Nothing Like Christmas Flu!

UGH!!!! Seriously, this sucks.

I wasn't feeling all that great on Monday when we left Atlanta but I'd just worked myself to death for two days cleaning house and packing.

Tuesday on the drive to Houston was even WORSE! I think breakfast consisted of 15 grapes and a flat Sprite in the car. Chalked it up to a final bout with morning sickness as I felt better by the time we arrived.

Fast forward to 9 pm last night...HELLO, porcelain Gods...me and the toilet got to know each other all night long. I think the longest 'sleep' I got was 30 mins.

By 2 am I was cramping on and off and couldn't tell it if was intestinal or uterine contractions. The cramps were random with no pattern and there were no other reasons to suspect pre-term labor, but I was worried.

At 7 am this morning, I'd had enough. Emotionally, I couldn't hold it together anymore and physically I was crumbling fast. Off to the ER at Herman Memorial Hospital here in Houston, ironically I had noticed it's location the day before.

After 5 hrs, 2 exams, 1 ultrasound, countless vials of blood it was determined I had the stomach flu. Hooray, just hooray.

Home again we went with a prescription and instuctions to stay hydrated. Please let this pass quickly, mommy has a toddler that is lost without her.

Mommy and Kiddo Torture

Nora had been complaining over the weekend that her 'pee pee hurts me'. Pam, who's an RN, suspected a bladder infection since Nora was talking about it during her sleepovers. (whole different story but Pam no takes Nora for a sleepover every other Saturday, HEAVEN!)

So, I called the Dr. on Monday and made an appt. I explained about how she was talking about it, had said her back was an owie, and shivered when she peed. The nurse asked if Nora was potty trained and I had to tell her it's hit or miss. Nurse sort of just said 'Hmmm, ok we have ways around that'.

We get there, Nora's not happy about being at the office, having her ears checked, or heart listened too. THEN we are told that they will have to cath her to get a urine sample! Mommy brain goes 'WHAT! No! You are not doing that!' But I know it's the only way.

The nurse walked in and said, 'I told them don't make me do it! She's such a cutie, I don't want to make her sad'....nice to know the nurse was cringing at the torture to come as well.

Imagine mommy's heart breaking as she braced her child down on the exam table with Nora saying 'NOOOOOO, mommy. Me up!'

Oh, she screamed. She told the nurse 'No STOP! Not nice to me! Not nice to me!'...It was cute but heartbreaking all at the same time. The whole proceedure was about 4-5 mins through which Nora tried her hardest to be a trouper.

All that to find out it's not a bladder infection. The Dr. thinks it's probably a cut or chapped area that burns every time she pees.

Please don't make me do that again to my child! And sympathies to you other mommy's that have had to experience that.

I WILL NOT!

They ugly side of Dr's.

UGH! This is my decision, not yours!!! Doctor asked if I wanted it or intended to get the H1N1shot. I told her no that we had decided not to get it. Plus, I'd never had a flu shot and didn't know how my body reacted so why start now?

THEN she went into the long schpeel about ending up in the ICU with Pneumonia and other 'horror' stories. Basically, scare tactics.

I point blank asked her...How many of your patients have gotten the Virus? She admitted 'none'. Me, 'then I stand by my decision'.

I didn't tell her that I know of at least 6 woman online that got the shot and had a miscarriage within a week. That pretty much sealed the deal for us, not happening. Not worth that kind of emotional pain or risk to the baby.

The Big Efffort of the Day

I have quite the to do list around the house.

Well, it's more like a wish list of chores that I'd LIKE to get done but don't necessary HAVE TO get done. You know we all have these.

I coined the idea 'BIG Effort of the Day' to describe me actually getting some thing off this list.

Here's the list so far

1. Scrub grout joints in kitchen and bathrooms to get cleaner build up out - CHECK
* This is the first thing I did on the list

2. Organize Rich's workspace in the garage - CHECK
* I know it's his space but I fix things and use tools too and it was driving me batty

3. Remove the cushions on all couches and vacuum underneath - not done yet

4. Steam clean all high traffic areas - CHECK

5. Steams clean area rugs - not done yet

6. Repaint master bedroom - not done yet
* Yeah, it's already painted but after 8 yrs of a red bedroom I'm over it.

7. Rake the back hill of all pine straw, pine cones, and leaf debris to prepare for Nora's swing set - not done yet

8. Remove all English Ivy off north side of house - not done yet

9. Shred all the bills from '07 and '08 - not done yet.


I think there should be #10 that state 'update blog more often' based on the fact that it's been 20 days since I last posted!

What's your BIG effort list?

Repurpose

Rich has been keeping a secret from me. One about his unwillingness to IRON.

I walked into the bathroom this weekend to find him turning on my flat iron. "OH! Hi, I thought you were waiting for me downstairs?"

"I forgot lipstick." (We were going out on a date) What are you doing with my flat iron?"

"Well, I've discovered it can be used to flatten my shirt collars and pocket fronts."

"WHAT! Seriously, you've been repurposing my hair appliance because you dont' want to get out the ironing board"

"This thing is genius, why would I use anything else! Been doing it for months"

There ya go ladies, ways an engineer husband discovers a short cut for laziness. (Even though I will say it did do a great job)

Matching my Stalkers...

Ok, so I've started looking at WHO is visiting on my little map.

These are the people I think I have nailed down

Kaycie - you come in as New Salisbury, IN

Jean - you come in as Oshawa, ON, Canada.

Me - I come in as Lawrenceville, GA which is 40 east of my actual residence....Becca, I'm going to assume you come in as Lawrenceville as well since you live a mile away

Kate - I'm still figuring that one out. I've seen Norcross mentioned and Duluth.

Sarah - Still figuring you out as well. - Hollywood, MD( figured it out)

There's some random family member in TX

Another random in FL

Another random somewhere in NJ.

Who is in REX, Georgia!

Oh, and there's Kanae over in Japan. "HI Kanae"

I'm curious, how accurate are your 'locations'?

The Fish and the Kitty

Nora got a fish for her birthday. We talked about it for weeks ahead of time to get her excited. If you asked her what she was getting for her Birthday she said 'dirday daddy fish'. You see, Rich was going to take her to get the fish.

The big day came to go get her fish. We went to the local pet store instead of a big box chain. (save the home owned stores in a bad economy) Nora kept saying 'MY FISH!'

Sadly, sadly, sadly.....they were out of Beta fish.

As Nora put it 'Missing the fish mommy, me sad'

Mommy and Daddy promised to get her a fish as soon as possible and we went home to set up the tank. To explain to Nora we called it a fish house, this seemed to be a suitable explanation.

The fish arrived home on her Birthday as promised and he loved his new tank. I kept asking Nora what the fish's name was.

First, she told me his name was Brown. (HMMMm.)

Then I asked her if fish's name was dolphin.

Nora: " No mommy, fish name Foofa!"

Well ok then. Can't believe she actually came up with a name all on her own. Foofa is actually a character on Yo Gabba Gabba, but it's not a cartoon we let her watch. This makes the name choice even more curious to us.

Nora has become very involved with Foofa, she feeds him, tells him morning, has conversations with him, there's definitely an attachment.

This is where the evil kitty comes in.

It seems that the kitty, Phoebe, gets too close to Foofa at times. Nora screetches 'NOOOOO FIFI!!! MY FOOFA!!!!" (Loki, the oldest cat could care less about Foofa)

Not to worry, we thought ahead and got a tank with lid.

Foofa is safe.

String!

OH the things we forget!

Rich was reminiscing with a friend at the party last weekend about 'moments in parenthood'....this story came up.

It was a regular day, I don't remember what day of the week because it's been so long. And let's face it 'mommy brain' has long since wiped my storage hold for remembering to negative fifty.

I do remember that Nora was in the crawling, getting into everything, chewing on things phase so probably 9 mths old.

Mommy was in the compulsive vacuuming, no sleep, holding things together by a thread phase as she still wasn't sleeping through the night.

That said.

Rich calls me from the nursery with the 'Um hon, can you come here a minute?'

Me thinking, 'what, it's just a diaper, I'm comfy on the couch'

Walk, walk, mutter, mutter underbreath down the hall'

Rich saying 'what is that!' Points to Nora's exposed bum.

Me 'What the hell!? How did she get that!'

Rich, 'It's not tape worm?'

Me, 'no it's dental floss'

Yes folks a piece of dental floss was half hanging out of my daughters backside! How does a parent approach that! We sort of looked at each other and squirmed.

A whole host of questions ran through our heads...Would it tickle? How much longer was it than the 5" we were seeing? Could removing it hurt some internal body part? Is this something you go to the emergency room for? How would they classify that medical claim 'String out the Rectum'....I'm sure it would stump the insurance company.

We opted on the side of, let's see what happens. The whole string was only about 9" long. Nora was fine she just gave us a weird look like 'change my diaper already!'

This glorious moment in parenting once again brought to you by Rich and Amanda.

The Husband and the Cheerios.

et me tell you a different story about a container of cheerios.

A husband got mad and threw a container of cheerios on the floor...where he left it. (note: the anger was in no way directed a the wife)

The nice wife pointed out that if the container had exploded she would of had to pick them all up! To which the husband replied that 'NOOOO, he would have picked them up'

Wife laughed to herself and started her day. Refusing to pick up the container as the husband should.

His dear wife walked by with a basket of laundry later in the day. She did not see the cheerios and kicked the container.

The lid was actually off from the throw earlier in the day.

Cheerios now scattered across the master bedroom from the wife's sure footed kick.

To which the wife said "DAMN IT!" and the toddler mimicked 'Damn it'.....

AWESOME moment in my day.

Parental Education

More tidbits of conversations with Nora.....

