The Triumph of Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!

Since the end of June I have had to restrict my caffeine intake dramatically. I know, I know I'm not supposed to have any during pregnancy at all, but that is more difficult than you can imagine.

One of the first questions on my mind at my first ob visit was, "How much caffeine can I have a day?" Pathetic, I know. It isn't like I drink a pot of regular coffee everyday. In fact, I might only have one cup in the morning (and hubby makes half-calf anyway) and if I need a pick me up sometime during the day I might stop by Starbucks for my favorite, "grande, non-fat latte please!"

The midwives told me that I could have 1 cup of regular coffee a day if I desired. Whohoo! So for most of the pregnancy I either had a cup of hubby's half-calf in the morning followed by a decaf Starbucks later in the day or splurged with a tall latte as my one treat for the day. This seemed to keep my desire for coffee satisfied and I apparently forgot to consider the caffeine I was ingesting in the form of iced tea and the occasional chocolate treat.

At the end of June I headed to the gym to work out one day. When I arrived I felt my heart just racing and I hadn't even worked out yet! It was running at about 130 beats per minute. They immediately sent me home and told me to call the doctor. After several weeks of visits to the midwife, primary and even a cardiologist for a monitor and echo cardiogram - I was diagnosed with pregnancy tachycardia. All it means is that my heart likes to race occasionally and add a few beats just to make things interesting!

What it meant for me was that I needed to stop exercising for the remainder of the pregnancy, rest when my heart raced and, you guessed it, stay away from caffeine even more. Naturally, that last one was the hardest! It's pretty difficult to give up coffee, iced tea and chocolate when you're headed to Virginia Beach for vacation. Nevertheless, I managed.

Eventually, after several chiropractic visits, my heart rate decided to calm down. (Apparently my twisted rib cage was aggravating the symptoms and the chiropractor was able to help reduce them with a few simple adjustments!) As a result, I have found that I do not have to rest as much these days since my heart does not usually go up beyond 120 bpm anymore. Also, the doctors said that I could have some decaf and small bits of chocolate too...how wonderful!

So in an effort to satisfy my cravings for coffee and chocolate I have been on the hunt for some chocolate chip ice cream to go along with my "grande, decaf, non-fat, light ice latte, please!" To my dismay, however, it seemed that good old chocolate chip ice cream has become obsolete in the shadows of such superstars as Moose Tracks, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cookies and Cream, and it's more preferred cousin, Mint Chocolate Chip.

I was beginning to become convinced of the demise of Chocolate Chip ice cream after checking out what seemed to be every frozen food isle and ice cream parlor from here to the Jersey Shore. In fact, I had just given in to mourning that old comfort food, when I spotted a sale on Breyer's ice cream today at the grocery store. There it was in all it's simplistic glory: Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!

What a yummy triumph!

Check Your Heart

The other day I heard a little blurb on our local Christian radio station encouraging listeners to take a look in their checkbooks to see what is important to them. You know, where your treasure is, so is your heart. As I am the one who carries the checkbook, I thought this sounded like a great way to check my heart and see where it lies. OK, deep breath, here goes!

Gift for baby shower
Chiropractic appointment
School Tuition
Cash for lunches
School T-Shirt
Piano registration
Doctor's office for supplements
Cash for groceries
Compassion child
Cleaning help
Hospital bill
Musical DVD from school
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Dentist
Cleaning help
Church lunch
Church tithe
Macy's maternity clothes
Motherhood maternity clothes
Giant groceries
PT gym use
Cash for groceries
Church tithe

So to sum it up, since the beginning of April, the checks were written for:

friend
me
kids
family
me
kids
me
family
charity
me
me
family
government
government
government
kids
me
church
church
me
me
family
me
family
church

Yup, pretty much me! 3 checks for the gov't, 5 checks for church, charity or others, 8 for our kids or family and 9 for, well, me. Hmmm, my heart sure seems to be focused on me, me, me! I think I need to do this more often to check my self spending.

