A month of challenges!

If you're looking for some scrappy inspiration, come and join me for a month full of challenges at the My Sketch World forum. It shold be loads of fun with the challenges and games!

People are good...

I left my wallet in a shopping cart that I left in the parking lot at a Walmart today. I didn't realize it until I got home, about 15 minutes later. I drove all the way back and there were no carts where I had left mine. I ran into a guy bringing more carts into the store and asked him if he had seen it. Nope, but try the lost and found. I went to the lost and found and there was nothing there. My wallet - all the credit cards, my atm card, cash, gift cards, my driver's license, etc... I was so sad and angry at myself. I had resolved to call the dh on the way home and have him start calling the credit card companies to cancel them.

On the way out, I thought I would check with the greeter. When I asked him about my wallet, he got a big smile on his face and brought my wallet from the returns desk. I cried right there, I was so relieved. Adam looked at me and said, "Why are you crying? You got your wallet back." Not only did I get my wallet back, but everything, including the cash and gift cards was still there!

You know, we're inundated daily with warnings about credit card fraud, terrible things happening on the news, etc that you can start to believe that everyone, given the chance will do what they can to defraud you, especially if there's little to no chance of getting caught. I am so thankful to this person who turned in my wallet for not only giving me my wallet back, but also reminding me that the majority of people are honest. It's a reminder that seems truly fitting for the Christmas season.

Christmas is in the air!

I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit. I've been working on Christmas crafts this weekend. I got a kit for a mini Christmas album at my lss on Friday and have finished it - just need pics for it now... I also made these cute little paper trees:

You can find instructions on how to make them here, at Two Spotted Dogs: http://www.twospotteddogs.com/CC08.html They will also be holding a Christmas crop December 5 through 7. Stop by and have some fun!!

We've been working on getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. It's up, but it needs lights. I'm hoping dh will do it for me. Adam really wants to start decorating. He's so excited about Christmas.

Brandi, my e-mail address my name with the numbers 413 following, "at" and then yahoo, etc... Send me your snail mail address and I'll get some goodies out to you.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! My day started off with a bummer - my sil was supposed to come for thanksgiving and called this morning and cancelled out on us. Now, that would have been a bummer in and of itself, but we changed our plans so she could come. We were either going to go see my family this weekend - it would have been all 3 of my brothers and all our kids. It doesn't happen often with that many people - hard to coordinate everyone's schedules. If not there, we would have gone to visit some friends in Arkansas who we haven't seen since May. To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement. But, life goes on.

We had turkey and all the fixings here. The boys played outside a good part of the day and I got the last of my fall clean-up in the garden finished. It was a beautiful day outside today. Tomorrow, I'll work on putting up the outside Christmas decorations before it gets cold and nasty outside.

We're waiting to digest a little before getting some pumpkin pie (or cool whip with a side of pumpkin pie in my case).

I am thankful for so many things. I am truly blessed. The biggest thing I'm thankful for is that we're all healthy. I have a friend who just got the news that her son's leukemia is back after a bone marrow transplant and that they're considering him incurable at this point. It's heartbreaking. It really puts my little ups and downs into perspective. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you're traveling, be safe.

Eeeek!!

I made a boo boo! Well, more than one and I'll get to the next one in a minute, but I put the wrong person down for the winner of the goodies from my retreat weekend! Shannon very nicely pointed out that she was over, so our correct winner is Brandi. I'm so sorry I messed up! Brandi, please e-mail me your snail mail addy and I'll get your goodies out to you.

On to my other boo boo today!

After spending a very lazy day with Adam, I decided that I needed to make the pumpkin pies that I had been wanting to make for the past week. I got one mixed up and into the pie plate and the second mixed up when I realized that I hadn't added the sugar to the first pie! I mix my pies in the blender, since I find that I get a more consistent flavor if I do and the second was in the blender at the time.

It was time to go get Matt and my friend's daughter from the bus stop, so I went out and chatted with some other neighbors. When I got back in, I realized that I had left the second pie crust (I cheat and use pilsbury) on the stove and the oven was warming up... It was too warm and mushy to unroll, although I did try. I put it in the freezer hoping it would firm up enough to unroll - it did. I got the second pie poured and tried to get the first pie back into the blender. I was mostly successful. I added the sugar after cleaning up a little and got the first pie back in it's crust and baked both pies.

We haven't tried them yet - they were still cooling after dinner, but I think they'll both be ok. I've made pies for years and have never had this happen. I decided that we would have a very simple dinner - who knows what else would have happened today!!

I'm back!

Well the retreat was fun! I got home Sunday night and Adam ran up to me, gave me a hug and kiss and said "Mommy, why did you leave for so long?" It's nice to know I was missed, but I could have done without the needy part of the boy the rest of the week. Last week just flew by before I realized it! I'm still not really unpacked from the retreat...

