This one

Except.

Swap out 5 of the stones with birthstones.
Diamond
Alexandrite (or pearl)
Sapphire
Emerald

Topaz
Emerald
Diamond
Diamond

Girls on one side, boys on the other.


I also picked a major today - 4-8 Generalist. Spring semester starts registration on Monday. English, Govt, and 1 or 2 something elses. I finished everything for one class (that I no longer need since I changed from EC-4) with an A, have one comprehensive listening final for Music Apprec., and 3 tests and 2 short assignments for History. Oy, history.

A Looking on the Bright Side post

One of the kids left the bread open this morning - I'm halfway to homemade bread cubes for stuffing!


I got all excited last night because the grocery store in the next town over (which is technically the same town we live in - mailing-address-wise - though I rarely go there, but I used the excuse of needing Motrin for Mr. Crankypants Teething Boy when I was really looking for stuffing) had 2 big shelves and a cardboard display of Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix. Excited until I got close enough to see that they only had crumbs or cornbread. Vomit. I almost cried. Got my hopes all up and then kicked me in the face.

I HATE TEXAS.

Best part - they were out of Motrin.

The Feast

Preparations are under way for the big giant feast. We're staying home this year, quiet. Some of our kids are quite picky, so we've adjusted the feast to our family and it is gradually becoming "traditional" - our tradition.

On the menu this year:

Turkey - brined, of course - veggie stock is on the stove right now
Ham
Mashed potatoes - instant - we have some that are fantastic and I will add stuff to them to make them special - a cheat that is so worth it to me
Stuffing - hoping to still find some Pepperidge Farms cubes, but we might be stuck with Stove Top this year
Turkey gravy - from packets, but I will add stuff to it.
Velveeta Shells and Cheese - the food of choice among the picky for any celebration
Veggie tray - celery, maybe carrots, olives, and pickles
Fruit salad - this is the first year I am skipping my family's traditional fruit salad with whipped topping. Instead, we will have Banana's request of grapes and apples.
Rolls - I bought some, but might make some too.
Mashed sweet potatoes (maybe)
Sparkling apple juice

(I think there is something else, but I can't remember what)

Desserts:
Pumpkin pie(s)
Chocolate pie (another Banana request)
Ice cream sundaes

I'm working really hard to give up on insisting on making stuff the real way in favor of making stuff a little more foolproof/simple/easy because in the past when I've dinner on my own, I screw something up (usually the timing of getting everything done), I get a little snippy, dinner is LATE, everyone is cranky, and I get upset because 80% of the family doesn't like 90% of the meal that I just slaved all day over. Which, added on top of the fact that Thanksgiving is the day I miss my extended family the most, makes for miserableness for everyone. If this year doesn't go better, I'm going to ditch everything but the Shells and Cheese and the ice cream sundaes and live happily ever after anyway.

**weird and random happening yesterday**

I was at the girls' rehearsal last night, helping with some costumes. One of the moms was talking about how she had lived in WA state for 5 years and could not find decent Mexican food anywhere. Another mom said that she was raised in WA and I said Me too! Later, she asked me where I was from and I said Tacoma area (default answer to a city people might actually know) and she said I lived in *Name of tiny town EF's parents live in.* Jaw drop to the floor. *Name of tiny town EF's parents live in* really is a tiny town - about 2300 people. Amazing that we'd both end up in *Name of not quite as tiny, but still small, town* TX with kids in the same show. She graduated 10 years before I did and I only lived there my senior year, so we didn't know any of the same people off the top's of our heads, just places mostly. She graduated the last year in the old high school, which was long gone and made new by the time I got there. Huh.

I know y'all were waiting with great anticipation

for the answers to the quiz below.

