Before and After

My daughter is amazing I have two before and after morning shots to share with the world today.

What you may not believe is that it was only a difference of 5 and ten minutes between each shot!

The miracle of a hairbrush!

Before

After

This is the less drastic of the two and was a space of 5 minutes

Next up was just funny!

Before

After

15 minutes and WOW!

I know I know when your done laughing and scrolling up and down between the two we will end with a tiny bit of cuteness!

Happy St. Shopko day?!?!

So I am a might tad confused its ok and its also very normal for me! Today I dressed the family in green checked them all over, quickly checked the internet to make sure of what time Shopko opened in the morning and then drove everyone to their designated areas.
Hubby - work
Prissy - Bus stop (yes it is rather far from the house almost as far as her school next year that she is being transferred too!)

Then Littleman and I went to spend a few cold morning minutes in the car. He was smart and took a quick nap while mama read a book, checking the clock every few minutes.
Then beeline and a quick dash to the door and I was one of the first people in the store and shopping!

Here is what I went running for! Normally 169.99 on sale for 79.99! I bought a matching clearance sheet set (500 count) and one extra pillow (see the light blue with the flowers?) yes! A nice new beautiful bed set! I now have two amazing bedroom sets one green and one blue!

Here is a close up as well as a less fuzzy picture! I got there at 9am right when they opened and it was a good thing! I bought the only queen in the whole store! Seriously!!!


Then little man and I went off to look for his up coming B-day as well as some Easter toys. Tonight I am headed back with my BFF I forgot to look for a garbage can as well as dvd/music folders for my hubby. Not that I mind going back to a great and wonderful sale - when they make things down they mark them down!

So Celebrate St. Patricks Day and go shopping!

Now as to what has been going on with me health wise - I am healthy! Voila!
At least for what they tested LOL.
I am being sent for a sleep study to find out if I am sleep deprived due to sleep apnea - not really sure about this as my hubby has sleep apnea and I don't think I am that bad...
Anyway I am being treated for being Vit D deficient and will need to explore other options if the sleep test comes back negative.

Warnings and My New Phone!

The first part falls under my Free Advice. 
Warnings first as this might save lives.
Super Moon March 19th we are going to be blessed with seeing a super moon! This is wonderful and exciting, but can come with repercussions.
The moon is going to be closer to Earth than it has been in 18 years and this time it will be full!
Meaning the sun will be on one side of the planet and the moon on the other. Normally when the moon is full we have a 1% increase in earthquakes and larger waves - ebbing of the tides is a stronger pull, but what will a super full moon mean for us as a planet? Well today is only the 11th and we've just had a massive Tsunami in Japan, created by a 8.9 earthquake. See Article.
What you can do to prepare for a disaster in your area - map out an evac drive route in case of flooding or fires. Store up food and fresh water. Check over your survival/camping gear, making sure you have items to cook on is very important. Make sure you have a stocked first aid kit. Also remember if an earth quake hits your area you want to shut everything off - gas, water, and power to make sure you don't have any surges or issues. Depending on the severity they can be turned back on pretty quickly. Keeping your car filled up right now with gas prices rising can be hard, but it could save your life if you need to drive over mountains to get safe.
Do I think that every place is going to be affected or that the moon caused this? Not really, however, its prudent to pay attention to whats going on with our world.
Gas, food and water are not that hard to stock up on for a few days, nor hard to use if no disaster follows.

 Now for the unveiling. It's not a very popular model, its made mostly for teens and people like me - who want smart phone features without the data package! I have a data block on the line now but with this phone i can wifi in my home.

Did I mention unveiling? Yeah this was just so hilarious opening it up that I had to photo every stage!

Wait wait we're not done yet!

Ta Da! 

I know what a way to package a phone right?

I am still getting everything set up with the new phone - putting in my contacts adding in photos and my music lists. Tonight I will be adding some more music into the phone. Yeah!

Now I am going back to sleep! 

My daughter has been sick the last two nights, the first night with high fevers, last night with vomiting and diarrhea.

She is fine today, hungry and tired from being up two nights in a row, but for the most part it looks like she is over whatever it was to begin with.

My BFF

There are so many things we have in common - values, likes, ideas, our brains work well together. There are so many other things we don't have in common - I love olives - she hates them. I love gardening and couldn't wait to get a home with a bit of dirt to play in. She on the other hand hates dirt, things that grow and getting her hands dirty. I am NOT kidding.

Last year when we lived in her basement we helped with many projects. The one that her and I did all by ourselves was put in a rock garden over the side of her yard that the previous owners had filled with all sorts of wild flowers - flowers that had long since gone to weed.

We took wagon load after wagon load of pea gravel dumped it and then moved several large rocks from the back to set off the rock garden nicely. As we were working (we had a limited amount of time to move the gravel - like one day) her neighbor came out to tell us how we should have done it. Putting in wee barriers, weed kill, tilling it first turning over the dirt ect. Not as we were doing just dumping the rocks down in our haste to get them their rather than waste the time and lost the rocks.

