It's like this...

My poor Ally. While her daddy was mowing the front lawn she jumped on a scooter that had been left here by her brother's friend. I was inside finishing up the kitchen, so I wasn't there to tell her she needed a helmut. The next thing I know, she's coming in the house with her face covered in blood and screaming like crazy. Ouch. After a visit to the urgent care clinic we found that her front teeth are a bit loose, she has a concussion and her face is skinned up, but her nose isn't broken. No broken bones, thank heavens.

We've been wanting to paint our kitchen for the past two years. It's taken us a long time to figure out what color we wanted. We hit upon one and yesterday after work, hubby prepped and painted. I hated it. It was supposed to be cobalt blue. It seems a good idea at the time. We have some cobalt blue crystal that we keep at the back of the sink. It might grow on me. It might not.

While listening to the radio as I made dinner last night, I heard a little blurb about a planned activity on Wednesday (tomorrow) at my daughter's high school. I just caught the end of the announcment, so I didn't have all the details, but what I did have scared me to death. No, it wasn't a bake sale or a pep rally or a car wash. A boy was going to randomly shoot and kill students . I would have preferred a car wash.

Or at least it feels like that sometimes. Let's run down my day, shall we? Got up at five to wake up Stephanie. Woke Chris up at 5:20 and re-woke Stephanie. I did this three more times until both teenagers finally became vertical. While they were getting ready and showering, I made my bed and cleaned our bathroom. I made chocolate chip pancakes for Chris, per his request. It wasn't really a request per se, it was more of a grumble that we had no food in the house and would I make him some pancakes with chocolate chips in them. He came down and ate, Stephie came down and ate a yogurt and I finished loading the dishwasher from last night and cleaned up the rest of the kicthen and hustled them out the door to seminary and school. Then I put a load of towels on to wash and went to wake Ally and Ashley. Ashley was already awake but Ally was still snoozing away. She's easy to get moving in the morning, it's usually with Ashley that I have problems. I've poured wa...

It only took two muscle relaxants, 800mgs of Ibuprofen and a pain killer for me to climb into our van and drive to Indianola. Ah, the marvels of medicine. Even with all that in my system, every bump in the road made me wince. After awhile things kicked in and I started to feel better. Janet's 50th birthday party was a lot of fun. We missed the pet parade, even though we'd taken the three kittens with us. We had hopes of someone adopting one or all, but no such luck. Here is the kitten named Rufus, sitting on the stage looking cute. Ann, FIL's friend, kept one kitten tucked into her vest as she walked around the room. Lot's of ooohs and ahhhhs from people, but no takers. Here she is with Uncle Dan in the foreground. Wild dancing began later in the evening and here I am snapping a picture of Aunt Judy. My wee Ashley decided that since no one was sitting at this table, the candles must be blown out. All in all, a good time was had even though no kittens were adopted...

Ah yesssssss. The weekend is nearly upon us. I managed to make it to the gym this morning, despite my aching head. It was a good workout and I feel better for having done it instead of laying in bed as I wanted to do. Ally felt better so I sent her to school. We're going to Indianola later this afternoon. It's hubby's Aunt's fiftieth birthday party. It's a surprise party. And we're supposed to bring our animals. No, really. We were invited to bring all our furry creatures to participate in a pet parade before the catered dinner. We're not taking our dog Cassie. She tends to get carsick. She's also afraid of water. No, we don't think she's a real dog either. What we will be bringing are the three remaining kittens. I'm hoping some pet lover there will take one of these clawing, spitting, pooping beasts fall in love with them and take them home. If all else fails I will station my girls at a grocery store door and have them off...

I've always known my son was talented, but I had no idea of the depth of his abilities. Tonight he snorted his birthday cheesecake out his nose. No, really. He did. If there are any talent scouts out there reading this blog, and you're looking for someone who can shoot New York style cheesecake out his nose, he's your man. The only friend he had over tonight was Jobe. I'm not sure why he didn't want more of his pals over for pizza and cheesecake. Since it was his fifteenth birthday, who was I to say he had to invite more people? Jobe said something that triggered the cheesecake-through-nose response. I heard everything Jobe said and yet I managed to maintain my cheesecake in my mouth where it belonged. At any rate, I have a picture of him with his cheesecake before he did the unthinkable with it. Let's hope he develops a more marketable skill in the coming year.

Yesterday the school nurse called to say that Ally wasn't feeling too well. Her legs were weak and they felt tingly all over. She also had a headache. Lance picked her up and brought her home. Today we went up to Seattle to have some tests run. One of which was another blood draw. Her veins tend to roll and it's hard to get at them on the first try. I felt so badly for her. We don't know what is going on with her right now. They did x-rays of her spine, blood and urine tests. The blood tests were to check for enzymes that tell the docs what her muscles are up to. I'm waiting for them to call me....and tell me where to go from here. Today is also Christopher's 15th birthday. I can't believe he's that old. He desperately wants a dirt bike but that's probably not going to happen right now. His daddy got him two hours of ground school and two hours of flight instruction at the little airport near our home. He's going to love that!