We go on family walk about twice a week just to wear Nora out while mommy and daddy have adult conversation. Sometimes just Daddy talks Nora on a walk while mommy is busy at night working.

Rich: Hey Nora what that!? (points in the sky)
Nora: Moooon!
Rich: and what's next to the moon?
Nora: OOOp it her! (Jupiter)
Me: Seriously! Seriously, could you geek my daughter out more?

The things my scientifically minded husband will teach this child scares me! Only because mommy is so artistically minded that I won't understand what she's saying!

____________________________________________________

It's been raining ALOT lately, a truly ridiculous amount. Nora loves to splash in puddles and run in the rain. Yeah, I let her, it wasn't cold and it's fun for her.

Leaving the gym yesterday....

Nora: Mommy, it wet! Spash! (jumping in a parking lot puddle)
Me: Splash! That's a great puddle baby.

Nora looking at me quizzically, 'No pig mommy, water!'

Me: Well, yes there is no Puddle piggy but it's still called a puddle.

To clarify for those that don't know...there's a Nick Jr. show with two pigs called 'Toot and Puddle' and of course her word association is with a pig, not a wet divot on the ground.

Did you know?

That everyone poops!

Conversation with Nora in the car on the way to preschool this morning.

"Mommy my poop!"

I look back to see my child holding her crotch in her car seat. I have figured out that she tells you this when she goes pee in her diaper. Too late!!!

'Nora did you go poo poo'

'No poo poo now.' (Well yes, because you just FINISHED) Mommy, daddy poop?'

'Yes daddy poops'

'Andew poop diaper too? Kapy poop? (me "yes") Poppy poop, Nonni poop?

'Yes baby everyone poops, but big people poo in the potty'

'Poo potty?' (giggles like this is the craziest thing mommy has ever said)

and just so she made sure she started asking if all her friends at preschool poo'd too.

Do you think the potty training is going well? She's got the concept, now if only there was some follow through!

Hooray!

I hit 168.6 yesterday! I am officially at pre-pregnancy weight but actually wearing a size 10 which is smaller. Starting to wonder how much more I can get off before getting pregnant again. Hoping for another 8 lbs.

Oh, and I had to share this one. I went to the Dr. the other day and had to get on the dreaded scale. The nurse put the little weight on the 150 and started moving the little weight. There was this look of 'no way' on her face when she passed 160. When she got to 170, she told me 'I would have never guessed.'

Seems my new lean muscle is fooling a lot of people these days as the women on my tennis team asked how much I lost. I got the same reaction from them. There are 4 of us that have lost 20+ lbs since last January. My tennis partner Jen, gets the prize at 50lbs! She is also one of my workout buddies and I take a lot of inspiration from her.

Please keep her in your thoughts, she and her husband are fighting a LONG infertility battle(3 yrs now). I pray so hard that we get pregnant together since we are supporting each other through each cycle right now.

The Little Mommy

ok so here's cute story from babysitting Andrew on Thursday. For those that don't know, I babysit Andrew, aka Nora's "boyfriend" on Tues and Thurs from 4:30-8pm. His mom, Kathy is going to graduate to get her masters and also teaches kindergarten full time.

We go downstairs so I can start dinner for all of us.

Nora and Andrew are running around chasing each other with
the toy stroller. Having a grand time considering they were both in 'no sharing' mode for the earlier hours.

I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner. I hear a 'thud' in the entry and
then their little voices. Then I identify it as crying and not my child.

I come around the corner to this endearing scen.

Andrew crying 'Nora bonk head' (sob, sob, sob)
Nora, 'It's otay An-dew, it ah right, no cry'
Andrew 'I fall (sob) heeeaaaad'
Nora, 'mommy here An-dew, it otay'

Nora had wrapped herself around Andrews' head and is hugging his head and
patting his back as he is splayed on his tummy across the entry floor....

Andrew gets up and gets snuggles from me as I was kneeling down. Nora
then hugs him from the other side so he was sandwiched! Andrew kept
telling me he bonked his head. It was a big discussion for them
during dinner.

The Security Check

Nora has been sleeping in her big girl room for 3 wks now with very little drama past the first night. That ended with her back in the crib.

This is the new bedtime routine....bath, puzzles, milk, brush teeth.

THEN, we get to tuck her in with her Elmo, Carebear, flannel blanket, and 2-3 byes(paci's).

When all that security checking is done, it's time for "Twinkle Twinkle" and the night nights. This is how it goes

Mommy: night night Nora
Nora: Bye mommy
Mommy: I love you sweat pea
Nora: wub you mommy....find you morning(find you in the morning)

Kisses and then I walk out the door.

AND sometimes, sometimes we get to do that all over again. Because she walks down the hall to the bonus room with the most pitiful face and says, 'I up' Little lip protruding just a bit with sad little eyes and hunched shoulders.

This is the last security check, the one when you child wants to make sure you're there. The one that melts mommy's heart every time.

When it rains....

For those of you who don't live down here. Its RAINING, RAINING, like monsoon season.

I left the house at 11:45 to go pick Nora up from preschool in the pouring rain. We BARELY got home.

First, I went back the way I came and Blackwell was flooded over. Then I went down Ebenezer off Canton Highway, went through 9" of water only to find a river further down the road, turned around with heart pounding. I was so afraid that the 9" of water behind me was now going to be impassable. It wasn't thankfully.

At this point, I was cussing myself for leaving my cellphone at home. How could I be so stupid to put Nora in that kind of danger!

The last to our neighborhood was Shallowford and it was open, but barely. There was a car off the road a the railroad tracks. Still had to go through a couple sections of 9" deep water at the Northside Walking track and right before our neighborhood.

The whole time Nora is whining in the backseat, telling me it's 'scary rain' and 'me home'....trust me kid I was right there with you. To make matters worse, I was in the car without my cellphone so calling for help wasn't going to happen.

When I pulled into the garage I just cried. Nora was so upset too. We live on the top of a hill so at least I now know we are safe. I know that even if I was alone it would have been terrifying but to have my child with me brought out every mommy protection, emotion, instinct in my body.

Thank you for looking over us God.

Monkeys Flinging Poo

AHHHHHH another "poo story"

I can't believe it happened again! (See entry on swimming in poo from earlier this summer) She of course is mortified being the Type 'A' personality that she is. Me, that Type 'Z' personality thought it was hysterical but gross all at the same time.

Here's the scene.

Rich, me, Kathy and Dave sitting around their kitchen table enjoying tacos and wine. Nora and Andrew running in circles downstairs being monkeys laughing and chasing. SO cute!

Cut to Rich, "Um, what is that on the floor? And where did it come from" Rich points towards the fridge.

Imagine a camara zooming in a on golf ball size brown blob on the floor. Recognition strikes....At this point it's like a Chinese firedrill around the table as we all scramble to check the hands, feet and orafeces of our children.

Kathy, "OMG, OMG! It's POOOOOO! Dave I hate our dog! I'm not kidding, I hate him!"

Dave, "Andrew where did you get that?" Andrew giving Dave a blank stare. Andrew leads Dave around the corner. It seems they have been flinging the poo from the office, to the entry, to the hall, and then the kitchen.

Kathy is furiously washing and rewashing Andrews' hands(remember she's Type A, OCD) I pick Nora up to inspect her hands, yep there is poo squished under her finger nails! Don't worry folks I checked her breathe, all good there.

Quick wash up and Nora was ready to go.....leave it to the girl and my kid to pick the poo off the floor, run around with it in her hand while chasing her friend.

Can someone say 'EWWWWWWW!'

Funnies from the past.

We've talked a long time about how we need to write some the the funny stuff from our early years because we will forget. These are a few.

1. When Rich lived down by Emory, we would hang out almost every weekend ALL weekend. We took to surfing channels to find the most bizarre thing on for any given hour. One lazy Sunday, we happened upon a televised religious service, this does not fall into the bizarre catagory but we stopped awestruck by THE HAT.

This woman in the congregation was wearing the largest, pontiff style, view blocking hat we'd every seen. At this point Rich proclaims it a "satelite to God"....and I break down laughing hysterically, in tears, side splitting, can't catch my breath.

Don't get me wrong, Rich and I are religious believers but the size of the hat was just comical.

2. I am not graceful, not in the least and neither is Rich. Early on in our relationship Rich coined the phase "retarded gazelle" to describe any less than graceful act. The vision of gazelle's leaping in unison through tall reads of grass, followed by one lonely gazelle stumbling, tripping, and running into rocks.....

Once again, this dissolved me to tears of laughter the first time Rich said it. (He's the funny one I guess)

Vivid.

OMG! At 6am this morning I woke up from one of the most vivid, scary nightmare I've ever experienced.

I know I was being stalked. In my house, doing errands and I got the impression that it had been going on for weeks. The stalker kept leaving things in places to freak me out. There was a wooden chest on the driveway at one point. Whatever was in it panicked me.

I remember doing things like bolting down the garage doors, check the locks, etc.

Somewhere in the dream I remember calling my mom and begging her to 'PLEASE,please come home now'. (not that she lives with us IRL)

She obviously came home, we were upstairs in what I recognized as my current tv room when the lights/electricity went out. I know I went from my couch to my moms and snuggle against her. Then my mom said something like 'he's looking at us'... Crazy brain then decides to conjure a shadowy figure...

THAT'S when I woke up. Didn't really go back to sleep after that.

Time to grow up a little.

Rich and I had a discussion about two weeks ago over our existing furniture. A LOT of it is stuff that was hand me downs, thrift store, or consignment purchase. Not that there's anything wrong with that, the pieces have served us well. We just felt like maybe it's time to buy a few pieces that are 'forever' furniture.

Case in point, the dining room. Right now, I have a cheap Laura Ashley table and six chairs sitting in my dining room. While functional, with the growing family I need to seat more than 6 at holiday dinners. Also, the light wood top and hunter green accenting really isn't my style.

