Pinterest

I’m going to pretend that I’ve been blogging every day/week and not address my absence because it’s just annoying when people go on and on apologizing for their absence. We’re all busy, you get it. I don’t have time everyday to sit down and put thoughts to blog.

Anyway I love pinterest. My husband enjoys my Recipes to Try board and my daughter actually watches me sometimes while I’m on pinterest and she’ll say “mom aren’t you going to pin that”?! Yes she know to say “pin that”. I’ve been told that many people love watching my boards. I have, as of right now… 41 boards and 1,227 pins. It’s insane.

I used to feel guilty for repinning someone’s pins especially if I repinned a lot of their pins. It felt a little staulkerish but I’ve gotten over that. It’s what the site is all about.

Nicole had a fantastic idea, in fact I’m going to reorganize my recipes to try board and make two like she did. One for Recipes I want to try and another one for Recipes I’ve made.

I have a new attitude that if I pin I might as well try it, there’s no sense in pinning something and not giving it a try.

Because of pinterest…

• it’s easier to make my 2 week meal plan
• it’s easier to plan a party
• I fixed a hole in J’s jeans and received a ton of compliments
• my holiday crafts are much more fun, ie Christmas
• I  took pictures of my Christmas cards and assigned them to contacts in my iphone
• I always have ideas on gifts to make for loved ones

There are SO many other reasons I love pinterest but I won’t bore you any longer.

I’m having a party tonight, my house is clean and so I’m off to pinterest to look for dip ideas.

The Season has begun

I’m not talking about Thanksgiving/Christmas we all know that is upon us, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock. We have 34 days until Christmas. I’m not complaining this year because both my kids are done and I’m well on the way to being done with EVERYONE.

I was specifically referring to the commercials geared for full on ugly cry sobs. It’s come to me having to get up and walk out of the room. It’s terrible. Because I don’t like to suffer alone (no one does) here’s a few just for you. Grab your kleenex….

Here’s the worst one this year… just makes me crumble.

Hallmark is always the big winner – they get me every time but Folgers is a close second. This is a classic, doesn’t really choke me up anymore but it’s still a goodie but cheesy. When the mom walks down the steps and exclaims… OH PETER!!

That’s all I can come up with… I know there a few others that have choked me up this year so far and I can’t remember what they are…. oh well. I did find this one…. Okay I’m just warning you… this one is the best of the worst. SO incredibly sad and it’s not holiday.

 

I’ll leave you with a nice friendly one that evokes happiness… and a catchy song

We Have Fat Squirrels

Halloween has come and gone and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. Not that there is much preparation for Thanksgiving. You make a grocery list, we keep a few pumpkins out and maybe do a few turkey crafts. No big deal, because we all know the big show is around the corner.

But, with all that – my point… we kept a few pumpkins out. We put the large black inflatable cat away and we put a few in our flower boxes under our windows and we kept our super huge one that we didn’t carve on our front porch all in the spirit of Thanksgiving. I had my Mother’s help in the design and it looks nice and very fall like.

So why is my post called “We Have Fat Squirrels”? Why am I talking about pumpkins instead of squirrels… clearly squirrels are what I want to talk about because here in our town they are huge. They are the size of your pet cat and they are brave. There are hundreds living in just one tree it seems. You feel like you are always being watched when you walk out your door to your car. Think I’m exaggerating. Ask one of my neighbors. They’ll agree. We tried to grown veggies this summer, we didn’t get any off our vines or plants because these little demons would beat us to them. Well now they are destroying my Thanksgiving display.

Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about. Pretty right? All those colorful and different gourds and pumpkins….

The squirrels take off with either a small pumpkin or a gourd every day. Yesterday JT saw one with a yellow gourd in it’s mouth so he chased it off the porch. It ran into the yard and stood there with it in it’s mouth and stared and JT until JT ran at him, that little sucker didn’t even drop the dang gourd as it ran up the tree in our front yard. At first I was pissed but now it’s becoming humorous. Here’s what they are doing to my extra large pumpkin by our front door.

Each day it grows bigger and bigger. We are basically feeding these little creeps. It’s an open buffet where they can dine 24 hours. Want proof that they are fat?

I’ve never seen squirrels this big or fat. A hazard to suburb living.

We raked leaves yesterday…. 7 tall yard bags for just the front yard. It’s alot of work but boy are those some huge piles for jumping 🙂

FLU sucks!!!

This post is for posterity sake… my little guy was super brave when he went to the ER for the first time and I want to make sure I always remember.