For those of you wondering, here's what I got accomplished over the weekend: 13 pages and two teachers' gifts and almost 60 Christmas cards. Woo hoo!! Since I hadn't planned on doing the cards, I won't count them in my total (I can't figure out a way to count them anyway). That brings me to a total of 21 and Shannon is our winner!! Congrats, lady - send me your snail mail addy and I'll send you some goodies. I'll post some pics the next time I blog.

Adam has had a cold for the last week and has been coughing at night, keeping me up. Last night, though, he actually slept through. It's amazing how wonderful an uninterrupted night's sleep is!! I've got a friend who's 2 yo son still gets up in the middle of the night most nights. I honestly don't know how she manages. I'm so glad my boys are good sleepers most of the time.

Matt's going to be one of the kids in his class representing his grade in the school spelling bee. He's all excited!! This year is going so much better at school than last year. I'm so thankful that his teacher is doing such a good job at keeping him engaged and challenged. It's a job I could never do and I'm so thankful that there are wonderful people out there who do it so well.

Scrappy weekend coming up!

I'm off to the retreat in Illinois!! I soooo need this - it's been a looong week. For example, Adam locked us out of the house this morning. Not a good thing at all. Then he tried to deny it. The boy has been playing with the locks on the doors all week and I've warned him. I was furious with him. It's been a long time since I've been that angry. I had to break into my own house, but at least I got back in...

Anyone care to guess how many layouts I get done this weekend? I'll put together a prize package for the winner - closest without going over... It's a 3 day retreat - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We arrive around 3 on friday and leave by 3 on sunday. Just to throw a wrench into things, if I can find a paper packet that I like, I'll also be working on teachers' gifts this weekend... If I can work on them, I'll be making 3 and each will count as 4 pages...

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll post what I've gotten done sometime next week.

Go Vote!

It's election day - go vote!!

Some cards

Here are the pics of some of the cards that I worked on... Almost all the cards used up scraps from layouts that I've done. Many were done for card challenges that are being posted in the forum at Two Spotted Dogs (http://www.twospotteddogs.com/home.html). The Halloween cards aren't anything really special, but I think that the kids will really like them. Most of the other cards will be going into a card holder that I'm making the boys' teachers as Christmas gifts. If you would like a closer look at any of the cards, just click on the image.

The errant blogger returns

Yup, I'm still around. Just haven't felt like blogging much lately. We've been dealing with family health issues and they're just not fun to blog about - my dad has colon cancer, my mil's breast cancer has spread, my brother's mil just found out she's got advanced lung cancer... See a trend?

I've had a couple of moles removed from my back. The stitches were uncomfortable, but the first one came back as benign and I'll find out about the second one next week.

Matt's got a heel injury. Apparently, there's a growth plate on your heel (who knew??) and it's been really irritated on both feet for him. Right now, he's restricted from participating in PE, tae kwon do and soccer - I guess my schedule just opened up a whole lot. ;-) Seriously, though, if he keeps going, it could lead to a stress fracture, so we're taking it pretty seriously. The good news is that he'll grow out of it when the growth plate fuses - when he's 17 or so. :-P

DH's aunt died unexpectedly last week as well. She went to the hospital and they told her she had the flu and sent her home. She saw her doc the next day and he told her the same. The third day, her neighbor called the ambulance for her and she died that night. My guess is that she had a heart attack and it wasn't recognized. I'll really miss her, although we didn't see her very often. DH and sil went to the memorial service today. I would have gone, but we would have had to pull Matt out of school this afternoon and it's a 3 hour one way drive...

I have been scrapping and making cards, which I'll share another day. I'm off to marinate chicken for tomorrow's dinner.

More layouts...

I got a new fridge today. I didn't want one, but the compressor was going out on our old one. It was making so much noise this morning that Lee commented that it was a good thing that the new one was coming today. I was half afraid that it had died overnight and everything in the fridge and freezer would be bad, but we got lucky.

Here are more layouts that I've been working on. These are the two pagers - I posted the one page layouts separately. I figured that things would flow better that way...

Where does the time go?

It's been so long since I posted anything, I wonder if anyone will see this... July went by in a whirlwind. We didn't do any travelling, but it seems like we were busy all month long. August is half over and school started today! Summer vacation is officially over.

I've been busy this month scrapbooking. I've gotten a total of 15 pages done! I've been participating in a challenge at Two Spotted Dogs and it's really gotten me scrapping at home again. I had gotten to the point that I would only scrap at crops or retreats. I'm glad that I've gotten out of that rut! The challenges have been creative and inspiring - I've done a few pages that I never would have done if not for the challenge, but I'm glad that I did them. :-) Here's a link: http://www.twospotteddogs.com/home.html

Here are a couple of the layouts I've done. I'll share more later this week (how's that for a reason to come back?

