Wordless Wednesday

Don't Worry!

Things have been a little stressful lately, at least as far as my health is concerned. I have had more than enough of doctors lately. I want everyone to stop worrying. I know I have posted some things about being in pain etc., but it really isn't that bad. I appear to have developed some sort of infection on the left side of my abdomen, around the area of my bowel (I know TMI!). The Doc. has put me on an antibiotic, so hopefully things will clear up soon. In the grand scheme of things this isn't all that bad, and I want everyone to stop worrying...OK! I am in good hands, S has been working very hard taking care of me and I am doing much better. I am one of those people that doesn't hesitate to go to the doctor if there is something wrong, and I have good doctors to take care of me and give good advice. SO STOP WORRYING OK! And thank you all for your love and concern!

Check out this give away

Hey there is a huge give away on Mormon Mommy Blogs go check it out!

Sunday Thoughts #1

Your happiness now and forever is conditioned on your degree of conversion and the transformation that it brings to your life.

-Unknown

Fridays Random Thoughts and Tunes

This is my 187th post, I am going to do another give away for my 200th, if there is anyone out there who wants to donate.... well... anything, for my 200th please let me know!

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THIS IS THE DAY!

I am officially going to change the way I look at food!

I am going to change the way I treat my body!

I am going to change the way I exercise!

I am not going on a diet, I am going to change my lifestyle!

I am making the choice to be healthy!

TODAY!

Anyone with me?

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We had yet another meeting with The Bugs teachers today. Yet again we all sat around the table to talk about my child and what needs to change. Hopefully it will work out the way we all discussed. She now has a chart that has to be checked off for each class, and has to earn the right to have free time. The thing that hit me when we did this was that I found out that the other kids that have this same system set up for them are autistic. It is depressing that my "normal" kid has to be treated just like the autistic kids in her class. So much for normalcy!

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Does anyone else out there go grocery shopping and come home to discover there is still nothing in the house that you want to eat. I buy things for breakfast and dinner, but some how lunch just gets left behind. I went shopping yesterday, came home and put everything away, just to discover that there was nothing that I wanted to eat for lunch. We are big on leftovers in our house, I would say that 99% of the time there is something in a Tupperware container that I can heat up. Yesterday was the exception. I had spaghetti-o's the day before so that was out. I settled for a sandwich, not one of my favorite things but oh well. Anyone else have this problem?

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My friend Teacher Teacher has a blog now. I just realized that I should have done a shout out for her quite a while ago. It is all about her life and travails as a single middle school teacher. Go check it out, I guarantee she will make you think and/or crack you up!

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I am starting up my cooking class for kids again. If you are in the Davis County area and, have kids over the age of 8 that would like to learn how to cook, just email me or comment and I will provide you with the details.

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I think there is something wrong with my eye. I am under this impression because it hurts... bad! I can't blink without pain. I wonder if I should get it checked out... huh... maybe. I hate going to the doctor, especially right now. I have kind of had enough of them this week. That goes for dentist too!

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Thanks to everyone for their well wishes last week! It is good to know so many people care!

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I gotta go and tackle a mountain of laundry, so here are the tunes!

1. Great DJ- The Ting Tings

2. Roll the Credits- Peter Bjorn and John

3. Who Knew- Pink

4. I Feel Loved- Depeche Mode

5. Time Won't Let Me Go- The Bravery

6. Doctor! Doctor!- The Thompson Twins

7. Paper Planes- MIA

8. Pressure Zone- Beck

9. Piano Concerto No. 17- Mozart

10. Ice Ice Baby- Vanilla Ice

Bonus:

