Nothing Says I Love you Like....

A home made tumbling composter.

I'm not a flowers girl, flowers die.

I'm not a jewelry girl, I wear a simple gold band, and when I'm dressed up I put my diamond on, and maybe my DS awareness bracelet.

I am a chocolate girl, but that can fall into the "too much of a good thing" category.

I am an environmental geek. I get all flushed in the face when I see my Chief tilling my garden for me. I get all sweaty and faint when he brings home manure for me, and when he develops plans to make me a tumbling composter , oh, dear heavens, I could strip down naked and do a pole dance for him.

Just wait till he pulls weeds with me on a hot July day.....

Stepping Back and Rethinking

The other night the Chief and I were talking about my internet "addictions". The conversation sparked me to examine my motivations for putting so much time and energy into online relationships.

What I've realize is that while my online friendships are real and wonderful, I've allowed them to become a substitute for pushing my rather self conscious self to build closer relationships IRL.

I've never been good at friendships with women. I just don't get all the subtleties. Once upon a time I worked in a male dominated profession, and kept up good and real friendships with men. Now that I'm not working, and the predominant contact of SAHM is another woman, I'm a bit at a loss.

I had developed some friendships with my neighbors, but as my faith walk has grown, the friends that I used to see a movie and hit the bar with on mom's night out are just not close anymore.

But I have some budding friendships that I have not kept up, and it's time to work on that.

I may be a little bit less frequent 'round here, but that's a good thing.

It's Been a Week

The vicious icky bugs hit our house, like 3 different kinds, all in a week. First is the week long stomach ache bug, then the pukey/poopy bug, then the achy chest cold sore throat bug. Bert was the only poor soul who got all 3. Since he is still in diapers, he was quarantined to his room during the pukey/poopies, and with hand sanitizer at the bedroom door, we managed to keep that one down to one person. Everyone shared the tummy ache bug, but the Rockstar gets the award for overplaying that one during a routine physical and getting a trip to the local hospital for an ultrasound to rule out appendicitis (she's fine, a drama queen, but fine). Last but not least is the chest cold with the sore throat and achies, which Bert and I have taken the brunt of, but don't touch that dial, the chest cold is still alive and kickin' and could easily jump to anyone else in the house in a heartbeat!

Schmoozer had his BAER, and the results were 10 decibels worse than his BAER from 7 months of age. This is perplexing as supposedly conductive hearing loss should improve with age. Alas, this is where we are. On to get hearing aids.

Bert's appointment was cancelled and rescheduled for next week, but somehow I have stopped puzzling over that one, probably because I spent 3 days sleeping off a virus.

Beaner's 9th birthday came on the heels of the pukey/poopies, and while mom was in full blown chest cold with major aches and sore throat. We managed to pull off quite a day for her, though it nearly killed me. We had to cancel her slumber party to reschedule for a later date....to be determined. Grammy stepped in to save the day, and swooped in to rescue Beaner as the healthiest person in a house full of vicious icky bugs, and brought her up to Grammy's for a weekend of fun. Thank God for good Grammy's

My dear husband must get mention here for taking his 2 days off, during great steel head fishing time, and babying me and running the house. He selflessly took care of business, great and small, and kept things running smoothly while I slept on the couch. He's priceless!!!

~Edited to add: I did find out that if a child has a sinus infection, and that same child barfs stomach acid out his nose, that the stomach acid will actually kill off the nasties causing the sinus infection, thereby curing the sinus infection, not that I plan to use that method again any time soon, but it isn't worse than 20 days of penicillin~

Puzzling

My boys each have big appointments this week. Schmoozer gets his ABR, and Bert gets the results of the sleep study of that seems like it was eons ago.

On the eve of such appointments, I find myself puzzling over and over in my mind. Trying to arrange all the pieces I have in such a way that with my limited knowledge I can manage to predict the results. I have just enough pieces though, that there's a part of my brain that won't quit trying to make a valid picture from them.

It's a running monologue and it goes like this:

Ok, so during the sleep study Bert would stop breathing for what, a count of 10...I'm pretty sure that qualifies as full blown apnea...The doctor had referred to the fact that he's not really a candidate for CPAP due to his sensory issues and mentioned ENT referral for surgery depending on the results...So will his sinuses need roto-routed or does he need a hyoid bone suspension for floppy airway, or both? would he have to spend the night if he has surgery? what am I thinkin', I don't even know what his results are, they may be fully normal and I'm just going over this all for nothing, and even if I'm right or totally off the mark, it doesn't make a difference, the study shows what it shows.

or:

Last time Schmoozer had the ABR it only showed mild conductive hearing loss, is it worse this time, his behavioral audiogram is worse now than it was then, is there sensorineuro damage in the meantime, or is it still primarily conductive hearing loss? The nurse who called said he will need IV sedation, have his veins improved in the 3 month reprieve from constant poking, or is he still a hard stick? Will it be a nightmare of IV starts again leaving me feeling like a cold wet washcloth, or maybe, just maybe will the get it on the first or second...for that matter even the third or fourth try? The test adds tones that weren't in the last ABR, will they really get a good accurate picture of his hearing from this? Will the tech give me the results while we're there like last time, or will I have to wait?

