Mitlo" for the Pittsburgh marathon. Nicole organizes the meal delivery plan and scrapbooking events. Mike and Jenn from Crossfit are designing and ordering "Team Mitlo" t-shirts. Barret organizes a mail system so that Joe and Bella regularly receive fun mail. Our church collects cleaning supplies for us. The PTA of our kids' school sponsors events in Trey's name. Jen collected donations at her work. Bethany and Natalie created and update a map of the world so that we can see who's praying and where. Deb has ironed every one of Jay's shirts! Our family has been instrumental in babysitting. Countless gifts, letters, and donations...It's humbling to be the recipient of so much generosity.
*Joe and Bella are doing so well throughout the whole situation.
*Joe and Bella have been healthy even though kids around them have been dropping like flies at school and church from strep throat and stomach viruses. They have not missed one day of school due to illness!!!
* Trey is handling his treatments like a champ! Aside from his sweet, bald head and bruising (from low platelets), you'd never know he's sick. He plays, runs, jumps around, giggles and fights like a "normal" 2 year old!
*The nurses and staff at the hospital have been great!
*The Lord has continually kept fear and worry and doubt at bay...we're reminded of Matthew 6:25-34. We may not know what life will look like 6 months from now or next week or tomorrow. But, we know that TODAY, Trey is doing great and we can hold him and love him!
*Jay and I make an excellent team!

We continue to "fight the good fight"! Carry on...

Equal Opportunity Hater...

2011-02-12T23:12:00.000-05:00

Maybe it was last year...last summer...I can't remember. Time has become blurred in my mind. Either way, there was a very popular song on the radio. I will not mention a song title or a group name to remain fair to said group...who knows? One of them may read this one day and I don't want to hurt their feelings. This song was so popular, it was played incessantly! Every time I got in the van and had a turn to listen to something other than Veggie Tales and Laurie Berkner, I heard this particular song...multiple times! Finally, I reached my breaking point and told Jay that I wanted to punch the group in the neck. When I threaten a neck punch, you better believe I'm irritated.

Not only was the song over played by about 4 million times...I just couldn't stand the style of music. Not actual singing, but more like whispered talking, with romantic lyrics that independently make no sense, but put a little synthesizer in the background and teens and tweens all over the world are swooning! I can just picture in my head, all the girls wishing that the DJ would just play this one song at the dance so that she could slow dance awkwardly with her current crush all the while wishing and hoping that the boy would really say these things to her. Whoa! I just threw up in my mouth!

The lead singer makes me think of guys that wear girl pants...and are always brooding. And this is a problem with me....Go ahead, call me an old curmudgeon, but I simply cannot tolerate the fashion trend. I have never looked at any man wearing the "skinny jean" and thought "Oooooh baby!" Oh no! I threw up a little again! *For this section of ranting, I'm aiming specifically at young people who will follow trends simply to be accepted. Adults are welcome to look foolish for fashion at their own expense at any given time during their adult life.* For one thing, if a young boy is skinny enough to wear jeans that will fit a girl...he now looks (at best) androgynous. That kid is gonna get picked on. Is it right? Absolutely not! Is it fair? No way! Is it true? You betcha! Shouldn't kids be able to express themselves any way they see fit? Sure! In that case, why are anti-bullying courses mandated throughout elementary school? Because kids are cruel and adopting a fashion trend that will make you look different simply because someone famous is sporting it is setting yourself up as a target. Many will try, but few will actually look like Justin Bieber or one of the Jo Bros. This trend is equally as bad for the boy who is a little too heavy to pull it off. He has now developed the dreaded muffin top or "dunlap". This, too, is a target and esteem crusher for when the ladies don't swoon because of the ill fitting pants. Speaking of the ladies, I wonder how it makes them feel when boys around them are fitting into jeans 2 sizes smaller than they are because their hormones and hips are all outta whack?

My point for the rant was simply, I do not like the band.

Recently, Jay told me that the lead singer is a devout Christian and still lives humbly in his parents basement despite the fame and fortune. Huh. That's interesting. Hmmmm....does this change my opinion? Should it? Now that I know this dude is a brother in Christ, should I give him more leeway? More artistic wiggle room? Show support for the family? Take back my threat of bodily harm? Maybe I should go out and buy their CD or use the world wide interweb to magically purchase a song or two. After hearing the groups version of a popular worship song? Nope! Still want to punch them in the neck. Sorry, but I'm an equal opportunity hater...

This May Take Longer Than I Thought....

2011-02-11T22:29:00.000-05:00

I said I was going to knit...and knit, I have! My approach to this project was the same as when I've had other "good" ideas...like, removing tile from the bathroom walls, or reupholstering the dining room chairs, or redesigning a room...unbridled enthusiasm and a teeny tiny bit of "know how". My enthusiasm regularly outweighs my ability in almost every arena. For this knitting project, I dusted off my handy dandy "teach yourself to knit" book, consulted a few knitting pals...heck, I even looked up a website (ravelry.com). So, as I read the pattern, I smiled and nodded along as if I understood...I asked a few questions and smiled and nodded, murmured an "mmm-hmmm" here and there. Yes, yes! Of course I understand "gauge" and "worsted" and "cast off"! I mean, who doesn't??? Ha!

As I started this soon-to-be blanket, it became clear to me that I was knee deep in bulky yarn and circular needles and I was going to sink! The pattern was to knit 10, pearl 10, knit 10, so on and so on with a certain gauge...but every time I got started, a nurse or a doctor or a janitor or a food service person would knock on the door and I'd immediately lose count. My yarn of choice is too thick for my untrained eye to see where I left off or count backward...I think I lost a stitch here and there...just ignore that hole right there! Oh well! I gave up on the pattern, but since I had the yarn already and the time (Trey can sometimes take up to 2 hours to fall asleep while at the hospital!)...I forged ahead, simply using a knit stitch for the whole thing. It keeps my hands busy and I can easily keep one eye on Trey as he tries to bust out of his cell...er...crib. I have no idea how long it will take to finish...or what size it will be, but at least I'll be able to say that I made it!

Whadya Know Joe?

2011-02-10T21:44:00.000-05:00

Every time we see Grandma, she says to Joe, "Whadya know, Joe?" and he responds, "I just got back from Buffalo!". That's just cute! To continue my fairness routine, let me tell ya about a kid named Joe. He's probably the most gentle hearted almost 8 year old I know. I realize that I don't know THAT many almost 8 year olds, but still, Joe is right up there. He's zipping right through the second grade and learning so much both academically and socially. The social part can be worrisome at times. We've had to have chats about the difference between what's actually appropriate and what other kids at school will do...and say...and write on a bathroom wall for Joe to repeat in front of the whole class because he didn't know that "d*ck" is a bad word. Don't worry, he knows now. Joe is very interested in learning some martial arts this year...our YMCA requires kids to be 8 before they can sign up for class. Somebody better tell Bella to watch out...being gentle hearted can only go so far...

p.s Bella may have lost her first tooth...but Joe has, clearly, lost more than that...

Bella

2011-02-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

If I don't blog equally about each child, will one...two...all three end up in counseling about the unfairness of it all??? To even the blogging score...and to lighten my mood a bit, I mean really, the oncology unit is NOT a barrel of monkeys, I wanted to share a Bella update. She is cruising right through Kindergarten...do you know it's February already?! Bella has lost her first tooth!!! And just like big bro Joe, her grown up tooth grew in before the baby tooth fell out. Bella can READ!!! She read our whole night time book the other evening! She has declared her love for a boy named Nicholas in her class. She's sure she will marry Nicholas, which is fine with me because I like his mother...plus this means she's finally grasping the concept that she cannot marry her cousins. (Will this push her further towards counseling when she reads this some day?) And, by some recent test scores, our feisty diva may, in fact, be a bit brighter (sans the marrying family members thing) than her gifted older brother. (That will definitely push Joe towards counseling in the future)....We love her with all of our hearts, even if she pushes us to our limit E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y. She's my baby girl!

Patience for Patients

2011-02-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" ~Romans 12:12

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." ~Psalm 27: 13-14

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." ~Hebrews10:36

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." ~Isaiah 40:31

"The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride." ~Ecclesiastes 7:8

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." ~Romans 8:25

Here's to being patient.....

Job Opportunity????

2011-01-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

Some day I will go back to work, either out of necessity (these knitting projects aren't gonna pay for themselves!) or sanity (once all the children are in school, there's only so much time I can devote to Facebook). I think I have come up with a perfect job (besides the actual job that I want at American Eagle folding clothes)! A "bathroom break giver" at the Children's Hospital! I'm sure there is a better title for this position, but for now, work with me. "Potty Break-er"??? "Gimme A Break-er"???

Starting at 8:00 am, I would visit rooms that had patients under the age of 3 that had only one parent staying with them overnight. I would then offer said single parent a 10 minute opportunity to use the bathroom however they see fit. I would stay in the room with the child and make sure no bodily injury was inflicted. Let's not get crazy, though...I'm not offering to take your kid to the playroom, feed him or her, teach him or her a foreign language, a musical instrument or anything educational. I'm strictly keeping your kid safe while you pee and brush your teeth. Don't waste time by checking your FB updates, folding sheets or finishing that magazine article you started last night. The clock is ticking and there are other parents that have to go potty. I promise not to ask what you were doing for so long in there or pass any judgment...you do what you gotta do. I'll come back around later in the day to give you another break, but don't make foolish mistakes like chugging a gallon of water (or coffee) that will leave you uncomfortable for quite some time. And yes, I realize that the nurses will ask each time they leave the room if you need anything, but let's be honest...they're offering to bring you a water bottle, snack, fresh towels or linens...not a bathroom escape.

What do you think? I think it has potential.

p.s. I know that if it was urgent the nurses would absolutely help however they could, my point is that I don't think babysitting is in their job description and they shouldn't have to do so.

A Stitch in Time

2011-01-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I get a bee in my bonnet about wanting to do something, go somewhere, learn something, build something. While I was pregnant with Trey, I had a hankerin' to learn to knit. I envisioned all the free time I would have on my hands since all a new baby does is sleep, right? What was I thinking? Free time? Really? I don't know what happened to my brain, but I still wanted to learn how to knit. For Christmas that year, my aunt got me a knitting starter kit. Saaaa-weeeet! Immediately, I got a skein of ugly green yarn and set to work. Using only a book with pictures and descriptions, I did it! I made a rectangle! And a square! And a single strand! Then I put the needles down and picked up a baby, drove kids to school and baseball games and Science Fairs and family functions...yada, yada, yada.

But! After the last stay at the hospital, I realized I needed something more to do than read and try to watch a muted t.v. while Trey slept. Both activities were starting to hurt my eyes. Today, Bella and I hit up Pat Catan's, which is an awesome mega craft store. I had already picked a blanket pattern, so I let Bella pick the yarn and got a fancy circle needle thing-a-ma-jig....

I'll let you know how it goes! Any tips???

A Spoonful of Sugar...

2011-01-10T21:01:00.000-05:00

As we settle into our new "normal" over here, we continue to face challenges that can be frustrating or scary or both. Things like, why can't we get a thermometer that gives the same temperature 2 times in a row??? How can 2 thermometers put under the same arm at the same time give 2 different answers? Do the doctors really trust ME to give Trey his daily shot??? Hmmmm....

Anywho...part of our routine is to give Trey an anti-biotic twice a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is a pretty critical medicine in that it helps to protect him against pneumonia and other junk like that. Here's the problem, Trey could possibly be the worst medicine taker ever. Okay, that's a hyperbole...he's the worst medicine taker in this house! Now, that's accurate. The medicine we have is in liquid form and has grape flavor added to it. We've tried mixing it with juice, water, food...to no avail. It's almost like he can sense the medicine is lurking in the drink or food. His eyes flicker quickly between his Sponge Bob sippy cup and me as I casually try to look like this is a regular cup of juice. Maybe I have a "tell" or a tick or something, because that cup goes flying! We resort to Jay restraining him with one arm and opening his mouth with the other while I put the syringe thingy in the back of his mouth and blow in his face to make him swallow. Trey screams the whole time until he chokes on the medicine, then he tries to spit it out. It's quite the ordeal.

So, anyone have any helpful tips? Trey is not quite old enough yet to understand bribery...but I'm not above trying just about anything....

Being Thankful...

2010-12-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well...what a Christmas season it has been. On Christmas Eve, Jay and I were told that Baby Trey has Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. My heart dropped...my hands and feet went numb...my mind started spinning. I'll write more about that part at another time. Right now, though, I feel like I need to make it known that Jay and I are thankful.

Thankful? For what? Definitely not the cancer. But, this is the situation Trey is in and we're going to praise the Lord for....

*Trey limping. This is what prompted a call to the pediatrician which got the ball rolling. A lot of kids show no symptoms until much later....Yikes! How much later could it be?
*Calling the pediatrician. Some folks thought he might just be going through a growth spurt...
*A persistent team of doctors! When our pediatrician didn't know what was wrong, he sent us to get x-rays. When that showed nothing out of the ordinary, he sent us to an Orthopedic doctor at Children's Hospital. When she didn't know what the problem was, she sent us to a Rheumatologist in the hospital.
*All the tests! The Rheumatologist thought his limp might be Transient Synovitis (relatively harmless, will clear up on its own), when I emailed her ON A SATURDAY because Trey had started limping again, she emailed me back WITHIN AN HOUR and set up an appointment. At that next appointment, she ordered blood tests...then a bone scan...then an MRI...then a bone biopsy...then a full body CT scan. At the time, I thought all these tests were a real pain in the wazoo. Hmmmm...
*We live in a city with one of THE best Children's Hospitals in the country!
*Friends, family and community! Within hours of learning the diagnosis and sharing it, we were overwhelmed with love and support!
*God! We know in our hearts that the God that created the universe is holding Trey in His all powerful hands right now and that this situation will bring Him glory.

So, do we wish this had never happened to Baby Trey? Absolutely! We are sad and scared (I think I've cried 10 times today )...but, we have hope! And Trey is quite the fighter...as I sit in a darkened hospital room right now at 10 pm, Trey is refusing to go to seep and throwing his socks at me while singing "Happy birthday". No one has told him he's sick yet.

Home Made Fun

2010-12-09T21:01:00.000-05:00

As of late, I haven't had any inspiration to delve into deep, interesting, or thought provoking posts. So, here's another one that includes oodles of pictures of the kiddos...

Jay was born with a competitive streak. Everything he does is tinged with some sort of challenge. "Can I carry every bag from the grocery store into the house in one trip?" "Can I empty the dishwasher more efficiently than yesterday?" Did ya see how I threw in a back handed compliment there? Jay does all the grocery shopping and empties the dishwasher! He's the best! Back to the point...Instead of just picking up the apples that fell from the tree off the driveway, he has to use a hockey stick and try to flick each apple up over the house...bonus points it one hits the shed (nearly impossible). If there is a ball of any kind in the room, Jay will be bouncing it, juggling it, or trying to hit an impossibly small target. He can make up a game faster than the Parker Bros. and Hasbro combined! Jay once created a game (Hand Hockey) that kids for years would show up at our house to play in a tournament style. It was too sweaty and bloody for my taste, but whatever. All this brings me to my point...we have a (sort of) empty room in our basement. It's great to run in, rough house, play catch...anything, because there's nothing to run into and nothing to break. Well, all this nothingness started to bore Jay to pieces. Hence our new play room...

Climbing rope/swing? Check?

Climbing wall? Check.

Climbing wall PLUS wall to wall rope? Check.

High jump that Trey will inevitably try to wreck every single time? Check.

Hours of fun, creativity, and exercise? Check.

Please ignore the fact that Bella is wearing her nightgown...it's my own sort of competition. I'm trying to see how small I can keep the laundry pile. Right now, I'm losing.

Halloweenies Part Duex

2010-11-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

The office is not finished yet, so don't get excited!

But, before we carve an impossibly large turkey and I stuff myself to beyond comfortable, I wanted to post those promised First Ever Halloween pictures!

We carved pumpkins last year...but Trey was less fond of the innards this time around...

Joe was meticulous about picking the seeds out of the guts....

Trey was less careful...Bella wouldn't even come in the dining room.

The finished product...I don't know how Jay carved them blurry, so don't ask...

There are my babies all dressed up and ready to go!

Pretty Princess Aunt Cathy took the kids to each car to gather the goods!

Joe and Bella helped me hand out candy...but, only to non scary kids. Notice, Joe has removed all remnants of a costume and is actually hiding behind me in the trunk of the van.

Add some much needed sugar cookies to the mix and we're almost done....

Annnnnnd, we're done! Good night, Halloween. Maybe we'll see you next year!

Did you know???

2010-11-04T20:38:00.000-04:00

Did you ever hear the phrase "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"? I bet you have...but, did you know that's not the actual definition of insanity? Nope, it's not. And believe me, I looked it up like a million times.

Good ol' Albert Einstein thought up that quote.

Anywho, even if it's not the real meaning, I appreciate it and apply it to our home office. Our office used to be our unused garage and I'm very thankful for the hard work and man power and hours that went into converting it into a finished room complete with a doorway into the living room. (Ask Jay about getting to use a concrete saw...I think he thinks he became a man that day.) However, this office has also been a thorn in my side. It's constantly cluttered, overflowing with all the things we don't want to the kids to touch or play with barricaded by a baby gate...It's floor to ceiling with my dust covered scrapbook supplies, countless books, bills (of both the paid and yet-to-be kind),framed pictures with no where to hang, memorabilia of yore...Don't forget the computer, printer and the desk that holds it all, too. My organization skills fail to exist in here. I'm stuck in a void where plastic bins can't save me and file folders mock me. The source of the problem eludes me.

