Hey everyone!

 

I took a picture or two of Colleen two days ago and it shows how well her chin and lip have healed.  Neosporin works!  :)

She fell mid morning on 2/19 and these pictures were taken the evening of 2/24, so about 5 days apart.

 

 

She was pretending to be a cat.

 

I am struggling with PMS in the worst way.  I don't have a single cramp, I don't bloat.  I lose control of my moods and emotions.  I can go from depressed to furious to deliriously happy in less than a minute.  Thank God it only lasts a few days.  I'm on birth control pills and I dread seeing the blue pill come up (it signifies the start of "that" time, if you know what I mean).

 

It's enough to make me consider getting the IUD again.  No periods = no PMS.  I can't get the depo shot because I have osteopenia.  Stupid low bone density.  Stupid low vitamin D levels that prompted the bone density scan.

 

I HATE HATE HATE feeling like I am not in control.  Little bit of trivia for you: the one single anti-drug campaign that worked on me was the one where they talk about how doing drugs makes you lose control.  I'm not going to willingly do something that will make me lose control.  Then again, I was pretty clueless.  Turns out I hung out with a girl that did drugs in the 8th grade and I didn't even know it until her parents had her carted off to a treatment program.  Boy was I surprised.

 

Anyways, back to my point: I HATE PMS.

 

The end.

 

 

I had a great day today!

 

The kids didn't wake up at an unGodly hour

 

The morning was leasurely

 

I painted another coat or two on the trim in my room (very dark paint = lots of thin even coats to make it look right)

 

I had a frozen Boston Market for lunch.  Not the same as the restaurant, but it's as good as I'm going to get here.  :)

 

Wrote out several over due Thank You notes

 

Went to a Body Shop party, ordered more of their Magical Face Stuff that moisturizes and yet doesn't give me pimples.  Also discovered two wonderful scents, bought the lotion for one of them (saving the other to order at Mo's party).  As soon as I got home I had Shawn sniff my arms.  Shawn likes them both!  I have a wonderful husband.  There aren't many out there that actively encourage their wives to do something nice for themselves.  I really appreaciate that Shawn is such a sweet heart and I try not to take advantage of it.

 

Took Colleen to the party with me, she made a little friend.  She had a wonderful time.  :)

 

Wes and Shawn had some great "guy time" while we were gone.  They walked to the park and then on to the 7-11 for Slurpies.  They got back home just before it started raining. 

 

I love the sound of the rain hitting the sky lights.  Totally worth putting them in.  I've not been here a year yet, so I know I can't say this for sure, but I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing the rain.  It is so calming.

 

We just had random left overs and Micro Mini Raviolis for dinner.  Quick and easy.  The table was covered with the baseboard trim I'm still painting. 

 

Dinner didn't rate a table clean off, but working on my St. Patrick's Day ornaments did.  LOL  I've been struggling and struggling with trying to make the gold coins I bought work.... or the "candle holders" painted to look like cauldrons... something!  I finally figured it out... I used the "candle holders" and I took metalic gold pipe cleaners and tightly wrapped them around a pencil to make a spiral.  Then I "fanned" the spiral out to make a circle of circles and I got glued it to the cauldrons.  Viola!  Instant Pot O' Gold.  It looks pretty darn cute.  Then Colleen and I separated the St. Patrick's Day confetti I got.  There are gold "Pots O' Gold", tiny gold stars, and slightly larger green stars.  Each ornament has to have the same amount of each type of confetti in it, so it had to be separated so that it is easier to add to the ornaments equally.  That's all I got done tonight because after that it was time to get the kids to bed. 

 

I started at about 8:15pm (the goal is to have them in bed at 9).  They were both so cranky and fighting it, but also so tired that they fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

 

After that I could have worked more on the ornaments, but my creativity had run out for the day and I've learned not to try and force it.  I'm never happy with the result when I try to push through.  Best to wait until tomorrow and be happy with what I end up with.

 

Once the kids were asleep I took a shower.  I'm sad that my arms don't smell like Body Shop lotion any more.  I had to console myself with my Bath and Body Works Spring Rain lotion.  :)

 

I looked at Facebook Flare for a while and thought about my bedroom make over some more.  I know I'm talking about it a lot, I can't seem to help myself!  I am very excited about the project and I hope Hope HOPE that it turns out beautifully.  I'd like people to ask me who my decorator was when they see it (fat chance, but still...)  LOL

 

Now it is almost midnight and it's bedtime.  I used to stay up all hours of the night not that long ago, maybe a year or two.  I can't do that any more.  My poor old body has caught up with me!  I need my 7.5 to 8 hours, thank you very much! 