Well, that was a bit of an eye opener and hopefully, it will help me curb my spending where needed. I know hubby, and our checkbook, will appreciate that:)

Parent's Day Faux Pas

This morning was Parent's Day at my son's school, Grace Christian. I arrived around 10:30 and we had a lot of fun together - even took him out for a treat during lunch! I would be remiss, however, if I did not share my story and provide you with a good laugh for the day. The thought still brings me to tears...

To start the special day, the whole school gathered in the sanctuary for worship songs. After that several of us parents were "volunteered" by our children to participate in some skits focused on serving others. Lil' Buddy and I eagerly joined in on the skit (because, if you don't already know, I secretly long to be an actress:) I must admit that I threw myself into the character of a-stressed-out-pregnant-mom-who-breaks-down-crying-over-the-messy-house...yeah, I know, it wasn't much of a stretch for me! Apparently, my on cue crying impressed, laughter ensued and I felt that we had achieved our goal: get the most laughs while getting the lesson across!

After all the skits each grade returned to their respective classrooms. I followed my son upstairs to his 5th grade room where we settled down to play hangman before moving on to the next event. Bud was up and after a few guesses I thought I had the answer, so in true Horshack form from Welcome Back Kotter, I raised my hand and piped up, "Ooooh!Oooooh! Ooooh!" When I went to answer, I realized that I must be wrong because I thought the answer was "storm troopers", but he had written so_ _ _ t_oop_ _ _. Oops, he had written it wrong, so my guess was right and it was my turn to come up with the next word.

I was completely at a loss for anything fun to write and felt that I just couldn't live up to the Star Wars terms that had come before. So I wrote my blanks on the board and declared that it wasn't much of a fun word before I took their guesses. I had chosen the word "CLASSROOM".

One of the first guesses was the letter "S", so I eagerly filled in the appropriate blanks. A few more letters called resulting in the formation of the poor dangling stick figure. Next was called, "A!", so I naturally wrote that on the board. Immediately, I chuckled and turned bright red since, to my astonishment, I had just written a bad word on the board of my son's 5th grade class! Quickly I turned to the giggling kids and smiling parents and begged them to hurry up and pick some more letters. It took several tries, but finally my son yelled out "R!" Whew! After a few more letters I filled in the blanks and we were on our way to the cafeteria chuckling the whole time. One of the other moms just looked at me, laughing and commented, "Nice one!"

Next time I'll be much more careful with the words I choose or else my _ _ _ might be grass - oh, look, another word I should never choose for hangman!

I don't believe I'll be living this one down for quite awhile.

Random Things

I was tagged by my friend over at Genesis Moments.

Here are six random things about myself:

1. I am "5 foot 2 - eyes of blue!"

2. With red hair I look quite Irish, but I am actually 1/2 Polish, 1/4 Irish, 1/8 German and 1/8 English.

3. In an unplanned act of irony (or perhaps stupidity) I wore my "Polish/Irish: Pierogis/Potatoes" shirt to my Weight Watcher's meeting the other day. Fortunately, after the lady commented on the not so healthy foods emblazoned on my chest in their respective country's colors, it was a good weigh in:)

4. When we were kids, my brother and I used to make bouncy balls out of scotch tape and water.

5. My family claims that we are related to Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross.

6. I just called my Senators and House Representative for the first time ever regarding the bail out bill they are debating.

I am tagging:

The Hand Clan
Drinking From My Saucer
God's Grace In Practice

RULES:
1. Link to the person who tagged you. 2. Post the rules on the blog. 3. Write six random things about yourself. 4. Tag a few people at the end of your post. 5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.

Waking Up Is Hard To Do *updated*

"Waking up is hard to do, la, la, la, la, la!" That's pretty much our theme song 'round the den these days.

Yesterday morning when Hubby tried to get Lil' Buddy up he said, "Time to get up, Bud. I thought you wanted to get up at 7 a.m." "Yup" he replied. "Well, it's 10 after." His response, "I was rounding."