So, every few months, I clean the living ink out of this room and make empty promises that "This time will be different!"...then a few months later, I clean, then a few months later, I clean...do you see my insanity? To keep cleaning the office is not going to solve the problem. The room is set up to fail.

All that being said, we are making some major changes in this room. Not just surface cleaning, but actual go through the drawers and throw away the 10 year old gas bills and receipt for a dryer that's been gone for 5 years kind of cleaning. I'm rearranging furniture, too! It would've helped if I had remembered that I anchored the bookshelf to the wall before I tried to move it. I seriously thought I was trapped in a Twilight Zone episode...

So, please excuse me temporarily while I get this room in order! I'll be back soon!

p.s. Trunk or Treat went great! The kids had fun, no one was shaking in fear and there's plenty o'chocolate for Momma! I'll post pics soon!

Halloweenies

2010-10-24T13:06:00.000-04:00

Are you sitting down? Brace yourselves! WE ARE LETTING OUR KIDS PARTICIPATE IN HALLOWEEN THIS YEAR!!! That's right, for the last 7 1/2 years we have artfully dodged this "holiday". I know you're trying to think of the most non offensive, polite way to ask why we've avoided it for so long...go ahead and ask. (Did you tilt your head a little to side in that sympathetic way to try show that your not really judging us?) Well, there are many reasons....

1) We're mean.

2) We really don't want our kids to have any fun.

3) We're THOSE people.

Just kidding!!! But, did those thoughts come to mind? It's okay, I can take it. Now, the real reasons...

1) We had the awesome experience of going to Disneyland when Joe was 9 months old. Thanks, Young Life All Staff Conference! While we wandered through the fake streets, taking in the pretend sites, Disney characters roamed about. Well! Joe FREAKED out! He was having none of it! If a character even came near him, he would start screaming! His fear of costumes still exists to this day...he will literally start shaking and freeze up. We had to keep him home from preschool on their costume parade day (Pajama Day doesn't even sit well with this kid), avoid Kenny the Kangaroo (at Kennywood), stay at the far end of the mall at Christmas and Easter, and peek in the windows at McD's to ensure him that Ronald was not, in fact, visiting that day. So, Halloween has always seemed more like a torture than a treat.

2) For Joe's first Halloween, we just didn't see the point of dressing up our less than one year old to collect candy that he wouldn't be allowed to eat in weather that is typically Pittsburgh cold. You know a lot of that candy is sketchy anyway...who really likes Bit O'Honey or Mounds???

3) Jay and I have had long discussions about the origins of this celebration. Sure, by today's standards, it's just innocent fun...kids dressing up...neighbors reconnecting...fun for everyone. We get that. BUT! Do you know the origins of the day? Jay and I had a hard time embracing a day that was used to either invite spirits in or ward them off. And the truth is, is that for a lot of people they still embrace the darker side of this day. Did you know that Trick or Treating started as a practice called "souling"? Poor people would go door to door begging for food and in exchange that person would pray for the souls of the neighbors dearly departed in honor of All Souls Day. How did we turn it into "Give me candy or I'll do something to your yard"? How did it go from dressing as a saint to dressing as a sexy nurse or a zombie or a sexy nurse zombie?

4) Regardless of how cute your/our kids look all dressed up, there is some scary stuff out there! Ya know what people around here think is hysterical? Sitting on their porch dressed as a fake scarecrow, waiting for kids to come to the door, then jumping at them. Guess who's kids would be in a coma??? In the past couple of weeks, I've had to explain to the kids that it was highly unlikely that the people down the street killed and buried at least 12 people in their front yard. And I've found myself, more than once, saying "No, those ghosts aren't real and no, they're not going to get you.", "Of course that 6" spider is not real.", "I don't know why someone put Winnie the Pooh in a giant Jack-o-lantern and lit him up." This is not my definition of fun.

*And, yes, both Jay and I dressed up every year when we were kids (ya know, back when costumes were innocent characters and caustic and flammable?). We went Trick Or Treating and we turned out perfectly fine! Why are you laughing?

So what happened this year? Well, Jay was named Executive Pastor of the church we attend and every year they host the event "Trunk or Treat". Members of the church pull into the parking lot, decorate their open trunks and give neighborhood kids candy. No scary decorations or haunting music or hiding monsters and, hopefully everyone will hand out good candy! The Community Center is also open so that people can hang out, eat hot dogs, etc. Since, we're now part of this church family and the kids wanted to dress up, we thought it might work out okay. Don't worry, Joe already has an escape route planned in case there is any unforeseen, costume related incidents.

I'll let you know how it goes.

So Long Old Friend....

2010-10-08T21:16:00.000-04:00

It's with a bit of a heavy heart that I (we)...no, me more than anyone else here, had to say good bye to a loyal, steadfast fixture that's been a part of our daily life for the last 7 1/2 years....

No, not Baby Trey...he's only 2 1/2, remember? Plus, some days I'm not sure where his loyalty lies. The highchair!!! I put the highchair out by the trash yesterday...and maybe I did pause to reflect on the meaning of getting rid of something that has been an integral part of life here for so long. The fact that my baby is big enough to sit at the table in a booster seat makes me a wee bit sad and nostalgic...I have to tell myself that getting rid of the highchair does not erase the possibilities of more babies. The truth is, the highchair's heyday has been over for quite some time. The seat belt didn't really work anymore, there was a crack in the frame, the seat cover had been laundered too many times to count. That's why I put it with the trash instead of passing it along to another family. But, this chair has seen it's share of....well, everything. Of course, every meal for every child every day, but also, it was a safe place to put a child when I needed to contain one of them...we used it to hold children as they opened gifts...I've used it to restrain injured kids while I figure out what to do next...it's been a part of holiday and birthday celebrations, too. Maybe some kids have even puked on it resulting in brand spankin' new safety straps. It'll be weird to walk into the dining room and not see old faithful, but it's great to have Baby Trey sitting at the table with us...sometimes.

Too Sophisticated For Photos

2010-10-01T22:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I made it! I traveled to and from New York City all by my lonesome with nary a scratch or a hitch or a snag. I wish I could convey how UN-like me it was to do this whole adventure. I mean, sure, 20 years ago I dreamed of living in a super cool, super fancy New York apartment with no ties to anyone or anything...no responsibilities or burdens. (How I was to pay rent for this fab lifestyle was yet to be determined)...but, as life became more reality than fantasy, I realized I did not want that city life. I longed for the perfect husband, white picket fence, well behaved children. Two outta three ain't bad! (We don't have a white picket fence. What did you think I meant?) Anywho...back to the point at hand. Since meeting Jay (aka the Perfect Husband), I have not traveled alone, ever. Well...I once took a flight from Pittsburgh to Virginia alone...but Jay was waiting for me at the VA airport. And one other time I flew from Hungary to Pgh without him, but I was with another girl who's unfortunate air sickness and general air-headedness was a good distraction for me.

*I need to make it known that I did not take any blog worthy pictures while I was in New York! I felt like it would have been the equivalent of holding a huge neon sign that read "Hey everyone! I'm by myself over here! So, if you see me trying juggle my huge bag and snap pics at the same time, come on over and take advantage of the situation!" But! I promise to make that hair collage blog!

Needles to say, I made it safely to New York via the Megabus. (which I highly recommend as a travel option) As we pulled into the city, reality came crashing down around me! I've never hailed a cab! What if there's some unspoken etiquette that I don't know about and I get yelled at by the driver? What if a cab never stops for me and I'm left standing alone with my luggage in the slightly annoying drizzle? Why are there so many people out and about in the middle of the afternoon? Should I be standing at the corner or the middle of the block? So, I stepped back to observe for a few minutes...I spotted a couple of other people confidently stand at the curb and put their arm out to signal the cab. So, I mustered up some courage and stepped forward. Immediately a cab swept me up and whisked me off to my hotel. As I got out, I paid the cabbie and even remembered the tip! I threw in a little extra as a silent "Thank you" for not kidnapping me and making a shirt out of my skin.

Once again, have I ever checked into a hotel by myself? No, no I have not, but the SoHotel check-in could not have been smoother. What a cool hotel...it's like 100 years old, but has been updated so it has a modern feel but has held onto its older character at the same time. Very cool. Though, having never been in New York before I had only been told that hotel rooms were a lot smaller than what I might be used to. Really? I think 10 by 10 is the perfect size for a walk- in closet...oh wait, that's the size of my room! And I loved it! I certainly didn't need a ton of space, and it was clean and everything worked (well, except for when I blew a fuse drying my hair...but, it was fixed quickly)

In search of food, I sought out some help. The bell hop was very friendly and reassured me that I could certainly walk to Little Italy on my own and not end up on the late news...he neglected to tell me that I would be totally overwhelmed at the sheer volume of restaurants to choose from...the maitre d luring tourists into Il Piccolo Buffalo won the day for me with his promises of fresh pasta and homemade sauces. My Chicken Marsala was quite yummy and I texted with people the whole time because...can you guess? I've never eaten in a restaurant alone before.

So, Tuesday was THE day!!! I woke up super early...way too early, but I was just so excited! I walked to the Devachan salon on Broadway with plenty of time to grab some food from a cute grocery/deli/kitchen ware type place and people watch for a bit. Once inside the (ultra cool, fancy, beautiful) salon, all the volunteer hair models got to sit and kibitz about our "curly girl" experiences. And I'll tell ya, it was really refreshing to be in a room with other women who have similar hair horror stories and history as me. What a relief! Finally! A salon where the employees won't shoot me dirty looks as I walk in the door...or openly talk about me as I sit under a dryer while my scalp burns (though in their defense, I did take a lip reading class in college so I kinda have an advantage)...or recommend that "maybe you need to find a different salon". I kept waiting for a bright light and harp music to start playing. The "students" who would be working on us were all very experienced hair dressers, so this was sort of an advanced class for them to further understand how to cut and highlight my type of hair (and not have it end in tears). Evan From Columbus was my stylist. (Do you know him, Courtney?) He was super cool with his trendy slim fit jeans and fedora. We set right to work...well, I sat and Evan From Columbus did all the work...cutting and turning and looking and consulting. Then the REAL work began! These highlights took FOREVER! Not because of the procedure, but because of the amount of hair I have! Poor Evan From Columbus! I'm sure he was ready to throw in the towel (literally), but he didn't even complain. Bless his heart. He was able to give me tips about how to use the Deva products I already have to get the results I really want and when all was said and dried...my hair looked fabulous! So smooth (still curly, just not frizzy) and shiny! I keep checking their Facebook page to see if they've posted any before and after pics! What a great day!

Plus, I made it home safe and sound...though I could have done without the mice skittering around on the sidewalk and into the big cement planters at Penn Station at 6 in the morning...but, none the less, it was such a success! Jay handled the home front perfectly. The children got fed and bathed and educated and loved even in my absence.

I think another trip is in order...but next time I want my other half with me!

*Devachan may contact me for future "modeling" opportunities...so, this is (hopefully) not the end of the story!

If I Can Make It There...

2010-09-17T21:47:00.001-04:00

I am so excited, I can barely contain myself! I couldn't fall asleep last night until after 2 a.m....which is a rough start to a day that includes a Crossfit workout! But it doesn't matter!!!! I am to the moon and back excited!

Let me explain...months ago, I met Kelly. Kelly went to high school with my husband, Jay. I met her at their 20(what!!!) year reunion. Kelly owns a cute little hair salon right here in our own community...so, I let her take a whack at my hair. Now, I haven't blogged much about my hair...but it is both a blessing and a curse. My hair is thick! Thicker than what you're thinking, too...like waaaaaaay more thick. It's curly/frizzy/unruly. I always have it pulled back. Growing up, no one knew how to care for my hair, so I would be tortured daily by having someone pull a brush through my tangled mess. That hurt so badly, that my dad took me to a salon and had them cut off all my hair. That made it worse! I hate getting it wet because of the frizz factor. Praise the Lord that my arm was in a cast my Senior year of H.S. so I got to skip swimming! Getting a hair cut at any salon always resulted in tears. It's not soft and touchable...you cannot and will not run your fingers through it...ever.

But at the same time, if I take the time and energy to "do it", I receive compliments and raves. To me it's a grass is always greener kind of situation. I would love to know what it's like to have straight hair that can be styled in many different ways...or left down to blow in the wind. If I could go back in time, I would feather the crap outta my hair! The invention of ceramic straighteners has allowed me to slightly experience the joy of free flowing locks...but the damage it does is almost not worth it.

And can we talk about how much product I use??? Shampoo, conditioner, spray gel, regular gel, mousse, hairspray. Yikes!

So back to point at hand. When Kelly did my hair, she shared a book with me called The Curly Girl's Handbook. It was AH.MAZE.ING!!! Everything I had ever felt or experienced about my hair was in these pages! Anywho, the author's method for great curly hair is quite out of the ordinary....NO SHAMPOO!!! NO HEAT!!!! NO STRAIGHTENING!!! DevaConcepts, of course, has their own line of products, which I was more than happy to dump my grocery store bought products for these rich, luxurious ones.

Now, fast forward a couple of months...and I LOVE the results. I'm still learning techniques. It's hard to break decades of bad habits...but I'm getting there. And my hair is about 100x healthier!

The other day, I noticed on the Deva Curl Facebook page a call out for anyone willing to be a hair model participant in their (super fancy) salon in New York City. After showing it to Jay in a joking way, he suggested that I send an email. Why not? Well....because it's in New York, it's in 2 weeks, we have 3 kids, school, work, volleyball, I'd have to go by myself, they probably received a million emails already....So, I went ahead and sent an email to the contact person. Almost immediately, I received an email back stating that there was ONE spot left and to send a photo. I did not hear anything back and the next day I saw on the FB page that all the spaces had been filled. I assumed I had not been chosen, and while I felt a tinge of disappointment, I didn't lose any sleep over it.

Just last night, I received an email from the contact person stating that I HAD BEEN CHOSEN!!!! I get to go to New York City, and get a haircut (specifically for curly hair like mine) and highlights valued at $300!!! Plus a gift bag of hair goodies, their special micro-fiber towel and a video of the process!!! I'm so thrilled...though, nervous, too, that I might cry (out of happiness) or maybe offer to adopt the stylist so he/she can come home with me because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Now there's a mad dash to make arrangements and plans and back up plans, get some books to read, figure out how to make this happen!!! But, if I can make it there....

*When all is said and done, I'll create a photo montage of my hair through the years...

Where have you labored?

2010-09-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

To commemorate last year's Labor Day, I did a 3 part blog-a-thon detailing the labors of our little bundles of joy...I'm gonna go ahead and not do that again. But, if you really want to read all the juicy (ewwwww!!!) details, feel free here.

For this Labor Day, I thought it would be swell to share our working backgrounds...where have you actually labored? As in work...not birthin' them babies.

My first job, I guess you could call it, was working for a mini-golf course haunted house...getting paid under the table, of course. It was my esteemed pleasure to welcome visitors, advise them not to touch the "monsters" and "ghosts", and make empty promises that the ghouls would not touch them. It was a horrible job.

Next, I worked at The County Seat...for all you youngsters, it's a now defunct clothing retailer that specialized in matching entire outfits. I could hook you up with some Levi's, a t-shirt, Henley, flannel and scrunchy in under 10 minutes. Boom! That lasted for about a year...

Then, I moved onto Deck The Walls...a custom framing and art store. I really enjoyed this job at the mall because it did involve (some) skill and culture. I stayed with this job for about 5 years....

Lastly, I was an Educational Interpreter for Deaf students in public schools. It sounds cooler than it really was...and yes, I know sign language and no, knowing how to do the alphabet isn't the same thing. I did this for 6 years until I went into LABOR (ha!) with our Joe.

Since having kids, I dabbled briefly with an office supply distributor where I was able to work from home and a kids' safety program (that gave me nightmares)...other than that, I sit around and eat Bon-Bon's all day while watching my "stories".

What about you? What's your work history?

And so it begins...

2010-09-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

Welcome, September!!!! I feel like this summer went by in a wink of an eye on some days and others dragged on like America's Got Talent. This summer was unique in that Trey has taken some sort of secret Terrible Two oath. We could barely go anywhere with all 5 of us without a Plan A, Plan B and a "Bail Completely" plan. How does one keep 3 kids busy/happy/satisfied that are at all different stages and ages? Don't ask me, clearly I don't know since all of my kids can sing the theme song to Phineas and Ferb. Trying to do anything that might make Trey skip a nap is just asking for trouble...he'd probably shank you with a shiv whittled out of a crib slat. That kid takes nap time seriously. Though between crying jags, we were able to have fun. Jay and I would take turns taking the kids to the pool...we visited the Children's Museum, Kennywood...went to few parties, had family in town. It was a fairly low key summer...just my style.

But, today we sent Joe off to second grade and my baby girl Bella to Kindergarten! Oh! My nerves! What if she needed me? What if she got lost? What if someone was mean to her? What if she cranked out? What if they put her on a bus???? We're walkers this year, and there's just something great about that. It feels so Americana...fresh air in the morning and afternoon...ahhhh. Ask me how I feel about this when it's 0 degrees outside...Now I get to spend some serious time with Trey! How will we fill our days???? Hopefully, the laundry will get done a little faster, some projects will get out of my head and actually materialize, and maybe a bit more time for blogging since everyone conked out at 8:00 over here...

I think we're off to good start...

Mouse Tales

2010-08-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

Oh, how I very much wish I had pictures to accompany this story...but alas, safety, health and good sense won the day and there was nary a second to grab the camera. Next time, though...What? I just bit my own tongue. Hopefully there will not be a next time.