 

Shout Out:

My sister, Diana, climbed something like 46 floors of stairs today for the American Lung Association.  I am so proud of her.  I feel like a giant butt because I forgot to get my sponsorship donation entered on the website in time.  I'm still going to do it, but I feel bad that it wasn't before the fact.  :(

 

On a sadder note, I've heard or read about several people that have recently passed on.  I'm praying for their families and believing that each one is in a better place now, surrounded by loved ones that went before them and enjoying pain free good health.  Every single person was a victim of some form of cancer.  It breaks my heart.  The only thing that makes it tolerable is the promise of Heaven.  When I find my spirits sinking from the loss, I give myself a mental shake and remember how wonderful Heaven is.  Death is a tragedy for the living, not the one that has gone Home.  That makes it a little better.

 

Hug the ones you love, guys.  Hug yourself tightest of all because you are very special to me.  :)

 

Love, Jen

Colleen has been falling a lot lately.  I blamed it on her shoes (her first pair of not-Stride Rite gym shoes, so I feel guilty there already!).  Her foot has grown since the beginning of school and they were getting too small.  I downloaded the foot measuring thingy from Stride Rite's website (there aren't any stores here!) and I ordered her a pair on line.  We got them last week and they seem to fit pretty good, but she is still falling.  Her Kindergarten teacher, Mr. K, says that all Kindergarteners fall and that they don't stop falling until 1st grade.  He's a pretty cool guy, that Mr. K.  :)

 

Today's fall happened after gym class on the way out to recess.  Her school is under construction - they are building the new building "around" the old building (I'll see if I can find a picture to show what I mean) and the ground is uneven in some places.  She tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk on the way to the playground.  She was adorable when she said sadly, "I just wasn't watching where I was going.  I didn't save my skin."

 

The kids were coming in from recess as Coco and I were leaving and they were all concerned for her and hoped she was OK.  She was still pretty bloody at that point.

 

I got her home and settled her on the couch with an ice pack (school doesn't give ice packs for mouth injuries, it might be a hygeine issue?).  She was saying her teeth were wiggling but she wouldn't let me near them to check for myself.  When she was calm, I called the dentist, who said to bring her in just to be on the safe side.  Kelly - Dr. Dave earned major points with me today, he handled Colleen perfectly!

 

I've been keeping up on her motrin and she had macaroni and cheese, 3 popscicles, and a small dish of ice cream for dinner.  She wore her thumb guard all afternoon to keep from sucking, we switched to gloves in the evening.  The plastic thumb guard is great, but it aggrivates her eczema because the wrist band sits right on it and if you don't have the wrist band tight, you can slip the guard right off.  I'm going to check on her in a few minutes to make sure she didn't take the glove off to suck her thumb, the urge is always strongest as she is falling asleep.

 

She wants to stay home tomorrow, I'm sure she is still in pain, but she is also enjoying all the attention.  Who wouldn't?  :)  How often does a kid get to say "Another popscicle, please?" and have mom trot right over with it?  LOL  I'll decide for sure if she will stay home in the morning, I will probably let her just so that I can keep up on her motrin and keep an eye on her.

 

Poor girl!  I gave her today to recuperate, but starting tomorrow I'm coating her cuts and scrapes on her face with Neosporin, then after they are healed I'll switch to Mederma (really does work!)  I do not want her poor little face to scar.

 

I had intended to paint the primer my bed room ceiling, paint the trim I primed the other day, and decorate my kitchen counter with the new wine rack and my old bar set today.  I didn't do a single thing!  Maybe tomorrow...  I'd like to have my room ready to move the furniture up on Saturday before Shawn's WoW raid.  Fingers crossed! 

 

Love, Jen

I got a call from the school a little while ago, Colleen fell on the playground and busted her chin and lip.  We are taking her to the dentist at 2, there is blood around the gums of her front teeth.  She said they don't feel loose, but I'll feel better knowing she has been checked out.  I didn't think to take pictures until now.  The swelling has gone down a fair amount since we've had the ice pack on.  Poor girl!