This morning our son was still asleep and Hubby called up the stairs. "C'mon Bud, it's time to get up." A groggy answer from the dark hallway, "But it's not seven yet." Hubby retorted, "I was rounding!"

The cubs seem to be spending way too much time on homework so consequently their bedtime ends up being closer to 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 p.m.! This makes for some rather groggy mornings!

Yesterday, both of them went a bit overboard on their homework assignments. I think I got myself a couple of overachievers here.

Pulling in to our driveway from the bus stop, Buddy burst into tears at the realization that he had forgotten his history book. After quite a few attempts at consoling him, I finally convinced him to call a friend to see if he could borrow the book for the evening if his friend had finished the assignment. The alternative was to get to school early when he would have about a half hour to do the work. This suggestion only brought wails of, "But that won't be enough time and I'll get an "F"."

Fortunately, we were able to avoid more tears by borrowing the book and he happily worked on it the rest of the evening. Since I was busy with my own study and he was contentedly working as usual, it didn't occur to me that he was still doing the same assignment at 9 p.m. My question to him was, "Why was your friend done at 4:30 p.m. and you're taking so long?" His response, "I think I'm doing too much notes." Yaaaah, I think so! That'll be a doozy of a 5th grade history test to study for tomorrow.

Darlin' who loves to write had an assignment to write a memoir of a specific event in her life. She has thrown herself into that assignment with much enthusiasm over the past week or so. Being in 7th grade, she's been pretty independent with her homework, bringing home the usual straight A's. All this to explain why I was quite surprised when asked to proofread a 10 page paper! I probably would have curbed her enthusiasm a bit if I had been more aware prior to late last night that she was writing a small novel. Despite all our efforts, Hubby and I could not find any information on guidelines for this particular paper (ie how long was it really supposed to be? I'm guessing a couple pages!) In fact, Darlin' was shocked at the suggestion that some of her classmate may only be writing a page. Oh, well, live and learn. At least it was a good read!

Well, I can't complain about having two exceptional students who take their elementary and junior high studies very seriously, but I suppose I can have a good chuckle every now and then!

*updated below*
Thought I'd let ya'll know that the kids fared very well the next day at school. Buddy's teacher told me what a wonderful job he did on taking notes. He was so proud of the +8 he received - note that it's out of 5 points:) Darlin' was also quite proud of herself when I picked her up from school. Apparently, she seemed to be the "talk of the town" that day with her 10 page memoir. The teacher indicated that there was no limit and she enjoyed the paper:)

Showers & Stools!

When I was little, I was a flower girl in my Aunt's wedding (who had been one in my mother's wedding) and in turn her daughter was a junior bridesmaid in mine. So naturally my cousin, Jill, promised my daughter years ago that she would be in her wedding. That day is approaching in October and, as Darlin' has been waiting a long time for this, she is quite excited!

I do believe she is actually more excited to be a junior bridesmaid than a flower girl, because she gets to wear a more grown up gown and heels! Since she can't drive yet, (fortunately that's four years away! yikes!) I have been able to enjoy some perks that go along with her being in the bridal party.

We got to enjoy a day of dress shopping with my Aunt, cousin and the rest of the bridesmaids. In one day we hit two bridal shops and 3 malls! Considering that Darlin' tried on the dress we eventually bought her in the first shop, she really just enjoyed the day for the shear fun of hanging out with family, watching the bridesmaids try on dresses and even trying on a few more of her own. We left at about 9 a.m. that morning to travel to Jersey, returned about 11:30 p.m. and had a blast!

We are also both looking forward to getting our nails done together before the wedding. I keep reminding Darlin' that she's already had her nails done at a salon way more then me ... only once for my wedding! (Pretty sad, huh?!)

Since she is in the wedding party, we have to stay overnight after the rehearsal dinner at the hotel (yeah!) , which by the name of it sounds fancy. . .the Wyndham. On the wedding day, I also get to tag along to get my hair and make-up done too! Gosh, I don't think I had such pampering for my own wedding!

