I know. My posts are so exciting lately. But, again, it's for me...so there. :P
Something I didn't report on was the weekend of Easter. I'm not going to talk about Easter now either (we just stayed home and had a nice meal...that about covers it, anyway.) but the fact that two days prior to Easter Ethan got strep throat. He was given Amoxicillin for 10 days. He finished that this past Sunday. On Wednesday he woke up complaining of a sore throat. I made him go to school anyway since mornings seem the worst for sore throats and hoped it would feel better as the day went on. I guess it didn't since he told me as soon as I picked him up, "guess what? my throat hurt all day." By the time I was giving hugs and kisses goodnight I could tell he was feeling a little warm. He stayed home from school and finally got him to the doctor that evening. The doc said that his throat was bright red and swabbed him for strep. In about 3 minutes I could hear a 'beep, beep, beep...' I assumed this meant that the rapid strep test could already tell that it was positive. It still took the doc several more minutes to come back in to tell me it was positive. So back on antibiotics. This time it's Augmentin, which doesn't taste nearly as good as amoxicillin but is stronger and hopefully will get rid of it completely this time. He's had 3 doses and this morning sounds like his tonsils are shrinking a bit.
Two days before I took Ethan in, I took Tanner in for his cough. It was just nonstop and I couldn't relieve any of his symptoms at home so I deemed it necessary for a doc visit. The doc gave him two strong meds that I honestly thought were a little overboard. One was a cough med with codeine that in the pamphlet said not to give to kids under 16 years. Kinda scary. The other was a syrup of Prednisone of sorts. That is pretty serious stuff. I only gave him one dose (before I read the paperwork). One reason I didn't give him more was the fact that the paperwork said to consult with a doc before having immunizations and he was scheduled to get one 3 days later. The same day I kept Ethan home from school Tanner seemed significantly better, thank goodness.
Again, on the same Thursday, it seemed like Garrett was starting to get a cough toward the end of the day. I had to leave first thing in the morning the next day for Tanner's allergy appt so wasn't able to observe him myself, but according to my Mom he definitely had a fever and a bit of a cough but seemed pleasant. After I got home and he woke from his nap I could tell he had a fever so I gave him meds. He definitely has a cough but so far it doesn't seem nearly as persistent as Tanner's. Well, except for 3:30 this morning. I was sleeping lightly (because my bladder was trying to wake me up) when I heard somewhat of a cry. Silly me investigated the sound before I went potty and discovered Garrett sitting up in bed and spotted me. I did several things to resolve whatever his problem was (he wasn't coughing much at this point) like giving him gas medicine since he kept tooting, giving him pain med in case his throat was the culprit, filling his sippy cup with cold water, and then put him back in bed. I went potty, got back in bed, and then he started with his coughing fit. It was like Tanner's where it wasn't anything phlegmy just nagging and sometimes made him make a gagging sound. After a little while I got up and gave him a dose of cough med. Went back to bed. I kept waiting for the magical time of 1/2 an hour where he would suddenly be relieved of his cough but when it didn't happen I got up and grabbed a 'sore throat sucker'. At first I was thinking, I'll just give it to him and not worry about the stickiness or mess he might make with it, but right after I gave it to him and he tried to bite it I realized, "Oh crap, now I've got to stay right here until he's done with it in case he chokes." I don't know how long it took him to finish it but after several minutes of standing there I sat/lied in the massage chair. The good thing was that the sucker seemed to help him, the bad thing was that he was acting like he was wide awake and had no interest in going back to sleep. As soon as he was done, though, I wiped down his hands, made him lay down, covered him up and said goodnight. I'm sure I was back asleep before he was.
I think it was nearly 2 hours total that he was awake. This doesn't include the time before midnight that Tanner's crying woke me from my slumber on the couch to discover that he'd peed his pants. Apparently he'd been crying long and loud enough to wake up Garrett. Tanner was hardly wet but we changed him completely anyway. When I put Tanner back to bed Garrett seemed pretty awake and I wonder how long it took him to fall back asleep.
I think that's it for the drama but now I've got to get my tired behind busy since Jon is available to help me today. I pointed out to him yesterday how besides our work on the garage last Friday, nothing has been done on the basement itself in exactly one month. At that rate it won't even be close to being done before this baby comes. Only 158 more days or 22.5 weeks.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sickness and Sunburn
Some things going on...