Then there are the 6 ratan dressers(32wX30hX20D). I actually don't mind these. I've used them in the dining room, my bedroom, an office. The cat, Phebs, uses them as a scratching post.

For two weekends, Rich and I have scoured all the furniture stores looking for the perfect table. These were the specifications.

1. Sort of rustic or old world. - problem is Rich doesn't like antiques, so the 'rustic' gets hard to accomplish

2. A medium stain wood, no dark walnut.

3. All wood chairs, no cloth back or seat (cloth + kiddos= stains(think spaghetti))

We finally found something we can both agree on.

I LOVE the legs on the table!


The gorgeous parquet top


The hutch, which is actually from another set because we disliked the one in the first pick. Plus, I need more storage than the matching one would provide.

Me Happy!

Conversation with Nora in the car on the way to the gym.

Nora: Mommy, da bus!
Me: Yes, Nora it's a bus.

(Bus turns the corner and goes out of sight.)

Nora: No bus, back! Back bus. Bus NOOOOOO! I mean it!
Me: It's ok Nora we'll find more buses

Nora: Me sad, me cry.....my bus...I find him, find him. Bus? Where ah you? Where ah you bus? (fake crying from back seat) No bus.

Me: I'm sorry baby.

Nora: I sorry mommy me sad. Me sad better now. Me happy

My baby girl apologized for being sad! Better yet she now knows the difference between happy and sad.

Priceless. You just can pay anything for moments like that.

Mommy Juice and How it Makes You FAT?

For a long time now, we've been telling Nora that our drinks are 'mommy juice' or 'daddy juice'. These seems to appease her and declare our ownership of whatever is in the glass. Most times we get a response of 'Nora juice?' if she wants some as well.

For all the mommies that read this blog, mommy juice is how a lot of us survive the early mornings and hectic schedules.

Today, was one of those days.

Got engrossed in a book until 1:30am.

Alarm off at 7am

Nora to pre-school.

Mommy off to run an errand and then come home a work on a client plan.

Before coming home, I ran our vacuum to the repair shop. (Something about a broken belt motor)

A couple doors down is an Einstein's Bagel. YUM!

Needing to lift the foggy brain before returning home, I went in to get a coffee and bagel. (I had a buy a coffee get a bagel free coupon. Even better!)

I order my coffee.

Girl at check out, 'You know I read how many calories are in coffee the other day?'
Me: 'Well it depends on what you put in it'
Girl: ' I LOVE Starbucks, their Latte's are the best. I'm just glad I'm still young, so it won't make me fat.' (Shhh you're working at Einsteins', management might not want you promoting another company)

WHOA! Did she just say that I was fat? BITE tongue hard. Reminding myself that I too said uninformed opinions back when.

Who's Visiting

Ok, you see that little ticker to the left?

Yeah, the one that says 512.

I want to know who the heck is visiting under the radar! Let's face it people, me and the five subscribers can not be racking up that many hits on my little blog.

Come out from the shadows and identify yourselves.

What I do...

For those of you that don't know, I'm a landscape designer and this is what I do everyday in some form or fashion. Most days I LOVE what I do. Today was one of those because I got to paint a plan. I love PAINTING, to bad there isn't much money in that.



This is an ACTUAL yard I designed, but changed a bit with the plantings simplified. I pre-dominantly work with a company called, Dogwood Landscapes. Jason Cory, the owner asked me to develop a plan for an ad campaign he's doing to high light my 'design services'.

So, I'm not charging him anything on this even though it's worth $270. He's not asking me to pitch in to pay for the advertisement, I figure that $270 is my share of of the advertising expenses.

Below!!!!

Hooray!, It only took me an extra 9 days to do it but I'm at 169.2! This is the first time I've been under 170 since before Nora's pregnancy. I'm officially 1.6 lbs away from the 'pre-pregnancy'
weight..... The ironic part is that I've been at 'pre-pregnancy' size for over 3 mths now. I sort of feel like those 5 lbs that have been holding on a new success just because it wasn't about size, it was about toning.

Mission Incomplete

Mission: To assimilate into the culture, gather data and report back to mission control. These are my findings so far.

These are the things I do know.

I know how to cook fabulous meals from all genres, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, American

I know how to be a domestic goddess. (i.e. housewife)

I know how to drive a car.

I know how to assimilate into almost any social situation.

I know how to play varied sports,(tennis, golf, bowling, you know the ones that count)

I know I have traveled extensively in the U.S. to broaden my knowledge of the land.

I know how to use all forms of purchase, cash, credit, or check.

I know how to speak with no accent so not even the best linguist can nail down where I come from.

These are the things that I don't know

I do NOT know lyrics to any song, maybe the chorus, but not the entire song. I have absolutely NO knowledge of classic rock and know only one nursery song 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' - 'folk' music - FAIL

I do NOT know about the old lady that ate a fly and died, apparently this is a critical piece of fictional Americana I was not briefed on. - toddler literary training- FAIL

I do NOT like football, I understand it but find it boring. - lazy Sunday afternoon training - FAIL

I do NOT like video games. The Wii has held my attention far longer than all previous programs. - Couch potato training - FAIL

I do NOT like fast food. (note: If I must eat, Wendy's is the only choice) - French fry worship - FAIL

I do NOT like coleslaw, potato salad, or any other marinated in vinegar vegetable. - Culinary assimilation of picnic foods - FAIL

I do NOT like Winnie the Pooh, the Mouse(you know of whom I speak) or his clubhouse song(see 'Do NOT know lyrics'). - Knowledge and appreciation of animated characters - FAIL

You see according to Rich, I'm a Russian spy, and my training was 'incomplete' based on the HUGE holes in my knowledge of Americana. I will admit nothing. I know nothing of this training he speaks of.

Again, I will admit nothing. I take this thing called the 5th. (historical documents - PASS)

I've Met Someone

It was love at first sight. Ahhhhh, amore'.


Let me tell you a little about him.


His name is Keurig, (CUre -egg), fall in love with the international mystery ladies. (Rich teases me about my Russian training, figured I'd go a little native. Note: Russian training another post)


OMG is he hot! His body is sleek and toned and hard as metal. What more could a woman ask for?


He doesn't care if I don't wear make-up and my hair is a mess every morning when I see him.


I love to push his buttons and make him 'purr' at my every command. He's ready to go any time of day. We do have some steamy moment together.


I know, I know I'm a married woman WHAT was I thinking. It really is for my own sanity and Rich is cool with Keurig. I mean, this work widow gig is rough, the late nights, early mornings are enough to drive a woman off a ledge.

Since Keurig is sure to be around for a LONG, LONG, LONG time I guess we should introduce you to him.

Isn't he handsome!?

Dr. Craptastic Take Two

How did I pick the short straw! Last appt. of the day, office going nuts. I kid you not, children RUNNING around the waiting room. Three boys just bounding around, asking where the restroom is. They then walked RIGHT into the back of the office looking for the restroom. Excuse me!

This one dad(back in the waiting room) kept saying, 'Angel, stop it or we're going to the car' So, she would do it again with no follow through on the consequence. I wanted to scream "My 21 month old is more behaved than this!" BIG pet peeve is parents not following through with discipline.

Got back into the rear waiting and witnessed something sort of wrong. The sonogram tech came out of the sono room, I could hear crying in the room. She had a discussion with a Dr. right in front of me and another patient about a womans' 20 wk. scan. Apparently, the baby has dextrocardia, heart on the right side of the body. Ummm, is it wrong of me to think that they shouldn't be discussing that in the open!? (adding fuel to me wanting to leave this office)

On to Dr. Craptastic.

The conversation was actually much better. No exam, No sonogram. Just a repeat beta to make sure my #'s are going down. He does want us to wait a cycle before TTC again and then wants to start Clomid. He was once again trying to convince me of a few things and I just let him talk. No need to argue with a Dr. from the old school. That was the extent of it.

Little concerned about the no sonogram to rule out any lingering tissue but I have one scheduled next week with the new Dr. I'll discuss trying again with the new Dr. and see what she says. There are MANY mom on my October '07 boards that got pregnant on the MC cycle. That's the plus, the con is everything else I read. The fact of the endometrial lining not having time to regenerate to the proper thickness to support a new pregnancy, the higher risk of recurrent MC, my hormones(messed up as they are) really needing time to stabilize.

The BIGGEST CON: I just don't know if I'm ready again and would hate to question my decision after it was too late. Not that a new pregnancy would be a mistake. I just think my mind and emotions need to be wholly present in the joy of a new pregnancy and not carrying unresolved sadness into what should be an exhilarating, bonding, and hopeful moment in our lives.

The Last Week

I don't know where to begin this since my thoughts are all scattered in my brain. Best to start at the beginning....

Most of you know that Rich and I started our trying to conceive journey again this summer. I think both of us went into it having gleaned SO much knowledge and faith from last time that it would happen.

Here's the beginning.

It took me 25 days to ovulate. I normally ovulate cycle day 18 to 21 so I thought annovulatory cycle, nothing new with my PCOS. Then surprise, July 4th I got a eggie present! YEAH! The timing was perfect since it was a long weekend for Rich and I both.

Now I will say that time has taught me to NEVER go into a cycle thinking 'this is the one'. After all the infertility and treatments you just learn not to set yourself up for disappointment by hoping too much. So I started taking my progesterone(Provera) like I'm suppose to. You see I don't produce enough progesterone after ovulation to hold my uterine lining long enough for a egg to implant. (see: Luteal Phase Defect)

I started spotting at 8 days past ovulation, despite the Provera so I checked myself out of that cycle. Tested 12 days past ovulation, got a negative so stopped the Provera. I had what I would call a period, 4 days, heavy, med, med, light.

