If you can't say anything smart...

Don't say anything at all.  So I think a I might have a problem.  Back in college I had a mild fear of public speaking, but I eventually got over it.  I don't mind talking in front of 10, 20, 50, 100 people now just as long as it is about something I know.  Or even as long as I can convince you I know more than you I'm good.  However, I have a problem when it comes to speaking to one person, one that is way higher in rank than I.  For example, my boss's boss, and now add to the list BJ's boss's boss's boss.  Yup I did it again.  Open my mouth, word diarrhea falls out.  I have just decided that in those situations now I will just be silent in those situations.  Oh well, can't win them all.

Have you missed me?

One thing I can say with my new schedule is that it does not leave a lot of room at night for blogging.  BJ's grand idea is to blog in the mornings before I have to go to work several days of the week.  But we all know that my crazy thoughts don't come out until late at night. 

It has been a crazy couple of weeks since my last post, we went to the circus, and a parade, had Thanksgiving times 3 did early morning shopping, almost finished with Christmas shopping, wrapped presents, decorated for Christmas, saw the play Memphis, went to BJ's work Christmas party, invited an Elf on the Shelf to spend the Christmas season in or house, and started baking for Christmas. 

Maybe soon I will just post a bunch of random pictures and you can play match the event with the right picture.  :)  Good luck.

A Special Thank You!

It has come time again for me, the Hubby, to overtake the blog again.  I am sure that Kelly is going to be coming down from putting Elijah to bed and Blog as well so I figured I would overtake it really quick! 

I would like to say a very special thank you to any and every one who has helped me thus far on my recovery from surgery, especially Kelly.  She has put up with me in the thick and thin throughout everything.  Now that I am going to be out of the recliner and back into bed, snoring and all, I hope that I don't make you too upset with me.

You Are My Favorite!!! 

Resolution update #3

Because I know you are all wondering.  I know how you think.  LOL

Blog more (than 2010)- In order to do so I need to blog over 43 times between now and the end of December.  We will see.  I'm not very positive on this end though due to my crazy smart phone.

Eat less (sugar)-I was doing really well with this until Halloween, however, now were not doing awesome on this.  I am eating less though.
Clean more (during the week)- Yeah not really, but with my hours changing I may be doing more cleaning on Wednesday.  But we will see.
Watch TV less (decrease # of shows I follow)- HAHA, I have no clue.  Now with DVR I probably watch more shows but there are so many that we tape it's like we have excess for when we go through that time of year with no new TV on.  We will watch older stuff instead of crap.
Save more ($$)- NOPE!  Let me introduce to you deductibles, and life and all other awesome things that cost money. 
Weigh less (than ???)- Check done, I'm awesome!
Work hard (at work)- Yeah, That I am.  So hard I have no nights at home with my little boy.  Not happy about that and I hope that will change soon, but not going to hold my breath.
Play harder (at home and on the weekend)- I think so.  I have had an awesome year with all we have done with Elijah.  No regrets.
Read more (books)- Nope
Clean car (inside and out)- Sort of.  Getting better.  I think.

Smart phone...

Dumb user.  How beneficial is your smart phone if you truly don't know how to maximize the smartness of the darn thing.  I got my phone in June and began using it, a lot. However, I started having my e-mail on it but After 3-4 weeks of having an alert every time I got spam I decided that wasn't worth it.  Then I wanted to put a blog app on the phone, however, it wouldn't let me write out the blog.  So that came off.  BJ put an assistant on the phone, but I found that it was much easier to just google everything.  It was faster.  I like games but I don't want a lot on my phone because I need to do other things in life, like take care of my son.  I am also cheep so I don't like paying for the apps.  So was this phone worth it?  I still don't know.  Anyone out there that can help me?  What things should I put on my phone?  Anyone want to come over and teach me how to use my phone?  Thanks.

Kids are cute

My son is so cute.  And if I haven't said it before, i will say it now, I love Elijah's school.  When your child is younge you can only see what they are really learning by what they are showing you.  Today Elijah did so by sorting all of his foam letters and numbers by color.  It was great.  However, we had so many that we had to circle the whole tub. 

By the way, every night we say our prayers and I start Elijah out by saying "Dear God, thank you for..." then I let Elijah file in the blank.  Some of the things Elijah's says thanks for make me laugh so much.  for a week we were praying for the neighbors and if we forget to pray for thier dog we have to start all over.  It was hallarious.  Tonight we said thank you for M&M's, I almost dropped Elijah I was laughing so hard.  But I agree with Eli, M&M's are definitly something we need to thank God for. 

Lazy Mom Right Here

Really there have been a million things that we have done since the last post.  I went back to work, BJ started PT, the family went to BOO at the zoo, we (I) carved pumpkins, we went trick-or-treating, we hung out with Grandpa Brian, and Grandma and Grandpa Sarlina came over.  However, I took maybe 10 pictures of all that, and they are still on the camera that is out of arms reach.  Therefore, I'm lazy.  I can't reach and I don't want to get up. Let me just tell you though, I had the cutest Mr. Potato Head in the whole wide world.  Maybe I'll get around to it or just uploading the pictures and posting a link for you.  I'll get back to you on that one though.  I might also wait until I'm warm. 