Tanner is sick. He woke up Sunday morning complaining of a sore throat and a cough. He stayed home from church and seemed to act pretty well even though he kept coughing all day. By bedtime he had a fever of 101.5 f. I drugged him up with cough and pain meds and put a humidifier in his room. Around 5 am he needed more meds. Yesterday he seemed on the verge of needing motrin but since he seemed functional and pleasant I held off until about dinner time. His fever was again about 101 f. He also gave himself a nap just before dinnertime.
Today he seems a tad better but his cough is nonstop. It seems to be a tickling kind of cough though and not real gross. The poor kid. Something that concerns me is the fact that on Saturday when we all went out to eat at Carl's Jr, he, Garrett, and I all shared a straw. I'm crossing my fingers.
I have a bad sunburn. Since the mowing didn't get done on Saturday I had planned on doing it on Monday (yesterday). After taking care of some things on the inside of the house I ventured out around 11:30 and started on the front yard. It was about 60* and I had a lightweight sweatshirt on. When I headed to the back I took my sweatshirt off. I also started off not bagging the grass since I had already mowed that part before getting the tune-up on the mower. It obviously goes faster that way. By this point Tanner and Garrett had joined me outside too, which kinda slows things down. I ran out of gas in the mower and grabbed the gas can from the garage which only had about 8 oz. of gasoline left in it. So the race was on. Could I finish mowing before I ran out? There were several stops and starts as I emptied the bag but I tried to be as efficient as I could. Since there was probably more than 1/2 the backyard left at the point I refilled I was amazed when I finished before it dried up.
I ALMOST just left the mower out in the back in hopes that when Jon got home he would clean the underside of the mower. As a side-note I never cleaned or even thought about cleaning a lawn mower after every cut but Jon has always insisted. And I tell you, it is truly amazing at how much grass gunk sticks to the mower and the blade after just one mow. If you use a powerful spray to the underside it can usually take the stuff off but if you don't do it one time it is impossible to just use water and you have to scrape it. So...this was the predicament I was in. After my last attempt at mowing it was not cleaned on the underside because it wasn't a full mow and didn't seem necessary. I cannot remember if it was cleaned at the end of the season last year but after how long it took me to clean it I think it wasn't.
Obviously I decided to clean it. I was hungry and thirsty but I just had this feeling that Jon would not get around to cleaning it that day and if I went in the house to rest I wouldn't get myself to go back out. I sprayed and scraped, repeated several times. I spent a lot more time scraping and then finally spraying. It was such a lovely weather day that I didn't realize how fried my arms were getting. By the time I got inside they didn't look bad at all but I did feel pain. After I ate and then showered they were hot pink, burning, and very painful. They seemed to get worse and worse even hours after I came inside. Every wrinkle or stretch of the skin hurts. Even when I got goosebumps last night it hurt. I'm sure if I was out there for even 5 more minutes I would have a few blisters. It sure makes me feel sorry for people that have had serious burns and have to be in the hospital. It is so painful.
To end on a happy note, I AM soooo glad that I don't have to be all bundled up this week and there is no snow in the forecast. Next time I'll just take a minute to put on sunblock.
Tanner is sick. He woke up Sunday morning complaining of a sore throat and a cough. He stayed home from church and seemed to act pretty well even though he kept coughing all day. By bedtime he had a fever of 101.5 f. I drugged him up with cough and pain meds and put a humidifier in his room. Around 5 am he needed more meds. Yesterday he seemed on the verge of needing motrin but since he seemed functional and pleasant I held off until about dinner time. His fever was again about 101 f. He also gave himself a nap just before dinnertime.
Today he seems a tad better but his cough is nonstop. It seems to be a tickling kind of cough though and not real gross. The poor kid. Something that concerns me is the fact that on Saturday when we all went out to eat at Carl's Jr, he, Garrett, and I all shared a straw. I'm crossing my fingers.