This is where it gets crazy.

Friday, July 24th, left ovary has been CRAMPING for 2 days now. I think cyst or really early ovulation which sometimes happens after I've ovulated really late.

Saturday, July, 25th...play tennis match but just don't have any energy, feeling out of sorts., spotting a bit

Sunday, July 26th...wake up SUPER tired but decide to meet a friend at the gym at 1pm. Do a KICK ASS workout of almost two hours but feel great. Come home and start feeling fluish, headache, slightly nauseous. I took my blood pressure it was 110/72 so perfect there. Spotting heavier that night.

Monday, July 27th...wake up to full on period type flow and immediately call my Dr's office. With all the cramping and not feeling well I thought maybe an ovarian cyst had burst since my period stopped 7 days prior. Gwen, the nurse takes all the information over the phone and then asks, 'Your sure you're not pregnant'. Me, 'Well, I took a test at 12 DPO, it was neg.' Her, 'Oh ok"

So I continue to cramp and bleed all day but it fades off later in the day.

Tuesday, July 28th...wake up to even more bleeding and worse cramping at 6:30am. At this point, I decided to test just to MAKE SURE I wasn't pregnant. You can imagine what happened next, I POAS and there was as DARK line, no questioning it. There it was.

I immediately call the Dr. Office and put a panicked message on Gwen's nurse line. She calls back almost immediatly and has me in at 10:45....I called at 9am.

So I arrive and sit in the waiting room for 45 mins! The nurse finally calls me back and as I explain things she's giving me looks like there are horns on my head. She also questions whether I know when I ovulated...ERRR I chart lady! So there's another 15 mins. of my life.

Finally get into an exam room and see the Dr., I've been calling him Dr. Craptastic we will stick with that. Dr. Craptastic enters the room, I've never met him before since the practice has 6 Dr.'s. Here's how the conversation went. ( a lose outline of what I remember)

Dr. Crap: " So what's going on here"
Me: "Well, I'm pregnant, cramping bleeding. I bleed a bit with my daughter so I guess I need to get checked out and maybe put on progesterone to make it stop. I have PCOS and last time Dr. Tagechian had me on metformin and progesterone until 14 wks. I did do 8 days of Provera this cycle but I tested, it was negative so I stopped taking it"
Dr. Crap: "I don't have time to look in your chart to know everything"(me dumbfounded)
Dr. Crap: "Progesterone is used to bring on a period, not sustain a pregnancy"
Me: "But there is bloodwork proving that I don't have the correct progesterone rise to sustain pregnancy. Dr. Tagechian used the progesterone last time to correct that end of my cycle so there'd be a bigger hormone drop, hoping to kick start my estrogen and ovaries to ovulate'
Dr. Crap: (putting up his hand to SHHHHush me) "You need Clomid, we need to simplify this. No temping, no progesterone, no OPK's, just have sex and you'll get pregnant. " (me on verge of tears)
Me: Well apparently I am/did get pregnant and now I'm bleeding.
Dr. Crap: Nurse, we'll do an exam (him squishing around on my nether regions) "We'll need to confirm this with blood. That's it, they'll take your blood up front" - Dr. Crap leaves.

I honestly think I was in shock at what just happened. There was no explanation of the exam, of if it was a miscarraige what to expect, if it wasn't what MIGHT be causing the bleeding. Needless to say Dr. Crap needed lessons in bed side manner. I returned home, very confused and infuriated. I called and left a tearful message with Gwen about the appt. and could I PLEASE talk to Kathy Watkins my nurse practitioner since she knew my case. (Note: Dr. Tagechian was out of the office all last week)

Kathy called me that night at 7:45pm from her house, while she was eating dinner to talk me off my ledge. I can not even beging to express the gratefullness after what had transpired earlier in the day. She noted everything I said about no instructions and being put-off in my chart for Dr. Tag. to see, although I'm sure nothing will be done to Dr. Craptastic.

Wednesday, July 29th...more bleeding but less cramps. Have to call and beg for beta # at 4pm right before office closes. I'm told that it's an 85 by Gwen. Dr. Craptastics nurse didn't bother calling.

Thursday July 30th...spotting, no cramps. Go in for more bloodwork early in the morning and proceed with my day.

Friday, July 31st....spotting but feeling good. I took another HPT in the morning and it was still as dark as the Tuesday test so this was reassuring. The nurse that took blood on Thursday ASSURED me that they would call on Friday not to worry. Long story short, they DID NOT CALL. So Rich and I went through a torturous weekend of not knowing.

Sunday, Aug. 2nd...I took another HPT and it was much lighter and my boobs had deflated. Just expecting the worse at this point.

Monday, Aug. 3rd....I wake up and immediately call the Dr. office at 9am for results, left message.

1pm - left another message.

3:30pm - left a panicked message with Gwen. I also took the time to call a different Dr. office and start the paperwork to transfer - more on that later.

4:15 - FINALLY get a call from Gwen she tells me that Dr. Craptastic and his nurse are deciding what the next step is. Me: " Well, while they decide can I have my number?" Gwen. " It's a 69" I could hear the ache in Gwen's voice. So, we discussed that it was probably an early miscarriage and that I'd wait for instructions.

So here I am on Wednesday, all the bleeding has stopped. I see Dr. Craptastic tomorrow at 4:20 for hopefully the last time.

I have an appt. with the new Dr. next Tuesday at 10am. It's an all female practice that was highly recommended by my friend, Kathy. Kathy saw me through to the other side of this last week. She took Nora whenever I needed her too, would call just to chat and let me vent if I needed too. I will be forever grateful to her for all her words of kindness and hugs.

I also have to thank my October '07 mommies for all the hoorays for being pregnant, boos for Dr. Craptastic, and big hugs at the end of all this. I wish I had some of you here in Atlanta(IRL)

For those that ask, I'm fine. Emotionally, it has been a very taxing time but Rich and I have held on to each other through it. We understand the risks with my PCOS, that I'm twice as likely to miscarry than the average woman. We are also realists and know that it didn't happen without good reason. Nature knew better than us, we accept that although it's hard.. For now, I think we will have a pause in our trying to concieve journey to just breathe. I know it will happen again in time and that timing will be perfect.

ETA: Please DO NOT post anything on Facebook about this. There are people we would rather not share this with.

Small Update

I'm at 170.4 with 8 days to go...we will see what happens.

Those '0's are hard ones to break.

The 160's have been alluding me and it's time to get serious!

I've been sitting here for almost 2 months, goofing off, lacking the motivation for the next weight battle. The scale has been SO close! 170.6 is right there!

I don't really think all the travel for Cari's wedding and grandpa's bday helped. I gained about 4 lbs in those 2.5 wks. At least I got rid of that gain pretty quickly.

I guess it doesn't help that I'm sitting at my drafting desk working with a glass of red wine. Well, cheers! Cheers, to giving up the alcohol again and setting a drop dead date of Aug. 10th to be below the 170 mark. This is probably doable, it has to be doable.

I could get pregnant in the meantime which could completely screw things up but I lost 7 lbs with Nora so maybe that small miracle will happen again.

p.s. I weight 171.2 this morning so there's a little more work to be done than .6

She has a complicated palette.....

So Nora will NOT eat the following normal toddler foods...

Hotdog
Lunchmeat
Lance Crackers
Applesauce

BUT, BUT, BUT she will eat...

Mommy's Garlic Greenbeans with Walnuts! Oh, how I love that she's being adventurous. Let's face it a hotdog is not an adventure. Ok, well maybe it can be to discover the various meat forms used.

Here is the green been recipe.

1 lb fresh greenbeans with ends cut off
3 T. minced garlic - I used the jarred kind
3 T. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. garlic powder(yes, you did see garlic 3 times)
1 c. walnut quarters

Put olive oil and minced garlic in pan on stove med. heat...cook for 4 mins. I use a 12" sauce pan.

Add green beans, garlic salt, garlic powder and add 1/4 cup water...put lid on pan for 5 mins.

Take lid off pain and stir. Cook until water is gone(approximately another five minutes) Add walnuts and stir for 2 minutes to heat walnuts...SERVE!

Note: The greenbeans are tender crisp when I make this.

Sewing for Babysitting

I'm currently sewing curtains, dust ruffle and shams for my friend Kathy...pics to follow soon!

Everything is finished but I forgot to take my camara to her house! (not to worry she lives in the neighborhood). I'll get over there tomorrow as Andrew is asking to play with his "Norna"

To My Sister On Her Wedding Day

This is the speech I made at my sister's wedding......

Good Evening,

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Cari's older sister Amanda or Mandy depending on what point in life you met me. As Cari wrote almost 6 yrs ago on my wedding date, I will ALWAYS be Mandy to her, she will ALWAYS be Cari or Carebear to our family, everything in those names brings back our childhood and what having a sibling means.

While Cari and I were growing up, we experienced our toughest and happiest times and we have always been there for each others most shining moments, such as today.

The tone of our sisterly love was set early on, about 28 yrs ago this month in fact. Imagine two sisters, joyfully playing with blocks on a summer day. I think I must have decided to 'improve' the structure by taking a block from Cari's pile, BIG mistake. The next thing I knew my forehead was meeting a metal trash can powered by a toddlers wrath. Four stitches and a bag of jelly beans later, we were friends again. It is only appropriate that this is my EARLIEST memory in life and you were there.

Beyond this early negotiation, Cari and I have given each other everything we could over the years, or not, but then we'd just take it out of the others closet when she wasn't looking. We have been each others courage, support, comfort, enemy, playmate, roommate, and have never failed to make each other laugh. You with your sense of humor and me with my never ending lack of balance.