Now while I will freely admit that there is a proper way to do a thing and a non proper way to do a thing. We or rather I had already suggest a much better, far less conventional method for holding back weeds. Now before I get into what that brilliant plan is and have the whole world hate me - for oh yes you shall!

I want to make the point again, I KNOW MY BFF! I know that her and her hubby have far to much to do in their two grassy lawn areas of their home. They don't have time to weed, time to poison or stay on top of things. They also have no desire to move from their home and no I also can't see that they either of them will change their minds on how they want their front yard to look. I fully believe that they will live their for the next 30-40 years.

That said last night we went to the store (late at night) and bought 4 large boxes of salt. Then under the bright light of the street light dressed in black we salted her rock liberally and then watered it in. I know the Horrors!

I have now helped to poison 2 feet by 22 feet of dirt making it so the rocks will be beautiful for years to come, maintenance free. My only worry is that out of everyone we talked to I alone am the one who thought up this long term solution - so what does that say about me?

Tents and Bruises

 

Let me tell you trying to take a photo of your own arm is not that easy! With the flash and all it looks much lighter then in real life.

I can't tell you how happy the kids are that mama is seeing a dr. This whole week they have been celebrating by making various tents. I know this might sound a little weird, but when you know how long I have put this off, you might understand better. 

Love my kids! Love my hubby and I want to get better to be with them!

Blood and Vampires

There are things in this world that we pay for. 

Some things we like, drinks, treats, clothes ect. Then there is the inevitable transportation fee's, insurances fee's and taxes.

Then there is a whole other lists, the why in the heck am I paying for THIS list.

You know the list, I am sure you have one as well. Don't we all? Today I was forced to pay for one of mine.

The drawing of my blood.

Now for most people this is a hassle, a bother, a discomfort of life.

Not for me.

For me its like paying some one to torture me in the high hopes that they can fix something that is broken - seriously broken.

I am, what most blood sucking vampires also known as phlebotomists, call a hard stick.

Not only am I a hard stick, but I have small veins that like to roll.

My body really wants to take are of itself and really hates to give away even one drop of blood.

Due to this I have found different types of blood suckers.

Those that listen 

Those that don't 

and those that try really really hard.

Today I got the last one. I now have a huge bruise from where she prodded and poked around inside of my body, piercing the vein repeatedly, until she was able to get the blood to flow.

Four tiny vials later and I walk out knowing full well why I have put this off for so many years. It's not just all the doctors visits, all the co-pays, all the medicine, its the knowing that if I have a problem with either of my cholesterol or my thyroid, I will have to endure this on a more regular basis.

I am no baby for pain, but having a middle age chatty kathy digging around in your arm is not something that you jump up and down in line for either.

So today as you can tell I got my blood drawn and in one or two weeks I will find out if all of this was worth it and how much more of this I will need to endure.

For those that don't believe vampires exist I suggest a trip to your doctors.

They are hiding in plain site everyday...

I give up!

Alright after years of gaining weight and not being able to lose any no matter what I have done. I did it. I finally made an appointment to see a dr.

My first step was to find a dr. who is much closer to me than my current dr. Having found a clinic next to my new home, I called up and made an appointment.

With most places making a New Patient Visit can be weeks out, with this place, a new place with lots of dr.'s and few patients I was seen the same day I called - Today.

Monday I will be going in for blood testing. I am being tested for Thyroid issues as well as Cholesterol issues.

I fully expect to find that my Cholesterol levels are higher than they should be. I have been having issues with fatigue, tiredness, and headaches. Due to this we have been getting take out far too often. Lucky for me hubby has once again started his diet. Making me start eating healthier.

In the meantime, I await the results on my Thyroid. It will determine what I do next and which steps we take in trying to lose weight. I now have a dr. I can see and be seen by on a same day basis. She is a little rough around the edges and not very good at explaining everything, but we will see where and how this goes.

Girls Night Out!

While some people may hold a romantic notion that,. stay at home mama's have much time and leisure. For my best friend and I that simple isn't true.
She works hard taking care of, and work with her two special needs children. I am still busy trying to unpack, repair and make this house a home - not to mention my hours of work a day on my book that yes I still hope to get published.
For these reasons my BFF and I normally spend our girl times grocery shopping or having play dates with the kids.

I am fortunate that in a friendship as long as ours that we still live close enough for  frequent contact even if it means airing out all of issues in the middle of store X.
Last night however, in a wonderful break from the normal we were given time off by our hubby's to have a proper girls night out at dinner!
It is heaven to be able to talk about all the little things in our lives, without seeing the long suffering looks from our husbands and hearing, uh huh, or yes dear, every few sentences!

It might end up being another couple of years before we have another night out like this again, but last night was golden!