 

4:40pm Update: She went to the dentist.  Her two bottom front teeth are loose, but he is not too concerned about that.  He said that it is nearly time for her to start loosing them anyway.  She did not bite all the way through her lip, thank goodness, but she did bite fairly deeply.  No stitches though.  WHEW - Colleen would NOT have liked stitches.  LOL  He is concerned about her top front tooth - the one that is in the right in the pictures.  The fall pushed that one back some and "achored" it more firmly in her gum.  It is not loose.  The dentist said that her top front teeth will likely discolor (she already has one discoloration on the top left front tooth from where she and Wesley bumped heads years ago).  He told me the signs to watch out for for a "dead" tooth and I am to call him right away if I see that (it'll probably be about 2 weeks from now if that happens).  She is not allowed to suck her thumb at all (it increases the chances of loosing the tooth by 50% he said) and she gets Motrin every 4 hours until dinner time tomrrow night to try to keep the swelling down (which will help her chances of keeping the tooth).  I asked him about school tomorrow and basically it is up to me.  If she does go to school tomorrow she can not do recess or gym or anything that could further damage her mouth.  She will be fine to go to school for sure by Monday.

 

The dentist is Colleen's new best friend because he "prescribed" a diet of popscicles, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and pasta.  She's already had her first popscicle and her first dish of ice cream.  I just asked her how her mouth felt and she said "good".  Heck, if I just ate a popscicle and a dish of ice cream, my mouth would be feeling pretty good too!  :)

 

 

 

Not to worry, Demery, I didn't make a sloth look bad today!  I didn't do much of anything at all.  LOL

 

I had the car today to go pick up that wine rack from Craigs List lady.  It is awesome.  I'm thrilled with it and I am going to set it up all cute on my kitchen counter tomorrow.  When you walk in my kitchen you are going to think that two adults who enjoy wine live here.  You'll be wrong about that, of course, Shawn and I hardly drink alcohol at all (and never wine), but the "image" will be there.  It's part of my plan to convince people that I am a grown up instead of a teenager in a 30 year old body (ack!  worst nightmare!  coming true!  ack!)

 

I had a bad headache today.  I had to break down and take the migrane medicine that the neurologist gave me.  I'm still not convinced that it is migranes (I know people who get migranes and mine are no where near that bad), but it did help the headache.  It didn't go completely away and I felt all tired with really heavy arms after wards, but at least I could think again and carry on a conversation.

 

We went out to dinner tonight.  A big splurge, we went to Outback.  The kids behaved very well, Good Lord they looked like little Computer Geeks.  Wes had my phone and Colleen had Shawn's and they were "playing games" on them the whole time.  Before we know it they are going to have phones of their own and will spend their college funds on text messaging one and all.  :)

 

What else? Oh I went to Home Depot too.  I had a coupon for 10% off plus 12 months no payments / interest.  Couldn't pass that one up!  I got blinds for the kids' bedrooms and the kitchen.  I also got a LOCKING bedroom door handle for our room.  Ah, the luxury!  The kids will no longer be able to sneak up there and eat their crackers / pretzels / cereal in my bed!  They like the heated blanket.  Well guess what, kiddos?!?!  I like the heated blanket too!  And I also like not having to take all covers and sheets off my bed to shake them out, then remaking the bed every night.  HAHAHAHAHA  VICTORY!  Score one for MOM!  I'm going to install it first thing tomorrow.  :D  I also got a "No Soliciting" sign.  I hope it deters the door to door salesmen that are constantly coming through our neighborhood.  I was on hold with the doctor's office today in the computer room and I heard Wesley talking to someone.  I went into the living room to check it out and it turns out a "Gutter Guard" salesman had knocked on our door (I didn't hear it) and Wesley opened the door right up and was standing there talking with the guy.  Could have been a Cold Hearted Murderer for all we knew.  This is why we had an alarm system built into the NC house.  I wonder how much it would cost to put one in here?  More than we have right now, at any rate, so I'll pray that this NO SOLICTORS sign does the trick for the time being.  I've had a little talk with Wes about how he is not allowed to open the door, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that I didn't get through to him.  STRANGER DANGER!

 

Good gravy I am in a silly mood tonight.  It's kind of late, perhaps I ought to go to bed.  Coco goes back to school tomorrow (Mon - today she was off for "mid winter break").  I'm going to miss her tomorrow.  I don't get to spend one-on-one time with her like I'd like to.  I need to make more time for that.

