Wanna hear a secret?

You already know I'm a nerd. I don't hide that. In fact, to prove my point, I'll tell you that I had my first Robert Pattison inspired dream last night (in my defense, I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night, so it was more of a Cedric dream than an Edward dream). And what happened in my Robert dream? I was in class and everyone was taking turns picking someone to draw a house. And he picked me to draw a house. So really, it was more of a nightmare as my drawing skills are abominable and drawing in public would cause a slight panic in a conscious Melisa. So, I have Robert nightmares. Told you I was nerdy.

I've been wanting to share this for awhile, but there were too many other posts needing to be written! But I'm not leaving the house today, so I can't be shocked by Philly traffic. So I have my chance to tell you about the website that takes my breath away nearly every single day. I audibly gasp every time I go there. It is my closet obsession. Very few people know how obsessed I am with this. It is my desktop background on my laptop. But I do put some of the blame on Brad's Uncle George for feeding this obsession and giving me this website. Ready for it? No, it isn't my obsession with Oreos. Here it is:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Want a sneak preview?




Did you gasp too?! Aren't those spectacular?! I love all things star and nebula (okay, not the physics part). It is impossible for me to look at images like this and not see a bigger scheme and a higher hand in this world of ours. God is amazing.

Calling it a day

Well, after walking around for 3 hours yesterday (without a knee brace) picking blueberries, my knee has decided it hates me again. Oops. At least I have a gallon bag completely full of delicious blueberries. I am at peace.

Today, despite my protesting knee, I decided to take my kids (also protesting) to the Mann Center for a drum/rhythm concert. Oy. My laptop freaked out before I could get the address, so I tried to see if I could find it without plugging the address into my GPS. Duh. I was close, but as we all know, "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

I eventually did find it, but then there was the parking issue. And by parking issue I mean the hundred-some-odd buses and cars. It was a mad house. I'm not big on crowds. Or dragging 3 whining kids through big crowds by myself. Too easy to lose one. But, I decided to push my comfort zone a little and force them to go.

The entire first song (which lasted probably 20 minutes) was accompanied by my kids whines of:
"There isn't enough shade"
"You forgot the sunscreen, mommy"
"I'm so hooooooot"
"SNACK!"
"Hungry!"
"Mommy, I'm soooo thirsty"
"I can't see anything!"

By the time the cry of "Potty!!!" was introduced, I decided I was done. There was no way I could save my seats (like I'm leaving my stuff unattended in Philly) and there was definitely no way I was leaving a child behind. No, potty excursions were every kid or not at all. So, off to the potty we all trudged as our empty seats were pounced on by late arrivers. And then we continued right on out to Odie. After 20 minutes. At least I tried, right? I just know how overwhelmed I get with crowds and 3 small children. I'm too outnumbered! I just didn't realize it would be as crowded as it was. Anyway...

Here is a benefit to leaving early. I got to take a picture of this:

Classic, Philly, eh? I know I've said this before, but I have got to find a way to keep a camera in my vehicle at all times. These crazy things keep happening while I'm driving! (No, I was not actually MOVING when the picture was taken. I was stopped in the parking lot. Again, I'm not trying to contribute to the problem.)

Blueberries!

Wow! I'm a posting machine!

We had a blast picking blueberries today. It was just a little drive (relative in Philadelphia) and it was worth it!

We got almost 6 pounds of blueberries. mmmmm, I love blueberry pancakes! The kids had a blast. Jamo was a super fast picker and got two buckets by himself. He did awesome. Roo got tired after 1 bucket and spent the next 30 minutes asking when the hay truck was coming to take us home. "Do you know what time I think it is? Bedtime. Daddy is probably home by now." Sure, kid. ;o) SugarPea ate anything she got her hands on, so I had to keep her bucket stocked with ripe ones or she'd go around spitting out the purple ones. She managed to keep herself busy at one point by digging in the dirt, which she ended up covered head to toe in by the time she was done.

After getting our berries, there was a great park with lots of equipment, a maze, and animals to see. It was wonderful. I can't wait to go back!