1. How old am I? 33
2. Where did we meet? YAMV.
3. Take a stab at my middle name. (Bonus if you know all 3) Alia Eliza Ellen
4. Color of my eyes? hazel
5. Do I have any siblings? yes
6. If so, how many? What are their names? Ages? 5, Jenifer, Amy, Carl, James, and David (32-23)
7. What's one of my favorite things to do? read
8. What's my favorite type of music? Broadway musicals
9. Am I shy or outgoing? shyish
10. Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules? depends
11. Any special talents? not really, I'm one of those quiet talents kind of people.
12. Do I have children? a few
13. If so, how many? What are their names? Ages? 5, Banana, Bailey, Bemily, Mr. Handsome Pants, and Sammycakes. 10, 8, 6, 4, and 18 months.
14. Do I have pets? just the monkeys
15. If you and I were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing that I would bring? IDK, my BFF Rose?

Bonus: I have one wish for Christmas (birthday, Mother's Day, whenever we can afford it). It's the same wish I've had for the last approximately 6-1/2 years, though even more in the last year. If you know or can guess what it is, bonus points!

A new, accurate Mother's ring. The one I have has 3 spaces, but only 2 stones and was given to me back when we had just 2 kids. One of the pearls fell out while I was doing dishes and I didn't get it replaced because shortly after that I was pregnant with Emily. But then I never had her stone put in either and now it's just ridiculous, but I still wear it because my fingers feel weird without it.

Thanks to Esther

I'm searching for things to put pumpkin butter on. I'm not sure I need to make pie this year, which is good since I suck at pie crust.

I made homemade rolls, just to put some pumpkin butter on. They were pretty good last night, certainly better than last time, fresh, but today they are getting crumby and not doing justice to the pumpkin butter. I think I might have toast with breakfast tomorrow (which I never do unless there are fried eggs involved).

You know what I really want to try it on - warm on vanilla ice cream. I bet I really wouldn't need pie then.

A Series of Fortunate Events

Due to some unforeseen occurrences, money is sooo tight this week. Like hold your breath and hope that the reimbursements from the school or something comes in tomorrow so we don't bounce stuff tight. Wing and a prayer, baby.

Fortunate event #1:
Today, I found 2 checks from Josh's birthday that have been missing in the depths of my purse/van and deposited them.

Fortunate event #2:
Tonight when we were supposed to be leaving for rehearsal for the girls, the battery on the van was dead, which has happened a couple of times now when the lights are on for even a fairly short period of time - so no leaving the doors open while you get everyone situated, run back inside for this and that and that and that forgotten thing.

Sounds bad, but really, it set in motion a chain that ended up very good.

I knocked on a neighbor's door to see if he could jump start the van for me. No problem, he brought over his handy-dandy little jumpstarter thingy. In the process, he was talking about how it was a good coincidence because the reason he had the handy-dandy little jumpstarter thingy was because his truck was acting up battery-wise and he'd borrowed it just that day from his dad. BUT, it had turned out that his battery wasn't actually bad, it just had post problems.

Well, that got me thinking (hoping) that maybe my posts are just dirty. So after we got it started and I had dropped the girls off at rehearsal, the boys and I headed to Walmart to buy some knock-off Diet Coke (for the van - and me), because even though it was farther away, the knock-off cola at the other store tastes like Diet Pepsi, which is DIS-GUS-TING. BUT, about halfway there, I remembered that I had some coupons for the other store (there are only two), which would allow me to pretty much get REAL DC for free, so I got off an exit early and headed to that store instead.

When we got there, we found that there were people singing in the middle of the bakery section - a choir! Seriously, I'm not making it up. Everyone was dressed up all fancy - turns out it was Taste of the Season - samples all over the store and a party so that one would be inspired to serve these yummy goodies at their holiday parties AND buy them there. The goodies were indeed quite fantastic, but that's not the really good part.

Another part of the party was a giveaway - every 30 minutes, they were going to draw names for $25 gift cards. I seriously knew on the spot that this was an answer to a prayer and that I was going to win one and be able to buy food between now and payday.

The boys and I finished our sampling and shopping and went back to the theatre to wait for the girls. We went inside to the lobby, but half the cast was out there and Josh kept getting them in trouble and generally being a pain in the tookus, so we left again. As soon as I got outside, my cell started working again and there was a missed call and a message. Guess what?

