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.

The waiting game

Tonight was my MRI. When Jamo found out I was going to the doctor again, he said, "You went to the doctor a lot today, mommy." Yup. I hope to get some answers out of all of it! I still need to make the appointment to get the results next week.

When Brad and I were talking over scones, he made an interesting observation. 2 years ago, my mom broke her ankle and a few weeks later, I broke mine. About a year ago, she tore her meniscus and needed surgery. Brad thinks I might have a meniscus injury (though it might not require surgery if that is what it is). He asked that I stop trying to copy my mom's injuries since she also has RA and lymphoma. haha! I love my mommy and would love to be like her, but this is getting to be a bit much. ;o)

So, the MRI wasn't my favorite experience. I'm not a huge fan of pain, but I was told the MRI is painless. And it was. But it was also extremely uncomfortable. I didn't like it. I'd rather have my blood drawn if given the option. Besides being super loud, the sensations were odd. There was a light to the left of my left eye and to the right of my right eye, so keeping my eyes open was annoying. But closing my eyes was really disconcerting with everything happening. I think my knee kept twitching. It was hard to be still for sooooo long. I don't have a problem being still normally, but in the MRI it was totally different. So, I just plan to not get hurt again so I can avoid the experience. :o)

At long last

My poor mom has been hinting for weeks about how patiently she has been waiting for pictures. She now has a super long slide show and 2 videos to keep her busy. :o) They are on Cookie, of course. Let me know if you need an invite. I know I haven't posted anything on there since April, but it does still exist. hee hee

The doctor's appointment went okay this morning. He took an X-ray and that came out fine. He said there was 32 yr old wear and tear. I said, "Wow, that is great since I am 32." He grimaced and shook his head no and repeated, "wear and tear." I play racquetball for crying out loud. Of course there is wear and tear! But he wasn't happy about it for some reason. Then he asked if I had a family history of arthritis. Why, yes, in fact, my mother has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was 19. "I see. And how are your wrists and ankles?" Truthfully, not that great, but I've learned to deal. "I see. We need to get some blood work done on you, just to be safe. And I'm ordering an MRI." Gotcha. Once I got the knee brace he prescribed, my knee felt a ton better. I can't believe it worked so quickly! Maybe I should have bought one sooner...

The big problem with the MRI being that the first available MRI appointment was at 8:30 PM and the blood lab closes at 7 PM, so I would need 2 sitters. I had already used Linda and her kind hubby that morning for the X-ray. My resident wife friends work full time. I've even had Brad's fellow residents volunteer to watch my kids, but they obviously weren't available during the day. I know. I'm very very blessed to have so many options in a brand new town. Then my sweet friend Katie, the one who had us for dinner our first day here, asked if we were available for a playdate this afternoon. So, I asked her if she could please watch the kids and we could do the playdate after. She is so awesome. My kids had a blast at Linda's this morning. They loved Katie this afternoon. They tried to send me away and keep Wendy last week. I'm such a lucky girl to know so many amazing women already.

The blood draw was the best one I've had. Why? Because Brad happened to be at that same hospital today. hee hee! I got pretty lucky because it isn't the one he is assigned to these 2 months. So, while I had the needle in my arm, he came by and stayed with me. Not that I'm afraid of needles or blood draws, I've had plenty in my life, he just wanted to be with me. :o) Afterwards, we stopped and had a blackberry and white chocolate scone in the lobby. I sure love being with him. With 3 wild kids and his crazy surgery schedule, we don't often make it over to visit him in the hospital, so it was really fun to see him in his element. I even left him a note on his windshield, complete with lipstick kiss, after I left. He is amazing and I love being married to him. And I love living with him. What a blessing that is after 7 long months! What a man!

A theme

I've been getting a sense that my posts have been less than 'lemonade-y" and cheery lately. I just can't seem to smile my way through my current situation. Sorry ya'll.

But, in an attempt to bring back some smiles, I'll share a rare picture of kids on here. Not my kids, my niece and nephew. It doesn't have their faces, so I'm justifying it. Resa and Aubrey, if you want me to take it off, let me know.

I'm finally catching up on everyone's blog. I made it through public ones, but now I have all the private ones to go through... perhaps this weekend when Brad is out of town and takes the van since his car is dying....

Anywhere, here is a picture that made me laugh. Q-T baby and Abbie.

My kids are chunky like Quinton but as white as Abigail. LOL! They should be somewhere inbetween since they are registered Cherokees, but they seemed to miss the nice, tan skin genes. haha!