 

OK, big yawn.  It's for sure time for bed.

 

Love, Jen

I got lots done today!

 

I painted the primer on the remaining trim in my bedroom (2 long pieces of baseboard and 2 door jams)

 

I finished painting Wesley's room (1 wall orange, 3 walls blue)

 

I finished painting Colleen's room (2 walls light pink)

 

The kids and I went to the grocery store.  They played in the play area, I read a book and drank hot chocolate.  The hot chocolate wasn't very good, but the book is!  :)

 

I cooked a nice lunch.  Shawn worked from home, so we all sat at the table like it was dinner time.  LOL

 

Dinner: every one of us ate something different.  Quick and Easy!

 

I took the garbage to the curb.

 

I filled the gas tank in the car.

 

I had a night out - I went to Olive Garden for an appetizer and dessert while Shawn watched the kids.  I've been needing some "me" time, I got my fill of it today! 

 

I tidied up the kid's rooms (with their help)

 

I made arrangements with a lady on Craigs List to meet up so that I can buy a wine rack from her tomorrow.  A day is not complete without a Craigs List purchase, LOL.  It is a pretty nifty rack- teak, simple, mid-century design, will look nice on my kitchen countertop with the teak shot glass and bottle holder bar set that I already have.  I was telling my dad about it (Hi, Dad!) and how our wine collection is growing.  It's only growing because we don't drink it, but (as Mo would say) Byegones!  :)

 

I'm off to put my feet up and finish my book.

 

Love, Jen

 

 

A heated mouse!  No more freezing hand!  http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/24/the-heated-mouse/

 

Or this option, which is probably less expensive: http://inventorspot.com/articles/mouse_hand_warmer_19040

 

If I could knit better, I would totally make up a bunch of little "sweaters" and call them Mouse Mittens and sell them on Etsy.

 

Don't ask me why I don't just get up and get my gloves.  That solution is so glaringly obvious that I am sure it wouldn't work somehow. 

 

MUST HAVE HEATED MOUSE AND MOUSE HAND WARMER!

 

Wait a minute, Christmas is too far away... my birthday is in June (hint, hint).

 

Love, Jen

 

This girl is incredibly stupid.  I'm so upset that I can't think of anything else to write.  I feel so bad for her parents.  DUMB ASS GIRL!

Happy Monday! 

 

Since I always feel like I didn't get anything done, I am going to try to write down all I did today, which will hopefully lead to me believing that I have something to show for having lived through today.  :)

 

Colleen's school was on a 2 hour delay for the snow.  This messed with Wesley's head.  He was "off" pretty much all day because of it.

 

Got Coco to school at 11am.  Wesley and I took a walk instead of going straight home.  He made boot prints in the snow and I wished I had worn a hat because melting snow kept raining down on me and even getting under the collar of my coat.  Otherwise it was a fun walk, it wasn't very cold and Wesley is generally in a good mood when he is outside.

 

We had a snow ball fight when we got home, but it was short lived because neither of us had gloves on.  Wesley hit me once, I missed him every time.  I have terrible aim.

 

Then we came inside and had lunch.  I can't remember what we had now.  Weird, I'm drawing a total blank.  Oh well.

 

Wes was grumpy about not being out in the snow anymore, so I told him to go get his tools, we would be Bob The Builders.  I patched the cracks in my bedroom ceiling and in the ceiling between the living and dining rooms.  Hard to tell until I sand and prime them, but I think I did a pretty good job.  Wesley couldn't reach the ceiling, so he fixed the walls instead.  He worked very hard at banging all of his plastic tools into the walls.  :)

 

After that I took a break (my arms were tired and neck was sore from looking up).  I emailed friends and played around on facebook. 

 

Then it gets kind of fuzzy on what order I did which thing in, and I'm tired of writing, so I'm going to bullet list the rest.  :)

Cleaned the new bamboo lamp.  It was filthy.

Cleaned up the puzzles in the living room

Reorganized the coat closet cubbies

Ironed the valance in the kitchen

Glued down the peeling wallpaper and unicorn parts in Colleen's room

3 loads of laundry

Straightened up the kids' rooms and put them to bed

Have a strong concept of costume and choreography worked out for a burlesque performance to Lady Gaga's Poker Face (ie: excersized!)