Insurance company, Smile

I have a mission in life that when I know I'm going to meet someone who has a tough job I'm going to try to be nice to them.  Today I spent about an hour calling accountant departments to most medical facilities in the area due to my latest cleaning spree.  I came across some medical bills that I wasn't sure if they were paid or not.  Thank goodness to me though, all but 1 or 2 of them were paid and the ones that were not one had a messed up billing system, one was waiting for insurance and one I had forgotten about.  Then I needed to call the insurance company.  Always a fun day when you have to do that.  Let me just tell you, 99.9% of them woke up with a Parana biting their toes and sleeping on glass.  That's why they are all so pleasant.  So when I call I try to kill them with kindness.  The nice thing about my company being based out of Georgia is I get to speak with the friendly people of the south.  I ended up spending over 30 minutes on the phone with them and making the representative laugh no less than 3 times. 

One of which was when I was explaining to her why I was asking her for all the information toward our account.  I was explaining to her that my husband had had surgery recently and I was cleaning while he was sleeping and all that other fun things.  While cleaning I came across a pile of bills that had been forgotten about.  That is absolutely the worst thing to find while cleaning.  And since I didn't know how long they had been there I didn't know what had been paid and what had not been I was calling to make sure everyone got their money.  Apparently she thought that was funny.  I did too actually. 

Ah well, that is my life.  LOL.  At least I made one more person smile today even if most of her phone calls were probably not nearly as nice as I was.

Surgery

Friday morning BJ had his surgery on his arm.  We rolled out of bed at 5:00 am and made it to the surgery center by 6:30.  They rolled him way around 7:30.  Then I got to wait all by my self.  It was freezing in the waiting room.  Thank goodness I had on my winter coat.  I might have lost fingers or toes without it.  at 8:30 the let me know that BJ was done in surgery and that he did well.  Once he came out of the anesthesia enough I would be able to see him.  I thought this would be very quick.  It wasn't.  It was almost a whole hour more before I was able to see him.  When I was finally brought back the nurse let me know that BJ was slightly flushed and he had been complaining that he was cold.  As I went into his recovery area he was whiter than snow and wrapped from head to to in about 8 blankets.  He even had one wrapped around his head.  I told him he looked like Mother Teresa, it made him smile.  He was also very proud that the nurse was able to see his underwear.  Ahhh, the things that are important to us when we are highly sedated.  Once we got home he slept most of the day but then couldn't sleep at night.  Today we were able to get some clothes oh him so we are real sure he can leave the house without freezing or getting arrested. 

Tomorrow we will take off the bandages.  I'll post pictures if I remember. 

Message from beyond

I'm not one much to believe in ghosts and being contacted from people who are no longer living, but sometimes the signs are just so obvious I can't help but acknowledge them.  I have also been reading a book titled "Heaven is for Real."  I don't know if the whole book is real but I like to think it is, plus it also gives you a better idea of what the unknown is.  So needless to say it has had me thinking a lot lately about heaven.  As we were going into BJ's surgery I told him that if he goes to Heaven while he is is in surgery to say hi to family and friends that are there.  We smiled about it and BJ told me the people he really wanted to see if he could.  We were the first ones scheduled for surgery that day and at 6:30 in the morning we walk into the surgery center.  When we opened the door to the center a perfect monarch butterfly fell out of the door.  BJ and I just looked at each other and smiled.  Reason being, his grandma loved butterflies and is remembered by butterflies.  We thought it was a nice way to let us know that his grandma was with BJ during his surgery.

Birthday Cake

I know I'm a bit behind on the blog.  I have had a busy life this last week so blogging has had to take a backseat to that.  However, the other night we went to my dad's house to celebrate his birthday.  It was Wednesday, my late night at work.  BJ and Elijah showed up at my work and we took one car there the at the end of the night we went back to my work and got my car.  We didn't get to my dad's house until about 7:30 but dinner was ready and it was delicious as always.  However, before we started eating we noticed that the chocolate cherry cake my sister made earlier that day had all the candles in it and they were all droopy.  BJ and I being annoying went to straighten them but they wouldn't straighten.  That was when BJ pulled one out.  All that came out of the cake was the wick, no wax.  Um okay.  We tried another one, more wick no wax.  Weired.  Finally we decided that the cake must not have been cool enough when the candles were put in.  We left most of the candles in and had dinner.  By the time we were done eating we waited a bit before singing and doing all the fun stuff.  However, as we were pulling the rest of the candles out of the cake they came out with all their wax.  What the heck?  So weird.  Guess the cake wasn't cool enough initially, but when it did cool down enough the wax reformed around the wick and came out of the cake.  We just had to be careful while eating it.  While I was eating the cake I almost broke my tooth on a cherry seed.  My sister just looked at me and said, at least we know they were real cherries.

Even with the seed and the wax it was still a delicious cake.  Even if BJ took all the cake he brought home to work and didn't leave any for us here. 

Cramp, Cramp

This has happened to me once before, and I have no clue why I didn't blog about it.  If I did blog about it, I can't find it.  Sooo...

I am off at a resource fair for people in our close district as I'm setting up our table I begin thinking about how long of a day it has been and how once I get home I'll have been gone over 13 hours.  As I'm thinking about it I realized my throat was itching so I tried to itch it, with my tongue.  All of a sudden it happened.  The back of my tongue middle got a cramp.  The first time this happened it was a huge cramp.  I actually started thinking what am I going to do?  Am I going to stop breathing?  How will I tell people what is wrong if my tongue is cramped? 

Tonight I did not freak out.  It passed but man that would have been a rough night if I, as a Speech person, couldn't talk to people.  That would have been funny but not cool.

P.S.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

My life...

