Natural Distruction

My heart aches for the people in the Midwest/south that are trying to recover in the wake of awful tornado's. I recently heard of one that fluctuated between 1/2 mile wide to 1 mile wide and went for 300 miles! I grew up in a 1 square mile town. That's as wide as my home town! And 300 miles? That's like from my home town to Ft. Collins. Since I've never seen a tornado in real life, this one is completely incomprehensible to me. The destruction I see makes my heart ache. I wish I could do something more than just help with humanitarian aid here. God bless the survivors!

Damaging

Because my hair is so limp and flat and straight and gross and unmanagable and flat and limp and lifeless, it styles much better with a little damage - a.k.a. high lights. So a couple of years ago, Bestie started damaging my hair. I've really liked the results. When my hair would get flat and unmanageable, I'd have her damage it again and viola! It was doable!
So about Christmas time, I decided I wanted to grow my hair out a little. I really like this style.

Not sure if it's me, but I like it.

So a couple of weeks ago, my hair was unruly so Bestie damaged it for me and as always, it fixed the problem.



However, because my hair is longer, the blond seemed very, very blond and to me, it looked like a mistake had been made. I pondered it and decided I needed to do something. So I looked through my closet and found some dye in a box (gasp!) that I bought who knows when at Wal-Mart, and promptly dyed my hair. It was supposed to be a dark auburn and would have been if I hadn't had SO much blond in my hair. I don't have a picture, but take my word for it, I looked like a copper penny! Not even kidding!

I ran into my hair cutter friend at the school 10 minutes after my hair disaster and ran to her van. "Look what I did!" I said almost in tears. She was very calm and said, "Did you do this yourself, from a box?" "Yes." I said shamelessly. "No harm. I can fix it," she said confidently. So we made arrangements for me to go to her house that night. She did a really great job covering up the penny look, but it was too purple for me. Again, no picture. So two days later, I went back and she did this:

I know these are great pictures of myself. But you try taking a profile picture of yourself!

So much better. Now I can go out in public - if I want to. Not that I do this very often, but now I can if I so choose!
Thanks, Kath, I don't know what I'd do with out you!

Natural

I love this time of year. Everything is green, naturally - none of that artificial green that comes from watering from the hose. Nope, it's green because of the rain fall and the not scortching temperatures.

Even though the constant and drastic changes in temperatures causes much sickness that is contageous, I still like the fact that things are green with out any effort from me.

But still too unpredictable to plant my garden - unless I did this - then my husband might want to have my head examined!

Not that there's anything wrong with this. It yeilds yummy veggies and it yields them EARLY. But still, Mister nearly had a heart attack when a couple of years ago, I dug out part of our grass for a garden. If I went to the effort to do this, he'd surely sratch his head. Plus, I'm not sure how he'd feel in the middle of the night when the wind is blowing, helping me try to keep this plastic down. Last spring the wind caught part of this and lifted Bestie off the ground while she and 2 others were trying to save it. This year, it's anchored a bit better!

All to soon, I'll have to drag out the hose and manually water my grass and garden. But until then, I'll just enjoy having to mow the lawns without having to water them :)

Happy Spring!

Before and After...

So I decided to paint my living room and hall, make a new valance and pillows.

So this is my valance before...



And this is my valance now.







Here is my red wall before... And also my off white other walls...And my mono tone couch and pillows...


And here is my green wall now... And a buttery other walls...And my coordinating pillows