Check out cookie for all the pictures! Of course, there are lots of pictures for the grandparents, but even the non-grandparents will appreciate #16 with Sugar covered in dirt. :o)

And for you non-Cookie people, here is a picture I took driving home. Yes, I was stopped at a light. I'm trying to not contribute to the problem. Can anyone tell me exactly what this car DOES? Crash research??? YIKES!!! I need to keep a camera in my car!

What is it with cats?

Ya'll know I'm not the biggest cat fan out there. Nothing personal kitties, but my mom is allergic, and we will never own one of you. That doesn't mean that cats don't try to adopt us though!

I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when next thing I know, a cat walks across my living room. Uh.... It's happened before. In Lansing. I'd left the basement door open after running inside to answer the phone and I forgot to shut it. But here in Philly, I was quite sure all the doors were shut (and locked and deadbolted). Okay, I'm not that bad. I leave the front door open during the day since I sit right in front of it. But he came from the other direction, from the kitchen.

So, I put him outside and went to the kitchen. He had ripped open the screen in the kitchen window. Grrr. And he was now banging on the screen door. Man, he really wants in! This wasn't some random stray cat. It was our friend Cricket the Cat who lives a few houses down according to his tags. He is always very nice and friendly to my kids. And this isn't the first time he's tried to break into my house, though I will say it is his most successful try.

Sugar really loves him, so I ended up watching her play outside with him for about 30 minutes before he'd had enough and gave up trying to get back in my kitchen.

On the Cookie blog is video of Sugar with Cricket. And pictures of her sleeping in the saucer yesterday. And pictures of her playing with water (probably her favorite activity ever). Oh, and more of her attempts at taking pictures.

You want honest?

A few weeks back, Alyson awarded me with the Honest Scrap award. I figured today was a very fitting day to do it. You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! Okay, you probably can, but it is going to get ugly. You've been warned.

1. I am a champion procrastinator and have been for as long as I can remember. I really did get this award weeks ago, and I'm just now getting to it.
2. We had cereal for breakfast tonight. For real. I was (am) having one of those days. Then, to put me over the top, Brad called at 4 to say that he was on his way home to get Odie. He didn't trust his car, seriously on the verge of death, to make it downtown. The problem is that Mondays are my day to eat out since a) Brad has meetings every Monday night and b) he doesn't like eating out anyway. It gives me a chance to eat out and him a chance not to. But now I didn't have a vehicle. Or the motivation to throw something together after doing the laundry. Hence the cereal.
3. I let Sugar sleep in her saucer chair for over almost 2 hours today. I tried to get her to take a nap earlier, but nooooo, she wasn't having it. She finally fell asleep watching Baby Einsteins and I didn't want to wake her up because a) I needed the peace and quiet and b) I didn't have anything to give her for dinner anyway.
4. I was bringing the trash can back up the drive today and noticed it had about 20 maggots in there. GAG! I told you that you couldn't handle the truth.
5. I accidentally killed the flowers my neighbor gave me. The 'flower bed' near my door is apparently not a flower bed and merely an inch of dirt and rocks not fit for plant life. I'm sure my neighbor is looking at his dead flowers and thinking what a loser I am.
6. I have gained a lot of weight since moving here but I don't know how much since I don't have a scale and Brad doesn't want me to buy one. Apparently I can be a little obsessive when I have a scale in the house. It really sucks not knowing how much I weigh. I haven't been on a scale since May. I just know my clothes aren't fitting anymore. Boo. I was going to use the scale at the gym, but with my knee issues, I saw no reason to join a gym yet. Double boo.
7. Sugar woke up from her saucer chair and is now sleeping in my lap. While I continue to blog. That's stellar parenting people.
8. I've played Bejeweled on Facebook for 90 minutes today. (see #1)
9. When I checked this morning I had 126 blogs on my Google Reader. And that doesn't count all of the private blogs. Yikes!
10. Going along with 9, I have an announcement. I'm no longer going to be the blogger I once was. Back in the day, I loved reading everyone's blogs and leaving little comments. Now it is getting to be a full-time job I can no longer juggle. You've probably already noticed this change since my life has been a bit nutty the last few months, but I'm finally giving myself permission to give up on keeping up with it. I'm sure I'll still check in on blogs from time to time, but it can't take up the time in my life it once did. I've been here 6 weeks and I'm not done unpacking. Is that number 11? No, I'll lump it with 1. In the famous words of all high-school boyfriends, "It's not you, it's me." Only this time it's true. :o)

Okay, I must make a mental note to not blog when I'm in a bad mood or I open myself up to an obscene amount of public humiliation. :o) I may have taken the whole 'honest scrap' thing a bit too far. Sorry! Hopefully I'll actually sleep through the night and not be so crabby tomorrow. :o)

Philly zoo!