I don't think you all realize how funny my life actually is.  When you read my posts, I can't convey the facial expressions that go along with most of my life.  I mean I can only put into words the look on my face, the look on B.J.s face, the look on Rescue's face, and best yet the look on Elijah's face.  Like right now BJ's face is a mix of angry eyes and pure frustration.  But it would be better if you could see my imitation of BJ's angry eyes and all that other fun things.  As I spent the day with my sister and my step-mom we figured out that my facial expressions add so much more to the stories of my life.  Most of them have to do with BJ or Elijah.  It would just make you laugh that much harder at me.  I promise. 

Halloween

For Halloween, Elijah will be Mr. Potato head.  That is if I ever get around to making his costume.  After getting Elijah feed, and in bed and the house sort of straightened up I don't really want to do work on his costume. 

On another hand, BJ last night had a weird force take over his hand last night and it woke me up.  As I lay in bed watching his hand become a spider it ran up and down the bed and finally on me.  It was the weirdest thing in the world.  I was laughing so hard I HAD to wake up BJ.  He had no idea what he was dreaming about but I still think it was funny.

If this is fall...

I'll keep it.  Normally Fall is cloudy, gray, and cold.  Not currently, it has been warm, with bright colorful leaves, sunny, and wonderful.  I love this weather.  It's like its early summer.  Love it!  I have the windows open, and the doors.  I just can't be more happy with how the weather is. 

Free is not always good

In Sunday's paper there was a coupon for a free small Dunkin Donuts pumpkin latte.  So what the hey, I thought I would treat myself today.  I show up and fell into the total guilt trip for using them without giving them any money.  I told them to throw in a donut just because.  Then as I get to the window the lady hands me a medium coffee.  They goofed and I still got it free.  However, the issue was that I don't ususally drink coffee and when I do I only have small amounts.  A medium coffee does crazy things to me.  I was wired from 8:30 until 1:00.  My poor co-workers think it's funny when I have coffee, I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin.  Even now at 9:45 at night I'm not sleepy.  What should I do?  Try to sleep?  Maybe.

Amber is that you?

When I was in Jr. High we got a dog.  Her name was Amber.  I wanted to post a picture of her but I quickly realized that we had her before the time of digital cameras.  Can you even remember that time?  Anyway, tangent, Amber was a quarky dog.  She had some weird habits, like having to have the water bowl full to the top and not to close to the wall or the food bowl.  One of our favorite was when Amber would be given a rawhide bone.  She would eat half of it then try and hide the other half.  However, her hiding spots were not that great.  She would put it in the middle of the floor or in the middle of the bed and try to put the covers over it.  What could we say, she was a weird dog.

The other day as I was cleaning up some extra blankets upstairs I found a pig ear hiding in there.  As soon as Rescue saw the ear she jumped off the bed, grabbed it and ran downstairs.  I didn't see her much the rest of the night but when I came back down stairs she was hiding under the table and her bone was sitting in the middle of the floor.  Really Rescue?  I can see it.  It's right there.  After I walked almost right up to it she grabbed it and ran upstairs.  Now the ear sits "hidden" next to the bed and every time I see it I can't help but think, "Ah, Rescue, there must be a small part of Amber hidden in you."

What happened?

Some kids ask "why," some kids ask "what's this," some kids ask "wha happen?"  Translation What happened?  BJ and I are starting to think this is a frequently used phrase at daycare.  I like it.  When ever Elijah asks he has the sweetest tone in his voice.  as though he really is caring about what is really happening or what had happened.  Some times we even get a bit of a hand flip too.  However, as with the lovely question of why coming up with an answer is not always easy, especially when you take into consideration that only about half of what Elijah says is understandable.  The kid also has eagle eyes and can see things that normal people cannot, let alone ones with glasses that are not the right prescription.  Then throw in a moving car, your lucky if you even know what he is talking about let alone have any idea about how to answer the question. 

If the shoe fits, wear it.

If it doesn't fit wear it anyway.  That would be what I have been telling Elijah for the past, um, 3 months.  So Elijah apparently has needed new shoes for the past 3 months and I have been jamming his feet into his size 5 shoe.  Grandma and Grandpa bought him new shoes today and they would be a size 7.  Yeah that's right, Parent of the year awards right HERE.  We are awesome and didn't get the hint that the reason Elijah learned to take off his shoes was probably because they hurt his feet.  Poor kid.  Never fear though, thanks to Grandparents, Elijah will have shoes that fit. 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. 

Angry

The thing that made me angry today: Mrs. C. 

I have a student currently and I have been working with her for 6 weeks.  She is fresh.  She has only been applying her book knowledge for a total of maybe 3 weeks.  So I have to take everything with a grain of salt.  I have to look and assess her differently from some one who has been working in this field for years as an aid or assistant or anything else.  With that being said my student is doing amazing.  I am floored at the progress she is making.  Today I was even talking to her and as I was making suggestions she was 2 steps ahead of me.  It was amazing.  I'm rubbing off on her, I'm so happy.

However, today my student's supervisor came to observe her.  The end result of this was meeting was tears.  The last time this supervisor was in charge of one of my students the result was the same.  I mean really lady?  What gives you the right to make these girls cry.  You barley know these girls.  You don't know how many hours they spend prepping, researching, writing, planning.  You don't know how much they talk with me, ask me what my opinion is, what I would do.  If anyone on this planet has the right to make these girls cry it is ME.  If anyone needs to tell these girls they aren't working hard enough, or doing enough it is ME!  LEAVE THEM ALONE!