Hospital Trip

So I've already said that on Thursday, I took Lewlew to the doc and she tested positive for strep. When Friday night came, she was feeling every bit as bad as she was Thursday night. So i took her the InstaCare. They said they wanted to give her a breathing treatment, but because they were closing they didn't have time to monitor her. So they sent us to the hospital closest to my house. When we got there, they evaluated her and took a chest exray. The doc said she sounded crackely but they don't admit patients so we'd have to go down to the bigger hospital. So we got to UVRMC about midnight and they set her up with oxygen. Bret and his dad administered to her. Lewlew was so sleepy but she wouldn't go to sleep - which was a good thing because docs and nurses kept coming in. Finally at 2:00, she had an I.V. But over the next 4 hours someone came in about every 20 minutes to take her temp, give her meds, ask me a question. It was crazy! Finally about 7:00 am things settled down and we were able to sleep until about 10:00. Lewlew watched TV and just rested. We had some visitors. Grandma, Aunt Gina, Buddy and Noodle stopped by. Then Super Aunt Val, Cool Tom and Taylor stopped by. Then Nana came over. While Nana was there, we were able to have a little nap. All during the day, they kept turning her oxygen down. It started at 2 liters. Until finally she was jsut on room air. And her O2 level stayed about 95. Bret got off work and showed up about 6:30. Lewlew decided on having him stay with her that night. So I came home. Bret said she slept a lot better than she did when I was there! On Sunday am, they took another xray and at about 10:30 they said the xray looked the same as on Friday night. But she was breathing better and her o2 was staying up so they were sending her home. It was determined that she had strep and viral pneumonia. They ran a flu test on her which came back negitive.

This is before they put the I.V. in.

Today, she's been a little slow, but she feel so much better. I don't think I'll send her to school tomorrow, but maybe Wednesday. What a weekend.




Noodle was quite sympathetic to Lewlew. She remember all too well what it was like. Except Noodle had bacterial pneumonia and it seemed she got over it quicker. To read about Noodle's hospital trip click here.

Hate, not so much...

Lately I realize that I say "I hate..." a lot. When really I don't actually hate "it" but I really dislike it. For example. I hate snakes. Well not really. They are God's creatures and are an important part of the circle of life. So I should say "I despise snakes." Or "I can't stand snakes." Or "I really, really don't like snakes." Or, "If I never saw another snake as long as I live, I would be ok." You get the idea. It's the same thing with mosquitoes and spiders. Really, my life would be just fine with out these pesky buggers! But seriously, 1 thing that I can honestly say I hate, and cannot find 1 single solitary good thing about, is zits. That's right, acne, pimples, blemishes. There is not 1 good things that comes out of these annoying bits of my life. And why do I, who is well out of her teens, have to get zits? Seriously,I had enough back then. Why am I being punished with them now?! I just don't understand. I suppose I never will...

Mom of the year...

Tuesday night, Lewlew got up about 11 complaining of a tummy ache. Not the throw up kind, the cramp kind. So I thought she had stomach flu and I waited for her to begin throwing up. Never happened. She went back to bed about 1/2 hour later and slept all night. She went to school on Wednesday and was fine. At dinner, she coughed a weird cough, but only once or twice. It sounded like she was congested but I didn't worry about it. Thursday morning she woke up and felt a little warm, but again, she was acting fine so I didn't worry too much about it. About 11:30 I asked her if she was going to ever get dressed and she said she just wanted to rest. I felt her and she was really warm. And she was complaining of her tummy hurting again. At 12:30 I called her doc and made an appointment for Friday at 1:00. At 3:15 she was really sick. Lethargic, very hot and breathing kinda labored. So I called her doc to see if there was any way they could see her earlier. The only time was 9:20 Friday morning. At 3:30, I took her over to her doc and asked if they could work her in, she was getting worse and I was worried about the night. So they worked her in. The nurse took her temp, frowned and took it again. 105 degrees! Yikes!!! After a urine test and a strep test it was determined that she most definitely has a "raging" case of strep. The tummy ache, was a symptom of strep. I had never heard that before. Poor little girl. Being sick for that long and her mommy waiting 2 days to get her in! After a big shot of antibiotic, she's home and resting. She finally had some melted ice cream and then I gave her some Tylenol for her fever. It helped, but she's still really warm.

Please, everyone, fast and pray I don't get strep. I'm prone to it and when it hits me, it hits with a vengeance. I mean it knocks me flat for days and days and then it comes back a couple months later. Seriously, I would rather have almost any other sickness besides strep. Click here to see the last time I had strep. That year I had it in April, June, and Sept.

