Nice Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. We spent Saturday doing a mixture of things that needed to be done and just relaxing around the house. We have 3 trees in front of our house that had branches hanging really really low. Dwayne kept getting annoyed because they made it difficult to mow around. We finally grabbed the ladder and a hand saw and went out and trimmed back the trees. It has made a huge difference. We still get the shade because the trees are so large but we can finally move around freely underneith them without feeling like our head is going to get taken off at any moment. The kids frequently play around them also and I like being able to see out the kitchen window and seeing them much easier. Saturday night we went to church and I spent my first official week as one of the Sunday school volunteers. I've been procrastinating and not wanting to do it. I love my own kids to death but I am not always fond of other peoples kids. I feel horrible saying that but it is what it is. I've been feeling a desire to serve at our church but I'm haven't been able to figure out what ministry I've been wanting to help in. It has been especially hard because the kids were still so little and needy. The children's ministry always needed help and I finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. Sometimes the best personal growth comes from doing something you don't necessarily want to do. Besides, I'll get to hang out with my kids and husband as Dwayne has already been helping out for a year now.

Sunday we mostly just hung out around the house. Dwayne did break out the sprinkler and let the kids get wet but it wasn't all that warm out (only about 70) and Sam especially wasn't very fond of the cold water. They then spent some time in the sandbox while Dwayne sat outside reading. I also finally got around to attempting making pretzels again. They turned out so much better! I can't say they look very professional but they tasted wonderful. We even bought a can of Campbell's Nacho Cheese Soup to use as a cheese dip for them. Everyone thought they were great.

This coming 4th of July weekend will be very busy for us. We have Dwayne's core family coming up to visit and I'm so looking forward to it. We are planning a BBQ and I'm going to let the kids stay up for the first time to see some fireworks if they don't fall asleep first in the meantime. I'll be spending most of the week trying to catch up on housework and making the place ready for overnight visitors.

Small Update

I finally heard back from the doctor yesterday regarding my MRI results. Good news is my brain looks normal and the last bloodwork came back normal. So the only thing that is unusual is I do have high levels of testosterone. Usually they combat that by giving estrogen in birth control form. But I did have a small period on my own last month. It only lasted about 2 days and was very light but the doctor says it counts. So he wants to wait before assigning me any drugs. I am to wait until November and then I will go in for another ultrasound to take a look at my uterus again. If I have any more periods in the meantime, I am supposed to report it. So we are pretty much just in a wait and see mode before he gives me any kind of diagnosis, etc. I'll keep everyone updated as I learn more but at this point I don't think they really know. I will just try to continue upping my activity level and stay as healthy as I can in the mean time.

Sold the Crib

Yesterday, I managed to sell Sam's old crib/toddler bed on Craig's List. I have had it listed for the last 3 weeks with a couple people interested but no one actually taking it. Well, I got an email the night before last and the people came and picked it up yesterday. I managed to sell it for $100. The people who bought it got a great deal! We paid $300-400 for it brand new when Sam was born. It gave me a little heartache to see it go but they had brought their little girl who was getting it and she was cute as a button. I'm glad to see that it will be well-used again. I would have kept it if we had the storage space but that is just impossible with our current house. I just can't keep things that aren't needed at the moment. I don't want to be so surrounded by stuff that I start feeling like many of my pack-rat relatives. (I'm not talking about anyone who reads this, of course. LOL)

So, of course, we immediately went and spent the money. I picked Dwayne up from work, we had a light dinner, and then visited Walmart. We bought a set of cheap bookshelves and got a few more groceries. Dwayne stayed up late putting up the bookshelves last night and unpacking his entire Star Wars collection. It has been a very long time since we have been able to display the whole thing for him and he is so delighted. I keep teasing him that his geekiness is shining through this morning. He has been so nice in making other books a priority any time we get extra space and keeping his collection in boxes. I'm glad I decided to let him unpack his books rather than the rest of our other books because he is so happy.

Father's Day

Mom and Melody came up to visit us this weekend. We were very excited to see them as Sam had been asking a lot lately where Aiden, Auntie, and Grandma were. We spent Saturday playing a little Maplestory and then spending the afternoon at WalMart. Dwayne went to go get the brakes fixed on the van and the guy asked us who told us we needed brakes? It turns out that in his opinion we don't need brakes for at least 4 months of solid use and we don't use the van all that much anyway. So we got to spend money on things I had on my list. I was very excited and we spent the afternoon shopping.