On Sunday I had a session with some lovely friends. While there I received a text from JT that I didn’t check until I was leaving. It said “FYI J puked all over the loveseat and rug. Not sure if I should wash the loveseat cover”. YIKES and YUCK!!! I was secretly glad I wasn’t home. I don’t handle puke very well. So I called JT on the way home and talked to him about J, he said that he was still puking and that he was in a ton of pain. Stomach pain. Oh man. He had eaten a sucker at his haircut appointment on Friday so I figured it was that stuck in his stomach. I asked JT if his tummy was distended again, nope…. okay well I told him I’d be home soon and to hang in there. When I arrived home J was pale, lethargic, puking and crying in pain. I called the exchange and waited for an hour for them to call me back. Worst hour of my life so far as a mom, or at least that I can remember.

Finally the nurse called us back and she told us look don’t break any laws but let’s get him to an ER right away, which one do you want… that’s a tough question. I picked MoBap because I knew that the Children’s there wouldn’t be as packed as Children’s downtown. After I hung up with the nurse I actually had to excuse myself and cry in the other room before we headed out. I called my mom and dropped L off at her work. Poor guy was still in such bad shape, we made it to the ER and had to stop right away because little guy had to puke in the parking lot. My friend called while we were comforting him and I answered, i was definitely not in my right mind… I told her I can’t talk at ER with J, she said, HANG UP GO!!! It’s kind of funny now to look back.

We made it inside and the poor little guy was just miserable. They hooked him up to an IV pretty fast, drew some blood and started to hydrate my baby. To know J is to know that the child FREAKS out when he is around needles and/or blood. JT and I knew this wasn’t going to be good. He did a lot better than we expected but once he saw the blood he screamed. All was cleaned up and they strapped his tiny little arm to a board and we waited for x-rays.

He fell asleep and was able to rest since he was receiving fluids for his dehydration plus some Zofran for the queasiness. When he was awake we talked about how mommy had to take Zofran when I was pregnant with him and L, it made him smile. We woke him up when the wheelchair arrived. The nurse pushed his chair, I held all the stuff we had and JT had to pull his IV pole along. 😦 It was just pitiful. He did say something kind of cute before his x-ray he looked at us and said I’m gonna get to look like a skeleton. His little weak voice sounded happy about that… ahhhh always a boy.

The x-ray came back clear and there was no obstruction. Thank god. His blood work came back and all of his blood counts were fine and his organs were in good shape. Thank god again. So basically he had a funky virus that has been going around. THANK GOD!!! I mean really… you feel slightly foolish for taking a child to the ER with just a virus/flu like thing… but the crying in pain was what put me and I think the nurse on the phone into enough of a panic to send him to the ER. When you are there you just want to leave with a healthy child. You don’t want to be told something is wrong. So I am extremely grateful!!!

Pictures of J at the ER

So we got home about 2 1/2 hours after we began the ordeal, not bad. JT went out to buy some powerade for J (supposedly the best for a dehydrated flu victim) and while he was gone… I lost it. I was so sick. I’ll spare you but good god. It’s been ages since I’ve been that sick. JT returned to find two of his dear family members knocked out on the couch.

Here’s his picture because he’s my hero. Thanks honey for taking such good care of us this week and for checking online to make sure I didn’t have E Coli :).

One other funny thing J said when we got home… I don’t ever want to go back and get an IV but my favorite part was the warm blankets. 🙂

J’s Pain

I finally figured out what has been hurting my baby boy. Thanks to my mom…. we figured it out!!!!

Every once in a while J’s tummy would hurt really bad right above his belly button. He would scream and cry and feel gross. I would try to help him manage the pain and just as I was about to take him to the ped it would stop and he’d be fine, up and running around. On Sunday his stomach was distended and he was lethargic, crying… I was freaking out. Mom said it was just like my brother when he was young. Basically my brother cannot eat hard candy of any kind his reaction was the same as J’s, except he ended up in the ER. J had had two dum dum suckers that afternoon and it makes total sense because looking back, the pain would happen after he ate some sort of hard candy. I cannot find anything online about this happening to anyone else but we have to start somewhere I guess.

So we are going around the house and getting rid of suckers, life savers and any other hard candy we can find. Poor guy he loves suckers and life savers too. Luckily none of the other candies are triggers, chocolate is fine. We’ll just bundle it up with the other candy we’re taking to the dentist, my new favorite thing for getting rid of candy. We always have so much left over, not even my sweet tooth can keep up.

This of course is not doctor diagnosed but it’s all fitting into place.

The weekend

This weekend was chock full of fun…. I didn’t have a single session and was able to spend every waking minute with my lovely family. It was really nice.