I won a giftcard.

Really?

"Evita, this is the best report I have had! Thank you so much for putting your "all" into it. I'm glad the baby is doing better and I hope he gets completely well without any complications. You are so intelligent! Don't give up on getting your degree; just take it a bit at a time, as much as you can, and still take care of your family and yourself."


On to the self-deprecating part:

I would feel better about this if I thought it was really that good. It was only good because a) it was a research project and the source material was fantastic, b) it's a frickin' community college in the middle of nowhere so the comparison papers were probably REALLY not that good (that sounds snobby, but it's true), c) the teacher is a member of our ward, a mother of a ton of (now all grown) kids, and she has a ton of sympathy for me (or is that empathy?), and d) it definitely wasn't my best effort or my "all" so I feel a little guilty about that. Basically, it might have been good compared to others she received, but it wasn't that good compared to others I've done.

But... all that being said, I was giddy about the response (I posted about it, didn't I? - bumping a perfectly lovely piece about utensils) and it made me so happy that I'm cleaning out, reorganizing, and repainting the inside of my kitchen cabinets. It's funky work and I don't even care. NOTE: Never put the laundry facilities in the kitchen. If you must put the laundry facilities in the kitchen, don't vent the dryer 50 feet under half the house so that it clogs, backing up lint into the kitchen. Funkity, funk, funk, funk.

Best Outfit Ever

I hope that you can picture it. I wanted to whip out my camera phone, but a) I'd have to be so close that discretion wouldn't be possible, and b) I was a little afraid of him.

Starting from the top:
Baseball cap
Long black trenchcoat
Black t-shirt (I think)
Pajama pants with orange and red flames
Flip-flops

He was standing by himself in Walmart with his arms in front of him, hands clasped, like a body guard, just looking around - apparently guarding the bakery cookies. He stood there for probably 10 minutes, moved to the donut racks for a bit, and then disappeared.

Just for fun, I'm going to flip this one

Esther tagged me on this one too - I swear. But I'm going to flip it and do the opposites of the categories she had.

8 TV Shows I Hate(d) to Watch or at least Think that I would Hate (have Hated) to Watch and Do Not Intend to Change My Mind About
1. The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
2. Pokemon
3. Walker, Texas Ranger - sorry Chuck, but WTH???
4. Oprah
5. Do Not Disturb (brief appearance this fall)
6. Ghost Whisperer
7. Charmed
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (love the movie though)

8 Things that DIDN'T Happen Yesterday
1. Received results from Sam's labs
2. Cleaned the whole house top to bottom
3. I made a delicious dinner
4. Sam weaned himself (aka, Sam decided that he hates boobs)
5. Josh decided that he hates cartoons
6. Emily decided that she hates boys
7. Haley decided that she hates cheese
8. Hannah decided that she hates being bossy

8 Least Favorite Places to Eat
1. Long John Silvers
2. Church's Chicken
3. Chili's
4. Elementary school cafeterias
5. Jalapeno Tree
6. McDonald's at breakfast
7. Outback Steakhouse (it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't the hype either)
8. My house unless someone else is cooking.

8 Things I Am NOT Looking Forward To
1. Doing the dishes
2. History test
3. Thanksgiving
4. Another day of waiting (hopefully not)
5. My next GYN visit
6. The Twilight movie
7. Getting up in the morning after staying up until 2 doing homework (I did do the homework first before doing the third survey, aren't you all proud of me?)
8. Shaving my legs

8 Things NOT on My Wish List
1. Brussel sprouts
2. More mud in the yard
3. Depends
4. Coconut
5. I was going to say the same thing as Esther here, but decided against it. But it is true.
6. Thong underwear
7. Wheat grass juice
8. Sam to wake up as soon as I'm headed to bed, which is right now, I swear.