I can't believe I forgot to say this yesterday, but my appointment with my rheumatologist went great! I don't have RA, though she made it sound like a 'not if but when' kind of deal. Maybe it was my imagination. She did some more blood work with more definitive results and I should hear back next week. If that blood work comes back good, I'm done for 4-6 months. If it is bad, well, I'll have to go back in sooner. My knee is doing great, so her threat of draining it and giving me a cortizone shot doesn't scare me. Much. I'm definitely going to do better about taking the meds! :o)

I just put a ton of pictures and videos on the Cookie blog from the Philly zoo. Grandma Jessie, you are warned that Sugar's favorite animal was the snake and so there are a few pictures of snakes on there. Our theory is that it is because they were at her eye level and very active. Surely she can't like snakes! :o)

But for those of you who don't like going to Cookie, I have some pictures for you too!

Before

After

Before

After

Even cute bunnies like it cleaned up.

Brad got some kind of funky rash from some of the vegetation. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me the plant because it makes me nervous and I'd love to know what to look out for!
This sign says "wait for green". That is what makes me nervous about Philly. Shouldn't that be OBVIOUS?! They have to have a sign telling you to wait?! That is bad, people.

The wedding

Oh, how I've missed my blogging buddies! But I had a blast in NM. I miss it already. If my family had been there, it would have been hard to make me leave!

Of course, I had to have my Chili Works. Sadly, my spicy tongue has decayed from lack of use, and I now have a gringo tongue. Those were some hot burritos! I took for granted that I'd always be used to spicy. I am in mourning.

In a little story of excitement, this one should freak you out a little. My daddy and I were working on cleaning out the ivy from the window wells on the side of their house. Well my dad, being the daddy he is, threw a worm on my leg. I'm not one to freak out about a little worm, so I wasn't upset, but I looked down at the worm and saw a black widow also on my leg. I have never been so grateful to have a worm thrown on me. If he hadn't, who knows how long that black widow would have crawled on me. *shudder* I don't mind worms, but spiders is a whole other ball game. GAG!

I have some pictures from the wedding. It was beautiful. I'm so grateful I got to go! If you want to hear the crazy wedding story, you'll have to read the captions. :o)

Gerrick and Jeremy cricket mud wrestling. Don't ask

I thought there were only 3 Stooges??

Jeremy Travis Gerrick and Benji

We all wore hats with our mama.

Travis Jeremy Benji Aubrey Gerrick Mommy me in front

Another nasty spider. Thankfully this one never touched me.

It was the size of a quarter with legs included. NASTY!

Aubrey Melisa Mom Dad Jeremy Travis Gerrick

The groom's cake. No, seriously.
Aubrey and Abbie, who is a doll
All of us: Mom Dad Melisa Tylerr Jeremy Travis Aubrey Gerrick
Groomsmen
Some of the bridesmaids
awww
How my brothers avoid the dance floor. There were also cards involved.
After the were announced, someone (NOT MY BROTHERS!) set off fireworks. Well, it fell over and started shooting into the crowd. A few people ended up with singed hair, but no one was seriously hurt. Though, we do have this lovely memento of the event. Only at Tylerr's wedding would this happen! LOL! Thankfully there were plenty of firemen around to save the day.

Contest winner!

Congrats, Leann! I'll send your email into the company. You'll have to let me know if the Cool Cats stuff is really cool. :o)

And if you haven't checked it out yet, you really should!

Back to my roots

So, I leave for NM in the morning. Midnight is the last chance you have to get in on the contest for the free month of Cool Cat's service. I'll do the drawing at midnight and probably post it shortly after that since I will be leaving for the airport bright and early in the morning and will most likely be running around like crazy.