Irritating

Don't you hate it when your socks do this??? When I put it on, it was straight, then before I know it, it's crooked. How do these things happen? Is my foot lopsided??

Weeds Already??

I have weeds in my garden and I haven't even planted my garden yet!! And I have more dandelions in my lawn - not picture, you'll just have to take my word on it - than I did last year. Last year I had 2. This year I have at least 4 - but those suckers multiply like crazy - don't all weeds???

Discovery Museum Pics...

Buddy and Hubs built a tall tower.


On the rock wall. See that kid on the floor? I have no idea who he is...

Sweet Lewlew riding a horse - "Yah, horsey!"

Dad's new car. Check out Buddy filling him up!

Noodle and Lewlew at the "store."

Sweet Noodle on the horse. See that girl next to her? I have no idea who she is!

Lewlew is a checker - and by her smile, loving every minute!

Now she's the shopper.

Buddy is taking on the rock wall!

On the way home...


Fast asleep!

I Love The Rainy Nights - or days....

This is what I woke up to yesterday...

Ignore the light pole I didn't photoshop out!

Again, ignore the anti-photoshoping - but I like the contrast of the Spring tree and the snowy mountains.

"Is that snow in them there hills??" "I believe it is."

Chocolate

This is attempt #1 at chocolate molding - or whatever it's called. The ones without sticks are chocolate covered Oreo's. They didn't turn out quite like I expected. I'll keep trying...

Decided...

Several weeks ago Bestie and I decided that over Spring Break we would "camp" in her 5th wheel on "de side of" her house- just for a couple of nights. We decided to bring the grill over and the fire pit and the table and chairs. It wouldn't be real camping, but the kids would love it because of the camper. We decided to have hamburgers the first night and hot dogs the second. With of course Smore's. Bestie has the best way to make Smore's, so we decided to use her "recipe." Which is: use fudge stripe cookies instead of chocolate bars and graham crackers. It's really yummy! So she and Taylor (her nephew) got things set up. So I got there and decided to start dinner. It was a little breezy but not too bad. I had 16 hamburgers to cook. After I turned the last of the burgers, the grill decided to run out of propane. But not biggey, the burgers were done. Then the wind decided to pick up. And pick up it did. It picked up the plates, the food, the umbrella, etc. So we decided to move into the camper. The wind decided to whip everything around, including the camper door. Then Buddy decided to put his thumb into the hole between the hinges of the door when the wind decided to gust, causing the door to close on his thumb. Ya, that kinda hurt. But he was tough and didn't cry, but it hurt. So we decided to put a movie on for the kids because we decided we weren't going to to do Smore's. Bestie and I played a couple of games and kept laughing every time a gust of wind would come up. There really wasn't anything comical about the situation, but some how it was funny! (That's us for ya!!) Bestie and I needed a couple things in the house so we decided to brave the element and head inside for just a few minutes. Of course the wind decided to rock at just the same moment I opened the door and it blew out of my hands. Well it bend the door and we could no longer close it tight. About 9:30 Buddy had had enough and was ready to go home. So my mom came and picked him up. Then it was bedtime for the girls. At some point Taylor and Tanner decided to come back and we started playing card games. What a hoot that was! Finally at close to 1 Taylor and Tanner went inside and we went to sleep - amongst the camper rocking and the wind blowing - and we froze!!! It was so cold! At 8:30 we got up and went into the house. It was so warm!!! We decided to have pancakes and I packed us up and we came home. We were supposed to sleep there Thursday night, but we decided against that idea! All in all - it was certainly memorable! We went over to Bestie's Thursday night for our "camp" dinner of hot dogs and smore's. The wind decided to let us do this. The girls and I decided to stay and play games. I won both games of Ticket to Ride (BooYa Taylor!!!) Then we came home. It was great! By Friday, Buddy's thumb was still sore, but feeling better. He didn't complain about it but he favored it.