This Woman's Work- Kate Bush

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that follows my every move. If I go upstairs, he is there waiting on the top stair for me. If I go downstairs, he is there at the bottom. He anticipates my every move. I know a lot of moms complain that their kids are always under foot, but this is different, because mine also bites my toes while he is there. He is shaggy, and dirty, and doesn't smell very good all the time, but I love him. I have lobbied for a long time to get a dog. I wanted a Cocker Spaniel because that is what I had as a kid. I never thought I would get S to agree to any dog so I was very surprised when he said yes to this one. S doesn't like small dogs, he has always wanted something a little larger. Cole is a Dachshund. Yes Yes I know... a Wiener Dog! Don't you dare call him that around me. I HATE THAT EXPRESSION! He has long red, black and white fur and freckles on his feet. He is a little short for his breed, so we are always answering peoples questions about what kind of dog he is. He is pretty hyper, and a little disobedient, but I still love him. He knows how to heel, lay down and sit but cant do any of them for very long. If you tell him to sit, he rolls over on his back and begs for his tummy to be rubbed, which is a good thing because that is the only way to catch him. Believe it or not he can run pretty fast on those little three inch legs. If the front door gets opened when we are not expecting it he will wiggle his way out and run like hell. The only thing that slows him down is that he has to mark absolutely everything in his path along his way. S keeps threatening to take him to the pound, because he barks at bad times, and is pretty needy, but I know he never will because he loves him too. He has been a good dog for our girls, he is too short to ever knock them down anyway. I love my little shadow!

My mom has his mom and she just had another litter of puppies, I know she is looking for good homes for them. If anyone is interested just let me know. They will be ready to leave their mom in about 6 to 8 weeks.

Wordless wednesday

Feelin Fine

(no bagging on my misspelling OK)

What a weekend!

So let me fill you in on my fun fun fun weekend. It all started on Thursday, when I went in for my laproscopic procedure. First I will tell you why I had to have this done. I have very severe endometriosis and it causes me a considerable amount of pain. There... did that cover all of the questions? Well if it didn't tough luck that is all you get.

I went in on Thursday to get this done, my amazing sister accompanied me because S couldn't get that much time off of work right now and I didn't want to put it off any more.

I HATE being anesthetized

HATE

HATE

HATE!

Is that strong enough for all of you?

So when I went in my nerves were a little jumbled. Plus there is that whole not being allowed to eat after 11 pm the previous night. So jittery, hungry, thirsty, = grumpy, but I was trying to stay good tempered so I didn't bum everyone else out. They called me in and gave my my "special very modest robes to put on, and then we sat an chatted with the nurse while they inserted my IV, I had to be stuck twice because she overshot the first vein in my hand. That was a first for me. Really! I have never had to be stuck twice. Good veins! So now my arm hurts, as does my hand. They take all my vitals and I guess the doctor hadn't arrived yet so we spent the next 30 minutes chatting it up with the nurse. My sister and I separately are very capable of keeping people talking for hours, so this wasn't hard for the two of us together. The OR nurse finally came in to get all the same info that I just gave too the first nurse, we were discussing what I was having done (did you know that the removal of an ovarie is called an ooferectomy? NO I did not have it removed.... this time) when all of the sudden the entire place goes pitch black.

NO POWER!

The generator kicks in within a couple of minutes, and it is calmly explained to me that they will not be taking me back on auxiliary power.

NO KIDDING!

So we wait it out... and wait... and wait. My doc comes in and entertains us for a while, the nurses check on us a lot, we switch to a room that is running on the auxiliary lights, so we can see the magazines we are trying to read. We wait some more. Finally the lights go up again. Now I am not sure how long it took because there wasn't a clock anywhere in sight and I didn't have a watch on but it seemed to take at least an hour. My nerves were already frayed by this point so all I could do was laugh. Within 5 minutes of the power going on I was laying on a table with an oxygen mask on. I don't remember anything after that, THANK GOODNESS!

I woke up in pain!

I think that is the thing that I hate the most about surgery, is that I wake up from it disoriented, in pain, and highly nauseated! Anesthesia makes me very sick, and cold! I was shaking so hard from cold that the entire bed was rattling. The finally gave up on the warm blankets and put the equivalent of a cocoon attached to a hair dryer on me.

Instant warm.... aaaahhhhhhhh!

I was taken to a special room after warming up for a while, so that I could throw up with a little less privacy. S had come up and my sister was there, so that made me feel better, but it took a long time for me to be ready to leave. I finally gave up on being at the pain level that I wanted to be at and told them "I just want to go home". I really didn't care how I felt I just wanted to be in my own bed, in my own home. Somehow they managed to get me to the car, and back home. Three days later, I am feeling better, sore but better. I even got to go to the Carnival for Autism yesterday, it was exhausting, but it was good to get out. Thanks to all of you who sent you well wishes, and concern my way! Love you all!