Hopefully I will get some pictures at the wedding. Probably not from my camera since I'm leaving it for Brad and the kids for the 4th, but I'll get some from my family. I'm so excited to see my family again and to get back to NM after so long. I've been trying to remember the last time I was in Los Alamos, and I think it was Aubrey's wedding back in '07. Could that be right?! 2 years?! Can't wait to go back!

Counting blessings

Tomorrow at midnight is the drawing for the free month of Cool Cat service at Handipoints! Hurry and let me know if you want to be entered in. After our week with using it, I discovered we need to do some tweaking. The boys earned both a Nintendo DS game rental and a treat at Blockbuster. I'm thinking they need to cost more points so they can't get both the same week. Thankfully, Handipoints is very easy to tweak. LOVE IT!!! Go check it out, even if you don't want to be in the contest. It will help your sanity over the summer. And all moms need sanity over the summer! :o)

Friday, Brad was outside working on his smoking car, Lex Luther. The boys were in our driveway rolling crocquet balls around. Well, one of the balls made it to our street, which is quite a hill, and took off down the hill to the busy street at the bottom of the hill. Despite Brad yelling at Roo to stop, Roo still ran into the street to get the ball and was nearly hit by at least 2 cars. My heart stopped as I ran out the door hearing Brad's screams for Roo to stop and then hearing cars honking, etc. It was probably the worst 10 seconds of my life, not knowing what had happened. Thankfully my unconcious mind registered that there was no screaming, crying, chaos, so my heart resumed beating. After living at the interestion of 2 dead end streets with little traffic, my boys were ill-prepared for the hustle and bustle of Philadelphia traffic. And yes, we were constantly telling them to stay out of the street in MI too, but I suppose the urgency wasn't there like it is here. Anyway, Roo wasn't hurt, but many many tears were shed out of gratitude for his safety and for a release of extremely deep emotional anxiety. I can't even let me head consider the possibility of losing one of my babies. I would be completely devastated. Many prayers have been said in gratitude this weekend for our little Roo.

Saturday was busy, but thankfully lacked the drama of Friday. Want to see our jungle, I mean yard? Here ya go!

The stems are thicker than a garden hose. Insane.

There is only one tree amidst all that foliage. Most of the rest are over-grown weeds taller than Brad. There are shrubs along the fence to the right.

Insanely big weeds

The poor little tree is surrounded!

Those are weeds all the way to the tree. Huge weeds.

And they are between fences and hard to reach.

Nice, stable looking wall. LOL!

I'm going to tranplant these to the ivy patch in the front yard. It just looks weird there.

Flower bed by my front door. So pathetic. LOL!
My neighbor donated the flowers.

Our long and narrow drive way. I have yet to get out of Odie without banging the door on the rocks. Sigh.

The ivy bed I am ripping out. First step was to rip all of the ivy off the rose bushes.

That was just around the roses! It could be awhile before I get the rest ripped out. I still have tons of work to do on the inside of the house!

Seriously?!

Apparently I greatly misjudged the need for Handipoints. What are you all using that you don't need this amazing system?!? Our chore system was a mess before this. I'm setting my mom up with an account! That's how good it is! Want to blog? That will cost you 5 points. Check on Facebook? 5 points. LOL! (Don't get any ideas, Brad) Okay, so maybe you don't want your own chore chart, but for the love you have got to at least look at it for your kids! You don't have to comment. You don't have to compete for the upgrade. You don't even have to tell me. I'm trying to make your lives easier here, people! Give it a try. Okay, passionate speech over.

Life has been nutty here. Still dealing with a flooded basement in the MI house. Yeesh.
Was given a shorter than hoped for life expectancy with Lex Luther. Ugh.
Got to spend an hour at physical therapy today. Ouch.