Over the weekend Darlin' and I helped the bridesmaids throw a shower for my cousin. Despite Tropical Storm Hanna forcing the party indoors, everything went splendidly.

If you don't know already, I love to throw a party, so it was a lot of fun for me to be a part of the bridal shower. Darlin' and I put together little heart tins full of autumn colored, dark chocolate M&M's for the party favors. They worked perfectly with the fall theme for the October wedding. Aren't they cute?

The bride-to-be wearing an original Denitra's Designer Bonnet!

My cousin and her fiance have a huge height difference between them. Almost a foot and a half! So I thought that it was a perfect time for another kissing stool in the family....

At my bridal shower, my parents gave me a kissing stool. As there is a full foot difference in height between myself and Hubby, this was quite needed. I remember bringing it to the rehearsal and we pulled it out for our practice kiss for a good laugh. Now it resides in my kitchen, where I use it almost daily. Although, kicking it around to the various cupboards to retrieve dishes off the top shelf isn't nearly as satisfying as kissing! Perhaps I'll retouch it for our next anniversary, so we can be reminded of it's true purpose!

For Jill's kissing stool I bought an unfinished stool at the local craft store and stained it with October Brown: Milk Chocolate spray. How appropriate for the October wedding?! Not to mention that it has the word chocolate in the name!

It also perfectly matched the ribbon and trim on the wedding invitation that I decoupaged on top!

When it was time for her to open the gift, I presented it to her by first reading this poem.

Soon you’ll be married to Too Tall Tim,
It’s about time you married him!
Darla’s been waiting patiently,
To be a part of your bridal party.

To watch you walking down the aisle,
While Aunt Vicki cries, only with a smile.
After years of dating it’s come to this,
A promise you seal with a wedding kiss.

But at 6 foot 7 Tim’s just too tall.
How will you be able to reach him at all?
Standing about 5 foot 3,
It’s plain to see you’re challenged vertically.

In order to bridge the 16 inch difference,
We though you might be in need of assistance.
So here we come to your rescue.
To provide some aid when you say “I do.”

Just step right up and take a stand,
Go ahead, pucker up and kiss your man!
You will look so cool, just a lovin’ fool
When you step upon this Kissing Stool!

Here's the groom and bride (standing upon the stool!)

Sidebar Surprise

Hey check out my sidebar. It used to show a countdown to the movie Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I was surprised to see that it changed automatically to show Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

How exciting! Only 639 days to go!

Can you tell I've been on an extended hiatus from blogging? I'm finding new things on my own site!

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

So how does that saying go? Early to bed, early to rise, makes a gal healthy, wealthy and ... TIRED!

Yup, day two of back to school and I AM EXHAUSTED!

Being a life long night owl, it is shocking to find myself yawning at 10:30 p.m. and hardly able to stay awake for the last of the RNC speeches at 11:30 p.m. last night. You early birds may think that's staying up late, but considering my typical bedtime of 12:30 - 1:00 a.m., weariness is hitting me a couple hours earlier than usual.

The anticipation and excitement of the first day of school enabled our whole family to jump out of bed with eagerness yesterday morning. Today, however, was a different story....

The wave of momentum from yesterday failed to elevate me out of the water bed this morning as I dragged my feet from the bed and they thudded to the floor like lead weights. I was sooooo tired that I couldn't even bear to think about turning the lights on til I found myself attempting to make lunches in the dark! Fortunately, the kitchen has a dimmer switch, so I could ease my eyes into waking up.

Eventually, things got moving, but it was back to reality this morning. No bright eyed, bushy tailed kids or adults (just cats - Swiffer's tail is always quite bushy!) - the four of us were dragin' our wagons. We managed to have a quick breakfast of cereal together and pray as a family before leaving for the day. Both kids arrived at school early, so our get-them-to-school-on-time-or-else attitude is working - we're 2 for 2!