Check out this wild video. Amazing. The part with moving the pictures around is pretty cool

Another, different kind of a MEME. Put an X where you've done something, leave blank if you haven't. This is for your entire life: (x) Smoked a cigarette ( ) Drank so much you threw up ( ) Crashed a friend's car ( ) Stolen a car () Broken into a house that wasn't yours (X) Been in love ( ) Been dumped ( ) Shoplifted ( ) Been laid off/fired/dormant company (X) Quit your job ( ) Been in a fist fight ( ) Snuck out of your parent's house (X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back ( ) Been arrested (X) Gone on a blind date (X) Lied to a friend (X) Skipped school (X) Seen someone die (X) Been to Canada (X) Been to Mexico (X) Been on a plane (X) Been lost? (X) Been on the opposite side of the country ( ) Gone to Washington, DC (X) Swam in the ocean. (X) Felt like dying.......some days (X) Cried yourself to sleep (X) Played cops and robbers (X) Recently colored with crayons (X) Sang karaoke (X) Paid for a meal with only coins. (X) Done something you told you...

A major miracle happened last night. Ashley, my youngest, actually slept the entire night in her own bed. I can't recall the last time this happened. Her nocturnal rituals include leaving her bed and stumbling to mine in the middle of the night. She doesn't sleep in our bed, she brings a blanket and curls up on the floor next to my side of the bed. No matter what we do, she continues this nightly event. I think what did her in last night was the fact that her soccer coach ran her little hinney off, so she was worn out. Plus, hubby gave her some Dimeatapp cold medicine before bedtime. She's got an icky headcold. Both events conspired to keep her snuggled down in her little bed. Another, smaller miracle, is that I went back to the gym this morning despite the fact that my back was tweaked out when I woke up. Generally after sleeping through the night, my back feels better. Somehow it managed to feel worse this morning. Despite that, I went and exercised. After a...

In order to be healthier I've embarked on some bizarre shopping habits. I buy only those items which are guaranteed to taste bland, be difficult to chew using only your teeth (an industrial grinder would be more helpful) and have a list of the nutrients you will be consuming posted on the side of the package that is so long they use a negative font size just to get the entire thing written down. Last week I bought something touted as being 'Heart Healthy'. I believe they lied, since simply chewing this stuff nearly gave me a cardiac arrest. Yes, I soaked it in fat free milk first, but I might as well have dipped a bowl of pebbles in milk for all the good that did me. Perhaps they need to advertise this cereal differently. Saying that it's Heart Healthy isn't truth in advertising. If they had said that consuming this cereal would be all the cardio workout you'd need for a month, then that would be truth in advertising. Plus, I'm quite certain I chipped a toot...

We all went to church this morning. It was a miracle! I had such back spasms last night that I took a pill, then an hour later I took two more. I know, I know. Bad idea, but I had some serious back spasm action going on and the pain was unbearable. This meant that waking up in the morning was three times harder than usual. Did I mention that I'm not a morning person? We all made it, after the kids woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had visited each of them. The girls each got a new dress and matching purse, Chris got two shirts and Steph got some health food. This on top of their Easter Basket candy with requisite chocolate bunny. Then we dashed home, I made deviled eggs and a veggie tray to take to Julie's (my sister) house. We also brought a spiral ham. Here's a picture of my two girls, Allison and Ashley in front of the fireplace at Julie's house. Here are my sister's two girls, Jessica and Nicole with Ally and Ash. And here is the only picture I...

My two youngest doing our annual Easter egg coloring. Ally's heart wasn't in it and Ashley kept encouraging her, patting her on the back and generally trying to make her feel better. It was a sweet moment to watch between sisters. Here is their semi-finished product.

Someone asked that I give an update on the white kitten. Her name is Angel Puss and here she is in all her glory. Angel Puss will be leaving us on Monday with one of her brothers to live with the lady that gave us the parents of our kittens last year. It will be nice to be able to see our kittens from time to time. One of the other brothers will be going to a family up north and I believe we're going to keep the one my children have named Twitchy. We don't think Twitchy is all there, mentally speaking. Since he seems a bit daft we'll care for him so as not to worry that someone would mistreat him for being a bit slow. Here are three of the four playing on a couch up in our loft.

