Happy Home Challenge

Several years ago, I became a consultant with a direct sales company called Once Upon a Family.  I truly love the products and the mission of the company but found that I don’t absolutely love doing the home parties.  I’m still a consultant but mostly for personal use and to keep friends and family stocked with the cool products.

I got an email this week announcing the Happy Home Challenge.  Families commit to taking on a family challenge each month October through March and posting their results to the Happy Home site.  Any family who completes all the challenges will receive a Happy Home Hero Kit that contains six great Once Upon a Family products!

Check out this page for all the details. You can join a conference call on October 15, 10 AM PST with Lorle Campos, author of happyhome to kick off the challenge.  Call information: dial 231 644 8000, ext 581866#.

And if you need someone to order the happyhome book from, I just might know someone who can hook you up.

Why I’m Ticked at my ISP

I have been waiting all day for Aaron from my ISP to show up and install some new equipment to hopefully solve all of my internet access woes.  I wish it were just a new router or modem because I could do that myself and forgo this whole waiting thing, but it’s not.  It’s an antenna or something that is going to be mounted to my roof and then (hopefully) neatly wired to our new (2 years ago) office that we currently can’t use as such because we can’t get any &$%# reception there.  It appears to involve drilling on the roof and likely through an external wall so I am very certain no one in this house is going to take part in it.  Thus, we wait for Aaron…and wait…and wait…

I wouldn’t be so ticked except that when he was supposed to come last week, he completely stood me up.  No call.  No email.  Now that really ticks me off.  In this technological age, there is absolutely no reason for my freaking ISP, of all things, not to send me a friendly “oops, not gonna make it today” email.  None.

But, you see, I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one.  I really don’t have any other choices given our location.  I need a high speed connection that supports VPN, which rules out satellite.  I’m stuck with this crappy wireless ISP connection that is just as slow as dial-up yet costs just as much as broadband.  

I can’t get grumpy with my ISP because I have no choice and I realize they can make my internet presence hell if given the motivation.  I suspect they’re doing a little of that already.  I think my buddy Aaron is mad at me for asking that he actually let me know in advance when he plans to come for this little maintenance project rather than just showing up one day and announcing he’s going to do it, which is exactly what happened last month.  I had to politely turn him away.  Ever since then, he’s been crabby with me about making an appointment to get this done…or keeping an appointment once made.

Oh, Comcast, though others hate thee I would welcome thee into my life with open arms.  I would even pay full price for thee…

And by the way, there was no bovine chorus last night so they either found their way back home or one of the neighbors got himself a freezer full of fresh beef.

Mooooo….

We slept with a window open in our bedroom last night … love this cool fall weather!!  When I went to bed around midnight, I settled in with my crossword puzzle book expecting to enjoy the quiet of the evening when I became instantly aware of a distant mooing…like from cows.  And these weren’t happy cows.  They were going on and on with their moos like it was some sort of orchestrated effect to get attention.

The odd thing is, I can’t figure out who around here has cows.  Our four nearest neighbors are each 1/2 mile away and none of them have cows so it had to be coming from further away.  But what kind of cow can you hear from over a mile away?!?!  And seriously, they went on and on.  And they’re still mooing.  I can still hear them.  It’s just bizarre that we’ve lived here for 5 years and I’ve never heard the bovine chorus before.

Although, last fall some cows escaped from somewhere and were found ambling around in the fields outside our house.  I wonder if it happened again?  It would explain their constant mooing.  If I could decipher cow talk, I would think that they were saying “OMG, we’re lost. Where the F*** are we?  And where is that guy who brings us food?!?!”

I shall be on the lookout for stray cows today.  Ahh…the perils of country life.

Baby Blake

My nephew Blake, who is almost 8 weeks old, is currently in the PICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital with unexplained respiratory issues.  He has been in the hospital (first Springfield and now St. Louis) for just over 3 weeks having various tests done to try to figure out what is happening.  His mom, my sis-in-law Amy, has been with him the entire time.  If you have a minute, please say a prayer for Blake, his mom and dad, his big brother Riley and the medical team working on his case. 

To read more about Blake’s story, go to the Caring Bridge site that Amy is maintaining.

The kids and I are making a care package to send to the hospital.  They have all made a get well card and we made cookies last night that we’re putting in the box along with kleenex (because hospital tissues is always so rough), lotion, microwave popcorn, a sudoku book and whatever else I can manage to find to lift Amy’s spirits.  Because they are so far away, we can’t do much besides pray.  I hope the care package brightens their day.

Katey the Cookie Helper

Oatmeal Spice Cookie Dough

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

What is this thing they call “free time”?

The “thing” I alluded to a couple of weeks ago that would likely take what remaining free time I have left has panned out can now be announced…..drumroll….

I’m going back to school.

Not just any old school -  I’m going back for an MBA.  I learned last week that I was accepted to the program and will start my first class later this months.  In 2.5 years, taking one class at a time, I’ll have a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness MBA. 

And then what? 

Good question…

Hives and cuts and backaches, oh my!