I have a bad sunburn. Since the mowing didn't get done on Saturday I had planned on doing it on Monday (yesterday). After taking care of some things on the inside of the house I ventured out around 11:30 and started on the front yard. It was about 60* and I had a lightweight sweatshirt on. When I headed to the back I took my sweatshirt off. I also started off not bagging the grass since I had already mowed that part before getting the tune-up on the mower. It obviously goes faster that way. By this point Tanner and Garrett had joined me outside too, which kinda slows things down. I ran out of gas in the mower and grabbed the gas can from the garage which only had about 8 oz. of gasoline left in it. So the race was on. Could I finish mowing before I ran out? There were several stops and starts as I emptied the bag but I tried to be as efficient as I could. Since there was probably more than 1/2 the backyard left at the point I refilled I was amazed when I finished before it dried up.
I ALMOST just left the mower out in the back in hopes that when Jon got home he would clean the underside of the mower. As a side-note I never cleaned or even thought about cleaning a lawn mower after every cut but Jon has always insisted. And I tell you, it is truly amazing at how much grass gunk sticks to the mower and the blade after just one mow. If you use a powerful spray to the underside it can usually take the stuff off but if you don't do it one time it is impossible to just use water and you have to scrape it. So...this was the predicament I was in. After my last attempt at mowing it was not cleaned on the underside because it wasn't a full mow and didn't seem necessary. I cannot remember if it was cleaned at the end of the season last year but after how long it took me to clean it I think it wasn't.
Obviously I decided to clean it. I was hungry and thirsty but I just had this feeling that Jon would not get around to cleaning it that day and if I went in the house to rest I wouldn't get myself to go back out. I sprayed and scraped, repeated several times. I spent a lot more time scraping and then finally spraying. It was such a lovely weather day that I didn't realize how fried my arms were getting. By the time I got inside they didn't look bad at all but I did feel pain. After I ate and then showered they were hot pink, burning, and very painful. They seemed to get worse and worse even hours after I came inside. Every wrinkle or stretch of the skin hurts. Even when I got goosebumps last night it hurt. I'm sure if I was out there for even 5 more minutes I would have a few blisters. It sure makes me feel sorry for people that have had serious burns and have to be in the hospital. It is so painful.
To end on a happy note, I AM soooo glad that I don't have to be all bundled up this week and there is no snow in the forecast. Next time I'll just take a minute to put on sunblock.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A Little Progress
When I say 'Little' I mean a little. But it made me feel good on the inside while it was being accomplished so I'm going to write about it.
On Friday afternoon I had a pregnancy checkup and asked Jon to please be home in time to watch kids so I could go kidless. He obliged. Shortly after I got back and Garrett was asleep we both went to the garage to start getting it a little more organized so we have room to move things out of the basement.
We started on a project that wasn't really on the top of my priority list in the garage but something that I was glad was done anyway. This was moving all of the tools such as rakes and shovels onto the wall instead of the bulky tool caddy on the floor.
It worked out nicely but took over 2 hours instead of the 1 I was hoping for.
We also got the 2 ladders hung, 2 of the kids' bikes hung (it would have been more except we ended up using 2 new hooks I bought and I hadn't bought any more not knowing if they would work), and tightened/fixed the line trimmer holder onto the wall. We got 4 camp chairs with bags hung up using a plastic tool holder I bought several years ago. The problem is that we have more than 4 chairs and I bought the tool holder so long ago that I don't think I can find another like it (I already tried 2 places) to keep the line going. The four chairs sure look nice hung up instead of standing up on the ground against the wall though.
I was hoping we could've finished in the garage or at least made siginificant headway on Saturday, but it barely got touched since we had other things to do and Jon's parents came up to get their X-Cargo cartop carrier and took us out to lunch to Carl's Jr. I did manage to get to Lowe's to get more hooks and a couple bins for the shelves.
It looks better and I can hope that within a couple weeks it will be ready to house more junk in the place of the old junk. I would hope for this weekend but Tanner has an allergy doc appt and it's also Garrett's 2nd birthday this Friday and I'm sure we'll be busy with that. Here's to hoping....
p.s. Anybody want a bulky tool caddy?
On Friday afternoon I had a pregnancy checkup and asked Jon to please be home in time to watch kids so I could go kidless. He obliged. Shortly after I got back and Garrett was asleep we both went to the garage to start getting it a little more organized so we have room to move things out of the basement.
We started on a project that wasn't really on the top of my priority list in the garage but something that I was glad was done anyway. This was moving all of the tools such as rakes and shovels onto the wall instead of the bulky tool caddy on the floor.