Unavailable

So I am finally going in for my "little procedure" so I will not be around for a few days. At least until I feel up to taking the hike downstairs to the dungeon where the computer sleeps. See you all when I am feeling more like myself. Here's hoping that I don't have a panic attack before I even get there today!

Wordless wednesday (Pandoras Box Reopened)

A little game

Have you ever put something down in a room and it becomes a part of that room. Let me explain. We acquired a pool this summer, and as a consequence of this we also acquired a lot of towels hanging around. I decided that the perfect place for said towels was the half bathroom that is right next to our garage. This way we come into the house dripping wet, towel off in the bathroom, and proceed upstairs to get dressed. Well the pool has not been used for about the last month and a half. We finally drained it this weekend. I went into the bathroom today and found this sitting on the floor.

It had become so much a part of the room that I completely forgot about it until it fell down. Does anyone else do this? I set things down in places, not because they belong there but simply because it is an empty space. Eventually I do notice them again, and put them away, but sometimes this can take a while. I am a fairly organized person, and when I say fairly, that means that if you look in my cupboards or closets everything is very neat. However, I do have a problem with clutter. Which is stupid because who looks at your closets anyway. I should be nice and neat where everyone sees but sadly...

I

AM

NOT!

I love find it games so I decided to play a little game with everyone. If you can correctly identify each item that is not in the right place in each photo you win! I haven't decided what you win yet, probably a set of earrings or something. I will tell you how many items are in the wrong place in each picture and then it is up to you.

(Sorry the pictures are blurry, I think something is on my lens, but hey, maybe it adds to the difficulty of the task... right?)

P.S. You cant win this game from facebook, so if you are going to comment you have to go to my blog and comment there!

So here goes....

There are seven items in this picture

There are three items in this one

five on this one

Two here

and one BIG one here!

So there you go, whoever wins gets a "major award"!

Random Friday

My friend Cassie just started a blog, make sure you go over and check it out! She is cute and snarky, and fun to read.

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I am tired of gardening! I have had it with tomatoes, especially the cherry ones. Next year, only one cherry tomato plant, only two zucchini (you have to have two, they cross pollinate), only one crook neck, and lots more beans! I don't feel like I got nearly enough beans this year. As much as I know I am going to miss all the fresh stuff in a few weeks, it is sooooooo much work! I am getting a little tired of it. All the work that has gone into it is the equivalent of a part time job.

Speaking of which, does anyone know where I can pick up one of those?

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I have been spending a lot of time lately with my sister. I think our relationship is stronger now than it has ever been. We were very close as kids, but for a while there we didn't see each other much. I am glad that our relationship has matured, and that we can spend so much time together. She really is an amazing person and I love her to death!

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I called my Doc. the other day and stated that I can't take it anymore! I have had it with this stupid medication. So we have moved up the date of my "little procedure", and all I can say is THANK HEAVENS! I just want this stuff to be over with and get my body back to normal. I have gained 10 pounds since going on this medication (that is in 4 months!), I am having almost constant hot flashes, I am grumpy as hell and won't mention the other side effects because TMI! I am not looking forward to being knocked out for it but I am looking forward to having it over. Did I mention my awesome sister? She is taking care of me the day I have this done! She volunteered, see I told you she was AWESOME!

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My moms of autistics lunch is next week, and I am looking forward to it. I haven't seen these women for about 4 months now and I am excited to see what changes have happened. I love this group. The best thing about it is that it is the only group of people I know that completely understands everything about having an autistic kid. I sit there with them and think "everyone here knows exactly what I am dealing with". Some of us have it worse, and some better, but as the leader of the group Laura says, "we all have our poop stories". We all know what it is like to fight for our kids, we all know what it is like to cry because of our kids, and we all know what it is like to celebrate the little victories. They are an amazing group of women. We also have a district representative come the listen and help, so if there is anyone out there in Davis school district that feels you are not being listened to it is a good thing to attend. Want to know more just comment and I will send you the info.