Plus at this stage in the game, the majority of the sessions have bits of me.  My idea, my games, my models, my help, my brain.  So when this lady comes in and criticizes therapy she is criticizing ME.  I have been a therapist for over 6 years now.  Every year I grow more, I learn more and I re-assess and change.  This past year I have learned WAY more than I have in probably the past 2 years combined.  So lady, you coming in 2 years in a row and making these girls cry and tell them that they are not good therapist you are telling me that.  And you know what?  I have spent way to long listening to people tell me that I am not good enough, that I am not "smart" enough to succeed at what I want to do.  It's people like you that make me hate school, that made me call my parents weekly, made me think I should leave school because I just couldn't do it.  People like you should not be teachers.  You are dream crushers.  I might not be the best report writer, or practical application person but gosh darn it I am a fantastic therapist.  My kids love me, my parents love me and I get results.  I connect with these kids and parents in a way some of your straight A students never could.  You want to know why?  Because these parents are coming to me telling me that they are being told there child won't be able to X Y or Z.  And I can honestly look in their eyes and tell them that's non-sense and their child will do what ever they set there mind to. Just look at me. 

So Mrs. C, Mrs. Foster and all you other teachers that told me I won't be able to do it.  :-P

I think I'm done now. *sigh*

The Doctors

Not the show, the Okel family.  So remember Thursday when I said I had a doctor appointment on Friday?  Yeah apparently it was the week before.  Missed that one.  However, I was able to get in today and I have a whole lot of blood work in my future.  That's the problem with getting a new doctor.  You have to get a bunch of blood work to see if you are "normal" and have a base line in case you do change somewhere down the line.  We also think my eyes are weird and I have to go to an eye doctor and see why I keep getting headaches if I drink over 4 glasses of water in a day.

As for BJ, on October 21st he will be having surgery done on his shoulder.  With that being said he will be out of commission for several weeks with me helping him do...EVERYTHING.  Just think how awesome our marriage will be.  Let's view it as bonding

What we do to our child

Elijah currently has a very large scrape on his chin.  The way he got it... BJ threw him off the swing set while yelling "I'm the king of the mountain!"  Okay maybe not.  It was more of a slow dismount from a porch swing that ended up with Elijah face down in a pile of wood chips.  Poor kid.  Now if you ask him what happened he tells you, "Daddy did it."

My turn...

Tomorrow I get to go to the doctor.  I recently have had to switch doctors because mine moved to Ohio.  I have been lazy and refused to get a new doctor.  I mean when I got sick last year that was not really the time I wanted to try and find a new doctor.  I finally need a new doctor so I have to go meet and interview a new Doctor.  BLAH. But now that I have Elijah and if I get sick from something he decides to share with me, I need someone to make me healthy quickly.  So wish me luck.

I'll fill you in more on BJ's visit to his doctor after we come to a final decision.

Modern Family

IT'S BACK!!!!  I love this show.  It makes me laugh every time.  Tonight lived up to it's expectation.  I can't tell you what exactly I liked because I liked it all.

Tomorrow is BJ's meeting with the Orthopedic surgeon.  So we will see what they say.  Cross your fingers, let's hope for a recovery that includes softball playing in the spring. 

SLAP!!!

Guess what BJ has... a SLAP tear.  If you know what that is good for you, for the rest of the real world it is a tear in BJ's shoulder.  Sometime during the summer while BJ was playing softball he tore a tendon in his right shoulder.  After polling some PT's it has been discovered that surgery is the best option.  After surgery comes the rough part.  BJ gets to be in a sling for a while (like 5 weeks).  Now BJ and I are sitting around and thinking about all the things he won't be able to do while in the sling.

• Picking up Elijah
• Putting on a shirt
• Buttoning pants
• Putting on socks
• Buckling Elijah in his car seat
• Cut food
• Showering
• Lift things
• But I love BJ and we will make the 5-6 weeks work.  I might be venting on here though when I can't handle the pain in the rear or the shoulder. 

I goch you mommy!

As the weather turns colder getting out of my nice warm bed gets harder and harder.  Actually, the weather is just a new excuse for me to not get out of bed in the morning.  I have the same trouble all year long.  But that's beside the point.  Today was another one of those days and I was running a tid bit behind.  BJ was not running as behind as I was and after getting dressed told me he was going down stairs to eat and leave.  He did then came back up as I was about to go get Elijah.  We both got our crabby kid up and today must have been sponsored by the word "NO."  Any question asked was answered with our favorite word.  "Elijah, do you want to wear this shirt today?" NOOOOOO.  "Do you want to wear these pants or these pants? Naaooooo. It was everything.  At that point BJ exited stage Left.  That was fine with me.  I had the patients for this today.  I finally convinced Elijah that since he did not want to wear socks today he needed to take off his footie pajamas.  It was a deal.  I have basically mastered the stand up diaper change so as long as I had the PJ's off I was good.  I just pulled down his PJ's but did not take them off his feet.  I needed leverage if he broke down later.  I took off his diaper and it was FULL.  The kid must have had a gallon of water to drink before he went to bed last night. 

As I took off his diaper I wrapped it up...and then it happened.  It took me a while to realize what "it" was but "it" was pee, and "it" was on me.  I freaked.  Ahh, pee.  What do I do to stop it?  I don't know, grab something, THE DIAPER.  As I put the diaper up to catch the pee I realize I had the water proof side catching the pee which means it was just spraying all over me.  I then yell at Elijah to "STOP"  I think I frightened him so he did.  Then I tried to gain my composure and figure out what to do next.  Thought to long more pee.  This time I decided to hold my hand out so it wouldn't spray on me.  Great idea.  Now I had a hand full of pee.  Now what genius?  I finally just pick him up and carry him to the bathroom.  He was done peeing by that time.  I wash my hand, call BJ who was only a couple of blocks away and he came back home.  I then had to change my pants and clean up pee while BJ got Elijah dressed.  From the bedroom I hear Elijah say, "I pee Mommy"  BJ laughs and Elijah follows it up with, "I goch you Mommy."