Today we all woke up and decided we wanted to spend some time outside and get out of the house a little. There is a State Park near by that I have been wanting to visit and it turns out there are a couple Geocache finds in the park. So I loaded up the coordinates, a picnic lunch, and the strollers and off we went. We ended up only finding one as it had two parts and by the time we were done the kids were really tired. We ended up hiking a little bit but it was a lot of fun and we got to explore the park a little. Even though it is close to our house we will probably end up camping there in the future as the park is gorgeous and there are swimming holes, hiking trails, boat rentals, fishing, and picknicking. We had a wonderful time and came home with that drowsy feeling of an active productive day. We ended the day with a pizza dinner for Dad and some chilling out.

Sam and Aiden loved the water and the lake was so pretty and calm in the morning.

Melody was the one who spotted the first part of our cache hunt.

After 10 minutes or more of hunting, Melody was the one who found the final cache as well. Here she is posing with her find. This part of the hiking trail was so pretty and the kids had fun tramping through all the dirt and bushes "helping" us find our hidden treasure.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Today was payday and the nice part was a little extra bonus too. I've been making a priority list for weeks now on all those extra odds and ends that you want to buy but never have the money for. On the top of the list was a sandbox for the kids because I can't seem to keep them out of the dirt. Every time I turn around they are playing in it. Since I don't know what kind of creepy crawlys or poo or fertilizer, etc, etc is in it, I would much rather they play in sand. I've been checking Craig's list and no such luck for sandboxes. I also needed to have the tires rotated and breaks checked anyway. What do you know? Les Schwab is conveniently located next to ToysRUs. So off we went shopping while they were working on our van. I found the sandbox, bags of sand, and a bigger slide for them too. I managed to get it all home and set up............just in time for it to start raining. Sigh. Evie had a borderline tantrum when I told her she couldn't play in it. I also have this big beautiful slide set up for them but they could care less. They are all about that sandbox. At least I know it was worth the money spent. I think we will get many many years of use out of it.

Les Schwab told us that our rear breaks are at 10%. Since I'm letting Mom and Melody borrow the van for a few weeks so they can use it to travel to Idaho over the holidays, I figured we better get them fixed. Besides, I don't know when I'll have a large chunk of money again to take care of them. But it means putting my fun list aside. Oh well, most of it can probably wait for the next bonus. (But I'm selfishly and sorely disappointed.) And I know Mom and Melody will be safe. Our appt. is tomorrow so that will be taken care of in time for them when they come up this weekend for a visit and to take the van. Since they are coming up, we will be busy running around with them and I probably won't have time to post. I'll try to give everyone an update on all our fun happenings on Monday.

Meet Shadow

Well, we did it. I got a 2nd kitten! It was totally unexpected and unplanned but I'm in love with him already. He is a dark gray tabby whom we are calling Shadow. I haven't gotten a good picture of him yet but you can see profiles of him with Moon in the pictures below. He is approximately 8 weeks old so that makes him about 2 weeks older than Moon.

So how did this come about? Let me tell you. Friday, I got an email from Dwayne with a picture of a momma cat nursing some kittens. Apparently his coworker's friend sent an email around with the picture to help find homes for them and to show off the surprise of their birth. Apparently, they didn't know they had this bunch of kittens underneith her porch until she saw them all nursing in the front yard. I wrote Dwayne another email back just laughing at him and commenting that it was too late. I was already too invested emotionally and financially in Moon, unless he was interested in a 2nd one? I was totally teasing and just being silly. Well, Dwayne writes me back with a comment like whether or not you get a second kitten is not up to me. I'm staying totally out of that decision. I was like, Huh? Are you serious? Will you really let me have another one? So I called him up immediately. According to him, he was indifferent to the idea. He had no feelings one way or another. Well, you know me. You give me indecision and I'll take advantage. (Giggles with an evil grin.) I did decide in my own head that if the kitten didn't just fall into place and was going to cost us adoption fees, or was getting to complicated to meet the person, I would just bag the whole thing. Fortunately for me, they were giving the kittens away for free and as it turns out they would be ready in a few days. They also only lived about 15 min away. So after several email exchanges, we went last night to pick up our new kitten. I didn't have a lot of choice as they had found homes for everyone. There was a white female with pointed ears that looked very similar to Moon that I wanted but someone else had priority on that one. I had my choice of the last gray one or one of 3 orange tabbies. I took the gray male and now I have two!