It worked out nicely but took over 2 hours instead of the 1 I was hoping for.We also got the 2 ladders hung, 2 of the kids' bikes hung (it would have been more except we ended up using 2 new hooks I bought and I hadn't bought any more not knowing if they would work), and tightened/fixed the line trimmer holder onto the wall. We got 4 camp chairs with bags hung up using a plastic tool holder I bought several years ago. The problem is that we have more than 4 chairs and I bought the tool holder so long ago that I don't think I can find another like it (I already tried 2 places) to keep the line going. The four chairs sure look nice hung up instead of standing up on the ground against the wall though.
I was hoping we could've finished in the garage or at least made siginificant headway on Saturday, but it barely got touched since we had other things to do and Jon's parents came up to get their X-Cargo cartop carrier and took us out to lunch to Carl's Jr. I did manage to get to Lowe's to get more hooks and a couple bins for the shelves.
It looks better and I can hope that within a couple weeks it will be ready to house more junk in the place of the old junk. I would hope for this weekend but Tanner has an allergy doc appt and it's also Garrett's 2nd birthday this Friday and I'm sure we'll be busy with that. Here's to hoping....
p.s. Anybody want a bulky tool caddy?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Repairs
Don't you love when you have a project that is costing you money and then you have unexpected things come up that cost even more money? We have had two this week.
Well, actually, one was unexpected and the other was more routine maintenance that has been put off for the last 5 years. The routine maintenance was on the lawn mower. We've had it for about 5 years and haven't done anything to it except for adding the gas and rinsing the underside off after every cut to keep the grass build up at bay. I've wanted it serviced for the last couple years at least. On Saturday (even though it was windy and quite cold) I decided it was time to mow the lawn.
After the last cut in late fall it continued to stay warm and the grass continued to grow. I remember in early December seeing that the grass seemed taller than it should be, I mentioned to Jon that he should mow the lawn. He half-laughed and then adamantly said, "I am NOT mowing the lawn in December." So when I tried to mow the lawn last weekend, first I couldn't start it, then the back wheels kept locking, the self-propelled system was not nearly as sensitive as it once was, and it kept stalling out on me like I was mowing a foot of wet grass instead of just a few inches of dry, dead grass.
So on Monday I managed to load it into the back of the van and take it to a repair place. Of course, it is their busy season and they would need at least 4 days. I'm still waiting to hear from them. I'm kinda nervous about how much it's going to cost since they said that it would cost around $50 plus any parts. It'll be worth it, though, if I can have a lawn mower that works like it did when it was new!
Now for the unexpected cost. Several days ago it got quite warm outside and by late afternoon it had gotten uncomfortably warm in the house. I was busy and getting overheated and finally decided to give in and turn on the a/c for the first time this year. Nothing happened. I switched it to just the fan part and still nothing. I gave up and opened ALL of the windows and two of the doors in the house hoping to get some cross-ventilation. The next couple days were mild temperatures and then two nights ago it was getting quite cold when I went to bed so I made sure I had the heat switched to On. The next morning I could tell it did NOT come on. So it was completely dead. Luckily, we have a lovely gas fireplace that was able to heat the upstairs quite well within a few hours.
I did what any girl is supposed to do when something like that isn't working right. I called my Dad.
"Dad. I have a problem..." I told him. About an hour later he was at my house trying to figure out what was wrong. After looking over many things he figured out that one of the fuses was blown. He went to a couple places and picked up some fuses. He put one in and turned the heat on. It worked! Yay. ...Then we tried the a/c. It didn't work. Boo! That made everything else not work again too. Sure enough it blew the fuse again. Luckily he bought two of the cheap fuses and put it in. So we left it at that. At least we had heat.
Later in the day I called a heating/air conditioning place to figure out what was going on. They said that would have someone out tomorrow. So far I like this place since they're the ones that installed the furnace and stuff in the first place and they're the ones that just installed the fireplace and heat runs downstairs. The lady told me on the phone that someone would be out around 11 a.m. or later. I got a call at 8:30 a.m. (I was still in bed. Awake, but in bed.) and said the guy was just leaving a job in Morgan and would be here in about 40 minutes. I answered the door with wet hair and minimal makeup. I'm not sure I like them anymore after that.