Well that was Croupy

Yes, as in Croup.  We had our first experience with the lovely virus.  On the up side, I learned a lot about what croup is.  If we could have any disease at least it is part of the one area of the body I am super comfortable with, the larynx. 

So it all started Sunday when Elijah woke up just a bit warm.  Not really a fever but not normal. We make it through the day with no other issues.  He goes to sleep that night and we think we are all good.  He then wakes up at 10:30 with his temp at about 99 degrees.  I give him some ibuprofen and go and watch the police drama in the hood.  At 11:30 we come in and fall asleep.  at 12:00 Eli wakes up screaming.  We bring him into our bed for the next 3 hours where he sleeps but I don't.  At 3 or 3:30 it doesn't really matter, I move him back to his room and put him to sleep.  He wakes up at 6:30 and is warm but not technically a fever I give him some more medicine and send him to daycare thinking he will be sent home during the day.  He makes it to the end of Monday but his fever rises again around 5:00.  We make it home and we are doing well.  We put Elijah down at 8:00 since he didn't sleep well the night before. 

He was up at 9, 10, 10:30, 11:30, 12, 1.  Not the normal snugly sick, but the I'm going to scream, if you touch me I scream louder, if you put me down I scream even louder.  All while he sounds like a duck/dog with his cough.  At 1 I decide that we will be heading to the hospital.  Even if they couldn't do anything for Elijah, I was hoping it would give BJ some time at home to sleep.  We walk in and Elijah goes into "I'm with other people mode" and is a doll.  As soon as we walk through the door they diagnosed him with Croup.  That was fast.  They give him some oral steroids and tell me somethings about croup that I don't comprehend because it's 2:00 and I'm sleepy.  During our wait I check on my brother who is on his European trip and realize he just woke up.  We get home around 3 and Elijah melts down again.  More screaming.  He finally falls asleep on the airbed that we had in his room that we thought would be used by company but wasn't. Thank you to them for having us blow it up.  It was much better than sleeping on the floor. 

By 10 we headed to his pediatrician and got some more medicine.  I think he will be fine, I just hope for sleep tonight. 

I'm Losing Momentum

Friction is taking effect.  The friction is being life.  I am starting to slow down in my will/want to blog.  I just feel like getting home from work and going to bed.  I don't like it getting dark out earlier, I don't like it getting cooler out.  I am just blah.  I'll get over it.  I'm also a bit sleepy, due to the fact that I now have a new student at work and for some odd reason it's hard. 

Last weekend we had a garage sale that we made a couple of bucks.  Then we we went out to B.J.'s parents house for a surprise anniversary party that his brothers planned.  It was amazing.  They did such a wonderful job.  It  was also nice to see his family from Minnesota.  But I'm just so sleepy from it all.

What???

How can today be the last day of August??? I know the first weekend in June I said that I would be busy all the way until now but I really thought the summer wouldn't have moved this fast.  I think we went to the pool 3 times this summer, last summer we went almost every weekend.  Now on the upside we have a million things that we did do and we still have gone to the zoo once a month since April, so that's awesome.  After this weekend summer will be over and hopefully i will regain some sanity and relaxation.  Then hopefully I will be able to post pictures of our fun summer. 

Cooking

I hate doing it.
I don't have patients for it.
I'm not that good at it.

But when I do make something yummy I enjoy it.  Tonight it was Salmon on the grill with barbecue rub covered in a honey glaze.  It was yummy

First day of School

Children are not the only ones starting school this week.  I had a grad student start with me today making me the teacher for the next 10 weeks.  BOO.  I love taking students, it is really an eye opener and lets me know what I need to freshen up on and makes me be an even better therapist.  I have to set good examples, however, I am a fly by the seat of my pants sort of therapist that plans a session after it has already begun.  Now I will need to do so before I start and have all of my materials gathered and organized.  Plus we also started another full time SLP today which means I have to share all of my materials and my space.  Wish me luck.  The next 2-3 weeks will be difficult, the last 2-3 of my 10 weeks will be a piece of cake. 

What I did this weekend.

I should have taken before and after pictures, however, I was just too ashamed about what the before looked like.  As far as the after picture is concerned, I'm too sleepy to do that right now.  So let me just tell you.  First of in three weeks time we will be participating in a community garage sale.  BJ and I spent a while last week starting to organize things around the house.  On Saturday night we spent from 5 until 11:30 moving things, deciding to get things out of the house, and organizing.  We now have half of our old Crap room in the garage ready for pricing and organizing for the garage sale and a semi-craft room upstairs.  Then we went through our third closet and emptied out the random stuff in there into the loft.  Now we need to figure out how to organize our billion rolls of wrapping paper, ribbons, tissue paper, bags and all that other stuff used to gift wrap.  Then we spent most of Sunday cleaning and let me just tell you how lovely half of our house looks.  Maybe the rest of the week we will get to the rest of the house. 

Mission for next weekend: Sort, and Price all the stuff for the garage sale.  Therefore, if you have some free time come on down and join in the fun.