Last Wednesday Jay came upstairs from the basement with a look of "brace yourself" on his face. "We have a little friend in the basement..." he said. Uh oh. "A mouse?" Sure enough, Jay saw the itty, bitty rodent scurry into our not-used-as-a-pantry pantry. I am totally at peace with the knowledge that in older homes, mice are very common in basements. They do not freak me out at all...ask me about the time a rat was loose in the store I worked at in the mall...or the time I found a whole, minuscule family of mice under our dryer. "Not a problem." I thought. Jay set up the trap and I pretty much forgot about the little guy.

That evening, we hunkered down to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" (awesome!). After awhile Jay hit the pause button and very calmly said "Uh, we're not the only ones watching SYTYCD, Dear." Sure enough, little Jerry was standing there next to the couch, eyes riveted on Cat Deely (as well they should be). Now we had a problem. That mouse broke the code! Never leave the basement! Never! Code breaker! Rodents are not permitted to crawl on, near or around the childrens' toys potentially leaving droppings in their wake! Sensing our awareness, Jerry darted behind the T.V. cabinet. As Jay went to peek behind the massive piece of furniture, I stood by quietly....on the coffee table. I had to explain that since Code Breaker Jerry could not be trusted to stay in the basement, I didn't want to be further violated by having my feet scurried over. The rolling of Jay's eyes could be heard 'round the world. As he sped off to get yet another trap, I bravely went to stand on the speaker next to the cabinet to peek behind. Jay thought that after setting the trap behind the cabinet we could go back to just casually watching the rest of SYTYCD. Uhhhhh....nope. We can't just let Code Breaker Jerry stay here among us, he must be caught.

Well, Jerry was none to pleased with this idea, but being that his brain is the size of a pea, he kept getting himself trapped in a corner. Rejecting Jay's idea to "drop something heavy on him", I was ready to grab him by the tail a few times when he would impossibly squeeze himself under the cabinet. However, again with the pea sized brain, he'd come back out a few moments later to the same spot. Eventually, he tried to scurry across the open floor and Jay , with his ninja-like reflexes, slapped a cup over him. (It really was super fast) What to do next, we wondered? Leave it there for the kids to discover? No, too much screaming. Hope he suffocates quickly and dispose of him? Nah, that would take too long. So, we slid a piece of construction paper under the cup...and Jay held the door open for me as I carried the contraption outside to free the little bugger. We're pretty sure we saw him peeking in the window to see the last few dance routines on SYTYCD.

Oh, and p.s. Jerry had at least one friend with him, as the trap in the basement was occupied the next time we checked it. Yuck!

A Facebook Birthday

2010-07-08T22:00:00.000-04:00

Here are two facts: #1-This past Saturday was my birthday. Hold all your bells and whistles, please, because we're long past celebration time. Let's face it, there's already been a major holiday since then; I'm small potatoes. And, really, Hallmark's selection of "Happy 5th Anniversary of Your 29th Birthday, Weirdo!" are slim to none. And #2-I like to receive emails. It's kind of a bummer to see "Hello, Rachel! There are no unread messages in your inbox" for days at a time. I just don't think Yahoo! has to be so uppity about it. It's not like I lose sleep or anything over a big fat goose egg, but it's on the same level as checking the mailbox and hoping for a letter or something other than junk.

So, what do these two facts have to so with each other? The Facebook birthday, of course! For the past couple of birthdays, I have looked forward to checking my email to see how many Facebook friends have posted a birthday wish on my wall. There's always that short moment of fear of opening an empty inbox! Oh! The anticipation! This past weekend was no disappointment, either....over 100 comments, thankyouverymuch! Anybody remember before Facebook when you'd get about 7 "Happy birthday" wishes?...in a phone call?...or a card in the snail mail?...or (gasp!) face to face? Remember how having a summer birthday meant having the elementary principal read your name over the PA system on the last day before vacation with every other summer baby instead of having your own classroom party? What the...? Did I just let that bitterness seep out? Sorry...

How do you feel about the Facebook Birthday? Do you look forward to it? Maybe a little too much? Maybe not at all? I mean, let's put this all in balance...some of these well wishes came from people I either hardly know or haven't known in 15 years! Most of them, you know, are the obligatory post simply because the (sometimes dirty) Facebook sidebar reminded them that it's your special day. In such an age of social networking, is it a nice touch to have that virtual connection to hundreds of people or kind of an insincere way to get people to stay connected? Does it cross your mind how many of your FB friends didn't post anything?

At the end of the day (literally), I enjoyed reading all the kind words and didn't waste time questioning the sincerity or the originality of the post-er. This is just one of those funny things that goes through my mind in any given day and wonder if the same is true for any of you. I'm done rambling about nonsense now, carry on.

Still The Reigning Queen of Crafts!

2010-06-27T21:39:00.001-04:00

Oh wait! Did you think I was talking about myself? Hardly! Of course I was tipping my hat to Her Crafting Majesty, the Crafty Pumpkin. Her crafting knows no bounds and she seems to have anything crafty that you may or may not need. Ribbon? Pfffft...do you want it with or without wire? Adhesive? Tape (single or double sided), glue (hot or cold), acid filled or free. Paper? How much time do you have? Seriously! The girl can create scrapbooks, gifts, games all during nap time.

Recently, she posted 2 craft ideas and I thought I'd throw my glue gun into the ring (or hand woven basket) and try. Both were appropriate for teacher gifts and since the end of the school year was upon us, it seemed like the right thing to do. I, myself, am not typically a craft self starter. Buying something made to look like I spent hours toiling over it is much more my style. It's not that I can't create crafty things...I'm actually very good at following directions. I've conquered many the Ikea furniture pieces! The more cam screws the better! But that's almost the problem here. Crafty P can take a pile of stuff and make something terrific out of it and explain it in 4 steps...I require 472 directions to complete any project. I think by the 6th phone call and 24th text from Michael's and Jo-Ann's, Crafty was ready to finish the projects for me.

Without further ado...here's a photo tour of the craftiness. If you would like more in depth directions, I'll be happy to email you a 7 page, bullet point Word document.

Here's Bella and Joe painting little ceramic pots with watered down white paint which were then wiped with a paper towel to give them a weathered look.

Then we have Bella counting out Kisses for each bag and Joe signing his name for his teachers' tags.

Here's one of Bella's finished tags...

Viola!

For this next project, children were not permitted to help...in any way.

This crayon letter project was for Joe's classroom teacher and it surely tested every one of my needs for perfection, symmetry and neatness.

But, all the teachers loved their gifts and I would happily do these crafts again in the future. In some small recess of my mind, though, I kinda hope Crafty P doesn't come up with any more fabulous ideas. She can rest assured knowing that she can hang onto her (handmade, of course) crown of craftiness.

....and DONE!!!

2010-06-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

The Clothing Chronicles, Is It Just Me?

2010-06-07T21:34:00.000-04:00

I'm hoping that by the end of this post I won't be left standing alone (to be more accurate; sitting while typing) by my ill fitting, mismatched clothed self. I need to know that other people do the same thing....compromise fit for time or savings. Who's with me?

I wear one pair of jeans. Read that again. One pair. And I love them. Now, don't get me wrong...I OWN probably 20 pair in a variety of sizes ranging from "Are you serious?" to "Remember when?" But that one pair is the only denim in the rotation right now. If I'm in a pinch and the beloved are in the wash, I'll wear a pair of ill fitting jeans. Always the next size up, never down. I learned a long time ago that squeezing, shoving and stuffing into a smaller size doesn't make you look slimmer....in fact, an image of bulldogs wrestling in a pillow case comes to mind. Why don't I just get another pair of jeans that actually fit? That makes perfect sense! Eh...that would take time and money...plus, I have other jeans. Yeah, but they don't fit!!! But look at the stack of jeans you have...there are people with NO jeans in this world! But they don't fit!!! See why it's hard to be in my head?

This same principle applies to shorts, too. One pair...plus the cast offs. Which reminds me that I need to wash those, unless the peach chunks and accompanying juice magically disappeared from the entire crotch area....

Here's what else I'm stuck on...I was trying on fun summer dresses at Target that were out of my usual comfort zone. I was really proud of myself. I picked out a floor length (?) ankle length (?) long, sleeveless dress with a v-neck. Surprisingly, the length did not make look like a gnome, and the waist did not make me look like a Popsicle. So far so good, right? But, the top was a little too big and the V was a little too deep. I was thinking of wearing the dress to church, but not with that much cleavage! So, I thought "Well, if I put a cammi under it...and a cardigan over it, it could work." What? Now I just went from an easy to throw on dress to an elaborate get up to keep people from stumbling in Sin at church? I didn't get the dress.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I have a lot of clothes that require a plan. Pants that have no button, but if I pin them then cover it with a top...A shirt with a stain, but if I wear a scarf....Pants that can only be worn with heels....Pants that can only be worn with flats....Pants that are too big, but if I use a belt then cover the gappy part....A shirt that's too short, but if I wear a tank under it....No one will see the maternity tag, right?...So what if I've had this shirt since before having kids? It's still cool, right? Uhhhhh. no.

When did I become this person? It's not like I was ever a fashion icon, unless Hyper Color T-shirts or Skidz counts towards being a fashionista. I try to follow trends or at the very least avoid fashion faux pas like shoulder pads, pleats and bolo ties. But where did the compromise begin? Am I lazy? Frugal to the point of spending more on safety pins than the clothes themselves? Since in the recent past, my size has gone up and down depending on which side of pregnancy we're talking about, I simply found it pointless to put time and money into a wardrobe that will potentially not fit in the near future. But that doesn't make it okay to wear broken down, stained, ill fitting junk either.

I guess I never realized how much clothing compromising I was doing. Guess I need to go shopping...SOON! Anybody need to go with me?

For the next Clothing Chronicles..."Can we talk about ugly underwear?".

Sweet Progress

2010-06-03T16:09:00.001-04:00

Wildlife Woes...

2010-05-29T21:24:00.000-04:00

If we're friends on Facebook, there's no doubt you're familiar with our tales of wildlife that exist in our very own ~~animal preservation area~~ backyard....in fact, you may have grown weary of the oft repeated groundhog sightings. But, we've reached a new level in the circle of life that constantly turns...

For those of you that are unaware of our animal adventures, allow me to enlighten you. We live in a fairly crowded suburb of Pittsburgh. From our house, we've walked to the McDonald's. Giant Eagle slash shopping center is not much further than McD's. The streets are busy and the sounds of sirens are a daily song. When it's nice enough to have the windows open, one can hear what the neighbors are watching on t.v. (John and Patty are BIG Jeopardy fans!). My point is, we do not live in the country!

But you wouldn't know it by our animal population! Stray cats? Check! Deer? Check! Four million squirrels? Check! Pigeons that the Jeopardy neighbors raise? Check! If you listen carefully, you can hear the sweet sounds of Barry White drifting out from under our shed...this is where the ever multiplying ground hogs live.

The other night, we heard what sounded like a deer rubbing it's antlers on a tree. However, Jay being so wise to deer habits, knew that this was the wrong season for rubbin' so we listened closer. Turned out to be some type of animal on animal crime. Cats chasing each other or other critters is not so unusual...but this! This was different. Whatever was doing the chasing was fast (so, not a groundhog...they tend to waddle), heavy (so, not a fox) and had a low, guttural growl (so, not a cat or dog). What then? Jay posed the question to the Facebook world and immediately responses came back voting that it was a coyote! COYOTE!!!!???? This could be dangerous! Should we warn the neighbors? Maybe send out an FYI note?

WARNING!!!! THIS PART GETS GROSS!!!

Eh. We didn't do any of those things...but what we did do was smell something awful when we were in the backyard yesterday. I thought it was garbage. I was wrong, but man! I wish I had been right! Jay discreetly toured the edge of our property looking for the source of the stench. Sure enough, he found the culprit. It was a rabbit only identified as such by his little cotton tail and long hind legs. Peter didn't have much of a head to speak of. He did, however, have a colony of maggots munching away at where his face would've been. Sorry for the graphic details...but UGH! I know I have a lot of weird quirks and things I don't like or that freak me out...but maggots! I truly have a nightmare inducing fear of maggots. UGH! YUCK! BLECH!

So, what should we do with this discovery? I voted for leaving it there, letting nature takes it's course, pray that the children didn't see it and forget the whole thing ever happened. I mean, the smell would eventually dissipate, right? Jay voted for disposing of the body. For fear of maggots getting on him or (gasp!) in the house I vehemently opposed this choice! No way! Uh-huh! Leave it be! Get rid of it how? Where? No!

This evening as I was putting the kids to bed, Jay went out to mow the lawn. After some time had passed with no hum of the mower, Jay came in to say the he had successfully scooped Peter into a heavy duty garbage bag. Grrrrrrrr! But now what? We couldn't leave it in the garbage cans. Did I mention our raccoon friends earlier? Plus, with the recent heat, we've just created nature's own Easy Bake Oven. Hmmmm? Jay said he would take care of it and left...as in, put the bag in his trunk and drove away. I'm going with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on this one.

Now that Jay has changed clothes and thoroughly inspected all contaminated clothing (including the seams) and his trunk for lingering maggots, we're settling in to a quiet evening of listening to the birds chirp and critters run for their lives.

What is this????!!!!???? Seriously!

2010-05-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

I know I've been lacking in any kind of interesting post as of late. Maybe because I've been distracted by this....

Seriously....what in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks are these orange, claw like fingers growing out of the garden???? We have never seen these before, ever. They have just sprouted...the last pic is of what I can only assume is the seed. The seed is soft and squishy like a marshmallow. It didn't smell like anything, though I can't really smell at all due to congestion...and yes, I know it's weird to smell stuff, but it's what I do. It did provide a good opportunity to teach the kids that these are not in fact carrots or witch fingers and how produce grows and the unlikely nature of buried witches in the front yard.

Anywho....they're pretty creepy. Any thoughts?

Sure do love this kid...

2010-05-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY 2 YEAR OLD BABY TREY!!!!!

Do me a favor and pretend that I wasn't as big as a house when I went to be induced...thanks.

Hit The Nail On The Head...errr Toe!

2010-05-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

My kids don't wear shoes every time we play outside. Whew! I feel better now that I've confessed that tidbit.

Sometimes, they might step on something sharp like a thorn or pine needle...nothing major. Every once in a while, a scratch may occur from running, jumping, skipping or the like...again, no harm, no foul. Or maybe the baby will pick up this....

and drop it on his teeny, tiny, baby big toe. Oops.

As I was playing catch with The Bigs, I saw Trey monkeying with the 2x4 and thought not much of it. Why is there a 2x4 in our front yard? He had it in his hands for approximately 5 seconds before he dropped it. He knew and I knew immediately that it was going to be bad. I rushed over to him, scooped him up and his toe was already bleeding...a lot.

After convincing Joe and Bella that no, Trey was not going to die, I shuffled everyone inside and put my non existent nursing skills to work...this included grabbing the nearest, cleanest wash cloth and calling Jay. I just couldn't tell if Trey needed to go to the emergency room or not. So, following Jay's advice, I put Trey in his high chair and gave him some blackberries and turned on some rockin' Fresh Beat Band. He stopped crying, but his toe didn't stop bleeding.

Let me preface this next part with a disclaimer. I LOVE our doctor's office. The nurses are always helpful and make time for us, plus all the doctors are great with our kids. But the following conversation was comical. Being a tad flustered, I was tripping on my words at first trying to describe the situation. This is what Jay heard from my side of the convo. "Yes, he was barefoot." "Yes, a 2x4." "Right, outside, no shoes, a 2x4." "He'll be 2 next week." "Yep, barefoot." Sigh...."We'll be right there."

The doctor and nurse were great, though, despite Trey's crying and screaming "HAVE A NICE DAY!" and waving Bye-Bye incessantly. We were home in no time.

I took him this morning to get an x-ray...which was none too pleasant to keep a 2 year old occupied in an adult oriented waiting room and an hour long wait. But all's well that ends well...no broken bones.

Trey is not bothered at all by his toe and look where we were tonight after dinner....

Outside...barefoot...again. Don't tell on me, please.

No Love For The Ugly Ones....

2010-04-26T22:30:00.000-04:00

At the recommendation of this girl I read this book. "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers is admittedly my first foray into Christian fiction. I LOVE to read!!!! But, my true written love is gritty, crime solving, who-done-it type mysteries. I had some reservations about this book from the get go...for one, I'm not a huge fan of period pieces (Redeeming Love takes place in the 1830's-50's). I like my crimes to be solved using the latest technologies available. Plus, I was worried that since it is a Christian novel complete with a study guide and group discussion section, it would be "watered down", "fluffy" or predictable...that the language would be juvenile, rife with "Gosh darn its" and "Oh mys".

But! This was a GREAT read! Rivers based the story off of the biblical story of Hosea, and immediately captures your emotions as she tell how young Sarah becomes a broken shell of a girl sold into prostitution at the tender age of 8!!! As a young woman, Sarah, now known as "Angel", makes her way to gold country California where she continues to do the only thing she knows how and the men are willing to pay for it. Yikes! Along comes Michael, who has prayed for a wife and much to his surprise, the Lord leads him to Angel. I don't want to give too much away...read the book yourself!! Just know that it was hard to put the book down at night and I would look forward to the next time I would get to read more.