Spring Break

Last Monday and Tuesday, the kids and I just hung out around here - played, housework/chores, played, lazed etc. On Wednesday, my mom took the day off and we went to the Discovery Park in PG. The kids really liked that! It's a great park - different from the same ole, same ole parks. Then we had a late lunch. When we got home we "packed" to go camping in Bestie's camper. (More on that in another post). On Thursday we finished up laundry and messed around, had dinner and Smore's at Bestie's. On Friday we went to SLC with Hubs's family. On the way up there, we stopped at my grandma's house. Her husband died Wednesday night. It wasn't a tragedy, it was a blessing. It was really good to talk to her. We stayed about an hour. Then we met up with Hubs's family at the Gateway. We messed around there for a little while then checked into our hotel - The Little America. We called to get a roll away for Buddy but they don't have roll aways. WHAT??? So Taina was in the predicament we were in so she volunteered to run to Wal-Mart to get a couple of Twin air mattresses. Bless her heart. As soon as we were in our room, the kids wanted to go swimming. Gratefully, all the adults wanted to go too. But I stayed behind in the room to rest. I wasn't feeling well and was worn out because I hadn't eaten anything all day. As soon as they got back we went to dinner. It was yummy and the kids ate really well. After dinner we went swimming again. When we got back from swimming - about 9:30, we got the air mattress set up and were waiting on bedding from the hotel. After waiting more than 30 min, I just decided to use the sheet Taina got for $1.50 and the top blankets off each of the other beds and make Buddy's bed. We called to cancel the bedding. The kids went to sleep VERY fast. And Hubs and I fell asleep not long after they did. On Saturday, we had breakfast at McDonald's and then everyone but me went to the Gateway Discovery Museum. I went to the viewing of my step-grandpa. It was very nice. There were a lot of people there - which was nice for Grandma. She was having a harder time than I thought she would. My Aunt Laurie was there with her and was going to be there for her all day. Which I'm grateful for! Afterwards, I met up with Hubs and the kids. Everyone else had had enough of the museum and wanted to shop some more. Our kids had a ball showing me everything I missed at the museum. Bless Taina's heart - she had a family pass for the museum and gave it to us. Thanks so much!!! So we played around the museum for a while and then came home. Everyone had a great time! So now it's Sunday and back to reality tomorrow. I'm not sure who it's going to be tougher on, me or the kids! I have a lot of catching up to do so I'm looking forward to not having kids underfoot, but at the same time, I do enjoy them being home - most of the time...

Pain...

Went on a little bike ride with my outdoorsy Noodle. Youch!!! My hiney hurts. I must need a new seat. I'm not just talking about the bike seat:) Happy Spring Break...

So far....maybe not so good!

This is how our Spring Break has gone so far: "Mom....", cooking, cleaning, "Mom....."cooking cleaning, "Mom....", cooking cleaning.... Not necessarily in that order. Little stinks, why do they have to eat?

Grrrrr.

I hate when my printer runs out of ink!!!

Sleepy on Friday & No More Toys

So every Thursday night my bestie (Bestie) and I get together at her house about 9:30 to watch a show. (I'm not endorsing that show so I'll not tell you what it is - but it begins with Vampire and ends with Diaries.) If it happens to not be on, we watch something else or we just talk. Thursday nights are always late for us (which means a sleepy Friday morning!) It's the only uninterrupted time we have to talk. But last night our show was not recorded - thanks to her son who's name shall remain anonymous, it's starts with Mc and ends with Kay. He just had a birthday and is older than 25 and he deliberately skipped our recording. Ya, I could have wrung his neck, but that's another story. So while she was damaging my hair, we were watching the news. Have you heard that in some places - not sure where, we were talking, the government is taking toys out of kids meals? Are you kidding me? What is this world coming to?Not sure what good this is going to do! Not that it affects me much. We very RARELY do kids meal toys, but kids aren't going to eat anything different just because there isn't a toy. Anyway......

River Deep, Mountain High

Well maybe not river deep - but certainly mountain high!

This mountain is approx. 5 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall. I cleaned out my closet.