It was another non-stop week of medical maladies in this household.

MONDAY – Mom still has hives.  They started Thursday and they ITCH! 

TUESDAY – Mom still has hives, gives in and goes to the doctor for a dandy steroid shot and a another 6 day prescription…because I’m not already enough of walking pharmaceutical cocktail.  My regular doctor was out of the office so I got to see Dr. I’m-Still-In-Diapers.  Seriously, I think this guy walked straight off of the medical school graduation podium and into the exam room.  Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against young doctors – the kids’ pediatrician is in his early 30s and he’s great.  The guy I saw, however, not so great.  He was mumbling to himself while writing in my chart, things like “Hmm….let’s see…I’ll write ‘Patient presents with hives that itch.’ “  Not exactly the confidence inspiring prose I want from my medical professional.  The true gem was his assault at the end of the appointment.  With one foot out the door, he said “When was the last time you’ve had a full physical with blood tests for cholesterol and sugar?”.  I explained that I had had blood tests done in August, all with good results.  Apparently he didn’t hear me because he said “Well, fast for 10 hours before you follow-up appointment next week and we’ll draw blood for the tests.” and out the door he went.  I made the follow-up appointment because I was told to, but after further consideration I cancelled it.  My hives are gone.  My blood is fine.  I don’t like that doctor.  I’m not going back to him.  When and if I decide to have more blood tests, I’ll work with someone I have confidence in.

WEDNESDAY – Katey woke up with hives.  Not the little bug bite looking hives…not our Katey…she went all out with giant “take over your whole body” hives.  A dose of Benadryl, hives disappeared, off to daycare. Whew…  Another hive breakout in the evening but they were sufficiently cured with Benadryl as well.

Alex had a school project due on Friday for which I was cutting styrofoam to simulate earthquake damage.  In the process, I managed to slice nearly all they way through the tip of my finger with a serrated knife.  Much blood and deliberation later, I decided to forgo an E.R. visit and self medicate with liquid band-aid and Tylenol.  Going to the hospital would have impeded the progress of said earthquake which was due on Friday.

THURSDAY – Katey woke up with the mother of all hives cases.  I took her to the doctor.  Given her history of allergies, I thought it prudent to have this documented…and also because they were scary big this time.  The diagnosis was “giant hives” (which has a medical name that escapes me) treated with Benadryl and a 5-day dose of steroids.  On a side note, the doc said the steroids would also help to clear up her lungs, which were going down the path of almost causing wheezing again.  2 birds, one stone.

FRIDAY – My hives are finally gone.  Katey’s are still raging through the morning and afternoon.  They seemed to have disappeared by evening and have not yet resurfaced.

SATURDAY – Pleasant, uncomplicated, quiet.

SUNDAY – William developed a severe back ache to the point that he was screaming in pain.  There was no fever or “hot spot” that would point to a kidney infection or appendicitis and it seemed to go away with regular intervals of Tylenol and Motrin.  I could tell when the meds wore off, though, because the screaming returned in earnest.  I decided that if he was still in pain on Monday morning, we’d go to the doctor.

MONDAY – No hives.  Fingertip still attached. No screaming back ache.  We survived!! 

In retrospect, we probably should have taken William to the doctor to have his back ache checked out.  Can an almost 5 yr old get kidney stones?  My internet research leads me to think this might explain it.  However, in the very wise words of an E.R. doctor I saw way too many times last fall, “the two worst outcomes from the advent of the internet age are porn and medical misdiagnosis”.  I really need to learn back away from my keyboard at times and leave some thing up to the professionals.

Ahhh…Quiet Monday…

We had one of those crazy busy weekends that makes Monday actualy enjoyable.  Last Wednesday through Sunday was the town’s annual “Corn Festival”.  I have never seen a town get so wrapped up in an event like this one does about the ‘fest.  Little by little, we’ve been getting drug further and further into the chaos, especially as the kids get bigger.

We initiated this year’s fest on Wednesday with a trip downtown to watch the firefighters water fights.  Basically, there are two teams of firefighters going head to head, directing their hose to spray a barrel suspended between them.  The team that sprays the barrel to the opposing team’s side is the winner.  This went on for a long time as there were a lot of teams and it was a best of 3 situation for each pairing.  It’s good entertainment for a while but after an hour or so, one needs a diversion.

Thankfully, there were ample people watching opportunities to spice up the evening.  I think bets were being taken on how many firefighters/EMT’s would be called when the (likely intoxicated) apartment dwellers two stories up decided to sit in their windows with their feet dangling outside to watch the event.  And then there were the kids playing in the water, splashing everyone around without a care in the world…or a parent to tell them to knock it off.  Just good, old fashioned, irresponsible fun.

When we got bored of the waterfights, we were off to walk the main downtown street, which is closed off to traffic during the fest.  We were in search of a corndog…William’s bribe reward for being good at daycare.  En route, we met up with some friends and ended up staying much later than we had anticipated.  The kids were predictably exhausted Thursday morning…and William earned no reward for good behavior at daycare that day.