After I finished the book, I taunted Crafty P for her recommendation of a book with a HUGE flaw! Truth be told, the book didn't have a big flaw...I just have a big chip on my shoulder. Allow me to explain...throughout the book, Angel is described as beautiful. More than just regular beautiful, but stop and stare beautiful...with long, silky blond hair, clear porcelain skin, all the right curves. You're telling me that a hooker in the 1850's would be beautiful???? Let alone have all of her teeth??? I'm thinking more along the lines of lice infestation, bloated with infection (STD's aren't just modern day scare tactics, people!), missing teeth from lack of nutrients. I want to yell that this reeks of a stereotypical romance novel, the beautiful girl, the handsome rugged man! It's not fair, I say! The other girls who "worked" with Angel were not portrayed as being as pretty...in fact they were described as fat and ugly and drunk. Rivers clearly used more delicate language than that, but you get the point.

I get it though, no one wants to read about unattractive people getting together...can you imagine? "His chubby, gnarled fingers stroked her scarred and pitted cheek as she looked down at his stout, bald frame." Doesn't quite do it for ya, does it? But for once, just once, couldn't an author create a less than gorgeous, quite regular looking main character and make the story work? Why can't the ugly hooker get rescued? I mean, if God is going to lead you to try to save a hooker, why not an ugly one? However, Rivers writes in a way so that it IS believable. She makes it crystal clear that while Angel may be beautiful on the outside, she looks more like Quasimodo on the inside.

I guess I have just always been jealous of the beautiful blonds. Just now I fixed my ponytail and almost started a fire with my dry as kindling, knotted mess of dark curls. As a kid, I would wrap a yellow blanket around my head and pretend I had long, flowing locks. While all the girls were feathering their hair a la Farrah Fawcett, I was stuck with a stylish Gilda Radner look. Alas, I tried being a blond for about 6 months a decade ago...and it just didn't work...plus, it burned a lot. So, I have resigned myself to the fact that if I were to be cast in a movie of this book, I would be the drunk hooker that gets killed in a fire.

Oh well. It's still a good book. I think I'll read it again...which I never do. That's how much I enjoyed it.

Security Blankets

2010-04-15T22:43:00.000-04:00

As spring is gloriously upon us, I've been inspired to do some unusual cleaning. Today, I cleaned the plastic silverware tray! Jay saw that I had cleaned it and said "Finally!"...before you jump to a feminist conclusion, he meant that he had been wanting to clean it for some time, too. I had just beaten him to the Magic Eraser.

My next target of cleanliness is a bit more vulnerable for me to share. And, you'll probably think it's a funny thing to be worried about....it's....my....make up box!

It's a silly thing to feel vulnerable about, dontcha think? But, still...I don't like for people to watch me put on my make up, or to dig through my stuff, touching the brushes, testing the colors...whatever. To me, it's a private thing. But! My word for the year is progress, right? So there you have it...my box of make up. And, occasionally, it needs to be cleaned.

I wash the brushes with a special brush shampoo, wipe off all the pots, and wash out the box itself.

Ahhhhh, so much better, right?

Whenever I clean my make up and put the box back in it's drawer (safe from prying eyes), I remember that starting in junior high, I would carry in my purse every make up item I owned. Leaving the house without it just simply never happened. What if I had a make up emergency? What if I needed to reapply? What if I wasn't going to make it home by morning and would need it for the next day? The latter actually happened quite a bit, but I never thought to carry a toothbrush with me...or clean clothes...or a sense of responsibility. What are the chances that I would find myself in a situation that would wash every speck of make up off my face while in a public place? Zero! I don't recall a single situation that required a reapplication of all my make up.

It has only been a few years since I got over carrying that security blanket with me. Now, I'm strictly a lipstick and mirror girl!

However, I've realized that I have another security blanket lurking in my purse, right now. I always, always, always check to make sure I have an extra hair band with me. If I think I don't have an extra band, I immediately check my hair to see if my current band is coming loose or if pins have shifted. What hair catastrophe is around the next corner? What could I use as an alternative hair accessory? Do I have a pen I could use to pin up my unruly hair?

Why do I torment myself with these seemingly unnecessary burdens? What's the worst that could happen? Logically, I know the answer is nothing, but still I cling to a small ring of elastic to provide comfort....oh, and chap stick and sunglasses, too! Woosh!!! More progress to be made, my friends!

Care to share any security blankets you're carrying around?

Finally! He is Risen!

2010-04-11T00:21:00.000-04:00

So, my Easter post is a week late...can't be worse than last Easter , right? This year, every single one of us was healthy enough to enjoy the celebration of our risen Lord...and chocolate bunnies.

In the past, I have lamented my lack of creativity surrounding holidays. It's as if I'm always caught unaware...like I didn't know the holiday was coming up. It would seem we were heading down the same path for this Easter...UNTIL, my super creative-only needs a few hours of sleep-can do anything-sister-in-law, Cathy, saved my oblivious-over whelmed by laundry-distracted by Facebook-beeehind. She mailed the kids coloring pages and a recipe for Easter cookies. But not just any Easter cookies. As you follow the recipe, there is Scripture to go with each step and the final results aren't revealed until Easter morning! How cool is that? Saturday night was filled with coloring eggs and cookie baking....

Here's what Stinky Lee MaGee decided to occupy himself with....

Trey kindly threw all the Tupperware from the drawer into the sink before standing in it...

Joe did a great job reading from his Bible while we followed the recipe for these special cookies.

Good thing Bella wanted to help hold the mixer...the recipe said to beat the mixture for 12 to 15 minutes!!

When the cookies were on the sheet, we put them in the pre-heated oven, turn the oven off (what?), waited till morning...when viola! The cookies are hollow! Empty! Just like Jesus' tomb!

As I was reading the corresponding Scripture, Bella interrupted me by yelling "I GOT A CHOCOLATE BUNNY!" and running out of the kitchen....her lack of attention may explain why she woke us up that morning by whispering (very loudly) "God is prison!"..."What, Bella??!!"..."God is prison!"..."Oh, you mean 'Jesus is risen!'"...."He is risen indeed!"..."Right, go back to bed, Bella."

We played our cards right by waiting until before dinner to try to get a nice picture instead of before church when we're rushing and cranky. Pretty cute, I'd say.

And no day in the Mitlo house would be complete without some kind of "incident"...

I thanked him for his patience while I ran to get the camera.

Happy Easter!

Who Wants To Buy A Ticket On This Train?

2010-03-28T20:11:00.000-04:00

How does one write a post about themselves without it sounding like bragging? I am aiming for motivational, and simply using myself as the subject. Fair enough? We finally got around to updating our measurements and baseline test at CrossFit for the Zoleo Challenge.

Bust (aka boobies) -2"
Under Bust -1 1/2"
Naval -3 1/2"
Widest point (aka hips...for me, at least) -2 1/2"
Thigh -3/4"
Calf -1/2"
Bicep -1/4"

That's 11 inches off!!!!!!!! Yipee! Plus, about 15 pounds...Plus, I shaved about 2 minutes off my baseline test!

Who wants on this train???

Birthday Bash!

2010-03-25T17:26:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, we celebrated Joe, Bella, Jay and Uncle Doug's birthdays in a Mitlo family kinda way. The first step of the family soiree is picking the menu...usually the host will pick the main course and all the others will bring the appetizers, sides, dessert, pop, etc. I always, always, always leave the menu picking and assignment distribution up to Jay simply because I don't care. Spaghetti pie? Great! Burgers and dogs? Great! Ham and potatoes? Great! See? I'm no help at all.

Well, Jay decided he wanted to do "Pizza Olympics". What? You've never heard of "Pizza Olympics"? Allow me to explain....several people call different pizza places and order the same thing from each place at the same time. As the pizzas arrive, prizes are given to first, second and third place. Everyone at the party guesses which place they think will get there first and cheers for the confused delivery person upon arrival.

We called Papa John's, Vocelli's, Carol of Casey's, Fox's and Vincent's. And yes, we are well aware that Vincent's doesn't deliver...we sent our brother-in-law, who invited Jay's dad along for the ride, to go get the pizza. They were gone for about an hour and smelled a bit like hops when they returned. They did not win.

Papa John's came in first place! We were blaring the Olympic music so loudly it sent children running. Joe tried to present Dude with an actual (fake) gold medal and baggie of goodies. Dude did not care. At all. I think he may have had a baggie of his own goodies on the brain.

Vocelli's came in second and this guy was such a good sport! Though as he drove away, he quickly stopped and backed down our street to confirm that we played fairly! What did we order from Papa John's? Did we order at the same time? We assured him it was all on the up and up and he was free to carry on.

Casey's came in third! This guy was just confused...though, I imagine it has to be a bit nerve wracking to pull up to a house with a bunch of people screaming, music blaring and taking your picture! This white pizza, by the way, was my personal fav!

Fox's came in fourth and got nothing! I felt bad about that and wanted to at least make a goodie bag for the guy. What does a fourth place Olympian receive, Jay asked me???? Ummmm nothing? That's right, nothing! He's still got his tip, so I guess I didn't lose any sleep over it.

As I said before, Bob and Poppi took their sweet time returning from Vincent's to come in fifth. Now, a Vinny pie experience is taken VERY seriously by the Mitlo clan. We may have even had a moment of silence for Vincent who recently went to the pizza place in the sky. Even after jokes were made that there were a few extra ashes on the grease soaked pizza board, no one was deterred from finishing the whole thing...even the scraps on the board. I, myself, do not partake in a Vinny pie Or really any food that I have to pour grease off of first.

This was my brother's first time eating a Vinny pizza. He likey!

It was also Baby Trey's first Vinny pie...we eventually had to stop giving it to him. I thought I heard his tiny arteries hardening.

Moving on to our craft portion of the evening....

Everyone had a good time decorating an eggshell, then planting mung beans inside. When the beans sprout it will look like the egghead has hair...and it can be eaten, too!

Baby Trey had had enough shenanigans and was sick of people telling him to stop falling off chairs, so off to bed he went. While he talked to himself in his crib, everyone opened their gifts in a flurry of bows, tissue paper and screams of excitement. Then, onto cake and ice cream. This shouldn't be a big deal, right? Well, clearly you've never sang "Happy Birthday" with this rowdy crowd. Everyone must be sung to individually in the slower traditional version...then we sing the Chi-Chi's style version as loud as possible about 12 times. Seriously.

Baby Trey loves this part of any party...so we had to get him out of bed to sing with us. I think I've read that in a bunch of parenting books...ya know, how it's a good idea to get your kid outta bed, get him all riled up, then put him back in his crib?

Anywho, the party was great (minus an unfortunate silly string incident that ruined my hair and almost burned down Poppi)....though, strangely no one stayed to help clean up....

The Ramblings of a Busy Mind

2010-03-19T23:15:00.000-04:00

I apologize for being out of the blogging loop recently...busy, busy, busy! What I consider to be March Madness may just possibly be different than your basketball saturated March Madness. We finished up Odyssey of the Mind, which nearly devoured my sanity, so I do not have the energy to make a whole post about it. It ended well...let's move on. This past week we celebrated Joe's 7th, Jay's 39th, and Bella's 5th birthday! The BIG family party is tomorrow, so I have a post in the hopper about that. Ideas for posts have been popping into my head and I actually wrote them down. However, the dust accumulating on non living surfaces is calling my name, therefore I don't have time to give just one topic my undivided attention. Here's a run down of my list, though...

*I'm excited to do this egghead craft at our Spring/Birthday Party tomorrow. While I was getting the eggshells ready (2 dozen), almost half of them had 2 yolks! What's that even mean? Is is good thing like spotting a rainbow or dreaming about unicorns? Or a horrifying side effect of forcing chickens to shoot out eggs machine gun style next to their 2000 closest friends?

*When singing along to the radio, (which I do unabashedly)am I obligated to use the same pronunciation as the artist? I was jammin' to Black Eyed Peas (don't judge) and the guy say "somethin', somethin', last forever...somethin', somethin' be togever". It just feels wrong.

*As much as I love reading, which is a lot, I do not want an electronic book reader...especially one called Kindle. Every time I hear it, I feel like burning something. I need to feel a real live book in my hand, smell the ink, judge the artwork on the cover. I want to feel the spine crease and (gasp!) fold the page to save my place.

*Jeff Probst needs to create a "Survivor Uniform". My neck hurts from constantly diverting my eyes to avoid flying boobs, bum cracks, happy trails, and blurred circles! Family T.V.? My blurred circle it is!

*Marie Claire is a dirty, dirty magazine. Worst use of frequent flier miles. Ever.

*I recently read 2 wildly popular books, Redeeming Love and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I thoroughly enjoyed both, would recommend them to others and may even read them again. BUT! I found a HUGE flaw in both books! It's probably just me...but still, it bothered me. Wait for the post...wait for it...

*The main theme throughout Proverbs is that it's not good to be a fool. I pray I am not and fear that I am.

How to Turn Plastic into Cotton

2010-03-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Before

After

Yipee for new jeans!!! I haven't bought new jeans in a couple of kids, so this was a real treat! So, armed with a Christmas gift Old Navy gift card...I ventured out. Mission accomplished! Plus, maybe I found a few other things too.

And because I'm easily distracted by shiny things, especially near the register...I totally forgot to give the cashier my prized gift card! As I was walking out the door, I exclaimed "Oh nuts!!!" and caught the attention of several people. I told the cashier the problem and got back in line to wait my second turn. She then had to return all my stuff and ring it in again...BUT! This time SHE messed up the transaction and got flustered, as well. I told her that she and I should definitely NOT perform surgery together any time soon.

All's well that ends well...

Wordless Wednesday...

2010-03-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

Somehow, I don't think the kid clothes that Jay's mom has kept for 30 years are gonna make it into our closet rotation...

Organize the Already Organized

2010-02-25T21:10:00.000-05:00

I absolutely should be cleaning right now...my aunt, cousin, cousin-in-law and 3 second cousins (or is it cousin once removed???) are visiting this weekend and our house looks like, well, like 3 kids and 2 busy parents live here. Unacceptable, I tell you. But, instead of cleaning, I decided to post this TIP.

Years ago, I organized our linen closet to within an inch of its life. I'm talking bins with labels, stickers, designated shelves, the works. And that system has had its ups and downs but has basically held true to form. For example, on the floor of the closet is a big drawer bin that holds cleaning supplies. (Before you panic, the bin has a Mr. Yuck sticker on it AND the closet is locked). That bin hasn't moved once since I put it there. There is a bin labeled "Kids Medicine" and a bin labeled "Adult Medicine". One shelf for towels, one shelf for bed linens and nary the two shall meet...See? It's really quite lovely.

However! The problem is this...I haven't cleaned out this closet in forever!!!! So, while I love to have cleaning supplies at the ready, I really only use 2 or 3 products which renders that 13 year old bottle of ammonia useless. Not to mention all the things that leaked inside the bin creating quite the Petri dish of combustibles. I found a few other things in the closet that struck me as odd....like 6 die (dice, dices, deeces??), a yo-yo, a bubble maker, pack of matches and a partially used bar of soap.

I like to keep things. This may explain why I've held onto a bottle of perfume that someone once told me they liked because it reminded them of their Grandma. Or why I held onto a set of breast shells from my nursing woes of Joe (he'll be 7 next month). Or the travel sized make up bags with broken zippers. Or the expired medicines...

Breath easy people! I've thrown out a ton of stuff and rearranged the placement of bins so that the cleaning supplies are off the floor and out of little hands' reach and all is right with the world.

So, my tip is this....Even if a spot in your home seems to be organized, if its been awhile since you went through it, maybe it would be a good idea to organize your already organized space.

You're welcome. Carry on.

Crazy Uncle Cupid

2010-02-14T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes, yes today is Valentine's Day. While I do not discount romance or reject obvious reasons to receive senseless gifts...I have a confession. Preparing for holidays is not my forte'. Every year I promise myself that I'll get an Advent calendar for Christmas, then I don't. I make a mental note to get an Easter Story egg carton thing, then I don't. Wouldn't an American flag made out of jello, blueberries and whipped cream be scrumptious on the 4th of July? Yeah, I wouldn't know because I've never actually made it.

So, while I'm an admitted slacker towards other holidays, even Valentine's Day has a different feeling for me...especially this year. I liken Valentine's Day to having a crazy uncle that no one talks about but feels obligated to invite to dinner once a year. Seriously. All year, the kids chatter about next Christmas, or the parades during the summer, or where their Easter basket might be hidden. Crazy Uncle Cupid barely gets mentioned until Phil looks for his shadow. Every year it sneaks up on me. I'm left scrambling for red paper, scissors, glue, and heart felt sentiments to show Crazy Uncle Cupid that we care about him and promises not to stare at his diaper and quiver of arrows.

Knowing that I'm in charge of Joe's classroom parties, I absolutely had Crazy Uncle Cupid on the brain. P.S. It's a little shocking how many inappropriate items show up on a search for a classroom Valentine's game. Since this is Bella's first year of preschool, I was well aware that she would need the required Disney Princess cards with the teeny, tiny blank space for her name. I was well aware!

Then, snow-a-palooza hit and I lost sight of Crazy Uncle Cupid's impending visit. For a few days, we just literally could not get anywhere and if we could get there, chances are it was closed. By the time I was able to venture out, the shelves were picked over and Valentine's Day stuff was being pushed out of the way by drunken leprechauns carrying giant four leaf clovers. I foolishly thought that the kids might be able to go to school for their parties, so that was my main shopping focus. Joe cards, check. Bella cards, check. Treats for teachers, check. Game supplies, check. It never occurred to me to get stuff for the actual Valentine's day. Maybe I thought I had more time, I don't know.

