I’m not going to go all into detail or anything, but I will just quickly state here for those of you who have been worrying, that I went to the doctor this morning. We’re trying a gentle daily treatment and if nothing changes in 3-4 days I’m to call back. Hopefully I’ll be back on track in no time.
Archive for March, 2008
Over the weekend Josh and I took the opportunity to get some more of our stuff out of my folk’s garage. We went through the boxes the other night and found several film trailers, photos of Josh from his senior year at MHS, his cowbell, and there was one Rubbermaid tub full of my old notes and school papers. If you EVER wrote me a note, hope it was a good one, ’cause chances are good that it’s in there! I found full notebooks that I shared with friends for notewriting in middle school! I read a few of them and it was interesting to me that a few of the people talked about are people I still associate with and talk about. I also found a few legal pads that I used to write random crap to myself on, kinda like journaling with lots of doodles and random quotes from the radio I was obviously listening to at the time. I vaguely remember doing this writing, and I probably thought at the time that if I found it years later even though it was a rambling and cryptic mess I would probably remember what I meant and understand. Not so. Not so at all. I did find the pages where I’d written down phrases I’d heard and thought were funny on Comedy Central when I used to watch it with Merideth (Stand Up Stand Up and MST3000!) I laughed out loud to myself when reading over them and remembering writing them so I read some out loud to Josh–much was lost without the accompanying comedic context. ie–he didn’t laugh.
Last week was Spring Break for us (and many of you). It had its ups and downs. I have been feeling better since my last post, but still not back to “normal.” The “vacation” was supposed to start with the Wheelers coming here for the weekend. That was the plan until I got a call Friday afternoon that Chris had been in a minor car accident (no one was hurt) but it meant that they would not be able to drive here. So at the last minute we packed up and went there since we’d all already built up the kids that they’d get to play together. Saturday evening Kate and I stayed in with the kids and let Josh and Chris go out for dinner etc and when they came home late that night they had a new game for us to play. SingStar Amped version for the PlayStation 2. It’s kinda like a karaoke challenge game with famous songs and you have to sing the right vocals (words tempo and pitch) while you get to watch the original music video of the group who made the song popular. The idea was fun, but (in my opinion) the songs mostly sucked. This however opened our eyes to the fact that there were other versions of the game–in particular an ’80’s version and a new ’90’s version was to be released on that Tuesday. Sunday I felt really awful again and when we left the Wheelers to go up and visit Josh’s Grandpa in Hiawatha I had to borrow one of the Wheelers big bowls just in case. Monday, St Patrick’s Day, Josh went to work as usual and the kids and I welcomed Elise, Charley and Carter over for the afternoon to try to get a nice Easter picture for the grandparents. NOT an easy task. It was a frustrating time, but here is one of the better pictures: 
On Tuesday, the kids and I went up to Ames to visit with my family. My parents spent a few days at Sarah’s helping her complete some projects around the house. We decided it was the perfect time to dye Easter eggs! 
Dad made one of his famous “slide shows.” After egg-dying, we all went to see Enchanted at the cheap theatre (the first time for Sarah and my folks, the 2nd for Elena and Cameron, 3rd for Jacob, and 4th for Elise and me!) After the movie Josh came up and Scott finished with his work and we all went out for Chinese Buffet. We also discovered that the cheese we’ve been looking for since Christmas is sold at Aldi’s! So we stocked up. 
The plan was that my parents were going to stop by our place Wednesday morning on their way home and the kids would get to show off their rooms etc and we would do a bunch of laundry and pack things up so that by the time Josh came home from work we’d all be ready to go on our trip to Kansas City. That was the plan. But Josh called me at like 7:30 AM and said that there was a bit of an emergency at his jobsite in Belton, Mo., and that we needed to leave asap! So I rushed around and packed as fast as I could and we took off. Unfortunately we missed my parents and just as we were leaving I discovered that Elise had headlice! And there was nothing we could do about it until we got to our hotel! So our plans had to change a lot. We took Josh to his jobsite asap and the kids and I went out for a pizza lunch and stopped to pick up Enchanted on dvd. As soon as Josh was out of meetings we picked him up and went to the hotel and I immediately began the tedious job of delousing my poor daughter. The kids really wanted to go swimming but it took me over 3 and a half HOURS to go through all of Elise’s hair. I practically begged her to get a haircut, but she really really didn’t want to, and she was very brave and patient so I tried to be too. But that basically killed our Wednesday. Thursday morning the kids and I had breakfast at the hotel and then I took them swimming. When we got Josh up and ready to depart it was basically lunchtime so we grabbed a light lunch and headed out across Kansas City to a store that Josh has a gift certificate to that is just a little neighborhood market store but it has lots of bbq rubs, sauces, and accessories and specialty meats. They even ship their meats nationwide. Since we didn’t have a cooler on our trip and our hotel room didn’t have a fridge we decided not to use the gift certificate this time around. So we went on to my Aunt Gwen’s house which was just a couple blocks away. 
Gwen and Pat are in the middle of several home improvement projects. Elena made a little house from some scrap wood 
and Pat gave the kids each a little chunck of bamboo. 
The afternoon was beautiful! It was over 70 degrees. We had a nice visit and stayed longer than I intended so I hope we weren’t in their way too much. But then it was on to dinner. We had a surprise for the kids. We drove clear up to the opposite side of KC from our hotel to take the kids to TRex for dinner. It was in a shopping area called Legends that is obviously new and still growing and it reminded us a lot of being in the Phoenix area. We passed a Nebraska Furniture Mart store that looked like it was bigger than the Muscatine Mall! 