Where has Daiva been?

Well, since school got out, we've been running nonstop it seems.

I got Adam in to see a urologist and it seems as if we can treat his problem. It seems that the problem isn't with his bladder or kidneys - it's further on the outside. I'm trying to keep this G-rated, so be patient with me, lol! It seems that some urine is getting caught in the skin and causing the infection. What I thought were symptoms of the infection (slight fever, vomiting, etc three days after finishing a round of antibiotics) is just a side effect of using the antibiotics so frequently. I'm a bit irked with my pediatrician - why didn't he know this?? Anyway, it looks as if Adam's problem is treatable and we've been treating it. There's been some improvement, but I'm going to go back to the urologist to see if it's enough.

In June I took a trip to Chicago with the boys. I needed to talk to my Dad about a few things that he didn't really want to discuss, but were necessary. My brothers had been unsuccessful at bringing up the subject, so I took the trip. While I was there, he had his surgery to get his insides all connected up again. The surgery went well.

I had planned to stay for a week and a half, but cut the trip short. Chicago was going through a heat wave while we were there and my parent don't have central air... The boys, especially Adam, were having problems dealing with the heat and change of scene. We were planning on visiting my brother in Gurnee, but they had some problems with their floor installation and we couldn't stay there (which is usually where we stay). We did have fun while there, though. We went to the Field Museum, Brookfield Zoo, saw Kung Fu Panda and took a few train rides. Adam loved the Metra!!

My nephew DJ was with us at the zoo, the movie and train rides. He also came home with us for a week and a half. We did all sorts of stuff here as well: the Arch, the city museum, Tae Kwon Do camp, Monkey Joe's, swimming at the pool, etc...

My brother came down and got DJ on Sunday and Wednesday, my other brother and his family came down. Their sons Alex and Joe are almost the same ages as my boys, so they all had a great time. It was the only time they had that would work for a visit this summer, since they're pretty booked through July.

I'll post pics as soon as I download them and talk more about our trip in the next few days. I'm looking forward to life slowing down for a little while.

Catching up

Adam's test was done today at the hospital. It went well, according to the techs, but Adam wasn't at all happy about it. I can't blame him, though. It was by no means comfortable or pleasant, but it is done. We should hear about results in a day or two. My friend Tara, who works at the hospital was able to be there to help with Adam. I think that it really helped to have someone he knew and trusted there. I was able to be there while they ran the tests as well.

Our friends Adam and Kim from Arkansas and Matt from Illinois came to visit last weekend. It was great to see them. The big boys took the little boys on Saturday and Kim and I got an entire day to do girl stuff. We had lunch, shopped, talked... In other words, it was absolutely wonderful!! I thought about getting manicures or pedicures, but we ran out of time (and it was cold out, so pedicures would have been problematical for getting home, lol).

Sunday the big boys went to Gateway International Raceway to watch the NHRA finals (national hot rod association). They're all big car fans and like drag racing. They all came home with pretty bad sunburns, although they put on sunscreen. Lee said that he got tire pieces stuck to his face and the sunscreen came off when he scratched the little pieces off... Oh, well. They all had a great time and we did too. Kim and I took the boys to the Missouri botanical gardens and had a great time. The current art exhibit there allows kids to climb on many of the sculptures, so the boys loved that. We also walked to the Japanese gardens and fed the koi - another highlight for the boys.

Thanks to everyone for their good thoughts and prayers for Adam. They're much appreciated.

What is this, the energizer bunny?

I just got back from the doctor's again with Adam. He seems to still have the urinary tract infection that we've been treating for almost two months now. He started his fourth round of antibiotics today. :-( He finished his last round of meds on Sunday and woke up with a low fever this morning and then threw up at lunch. Almost exactly the same thing that happened two weeks ago.

The renal ultrasound came back normal. We now have to go in for a renal reflux test and see if that shows anything. I'm frustrated and worried. The poor kid has been having problems for the last two months!

I'm having the test done at Cardinal Glennon Children's hospital. As soon as we have the results from the test, we're going to see a urologist to see what's going on. I'm beginning to worry that the UTI is a symptom of something else, although the pediatrician doesn't seem to think so. She said that if it were something bigger or more serious, it would have shown up in the renal ultrasound.

In a daze...

I think I must be in a daze. We're getting ready for Matt's birthday weekend - the family party on Saturday and buddies party Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather doesn't want to cooperate for Sunday. The boys will have fun, but riding go karts sounds like more fun to me than playing arcade games...