I showed him downstairs and then got Garrett some breakfast, did two more steps on makeup, gel in my hair, and then went downstairs to see what he was doing. In the end it turned out that there was a wire leading from the furnace that runs to the outside unit and it was being pinched at the top near the original duct work. I wondered how it would get pinched all of a sudden when it hasn't been touched for the last 7 1/2 years. He said it's been that way all along but over time the plastic on it has been giving way to the pressure. So he checked the whole wire all the way out and it looked good. He also showed me that we had the filter in wrong and when he went to show me the right way, he realized why we couldn't get it in the right way; the clip in the back was bent too tight so he fixed that. At this point I went upstairs thinking he was just going to slip the filter back in and be done. But he came up a few minute later without his toolbox and grabbed a caulking gun and went back down. Several minutes later he was finally done and told me that he had sealed some gaps around the base of the furnace including the front where water pools when the washer drains.
He proceeded to go out to his van to create the bill. Boy was I shocked when I saw the total!! I hadn't really thought about it too much while he was out there but figured since there were no parts to replace it would easily be less than a hundred dollars. Nope. It was $149.00. It was $79 for the diagnostic fee and $70 for performing the services. He was here for 50 minutes. It makes me think I owe my Dad since he dedicated about 3 hours to it. I can't wait to find out how much the lawn mower is going to cost!
I changed my font at thecutestblogontheblock.com
Well, actually, one was unexpected and the other was more routine maintenance that has been put off for the last 5 years. The routine maintenance was on the lawn mower. We've had it for about 5 years and haven't done anything to it except for adding the gas and rinsing the underside off after every cut to keep the grass build up at bay. I've wanted it serviced for the last couple years at least. On Saturday (even though it was windy and quite cold) I decided it was time to mow the lawn.
After the last cut in late fall it continued to stay warm and the grass continued to grow. I remember in early December seeing that the grass seemed taller than it should be, I mentioned to Jon that he should mow the lawn. He half-laughed and then adamantly said, "I am NOT mowing the lawn in December." So when I tried to mow the lawn last weekend, first I couldn't start it, then the back wheels kept locking, the self-propelled system was not nearly as sensitive as it once was, and it kept stalling out on me like I was mowing a foot of wet grass instead of just a few inches of dry, dead grass.
So on Monday I managed to load it into the back of the van and take it to a repair place. Of course, it is their busy season and they would need at least 4 days. I'm still waiting to hear from them. I'm kinda nervous about how much it's going to cost since they said that it would cost around $50 plus any parts. It'll be worth it, though, if I can have a lawn mower that works like it did when it was new!
Now for the unexpected cost. Several days ago it got quite warm outside and by late afternoon it had gotten uncomfortably warm in the house. I was busy and getting overheated and finally decided to give in and turn on the a/c for the first time this year. Nothing happened. I switched it to just the fan part and still nothing. I gave up and opened ALL of the windows and two of the doors in the house hoping to get some cross-ventilation. The next couple days were mild temperatures and then two nights ago it was getting quite cold when I went to bed so I made sure I had the heat switched to On. The next morning I could tell it did NOT come on. So it was completely dead. Luckily, we have a lovely gas fireplace that was able to heat the upstairs quite well within a few hours.
I did what any girl is supposed to do when something like that isn't working right. I called my Dad.
"Dad. I have a problem..." I told him. About an hour later he was at my house trying to figure out what was wrong. After looking over many things he figured out that one of the fuses was blown. He went to a couple places and picked up some fuses. He put one in and turned the heat on. It worked! Yay. ...Then we tried the a/c. It didn't work. Boo! That made everything else not work again too. Sure enough it blew the fuse again. Luckily he bought two of the cheap fuses and put it in. So we left it at that. At least we had heat.
Later in the day I called a heating/air conditioning place to figure out what was going on. They said that would have someone out tomorrow. So far I like this place since they're the ones that installed the furnace and stuff in the first place and they're the ones that just installed the fireplace and heat runs downstairs. The lady told me on the phone that someone would be out around 11 a.m. or later. I got a call at 8:30 a.m. (I was still in bed. Awake, but in bed.) and said the guy was just leaving a job in Morgan and would be here in about 40 minutes. I answered the door with wet hair and minimal makeup. I'm not sure I like them anymore after that.