Sugar decided that the stairs make a perfectly good potty. I don't get it. I'm really at a loss. She has been totally completely night and day potty trained since what Feb or Mar, and within the last week or so she decided she likes to pee and poop on stairs. At least once a day, sometimes twice. She doesn't pee in her pants. Nope, she takes those right off. She'll pee on the stairs in front of the potty. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

And to end with happy news, the Stove from the Bog of Eternal Stench has left the building. And I took pictures. Of the kitchen too. I know no one on here is judging, so ignore the mess. I still don't know where to put half the stuff. Oh, and a couple of pictures of the monsters are on Cookie, if you are so inclined.

Buh-bye!

Hoggle: And you wouldn't be so brave if you'd ever smelled the

STOVE of Eternal Stench. It's, it's...

Sarah: Is that all it does, is smell?

Hoggle: Oh, believe me, that's enough! But the worst thing is, if you so much as set a foot near the STOVE of Eternal Stench, you'll smell bad for the rest of your life. It'll never wash off.

Myyy PRECIOUSSS. Don't call me Gollum.

That's it. See those itty bitty counters on either side of the sink. Squint a little.

Yeah, those little things. Those are my counters.

The portable dishwasher is the biggest counter space we have. Seriously.

That other counter is entirely taken up by the microwave and 2 spice racks. Sigh.

I had to keep my fridge. It is the best part of the kitchen.

I feel bad that I have to use its top for storage again. But a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.

Soooo exciting!!!

Welcome, welcome to my first sponsored give away! Woot woot! I can't even tell you how excited I am about this!

Here it is: HANDIPOINTS.COM!!!

I think some of you have read on Facebook how I am absolutely in love with this site. Here's a brief description:

You make a chore chart or a behavior chart for your child. You can make each of your kids the same chart, or you can make unique ones. Each kid has their own account that you have control over. They can mark something as done, but you have the power to undo if they didn't really accomplish it. And you can give grades based on how well they performed a task. Higher grades give more points to be used in the Cool Cats Club.

You can also custom make rewards. Of course, there are a plethora of options you can chose from, but I wanted to make my own rewards. Check it out!

I got to add my own pictures and decide the value I wanted each goal to have. So Roo can redeem an hour on his red Nintendo DS for 5 points and Jamo's picture has his blue one. Kinda fun to personalize it like that! Goals can be a 1 time thing like a trip, or can be repeating like TV time or computer time. It's all up to you!

You get to pick what days a chore can be done on, ie MWF, TTH, weekends, weekdays, or any combination of days. There is even an option for once a week that can be done any day that week.

Anyway, I could go on forever about how awesome this site is. In fact, it may be too awesome. I was trying to get ready for our fancy-schmancy residency dinner and the boys kept begging me for more chores. LOL!

The website is free. Yup, free!!!! So, what am I giving away? An upgrade! When you sign up for the Cool Cat's Club, your child can do more with their kitty avatar. They can buy clothes, decorate their house, etc. There is probably more, but since we haven't upgraded yet, I couldn't tell you. (I wonder if I can enter my own drawing....)

You should really all go sign up for it. And then if you win, they will upgrade your entire family's account for a month. Not just one of your kids, all of your kids! Try it out, see if you like it! And be sure to use my email as a referral (found on my profile), because my kids want more costumes. :o)

Because I get the feeling there will be some of you more anxious to try this out than others, I thought I'd offer multiple ways to enter.

1. Leave a comment in general
2. Leave a comment telling me you signed up for Handipoints
3. Leave a comment after you make a post about this giveaway on your blog
4. Leave a comment after you put my button on your blog. Yes, you can take it down once the contest is over. :o)
5. Leave a comment letting me know you are following this blog.
6. Every person who leaves a comment using your name as a referral will get you both an entry.

Be sure I have your email so you can collect your prize. I can't think of any other random ways to get ya'll entries! But this should be enough, right? :o) Seriously, ladies, you are going to want to check out this site. My boys are begging for more chores. I don't have to keep track on paper or hand out play money or allowance, it is all online. Totally customizable. Keep in mind, my boys are 7 and 5. This wouldn't really work as easily for kids Sugar's age.

Oh, and an end date... Let's go with the 30th at midnight since that will be one week and it is the end of the month anyway. Plus, I leave the 1st for my brother's wedding. :o)

Big news!!!