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Where were you and what were you doing on this day 8 years ago?

I was taking my kids to therapy. My husband was set to fly out to California at about 11 am. I hadn't turned on the TV because I had too much to do that morning. I got into the car and was pulling out of the neighborhood when I heard on the radio that the airports were closed. I turned back for home to tell my husband that he should go call the airline and find out if his flight was delayed. I spent the entire drive to Bountiful with my had over my mouth, crying the word NO! The rest of the day was spend huddled around the TV muttering exclamations of shock and horror!

So tell me what you did that day?

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Here's my tunes:

1. Soul Meets Body- Death Cab for Cutie

2. She Loves You- The Beetles

3. Nocturne in F Minor- Frederic Chopin

4. Cult of Personality- Living Color

5. Le Vent Dans La Plaine- Claude Debussy

6. If I had $1,000,000- Bare Naked Ladies (probably one of my all time favorite song)

7. Wind Beneath My Wings- Better Midler

8. Hometown Glory- Adel

9. Colorful- Rocco DeLuca and the Burden

10- No One is to Blame- Howard Jones (another of my favorites!)

Bonus:

Ignorance- Paramore

Again- Flyleaf

Hey Man Nice Shot- Filter

True Faith- Anberlin

Fireflies- Owl City

Uprising- Muse

(Can you tell that I had fun finding new music this week?)

A Spontaneous Conversation

Bug: Papa Johns has pizza and dessert pizza too!

Dad: Bug, you are very impressionable.

Bug: What does that mean?

Mom: It means that you are easily swayed.

Bug: Yes! I am!

Wordless wednesday

Menu Monday II

OK I got grief for my choice for menu Monday so here is a recipe for you....

ppfffttthhhhh!

Rouladen

2 to 3 lb. London broil

4 large dill pickles cut into spears

1 small onion sliced

1 package bacon

mustard

When you purchase meat ask for them to slice it rouladen style, or in flat slices from the top, as thin as possible. You should be able to get at least 8 slices from this, they should be no thicker than on quarter inch. Place one strip of bacon on top of one meat slice. Drizzle with mustard and place one pickle spear and a couple of slices of onion at one end. Roll up and spear with a tooth pick to keep in place. Continue with the rest of the ingredients the same way. Put a small amount of oil in an electric frying pan and brown meat rolls. Cover and reduce heat to about medium and continue to cook for about two hours, or until meat is tender. Remove rolls from pan and use drippings to make gravy.

This really is what we are having for dinner today,

OK I know it is Tuesday already!

Sheesh!

Give a girl a break would ya!!!!

Menu Monday

Anybody want to guess what is on the menu this week?

Random Friday

I am not a politically active person but some things are coming to attention lately. I would honestly like to know what all of you think of this , because I don't really know what to think of it. I think there are some really good things said in it, however I do not believe in pledging myself to any one person. So tell me what you think. Lets keep it respectful though OK!

I also want to know if you are opting out of having your kids see the Presidents speech?

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I have been more busy lately than I was before my kids went back to school! I haven't found a job yet (I haven't been looking either), but I have a lot to do. The garden has been providing me more work than I can keep up with. In the last week I have picked, washed, shredded, chopped, blanched, peeled, boiled, steamed, sauteed, canned, and frozen almost every kind of produce that my garden produces. I go to bed exhausted every night! It is hard work and I now appreciate everything my mother did to save money and provide these kinds of things for our family when I was younger. I remember her canning beans, corn, peaches, tomatoes, apricots, and just about everything else that she could get her hands on.

She worked so hard.

Now I understand why.

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I am going to miss summer! Not the having the kids home part, but I am not ready for the cold!

I do however love fall. I love the brisk feel of the air and all the fall colors. I also love pumpkins. We are going to be selling a lot of them this year by the way, so if you want one...

call me first!

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Tell me what you think of this too.

I almost think that the outfit is worse than anything else. There are other videos of the same thing, but they are hard to see. I know I have ranted about this before, but remind me...

why is it OK to let my kids like this girl again?