It is already working out great! Moon was bottle-fed so he is very attached and cuddly to humans but doesn't have very good kitty habits like burying his poo or grooming himself real well because he didn't have a Momma to show him how. Shadow was raised outside and had a Momma and siblings to play with and show him how to be a cat. But he is a little shy and startles easily. They have been learning from each other and they seem to enjoy one another's company. Shadow was really shy about being held until he saw Moon hop onto my lap and start purring away. He then allowed me to hold and pet him and totally relaxed after a short amount of time. Moon has been eating exclusively soft food and still making a mess. But after seeing Shadow eat the solid kibble, this morning he started eating hard food for the first time. It is fun to see them learning from each other and even though Shadow is still a little shy, I am amazed at how much he has settled in just overnight. I think these two will be life-long buds and they will both be quite attached to us. Which is fine. I try really hard to make life-long commitments to my animal friends when I bring them into our lives.

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Untimely Interruption

Well, Dwayne and I experienced a first, and hopefully last, parent moment last night. Shortly after putting the kids to bed and taking our own showers, we decided to enjoy each other. Well, when things were getting nice and exciting, into our bedroom walks Sam. He looked a little surprised to see us "wrestling" but seemed more sheepish about the fact that he was out of bed. I don't think we scarred him for life but Mom and Dad took a little while to get over it. Once he was tucked back in and our bedroom door was firmly closed we laughed it off. But I think we might have to rethink our schedule for such things in the future.

The past few days, Evie has been fighting a major break-out in hives. You can tell they itch terribly and I have been keeping her dosed with Benadryl. They are completely covering her belly and now venturing down her left leg. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what she was exposed to and can't come up with any likely candidates. I even took her to the doctor because they were getting so bad but he wasn't much help either. He didn't even give me a cream or anything to help clear them up. Pretty much we were given the instructions to keep dosing her with Benadryl and if they don't clear up in two weeks to come back again. The nurse said that many times we don't know what causes them and it could have even been a virus she fought off that caused it. Who knows? Luckily, they seem to be starting to clear up now.

Sam is turning into mister independent. Lately, he has been wanting to do things for himself. Small things like getting himself dressed and wanting to wipe his own butt after a poo. This is a huge relief for me since he has been one of those kids who wants Mom to do everything for him because it is just easier. I'm especially excited about the bathroom issues because I'm planning on potty training Evie this summer and don't want to deal with two at the same time. Though Sam will still need help for a while. He still is reluctant to pee standing up and doesn't tuck very well when sitting on a "big" toilet without the toddler seat. But small steps. I look back at everything he is doing and realize that he has started doing a lot the past 4 or 5 months but it hasn't been as noticeable because they have happened in small steps.

Dwayne and I have been having good discussions about Creation vs Evolution. This past year I have subscribed to a magazine called Creation Magazine. http://creation.com/creation-magazine It has answered so many questions for me in regards to science, dinosaurs, how the universe was made, etc. All from a Christian perspective but with the science to back it up. Having gone to public school, I was indoctrinated in evolution and that the universe was not created. But my church and faith was telling me otherwise. I believed the Bible was true but how do you explain all the varieties of animals and the millions of years it supposedly took to create the earth. And what about dinosaurs? I even started to compromise by thinking that when Genesis said the world was created in a day that it was a metaphore and since time means something different to God that maybe a day was actually a million years? I just didn't have the Biblical or theological knowledge to know. This magazine has been a wonderful eye-opener and has given me a huge relief in regards to the Bible and my faith that I didn't even know was a worry. It presents nature articles and scientific information with the same evidence out there being used to support Evolution, but shows how it actually fits better using God as the creator. It also helped me to realize that if we can't even take Genesis at face value that God did indeed create the world in 7 days then it allows us to start to question everything in the Bible. This line of thinking would then question everything in regards to Jesus. If I can believe that Jesus did in fact die and 3 days later rose again from the dead, then why can't I believe that God is big enough to create the world in 7 days? For me, this has always just been in faith. I didn't have the knowledge to argue why I believe. This magazine has been a great tool in opening my eyes to how wonderful God really is and even in science he has proven his existence. If you have the extra money, I highly recommend you get this magazine. It has been a wonderful education for both Dwayne and I.

MRI and Vet

Yesterday I was so busy. It was one of those days where I sat down at the end of the day and asked myself, "Why am I so tired?" then sit back and realize everything that I accomplished. I started out the morning by going to my MRI appointment. It wasn't too bad but by the end whether or not you are claustrophobic you are ready to get out. It was a longer appointment too. Apparently the pituitary gland isn't the easiest to look at. They take you into the room that has a machine that looks like a giant donut with a platform sticking out that you are supposed to lay on. This place was nice because they had headphones that I could wear that piped in music and helped you pass the time much quicker. They also placed a pillow under my knees to help with the comfort of laying on a flat surface. Then they strap your head in so you don't move and with warnings to lay really still they push the button that takes you into the machine. There isn't much exciting here. You just see the inside of the white tube. Pretty boring. They then warn you that you'll start hearing bangs, whirs, humming, clicks, etc. It is pretty noisy and again I was so grateful for the music. I had a MRI 7-8 years ago and had to suffer without the earphones. This was much easier to take. After about 30 minutes I was pulled out and finally allowed to move my arms and legs just a little but not allowed to move my head yet. They had to pump me full of contrast solution first and put me back in for another 11-12 minutes. When I got out the technician was impressed because they apparently were able to get good pictures of my eyes. He tells me that even when most people close their eyes they move back and forth under their eyelids and so they don't get a good picture. Apparently, even my eyeballs were still. I thought that was funny. Luckily, I don't get claustrophobic as long as I can breathe just fine. I just chilled out and relaxed knowing I didn't have to worry about the kids for a couple hours and listened to the music. I should know the results soon and I'll let everyone know when I do.