I got a bloggy award! Thanks, Alyson! (but no, this isn't the big news)

I love getting awards. Too much fun! Being rewarded for something you enjoy, how can you beat that??

But I feel awkward giving out awards because I would give it to every single one of you amazing people who buoy me up with your comments and support. So, I'll open it up to you guys to pass this award along. You can give it to yourself from me too! I'd have done it anyway!

Don't fear Mr. Linky. He doesn't bite! I'd love to see the blogs you guys award, so go ahead and Linky it!

Here's the big news!!! Check in tomorrow, as I'm having my first sponsored give away!!! Too much fun! I'm soooo excited about this! Be sure to check it out tomorrow!

Cruisin'

I try to stay close to my house. I'm not used to Philly traffic yet. But I had a few dollars left on a Little Caesar's gift card, and I thought that was worth driving 20 minutes to redeem. Crazy Melisa. I thought I'd share with all of you some driving rules I somehow missed in driving school.

• It is okay to park in the middle of the street as long as it is for less than 10 minutes.
• You must proceed halfway into the intersection before your light turns green.
• You can turn left even without an arrow as long as you can do it before the oncoming cars hit you. Most likely this is why you are halfway into the intersection before your light turns green.
• It is okay to turn LEFT on a RED light if there isn't any traffic going the opposite direction.
• If you are in a left turning lane and the arrow changes to merely a green light, the next 3 or 4 cars should still try to turn. This is okay to do until the oncoming traffic advances and honks.
• It is important to honk at anyone who doesn't adhere to these rules.

The thing that is sad is that I can almost understand the left turn rules. There are soooo few left turn arrows here. I don't know why anyone even tries to turn left in this town. You take your life in your hands every time you do. But I really could do without everyone honking at me when I haven't started advancing before the light turns green.

Doesn't driving in Philly sound fun? :o)

Boys' tribute to Brad

Brad came home after a really long and trying surgery to my homemade rolls. Burnt to black in our toaster oven. And he still smiled. He loves me.

Oh, and a picture and video are on Cookie for my daddy. Let me know if you need in! Anyone we know is welcome, even if we just met you!

For Father's Day, I asked the boys similar questions to the ones I had a few months ago about me (here and here). Here are there answers for Brad:

What is something your dad always says to you?
Jamo - Being with my family is my high
Roo - I love coming home to my family

What makes your dad happy?
Jamo - going to bed on time
Roo - helping him

What makes your dad sad?
Jamo - not doing a chore
Roo - being mean to Jamo

How does your dad make you laugh?
Jamo - playing his hands on his head and saying something silly
Roo - when he does silly fingers (magic trick when he makes his fingers look like 1)

How old is your dad?
Jamo - 32
Roo - 32

How tall is your dad?
Jamo - 18 feet
Roo - 30 ft

What is his favorite thing to do?
Jamo - do funny things
Roo - come home to his family

What is your dad really good at?
Jamo - being a doctor
Roo - helping sick people

What is your dad not very good at?
Jamo - playing Splash Out, because when he passes it, it splashes on Roo
Roo - playing video games

What is your dad's favorite food?
Jamo - water
Roo - macaroni and cheese

If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Jamo - Knuckles (from Sonic)
Roo - Knuckle Joe (from Kirby)

How are you and your dad different?
Jamo - he likes lemons and I don’t
Roo - we aren’t the same age

How do you know your dad loves you?
Jamo - he makes me my favorite food almost every time
Roo - because he hugs me

What does your dad like most about your mom?
Jamo - her long hair
Roo - all the work she does

Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Jamo - Finley’s (a restaurant in Lansing)
Roo - Sesame Road

What did your dad like to do when he was a child?
Jamo - play doctor
Roo - play with his friends

What does your dad do when you're not around?
Jamo - work
Roo - help sick people

What does your dad do for his job?
Jamo - being a doctor
Roo - being a doctor

What makes you proud of your dad?
Jamo - because he gives me hugs and kisses
Roo - because I love him

What do you and your dad do together?
Jamo - play Splash Out
Roo - Family Home Evening

If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
Jamo - getting another job
Roo - because he helps people

How are you and your dad the same?
Jamo - we both like spaghetti and Splash Out
Roo - we both love each other

What is your daddy’s favorite color?
Jamo - green, yellow and orange
Roo - green, yellow and orange

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the biggest fan of my blog there is! I love you, daddy!