Community Watch

For those of you that don't live in our neighborhood I'll get you up to speed on things that happen around her.  We are a townhouse in the middle of a bunch of homes.  Things happen, just like in all neighborhoods.  Last year we had a drug bust in November after an entire summer of stake outs in front of our house.  This whole summer has been real quiet, not a lot of cop activity going on.  However, after dinner today we noticed a weird car parked behind our house on the construction road.  Hmmmm, more drug activity?  What's going on? What do we do?  Call the cops!! Duh.  Out came the cops and it was all good.  They were there for legal reasons and it was all good.  Then the cop got to come to our house and let us know.  But just an FYI: if you are parked on a road behind my house that is not really a road I will call the cops on you just to make sure your not up to no good. 

Dinner

Was delicious.  BJ is the creative one in our family from art to building and somewhere in there cooking.  On Monday and Wednesday I work late and get home even later.  So on those nights I leave out meat or a box of something.  Around 6:15 B.J. will call me at work and ask me what is for dinner.  I always say ??? By the time I get home, there is some thing yummy on the table. 

Today, I put out chicken.  BJ decided we were going to have pizza.  So he made the crust, sprayed it with olive oil, put the chicken on it, and covered it in tomatoes from our yard.  It was so yummy.  I like the nights when I come home to this.  It makes me smile.

Guess What?

The housing market is horrible.  I just wanted to let you all know in case you have been living under a rock over the past few years.  However, if you live under a rock, it probably couldn't depreciate in value.  I mean it was probably dirt cheep.  Get it "dirt" because it's covered in dirt.  HAHA so funny.

Anyway, BJ and I tried to refinance our house but we knew we had lost value in our home because we built when the housing market was at it's peak.  Right after we closed on the house the market crashed and has continued over the past 4 years.  Well today we found out just exactly how large the crash was.  We lost $65,000 from then until now.  So refinancing is out.  Unless, as the mortgage guy said, we could bring 12,000 to the closing.  Yeah if we had that kind of money we wouldn't be looking to refi.  Just awesome. 

Daddy too.

Our bedtime routine with Elijah veries occasionally but the end of the routine is always the same.  However we get to the point we still get there and here is what it looks like from that point on. 

Elijah turns on his music

I turn off his bedroom light

We both turn on his night light

Elijah gets his blue blankie out of his bed

I pick up Elijah and walk to the quilt on his floor.

We dance for about 1 minute

During that time Elijah tries to stick his fingers in my mouth and we give each others close to a hundred kisses.

I ask Elijah if he is ready for bed.

Elijah says no.

I ask Elijah if he wants water

Elijah says yeah.

I place Elijah in his crib and go get a bit of water.

I give Elijah water.

He holds the dixi cup in his teeth to give it back to me.

I take the cup

Elijah lays down after making sure Mambo is covered in his special blankie.

I have to cover Elijah with his special blankie

Elijah tells me I have to share it with his polar bear

I pat Elijah on his back and tell him good night.

I leave.

Elijah calls me back after about 10 seconds.

I look at Elijah

He he points at me and says "Go to bed"

I tell him yup, I'm going to bed.

He lays back down and says Daddy too.

Yup Daddy is going to bed too.

Then were done.  He goes to sleep and we do it all again the next night.  Just like clock work.  I love it.

Oh Rescue

What are we going to do with you?  The poor animal woke us up for the first time in quite awhile so she could let us know she was about to vomit on the carpet.  I then spent the next couple of minutes chasing her trying to convince her that the tile is the best place for that.  Then having to clean it up, wait, BJ had to clean it up.  Then she refuses to eat her medicine, then we bathe her and we find a rash on her skin.  Awesome.  We will be monitoring her skin and still trying to shove those pills down her throat. 

I just ask that Rescue, you stay healthy and just hang out for a while.  We need this right now.  Okay?

Happy Anniversery

We hit our 5th anniversary this past weekend.  We typically spend our anniversary watching our wedding video, and talking about if this is where we saw ourselves in 1997.  It usually isn't but we haven't yet regretted any of our decisions at this point.  But I'm still happy and it really doesn't seem like 5 years.  However, apparently we are getting old because we are having a hard time remembering what we have done over the past 5 years.  So for the sake of my fleeting memory, we had dinner with Sara and Dan on Friday.  On Saturday we dropped Elijah off with Grandma and we headed to a hotel to spend the night and eat the cheapest pizza we could find.  On Sunday we enjoyed a free buffet complements of my mom and Sonny's wonderful bidding at an auction.  It was nice, it was relaxing, and it was cheep. 

Old Fashion

Way back before there was technology there was a barter system.  You know, I'll give you a goat from my farm for 20 ears of corn.  Oh that's a good idea.  I'll take 5 of those ears of corn and trade them for a new pair of shoes.  I like that plan.  So I am willing to give 50 pound bags of sugar and speech therapy to anyone willing to fix B.J.'s car or treat my dogs UTI.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Right we need to just cross our fingers and hope we hit the lottery.  If we don't it will just be a couple more months and we will get back in a good place.  On a nice positive side is that my pants are all fitting better. 

And how in the world does a dog get a UTI? 

If I got money...

For every person I got to start on My Fitness Pal I would be flipping rich.  I feel like ever since I started my fantastic diet plan (food, not money) I have gotten about 20 other people hooked.  That's how much I like it.  I tell everyone about it.  It's not a diet, it's just about being smart.  However, I am a bit annoyed because BJ signed up last night and has almost 2x more calories than me.  Stupid boy, stupid being taller than me, stupid having to have more weight than me to be healthy.  Oh well, I might not be rich, but at least everyone I love will be supper healthy.