When I got home, I immediately started taking over chores, watching kids, making lunch, etc. when Dwayne took off for work. He warned me that the kitty's eyes were looking worse and I might consider going ahead and taking him to the vet. I checked him out myself and decided yes, we did need to take him in. So I made the appointment for 3:00. I knew Evie would be awake from her nap and hopefully, I'll be home in plenty of time to make dinner. $150.00 and an hour later we finally got the medicine needed for kitty and went home. I didn't bring any snacks for the kids because I didn't think it would take that long. Evie was very upset all the way home and I was pulling my hair out by the time I got home. I got kitty and the kids settled with something to drink and then got dinner going.

There wasn't anything particular that was making me so tired. I think it was just one small stress after another. I was dealing with things out of the ordinary for our routines that they just piled on each other and stressed me out by the end of the day. To top it off, I got a call from the vet this morning telling me kitty has a bug they detected in his fecal and I have to run in and get another medicine. So a medicine they gave me yesterday that cost $20.00 is completely useless and can't be returned. I forgot about the initial costs of getting cats and making them healthy. Once he is better though it won't be too bad. It just seems to be happening all at once. I hope to have the energy to try pretzels again today but we'll see.

Family Visits and Moon

Dianne and Terry, Dwayne's parents came to visit us this weekend. They came up Friday and left Sunday. Friday, Dwayne still had to work so they spent the day with us at our house and played with the kids. We had an easy dinner by having pizza and I left early to go and get our new kitten. (More on that later.) Saturday we started early by all piling into the van and going to a garage sale that was raising money for Relay For Life. I got a couple more VeggieTales movies for the kids and found for myself a couple more quilting books. (Not that I need any more.) Dianne found kid-size folding chairs of different colors for the kids. They like them a lot and are the perfect size for their little bodies. We then swung by the Farmer's Market in Olympia since we were only a few blocks away. I didn't find any fantastic deals but we did come away with a homemade triple berry pie and cinnamon swirl bread. I also walked by some shellfish and decided that oysters sounded good for some reason. I'm not a big fan of oysters but I like to have them once or twice a year. Especially when they are grilled on the BBQ and eaten immediately out of the shell with garlic butter. Terry bought a pound of buffalo jerkey so all of us were quite happy. When we got home that night, we BBQ'd steak, oysters, and I also grilled some fresh asparagus. For dessert, we munched on the pie and cinnamon bread. Sunday was spent just hanging out at the house a bit. We did take a walk to the store and grabbed some fried chicken and JoJos from the deli for lunch. Around 2:00 they took off for home. It was a great visit and it is such a delight to see Sam and Evie start to recognize and enjoy all their relatives.

Since Bubba died, I have been waffling back and forth on if I wanted another cat or not. Especially knowing that Dwayne has a small allergy to them. After my grief had mostly passed, I decided that yes, I did want another cat. Now how to convince Dwayne? He didn't seem too opposed to the idea at all which surprised me. I promised to take care of all the cat's needs including the litter box this time and I also figured that it was only fair that if I get a cat, then he is allowed to have a dog. (Though it will mostly be my dog since I'm the one home all day.... LOL) I have been scouring Craigslist trying to find animals that need new homes since we don't have hundreds of dollars to dish out for a new puppy. We also have to consider our children's ages and what we are allowed to have in our community. We are still looking at this point and we may just have to wait a while to get our perfect companion. But I'll keep looking since I did promise.

I found a posting on kittens from a lady who takes in orphaned kittens and with her own time and expense, bottle feeds them and finds them new homes. If she didn't do this, all those kittens would be euthanized as the shelter she lives near does not have the funding or facilities to take them in. I really liked what she was doing and even though I wasn't necessarily looking for a kitten (I was considering adopting an older cat) I decided I would support her and take in one of her kittens. We emailed back and forth and I waited another week for the babies to get old enough to be eating solid foods. Friday night, I drove out and looked at the kitties. She wasn't going to let me have the one I want because he was still being bottle-fed and she didn't think he was ready. I finally convinced her that I had experience with the little ones and because she was starting to get overwhelmed with all the rescues she had, that I would be helping by taking this one off her hands. So I am happy to say I was able to get the kitten I wanted.