I showed him downstairs and then got Garrett some breakfast, did two more steps on makeup, gel in my hair, and then went downstairs to see what he was doing. In the end it turned out that there was a wire leading from the furnace that runs to the outside unit and it was being pinched at the top near the original duct work. I wondered how it would get pinched all of a sudden when it hasn't been touched for the last 7 1/2 years. He said it's been that way all along but over time the plastic on it has been giving way to the pressure. So he checked the whole wire all the way out and it looked good. He also showed me that we had the filter in wrong and when he went to show me the right way, he realized why we couldn't get it in the right way; the clip in the back was bent too tight so he fixed that. At this point I went upstairs thinking he was just going to slip the filter back in and be done. But he came up a few minute later without his toolbox and grabbed a caulking gun and went back down. Several minutes later he was finally done and told me that he had sealed some gaps around the base of the furnace including the front where water pools when the washer drains.
He proceeded to go out to his van to create the bill. Boy was I shocked when I saw the total!! I hadn't really thought about it too much while he was out there but figured since there were no parts to replace it would easily be less than a hundred dollars. Nope. It was $149.00. It was $79 for the diagnostic fee and $70 for performing the services. He was here for 50 minutes. It makes me think I owe my Dad since he dedicated about 3 hours to it. I can't wait to find out how much the lawn mower is going to cost!
I changed my font at thecutestblogontheblock.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Goals and Frustrations
Just a fair warning that this post is going to be really boring. It is just for me. And just for me to kinda vent or just get my thoughts out of my head. But since it has to do with daily life and also finishing the basement I thought maybe it justified being posted. Who knows, maybe I'll end up deleting it in the end and never post it....
I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with my to do list today. And to make matters worse, I've got a sick kid that I may or may not take to the doctor. Garrett started with a little cough on Saturday but he has had no other obvious symptoms. Yesterday evening he had a little bit of a fever so I am a little more concerned. I wouldn't normally be concerned about a cough if it was in association with a cold but the cough started first. Anyway, not knowing what virus this could be makes me feel a little more inclined to have him checked out. So that may be on my list of to-do's today.
Tonight someone from our ward that is a plumber is coming over to take a look downstairs to see what we might need to have done and (I think) give us an estimated price for the work. This is giving me the most anxiety. I'm totally excited to have him come over and hopefully make some progress on this, BUT the basement is a disaster (and not construction-related) and the kitchen island has a lot of clutter on it right now. The kitchen clutter is important since you face the kitchen as you head down the stairs.
A lot of, if not most of, what is bugging me about the messiness downstairs comes from the toys. This has been an ongoing project for the last 3-4 years. We get the toys sized down and organized, then they make it a disaster. We go through the toys and get them cleaned up and then another mess. Then a birthday or Christmas rolls around. And so on. We have gotten rid of a ton of toys and yet there still seems like too much. But anyway, we really need to get what we have downstairs boxed up and in the garage. Which leads me to my next anxiety....
Ah, the garage. It's a lovely 2 car garage with a really high ceiling. Jon installed 4 loft-like shelves in each corner of the garage. They hang 4 feet down from the ceiling. You still have to use at least a six-foot ladder to get anything off from them. And if it's heavy, I can't or shouldn't get it down. It's perfect for once-a-year-use kind of stuff. Most of them are being used to almost-capacity. Still, there isn't enough room to park a second car. (Not that that is the goal, but the space of a car is!) The frustrating part? We could if we wanted to IF we would get the bikes and bike-trailer hung up and add another shelf unit to help organize garden items. The next frustration? I was hoping Jon would do this (since I'm not very good at installing screws into the wall and have a tiny terroristic shadow 7/8 of my day) and he just hasn't found the time to do it.
Another anxiety I have at the moment is taxes. Ugh. I have always done our taxes since we got married but things have gotten a lot trickier for this since Jon started working his side jobs. This means, I have to get income numbers (since only he knows this 'cuz the side jobs aren't on any W-2's) and tithing numbers from him, find all of our utility statements for write-offs, and find out from him if there's anything else that he can use as a write-off. I also have to track down the tax stuff that actually did come in the mail. It wouldn't seem like such a chore if we didn't owe taxes every year that we had to do it this way. He didn't make nearly as much $$ last year as the year before so hopefully the damage won't be too painful. One of the things holding me back on this (other than just plain dreading it) is the amount of paperwork (mostly old bills) sitting on my tiny computer desk. I have no where to put them since we moved our filing cabinet out of our bedroom a couple years ago. Jon also changed the way things were filed to where it made sense to him and so I gave him the responsibility of filing things. 'Nough said.