When the mailman could safely deliver the mail, I saw the tell tale penmanship of Grandma. Not even the worst snow storm in recent history could stop her from getting cards to the grandkids in the mail. As I held the velvety red envelopes in my hand, a trickle of panic ran down my spine. Kinda like if you woke up on Thanksgiving morning only to realize that you forgot to defrost the turkey. I had done NOTHING for Crazy Uncle Cupid's visit. On Saturday, I hastily got out the craft box to have the kids make cards for Grandma. I quickly realized that the decorations I thought we had must not have survived Crazy Uncle Cupid's last visit. Maybe no one would notice...of course they did. Saturday night, the kids whispered to Jay from their cozy beds that they were soooo excited for Valentine's Day....then Joe whispered "What do we do for Valentine's Day, Daddy?" Huh.

Sunday morning, THE morning, Crazy Uncle Cupid's morning, Jay hustled out to Giant Eagle to get last minute decorations and candy. So, with the kids none the wiser, we celebrated Crazy Uncle Cupid's visit with heart shaped foods, pink and red teddy bears, more card making and paper heart cutting, and dinner by candle light. During Bella's prayer tonight she said "Jesus, thank you for the best Valentine's Day ever." Whew! Crisis averted. Plus, the kids still have their school parties to look forward to.

So, I'll take comfort in the knowledge that the point is not the preparation for the day, but how we make the day special in whatever way we can. The kids didn't care that the house hadn't been decorated for days or that we didn't get them elaborate gifts. They were excited to help tape hearts to the wall and put stickers on the windows. The best parts of the day were when they got to blow out the candles on the table and call Grandma to thank her for the cards. It was a good day.

See ya next year Crazy Uncle Cupid! Maybe, by then, I'll be ready for you.

Mindless Eating and a Sore Throat...

2010-02-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

A month has passed since undertaking the Zaleo Challenge! An update is in order!

After revamping the ol' diet, there have been some pretty remarkable changes and revelations. Probably the most startling thing I learned was HOW MUCH MINDLESS EATING I was doing!!! If you asked me to define my daily eating habits, I would have said healthy. I'm a pretty boring eater, so I really don't mind eating the same things repeatedly...for breakfast, plain oatmeal with blueberries and cinnamon...lunch, either tuna with spinach or turkey...and dinner, chicken and a vegetable, lots of fruits throughout the day, etc. Sounds good, right? If we're being honest, there are several things I'm leaving off that list...

Take for example eating the little bits and pieces of food left on the kiddos plates at breakfast. Then, handfuls of pretzels throughout the morning masked as "just getting snacks for the kids". At lunch, for every sandwich made, a knife full of peanut butter is consumed (and I don't even love peanut butter!). Since crusts are taboo to my children, I go ahead and make them "disappear" (the crusts, not the children). A slice of cheese for the young ones equals a slice of cheese for the momma...and so on and so on. One day, I realized there was some type of food in my mouth and I stopped in my tracks and thought "What am I chewing on? I don't even know what's in my mouth!" After dinner, here's a Hershey's Kiss for you...and one for me. One for you, one for me. Oh, I'm done clearing the table? Have a Kiss. What? I left the bag of Kisses on the counter? Well, I should eat one before putting the bag away. Let's not forget the late night snacking which may consist of some salty treat like chips and cheese or a sweet morsel like cookies or maybe both. And can we talk about Ranch dressing and it's creamy goodness???

Now, I realize that when looked at individually, some of these things are not inherently bad foods. Pretzels, whole grain bread crusts, cheese? Not too bad...BUT. The amount! It's no wonder I haven't been able to achieve the goals I had set for myself. Namely, losing the baby bulge belly.

So, in the past month, I have become acutely aware of what I eat, when I eat and how much. At first, it was really difficult and I had to employ some pretty lame tactics that, embarrassingly, I stole from the Biggest Loser. Chew Extra! Sugar Free gum to avoid senseless snacking!

We have not taken any new measurements yet to compare to the original numbers, but I have gone down a jean size, lost some lbs, and been able to lift more weight! We're moving in the right direction!

There is one thing that I cannot find an answer to, though. Since eliminating refined sugar, I have only given myself 2 "free" meals where I can eat whatever I want. Both times, I had some sugar and both times I immediately got a really sore throat! Like, really sore! What's up with that? I tried to find an answer by surfing the inter web thingy, but to no avail. Anybody have an answer? Anybody?

Inspirational Stories???

2010-02-01T22:58:00.000-05:00

Recently, Jay wrote an article for a local online news site about the great, dedicated teachers in our school district. He got a ton of positive feedback and it prompted many to take a stroll down memory lane thinking about the teachers that inspired them to follow their dreams. It got me to thinking about what teachers I would list that inspired me...and I came up blank.

I have a less than stellar educational background. It's not that I'm not smart or couldn't do the work, it was more like I didn't want to do the work. And I didn't want anyone to tell me to do the work. Cruising under the grade radar was just my style. My grades weren't bad enough to fail and bring unwanted attention my way, but not good enough to have any expectations put on me. Perfect. I was well into my senior year before I realized school started at 7:30 and not, in fact, at 9:00. Oops. That did not improve my GPA. Having detention was the best shot for any homework getting done, so it worked itself out. I was much more concerned with making people laugh than learning about the War of 1812.

It was not the fault of the teachers that I was uninspired. A few may have tried...most just tolerated me...some maybe even thought I was funny.

My fourth grade teacher was pretty and she smelled nice. It totally freaked me out one Halloween whilst Trick-or-Treating, she opened the door of a house and offered us candy. Why wasn't she at the school? Who's house was this? Am I in the Twilight Zone?

My sixth grade teacher was supportive as I struggled with horrifying migraines and social awkwardness.

On the first day of seventh grade gym, the teacher called my name and said "Vance, huh? I've heard of you. Your reputation precedes you." Uhhhh, what? I asked my dad that night what she meant and he said "It means you're a b*@$&, and everyone knows it." Well, let me tell you! That started quite the tumultuous relationship between Miss Anderson and myself. At every opportunity, I would do anything possible to annoy her, and she would do everything in her power to not get mad. She got mad a lot. I remember it like it was yesterday...I fell asleep during health class and woke up to an uncomfortable looking Miss Anderson trying to explain to a bunch of 10th graders the benefits of the Today's Sponge (Yes, I'm that old). Of course I laughed out loud and this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I had to carry my desk out into the hallway and sit out there for the rest of the semester.

But then, we had a moment! It was during 11th grade gym. We had to go outside to play softball with another gym class. Things were going smoothly until the one (and only) mentally handicapped girl in our school went up to bat. Something or other happened and the girl flipped out! She threw herself onto the pitcher's mound and started swinging the bat around. Neither her aide or our one (and only) elderly security guard could talk her down. It was becoming really awkward as we all had to stand around and pretend not to stare. After a few minutes of watching the poor girl flail and refuse to go into the school, I walked up to her and said "Hey Joyce. Can I walk in with you?" Like a switch was flipped, she stood up and we walked arm in arm into the locker room. Later that day, Miss Anderson sidled up to me and said quietly "Ya did good, kid. You're alright." For some reason that meant a lot to me and even though no one else heard it, it became a symbol of truce between us. She may have even laughed out loud at some of my antics by the time I graduated.

My 12th grade physics teacher was nice...so I shot him in the neck with a gum band. That's a different story for a different time.

Anywho...do YOU have a teacher that inspired you to follow your dreams? Let's share.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

You're either Crossfit or you're not...

I Agree with Oprah...what???

2010-01-21T22:05:00.000-05:00

So, if I asked you if you would drive with a blood alcohol level of .08 (legally drunk), I would hope that you would twist your face into a look of confusion and slight disdain and say "Of course not! Duh!"...and if I refused to let the awkward conversation die, and asked you if you would drive with a BAL of .16 (twice the legal limit), I would hope that you would shake your head at me and say "What are you talking about??? No!" It's ingrained in our brains that this is a dangerous practice, and responsible people take every action possible to avoid getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

Now I ask you...Do you talk on your cell phone while you drive? Do you text while you drive? Are your kids with you?

Miss Winfrey's show is on at 4:00 'round these here parts. Strangely, that's the exact same time here that everyone under the age of 7 loses their mind. Joe gets home from school, thinks he is withering from starvation and has to do his homework. Bella has to try to poke him or yank his t-shirt or interrupt him and Trey has to be unhappy with every toy ever invented and all of a sudden hate every snack in the house. Not a good time to sit back and watch T.V. Plus, kids can magically hear everything on the T.V. even if they're not looking directly at it. So, I personally don't want to explain "Sex After 50" or "Why Men Cheat" or "The Secret" or "Mothers Behind Bars" or "Gail is Not My Girlfriend" to the kiddos.

However, Oprah's show on Monday was all about the dangers of using a cell phone while driving, so I DVR'd it and watched it later that night. I regularly talk on my cell phone when I'm driving. Not a ton, but for example, when I drop Joe off at school and head to the gym, I'll call Jay. Then I'll call him again on the way home from the gym. I don't call to chat with people while I'm driving, but I will answer the phone if someone calls me. I am literally incapable of texting while I drive, believe me I've tried. I have to be looking at the touch pad of the phone to be able to form words...and sometimes I'm convinced the T9 hates me.

Anywho...the first half of Oprah's show featured horrifying stories of family members having been killed in car accidents caused by someone being distracted by their cell phone. Oprah really went for the jugular on this one by starting with a mom and dad who's 9 year old daughter was riding her bike home and an SUV hit her head on. All the woman driving could say was that she never even saw the little girl because she was distracted by her phone conversation. At this point Jay looked over his computer at me and asked if I was trying to give myself nightmares. The second half of the show was about the research that has gone into "Distracted Driving".

Talking on a cell phone while driving is EQUIVALENT to driving with a BAL of .08!

Texting while driving is the EQUIVALENT of driving with a BAL of .16!!!

Seriously??? Aren't we a society of multi-taskers? Aren't we constantly doing more than one thing at a time? Apparently our brains are simply NOT capable of doing these two things (using a cell phone and driving) at the same time. There is so much information that your brain needs to process for only one of these tasks that it cannot possibly do both. Huh. That pretty much changed my outlook on the whole topic. I'll be okay not using my phone in the van.

I then got this bee in my bonnet about Pennsylvania having zero laws about cell phone use while driving. Zero! Does this state care nothing about us? How does one make a law? Who do I write to? Legislature? Local or state? I need my Schoolhouse Rocks!!! I asked Jay about it and we had a very educational (for me, at least) conversation. Jay is a big fan of very little government intervention. If PA creates a law banning all cell phone use, will the next step be no radio in the car? No passengers? Where is the line between eliminating danger and trusting people to be responsible? Don't get me wrong. Jay is more than open to the idea that cell phone use while driving is dangerous and not worth the risk. However, he would like to see more studies than just the one that was featured on Oprah. Further, he sees things in more colors than I do. I like things to be black and white...right and wrong. If there's a law against it, people won't do it. Right? Hmmm....there are plenty of severe laws against drug use, production of drugs, selling of drugs...but that doesn't stop some people from abusing, making or selling drugs. The posted speed limit is a law, but that doesn't stop every person from speeding. I'm starting to see his point...but, still! Aren't the laws supposed to protect us? Sure, but it takes a responsible person to apply the law. Even if cell phone use was banned, some people would still think that they were the exception to the rule and able to handle talking and driving. Ugh! Turns out, Jay is right about a lot of stuff.

So, what's the solution? Awareness (and maybe a law)!!! Spread the word (and maybe a citation or two)!!! I didn't know how dangerous talking and driving was until I saw the research on Oprah. For once, Oprah and I agree! I haven't talked on my cell phone while driving since watching the show. Everyone has excuses about why they need to call someone while driving, but really? What did we all do before cell phones? We took care of our business before we were in the car or waited until we got where we were going. That seemed to have worked for a several decades...

Will you stop talking on you cell phone while driving?

The Word of the Year is....

2010-01-17T22:14:00.000-05:00

I think I'm about to commit a "pick-a-word-for-your-year" no-no. Now, in my defense, I do not recall reading any steadfast rules about picking such a word...if any rules exist. Do they?

Anywho, for anyone unfamiliar with this sort of blogging right of passage...the challenge is to pick a word to focus on all year. Something to work towards, reflect on, revel in or share with others. Maybe your word motivates you to move in a new direction or inspires you to try new things.

I have seriously been struggling with thinking of this year's word. I even busted out...ahem, excuse me, I meant to say 'employed the use of' a thesaurus to try to ~~think up~~, ~~spark~~, formulate an idea for a word. Using the concordance of my Bible proved to be of no help either. Don't get me wrong, I found a lot of good choices in there...gentle, genuine, grace (I promise that the alphabetical order is merely coincidental). But something kept nagging at my brain! One particular word could not be ignored! I love it!

So, with already too much ado....my Word of 2010 is....

PROGRESS

n. 1. a moving forward 2. development 3. improvement
vi. 1. to move forward 2. to advance toward a goal; develop or improve

Yes, this is the same word I chose last year. But, I feel like I'm not done with it yet...or maybe it's not done with me. Oooooh, deep. Other words I considered often meant that I would need to make PROGRESS in an area of my life or a relationship or a goal. So, there it stands! My word is PROGRESS.

Have you thought of a word yet?

Favorite Day

2010-01-10T22:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am STILL thinking/praying about what my word should be for this year. I know, the clock is ticking. I feel, though, that if I get it done while the calendar still reads January, I'll be good.

On a strictly frivolous note...What would your favorite weather day look like? Here in Pittsburgh, it has FINALLY stopped snowing. Just in time for the temperature to drop to single digits. Last week, Joe had three 2 hour delays and school was canceled on Friday. I know I shouldn't complain, Wednesday and Thursday should reach the mid 30's! Needless to say, this would NOT be my favorite weather days.

My favorite weather day would be to wake up with the windows open to clear, cool skies. Cool meaning 65 degrees and a slight breeze coming in the windows. *I reserve the right to wake up, relish the breeze, roll over and go back to sleep. Having 3 kids probably means I cannot invoke that right, but still...this is a fantasy day.* I would like the late morning and afternoon to be hot and slightly overcast, but yet no threat of rain. All that direct sunlight hurts my poor, wittle eyes...wah -wah-wah (that's supposed to be the sound of a sad trombone). The evening and night should be hot, hot, hot! I love going outside at night to play or walk or water the garden and not have to think about grabbing a sweatshirt. No humidity, please! Oy! My hair! Then somehow on this magical weather day, the temperature will drop 30 degrees to start all over the next morning.

How about you? What would be your favorite type of weather day?

I'm Hungry!!!!

2010-01-04T21:09:00.000-05:00

I'm hungry and I'm going to be a great big baby about it!

The gym that I go to, Crossfit Pittsburgh, initiated a sadistic scheme...uh, challenge for the new year. The torture is called the Zoleo Challenge. Anyone choosing to participate got measured (ugh!) and weighed (worse!) and did a baseline test that consisted of a 500 meter row, 40 squats, 30 sit ups, 20 push ups and 10 pull ups for time. All of this info is written down in my Hello Kitty diary with a lock that no one can ever find, ever. About a month from now, we'll take all the measurements and weight again and do the baseline test to see if any of the numbers improved. (If they haven't, you can find me at Taco Bell)

The hard part is the new "eating plan". It's a combination of The Zone Diet and The Paleo Diet. The Zone, to me at least, is very complicated to understand at first. I had to calculate (based on my math history, even typing the word "calculate" makes me twitch) how many "blocks" of protein I need to eat in a day to be "in the zone". Based on that, I build my diet to include protein, carbs and fat in a balanced way. The word paleo comes from paleolithic or cave man. Yeah, that's right, cave man....meaning if a cave man could eat it, then it's good. If not, it's out. No dairy, no artificial sugar, no grains. Paleo is strictly lean meats, fish, veggies and fruit. That's it. Zone allows for a little dairy and grain, but still no sugar. There is no weird supplements or pills to take and on both diets, you're encouraged to eat way more than you do right now. It's a very "clean" way of eating.

Today was my first foray into this eating style. And today, I'm miserable. I'm sure my body is going through some withdrawals...I have a strong affection for Snickerdoodles, cheese and salt (Not all mixed together, though. That would be gross.) Hopefully, I'll adjust to this new lifestyle soon...ya never know, maybe I'll even convince YOU to jump on this Zoleo bandwagon! I'll keep you updated on results....

In the meantime, I'll be thinking of my Word for 2010, nursing my pneumonia stricken baby girl back to health, warding off all ear infections from my baby boy and gnawing on the coffee table.

Catching My Breath!!!!

2009-12-27T21:30:00.000-05:00

Whew! So, it's been about 700 days since I posted anything...or at least it feels like it's been that long. As of my last post, there were many things to be done and the minutes were slipping from my fingers...much like an ornament in Baby Trey's hands. (We lost about 7 balls from the tree and a "Cookies For Santa" plate so far this Christmas season. I've become quite adroit at handling a whisk broom, dust pan and paper bag)

While this season has been filled with a good kind of business, we've had a few tough moments...two people dear to us went to be with Lord, Trey is on his third round of antibiotics this month for a nasty ear infection and someone broke into Jay's car and stole the Wii games he had bought for the kids. But, we shall not say "Bah Humbug!"...instead, I will share some pictures of the fun we have had! *And, our fun isn't over yet! We still have a family luncheon, New Years and a trip to Ohio!*

This picture is from an Ugly Holiday Sweater Party! How fun is that?

This is the Christmas card picture that I found in the eleventh hour and sent off to Walgreen's!

This is the craft that I finally settled on for Joe's non-Christmas Winter Party at school!

We totally missed the whole blog world "Sharing Christmas" thing, which I really wanted to do, but couldn't squeeze in a post and was not super satisfied with our modified decorating this year due to a mobile baby! But, here are a few of my favorite things...

Notice the lack of ornaments at the bottom of the tree???

This Santa is about 35 years old and I just think he's super cool.

Christmas morning!