As children we dream of our wedding day and hope to marry the perfect man that is our best friend, the love of our lives, a true partner. I think our family and extended friends can see that Pat has fulfilled all of your hopes for a husband. Pat, welcome to the family and the friends that are as close as family. As dad said to Rich on our wedding weekend, 'This is a cash and carry deal, there are no returns.'

Tonight we celebrate everything you have found in each other and all your dreams for the future, so I would like everyone to raise their glasses in a toast to Pat and Cari.

Congratulations and love to you both.

We were classy flyers!

My day started with Nora deciding to wake up at 6am! This is an unheard of time in our house and a good 2 hrs before we normally get up...

Coffee, lots and lots of coffee.

Pick up the house, pack the little stuff, clean up the cat barf, take out the trash, pay the bills, and off we went......

To the little airport kiosk that tells you what 'friend' you get to have on the 2 hr flight that can be endless with a toddler.

SURPRISE, surprise, surprise. We got upgraded to first class, for FREE! Rich came back after two seconds and said,

'Did we buy first class tickets'....
Me: 'NO'
Him: Well that's where we are!

The luggage steward at the ticket counter couldn't figure it out either, we bought regular tickets, never upgraded them and there we are the Class 'A' flyers today.

Get through the terminal, get through security, feed toddler lots of french fries, get on the plane, pray toddler sleeps, toddler bounces around, get smush, pushed, pray toddler sleeps, realize toddler is NOT going to sleep today.

Say ever so grateful prayer to the traveling god that made First Class yours today.

Leavin' on an Airplane!

Leaving tomorrow for Cari's wedding. check back for photo updates on all the festivities.

Conversations by Nora

Conversation Nora had with herself in the carseat pretending to talk on the phone

" Hell -whoa"

"Fine, I fine"

"How you?"


I'm glad I wasn't trying to stop I would have rear ended someone! Laughed so hard I was crying....

ETA: This one is from this evening...

"I back!" (means I'll be back)

Nora comes around the corner

"Mommy, daddeeeee. I can't find it jabber,jabberjabber"

Us: what can't you find

" I can't find it, jabber, jabber, da ball?"
_________________

Split Hairs.

I hope Rich gets to read this post.

Last night I found my 2nd gray hair!!!!! GASP!

Apparently the one my forehead hairline decided it needed a friend on my temple. As any woman would do I pulled the offending strand out!

Guess the kid finally aged me a little, hon.

Of course, this still only puts me at one gray hair you caused and one gray hair Nora caused. This is FAR below your count. I take full responsibility for your graying head. I know I can cause many a stress, worry, irritation, or sleepless night.

I know, "I love you too"!

I figure I'll get all my gray hair when the kids are teenagers from them running me ragged, stressing me out, etc...then again you'll have gone completely gray.

What's after gray hair? Wrinkles? Your oily skin may save ya on that one.

8x8 - because I was tagged

Holly tagged me...

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
- my sister's wedding on June 20th
- TTC #2
- Our trip to the beach in July
-Nora getting over her current virus.
- Having time to actually garden after clients tomorrow.
- Rich being done with this project so I can stopped being a single but married mom
- Finding a church this summer, it's about time I got back to that.
- Tennis practice on Thursday nights

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
-woke up at 5:45 because Nora had a 103.8 fever
- went to the Grocery store
- took a nap
- had the in-laws over for dinner
- finished booking stuff for the trip to KC
- did 2 loads of laundry
- Said a silent 'thank you' prayer when Nora went to bed after a long, sick, fussy toddler day
- Told Rich to come to bed at 2:30 in the morning

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:
- Afford to finish the house renovations so I could stop looking at them!
- find a stay at home mommy group over here in East Cobb.
- Sleep in during the week
- Make sure that Nora doesn't inherit the infertility that runs in my family
- Appreciated more of the small stuff before it happens
- Be a better mom and wife, there are days when I know I'm lacking
- Lose the last 10 lbs, gain 2, lose 2, gain 2, lose 2
- Figure out how to pass by licensure exam

8 SHOWS I WATCH:
-How I Met Your Mother
- Big Bang Theory
-Biggest Loser
-Oprah
-Project Runway
-Grey's Anatomy
- House

8 FAVORITE FOODS:
Chocolate
Steak
Salmon
Fruit - almost any kind
Pickles
Cheetos - didn't have them alot growing up, guilty adult pleasure
Tangerine Beef chinese
Wings

8 PLACES I'VE TRAVELED:
-Cozumel, Mexico
-France
-England
-Switzerland
-Belgium
-Germany
-NYC
-San Francisco

8 PLACES I'D LIKE TO TRAVEL:
-Lochness in Scotland
-Washington State - there's some cool plant life/ecosystems
-Ireland
-New Zealand
-Mayan Pyramids
-Egypt
-Hawaii
- Grand Canyon

Recycled Thoughts

Guilt, guilt, guilt over ALL the diapers we are sending into the landfill! It sent me over the edge into the recycling world last month.

Of course, the recycling increased our quarterly trash bill by $18 BUT I also got the trash portion of the bill reduced by $4 a quarter. Almost 1 quarter of recycling free!

Back story on the price reduction.....Bunch of us neighborhood ladies were talking about the economy, price cutting, and what bills we had 'cut'. It came out that people were paying 2 different rates for trash, I think it had to do with when you signed on. So hooray for Liberty Trash being nice and reducing my rate!

The trashcan that all the recycling goes in is about 3/4 the size of the Bigger trash container. To my utter amazement we actually FILLED the thing the 2 wks before they picked it up. When you REALLY start realizing how many things have the little triangle of recycling it does start to embarrass you.

Because this is cutting down on trash, I figure we might actually cut down on the # of trashbags we use every month. So I did some simple math.

Previous bags/wk - 5, which is 260/yr
Current - 3, which is 156

Math:
260-156 = 104 fewer bags a trash a year!

The box of trash bags we buy is always in counts of 80 from BJ's for $9 or less if I have a coupon. (FYI, for people with club memberships, BJ's takes coupons!) This means I'm going through $12 less in trashbags per year! Not a huge savings but it almost makes up for another quarter of recycling cost.

BUT, here's one I had to laugh at.

We buy Nora these organic ravioli's at BJ's because she LOVES them and doesn't like tomato sauce. Organic product, hard plastic packaging, NOT recyclable?

Ironic isn't it?

Swimming with the Alligators.

I don't even know where to begin this one!

We had a playdate over at a friends house. The kiddos(nora and andrew) LOVE the little pool and it keeps them entertained for a LONG TIME.(keep this in mind for later)

Kathy and I are just chatting along watching the kids play. Nora stands up, having been seated for 30 mins. or so. Ummmm, the entire back of her swimmer is hanging LOW.

Me thinking, Oh my land!

What I said, " Uh, Kathy Nora's pants are looking pretty heavy I better check that out"

Get to the pool, murky water! EWWWWWWWW!

"Kathy, you might want to remove Andrew, we have little swimmer failure"

Kathy, the germaphobe, gets Andrew out. ONLY to discover that he has also poooood!

Double the swimming in poo! Might as well have been swimming in the sewer with the alligators.....it's gonna take a long time to TOP this one in the mommyhood.

Scolding the Crazy Cat

Nora now scolds the cats! Guess she hears us say these things a little too often.

The favorite thing to say is, "No, no, stop kee-tee"

Phebs is almost always her kitty of choice to scold and admonish with a finger. MOST of the time Phebs is sublimely rubbing a piece of furniture or my drafting stool. By the volume at which Nora talks to the cat this is a GREAT offense.

Those of you that know Phebs are aware of her crazy nature that does warrant much scorn from Rich and I. I shall list her numerous offenses that happen on a monthly basis

1. Licking vellum paper - at $1 a square foot a decadent treat

2. Licking plastic Grocery bags - for the kitty on a shoe string budget.

3. Running through the bonus room, ACROSS my laptop, and then plastering herself to the window like a suction cup car ornament.

4. Biting guests! I think the count is at 5 bites so far in the 5 yrs we've had her. There is something called 'overstimulation' in cats....give them lots of love and WHAM! Little S & M kitty that likes rough loving.

5. Biting my childs head, or at least trying to. The curvature of Nora's head is such that Phebs has never actually broken skin.

6. Nocturnal pestering of the most annoying kind! She 'pokes' you with her claws at all hours of the night. She could want food, water, or love(read previous entry)

7. Walking on the printers! Rich has gone so far as to put rolls of tape on them for MONTHS at a time. Too bad the cat is smart and realized it was gone.

Daddy's Littlest Helper

LONG ago, in October I set out to build Nora a playhouse for our backyard. This lasted approximately, 48 hrs and then the frame sat in the garage, much to the husbands frustration.

In comes holiday weekend! Rich and I decide THIS will be our project to finish, between the rain, rain, and more rain. It's actually fascinating to look at the radar this weekend for the entire nation. I don't think there's one state that's NOT getting rain.

I digress......

Rich and I started building as Nora played in the yard, thanks to the new fence. She eventually started showing interest in what mommy and daddy were doing on the hill.

Daddy explains:


Nora trying to 'help' but she doesn't have a drill


"I have the screws, thus all the power in this project process" ....she wouldn't give us the box, just one screw at a time




Relaxing on her new playhouse floor.

The Weight Thing

So here's the weight report!

What the heck the loyal readers should know from whence I came, for one I think it makes me realize the magnitude of the weight loss.

Top weight: 187.6( yeah, that was 5.4 lbs from top pregnancy weight, not proud of that)
Current weight: 171.6
Loss: 16 lbs!
height: 5' 5"(not that it's gonna change but never the less there it is)
Neck: 14"(-1")
Waist: 33.75"(-3.25")
Hips: 41.5"(-3")
Bust: 41"(-2)

I have some serious curves, almost text book hourglass shape, need about 2.5" to come off my waist.