Hubby called me after we dropped off our respective charges at their particular institutions of learning. As you may suspect, both of us were heading to WAWA to get our much needed dose of caffeine that had unfortunately been left out of the breakfast equation earlier.

As I continue to struggle with wakefulness, despite 12 oz of WAWA coffee followed by an iced latte from Starbucks a few hours later, I must remember to heed Hubby's advise - "Whatever you do don't take a nap!"

Oh, but that is all I want to do! It will be especially hard this afternoon during the 1 and 1/2 hours of piano lessons. The wonderful music would lull me to sleep if I let it.

Hopefully, after a few days of avoiding naps my body will eventually ease itself into this early to bed, early to rise pattern and I'll be able to write a more coherent post! In the meantime ... coffee is my friend!

How shall I serve the Lord?

Last weekend I attended a women's retreat with the ladies in our church. I really enjoyed the speaker who was inspirational, knowledgeable, understandable, humorous, witty and personable.

By the end of the weekend I kept getting this nudge in my heart and head, "I think I'd like to do that." It's been a couple years out of ministry due to health reasons and now I'm beginning to consider how I can serve God in a way that works with my own limitations.

Of course, after awhile of actually considering being a women's conference speaker, I stopped myself short. WHAT AM I THINKING? Every single women's speaker I've heard seems to have a life full of tragedy. Not your everyday-broke-a-nail kind of "tragedy", but pretty much catastrophic-change-your-life tragedy. Apparently, that is what makes these women so interesting to listen to. We sit amazed, in awe of how they rely on the Lord through each devastation. Why in the world would I want a job with such a prerequisite?!

I doubt my minor trials, although they always seem devastating to me each time, would qualify me to teach hundreds of women how to grow closer to the Lord. I think I'll leave that to the experts and plan on going back to teaching our women's Bible study. The Lord opened the door for me to get back in to that in the fall and that seems to be the perfect fit for the gifts He has granted to me.

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love endures forever!

During the retreat we were asked to write a prayer based on scripture. Here is mine in a pattern of Psalm 136.

Give thanks to the LORD.
His love endures forever.

The Creator of the universe.
His love endures forever.

The Giver of all life.
His love endures forever.

Who promised a Savior in the garden
His love endures forever.

Who rescued Noah from the flood.
His love endures forever.

Who blessed Abraham with His Seed.
His love endures forever.

The Son of David who delivered me.
His love endures forever.

The Holy Spirit who called me.
His love endures forever.

The Father who continues to love me.
His love endures forever.

All praise to the great I AM.
His love endures forever.

To Christ the Word.
His love endures forever.

To the Spirit who comforts.
His love endures forever.

To the LORD who heals.
His love endures forever.

Who sustains me through each trial.
His love endures forever.

Who calms the storm within my spirit.
His love endures forever.

And quiets the raging waters all around me.
His love endures forever.

LORD grant me peace.
His love endures forever.

Fightin' the Frump

Well, I thought I would join the ranks over at
Mrs. Fussypants where she is working hard to help us all fight the frump.

So, you may ask, what have I been doin' about that lately? A few things actually. I joined Weight Watchers and have just started my eighth week. I wish I could say I have been doing well at that, but as I'm only down 4 pounds I do believe I've got to work a bit harder. Somehow I did manage to avoid gaining any weight this past weekend, which was a small miracle considering the resort food we ate on our retreat! In fact I lost 1.8 pounds! I do believe I've turned a corner on the weight loss, as my own scale is continuing to decrease. Curious how much I might be down by next Wednesday? Hoping to get in to that 2 lb per week decline to be ready for summer!

In addition to writing down everything I put in my mouth, I have increased my activity. I'll be heading over to the gym to try out the Elliptical machine again. I tried that for the first time on Wednesday. . .what a work out! I definitely have to keep that in my routine as I felt much better after that than I do on the tread mill (not nearly as dizzy and my back didn't hurt - go figure!)