Where else besides the kitchen do you ride you cool new bike from Uncle Doug and Aunt Jackie?

And, even though he's been sick, sick, sick...Baby Trey has made time to practice carrying things under his chin like his brother's dirty socks.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas!

By The Numbers...

2009-12-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

50 - Christmas cards

25 - Gifts

22 - First graders needing a "winter" craft

10 - dozens of Snickerdoodles

5 - teacher gifts

3- loads of laundry

0 - things on this list that are done.

Ready! Set! Go!

I Think I'm My Daughter's Mother

2009-12-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

Since the day all of our children were born, people have asked "Who does he/she look like? 'Cause they sure don't look like you!" Ouch! I know I've lost that baby button nose, gotten a little taller and developed a finely crafted hard looking edge, but jeez! My favorite question is always "Where did they get the blue eyes?" As they're looking into MY blue eyes...oh well. Anywho, the earliest picture I have of myself is my preschool picture. Lo and behold, Bella got her preschool pictures back this week....

A President's Interuption and Some Snoop Dogg

2009-12-03T00:16:00.000-05:00

I'm here, Sisters!!!!!! I'm going to do a combo post of performance and results...so, try to keep up. I will need some help, though, because the President's speech cut into the performance show and my DVR cut off the last half hour!!!

Cat Deeley shows off her hidden McGyver talent by showcasing a dress made solely out of crepe paper...of course she rocked it! And then we get right into the dances without any introduction. I'm left to figure out the story behind each dance...I'm worried I'll be lost.

Noelle and Ryan are up first with a hip hop routine by Tabby Naps. I did not need any help figuring this one out. Super sexy office ditty...and I loved it! Noelle!! Who knew??? Though, Ryan's tight pants kept him from "feeling the funk" that Nigel was looking for. Nigel thought they did have good chemistry. Mary thought they had it "goin' on" and Adam said they were "smokin'". Apparently praise comes in slang around this joint.

Ashliegh and Legacy were up next with a Gary Stewart contemporary piece. It was about angry people in a kicking duel (I'm guessing) I thought it was soooo intricate and physical. Awesome! Nigel thought it was absolutely fantastic. Mary thought it was "WOW!" , then she started talking about "latching on" and I got lost in memories of nursing babies....Adam thought it was extraordinary and they showed no fear. Can we talk about Legacy's head stand for a minute???? Holy cow!

Next was Moooolllleeee's solo. If she was in HSM 1,2 & 3 does she really need this show? I guess so. Her solo was good, though I hated her stretch pants painted to look like jeans. Anyone?

Russell's solo was next. It was sweet to see how proud his parents are of him. His solo was a krumping strip tease that I thought was going to end with some broken bones. Pretty cool!

Kathryn and Nathan did a Spencer Lyth Broadway number and I LOVED IT! Such a cute couple! And they got the 50's look down perfectly! Nigel thought they were tremendous but needed more chemistry. Mary thought they had "NO TROUBLE!" and Adam said they did a great job and Nathan had matured a lot...since last week??

Noelle's solo was next....it was fine, nothing memorable.

Ellenore and Jakob performed a quick step choreographed by Tony and Melanie. It was quick and steppy, so I guess it was good. Nigel thought they were very good together. Mary said "YOU DESERVE THAT TROPHY!" Adam then went into a very complicated partnership diagram to say that they were fantastic.

Ryan's solo! Really? Ballroom to a Scorpion song? Really? I'd be worried...

Kathryn was up next. Kathryn's mom apparently comforts herself with plastic surgery when she misses Kathryn. She misses her a lot. Kathryn's solo was cute, fine.

Moooolllleee and Russell perform a Mandy Moore lyrical jazz piece. While their dance was SO GREAT, I couldn't help but get lost in the backseat of a limo with Richard Gere driving away from the hotel in Pretty Woman. Anybody else? Just me? Sweet. Nigel thought that Mollee had also matured in few short days. Mary "LOVED THIS PARTNERSHIP!" and Adam thought this was Mollee's coming out party...and he should know.

Nathan's solo...Oh no! He's crying! Yikes! His solo was very spinny and bendy and then he was crying again. Sympathy votes start now...or do they?

Noelle and Ryan do a smooth waltz by JT & Thomas. So pretty and smooth (ironic?), it reminded me of water. Nigel thought they were a prince and princess. Mary said they were breathtaking and Adam said he knew it was good because he was breathing with them. And he got a little high in the middle of it. A little? Come on.

Ellenore's solo. So, her parents move all the way from California to New York for her to pursue dance? That's amazing support! She's very quirky and cute!

Ashliegh and Legacy's second dance is a Dave Scott hip hop routine...and it was awful. I was so distracted by the cape! The cape! And certainly not enough Legacy worthy tricks. Nigel didn't feel it. Mary said it didn't work and Adam thought it wasn't challenging enough.

This is the point where my DVR cut off!!! So, I missed Legacy, Ashliegh & Jakob's solo dances. And Nathan & Kathryn's rumba (the judges thought they did well-ish), Ellenore & Jakob's contemporary (goosebumps and standing O) and Mollee and Russell's jive (judges were feelin' it!)

Onto the results! Cat looks like a bed headed vixen! Meeee-yowww! The dancers open the show with a Tyce Deorio dirty dancing street gang routine. Awesome!

Noelle and Kathryn are the bottom 2 girls...and Ryan and Nathan are the bottom 2 guys. I'm a little indifferent to the girls, but I can't decide on the guys! Nathan is such a cutie, but Ashliegh might in fact die if Ryan goes home!

That was super cool routine by The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers! Loved it!

I fast forwarded through the solos...sorry!

Snoop Dogg cracks me up. I can't decide if I love him or hate him. If you can say "Go 'head" and "So You Think You Can Dance", you've memorized 75% of his song(?)...but at the same time, it's catchy and had fun dancers. Remember Hok and that other guy? And, man! Those girls can drop it like it's hot!

Anywho...Noelle was sent home. I think I heard Mollee's heart break. And Nathan! Wow! I was a bit surprised, but he's about 12 years old, so I think he'll be fine.

That's it kids! Courtney is up next week, but take that with a grain of salt.....

No Mo' NaBloPoMo

2009-11-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well kids, November has come to a chilly close. As we get out all the Christmas decorations and have sugar plum dreams, we must say goodbye to National Blog Posting Month. Courtney has a fine farewell to the challenge over HERE. I certainly did NOT post something every day....shall we list some other things that I did NOT do every day? Cook? Check. Shower? Check. Keep all kids happy all day? Check, check and check. But, I did blog more than usual, so I'll give myself a small pat on the back.

This past weekend was a whirlwind of activity in our neck of the woods including: Hosting Thanksgiving for 16, hosting a post Thanksgiving dinner, Jay's 20 year high school reunion (can you believe it?!?), and hanging out with visiting family! I need a nap just typing all that...The kids have stayed up waaaay past their bedtime for the past week, as have I. Jay and I are typically night owls, but I'll tell ya...I could use a 10 p.m. bedtime instead of 1 a.m. or later.

Enjoy some pictures of the weekend activities....

We had to flip flop the living room and dining room to have everyone sit together...Baby Trey was none too pleased about the switch and let us know his displeasure ALL DAY.

drink table...

Our wall of thanks....

Oh yeah....a birthday celebration for our soldier fresh out of boot camp!

As everyone left and the kids were barely hanging on by a thread....Bella emerges from the basement like this. A girl is never too tired to dress for an occasion.

Yeah for a fun date night!!

The semi annual cousin picture...though we're missing 2 cousins because of school and hunting.

See you guys in December!

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

Out With The Old....

2009-11-22T21:04:00.000-05:00

I knew I needed new "gym" shoes when I started working out regularly...that was a year ago. Plus, I cannot remember when I bought these shoes. I think I may have moved into our house with them (gasp!) 11 years ago. I don't know if it was spending the money that deterred me, or maybe it was because I LOVE my old beat up kicks (that's what the kids call them, right?) They fit like feet gloves, even the shoelaces have a fabric version of muscle memory and tie the same way every time. But alas, when Gorilla Tape is needed to hold the old deformed rubber together, and water seeps in through the soles (and not because of some newfangled design structure) it's time to retire them. A different pair tried to replace these a few years ago, but after filling them with my blood (from blisters, not some weird shoe ritual), I decided they were not for me and went back to Old Faithful.

Goodbye Old...Hello New!!!
Does this mean I have to throw the old ones away? Say no, say no!!! I could use them for something, right?

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!!!

2009-11-19T22:40:00.000-05:00

It's pretty well known that I have more than a few pet peeves in life, some more than others. Right at the top of the list is the use of false time promises. FTP is characterized by statements like "I'm running to the store and I'll be back in 5 minutes." Really? Will you? 5 minutes? I'll time you and bet it takes you longer, pal. "This will only take a minute." What in life actually takes one minute? Not even Minute Rice!!! And the promise is IN THE NAME! Ahhhh, but I digress....

This particular rant is brought to you by "Starting statements with a big fat lie". I can think of three off the top of my head...feel free to add more. Let's break it down, shall we?

1. "I love her to death..." When I hear these words uttered, I cringe inwardly and admittedly sometimes outwardly. The whole statement is first of all, a lie...What does that actually mean? Does it mean that you love that person sooooo much that they could literally die from being crushed by your out pouring of love? You loved them to death? Or does it mean that you love them soooo much that you would die for them? Either way, I pull the hyperbole card! Secondly, when starting a sentence with that phrase inevitably means that your going to say something not so nice. "I love her to death, but she needs to work on her writing skills!" "I love him to death, but...." If you really loved someone enough to kill them with affection or throw yourself in front of a train for them, should the natural follow up be an insult? Hmmmm....

2. "I'm not trying to be mean..." If you have to preempt your next statement with an apology, you should probably think twice about what you're going to say. I would love it if people were honest enough to say something like "I would like to say something nice right now, but I can't because of this glaring fault of yours that I need to point out. Oh, don't mind the plank in my eye, just focus up here on my forehead. Hopefully, we're in front of a large group of people who will back up my negative statement with phrases like 'Well, it is kinda true.' and 'It needed to be said.' to help me validate my need to come across as nice and not, in fact, mean. Why are you crying?"

3. "I'm not trying to be racist or anything..." Ugh! This is the worst offender to me. Really? You're trying not to be racist? Well, then let me stop you there and help you not reveal how racist you are. Stop talking and say nothing negative about another race or culture. Do not incorporate some out dated stereotype in a comedic way to try to prove that "you're not the only one". Do not mention any minority group that you might be a member of in order to garner the right to insult a different minority group. Here is an actual conversation Jay had the pleasure of encountering the other day....
Two 8th grade girls that Jay knows were chatting as he walked by and heard: Sue's pretty thick for a Chinese girl.
Jay: Wait, what did you just say?
Girl: Oh, I'm not trying to be racist or anything. But you know how all Chinese girls are skinny 'cause all they eat is rice.
Jay: Do you even know if Sue is Chinese?
Girl: Yeah. She told me her grandparents are from Vietnam.
Jay: That's not Chinese.
Girl: Well, whatever...all those "ese's" are the same anyway.
Jay: Look, you're pretty smart right?
Girl: Well, yeah!
Jay: Annnnnd humble?
Girl: What's that mean?
Jay had to walk away lest his brain explode all over the girls or he laugh directly in the girls face. You don't get gifts handed to you like that every day, people!

I get it, I get it...with all of these statements, we're merely trying to soften the blow of what is coming next. But, I think that might be my whole point. Should we be saying things either directly to the person or behind their back that need to be softened? So, maybe it's not the statements themselves, but the concept of speaking badly about someone...

If you and I are ever having a conversation and you use one the above "Starting statements with a big fat lie", I promise, I won't get mad or freak out. It's more of an internal pet peeve thing, if you will. Unless I know you well enough, then I'm just going to bury you into the ground. And, if you ever hear me use one of the "SSWABFL", feel free to point it out blatantly. Publicly even.

Can you think of any other "SSWABFL"?

It should also be noted that other pet peeves I have include: open cabinet doors, mouth breathing, and opening the bathroom door when I'm in the shower....

Better late than never....

2009-11-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

For a SYTYCD recap...walk on tall cotton right on over to Crafty P's blog-o-fun!

Shhhhh....don't tell!

2009-11-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

So this our couch baby. Isn't he cute? Actually, he's not a baby anymore...he's 11 years old. (In couch years, that's like 77) And, if we're being technical, he's not a couch either. He's a chair and a half. When Jay and I started to build our furniture family, we didn't know what to expect. Sure, we would have been happy with an average love seat and sofa set. But, deep down, I think we were both hoping for something that we could label "special". Conventional methods just didn't seem to be working in our favor, so we turned to an alternative source. This End Up turned out to be that successful source, it was rich with pieces just waiting for a good home. While Jay and I discussed the idea of bringing an over-sized couch and an unheard of chair and a half into our home, we felt encouraged by the sale price, the further discount for choosing a discontinued fabric and if we opened a store credit card....well, who knows when we would've stopped adding to our nest?

The new furniture fit right in! They became very popular, very quickly. Good ol' chair and a half has held years worth of friends, family, dogs, crumbs, spills, jumps, tackles and naps. Sometimes he wouldn't even let pregnant women or elderly folk stand up.

Awww! See how happy he is cradling Hannah, Liz and Ashley? If only they knew the truth....

Under his tough exterior, this is what hides beneath....

Look, he's all torn up inside....

This would be a pile of staples that we can only assume are used to hold him together at the seams that fell out as we shook the old chair.

This showcases his broken support beam....how much weight can he continue to bear?

The truth is, probably not too much more. But, unless we win the lottery or the couch stork pays us a visit, we'll continue to cover him up. Don't tell....

p.s. In a few months, Liz (in the pic above) will be one of those women that can't get out of the chair! She's having a baby in June!!!!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-11-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!

2009-11-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, today the classic show celebrates it's 40th year! It's hard to think that when I was but a wee one, the show was only in it's first decade! Yikes! Thank goodness we've both come a long way!

For a sweet stroll down memory lane, check out Courtney's tribute to the show. Share a favorite memory! You know you have one.

How To Ruin Roasted Pumpkin Seeds....Twice

2009-11-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the perfect recipe for ruining 4 pumpkins worth of seeds. Pay attention to the details...I mean if you mess this up, you may end up with edible roasted seeds. And who wants that?

Step One: Give the seeds to me. You're more than a third of the way to the end results.

Step Two: Enlist the help of much younger and inexperienced chefs. Ones who require a step stool to reach the bowl to stir, will squeal and run away at the sight of slimy seeds, and try to lick the salt off the cookie sheet are preferred.

Step Three: Use arbitrary amounts of ingredients. Some melted butter...a splash of Worcester Sauce...plenty of salt.

Step Four: Place in a pre-heated to a random degree oven for an undisclosed amount of time, like, "'till they're done".

Step Five: At a point no where near the middle of the cooking time, try to flip over the seeds and shake 'em up. Ignore the ones that fall off the tray into the bottom of the oven. Those ones will burn away eventually and people will assume you use the oven way more than you do.

Step Six: Temporarily forget about the seeds in the oven.

Step Seven: Take out the charred remains and in the hopes that they taste better than they look, try one. If they taste like burning, you did it perfectly.

In my case...Step Eight: Throw away the first batch and do the exact same thing to another batch 2 weeks later.

Enjoy!

These Booties Were Made For Walking

2009-11-05T20:46:00.009-05:00

Oh, what a journey. At Baby Trey's 3 month "well" visit, his pediatrician thought he was showing signs of low muscle tone. When lifting Trey up, he (Trey, not the doctor) should have been trying to resist by pushing down with his arms. Trey was more like a rag doll being lifted....rag doll may be a little strong, more like a cute Cabbage Patch Doll...Anywho, the doctor did a few more tests with Trey and thought he might be showing signs of having fluid on his brain! Yikes! He recommended that we set an appointment with the Neurology department at Children's Hospital.

Now, normally, we feel like doctors are pretty quick to recommend random referrals (allergists for a few sneezes, ophthalmologists for not being able to read the chart because both eyes were covered, etc.) and thus, we readily ignore such advice. While we weren't overly concerned, it wouldn't be prudent to ignore a neurology referral. Trey could hardly be faking a large head circumference. So we set up the appointment, and as we were expecting...we waited in the aptly named waiting room for hours. Finally, a doctor checked out Trey and the head of the department came in and checked him out and lo and behold...Trey was perfectly fine.

At his 9 month "well" visit, Trey's regular pediatrician (freshly back from her maternity leave) mentioned the low muscle tone, too. That, coupled with the fact that Trey could only roll over and sit up if put in a sitting position prompted her to suggest that we contact The Alliance for Infants. A whole team of therapists came to our home and played with and observed Trey and determined that while he scored very high in most categories, his gross motor skills were below average and he could benefit from weekly physical therapy sessions. Enter Miss Jenny....

I admit I had my doubts...I'd never worked with a physical therapist before and had no clue how one could make a baby do anything, let alone meet a whole list of goals. But, Miss Jenny shows up faithfully every week and does her magic. By magic, I mean exercises and stretching and games. And wouldn't ya know it, Trey immediately showed signs of improvement. Soon he was able to get into a sitting position by himself...then back down...then pulling himself to standing...then pick up a toy without plopping onto his bum...then crawling...then cruising. Now here comes the BIG one, walking. Trey likes for Mommy to carry him everywhere and Mommy kinda likes that Trey likes for Mommy to carry him everywhere...Mommy doesn't really like the actual carrying part, but he's so dang cute. He just learned to say "Hold you!" while extending his arms to me. How can I resist? Ah, but I must.

Check out our big walker now...