Because of the time of day etc. it was really difficult to get my pictures to turn out. So forgive me for the bluriness. 
We were seated in the Aqua Room. We sat in a booth designed to look like a shell. 
And this is what hung above our heads: 
The kids did a little exploring while we waited for our food. 
The food was decent and overpriced, but it was large. 
We got the fancy dessert. 
And everyone was exhausted by the time the meal was over.
Friday we went swimming again and headed home. We stopped in Bethany, Mo., for some lunch at a place that I remember eating at as a kid on a return trip from Colorado with my cousins. It’s called Toot-Toot. It’s a small buffet and the selection is not large but it offers homemade homestyle favorites like pot roast and chicken noodles and has lots of fresh baked goods and homemade jams and jellies. Back at home we stayed just long enough to bag up all of our laundry to control the potential of the lice and repack for the weekend, then it was off to the Wheelers again. While we were traipsing about Kansas City, Chris had gotten SingStar 80’s AND 90’s versions and waited for us to open and play them! He challenged me to a battle of “Ice, Ice, Baby” (which I think I won) and then we sang the night away! Badly. LOL!!! It was a lot of fun. Saturday we went on to Muscatine and celebrated Easter with Josh’s family. We had a yummy lunch and then I fell asleep on the floor because I still wasn’t feeling well. While I was asleep the kids hunted for eggs and Josh took a few pictures for me. 
Later that evening I was able to have dinner with my friend Jeanna and then I helped my dad copy some pictures. Sunday I was still not feeling well so Josh took the kids to church without me and I slept in. Then my relatives came over for lunch and if my dad emails me copies of some of the pictures he took then I’ll post them too, but I was too busy eating to take pictures!
I am not feeling well, but I know it has been a while since I posted anything so here comes just a little something for my devoted readers. Yesterday I was not well at all. I spent all day in bed or in the bathroom. I ate nothing. I slept A LOT!!! I’m forcing water, but that just sends me to the bathroom more. I feel weak and sometimes lightheaded. But, I am doing better today so far. I woke up around 8:15 to find the kids downstairs watching tv instead of at school where they should have been! So we rushed around and got them there by 8:30. And I have not been back to bed since. Although I do feel myself getting tired again. Sleeping can really take a lot out of a person! As luck would have it, I do have a routine doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning, so if I’m not feeling better by then I can get diagnosed. Haha. Yesterday was especially rough because it was an early dissmissal day and Cameron came home from school early because he threw up in class. He is fine, he says he just ate too much orange. The nurse said he didn’t have a temp and seemed fine, but he got orange vomit on his pants so she let him come home so he didn’t have to stay in the dirty clothes. Luckily, Josh was able to come home a little early to help take care of the children because I was just completely out of it. And the weather has been nice enough that the kids got to play outside with just jackets on for the first time this year. Of course they came in ferociously muddy. ugh. Well, that’s about all the news I can muster up right now. I’m going to go lay on the couch with Elena for a bit and try NOT to watch Diego with her. (At least the Wonder Pets are over!)
Today is the birthday of my Russian father, Boba (Vova). I don’t know how old he is or anything, but I know that I haven’t been able to celebrate today with him since 1996. And I just hope that he knows that I wish him all the best today and always and I look forward to seeing him again soon and we can celebrate all kinds of things then. Я желаю вÑе лучшее Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð’Ð°Ñ ÑÐµÐ³Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ñ Ð¸ вÑегда. Also, tomorrow is the birthday of my Russian sister (one of the people my own daughter is named for) Lena. She will be 24. We had a nice (albeit incredibly breif) visit with her in July of 2006. I miss her, and want to wish her a very happy birthday! May your day be filled with wonderful things and your night with the sweetest of dreams. I am so glad you had the chance to meet my family and I look forward to seeing you in Russia as soon as possible!
So the boys’ room has been REALLY driving me nuts lately. They broke the drawers under their cheap beds that were supposed to house their toys and they pulled Jacob’s broken dresser out into the middle of the room because they were tired of losing legos behind it and not being able to reach them, so needless to say the tiny room has been COVERED in Legos, random toys, clothes and garbage! For weeks now it has been impossible to keep clean and there was just NO room for anything. It was a real eyesore and stress-causer. We have been looking for better furniture to maximize the small space but nothing really seemed to suit (and/or be within our price range). But just when I had had enough and was about to run to the store and spend a fortune doing whatever it took to get the room under control again I found a solution on craigslist. My very first craigslist venture (thank you Kate for recommending I look there). So last night Josh and Jacob and I stayed up till 11pm resurrecting this in the boys room: 
Note the trundle bed underneath and the roll out desk in the middle. Also, located on the side of the bed are doors that open to reveal extra hidden storage space behind the desk and drawers that runs the length of the bed where we will most likely keep bedding since our house came with no linen closets, thus freeing up much space elsewhere in the house where linens are currently being kept.
So, although there is still some organizational work to be done, I am really looking forward to much less mess-related stress!
I’m “talking” about my voice. Anything louder than a whisper is difficult to muster. But this week, I could be referring to many other happenings in our lives. Josh had to travel for work this week. He has been in Belton, Mo, but I just found out that although we didn’t expect he’d be able to come home until tomorrow night, he will actually be home this evening! Yay. Also, Elise lost another tooth last night. And I have been working on sorting, organizing, and getting rid of things (primarily children’s clothing). I guess I don’t have much else to “say” right now. For some reason not having any voice makes it difficult to want to try to communicate my thoughts even when my voice is not required to do so.