Adam is scheduled for a renal ultrasound next week. He's had a urinary tract infection that we can't seem to get rid of. He's on his third round of antibiotics. Hopefully, we'll know more soon.

My dad seems to be recovering from his surgery pretty well, but he called me today to tell me that he's got cancer. From what he explained to me, he seems to think that it started in his colon, but when they removed part of his colon during surgery, that should have been cleaned out. Now, the doctors seem to think that there's some cancer in his bladder. He hasn't decided yet on a course of treatment. He doesn't want another surgery to have his bladder removed, which was one of the options. He's now considering chemo and radiation. He was a bit evasive when I asked him how aggressive the doctors think that his cancer is. He just said that the doctors told him that it's not one of the better cancers to get. I know that he doesn't want me to worry, but there's not much to be done about that.

I'm still not sure it's all sinking in yet. It's hard to imagine my dad being so sick, although I've seen him pretty ill a few times (heart attack, bypass surgery...). I just always see my dad as healthy and strong and always there.

Exhausted...

I am just beat. I spent the day redoing my front two flower beds. I planted one tree, took out another (it was mostly dead from last year's late freeze), planted 4 new shrubs, moved two, took out two shrubs that were dying and moved a whole bunch of various perennials around the garden. Unfortunately for me, I'm still not done. I've gotten a good start, but the beds still need more.

Then, Lee tells me that he wants to edge all the beds with brick. He's going to be doing a whole bunch of digging, cause I'm not doing it. He thinks it would be easier to mow, but I'm not so sure. Of course, if he had mentioned this before I spent the day digging in the garden, I might have been more receptive to his suggestion, lol.

I want to get most of the digging and planting done soon, though. My next big thing will be to get leaf compost/mulch and mulch all the beds. This usually takes me a full day to do as well. I guess I won't have to go to the gym as much this week.

I'm so glad that spring is finally here! It's really late for us and I've been itching to get out in the gardens. In another few weeks, I'll be able to plant the vegetable garden, too!! I love home grown tomatoes.

Matt's party

We had originally scheduled Matt's birthday party for this Saturday... We've had to reschedule it because half the kids he invited can't come because it's their first communion. It's rescheduled for next weekend. Thankfully, most of the boys will be able to make it on the new date. Matt's pretty excited about it. Hard to believe that he'll be turning 8 on Monday. He's grown up so much, though.

It's been a really tough year for him at school. He just got stuck with a teacher who is not able to challenge him accordingly. Whenever I've talked to her, she's taken it as a personal attack. I talked to the principal last week to make sure that he gets a good teacher next year. I'm not sure what to think about the meeting. He listened and assured me that what I wanted in a teacher next year was attainable, but that's all he really said. It almost seemed like he said what he thought I wanted to hear and not much else. I'm not sure what else he could have said, though. I guess time will tell next year when I meet his teacher. I don't know the teachers well enough to request one, so I guess I'll have to leave it up to the teachers and the principal and pray for the best.

Adam's sick

Adam's been sick the last couple of days. Yesterday was kind of scary because he was really lethargic and barely even talked to the doctor when we went in. His color was really bad, too. He was running a mild temp and had thrown up once. He refused to eat anything and had barely had anything to drink. The doctor was concerned enough to run some blood tests as well as give him a shot of antibiotics. The shots really hurt and he got one in each leg. He's extremely sore today and refuses to walk because it hurts so much.

He was complaining of his neck hurting and didn't want to move his head around yesterday, too. Today, the glands in his neck are visibly swollen and tender. His mood is much better - he's alert and talkative. I'm just worried that this is the result of the antibiotics and he'll get worse again...

The bloodwork showed that he has some sort of infection, but not bad like meningitis or appendicitis. He's been fighting a bladder infection that doesn't seem to want to go away as well, which is pretty rare in boys... I wonder if this is related to what he's got now or not.

Incredibly sad day

I'm sitting here with tears running down my face and I can't seem to stop them. A little boy named Aven died yesterday and I just got the news. He's the son of one of Lee's old coworkers and has been battling brain cancer for almost 2 years. Aven died 13 days shy of his 9th birthday.

I remember the day that I heard of Aven's diagnosis. He was having trouble with his vision and in the space of a few days, his parents went from having a healthy son to one who had a very aggressive form of brain cancer and the prognosis was not good. The doctors had originally given him only 6 months to live.

I can only try to imagine all the pain that Aven and his family have gone through since the original diagnosis. No one should ever have to bury their own children, especially when they are still so young.

It definitely puts perspective on the issues I've been having with Matt's teacher. Although they are not unimportant, they pale in comparison with what this family has gone through and I thank God that my problems are so minor in comparison. Give your kids extra hugs today.