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven." - Ecc. 3:1

Time to Tango!

2009-11-04T23:53:00.001-05:00

Tango on over to Megan's blogeroni for a recap of the top 18 on SYTYCD! Join the Sisterhood...

Glad that's over!

2009-11-02T21:01:00.003-05:00

A few posts ago, I mentioned being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was involuntarily volunteered to be homeroom mom for Joe's first grade class. My first task at hand...the Harvest Party! Now, even though fall starts in September and the class party is held the Friday before Halloween, please do not confuse it with a Halloween celebration. That mistake is frowned upon. Halloween is strictly taboo now-a-days in most public schools.

At Open House, I overheard 2 moms chatting about the said Harvest Party and wouldn't it be great to do the same craft again this year? Ya know, the canvas Trick-or-Treat bags that the kids can decorate themselves to take out on Halloween? Huh. I distinctly remember this craft from the year before...because at the playground after school a mom was outraged at the Halloween-ness of the craft! I mean, yelling and grabbing it away from her kid outraged. Great. Also, during Open House, another mom shared with me that they do not celebrate Halloween. We don't celebrate it at our house, either, but I'm not willing to shed blood over a craft...

Visions of confrontation danced through my head! My anxiety was mounting as the days ticked by. How do I tell these two friends that we can't do their craft? What if they get mad at me? What if they shun me? Okay, I don't really care about the shunning part...in fact, I kinda welcome it...but that's a different story. The easy answer is that it goes against school policy and a letter was sent home clearly stating the anti-Halloween guidelines. But still. Awkward. They don't know me...they've been friends for at least a year now. Who do I think I am, telling them they can't do their craft? They did it last year. What's the big deal? See how I built this up in my head?

One of the "bag" moms cut me off at the pass by sending out an email before I could even call her! My pulse went up as I read her suggestion of the bags and didn't I think it was a good idea? And she would be happy to get all the supplies for it. So there it was. The gauntlet was thrown. I had to respond. Time to man up. I replied that the president of the PTO suggested a sweet craft. A photo frame with a leaf shaped opening, and foam leaves to glue all over. She even went into the classroom and took a picture of each kid and had them developed.

Then I waited for the bomb to drop. I was expecting angry hate mail, dirty looks in the hallway....her reply was....."Sound great! Thanks for taking care of it!" Huh? It's going to be that easy? No resentment? No indignation? No writing nasty thing about me in a "slam book"?

Yeah, that was it. Turns out, they're really nice moms that just wanted a nice party for their kids. Me too, moms, me too.

The kids had fun decorating their craft, enjoying (peanut free!) snacks, and playing a game involving 2 pounds of candy corn to win (non-Halloween related) prizes and taking home monstrous bags of treats. Glad that's over!

Now, can we talk about why Joe's classroom has to be kept at 99 degrees at all times?

Welcome to the party, November!

2009-11-01T20:03:00.005-05:00

After reading Courtney's most recent blog post (and no, it had nothing to do with SYTYCD) I was SHOCKED, STUNNED, BESIDE MYSELF....oh alright, I was slightly more informed than I had been before reading it, that November is Na-Blo-Po-Mo month. Weird, right? What? You don't know what these strange letters mean when put together like this? Allow me to translate. It means National Blog Posting Month. Bloggers are challenged to post something new everyday. Everyday???? I have a hard time remembering how many kids I have everyday. So. maybe post more often? I'll try.

Today, the most exciting thing I have to share with the inter-web world is that I read in a magazine that your laundry detergent may be making you fat. That's right, kids. Laundry detergent. Stop eating it, for crying out loud! Aha! Tricked ya! No one eats their laundry detergent! That would be silly. There are ingredients in the perfumes and dyes that could be triggering some hormones to be released in your brain that slow down your metabolism, or cause you to want to eat more.

When I get on The Biggest Loser, I'm so using that as my excuse. "I'm sorry, Jillian! I can't help it! I just have..to...do...my...laundry!"

Meet the top 20!!

2009-10-27T12:03:00.002-04:00

Head over to Courtney's blog-o-rama for a "get to know your dancers" recap.

Carving Out Some Family Time

2009-10-24T20:58:00.014-04:00

This Friday night was a rarity in our humble abode. We were all home and had no plans to go anywhere and nary a babysitter in sight. So, we thought this would be a good evening to do some real live family style pumpkin carving. This would be a first for our house! What???? I know, weird, right?

We are not big on Halloween over here. I do love to decorate for fall, though. So, that includes pumpkins and hay bales, and 475 driveway squash. Apparently, Bella's pre-school teacher only has pumpkin themed books for September through November, so she's had Jack-o-Lanterns on the brain.

It did not go as smoothly as we thought.....of course I took pictures of the event.

So far so good...then...

Oh pumpkin guts. It was too much for the younger crowd. They retreated to the safety of the living room until the carnage was out of sight.

Baby Trey didn't mind...

Cute end results, though...

Bella's is the one on the left. When I asked for her carving request, she yelled from the other room "Give him a sad face!" "Are you sure, Bella?" "Oh, alright! Make him a happy face." Trey's is in the middle...and Joe clearly demonstrated for me exactly what face he wanted on his pumpkin. Trust me, it's an exact replica of his request.

And, I burned the pumpkin seeds. Oh well...All's well that ends well, right?

Top 20!!! And a new creepy bald judge...

2009-10-21T23:02:00.007-04:00

This is it, you guys! The Top 20 that's going to blow all the other seasons out of the water! First things first, though. I have a few housekeeping issues to discuss before getting to the big reveal.

I need to know the time line between Vegas week and Hollywood....a week, a month, what? Hair has grown (or been shaved), judges have forgotten the dancers, ankles have healed. What gives?

Once again, not enough Cat with her sparkly shoulder pads....

And, maybe this is part of the dance community that I don't get have never been invited to such a soiree...but why, oh why are all the dancers either so excited for the dancers that make it through and so utterly outraged for those who don't succeed? That person either took your place or saved you a place! I'd love to see just once, a dancer in the background looking really mad ticking numbers off his fingers! Anywho....

So, the judges for Hollywood are Nigel, Mary, Adam, Debbie, some creepy bald guy, and Tyce.

Here are your Season 6 results!
1. Nate - the baby faced rule breaker. He's a YES! Mia wants to be a part of his growth...not hair growth, per se...
2. nameless guy-NO
3. nameless guy-NO
4. nameless girl- NO
Though, the judges did give them words of encouragement while kicking them in the nuts. So that's nice.
5. David and his yellow submarine (you know what I mean!) NO!!! What???
6. Catherine who made it this far with no camera time at all and a voice that gets higher and higher and higher as she cries - YES!!
7. Channing the tomboy- YES!
8. Arianna- YES!
9. Elena- YES!
Now there's a break to celebrate Noelle and Mollee's budding relationship
10. Billy Bell- Juliard Shmuliard! He's a YES! Debbie wins for the most awkward reveal tease of the night!
11. Jake-NO
12. Brandon-NO
13. Amber- NO! Apparently exquisite talent is not quite enough...
14. Russell- the krumper with secret talent and stretch pants is a YES! According to Mia she's banking on Russell because a lot of things have not gone her way recently, including her last trip to the salon.
15. Kevin - hip hop guy is a YES!
Legacy is seen looking for the door at this point...
Ooooh, now for a Tapping Trio....
16. Bianca - YES! She has got to work on her cry face! I swear she was going to throw up every time she cried!
17. Phillip- YES!
18. Peter - YES!
Legacy is seen fashioning a noose out of Mia's hair...
19. nameless guy - NO
20. nameless girl - NO
21. nameless girl - NO
22. nameless girl - NO
23. nameless girl - NO
24. Victor, who we feel is this years Kupono is a YES!
25. Jacob - YES!
Billy Bell is seen wearing Legacy's clothes...
26. Mollee - YES! Will her newest and bestest friend ever make it through???
27. Pauline - YES! Let's not let a little thing like not finishing Vegas week stop the judges from putting her through....can we see the ankle injury clip again?
28. Noelle - YES! Did anyone else notice that when Mollee was hanging from her, no one else came over to congratulate them?
29. nameless guy - NO
30. nameless guy - NO
31. nameless girl - NO
32. nameless girl - NO
33. Legacy - YES!!!! Tyce even said "Gotcha!!! And what I meant by that is, Will you date me?"
34. Paula - YES!
Uh oh....we're down to the last 2 guys and girls....
35. Ryan - The better of the two, married guy - YES!
36. Gene - the hottie batottie??? with bedazzled jeans - NO
37. Karen - YES!
38. Ashley - The lesser of the two, married gal...NO. Wait! What? She's in??? Oh, that's right, Paula had to turn down the offer...go ahead a wipe your tears with your movie contract, Paula. We've got a married couple on the show!

That's it folks! It may not have been a minute by minute recap, but that's all I got! Courtney's up for next week.

Sorry if I seemed a little harsh on Mia, but since she's not going to be on the show anymore...she's dead to me. Not really!!! I love her! Come back, Mia, come back!!! Don't go! I'm going to miss her weird swearing and squinting. Oh well, I still have the Shankman.

He thinks he can dance....

2009-10-15T11:53:00.001-04:00

For quite an entertaining review of this weeks So You Think You Can Dance....head over to Brian's bloggeroo. Don't forget to leave comments, too!

Where have we been???

2009-10-01T12:18:00.004-04:00

Seriously? Nowhere and everywhere all at the same time. September flew by with barely a "how do you do?" And all I have to show for it this "I survived September" t-shirt...

Joe is a month into first grade...and academically, he's doing awesome! There are other issues at hand here, though. Namely....the RECESS AIDES!!!! I became aware of the problem when one of the dreaded aides pulled me aside to tell me that Joe was going to the bathroom multiple times during lunch and recess and did I think he had some type of infection? Uhhhh.....no. Joe fessed up that all the ladies YELL. REAL. LOUD, some even have a coaching whistle that they blow in the hallways! And so, his nervous reaction is to run and pee. Then the nurse called to talk about it, then I called the counselor to talk about it....yada, yada, yada. The poor kid is terrified that these whistle blowers are going to turn on him and he'll receive some awful punishment. So, we're dealing with that.....

Bella is doing great in pre-school! The teacher called her "the leader of the pack"...in a good way. That's a relief.

Trey is still getting physical therapy once a week and isthisclose to walking on his own!

I do have some posts in mind....
*Whoopi Goldberg saying that Roman Polanski didn't "rape rape" that 13 year old girl...
*The moms in Joe's homeroom who are hell bent on having a huge Halloween party for the class room even though it's not allowed and I have to be the one to tell them...

I know there's more, but I've become distracted listening to Bella watch Dora event though she knows she's not allowed....Hey! I could write a post about that!

All in due time! If you're bored, which if you're reading this I'm sure you are...head over to Renee's blog for a little Sisterhood!

The Dance Aliens Have Moved...

2009-09-17T12:01:00.002-04:00

Courtney has the SYTYCD recap! Check it out! You know you watch the show...now let's talk about it!

Season Six Is Here! Hello??!!!

2009-09-09T23:02:00.004-04:00

Thanks for the clarification, Tyce Deorio. Welcome back to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Dance! As we did with season 5 (congratulations, Jeanine!), every week one of the Sisters, plus a new brother, yeah Brain!!, will blog a recap of that weeks show. Most of the recap will pay homage to Cat Deeley and her awesome-ness. Please leave lots of comments and opinions! It's not a party until someone is offended, so speak your mind fellow SYTYCD watchers!

For any newcomers, here's how the show works. For the first few weeks, a panel of judges made up of regulars, Nigel and Mary, and one or two guest judges of esteemed dance caliber will watch seemingly endless auditions and pass worthy dancers through to Las Vegas. In Vegas the hopeful dancers will be dwindled down to the top 20. At that point, the performance show will be on Wednesday and Thursday (Cat Deeley's least favorite day) will be elimination for one girl and one guy...until one dancer is left standing.

Tonight, the premier featured dancers from L.A., the dance capitol of the world! Really? The world? Okay....The judges are Nigel, Mary and Adam Shankman, who we're pretty sure smokes a lotta wacky tobaccy...but without solid evidence, we'll let that slide.

The first to audition was Cole. Cole did not use music, but instead chose an extremely sensitive microphone to pick up the sound of his rustling clothes and weird utterances as his music. Not a good start....

However, a bunch of wildly talented contemporary dancers were passed through to Vegas. Next, they featured 2 tappers...Ryan (Evan from season 5's brother) and Bianca (she was cut from season 4 & 5 in the Vegas rounds). Did Bianca even audition? All I saw was an awesome "Trading" session between her and Ryan. Trading is the tapping equivalent of a duel at high noon. Way cool!

The guy who wants to be a movie producer was a total train wreck and I think too much time and editing equipment was used on him. I think this sentence was too much time spent on him. Moving on...

Day two brought a lot of talent as well....Featured was contemporary dancer Amber and Salsa dancer Christina. And ANOTHER tapper, Phillip! He was great...I so hope he can do other genres well.

I appreciate that they did not exploit horrible dancers too much...just bits and pieces to keep you interested and a funny "fall sequence" at the beginning of the show. Aside from a few awkward transitions, the show was fab.u.lous. Not enough Cat Deeley, though.

Tune in tomorrow for a recap of the Arizona auditions. I can't wait! The same sex ballroom dancers are baaaack!

****Now I feel silly! I totally thought that the show was on again tonight (Thursday)...but, unless I'm confusing SYTYCD with Bones, we'll have to wait for next week to see the Arizona auditions. Courtney will be handling that recap. See ya next week!****

Labor Day(s)...the final chapter...or is it???

2009-09-09T12:19:00.003-04:00

This is the last tale of gore and horror and beautiful child birth, I promise! For now at least....

After working incredibly hard to shed the massive amount of baby weight I gained with Bella, we decided to do it all again! My abdomen hates me. Anyhow, Trey's story should be the shortest, I think....

I'm going to go out on a limb here and give in to an old wives tale. I totally think that women are mostly belly with boys and big all over with girls. Of course, I concede exception to this rule. But, for me it's absolutely true. Really the only part of me that got huge with Trey was the belly. I do have an impressive picture of the belly that maybe someday I'll share. It's not a bare belly picture, so don't panic. I wouldn't do that to you.

I LOVE being pregnant. Sure it has it's aches and pains, but I still love it. I can say that, though, because I've never had a difficult one. (Praise God!) This was finally the pregnancy that I beat the glucose test! Both times before I failed the initial test and had to go back for the awful 5 hour, 4 million vials of blood drawn test. Not this time! You won't get me, Gestational Diabetes! Ha!

Again, great pregnancy! Trey was due May 5th. This time around, though, my doctors were encouraging me to schedule an induction. Their theory was that since Bella came early, this one surely would and who knows? Maybe labor would not last 16 hours, and what would I do if I were stuck with the kids, yada, yada, yada. I guess they kinda hate it when you give birth NOT in a hospital. I declined the offer of Petocin in favor of letting nature take its course. Jay's never too far away, we're surrounded by family and friends...and I didn't want to get my hopes up about a short labor. At my 36 week visit, I asked the doctor about the baby coming early and she said she was absolutely sure that labor would start early...in fact, go home right now, pack your bag, get your babysitter on speed dial and wait for it, 'cause it's coming. Whoa!!! So, I did all that in addition to telling everyone that the baby would be coming any day. I waited, and waited, and waited...oh, is that a contraction? No. Keep waiting. A couple of times, I did have regular contractions, but then I would get serious about tracking them so they went away. Hmph....April ended with no baby. Surely since Bella was a week early, something would happen, right? Nope. I walked a trench through our neighborhood trying to coax this little one out. Nothing. The doctors were kind enough to look sheepish at my 40 week appointment and baffled at why this one wouldn't come out...I was already 5cm dilated for crying out loud (which I may have). May 5th came and went and my midwife scheduled an induction for Mother's Day, May 11th at 11:00 that night.

This time, my midwife was betting her mortgage that once the induction started, it wouldn't be more than 2 hours. Okay, likely story. Off to the hospital we went for the induction. Once again, with Jay's momma in toe. Everything did happen rather quickly as far as hooking up IV's, monitors, drips, etc. Everything except for the labor part. We waited and waited...and I swear it was the hottest room in America. I was so hot and uncomfortable, then I looked over and Jay and his mom were shivering and using golf jackets from Jay's trunk to stay warm. At one point I told them to go ahead and turn up the heat in the room. Five minutes later, I panicked about how hot I was and made them turn it down again. Around 8:00 in the morning, it was time to push...however, the epidural worked so well that I couldn't feel anything! So, we had to wait for the anesthesiologist to come in and turn it off! Oh..and Jay's mom got trapped in the corner and didn't want to make a scene, so she got to witness her 12th grandchild actually enter the world!

This time around, I only had to push for about an hour, but it was really difficult since Trey was holding onto my collar bones. But, here's the best part (aside from the child that was brought into the world)...NO VOMIT! I was sooo excited! After 12 hours of labor, Trey Douglas Mitlo was born on May 12th, 2008.

When it was all said and done, my midwife said "Hey, 12 hours! Not too bad. Shorter than the other ones, right? Next time will be even shorter!" I apologized later for kicking her.

Labor Day(s)...part duex

2009-09-08T17:00:00.003-04:00

Bella's turn! Hopefully, my children will forgive me for all the things I write about them on here! Well, let's not worry about little details like that right now....onto Bella's birth story.