We have decided to call him Moon for now but we might change that as we get to know his personality. He is a little rough around the edges and really needs some tender care. He has caked on food on his feet, belly, and mouth which is causing hair loss which is making him look even worse and he has slightly weapy eyes. I'm going to have to keep an eye on those cause he may be getting a respitory infection. The good news is that once he was away from the competition of his littermates, he is eating like a champ and doing fine on that front. We've also given him a couple of baths which has helped his appearance (and smell.) He still needs some work but I think he will be gorgeous once his hair fills back in and he grows a little. I have a soft heart for kittens and I was able to give him a good home and clean him up so I couldn't say no once I saw the situation he was in. It breaks my heart that I couldn't rescue them all. I'll post more pictures once he grows a little and his hair fills in.

His coloring is known as a sealpoint snowshoe and once it fills back in and he loses his baby fuzz, he is going to be soooo pretty.

Moon is 5 weeks old and barely a handfull!

New Bed

Well, I have been really busy the last couple of days. Sam has officially outgrown his toddler bed so I felt it was time to track down a twin for him. Wednesday, I checked Craig's list and found a twin bed frame including a trundle bed for $40.00. I jumped all over it. I called the people and they wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible so I had to pick it up that evening. It is an old Ikea bed so it is pretty nice looking and I was surprised at how good a shape it was in. We felt it needed a little reinforcement, especially on the corners so I spent yesterday finding the different screws and L-brackets needed. We also decided to dip into our son's savings to get him a brand new mattress set. Now no matter what frame we have, I can feel confident that he has a nice bed to last him till he is a teen. (Hopefully.) Before finding the bed we went to Target and spent way too much money on some new summer clothes for the kids and spent time letting Sam pick out some new bedding. He saw a blue polka-dot bedding set that he just had to have and the good news for Momma was that it was on clearance. We walked up the kids bedding aisle and I dutifully pointed out all the spiderman, Thomas the train, and Cars bedding but Sam insisted that he wanted the polka-dots. I was thrilled! (I liked the polka-dots best too.) We then went to the mattress store and while I was talking to the salesman, the children dutifully tried out every mattress in the store to make sure they were all comfortable. I loaded the van with the mattresses and the kids and all our shopping stuff, including doing the "manly" job of using bungie cords to keep the van door from popping up.

I managed to unload the mattresses myself and spent the afternoon reinforcing the bed all by myself. I was pretty proud of what I managed on my own without Dwayne's help. He did come home and do the last bit though because I was so tired. I can definately tell I don't do those kind of things often. But before the evening was through, Sam had his new bed and he slept through the night without any problems.

Terry and Dianne are up today and tomorrow for a visit so I will update everyone on what we did soon.

This and That

Wow. I just looked at my post from the other night. I was really on a soapbox. Sorry about that. Can you tell I'm starting to feel strongly about the issue? Oh well, on to more mundane things.

Sunday I woke up in a crabby mood. And when I start to get depressed or in a bad mood there is nothing like spending money to make me feel better. (Maybe that is why we have such debt issues? But let's not go there.) Anyways, I scrounged up the last $30.00 in savings and thought we should go look at garage sales again. Dwayne was up for it and I know the kids were ready to get out of the house a little. These are the pictures of the great finds we found. (Not counting the fish.) The fish picture isn't that great but you can kind of see the 3 male guppies we got to replace all the fish we lost in our last tank fiasco.

Found a kids size table which is perfect for their coloring projects.

We also found a play tent that the kids can't get enough of. What is great is that it collapses really easy into a skinny circle to make storage a breeze.

We also need bookshelves sooooo bad. We need much more than one but even though it is ugly it helped us rearrange things and got rid of 4 more boxes that were sitting unpacked for a while. I also came home with another armload of clothes but this time was lucky enough to find a few things for Sam.

In medical news, I got my blood test results back. My estrogen levels are fine but I do have elevated levels of testosterone. He did say it wasn't high enough to indicate tumors. (I didn't even know that was a concern!) But it sounds like he still isn't satisfied yet what exactly is going on. So I have to get more bloodwork to test my levels of something called Estrodial (which I believe is a stress hormone) and he wants me to have an MRI done of my pituitary gland. I have an appointment for that on June 9th. I'll let everyone know what is happening when I know more myself.