I spent the night in the ER with my little girl Ally. She was doubled over in pain and they thought it was acute appendicitis. After they gave her some morphine in her IV, they ran tests on her. The poking and prodding she recieved did not amuse me. It seemed like everyone that came in the room had to touch her poor tummy. To make a long story (ten hours) short, after the CT scan they said her appendix was fine but she has mesenteric adenitis. This means the lymph nodes in her abdomen are swollen, inflamed, painful. This is often misdiagnosed as acute appendicitis. The causes of this include a bacteria called Pseudotuberculosis (Yersinia), which can arrive in the form of contaminated food. There are issues after the infection has passed which concern me. One which can occur has rheumatological ramifications. At any rate, it's been a long night and day and I think I'll go curl up with my baby girl for a bit.

I drove my son and his friend to an indoor skatepark this afternoon. In the pouring rain. During rush hour. I was not happy. I wasn't unhappy, I was just amazed at the time it took me to get from point A to point B. I stopped to do some Easter Bunny Shopping for six kids, my four and my two little daycare boys. They have been in Hawaii and won't be home in time to put things together so I offered to do the baskets for them. Plus I'm making a basket for my older sister who is fifty but is disabled and loves her Easter basket goodies. I shopped and I shopped. I bought the two girls dresses and matching purses. I can't wait to see them wear them. I'm going to buy some Apex cookies and food for Stephanie from her gym. She's been on a health kick for months and months so I want to help her out. She says they have these protein cookies there. I'll put some of them in her basket. I'll give Chris either a shirt or a gift card to Zumiez so he can pic...

I've got an appointment with a dental chair and some very sharp pointy metal things this morning. I'm not looking forward to this experience because I have a healthy fear of all things painful. This activity ranks very high on my Pain Meter. I mentioned to the Dentist that I would like to have nitrous oxide while having my teeth cleaned. He blinked. Then blinked again. "But cleanings aren't painful, just uncomfortable at times" he said. "I'm sorry, but I subscribe to Medical Terminology for Dummies and the other great tome, "How To Understand Your Doctor's Secret Code" So I know for a fact that when you say something may be uncomfortable , or you may feel a little discomfort , or my all time favorite, 'this might pinch a little' , I'm aware of the fact that in the next couple of seconds I'll be trying to leap from my chair to smack you repeatedly about the head and shoulders with your own dental drills." His eyes we...

A friend asked for a kitten fix, so here it is. I took this picture with my cell phone camera last night. It's my daughter Ally holding the kitten they call Rufus in our family room. Today I am not going to go swimming. I will go tomorrow if I'm feeling better. I promised my girls I'd take then to the library after school so I need to save my back for that outing. Hubby wants to take me to a 90 minute sales pitch on Vacation International. By listening we get free airfare and a three day cruise to the Bahamas. I wouldn't mind going to the islands but I just don't want to sit through a sales pitch. Yes, this is me whining. I'd rather stay home tonight and I think I will. I just remembered that Lost is on tonight! Of course I can't go! How could I? Yay! I don't have to go after all.

Today I got up around 1 a.m. to let the dog outside before she horked up something unmentionable in our bedroom. That was fun. Then I couldn't go back to sleep, so I started picturing how things are going to look in various rooms of our house once I decide on paint colors. That kept me awake for quite some time. It was that and the fact that I'd had an energy drink earlier in the day, then a mountain dew in the afternoon. No more caffiene for me. Once I got to sleep I was up again at five to get Chris up. Then I crawled back into bed and overslept. It was a harried morning for all of us. Then I went to the gym and got into the water! It went swimmingly. Har. Swimmingly. Get it? It's....uh.. Nevermind. Greenpeace didn't attempt to haul me back out to sea, so I counted that as a good sign. I hurt when I first got in and wasn't sure my back was going to let me do any swimming or exercising, but after a period of adjustment it straightened itself out an...

Spring break is over and the rugrats kids all went back to school today!!! I love them, you know I adore each and every one of them but sometimes I find it's best to worship them from afar. Plus, when they aren't around I get so much more done. I spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone this morning, attempting to speak to real live people in order to set up our benefits through Boeing. This was not as easy as I'd thought it would be. At one point I'd been on hold forever, and actual person finally answered, only to ask me if I minded being put on hold again. My brain said ' you bet your sweet patooty I mind Mr.! , while my traitorous mouth said, 'sure, no problem. Sometimes I think there needs to be a better hook up between brain and mouth. This would result in a lot less need to consume massive quantities of chocolate during times when my heart is beating and I have a pulse of stress. I also went to the gym and got a membership. Romer girl...