Before:

After:


Hooray! Here's the crazy part. I'm SMALLER measurement wise than I was last year this time when I was the same weight! Sliding into some size 10 stuff these days, my jaw hit the floor in Kohl's today when that happened.

Still REALLY hesitant to buy a bunch of new clothes in new sizes with the baby time table right around the corner. Little person in the back of my brain keeps saying, 'Damn it, lose all this weight only to get pregnant again right away' the other part of my brain says, 'Woman it could be MONTHS before your pregnant stop obsessing' ERRRRRR, the war of consciences will continue I'm sure but the clock is ticking as I turn 32 in July.

Ok, that was scary saying 32....how did I get that OLD!

What we learned today....

Today, today we learned a LOT about 'No' and how serious momma can be about 'No'. And then momma learned that sometimes she can't keep a straight face while saying 'No'.


This morning while I was trying to start work at my desk.

Nora: Mommy?
Me: Yes, baby.
Nora: Caw-wah, me?
Me: Ok, here's a purple marker(they are Pip squeaks, washable by Crayola)
Nora: Dat Do

Nora proceeds to color on her 36"x36" piece of paper. I go to brush my teeth and have a quick conversation with Rich. Nora walks into the bathroom.

Me: Nora, not in the mouth!(pull marker out of Nora's mouth, which is purple at this point)
Nora: No mouf?
Me: No mouth, wait a minute the marker is almost white! Rich I think she sucked the color out!!!
Rich: Is that ok?
Me: I don't know, I can only assume Crayola plans for these things.

Mommy proceeds to do computer to research whether the purple mouthed child will die....not likely according to the internet.

***************************************************************************************

Nora and Mommy in the car to go shopping.

My poor child has inherited the epic sneeze gene from her daddy.

Nora sneezes

Me: oh dear Lord, Nora here's a "nose" wipe your face(Nora calls wipes "noses" b/c they are used so frequently on that body part)
Nora: Nose?
Me: Yes baby wipe your nose.
Nora: 'Iccky'
Me: Yes, icky. Please clean your nose

Nora proceeds to blow into the wipe and smear snot from ear to ear. THEN, THEN for the first time in 3 mths of blowing her own nose, she discovers she can close one nostril and get more force!

Me: NO! No shooting snot out of your nose!
Nora: giggle, no comment, blow again

Instant snot walrus out the right nostril!!! I'm driving thinking, "Oh gross! How am I going to sanitize the carseat!" While Nora giggles about it all behind me.

The EVIL recipes

Of course, I'm going to put the one with Chocolate first! Note: I did make these with EggBeaters and light margarine so the fat count isn't completely awful, but the sugar will get ya!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over 1 3/4 c. Oatmeal and 1 stick
butter(let sit until butter is dissolved)

In Bowl:

1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all these together, then add oatmeal mixture.

Add: 1 3/4 c. flour and mix all together.

Add: 1 1/4 c. chocolate chips( make sure the batter is down to room
temperature, otherwise the chocolate chips melt!)

Bake at 325 for 20-25 mins. Makes 24 med. muffins.

Next:

Blueberry or Strawberry Pound Cake Muffins

1 c. margerine
2 c. sugar
1 T vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. blueberries or chopped strawberries
1/4 tsp cinnamon(ONLY IF STRAWBERRY)
3 c. flour.

In Bowl:

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs and vanilla. Add dry infredients and
mix until smooth. Add blueberries or strawberries by folding into
batter. (Note: You can use frozen blueberries but be sure to melt the
butter, otherwise the frozen blueberries make the batter too stiff)

Bake at 325 for 25 mins or until golden brown on top. Makes 24 med. muffins.

This can be made into a bundt cake with a sugar crust. Grease bundt
pan with 1/4 stick butter, then swirl 1/2 c. sugar around pan to stick
to butter. Pour batter directly into pan and bake at 325 for 1 hr.
10 mins. or until golden brown across top.

BESTEST Muffins EVER!!!!

This all started last week when my friend, Kathy was bemoaning the 'Muffins for Moms' breakfast in her kindergarten class tomorrow. All the moms come to school and have mid morning muffins with their kids. SOOOO cute, can't wait to do this with Nora.

Problem being, Kathy is a self-proclaimed hideous cook! Last year it took her 6 hrs to bake 48 muffins because she kept burning them.

Here's where I step in,

Me: " Kathy, just let me baked the muffins."
Her: " Are you serious? That's insane, you don't want to do that, you don't have time"
Me: " Hello woman! I'm a stay at home mom that works part time and LOVES to cook! Let me do it!"
Her: " You need Prozac but ok"

Baking started yesterday, first batch was Blueberry Pound Cake made into muffins. This is quite possible my favorite cake from mom's recipe box. (Short back story, Rich hates blueberries and when he first met me he ate 2 pieces to not hurt my feelings so he'd have a shot at me. It's since become a great "war story" for him)

Second batch, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal muffins! I once again deferred to my moms' Oatmeal Cake recipe, added more flour, more oatmeal, and chocolate chips. These things are sinful! Thank goodness they are to be consumed by hi-octane, calorie burning 6 yr olds!. Although Kathy, might KILL me after the sugar rush these are going to cause, but hey there's oatmeal right? Gotta be ok if there's 2 c. of oatmeal in them?

Third batch, Strawberry Pound Cake made into muffins! I have HIT the jackpot! Can you just imagine strawberries all cooked into the shortcake, cut in half slathered with whip cream....OHHH so yummy. I didn't try it for fear that submissive fat cells would try to revolt against my diet.

All this culinary bliss yielded 62 delicious muffins for which Kathy is SO grateful. Hopefully, they live up to her bragging about getting her 'personal chef' to cook gourmet muffins. She cracks me up!

I will gladly give the recipes to anyone who wants them, but they are downstairs right now and I'm too lazy to go get them.

Waiting and praying

One of my friends is having a FULL colostomy done tomorrow. Kaycie is only 26, has Crohn's and had to make this drastic decision recently. She goes into surgery tomorrow at 2pm, for those of you that pray send one her way.

You can follow her journey here.
http://theburgefamily.blogspot.com

Bottles, bottles........

Bottle, bottle you make me beg, will you bring me a little egg.

Here it is folks. Two little bottles that could turn to three.


Am I ready for this? The up and down and crying and disappointment that comes with it all. I don't know. I know this much, no egg for 3 mths now so body is back to 'normal' polycystic behavior. "Normal" being that I only ovulate 3-4 times a year.

UGH! This is so frustrating, why can't I just get pregnant like everyone else I know! Have sex and within three months, your pregnant! Do people even realize how infuriating that is to me? Not infuriated at them but at my own body that doesn't work!

I'm torn between glee and distaste for the bottles, ovulation sticks, blood draws, thermometer that we hang our hopes on every month. Torn when friends say, "It'll happen faster this time," like they are voyeurs into my reproductive future.

The brighter side, Rich is REALLY on board this time. Not that he wasn't last time, but with 20 hrs a week of graduate school things were a little overwhelming. We are in such a better place emotionally as a couple to handle this WELL worn path that has seen us before.

Rich says there are still days when he's amazed that Nora's down the hall. I watch them and know that our family is not complete yet and Rich couldn't adore Nora more. She is truely the apple of his eye and his sunshine when he's had a bad day at work.

Oh, how I want to give Rich more sunshine.

Get OVER it!

Lord, give me patience with people I do NOT understand!

Rich and I have a dear friend that has seemingly written us of for a stupid, childish reason.

(Side note: she DOES NOT read this blog or even know about it.)

I've been friends with this lady for almost 8 yrs now and have been witness or the ear that listens to many of her eccentric ideas about how people should treat her. I truely believe we should all have a standard to which we hold friends so that I have always agreed with.

Rewind to Rich's bday back in January, she forgot, we had to postpone birthday dinner about 4 times due to crazy schedule changes and illness. The three of us finally did dinner in mid-March.

Fastforward, Amanda goes to TX for 10 days, Amanda gets back to a NUTS work schedule because it's spring and that pesky landscape designer thing comes into play, Easter happenings, family moving happenings, renovation happenings....and Opps!

We forgot her birthday the beginning of April. Considering everything that was going on I was lucky to remember it 10 days AFTER the fact.

I immediately emailed an apology, problem being you just never know when she's got a computer down. Technology just doesn't like her in the least and her computer constantly has what she calls 'scary messeges' for which Rich gets called at all hours of the day.

Three days pass and I call her phone to see if I can talk to her...NOTHING. The situation is not helped that her cellphone is not set up to take messages....see above about techonology issues.

I am at a loss, I truely didn't forget or ignore her on purpose, I'm JUST human and made a mistake.

In eight years, I've seen her do this to other friends. Her fuming about some slight she thinks has occurred and how she's 'showing them' by not communicating for a month. Seriously! Seriously, I've always thought the behavior was childish and well below her. So she continues to shun us.....

I anticipate a 'scolding' whenever she choses to communicate since we three have adopted each other as family....

and I pray for the patience to be nice when she finally calls and not stick my foot in my mouth.

Closer and closer!

Getting ever so much closer to renovations being complete on the house. After 5 yrs, we'd love to have it all finished and are getting envious of our friends that bought new! Here's the quick update on the Spring '09 projects.....

The kitchen backsplash. I can not believe how much this changed the look of our kitchen and the BRIGHTNESS it brought to the space. If we EVER do a kitchen renovation again we are getting it done ALL at one time! No more, scrap the wallpaper, paint the walls 3 time(I couldn't decide on a color!), scrap the linoleum, tile the floor.......you get the picture



Fence to contain the munchkin! Nora LOVES her new back yard and the freedom it gives her. Mommy also like the freedom as I can start dinner while Nora plays in her sandbox on the back patio!

The Randomness of Life

This post is just going to be a scattering of happenings in our lives. Each of these may become an expanded post once my life returns to sanity...this should happen sometime the end of May.