Friday we had Trunk or Treat which was a lot of fun but we are used to this tiny little event at our old school. The one we attended at our new school was HUGE!!! Crazy out of control fun. I worked the event (have I mentioned my inability to say no) and didn’t see my kids or poor husband until the end. We attempted to decorate our car. Thinking it somewhat cool… NOT AT ALL. We were delusional. People/Families went all out!!! There was a haunted car, where the kids went in one side and slid down a slide at the end… there was a disco inferno with disco music and lights, there was a whole Harry Potter set up… we tried to do Harry Potter I made a really cool drawing of Hogwarts Castle…. It was pathetic. I still like my drawing but it was pathetic. We parked side by side of our good friends and I didn’t see them the whole night. I was pinning numbers on kids, the whole night. Insanity!!!

The best news of the night…. L won best overall costume. She was beside herself excited. When she got back from receiving her gift (a $10 g.c. to AMC theaters and a cool headband with our school logo) she told me “Mommy I’ve never won anything like this before”. I was so happy for her. My moms and my hard work paid off.

Hedwig and Harry Potter

Our Hogwarts attempt

My drawing of the castle

Kids with all their candy, sorting their favorites from the yucky

 

Saturday we had soccer. Our last fall soccer session. We’re pretty sure we’re going to sign them up for the winter indoor session. We really like the program their in. JT’s brother, sister-in-law and our niece joined us at the soccer field and after practice we headed out for lunch. We ate at Jilly’s Cupcake Bar. SO GOOD!!! Love spending time with them. After lunch we said goodbye and headed to the library where L picked all kinds of books. She is a reading machine.

When we got home JT and I changed our closets over. YUCK!! I hate doing that every year. I definitely have more winter clothes than I do summer. Mom came over after work and she and I drove out to Macy’s to buy her a birthday outfit, L joined us of course. After we were done shopping with my mom we came home for dinner and then headed back out for some more birthday shopping. Once home and kids in bed I watched the Cardinals win game 3. A huge win for us. It was a lot of fun to watch.

 

Sunday was my mom’s birthday. We met at Vin de Set for some brunch and then came back here to have a nice relaxing day. We watched a few Halloween movies, family friendly of course and JT made a good meal of Salmon, Chicken (for me and the kids), rice, cabbage – YUM!!! We had a great day just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. J got my mom a huge bunch of flowers and L got mom a necklace that means Love Forever.

There’s our weekend. A pretty nice one. Next weekend I’ll be back to working a lot but also trying to fit in some pumpkin carving.

Our Dog

Warning to all pet owners… a very sad post

We had to have our dog put to sleep on Monday last week… it was terrible. There have to be 500 reasons to not have a pet but the #1 reason is dealing with their death. It’s torture. We knew it was his time, he had lymphoma.

His body was worn down to nothing, all of his bones were protruding, he had tumors all over his body, he didn’t have the energy to bark at our passing neighbors, he could barely walk and he wasn’t begging or eating anymore. We knew it was time. So we waited for both kids to be in school and took him to the vet. I carried him to the car and JT had to carry him into the vet. While laying on the table his ears were perked and it made me think we were making the wrong decision but… we weren’t. We spent some time with him. I kissed his nose and stroked his silky ears, they came in and put a line into his vein, they had a hard time because he was so thin. The needle startled him and he put his nose on my hand. The doctor gave us more time with him before she came back with the medicine. We loved on him and I started to cry because it just didn’t seem right. I couldn’t stay in the room in case he had a bad reaction, I didn’t want that to be my last memory so JT stayed with him. As I walked out I turned to look and he was watching me leave, it was very sad. I cried in the waiting room and sat so I could see the exam room door. I saw the nurse and doctor walk in… and not 5 minutes later they walked back out. JT was behind them a few minutes later, he was crying and that’s the worst to see your big, strong husband be broken down to tears.

He told me he took a big deep breath and laid his head down on his paws, he fell asleep peacefully. Everyone was crying. Me, JT, the doctor, the nurses. It was one of the worst things we’ve had to do… the first was letting our first dog go.

We quietly came home, justifying our decision with lots of excuses (he was sick, he couldn’t walk, etc) but it never feels okay. You feel like you’ve killed your best friend. Nothing makes it okay, no amount of excuses. We got home and that’s when I sobbed. The thought of walking around the house without him greeting us or even just following us to see what we’re doing, it was all too much.

Luckily it rained that day so we sat around and mourned until it was time to pick up the kids. I cried at pick up when a friend said some nice things. I told the kids when they got in the car. L cried and J wasn’t really processing it… so we came home and cuddled on the couch and watched a movie.

Each day gets better but it’s still hard. We always think we hear him moving… his nails on the door frame, a creak of the floor from him walking. JT still expects to see him laying behind him in his office here at home. I was alone one night and it was strange because my protection was gone, even though he could barely hear and could hardly see anymore.