I was told to do this. 100 things about me. Wheeeee.Here Goes.... 1. I used to love the color pink, but not so much anymore. 2. I don't drink coffee but I love the smell of it. 3. I used to crochet and knit all the time. 4. I don't crochet or knit much anymore. 5. I have four children. 6. I have a dog named Cassie. 7. I have two cats and four kittens. 8. I used to be cool, but then I had kids. 9. I love Mexican food. 10. I love to cook. 11. I love to eat. 12. Yep, you guessed it. Extra poundage. 13. I can do calligraphy. 14. I sing. 15. I usually have music playing wherever I am. It's playing right now. James Blunt ~~Cry. 16. I really belt it out in the shower. 17. I love to chew ice. 18. Favorite soda is root beer. 19. I make a killer pizza from scratch. 20. Making this list is harder than I thought it would be. 21. I write humor columns for newspapers. 22. Sometimes life doesn't seem that funny to me. 23. Sometimes life does seem funny to me. 24. I have...

Ally has been begging for quite some time to get her ears pierced and today, for some reason or other perhaps because the pills I've been taking for my back pain have ruined my better judgement I consented. I ouched my way to the mall for the piercing. She did well, no crying, just a surprised "OH!" when it happened and that was it. When the lady saw my flash go off on my camera she turned around and berated me for taking a picture. Apparently there is a NO PICTURE law in effect there. This was news to me, as I never saw a sign. So I politely put my camera away and took out my cell phone. Oops! It snapped a picture without a flash! How did that happen? At least I wasn't using a 'camera'. Ha! Then we got her eyebrows waxed. I know, I know, she's only nine, but she's soon to be ten and that unibrow was beginning to get to me as well. Plus, it was ammo for her older brother and he is the Supreme Teaser. He doesn't need any more ammo. Hu...

As I said in my last post, I took the four offspring to the dentist. My eldest, who brushes regularly and takes exceptional care of herself, was found to have nine cavities in her pearly whites. Nine. NINE!! Good grief! Since I'm the mom, she did manage to blame me for her having so many holes in her teeth. Of course everything bad is my fault. I'm the mom. It goes with the territory. She also needs her wisdom teeth removed. I set up three appointments to fix up her cavities, then I walked down the hall to the specialist who will remove her wisdom teeth. Then she goes in for braces. My son had nary a hole in his teeth and he has NO wisdom teeth! None! Zilch! Nada! Can you believe it? I love him more than anything right now. Of course, he's always costing us money in ER visits, so I suppose it equals out somewhere. He also needs braces. Third child has no cavities. Yay! Fourth child has two small cavities. All in all, I suppose it could have been worse.

Another beautiful day here in the pacific northwest. Yesterday was sunny, as I sat in traffic on the freeway. Did I mention that we never made it to Seattle or anywhere remotely near Children's Hospital? Nope. We did, however, manage to sit on the freeway for hours. Seems there was a little accident involving three big rigs and countless cars. We managed to get on the freeway about ten minutes after it closed all lanes of traffic. Yay us! It's a good thing I've got the hospital on speed dial. I called to let them know we wouldn't be there unless my vehicle sprouted wings. Today all four children are seeing the dentist. They odd thing is that they're all excited about this event. I'm just hoping that there aren't any cavities to be found.

I woke up early this morning. Early for me. To say I'm not a morning person would be an understatement of epic proportions. It's akin to saying that Kyle Huff had issues. Every one just wishes they knew what they were and if he could have been stopped. Today I get to drive to Seattle and spend some time at Children's Hospital . This was my home away from home for many years. I did actually live there, if you could call what I did there 'living'. When I think back to how often I spent the night there, either on a pull out chair bed by the side of a crib, or in the sleeping quarters of the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) I marvel that I was able to keep my sanity. I owe a lot of my stability to my faith and to the gentle, caring nature of those who work at Children's. After we stopped sleeping there for weeks on end, we were there at least once a week with Ashley for years. Her Neurological team and her physical and occupational teams became fami...

Today, the first day of Srping break for my children, was to be a delightful shopping trip for me and my two youngest girls. I popped some pills, gingerly got dressed with some help from them and we set off. Since I've been in so much pain with my back I was going to use my friend's car instead of trying to climb into my van. I decided I could make it in our van. Sure I could! Nothing wrong with me, uh uh! I climbed in very carefully and decided that wasn't so bad. We drove to the Lakewood Town Center, a large shopping area with all kinds of different places to shop. Since I'm not walking very well, we used Ashley's disabled parking placard. We don't usually use it, but since she was with me, and wasn't wearing her brace, I decided to hang it on the rear view mirror and park closer to the stores. We got out and I slammed the drivers door shut. BAM! It came bouncing back at me. I tried it again. BAM! Right back at me again. To make a long story...

I was nudged to do a kitten update, so here it is. This was taken by my youngest daughter using my camera phone. We'd use our camera but hubby took it with him to Whistler this weekend. Yep, he's off skiiing with the two oldest offspring while I contemplate how to rip my spine out of my body and straighten it out so I can walk again. Wheeeeeee! More meds please!