My pregnancy with Bella was about the same as with Joe, so not too bad. Except for the MASSIVE weight gain, and by massive I mean people started to ask me at Thanksgiving if I was excited to have a Christmas baby....Bella was due March 24th. I looked as though I was on some type of steroid treatment or had been injected with fluid. My face was full, arms, bee-hind...everywhere was B to the I to the G! Luckily, though, the McDonald's closest to us was newly open 24 hours so that I could comfort myself with cheeseburgers at midnight! I will admit it was a tad bit more difficult to haul all that belly around in addition to a not-quite-2-year-old. Jay definitely stepped up and helped a ton with Joe. He gave him his baths since I couldn't heft my bulk over the edge of the tub to reach Joe...and Jay was quick to occupy Joe so I could rest, or catch my breath....

On March 17th, Joe and I were home, just the two of us, hunkering down to watch some Dr. Phil. As I sat down on the couch, I thought I sat on a water balloon! Whoa!!!! I jumped back up...jumped may be aggressive, slowly stood up and started looking around the living room as if another person may materialize at that instant to confirm that indeed, my water just broke. Yeesh! Since it was just Joe and myself, I remained calm, confirmed that I did not just pee on myself and called Jay. Then I called the doctor's office and calmly told the nurse that even though I was a week away from my due date, I was 99% sure that my water broke. Her reaction was MUCH more panicky than I expected. She started jabbering "Okay, dear, just sit down. Oh my. I'll get the doctor right now. Oh, are you okay? Head right over to the hospital, dear." Since I was having ZERO contractions I was kinda blase about the whole thing. I said "Do I have to go right now?" "Oh yes, dear, right away!" "Uh, okay." So, I called our trusty babysitter and waited for Jay to get home. In the mean time, a friend had called and when I answered she went immediately into a story, blah, blah, blah. When she finished her tirade, she asked how I was doing. So, I told her "Well, my water just broke." She flipped out! It was awesome! We picked up Jay's mom on the way to the hospital despite my protests claiming that it could be a while since I was still having NO contractions. At the hospital, we had to wait in triage since all the beds in Labor and Delivery were being used by woman actually experiencing labor. Six hours! later we got to a room upstairs and they started a Petocin drip and fully expected things to move along quickly at this point. It's so wrong to assume. Forty seven magazines, endless Lifetime movies, and many visitors later. It was time to push. *I should note that I do not sleep well in any situation that does not involve MY bed. Especially when blood pressure cuffs and IV's are involved.* So, it had been quite a while since I had slept or ate....but fear not! My lack of food did not prevent me from throwing up....again! My humiliation knows no bounds! Seriously, what is that? After pushing for about an hour and a half, I gave birth to a 75 lb baby....alright, you caught me. After 16 hours of labor, Isabella Vance Mitlo was born on March 18th, 2005 weighing in at a disappointing 8lbs 3oz.

Labor Day(s)

2009-09-07T20:36:00.005-04:00

In honor of Labor Day, and having been inspired by Happy, I thought it would be fun (at the very least funny) to recap the most significant labor days to me...the birth stories of our babies. I'll try my best to keep it short (is that possible?) and sweet (except for the parts about vomit and hemorrhoids)!

First, there was Joe. Joe was due March 12, 2003. I was working as an Educational Interpreter and despite the fact that I swelled up like a balloon to the point that my shoes didn't fit and I had to get my wedding rings cut off my hand, my last day of work was March 11th. As far as pregnancies go, this one was not too bad. A little sciatica here, a little eczema there...those were my only complaints. We dutifully went to Lamaze classes and paid rapt attention, until one of the other preggos started stroking my hair and crying about how beautiful the video of natural birth was. I lost focus after that. Anywho, on the D day, many, many people called all day long to check to see if the bambino was on his or her way. Really? Did you think that I wouldn't call to let you know that I was in labor? I felt nothing...not a twitch or squeeze anywhere. I started to worry that I wouldn't recognize contractions when they started. I was wrong to worry. Around 11:00 that night, I was trying to go to bed while Jay was out doing ministry when the contractions started. I thought maybe I just had to go to the potty...but no, no. This was the real thing. Jay came home shortly after that and things moved pretty quickly (notice, I said things, not labor). We called the doctor, took showers, changed our minds about the baby's name, called Jay's mom (by now it was about 4:00 a.m., sorry Mom!) and zipped over to the hospital. A surly nurse wanted me to give her a number from 1 to 10 to represent how much pain I was in. Having never been in labor before, I said "I don't know, 6?" to which she said "I'm writing down 2." to which I replied "Why did you ask me then?" Thankfully her shift was over at 6 and a new nurse was with us for the rest of the time. Jay was engrossed in the movie Rudy while the contractions became more intense....he actually missed the one that lasted for 6 minutes because I couldn't talk to get his attention and Rudy was about to take the field. A nurse quickly came in after that to offer me the epidural. That whole process was weird and felt weird and the anesthesiologist was weird. Then the doctor came in to break my water and as I rolled over, my water broke all on its own. I swear the doctor never uttered a word, he just left looking annoyed still gripping his knitting needle. Nothing happened for a while...and by awhile, I mean hours. Finally, around 2:00 in the afternoon it was time to push. This is where things get a little hazy for me. I couldn't get the hang of pushing and was pretty sure the epidural was no longer working. As it turns out, the beeping that I thought was some demented background music was the epidural machine thingy indicating that it was out of whatever it uses as a numbing agent and of course there was no time to fix that little problem. When the nurse asked me to put on an oxygen mask, I thought that was standard procedure...I kept pushing until I had to stop to throw up. That was pretty awesome and not the least bit humiliating at all. I had experienced literally every bodily function in a very short amount of time. And if one could harvest hemorrhoids, I had a farm's worth. I slipped to some quiet place in my mind and heard nothing for the rest of the time. I would push, breath through the oxygen mask, push, breath....two hours later, Joseph Clarence Mitlo, Jr. was born. As I came out of my daze, I realized that the room was filled with people. The last I knew, it was me, Jay, the Doctor, the nurse and a stubborn baby....now there was about 8 or 9 extra bodies in the room that I never heard enter or speak and did not know why they were there. I was then told that Junior's heart beat kept dropping and they knew the cord was wrapped around his neck. The neo-natal team quickly swept him a way to check him over. Thankfully, he was perfectly fine. So, all in all it was just an added bonus to have an audience for the beautifully fluid filled show called child birth. Hearing his little cry made all the stitches (and there were a lot) and 16 hours of labor totally worth it......
I've decided to wait until tomorrow and the next day to continue the other stories...apparently, I cannot keep it short or sweet.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-02T13:36:00.008-04:00

Urban Gardens

2009-08-24T16:25:00.008-04:00

We have lived in our sweet, humble abode for 10 years now. Over the years we have gone from room to room, redecorating, painting, tiling, etc. No room, nook or cranny has been left untouched. In some cases, a room may have been touched more than once.

Our projects have also included the landscaping. The previous owners had done a fine job creating perennial gardens of bushes and shrubs (is there a difference?) and sharp spiky things that required very little maintenance on our part. What a relief, right? Well, I always thought that these garden areas made it look as though retired elderly people lived in our home, which is in stark contrast to the image I'm trying to convey by leaving hool-a-hoops, balls, bikes and chalk strewn about haphazardly. I mean, really, how many old people ride around on pink tricycles and leave beach towels hanging from the Dogwood in the front yard? Anywho, the point is that over the years we (and by we, I mean not me but Jay and his dad and his brother) have transformed the gardens into much prettier, younger looking gardens. I even know some of the plants names and don't always pull out the good plants thinking that they're weeds.

See? Not too shabby. My favorites are the butterfly bushes along the driveway. The picture doesn't really do them justice. But they smell awesome!!! I love it! And man! They make a lot of butterflies.

We have not tried our hand at a vegetable garden for various reasons. A) I don't want to. B) Jay doesn't want to. So, we were surprised recently when my Sister-in-law commented on our squash vine thingy. Huh? We didn't even know it was there. And the rate it's been growing is phenomenal. The kids just got to see the actual squash....check it out.

Pretty cool, huh? And it has it's own private space where it won't need to worry about being choked out by other pesky plants or weeds.....See?

Yeah, that's right. It's growing out of a crack on our driveway. Nice. We're going to see how far we can take this thing....

This, my friends, is an urban garden.

Spinning My Wheels

2009-08-19T20:50:00.005-04:00

Our church (and by "our", I mean the church that we go to...not that we own the church or anything) has been doing a sermon series titled "Things My Mother Told Me". Each week they've been taking a typical mom like thing to say and applying it to our Christian life. One week was "Brush Your Teeth". The pastor then tied the importance of having a clean mouth with the importance of having a clean heart...see? Ties together nicely...and they handed out toothbrushes at the door. Even better!

Recently, the sermon was titled "Clean Your Ears!" My dear friend and Pastor of Caring Ministries gave this sermon and I think she'd be pretty pleased to know that I have been going around and around in my head over this one! The application was that as Christians we need to be very careful about what we hear/watch/read/etc. lest it draw our minds and hearts away from God and the things He wants us to focus on.

My first concern with the sermon was outward focused in that I felt like if someone was visiting the church for the first time and maybe was not a Christ follower, they could have walked away thinking that the message was "If you're a Christian, do not read, watch TV, go to the movies or participate in anything culturally relevant." But then I figured that I was just being nit-picky and got over it.

I started to think about how this applied to me personally, and this is where the wheels started to fall off this culturally saturated truck. I read A LOT. I watch TV A LOT. I do not listen to the radio a lot at all, only in the van and then it's an endless rotation (thanks, Toyota, for the 6 CD changer) of Silly Songs, Philadelphia Chickens, Laurie Berkner, the CD the kids got from VBS, and a Worship NOW! CD. The last movie I saw in the theater was High School Musical 3 with my niece and I do feel that the ridiculousness of the film put my salvation in question.

That being said...Should I not be reading my mystery/whodunit type books? Hmmmm...After reading them, I have never attempted to commit or solve a crime. The sometimes gory content has never seeped into my dreams. But yet, I do draw the line at what I will read. No science fiction here, please. Wizards and vampires can camp out on someone else's nightstand. Why? Why do I accept murder and thievery as passable literature but fantasy and magic are somehow ungodly?

Should I not be watching the (too long, I know) list of shows that I enjoy? I'm so torn! Again, I have my staunchly ambiguous standards down to a T. Shows like Dancing With The Stars make me angry because I think it's touted as "family friendly", but is more like she-who-wears-the-least-gets-the-most-votes or creepiest-camera-love-wins. But, So You Think You Can Dance is awesome in my eyes because they're professionals and that's what professional dancers wear (or barely wear).

If I closed myself off to everything "of this world", would I be able to effectively reach people in the name of the Lord? Do I need to be culturally relevant to earn the right to be heard? Or is being culturally relevant an excuse to be able to speak intelligently about last nights CSI or Office? If I know who got voted off Survivor, will that give me more credibility?

Jay was seriously getting frustrated with me as we discussed this because I kept going around and around and around. To everything he said, I had an equal and opposite reaction. I'm looking for black and white answers where there are none to be found. And that frustrates me. I want someone older and wiser and closer to the Lord to give me a run down on every thing I read, watch or hear and tell me if it's okay in the eyes of Lord or not. That way, I could have a tangible check list and maybe a cool clip board that I could show off to people and look super holy in the eyes of man...wait a second, that's not right! Jay's more level headed, practical advice is to ask the Lord directly...cut out all wiser middle men and clip boards. If I'm not sure if something may be causing me to sin or worse yet, causing someone else to stumble, ask God.

It sounds so simple! So why am I struggling with it? Is it because I'm afraid of the answer? The pastor challenged us to apply this test: If Jesus were sitting with you, would you be watching/reading, etc. the same thing as you are now? Jay had a two fold answer 1) If Jesus were with me, I wouldn't be watching or reading anything. I'd be all about the Savior. And 2) Jesus wants to spend time with me. If that means camping out on the couch for an evening, that's fine with Him. He'd meet me wherever I was. He'd probably enjoy our Tuesday night chicken wings. Now, in all honesty...I'd probably make less fun of the contestants on America's Got Talent and Wipeout!

It's a slippery slope between being "in this world" and being "of this world" and I'm looking for something to hold onto.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." -Philippians 4:8

Get Rid Of That Junk In Your Trunk!

2009-08-05T21:18:00.010-04:00

No, this is not a post about dieting or exercising. Rather this is my own contribution to the garage/yard/church bizarre sale world and all those who dare to enter it's sometimes musty smelling atmosphere.

Every year, our neighborhood hosts a HUGE multi-family yard sale. For a measly 5 bucks, a group of mysterious neighborhood women folk will put up 1.2 million posters throughout the area, place ads in the local papers and deliver balloons and maps to each participants house in the cover of darkness. No one has ever seen this bevy of bargainers, but I'm convinced that they exist....simply because of the balloons appearing the morning of the sale.

This extravaganza is not for the weak of heart! People start trolling the streets around 7:00 a.m. clearly ignoring the 9:00 start time. Plus, some of these early birds have the audacity to be irritated if you're not ready to receive them and their fresh from the bank dollar bills. Parking becomes impossible and quite laughable when people literally park in the middle of the street to jump out and check someone's table o'crap.

This will be our third time participating. I invited Christina from the Crafty P to join in our drawn out misery but strangely she declined my prime driveway spot. Actually, she is going to sell her wares at a different venue and asked if I had any helpful hints.

I don't know if they're helpful, but here goes!

Be prepared! Have extra stickers, markers, scissors, plastic bags, newspaper (Who has time to read? To wrap delicate things in, Silly), water and snacks (be sure to hide the water and snacks or else you'll be holding a lousy quarter and have cotton mouth all day)...oh, and don't forget a money box or super cool fanny pack, and change. God forbid you don't have change for a dollar.

What's your goal? Is it to make money or get rid of stuff? You need to know which it is to price accordingly. And remember, this is probably the wrong place to try to sell your "priceless" antiques and valuables. You'll only end up insulted and tired after dragging your stuff back home because someone was outraged that you rejected their $10 offer on a $100 piece of furniture. People want to be able to use the money in their pockets and not blow it all at one yard.

Know ahead of time if you'll be willing to negotiate. These bargain hunters can smell your fear and uncertainty and will attack viciously. I like the plan that goes like this...if you have something that you'd be willing to part with for $5, mark it for $10. Either someone will pay the asking price which is pure bonus for you or they'll make you a counter offer to which you should then arch your back and suck your teeth as if you just got punched to make it seem like they're really robbing you blind. They think they got a great deal, but victory is yours. Stand your ground, too! Inevitably, someone will approach you with an armload of stuff worth $10 and offer you something ridiculous, like .50 and a stick of gum. Get outta here! Be firm and say something like, "$9 is as low as I can go for all that stuff, Pal...and don't think I didn't see you put that My Little Pony in your pocket, either!"

You could put a price sticker on each individual item...but I think I'm going to do it differently this year. I'm going to section off my tables and mark each section with a price. Then, I'll put a colored sticker on each item...red=$1, yellow=$2, etc. I, also, like to bundle items...4 books for $1, $5 for a bag of baby clothes, etc.

Make sure all your items are clean and in working condition. I have learned from personal experience that you should, if at all possible, try to have an extension cord at the ready to prove to these ruthless shoppers that the clock on your $2 coffee maker works. Also, make a little sign for an item if (non-essential) parts are missing. If essential parts are missing, may I introduce you to your garbage can?

Some sellers, in addition to selling their wedding gifts that they clearly did not register for, clothes from the "fat years" , and things from the grandparents basement that they thought were cool at the time, may want to sell specialty items like baked goods, hand painted things, baby blankets???? For these items, I would make a clear sign stating the asking price and put something on the sign like "final price" to warn folks not to try to negotiate. Since everyone likes a deal, though, you could add something like 1 for $10 or 2 for $18.

Be prepared for people who may not think as logically as yourself...here's an example. I was selling a dining room table and 6 chairs for $100. A very nice woman started wheeling and dealing with my father-in-law, which was her first mistake. She said that she didn't want the table, just the chairs. My FIL told her that the chairs were $20 a piece....and she agreed to it! Feeling badly, I tried to explain to her that she was being swindled, but she would hear nothing of it! $20/chair was what she was willing to pay! So, she left with my chairs and I kept her $120. The FIL was very proud....

Finally, if you were willing to sell it, be willing to either pitch it or donate it if it's still around at the end of the day. Don't take anything back into your house at the end of the day. If people didn't want your crap this year,they're not going to want it next year.

Now, go forth and sell junk.

This Is Why I Struggle With Laundry...

2009-08-05T12:23:00.001-04:00

...and this is just breakfast.

Defying The Odds....The Results!

2009-07-31T00:22:00.003-04:00

Evan stays in???? Oh my! I did not see that coming. He's always been one of my fav's, but I totally thought he would be out tonight. After the opening routine, he was the only clown outside the box and he waved good bye...totally thought that was foreshadowing. So much for my interpretation skills.

Loved, loved, loved tonight's stroll down memory lane! The Door, Bleeding Love, I don't know the name of Will and Jessica's routine, and the Samba by Chelsea and Joshua. The Jabba Walkies (???) were awesome, too.

I had to fast forward through Sean Paul's never ending song. Doesn't he sometimes go by P Diddy??? I wonder if the back up dancers for those performances get nervous being around the SYTYCD dancers? Things that make you go hmmmmm.

I also FF'd through the solos since they were the same as last night and I don't particularly care for the solo performances anyway. Did I miss anything?

No surprise that Melissa was out, but man! What do you think is going through Evan's mind right now? Too bad for Ade, but I'm sure he'll go on to be a successful.....whatever it is that dancers become once they're voted off a reality show.

So there it is folks. Your top four dancers. Jeanine, Kayla, Evan and Brandon. Courtney is up for next weeks recap! Good night!