Diet Plan

So my diet is going great, however, we started a new diet plan today.  Unfortunately, it is a financial diet plan.  Not nearly as much fun as a real diet plan.  We have a lot of medical bills that have come due at the same time as every thing else.  We also started putting money into my new 401K at work which means I'm bringing home less than I was 6 months ago.  Well I would like that little bit of money back.  So for the next 60 or 90 days the only things we can buy are gas, food, bills, and dog expenses.  (Yesterday Rescue passed a kidney stone but seems fine now, so I won't bring her into the vet.)  So for the next several months we will be getting creative with our lives, learning to cook again, and taking full advantage of things that have been already paid for (like the zoo) and enjoying each other's company.

That sounds fun doesn't it...

Another First

Wanna know what I did for the first time tonight?  Cut Elijah's toe nails.  Yeah I know you're all shocked.  You all are sitting around talking to each other saying, "how did she make if over 2 years and not cut her son's toe nails?"  Well BJ was a huge help for most of it.  But when Elijah was real little I went to cut his super claw finger nails and I cut his fingers instead.  At that point I gave up and told BJ that that was his job for the rest of Elijah's life.  Well now we have been super busy lately and Elijah was looking like he was a wild child.  So I did it.  And I didn't cut his toes this time.  But don't hold your breath for this being a regular activity for me.  Still BJ's job.

Did you think I forgot about you?

Some times I do.  I just don't understand, I haven't added anything new to my life.  I just feel like I have no extra time to blog anymore.  What's that all about.  I mean this weekend I saw my entire extended family and have I had time to post?  NOPE!  Do I have a hundred pictures from the weekend?  YUP!  Am i going to do it now?  NOPE! Why you ask?  Because I have to many other things I need to get done right now.  So I'm going to run now, see you later. 

Food is supposed to go where?

After 6 feeding kids today, I am starting to think I have it all wrong.  The first one taught me that when you smash peas step on them then walk on the carpet, the shells stay there but the insides disappear.  That's real cool.  But I thought it was supposed to go in you mouth.  Guess I got it wrong.  My second one taught me that carrots should be used as Frisbees. Again, I thought they were for eating.  My third kid told me honey wasn't for eating and in the process his cheese exploded all over the room.  My fourth kid only wanted chocolate pudding, the fifth was just super cute, the sixth was a new one and sitting isn't really in his vocab.  We did everything on the run.  It was interesting.  I'm sticky now. 

Hair

I think my last hair cut was...um well, 18 months ago?  Maybe even more?  Either way it was long past due.  Here is a before.

Here are the durings.

Here is the pile of hair that was once on my head and now it is not.

Back and front.

Love it, Love it, Love it.  Can't wait to see what it is like tomorrow when it is clean, and with product in it.

Holly Hot Monday

Again, you will never here me COMPLAIN about the heat.  But man is it HOT in Chicago.  I am glad I have A/C and power to run that A/C.  I am trying not to melt.  I am trying to keep my flowers alive (the grass is past dead).  I need to keep the baby cool as well as the dog.  I feel sorry for BJ though since he doesn't have A/C in his car.   But we have it in the house.  And I love every moment of it. 

My Fittness Pal

If you have a smart phone I highly recommend this program.  About a month ago I got my new phone.  A smart phone.  As soon as I got it I started to shop the app store.  I quickly found a weight loss program.  I though, "why not try it?"  So I did.  The first week I didn't really stay within my point, I just wanted to see how many I was consuming in my regular every day life.  I think my biggest shocker was when I realized that the Dunkin Donut Coolatta (a medium mind you) was my entire caloric intake of the day.  That just made me sick.  Then the second week I was doing real well, until it was Elijah's birthday and we went to the zoo, then his party, then my birthday, then a wedding.  Those two weeks were a waste.  But I stayed real strict to counting even on days I knew I was going over.  Over that time I fluctuated up and down but I stayed within a 2 pound window.  Over the past week I have already gone down 2 pounds, but I expect to gain a bit more after the weekend.  Over all I am trying to lose .5 pound a week, if that means I go down 2 and up 1.5 every week, I am still a happy camper.  So in a couple of months you will see a skinnier me.  I hope. 

Who is the Crabbiest Person on Earth Right Now?

Oh it's me.  Hands down me.  I am the crabbiest person, yelling at B.J., yelling at Elijah, yelling at the dog.  I think it has to do with the diet I'm on and I'm going through MAJOR carb withdrawal this week.  But that doesn't make too much since because I have been doing this diet for almost 4 weeks.  I think I am having a bad PMS week but I also think I am sleepy.  I don't know.  I'm just going to go stomp upstairs and go to bed. 

Goodnight.

My new Love

DVR

I really don't know how I lived without it.  I now tape all my shows when they are on, then sit down and watch them when I can.  Usually after 8:30 or 9:00.  Now I don't have a rushed, busy feeling the moment I get home from work to make sure I get in front of the TV before the shows start that I want to see.  My favorite channel at this point is USA.  I love almost all of there shows. Wait, no I love all of there shows.  I also know that there will be lots of shows in the fall that I will want to see.  With my working hours, this relieves a lot of stupid stress. 

On a side note, BJ has developed a new OCD habit and has to check that all the doors are locked and the garage door is closed 3-4 times before he goes to bed.

Sara and Dan: The Newly Wedds

 

As I have said before, Sara is one of my oldest friends.  And by oldest I mean longest not age.  I have known Sara since 4th grade and we have had our ups our downs and falling outs, our time apparts, and our times with way to much time togeather.  I even realized several years ago that even if Sara and I wouldn't have know each other in high school, it is possible we would have met some where along the line becasue of her most recent boyfriend. 