The last thing that is just bugging me is the state of my bedroom. It is just cluttered. The top of my dresser is covered, the walk-in closet is totally cluttered and that's also where the cluttered computer desk is. It does not make for a very relaxing environment. Our bedroom is also known as the family room. The kids play on the computer and play the GameCube on the t.v. in our room. I love it when they make all kinds of messes in my room, including eating and leaving crumbs on and in my bed. This makes me especially happy when they bring their friends into my messy room to show them the games they're playing and want them to play with them. I'm hoping that when the basement is finished a lot of this clutter will go away into my "craft room". :)It will sure be nice when my bedroom is simply a bedroom and doesn't double (or quadruple) as the office, the family room, and the craft room.
Well, I think that's about it. Of course, there's all the day to day stuff to get in the way like laundry and dishes and eating and cleaning up from eating and changing diapers and picking up all the little messes the little people make. What's truly amazing is that even after mentioning all of those things I DON'T feel like taking a nap!!! This is a very good thing and I better get up and get going before that feeling sets in. :D
I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with my to do list today. And to make matters worse, I've got a sick kid that I may or may not take to the doctor. Garrett started with a little cough on Saturday but he has had no other obvious symptoms. Yesterday evening he had a little bit of a fever so I am a little more concerned. I wouldn't normally be concerned about a cough if it was in association with a cold but the cough started first. Anyway, not knowing what virus this could be makes me feel a little more inclined to have him checked out. So that may be on my list of to-do's today.
Tonight someone from our ward that is a plumber is coming over to take a look downstairs to see what we might need to have done and (I think) give us an estimated price for the work. This is giving me the most anxiety. I'm totally excited to have him come over and hopefully make some progress on this, BUT the basement is a disaster (and not construction-related) and the kitchen island has a lot of clutter on it right now. The kitchen clutter is important since you face the kitchen as you head down the stairs.
A lot of, if not most of, what is bugging me about the messiness downstairs comes from the toys. This has been an ongoing project for the last 3-4 years. We get the toys sized down and organized, then they make it a disaster. We go through the toys and get them cleaned up and then another mess. Then a birthday or Christmas rolls around. And so on. We have gotten rid of a ton of toys and yet there still seems like too much. But anyway, we really need to get what we have downstairs boxed up and in the garage. Which leads me to my next anxiety....
Ah, the garage. It's a lovely 2 car garage with a really high ceiling. Jon installed 4 loft-like shelves in each corner of the garage. They hang 4 feet down from the ceiling. You still have to use at least a six-foot ladder to get anything off from them. And if it's heavy, I can't or shouldn't get it down. It's perfect for once-a-year-use kind of stuff. Most of them are being used to almost-capacity. Still, there isn't enough room to park a second car. (Not that that is the goal, but the space of a car is!) The frustrating part? We could if we wanted to IF we would get the bikes and bike-trailer hung up and add another shelf unit to help organize garden items. The next frustration? I was hoping Jon would do this (since I'm not very good at installing screws into the wall and have a tiny terroristic shadow 7/8 of my day) and he just hasn't found the time to do it.
Another anxiety I have at the moment is taxes. Ugh. I have always done our taxes since we got married but things have gotten a lot trickier for this since Jon started working his side jobs. This means, I have to get income numbers (since only he knows this 'cuz the side jobs aren't on any W-2's) and tithing numbers from him, find all of our utility statements for write-offs, and find out from him if there's anything else that he can use as a write-off. I also have to track down the tax stuff that actually did come in the mail. It wouldn't seem like such a chore if we didn't owe taxes every year that we had to do it this way. He didn't make nearly as much $$ last year as the year before so hopefully the damage won't be too painful. One of the things holding me back on this (other than just plain dreading it) is the amount of paperwork (mostly old bills) sitting on my tiny computer desk. I have no where to put them since we moved our filing cabinet out of our bedroom a couple years ago. Jon also changed the way things were filed to where it made sense to him and so I gave him the responsibility of filing things. 'Nough said.