We are awaiting his ashes and I’m sure the sadness will start all over again once they arrive.

He was a difficult dog to own. He caused a lot of grief for us… we are convinced that Marley and Me was written about him. He chewed on everything, stole food from our counters, dug in the trash… all those yucky dog behaviors BUT he was our dog and we still loved him.

We are now dog-less. We have had dogs since we were engaged, so this is a new thing. We will be dog-less for a while. No puppies or rescues in our future. This makes the kids sad because they grew up with our two but life will be a little easier, as much as it pains me to say it.

I’ll miss his silky ears, he had a sweet smelling spot on his forehead, the black spot on his rump, the way he would place his head on the couch and look at you if he needed something, the security you provided us, the way he would run around the house looking for you (we’d totally play hide and seek, the kids loved it)… and so many other things…

Thank you Roscoe for all your love, companionship and loyalty for the 12 1/2 years we had you in our lives. Have fun running around with Rudy in Doggy Heaven. RIP buddy!!

Photos taken in early September

Watching baseball with J

J is hilarious. He says the funniest stuff sometimes, not just about baseball – he pretty much has an opinion on everything but this week we’ll address his comments on baseball in honor of the Cardinals playing in the World Series.

1. He laid on my lap tonight and told me he needed to pay attention and watch the Cardinals win the World Serious

2. He wanted to know why the guy behind the catcher has on a gentleman’s suit and are there medals on his shirt

3. JT entered a contest today to win some tickets to Game 1… my mom asked me if he would take me… I said well sure who else would he take – J yells “ME he has me!!!”

4. Is a fall just like a home run? (fall = foul)

5. Daddy how do you get a point by throwing the ball?? (hmm neither of us knew what he was talking about with this one)

6. Pitcher is throwing balls on purpose to walk Pujols, J says “that’s cheating”

7. Oooh Mr. Freeze plays for the Cardinals. David Freese must be his real name

8. J was taking off his socks… Daddy what if the Red Socks (I know it’s Sox) were called the White Socks… Daddy says “there is a White Socks team” J exclaims “WHAT!!!”

9. If we go to the game I’m going to get Nachos, Pizza, Ice Cream…. so not interested in the game just the snacks. He says that’s the best part.

10. I hope they don’t lose!!! Amen buddy!!!

He apparently needs to watch more baseball with Daddy or just let Daddy watch the game. Go Cards!!!

There has to be another word for BUSY

If there were a stronger word I would use it because the word BUSY seems like an understatement. Hah. I have this problem, I can’t say no. I’m learning, slowly but surely to say NO, but it’s hard.

I am currently signed up to help at our Trunk or Treat event, I am the chair of the Scholastic Book Fair, I am room mom for L, I am room mom for J, I’m co-leader for L’s brownie troop, I’m making L’s costume for Halloween and I’m running a photography business. All of this in my busy season. It’s Christmas card/gift season. Luckily I’m not doing it all alone. I have an excellent fellow leader for L’s troop and we only meet once a month so it’s not a big deal (it’s not eating up my time), my co-chair for the book fair is splitting everything with me right down the middle so it’s kind of like we are co-chairs and the room mom thing you don’t do by yourself, obviously.

I’m not complaining but I do think I took on too much. I’ll have to remember this, and remember not to sign up for anything else. But there’s more. I decided to try and sell some kid stuff in a local sale and I have to get that ready in the next couple of weeks. Plus the saddest and worst part… our dog is dying. As a matter of fact I think this might be his last night with us. It’s sad but it’s time. There is no reason to keep him alive for us, his quality of life is gone.

All of that is enough by itself but I’m still a wife, mom and daughter. If it weren’t for my lovely, understanding husband and a mom that helps everywhere she can I’m not sure it would all get done.

Luckily I’m organized!!

This weekend, starting Friday, we had a Girl Scout bonfire.

Saturday the kids had soccer, a play date and I helped shoot a wedding

Sunday I had an early morning session, a birthday party and an afternoon session

I missed being with my family on this beautiful weekend but we are going to have a nice Christmas with all the money I’m saving from working. Plus we had a nice dinner out tonight just the 4 of us enjoying each other and talking about the fun things the kids did with Daddy. I would say that I’m waiting for Monday so my life will calm down but really who is ever really waiting for Monday.

Have a great week friends.

SLOW!!! Kids at Play

We have a great street. The kids place this sign in the street and they scooter up and down all weekend with their friends. Of course they are under adult supervision the whole time and when a car approaches all adults scream “CAR” and all the kids scatter to the sides. We love our street.