My dad is absolutely wonderful. One of my favorite memories of his kindness was when I was in high school. I am not a fan of cold and snow, and I woke up one morning to a car covered in snow. But by the time I got out to the car after getting ready, he had scraped off the ice and snow and had it heated up for me. What a guy! And without fail, every time I get to go home to NM for a visit, he makes sure the house is stocked with chips and salsa and the fixings for breakfast burritos. Maybe he always has that stuff there, but truthfully, I think he does it just for me. :o) I love you, daddy! And I know you check this blog every single day, so I'm sure you will get this!

Brad's dad is also great! He saved my sanity when we moved out to Philly. He arrived Friday night and helped get everything loaded into the van on Saturday morning. Between his dad and all of our help from our church friends, we had the van completely loaded before Brad even got there! He drove the van out to Philly and was going to stay an extra day or two to help us settle in. But when he saw the condition of the house, he changed his flight and stayed 5 extra days! I was so very grateful for his help! He was amazing and I can't thank him enough for his help! I'm sure he'll be grateful to know that next time we move, we are hiring it out! :o) We are so grateful for you and love you bunches! (I don't know if you read this blog or not, but I thought I'd tell you anyway!)

We also really love our Papa Lee. It was great when we lived in OK and could go visit Brad's mom and hubby. The boys would spend the night there once a month and they looked forward to it every time. He had the coolest model airplanes. We had so much fun going to the field and watching him fly some around. We sure love him!

My family really is the best. I've never seen such an energetic grandpa like my Grandpa Roberts. When we were in Europe, he was going everywhere with the rest of us! Climb Mt. Etna? Sure! Vesuvius? No problem. Tour Pompeii? Why not! He still goes 4-wheeling and is extremely active. He is hard to slow down! I treasure the time I get to spend with him. My dad's father died when I was pretty young, so I didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked. However, my uncles are so kind and loving and I'm grateful to be in their family.

I am the luckiest lady on the planet because I'm the one that gets to call Brad Mons my husband. I am constantly amazed with his consideration, kindness, patience, intelligence, abilities, optimism, and great looks. :o) The kids hang all over him the moment he steps in the door until the minute they fall asleep. He truly personifies, "let the little ones come unto me." There is nothing he would rather do than be with his family and we feel that. We know that his job won't always let him be with us when we wants to be, but we know that we are still his first priority. That is an amazing thing to feel when you are married to someone with a surgeon's time demands. I love you, Bradley, and I am grateful every day that I get to live with you again after 7 long months. Thank you for being that man, husband, and father you are. LOVE YOU!

The update

I am not saying this next paragraph to complain. I'm merely trying to paint a picture of my stress level this morning. Okay?

I woke up and got in the shower, put away some laundry, and went down stairs to put some stuff away. And I walked through a puddle of water. After seeing the splatter my first thought was that Brad spilled something and didn't have time to clean it. But that doesn't make sense because that would be SOOOOO unlike Brad. So I looked up and noticed water dripping from the ceiling. Seriously, this house just gets better and better, huh. Heavy, heavy sigh...

Then Ruth came to watch the kiddos and I went out to the the car. Lex Luther still hasn't been fixed, thanks to a slacker shop we took it too. We just went and got him last night. He isn't fixed, but he is drivable. Anyway, Brad took Odie as he had further to go and needed a trustworthy vehicle. But Odie had the GPS. I thought I knew the general way, but I'm still not very knowledgeable about Philly streets. Ruth let me borrow hers, but I managed to find my way without it. Funny thing is, I thought I was on the wrong street but ended up being on the right one. Oh, and Lex was out of gas. As in, "fuel light comes on as soon as I shift out of drive" out of gas. Sheesh.