On Saturday, we made our way downtown bright and early so Alex and a friend could sign up to do the kiddie waterfights (just like firefighter waterfights only with kids and garden hoses).  Again, lots of great fun but watching for 2+ hours is not so exciting.  Thankfully, there was a petting zoo plenty of food vendors within walking distance.  We tried to get home in time for the kids to take a nap before attending a neighbor’s Corn Fest party Saturday night.  Actually, we were home in time…but the kids didn’t cooperate with the whole nap thing.  Ugh…

The party was a great time, complete with hay rides and a pig roast, although I do belive the man-eating mosquitos had the best buffet.  Not even the bug spray could deter them!  We left around 11 pm when the kids went into total and complete meltdown mode. 

The oldest boys and I went to church on Sunday morning while Mike stayed home with the tired younger two.  William ended up sleeping until 11:30 am!  We were off to the carnival for an hour of ride riding before the parade. The kids really enjoyed the rides but my bank account did not so much enjoy the $60 it took to buy them all wristbands. 

The parade started at 2pm.  Alex, Aiden and Mike all walked in it with their Cub Scout group.  William, Katey and I enjoyed it from the sidelines.  Well…enjoyed the first hour of it anway, until the lack of sleep and decent food caught up with them.  We somehow managed to sit through the second hour of the parade without too many crying fits.  Yes, you read that right, the parade was a whopping 2 hours long.  I think the festival fathers need to learn the great mantra “everything in moderation”.  They could have eliminated all of the politicians and the Shriners in their tiny cars and shortened up the parade quite nicely.  (More on the Shriners and their cars in another post.)

We drug the kids kicking and screaming past the carnival and back to the car for a loud, whine filled drive home where we made a desparation dinner of tuna casserole and peas.  Then all 6 of us crashed in the living room and watched TV.  We sent the kids off to bed at 7:30 without so much as a complaint from them…and spent the rest of the night doing absoultely nothing.  It was a beautiful Sunday evening!

So, this quiet Monday is much appreciated.  It’s the calm before the storm, I fear.  This is going to be another busy week.  But aren’t the all, anymore?  You would think I’d begin to accept chaos as the norm, but I just can’t.  One of these days, life will get back to normal.  I hope I recognize it when it does.

I’m Alive!

Believe me, that is something to cheer about these days! I’m finally on the tail end of a bad strech of something that started with strep throat early this month and progressed into a bronchitis type illness that just will not leave. A shot of penicillin and a 10 day does of a different antibiotic later, I still have a cough but almost feel human again.

Ok, so that takes care of my September absence. I have no excuse for July and August, other than life was predictably chaotic. Now that the kids are settled back in school and I can get back to web surfing….er….working in peace during the day, I might find a minute or two to keep up the blog.

Maybe.

If I can find time between PTO stuff, Cub Scout stuff, Ducks Unlimited stuff (really, don’t ask), purse business stuff, kid stuff, and, oh yeah, my real pay-the-bills job, I might just have time to post.  But I’ve gone and done this crazy thing that’s just might eat up whatever spare time I have left.  I’ll leave you hanging on that one until next week when I should know for sure…

(And by “you” I obviously mean the Google search bot, which seems to be the only thing reading my blog these days.  Gee…could that have anything at all to do with my inability to post with any regularity?  Hmm…)

Blueberry Season Has (Almost) Begun

I checked out the website of my favorite blueberry patch today and was rewarded with seeing that the patch will be open for picking on Monday!  The boys and I have been going blueberry picking for at least 5 years and quite possibly more.  They are amazingly good blueberry pickers, however last year they found the not-quite-hidden-enough patch of blackberries at the blueberry farm and proceeded to eat with abandon until I realized where they were and reigned them in.  I’ll try to keep better tabs on them this year but I’ve already heard them talking about finding that blackberry patch back.

The blueberries are $1.75 per pound when we pick them at the blueberry patch and we usually end up with 10-15 pounds.  We spend a few day gorging on fresh blueberries, a few more days gorging on baked blueberry goodness and then freeze the rest to enjoy for the rest of the year in pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, cakes and any other random blueberry recipe I can find. 

The broken stove is going to be an issue this year.  I’ve been salivating over the though of fresh blueberry buckle for weeks now and will be sorely disappointed if the oven isn’t fixed before the berries have to be frozen. I’ve ordered a replacement heating element and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.  I’m overly optimistic that it will actually work when it’s installed.  Our luck never runs so good, unfortunately.

Flickr Mosaic

Idea lifted from Are We There Yet? 2. Thanks!

1. Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm, AK, 2. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, 3. Neoga High School, 4. The red one, 5. Shawn Christian Basketball 08b, 6. Icy Coke, 7. Dunguaire Castle, 8. SWEETIE PIE, 9. Truly Rich, 10. bless from above, 11. 44 / 52: In search of forever…, 12. Suburbia | Stacked in Suburbia

Make your own Flickr Mosaic:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Flickr Toys: Mosaic Maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Enjoy!