 

Speaking of dance routine, I'm going to get back to working on it.  :)

 

Love, Jen

Hello!  I didn't make much progress on my room this weekend in terms of painting because I wasn't feeling very well.

 

I did pick up a few decorative things for it on Saturday (more CraigsList finds, a chair, ottoman, and lamp).

 

Yesterday I went to a scrapbooking workshop and I had a lot of fun.  Plus I have almost totally finished the Valentine's Day scrapbook from last year (when I had the kid's pictures taken dressed up as cupid).  I only have a few flowers to add to one page and I have to finish the little biography pages I am doing for each of them.  So two full pages and a little bit left on a 3rd.  So close!

 

Today Coco's school was on a 2 hour delay thanks to some unexpected snow last night.  The routine change threw Wesley all out of whack and he is a grumpy mess.  We are going to go finish patching the crack in my bedroom ceiling.  He loves to be Bob The Builder, so hopefully it will put him in a better mood. 

 

I'll leave you with photos of my new treasures.  :)

 

Love, Jen

That is how quiet my house is right now.  All I can here is the sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard.  Shawn and Colleen are out seeing her school's play "Over The Rainbow".  Wesley is sound asleep, fighting off the cold that he and I are both developing.

 

I took a shower.  All by myself.  No kids keeping me company.  It was too quiet in there as well. 

 

I found the perfect chairs to go with our new bedroom set on Craigslist, and I heard back from the lady selling them right away... they had just sold!  I'm relieved, she lived 2 hours away.  Plus I promised Shawn I wouldn't buy anymore furniture for now.

 

I think I might finish painting the trim in our room tomorrow.  Maybe finish up the patch job on the ceiling in there as well.  Baby steps, right?  I don't have to go in with the mindset that I have to have it picture perfect before I fall asleep tomorrow night.  Finishing up the trim and seeing to the ceiling crack are enough progress for one day.  :)

 

Cross your fingers that US Air's ticket prices go back down.  When I first started planning the Las Vegas trip, it was going to be $200 for each of us, round trip.  Now it is up to $310.  Since I've got a while yet, I'm going to ride it out and see if fares go back down.  Something tells me they will, but that might just be wishful thinking. 

 

Love, Jen

My good buddy Yo Yo sent me another "email forward" gem today.  Since it deals with subject matter that I myself have been working on lately, I've decided to post it here.

 

Love, Jen

 

A few entries ago I mentioned that Shawn and I had big news.  I'm finally getting around to writing about it.  :)

 

Our 10 year wedding anniversary is this April.  We've been trying to celebrate it for over a year now (both aborted Disney vacations were intended for this purpose).  It's getting close to now-or-never time, our airline tickets are going to expire at the end of April.

 

After tossing around several ideas, we decided to go to Las Vegas.  Shawn wanted to surprise me by having our vows renewed by an Elvis impersonator (I always wanted to this).  Thankfully, he changed his mind about surprising me, he asked me to remarry him instead, and I have been happily planning our 2nd wedding ever since.  :)

 

We are going to be married by "young" Elvis and since it is not a legally binding wedding we are going with the "Elvis style" vows. 

 

I would feel silly wearing a wedding dress, but I would also feel silly wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  So instead, I am going to wear a poodle skirt and saddle shoes and Shawn is going to wear a 50's style bowling shirt. 

 

We have our hotel reservations and I am fairly certain of the shows we want to see (suggestions welcome!)

 

If anyone has any recommendations for a restaurant for our after-wedding dinner, please let me know!  I am having a hard time coming up with something.  We aren't big on fancy gourmet type food and we won't be dressed up (unless you count our 50's era Sock Hop clothes as dressed up).  We'd like to stay on the strip.

 

So there you have it!  My big news!  I've been putting off writing about it because I wanted to do a beautiful and touching post about it, but if I keep waiting for inspiration for that I'll have never said a peep!  :)

 

Love, Jen

I just bought Colleen a new pair of desparately needed sneakers on line at striderite.com

 

They are having a big sale and I got a great deal.

 

I was worried about buying shoes on line without trying them on, but they have this little foot measuring doo hickey that you print out, then you enter the numbers and voila! Shoe size and width.

 

I just tried to post a picture of them but it didn't work.  Fiddlesticks! 

 

When they come, if I remember, I will post a picture of her wearing them.