And on this note I went to get my results. And, well, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that my MRI came back and things look fine. No tears or damage that would require surgery. He does recommend physical therapy, but I just don't see that happening. It is so hard to keep finding sitters. I'm new here and I don't know enough people to spread the begging around. Besides, I still need to find people who can watch my kids for 3 days so I can go to a wedding in 2 weeks. Wish me luck with that one! The MRI did show some "wear and tear" (lol!), but nothing overly concerning. That is if not for my blood work results combined with the wear and tear.

Which brings us to the bad news portion of today's program. My blood work shows elevated rheumatoid factor. When I say elevated, I mean that it is supposed to be under 20. 150 is considered significant. Mine came in at 222. Bummer. I cried in my car for about 15 minutes and eventually calmed down enough to go grocery shopping. Maybe if I didn't see everything my mom has been through, I might not realize how tough RA can be. But I do know how tough it can be and it scares me. I would have preferred the surgery. The blood work also showed I have a lower than average risk of cardiac events. Yeah for that!

I did a consult with my other doctor, Dr. Brad, who isn't overly concerned. The test gives a lot of false positives or something. I don't understand all of it, but Brad doesn't think I have enough other factors to make RA a definite. I still need to do a follow up with a rheumatologist (yeah, more sitters to beg) some time soon. Maybe that will give me a better idea of what is going on exactly. At least if it is RA, we caught it pretty early. That is good!

But now, I'm going to not think about the possibilities and enjoy pizza/movie night. :o)

How was your day?

My day included a plant falling from the top of my bookshelf and spreading damp black dirt all over the place.

It also included Sugar finding the toothpaste that someone, who shall remain nameless, left downstairs after a call night. Notice her blue legs.

She got some in her eyes, poor baby. And yes, she had her pants off. See why I don't like cooking dinner. Chaos breaks out when I'm in the kitchen. Dinner was very cold by the time I got done bathing her and cleaning the floor. Fun times.

And here are some pictures she took tonight.

Who's got the button?

My avatar didn't go so well. I decided to try my hand at making a button. Not that I expect anyone to use it, I just wanted to have one because everyone else does and I'm a sheep. :o)

Today was interesting. I thought Sears was coming between 8-12. They never came. But I did sell my queen box spring. Then I talked to Brad and he said Sears was coming between 1-5. Oops. I had a lady coming to pick up our old entertainment center at 1:30. Surely they wouldn't both arrive at the same time... They did. I helped the lady load the center while the repair guy fired up the stove. We got done loading so I went to the kitchen and the repair man said, "it has an odor, but it isn't too too bad." We walked back in there and I tried explaining that it would get worse. And sure enough, with in a minute or two, the stench after-burners kicked in and the eye-watering stench came out. Oh.my.gracious that stove stinks. He agreed and said it wasn't reparable. He suspected mice as there was a nest in the corner of the stove. So Brad and I could both be right. It could have been urine (mouse) and it could have been death. Win-win. Or lose-lose actually. Brad called the landlord who agree to buy us a brand-spanking new one. :o) Yeah!!! But that still left me with a smelly house and no stove today, so we went to a diner down the street. My knee behaved quite well. Everyone kept staring at us though. It was getting a little awkward. My kids weren't being that bad, just busy, ya know? There is a difference. By the time it was dessert time, the waitress said our kids were the best behaved kids she had seen all night. And the people sitting across from us staring said that our kids were incredibly well-behaved. I'm not sure we were talking about the same kids, but it was a compliment and I graciously accepted it. Especially since at the beginning of our meal the lady had said, "Oh my, you certainly have your hands full" complete with a frown and shaking head. Quite the turn of events, I would say.

Anyhoo, that was my day. Oh, and my beloved Ruthie came to visit me. Sugar tried to keep her too. She is going to watch the kids for me on Friday so I can get my MRI and blood work results. And then she offered to stay after and help me make sense of the insanity that is this house right now. How I love Ruthie.

Today

This morning we had Sugar's dentist appointment. She had like 5 cavities. Poor baby. She went crazy. We barely got her in the papoose thing. She did better once the nitrous kicked in. Then when the dentist was looking over the boys really quick, he noticed that Jamo had a busted filling, which is frustrating since I just took him to the dentist in MI the day before we moved and everything was fine. He got him right in though. It ended up being 2 hours at the dentist this morning. Just not a fun morning.