It's not worry, per se. I'm sleeping fine, I don't feel anxious or upset about it. It's just running in the background, like the silly muzak in the elevator. It is just there, going on in the background, and I'm not even sure if it shuts off, and if it does shut off I don't have the switch anyway, so I just let it fade to the background most of the time, and when I'm not otherwise occupied, I play it out to the end in my head. Each time I kind of expect to come up with real answer, so solve the puzzle. Each time I end up a few pieces short, and each time I realize I cannot solve it on my own anyway. It happens every time some new test or result or referral comes along, it's just part of the elevator ride.

Even though it's in my head, I still find it odd.

Fisical Fitness

My incredibly fit husband has decided to run the 5/3 River Bank Run. I have no intentions of running 25 k ever unless there is a rather enormous bear with excellent endurance behind me, but yet I'm not one to be easily outdone.

Alas, I am back on the fitness bandwagon after a couple years of laziness. Going back to my uber-healthy cooking style of days gone by, and doing pilates and indoor exercise on the bike Millie loaned my until the spring sunshine is warm enough to bring little Schmoozer out on the real deal or swing through the neighborhood for a walk/jog.

Another new tag on the blog for all my fisically fit friends.

Meme Time!

The rules are to link the person who sent this and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours.
~Post the rules on your blog
~Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself
~Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link their blog
~Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I can touch my nose with my tongue.

2. I love the show Ninja Warrior.

3. I secretly wish I was Alton Brown.

4. I have absolute zero grace or agility. I am clumsy and run into things a lot. This gave me many panic attacks while planning my wedding. I hate looking like a dork on accident, but love to do it on purpose, and make people laugh!

5. Sometimes I feel like God let me get older without becoming an adult. I will all of a sudden look around and wonder how on earth I got so much responsibility and get scared.

6. I am still an emergency junkie. It's been 5 years since I've worked EMS, but I still get this glint in my eye and get my juices flowing when I tell the old stories. That was the heyday, man! I did some really cool stuff, saw even cooler stuff, managed to help a few people out in the process, and got a life's worth of interesting stories. Every once in awhile I actually drool while watching Trauma: Life in the E.R.

7. I just realized how much of my life is invested in reality TV and got a little bit scared.

I tag Steph, from Thoughts and Things.

I tag Beth, from Journey as a Birthmother.

Angela, over at Confabulations by Me.

Chrissy at Getting it off my Mind.

Sarah at Adopting Again.

Jamie from Bringing Beauty from my Pain.

Mamasita at Colors of Grace.

__________________________________________________

I also have an award to give out. YAY me!!



The VERY FIRST person who comes to mind is Andrea! She is over at Free and Loved by a Mighty God. Andrea has a 7 year old daughter and is fostering a family of little boys, and I just love that girl's heart.

As always Tammy over at Praying for Parker gets a nod. Parker is just the cutest little dude, and his fragile health makes him all the more appealing wrapped up in his miraculous package. I just adore Tammy and Parker.

Last but not least is Kristy over at Thoughts and Ruminations. Even though she has country music lyrics posted their today, she's an amazing woman, mom, and has an amazing heart. Kristy ROCKS!!

There, I got my award and meme done. Whew, that's a lot of linkin' up to do!

Patience

I have always wanted to be a more patient person. Patience is not in my nature to any great extent. In my quest to gain more patience, I have learned that the road to patience requires patience, if you KWIM. In other words, you don't learn patience in a hurry.

Is it wrong to pray, Lord, I need more patience NOW!

Wiggle Tooth

Wiggle tooth has been all the topic of conversation in our house of late. Seems I'm not the only one around here who is blown away by our little Mister loosing a tooth. Did I say loosing? I meant LOST! There is no more "loosing" about it. Here is our photographic catalog of the experience:


Bert graciously says "CHEESE!"


There is a tooth, a teeny tiny tooth, somewhere in the Ziploc
And, Yes, there are about a billion dishes on my counter, there always are.



Mommy is a good sport and let's Bert take one for being such a good boy!

My Frontal Lobe

***Disclaimer*** I am not denigrating anyone, I'm 2/3 serious with this.

Have you ever heard of Pick's Disease, or frontal lobe degeneration. I'm off my BC patch for my week every 3 months to menstruate. When I'm not on birth control I have nearly all the symptoms of this disease. Seriously, my frontal lobe is in jeopardy.

Going Out

We have plans for New Years. Do you realize the enormity of this occasion? WE have PLANS for NEW YEARS! Lemme say it again, WE HAVE PLANS FOR NEW YEARS!!!!!

It has been since before we had kids that we made plans for New Years. I'm pretty excited. Just bowling, but shoot, I have plans for New Years.