* Easter was great! Nora hunted eggs for the first time this year. Of course the hunting ended once she discovered the M&M's inside the plastic eggs. Lesson learned on that one!

* We are getting tile on our kitchen backsplash tomorrow, HOORAY! After 5 years I will finally get rid of nasty laminate and our kitchen will be finished.

* We are fencing in our little roamer! No longer will Nora be able to run to the street and scare us to death! The fence was a GREAT invention!

* I got my progesterone prescriptions written a week ago at the Dr. The fertility war is ON for 2009! Three months of drugs to see if my body will decided to ovulate on it's own. If not, I would assume stronger drugs come next fall. Fingers crossed, the stronger drugs have health risks involved.

* The Jennens (Dave, Jen, Samantha, Michael) are moving to Florida tomorrow after being here for 3 yrs. We are sad to see family go but excited about their new adventure. Nora will miss the cousins!!!! BUT they are in Tamps which is spitting distance to DisneyWorld, may have to make Nora a super happy little girl with visit sometime soon.

* I traded in 100 books to a used/new bookstore near our house. I now have $100 credit in that store.....too bad that won't go far with my 1 bk/week initiative.

* In weight related news, Rich actually apologized for not saying something about my weightloss!? He had to see the pics on my blog in order to realize exactly HOW much thinner I've gotten....men, right?

* In gym news, I did 2500 stairs today in 45 minutes and that's a record for me so far! So glad I came home and ate Cheetos with Nora.

DONATE your dress!

Random reading led me to this organization but I'm SOOOOOO glad I found it!

My immediate thought was 'Do they take wedding dresses?' Some girls may not want to part with THE dress but I've got all the pictures to tell me about that day. The next thought was " How fantastic it would be if I could GIVE another bride my dress for her special day.

ALAS, they do NOT take wedding dresses.

BUT!

They do take formal dress or bridesmaid dresses that can be worn as such. Come on ladies, how would you like a tax write off for the worn once gown that's hanging in your closet!

Here's the link

http://www.donatemydress.org

Here's the address to mail dresses if you don't have a donation center/drive near you! I'm going to put together a box so if any friends want to add to it just get me the dress!

Becca's Closet, Inc.
151 North Nob Hill Road
Suite 280
Plantation, Florida 33324

A pictures worth....

So this was me on Jan. 23rd.....notice the baby bulge that had returned after a 9lbs gain in Dec...completely embarassed about that!




And this is me April 1st - 12 lbs lighter, 2" off my waist, 2" off hips, 1" off my neck! What a crazy place to lose weight! My back side has definitely lost some of it's 'junk' and wow, there a division between my chest and stomach!

Encounters of the Ex kind

It's just WEIRD!

I was perusing Facebook last night and happened to look at my sister's page. What the HECK! First boyfriend, we'll call him 'B' wrote on my sisters wall?

And I quote,

"Been a long time Cari, and for what it's worth... I wanted to send my sympathies to you and yours. Your Grandfather was always nice to me, so thank you. Best o' luck, and have fun in everything you do!"

My first thought was " It's been 12 freaking years since the break-up! Why is he communicating with my sister?" Then I thought it's not worth the time to even think about this. Obviously he doesn't feel comfortable communicating with me for what ever reason. Guess all the water is not under the proverbial bridge.

Cari's comment "SO strange, your ex offering ME condolences. Completely random and inappropriate."

So I asked Rich what he thought, Rich's comment "Guy needs to get some balls and just contact you if he feels he needs to sympathize. Fact is, it's been 12 years, he needs to get over it and stop being a 19 yr old."

My next thought "Good point hon, considering we are friends with your first girlfriend and her husband. (HI Elizabeth!) And your not threatened by her being married or her husband."

I guess to weird and unexplained things smile?

In case he reads this blog by googling my name. No worries, email me, friend me on Facebook whatever.

Serenity Prayer #278 for the day

Dear Lord, please give me patience today and make it better than yesterday!

This was yesterday.

Wake up late. I was recovering from traveling with a 17 mth old for a week. I HAD 1 hr to get out of the house but I squandered it laying in bed and checking email. I was left with 30 mins.

Get Nora to daycare late. I get her there late enough that they are eating lunch already, which means all the little kiddos will take nap soon. Nora woke up at 930am, it is now 1100am, she's NO WHERE near ready for nap!

Head to doctor. Realize I don't have my new insurance card because it's in the diaper bag at home. My appointment is at 11:30, it's now 11:05 and I HAVE to be there by 11:15. Office policy says you can't arrive later than 15 mins before.

SO, I try to call them to 'cancel'...my quickly dying cellphone dies as the lady picks up the phone. OMG! I'm about to lose it in the car. I get home, can't find my charger anywhere, left my car charger in TX. Good times! I call, get the appointment cancelled and rescheduled for the 4th time since early February. I'm sure the scheduler has my name tagged and blocked by now and I will have a sit down with her whenever I have my appt. Envisioning principles office type lecture on this.

It's now 11:20. My blood pressure is through the roof! Nora's at daycare, I figure ehh, I'll pay bills and go to the grocery store. I pay the mortgage and the electric and think 'I should take these to the post office' I'm one of those strange people that LIKES to go to the post office. It makes me feel like I still live in a small town.

11:45am. I drive up to the drop off boxes and just happen to glance at the letters. I forgot a stamp on 1, mildly cursing myself I pull in to a parking spot. Go inside to find a broken automated stamp dispenser. Proceed to stand in line for 20 mins for one blessed stamp! The novelty of the post office has worn off.

Thankfully nothing exceptional happened at the grocery store. Proceed back to daycare

Nora has leaked out of her diaper while there. I didn't have pants in the bag, so my child is half naked on a 60 degree day. Awesome, parental preparedness = fail. We get home and I stick Nora in her highchair for lunch while I get groceries out of the car.

It's is now 1:15pm. Water, why are my feet wet!? ERRRR the bay window has leaked again! I'm DONE with that roofing company we have a 20 yr warrenty that's apparently doing nothing! They have been out 5 times and it STILL leaks. I'm DONE. The only bright spot is that the travel diaper bag was far enough away from the leak that Jen's portable DVD player didn't get wet! My head hurts just thinking of the infuriation of having to replace it because of the stupid roof.

AHHHHH, 1:45 naptime! ERRRRRR 2:15 Nora is awake. STUPID freaking kitty. Phoebe has gone into Nora's bedroom and fooled with something until she woke up. Fun times! Nora has now had a 30 min. power nap and proceeds to be hypie tired.

2:45pm I put Nora BACK in her crib with a silent prayer that she goes back to sleep and the blessed cat stays out of her room SUCCESS!

Thankfully, gratefully nothing crazy happened for the rest of the day and my blood pressure got to return to normal.

My little clown

I found Nora under the pub table trying to get my shoes one this afternoon after the gym. I decided what the heck and put the 2nd shoe on. Here is the ensuing video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe9b2m1wXdI

Observations from the Bubble

I lived in a Bubble last week. Not actually a bubble, more like the bubble of grief. I KNEW, knew before I even picked up the phone what was on the other end. The phone had rung twice inside 5 mins. before 8am our time. I KNEW.

Within minutes of getting THAT phone call my mind created the 'compartmentaliztion bubble' for all the tasks that I need to get done before leaving the house. I did not focus on feeling anything, sadness, loneliness, happy, sad, because if I felt I would not be productive. My world went grey. Rich offered to stay home, but I sent him to work. It would be easier if my 'list' of thing got done by me, the way I wanted it.

We went to bed but I did not sleep because my sleeping mind was trying to burst the bubble of numbness I had created, the 'survival mode' that I had set. Woke up, blind to the day before me. Got on a plane, got off a plane, got on another plane, got off a plane, finally in Texas.

And so it began, the line of friends and distant relatives carrying thoughts of sorrow and platters and pots filled with comfort. So enters the 'epicurean bubble'. How do these people know the perfect combination of food to soothe the soul in times like these. The chocolate cakes, steamy cinnamon rolls, rich meats, and cheeses.

The food bound us together for moments during the day, moments to appreciate those that are still here and remember Papa. We created more memories as the grief spilled into laughter and remembrances for the eulogies and readings.

We all lived in the 'remembering bubble for several days, each of us in our own space. My dad at his office desk, head bent for hours on end over a legal pad, massaging each word of the eulogy until it was a perfect outline of Papa's life, loves, and character. The eulogy was a beautiful letter of love from a son to a father.

Cousins talking about how Papa was most likely greeting the pearly gates with a 'Howdee DO, this place is classy' as only he could say those words. Tradition was what stuck in our minds. Papa was ALL about his tradition. Traditions of the grandchildren doing Christmas programs, patriotic July 4th readings, raising the flag, quarter bets on the Kentucky Derby, pineapple sherbet, the 'center' of the watermelon, baseball games, arrowhead hunting, the Pink Cadillac go cart, and so many other things that would only make us smile.

Eventually the bubble has to pop. So we sat and stood in 35mph gusts of wind and said 'Goodbye' to a man that had shaped his family. A man with great faith, belief in the covenant of family, the strength of friendship, and the important of character and class.

I promise

I promise I'll post something in the next few days...it's been a whirl wind since Papa died

PCOS strikes AGAIN!

So here goes....

I had blood taken last Thursday to check my insulin levels to reset my Metformin dosage. Rich has agreed to start trying again in July! That's the exciting news. We will also have to see if I'm ready in July, as I keep vacillating back and forth. For those friends that read this blog, we will tell you when we are pregnant, people asking if we are 'pregnant yet' drives me insane! Since our miscarriage risk is 50% for the first 12 weeks it is a VERY stressful time for us and we like to stay private.