Here's the back story.  Way back in high school we met and spent almost every waking hour with each other Some where along the line I started dating BJ, and Sara her boyfriend.  As life went on her boyfriend got caught up in life and changed for the not awsome.  As BJ and I got married, Sara had to do the horrible and date.  (I don't envy this part about her life at all.)  She finally found the most wonderful man.  They spent time togeather, growing and figuring each other out.  The day Sara called me from Vegus near her birthday telling me she was engaged I jumpped up and down on the bed the best I could without taking my head off with the ceiling fan or wake up the baby with my screaming. 

The months that followed were filled with phone calls every now and then, dress shopping, and showers.  On Sunday they wed.  It was beautiful.  It was perfict.  I had so much fun, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have. 

Now my Sara lives about 5 miles from me with her brand new hubby.  I hope we can continue our friendship as our lives continue to move on. 

Over all... Sara and Dan, I love you two.  I wish the best to you both as you begin your life togeather. 

The 4th of July

We had a bit of a busy weekend. I will be posting out of order, mostly because the 3rd of July's events deserve their own evening's brain work.  Back to the 4th though.

We started the day with a bit of fishing. 

Rescue and I sat in the shade.

We then headed to my dad's and BJ and I took a nap.  We then headed to the Warrenville Fireworks where we met up with more people there than I would have ever guessed.  We met up with a bunch of the old high school group. 

We met up with the Neighbors.Elijah and Cole hung out for a bit. 

We played with glow sticks and camera settings

And of course there were FIREWORKS! 

Remember me?

I barley remember you.  We have done a lot of stuff in just two short weeks.  I don't know if there will ever be a Zoo Part II.  I still have to get to Elijah's Birthday party.  Then there is the wedding I was in this weekend as well as the 4th festivities.  I will try to do a quick run through, but I will save the wedding for it's own post. 

Elijah's Party:

We had a dino themed party, with the appearance of a real live dino. 

We went on a Dino egg hunt.

And had a Dino dig.

And a Dino cake.  Who can't like a party like that?

The Zoo Part I: By Elijah

We went to the Zoo for my birthday.  It was fun.  I fell asleep right before we got there and was a little slow to start.  As soon as we got in we went to see the bears. 

Mommy really likes the bears so she wanted to see them first.  It was a good choice mommy.  The bears were all being crazy.  We stayed there for almost half an hour watching the bears swim and walk around. 

Mommy and I got with in 2 or 3 inches from the bear.  I gave the bear a high five.  It was so cool. 

We spent so much time with the bears, I turned into one. 

After the Bears we went to the children's zoo but my polar bear needed a snack so I gave him one.

 Come back tomorrow for more zoo trip fun.

Happy Birthday Elijah

Oh Elijah,

Another year has passed and you have become a year older. I didn't think time could travel much faster than it did the year before from when you so new, but I think the last 12 months went faster than before. You keep growing and I keep thinking that if you get any bigger Daddy and I might have to talk about having another baby soon because you are so not a baby any more. You are definitely a toddler now. A copy everything you do toddler too. I think my favorite thing that you learned to do this year is put Rescue in her crate every time we leave. You still can't say her name. It sounds a lot more like "dodo" or sometimes "dedoo" but Rescues knows its her time because you would always have a yummy treat for her. I think one of my favorite times was when you tried to fill her food bowl one kibble at a time.

I forget how much you have grown over the year until I look back and compare your then and now pictures. You have so many teeth now, your hair is darker and thicker, you are starting to lose all of you rolly polly parts and stretching out. You are super smart, but I think all mommies and daddies think there babies are the smartest one in the whole world.  I forget that a year ago you couldn't even walk.  Now you look at us and take off running while you yell, "un, un, un, un" the whole time (run, run, run). You currently love your animals and know most of the animal noises. My favorite one is your wolf noise and of course your dino roar.

We didn't travel that much this past year. We just didn't have that may places to go. We still did a lot though.  You spent several nights throughout the year with grandmas and grandpas while Mommy and Daddy had some quiet time.  It felt weird to be in the house without you though.  Like we were missing part of our everyday routine.  Over the last year we:
Saw Fireworks with Grandpa,

Had plenty of Driveway BBQ's

Went to a real pumpkin patch with Grandma,

Went to Augustana for Homecoming

Carved pumpkins
Went Trick-or-treating as a spider

Got sick several times

Hung in your PJ's all Saturday

Had your first (knock on wood, only) ear infection

Saw Santa 4 different times and still couldn't get a good picture.

Wore your first suit

Made new friends

Were snowed in by the BLIZZARD of 2011

Went to the Car show

Played in the snow for the first time
Met your baby cousin Landon

Had a red carpet event with Grandma, Grandpa, and the Gregersens

Went on many Easter Egg hunts

Went bowling for the first time

Colored Easter eggs

Landscaped

Went to birthday Parties

Had lots of trips to the zoo.

To be honest Elijah, this last year you have given your daddy and I a run for our money.  You started being two around 15 months and have added some very trying behaviors at times.  I do say I am sorry for the 2 spankings you had this year, and for the numerous time outs you have had, just so I could get away.  You are really a sweet boy and if I could get you fed, or to sleep before you reach your breaking point we would have a much better life.  There are many days when heading to work is very difficult for me, because that means that I am missing out on 10 or more hours of natural curiously, but I am glad you have friends at school. 

I continue to look forward to the years to come and wonder what they will bring us.  With every day you show me something new and find a new way to push our buttons in just the way that will benefit you the most.  But kid, we love you.  You make us smile more times than not and the more you talk the more I understand what you are thinking.  I can't wait to see where next year brings us. 

Love Mommy