The last thing I want to mention is what I've been eating for lunch the past couple of days. I've been listening to the book Doctor Yourself by Andrew Saul (info here), and he is continually praising the benefits of vegetable juicing. Unfortunately, I'm not a big veggie fan, except of course about Larry and Bob! Despite this, I decided to give it a try. Since he talked about fruit juicing too, I combined the two to make a more palatable drink for myself. Gotta tell you, it was quite yummy and satisfying.

I tossed in my Vita Mix blender (this is an awesome blender, it can pulverize and juice pretty much anything) the following items:

1/2 c. pure blueberry juice
1 whole cucumber (peeled and halved)
1 1/2 c. strawberries (tops and all, just rinsed them)
3 stalks of celery (washed and chopped in medium size pieces)
1 c. frozen raspberries
1/4 c. frozen blueberries
1 Tbsp Agave
1 Tbsp Flax Seed
1/2 tsp Vitamin C

Blend til pulverized into a beautiful smoothie! It was delicious. Next week I'll experiment with some other veggies, but the cucumber and celery was as brave as I got for the first time 'round.

The only drawback to this type of smoothie, was that it didn't last. It was very filling at the time and I felt no need to eat anything else, but I was quite hungry and craving protein a few hours later. Hmmm, any suggestions?

Have fun fighting the frump today! I'm off to the gym.

Led by the Spirit

I'm back and refreshed from our church ladies retreat! The weekend focused on prayer and already I've begun to implement some of what was discussed. For instance, praying continually by having a constant conversation with God throughout the day. This, combined with last night's small group lesson in which we talked about glorifying God in everything we do, enabled me to avoid Dunkin' Donuts this morning.

Here's how it went down inside my depraved little mind. Mmmm, I could really go for a donut and a cup of coffee for breakfast. Considering that I didn't gain any weight over the weekend with all the scrumptious food I ate, I do believe I can justify said donut as my reward. Besides, I'll be working it off at the gym this morning and afterward, I'll be reaaalllly strict for my Weight Watchers weigh in on Wednesday morning.

About half way to Dunkin' Donuts a little question pops into my head. Would I be glorifying God by eating that donut? Sing a song, hum a little tune, try to distract myself from the answer that keeps nagging me. I finally submitted to the Lord's leading and decided against that tempting donut. In my circumstances, with all the health issues linked to an unhealthy diet and the fact that I'm paying good money to attend Weight Watchers, eating a donut would certainly not glorify God. So I pulled over and ate a Weight Watchers granola bar that I happened to have in my purse.

One little victory for the Holy Spirit in my life today!

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 - Pray continually!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Everyone's a Comedian!

Ya know how kids are always telling jokes and attempting to make up their own? I recall the phase of knock-knock jokes that I do believe lasted for several years straight!

Yesterday, Darlin' came up with one that was pretty clever, so I thought I'd pass it on:

What happened to the short football team? They had to "fourfeet!"

If you're interested in further laughs, a little more on the intellectual side, then check out this movie from Ben Stein. He always cracks me up! Expelled debuts in theaters this Friday. It is a documentary on the battle of Darwinism vs Creationism. Based on the trailer, I doubt it will be a boring one. Ben Stein is sure to sandwich the information between his dry wit and intellectual humor like a good Oreo!

I'm hoping I get to see it at some point, but I'll be away on a Ladies' retreat with our church this weekend. I'll let you know what I think as soon as I see it!

With Vigor!

I've got my workout clothes on and I'm heading to the gym. Today I was planning to focus on my arms, before I even looked at this next verse in Proverbs 31.

Proverbs 31:17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

How appropriate is that? I was already planning to make my arms stronger. Now I've got to work on the "vigorously" part. I'm not one to do anything with much vigor, except perhaps getting up in front of people and embarrassing myself (and my daughter) for entertainment's sake. Anything for a good laugh right?

Last month I attended a school retreat with Darlin'. Each of the parents had to participate in a skit. Ours happened to be the only one with a song: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Well, the other mothers and I attacked that with much vigor, to the chagrin of our kids, who I might add were all smiles amidst their red cheeks! One of the dads even called me the Redheaded Aretha!