The last thing that is just bugging me is the state of my bedroom. It is just cluttered. The top of my dresser is covered, the walk-in closet is totally cluttered and that's also where the cluttered computer desk is. It does not make for a very relaxing environment. Our bedroom is also known as the family room. The kids play on the computer and play the GameCube on the t.v. in our room. I love it when they make all kinds of messes in my room, including eating and leaving crumbs on and in my bed. This makes me especially happy when they bring their friends into my messy room to show them the games they're playing and want them to play with them. I'm hoping that when the basement is finished a lot of this clutter will go away into my "craft room". :)It will sure be nice when my bedroom is simply a bedroom and doesn't double (or quadruple) as the office, the family room, and the craft room.
Well, I think that's about it. Of course, there's all the day to day stuff to get in the way like laundry and dishes and eating and cleaning up from eating and changing diapers and picking up all the little messes the little people make. What's truly amazing is that even after mentioning all of those things I DON'T feel like taking a nap!!! This is a very good thing and I better get up and get going before that feeling sets in. :D
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Riddle
What do the following dates have in common?
December 29
September 17
February 12
April 24
September 30
Scroll down for the answer...
In case anyone out there didn't know already...
They are the dates that my children were born on and the anticipated arrival of baby #5.
This would be part of my apathy towards writing and doing any more than what is absolutely necessary to keep my children and myself alive for the past few months. This would be another subject that I do hope to keep updated on the blog.
As of today I am 14 weeks and feeling really fat. In fact, on Sunday someone asked me if I'm pregnant. It should NOT be that noticeable. Lucky for me (and her), I could say yes. And today at the store I ran into the lady I work in the nursery with and somehow I ended up telling her that I was expecting. I was wearing a big black snow coat, (darn winter-like weather that'll never go away!) unzipped, which allowed my fat belly to be fairly noticeable.
Her response? "Oh, well I figured that one out."
Me: "No, I'm just really fat."
Her: "No you're not. You're so skinny. Here, I'll give you some of my fat. So is it a boy or girl?"
Me: "I don't know yet."
Her: (in shock)"You don't know?"
Me: "No, I'm only 3 months."
Her: (still in shock and kinda laughing)"Maybe it's twins."
I proceeded to explain that, lucky me, all my fat clings to the very front and center of my belly and that I looked pregnant even before I was. The only thing cushioning the blow was that I was there at the pharmacy to pick up my thyroid medicine which was recently changed because I was not getting enough horomone. Like, so not-enough, that the doc had the lab run it twice since the number was way off. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that I haven't been exercising for most of a year or that I've been eating candy and junk food like all the factories were shutting down tomorrow and I'd never have any more. I'm sure of it.
December 29
September 17
February 12
April 24
September 30
Scroll down for the answer...
In case anyone out there didn't know already...
They are the dates that my children were born on and the anticipated arrival of baby #5.
This would be part of my apathy towards writing and doing any more than what is absolutely necessary to keep my children and myself alive for the past few months. This would be another subject that I do hope to keep updated on the blog.
As of today I am 14 weeks and feeling really fat. In fact, on Sunday someone asked me if I'm pregnant. It should NOT be that noticeable. Lucky for me (and her), I could say yes. And today at the store I ran into the lady I work in the nursery with and somehow I ended up telling her that I was expecting. I was wearing a big black snow coat, (darn winter-like weather that'll never go away!) unzipped, which allowed my fat belly to be fairly noticeable.
Her response? "Oh, well I figured that one out."
Me: "No, I'm just really fat."
Her: "No you're not. You're so skinny. Here, I'll give you some of my fat. So is it a boy or girl?"
Me: "I don't know yet."
Her: (in shock)"You don't know?"
Me: "No, I'm only 3 months."
Her: (still in shock and kinda laughing)"Maybe it's twins."
I proceeded to explain that, lucky me, all my fat clings to the very front and center of my belly and that I looked pregnant even before I was. The only thing cushioning the blow was that I was there at the pharmacy to pick up my thyroid medicine which was recently changed because I was not getting enough horomone. Like, so not-enough, that the doc had the lab run it twice since the number was way off. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that I haven't been exercising for most of a year or that I've been eating candy and junk food like all the factories were shutting down tomorrow and I'd never have any more. I'm sure of it.
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