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We Won!!!!

We actually didn't win anything but we have had a little item that has been bugging us for some time now. A year to be exact, and in an act of supreme kindness the other side has thrown up their hands and given up! Let me explain. When we bought our house last year it came with two mail boxes, this one...

and this one.
Mailbox number one is right next to the driveway, and number two is on the property line next to the neighbors. I have seen this before and knew immediately what the story was. You see Layton city post office requires that mail boxes be grouped to make it easier for their letter carriers to deliver. The people who built this house apparently did not notice this and build the nice brick box in the wrong place, then had to install another box because the postal carrier refused to deliver to the original box. Well we heard rumor that we could ask special permission to have our mail delivered to the brick box so when we moved in I called and asked, I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no way that this was going to happen. We had a little battle for a while there because a "substitute mail carrier" kept putting our mail in the brick box. For about two weeks straight I called the post office about every other day to inform them that I was OK with their mistake and if they wanted to deliver there they could. Every time I called I was told NO! So we gave up, I mean really is this really the worse thing to happen... no. So we have been happily receiving our mail from the "ugly box" and then yesterday I got this note in the box...

" I can start delivering your mail to the brick mail box if you would like to remove this one. Or I can continue to deliver to the metal box. Your choice. Your new letter carrier Amy"

AMY IS MY NEW BEST FRIEND!!!!!!

Oh the shout for joy that echoed around my neighborhood! It was like Christmas day around here yesterday. So I went out today and my mail was already in the brick box!

Yee Haw!!!!!!

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Here are the tunes:

1. E-pro- Beck

2. The New Pollution- Beck

3. Just Can't Get Enough- Depeche Mode

4. Save You- Pearl Jam

5. Dance Dance- Fallout Boy

6. Lies- Thompson Twins

7. Better Man- Perl Jam

8. Paralyzed- Rock Kills Kid

9. Rockstar- Nickleback

10. Hang Me Up To Dry- Cold War Kids

Bonus:

Evil- Interpol

Wishing Well- The Airborn Toxic Event

Shame- Self

Say It- Blue October

Nothing to Worry About- Peter Bjorn and John

Help, I'm Alive- Metric

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

I truly do live in the best neighborhood! There is a reason we chose to buy our first house here, and a reason why we wanted to stay when it came time to buy our second home. (This is in fact our third house in the same ward.) It seems that no matter where we look we are surrounded by friends. Now I am not saying it is perfect, I am not saying we all get along but, I am saying that we seem to have found our niche in this small city that I never thought I would like living in. When we wanted to look for houses about 9 years ago we had good friends that were building in a neighborhood that was just being started within our ward boundaries. We walked through their house a lot at first, it was fun to see the progress they were making. What started out as us taking tours through theirs ended up as us taking tours through the house next door. It was a "spec home" that was being built by the same builder and we fell in love with it. We moved in in 2000 and soon after met the new neighbors.

(Lora, The Bug, Leah, Gena, Emily, and Cassie,two of the women in this picture I have already mentioned in a previous post.)

The Neighborhood quickly filled in and we came to know these people not only as neighbors but as friends too. There are some of the most amazing people I have ever met in this little patch of ground in Layton Utah.

(Tiff, Luetta, Lou Lou, S, Doug)

We soon got to know more and more of them and began to know their kids as well. They learned about mine and have always accepted mine as their own. We have all had opportunity to discipline each others kids and I am sure they have all been yelled at by someone other than the woman they call Mommy.

(Zach, Tai, & Sarah)

We have had opportunities for service, and will continue to take care of each other, because that is what friends do. We accept each other and accept new friends into our circle on an almost daily basis.

(Tiff)

We laugh with each other, we cry with each other. We get together often and every time we do we are reminded why we like our own lives, and our own struggles more than some one else's. We are reminded why we are friends, and have started to regard each other as an extended family of sorts.

(Daren, Christoper, and Ron)

We have gotten fat together, skinny together, we have had our feelings hurt, and seen them repaired. We share laughter, tears, recipes, gossip, time, and Love.

Here is to the best neighbors ever!

Wordless wednesday