So maybe if I put on some mo-town and sweep my hair up into an explosive beehive of curls I may just be able to attack my household chores with as much gusto. Here's to working vigorously!

More Melodrama

Welcome to medical melodrama month sponsored by Denitra's Den. Glad to be of service to you (please note the sarcasm!)

So the saga continues. Wish I could say it was an April Fool's joke, but no.

Now for the weekly update.

I saw the surgeon and scheduled belly button surgery for April 24th. Yup. You read that right: belly button. Apparently I've got an umbilical hernia. Hmmmm, wonder if a tummy tuck will be a part of the procedure?

Despite the obvious belly button issue, the surgeon is not convinced that it is the source of my problems, namely abdominal discomfort and pain. So he wants to pursue gallstones. (This is where Hubby laughed. It just doesn't seem to stop!)

So to recap: Last month I went to the doc with the flu and discovered I had kidney stones. The other week I went back with kidney stones and he told me I'm pre-diabetic (haven't even mentioned this one yet!) but that will have to wait til we sort out the kidney thing. So he sent me to a surgeon who, mocking my puny kidney stone, declared it must be the bladder and I'd better get surgery on that hernia (which I didn't even know I had!) On to the surgeon who said. Yup, that hernia's gotta go, but I think your real problem is the gall bladder and you oughta get the intestines checked out while your at it, too . . . just in case!

ENOUGH ALREADY - I sound like a hypochondriac! (Hmmm, that might be nice - then it would all just be in my head.)

Tune in for next week's continuing saga of medical melodrama when Denitra declares, "What?! You have got to be kidding me!"

Back on Spin Cycle

Once again it is that time of year when it seems to rain more often, the flowers start poking through the ground, the sun brings outdoor coat-free time, and I stand swaying in the breeze. Literally.

I might as well just mark my calendar every year for this particular week in the Spring, when the vertigo rears its ugly head, just a little bit higher than before. So far, so good. Just seems to be set on a gentle spin cycle. Haven't made the annual trek to the emergency room. . .yet. However, a feeling of foreboding is upon me.

The past week I have felt more as if I am walking a ship at sea, than standing flatfooted in the kitchen attempting to pull some semblance of dinner together. Right now the seas are getting choppier, the longer I take to finish this post! Like I said before - so far, so good. I've been worse, so I need to just back off from the computer a bit and rest a little more. (Just a little warning if I'm not posting over the next few days.)

Today, the hurricane arrived. Fighting the sea legs I've seemed to acquire, I headed to an appointment at the urologist regarding a small kidney stone. Despite the fact that the walls of the examining room began to billow in the non existent sea air, I managed to not fall over and kept clear enough to be blown over by the diagnosis.

Naturally, I need to follow up on the kidney stone with an ultrasound. If that doesn't answer the question, then I believe the words he used were "we'll use the scope to see the bladder". . .YIKES! I'm reaaallly hoping it doesn't come to that. Still, this was all somewhat manageable until the poking.

After a few minutes of poking and prodding in particular places and me practically jumping off the table, the doctor looks back at my records. Oh, well perhaps it's your hernia.

WHAT?! What hernia? I don't have a hernia! Well, apparently I do and it was just discovered 2 months ago in the midst of all the kidney testing. Hmmm, you'd think that would've warranted a mention to me. . . .

This doc felt it merited much more than a mention and has sent me to see a surgeon ASAP. That appointment is tomorrow. So it looks like my traditional ER visit will be an actual OR visit.

I don't even want to think how I'm going to top this for next year!

Identity Crisis

As long as I can remember, I have been identified as the "curly red headed" girl. Granted, when I was little it was much brighter, so there was no denyin' it was red. Mom could always spot me on the beach - the pale kid with the carrot top!

In recent years it has darkened to a calmer shade of amber or perhaps bronze. Although, now many people seem to be confused by its color and don't quite know how to categorize it.