Here's yesterday's conversation:

The bad news according to the nurse. I quote " We don't normally ask for a cholesterol panel but your numbers didn't come back good'

Me: 'GReat!' (put a lot of sarcasm there)

Numbers:

Overall Chol - 184
Triglycerides - 225(this is the one they are concerned with)
HDL - 33
Bad Chol - 45
Some other bad # - 106
ratio: 3:2

The nurse didn't tell me what the ratio exactly meant but she made it sound bad. My understanding is that I have abnormally HIGH numbers of bad cholesterol compared to the good.

This is what I found out this afternoon when I googled. Dyslipidemia is the actual term for it when cholesterol level is in normal range but triglyc. are high. It is caused by extended periods
of raised insulin levels...hmmm sound familiar. Women with PCOS tend to have a higher total cholesterol and higher triglycerides because of the Insulin Resistance and imbalances that come with the disease. Here is the Wikipedia article that I found - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslipidemia

With the family history on my mom's side of high cholesterol and blood pressure, the cards are just stacked against me on this one. My Bepaw had 2 quadruple bypasses and was on a STRICT diet for the last 20 yrs of his diet. The good news is that with all the problems the family is SUPER informed on how to combat the deck of cards that is set against us. PCOS + family history = long medical road.

I'm hoping to get things more under control by working out and switching some things in my diet. (eat fish more). I already work out 5-7 hrs of cardio a week so I think I'm good there. I've lost 10 lbs since Jan. 1st so hopefully the next 20 lbs will also help that number.

Ear Infection and 2 Teeth

Last weeks fun in a nutshell:

1. Nora has ear infection #4 diagnosed one month to the day after the last one was diagnosed. Left ear in January and the right ear took February just to not to feel left out. She is on a 14 day round of antibiotics and will be seen again in a month.
* She LOVES Amoxil, actuall says 'YUMMMMMM!' after taking it!
* She has been put on the 'short list' for tubes. Or at least the Dr. mentioned them since her ear canals are crooked and very narrow. FUN!

2. We finally have all 4 middle teeth on the bottom!(found Feb. 20th) And just to make it more fun a left canine on top.(Found Feb. 22nd) I'm convinced teeth have evil plans, because EVERY time there's an ear infection new teeth arrive! Just to prolong the sleepless nights and mommy/daddy torture.

More exciting and fun news.

Asked Nora to say 'Poppy' as this is what my father wants to be called...Pop-poh! It seems Nora disagrees with the given name and has decided on another. We called Poppy so he could hear it but all he got was 'Oh-No'. Guess conversation was not in her plans.

other words: Bubble(buhbuh) , Butterfly (buh a byes) Butterflies is her second 3 syllable word!

Stairmaster take 2!!!

Ok, so excited! I did 101 flights in 35 mins. Here's how that breaks down

49 steps/min x 35 mins = 1,715!

Now to see what my knees think about that tomorrow. I know my sugar levels didn't appreciate it very much since they went really low towards the end. (Had to come home and gulp some OJ) I forgot to eat my breakfast bar before going to the gym. Opps!

Still working up the courage to do the SPIN class. Maybe by the middle of March.

Carbonation withdrawl.

I miss fizzy coke!

(coke = any beverage with carbonation, not COKE specifically)

Back in the summer and fall, I read several articles that were speculating that even Diet cokes were to blame for added pounds on the American body. Basically, the body was 'reading' Splenda, Equal or the artificial sweetner of choice as 'sugar'. So it didn't matter that the coke was Diet because your sweet tastebuds STILL tell your body to spike your insulin because 'sugar' is being eaten. This artificial spike eventually causes your metabolism to not process ANY sugar properly. My PCOS already causes insulin issues so no need to give my metabolism addition hurdles to overcome.

SOOOO......

I gave up carbonated beverages back in September on the OFF chance that it might help me lose some weight. But alas, my Diet Coke was not causing me to retain any weight. Five months later and I'm convinced the only reason for the weight loss is the 5-7 hrs/wk of cardio since Jan. 1st.

The good part is I don't feel the need to drink cokes anymore. I just sneak sips from Rich's nightly Diet Coke at dinner.

Disposal WINS!

Admittedly I have a whopper sinus infection and am stumbling through my day...Here is evidence to how tired I really am....This happened in less than 10 seconds, which in some way is a great endorsement for our new disposal.


Disposal - 1
Bottle Ring - 0

BOO!

This is Nora's favorite game of late. There are several games that revolve around 'boo!'

1. She 'hides' in the half bath and closes the door, leaving her in the dark. No fear of the dark with her. She talks in a questioning voice for a couple seconds and then opens the door and BOO! The only downside to this game is she will try to play it alone and lock herself in the bathroom. Many a day there are little screams from the bathroom.

2. The pillows on our upstairs couch are oversized and she will hide behind one and peek around the sides to say 'BOO!'. This can take up a half hour before bedtime.

3. The cutest rendition happened tonight. Nora was doing her bath time thing where she STANDS in the tub and duck splashes with her feet. She then grabs the CLEAR shower curtain and pulls it in front of her body and face. She then smirked and said, 'BOO???' and tilted her head to one side. She knew I could see her but decided to be a clown. I must give her a star for creative thinking though!

Dripping!

Ok, just have to post this because it's a HUGE thing to me. It is so important for me to focus on non-scale related goals to keep myself motivated about the health behind the weight loss, not the actual weight.

Today, I conquered the Stairmaster machine at the gym! That's right, after 40 minutes on the bike I decided to see how long I could hold my own on the evil machine. I've been very tentative since the cartilage in my left knee is shot from years of tennis. Big deep breath and off I went

I did 86 flights in 30 mins!!!!!

The machine said I did an 'average' of 45 steps per minute, so roughly 1,345. I was dripping sweat off my face by the time I was done. I love that, because it's a sign my workout was intense and doing it's job. The BEST part is that my knee didn't twing at ALL, guess all those miles walk/running on the treadmill finally strengthened my tendons.

Next goal: RPM cycle class

Winning and Losing

So the road to weightloss has been a tough one! I've lost, gained, lost, gained, lost again in the last 4 mths. I'm still no where close to my goals but have found out some interesting things none the less.

1. I actually don't eat ENOUGH! I started tracking calories on sparkpeople.com back the beginning of January. Ummm, most days I was hitting between 1000 and 1200 calories. Basic starvation mode for my body. Sorry body, been there done that and promised not to do it again! - LOSE

2. I'm not ovulating again. ERRRRR. Stupid PCOS. Going to be having MORE extensive bloodwork in the next couple weeks. This time it's testorerone, estrogen, lipids, glucose, thyroid, and one other thing I can't remember right now. - BIG LOSE

3. I CAN do 5+ hrs of cardio a week! This includes tennis, walking, running, or stairs. - BIG win for me on this one!

4. I feel ok about my body image but not great. Working through a lot of food issues and body image issues creeping up from the past, but I'm processing feelings not burying them. WIN

5. Scale obsession, not a good thing. Really thinking about Rich hiding it from me because I don't think the morning weigh-ins are helping the psyche. - LOSE

6. Doing all of this with real life friends and on-line buddies I think keeps me focused - WIN

I know I'm my worst critic. I also know that I'm doing this for ME, no one else, but I'm having trouble getting over the feeling that people are watching, waiting for this miraculous change. What if it never happens, will they be disappointed. (my husband is not in this # of people)

Crazy stories from the Past

Rich has often encouraged me to write down all the craziness that was and I assume still is my first set of bosses here in Atlanta.

In May 2001, I interviewed with a little but well-known landscape architecture company in Buckhead. The owners were a husband and wife team that were completely dedicated to their work, no children except dogs(we'll get to that later) and were extremely talented.

I will preface this by saying while I'm FOR herbal remedies in most cases there are some things that should just be left to prescribed medicine.

First 'signs' of complete cookyness....Fellow employee tells me to never take ANY pill she offers me if I'm complaining of an ailment. Praytor, continued to tell me that he couldn't feel his legs for 2 days after she gave him something for a headache! Holy moly people! NEVER went down that road with them.

Being the new employee, they asked me to house sit one weekend for $50 a day...ummm heck yeah! Let the crazies begin! First they lived in a very nice area of town, quaint little cottage decorated to the nines. Here's where the aforementioned dogs come in. We will call them Pokey and Earl. They were a cocker mix type dog, super hyper and needy. This was their diet, Organic turkey, 10 pills, oriental frozen vegetables, and fish oil poured over that. YUCK! Wife/husband believed they were ensuring LONG life for their dogs with this concoction. The pills were things like ginkgo, fish oils, green tea, echinacea, and anything else they decided.

Of course while I was house sitting they said I could eat anything in the house. I guess that included the 50+ jars of preserved herbs, mushrooms, berries that were on the sun porch and 100's of vials of herb oils/essence in the pantry. It was a scene out of a witch doctor's cave! Seriously, 15 types of mushrooms, no labels. I was dating Rich at the time and he was betting those were the smoking type of mushroom.

The presumed smoking probably led them to the 'pet psychic' inquiring about the soul of a previous dog. The dog was still alive but they wanted to make sure he was going to a peaceful place. Pet psychic told them they had to get a portrait painted of the dog by a SPECIFIC artist to insure this. Can anyone say SCAM! They completely bought it! Yep, 10K on an oil painting as doggie soul insurance.

Of course they were also concerned about their own souls but not in that go to church make myself right with God type of way. Let's just say that an employee stumbled upon a journal entry in the MAIN file directory of the computer system. ENLIGHTENING! Bosses thought they were REVERSING the aging process through herbs, yoga, and visualization AND that it was God's will as they were SO needed in the world...One part actually professed to 'feeling my body aging slow and reverse in time'...Because that is so God's plan.

Can't say there was ever a dull moment with those two.