When I was young it was sometimes considered strawberry blonde (one guy even called me blondie, but I think he needed to have his eyes checked) and more recently I'm guessing that people must place it in the brunette category.

Considering that my hair is the one part of my body that I do like, I find myself feeling quite disconcerted when someone no longer considers me to have "red hair."

Just the other week I was meeting a friend for lunch. She gave the waitress the description of "curly red hair", so she could direct me to the proper table. After I arrived my friend let the waitress know. The waitress indicated that she thought she was supposed to be looking for someone with red curly hair. Ouch!

At least my friend still thought it looked red! She seemed shocked that anyone would think otherwise. I relayed to her some of my stories of people telling me, "Oh, in this light you do have reddish hair!" or when someone else referred to me as the redhead in the room and the other person replied, "What redhead? There's no redhead in here."

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm holding on to some delusion here about having red hair. So let me know what you think. How should I describe myself these days? The lady previously known to have red hair but now its a shade of auburn or brown. What should I put on my driver's license?




Go ahead. Tell me what you think and I'll try not to cry about it!

Tooth Dismay

When Darlin' got glasses in first grade I was amazed how much she looked just like my cousin, Jill, when she was that age. In second grade Darlin' had to get braces due to the horizontal shark teeth she seemed to have sprouting from her gums! With the braces and the glasses she was the smitten image of my cousin. Pretty wild how those family resemblances work, eh? Darlin' is now in 6th grade and eagerly anticipating her participation in Jill's fall wedding!

This week we had the obligatory follow up at the orthodontist. It had been several months since Darlin' was told to sleep with out her bottom retainer in an attempt to allow the teeth to move out a bit for a proper bite. Hmmmmm, would have thought that the braces she wore for 18 months would have helped, but who am I?

Darlin' and I were both dismayed when the orthodontist proclaimed that she would need "phase two." Yup, you guessed it - she has to get another round of braces for 14 months! Poor thing!

After loudly lamenting future deprivation of gum, candy and popcorn, again, she accepted the inevitable and grumbled, "Thanks a lot, Jill."

Maybe I need to back off on those family comparisons, eh?

Half Way There

I noticed that I've posted 52 times so far in my short blogging career. Wow! I have lots more ideas too, just need time to get them to ya.

For my 100th post I plan to list the "100 things about me!" Now that I'm half way there, I better get started on that.

I'm in a bit of a rush this morning, so this is just a quickie. Hopefully, I'll be back today to post something somewhat relevant to my life and yours, but it's party week so I'm off to shop for gifts.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

From the Mouths of Babes

This morning my dear cub was dressed a bit like a character out of Oliver. Tattered sweatshirt that was 2 inches too small in the arms, sweat pants that were two sizes too short and sticky-uppy hair in all directions (drat! I neglected to fix that one - hopefully the spiked hair will be cool today!)

I asked Buddy to change and handed him a pile of clean clothes from which to choose (and hopefully also put away!) He just looked at me, smiled and sighed, "Thank you, dearest Mother."

This remark brightened my groggy-still-waking-up-mood and warmed me heart. Yes, he said this sincerely and without a hint of sarcasm. . .imagine that. Of course, this sincerity probably stems from the fact that most of the family is usually searching for clean clothes nearly every morning, because the gazillion loads of laundry that I seem to do constantly are always the wrong piles and he was just glad to have some clean clothes that actually fit him! It's a never ending saga - laundry is my nemesis. Deep breath. Right now, however, I will choose to put that negativity behind me while I throw another load of laundry in and enjoy the appreciative comment from my adorable cub!

That moment with my son made me think of Proverbs 31:28, where it states: "Her children arise and call her blessed...." It's nice to see a glimpse of the Proverbs 31 woman in my life as I feel that I am daily failing miserably at achieving the character described in that pericope. Also, I am reminded of the fact that I want to commit Proverbs 31 to memory this year. So, as I've previously done verses 1-9, I'll start with verse 10:

A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Mmmm, wonder how much I'm worth?