8 People I Tag
Geraldine, Esmerelda, John Bob, Agememnon - no, not you, the other one, Sam, Buford, Jillian, and Jennifer.

It's been a while since I stole something from Esther...

It's a twist on the typical survey.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!! But it's filled out by YOU.

If you want to play, leave a comment that answers these questions about me, copy the below to your blog and put in your comment that you want me to go there and fill in the answers about you. Be honest. If you don't want me to answer these questions about you, you can still answer them for me if you want.

1. How old am I?
2. Where did we meet?
3. Take a stab at my middle name. (Bonus if you know all 3)
4. Color of my eyes?
5. Do I have any siblings?
6. If so, how many? What are their names? Ages?
7. What's one of my favorite things to do?
8. What's my favorite type of music?
9. Am I shy or outgoing?
10. Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules?
11. Any special talents?
12. Do I have children?
13. If so, how many? What are their names? Ages?
14. Do I have pets?
15. If you and I were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing that I would bring?

Bonus:
I have one wish for Christmas (birthday, Mother's Day, whenever we can afford it). It's the same wish I've had for the last approximately 6-1/2 years, though even more in the last year. If you know or can guess what it is, bonus points!

I'll post the answers later this week.

PS: No news on the Sammy. He feels great, even back to regular eating today - but no test results yet.

Look I got Tagged

Five things... I've also probably done it before too.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago ...
1- Fairly new mom of only 1 kid - how whackadoodle is that?
2- Assistant directing at the daycare
3- Living in the little house on oh no! I've forgotten the name of that street.
4- Sleeping on 2 twin beds smooshed up together
5- Partying

5 things on today's "to do" list...
1- Assignment for TECA
2- Finish watching Top Chef
3- Laundry
4- Dishes
5- Run the kids here, there, and everywhere

5 snacks I enjoy...
1- OMGOODNESS!!! Tostito's Flour Tortilla chips. I ate half a bag for dinner with salsa.
2- Grapes
3- Tootsie Rolls - tempted me at 3 different stores today, but I resisted
4- Apples
5- Cookie dough

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire... (single million or ongoing millions?)
1- Buy 3 reasonably-priced houses in 3 states
2- Pay off all our debt
3- Buy a new Chrysler T&C with the swivel seats and the table in the middle
4- Save/Invest
5- Hire a team of maids

5 places I have lived...
1- Mt. Vernon, WA
2- Puyallup, WA
3- Spanish Fork, UT
4- Logan, UT
5- several places in Texas

5 jobs that I have had...
1- nurse's aide at a retirement center
2- various daycare positions
3- Cashier at a couple of lumber yards
4- Claims entry for BCBS
5- Medical transcriptionist

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Um, I tag ... anyone who hasn't already done it and happens to stumble here somehow.

To the ER after all

Sammy spiked to 104 this morning, so we headed to the ER - for the whole fricking day. Actually, he spiked to 104 axillary and that wasn't when it beeped, just when he decided enough was enough and yanked the thermometer out.

He's got an infection, probably in his throat, which was red. His ears were lovely on both sides. He didn't have enough pee to test and his chest x-ray looked okay. Blood tests were done and were abnormal in more than the expected ways, which I will discuss later when the followup ones come back okay. Which they are going to. Because I said so.

The doctor wants him back on Sunday morning to recheck to see if the antibiotics are working.

Tomorrow is David's big test for certification.

Prayers for all would be appreciated.

Sam is sick.

And it sucks.

He's getting raging fevers, but isn't pulling on his ears. He had diarrhea last week, but it was finally starting to get better when he started spiking the fevers. He's a complete boobaholic, so I'm thinking his throat hurts - or it could just be that he's miserable. He seems achy and 'tis the season, so I wouldn't take flu out of the differential. His nose is a little runny, but clear and not gross or even copious. He still has tears and saliva and wet diapers and he's certainly drinking tons, so not dehydrated yet.

Those are my Dr. Mommy observations. They don't seem to be doing me much good. Usually I can pinpoint it and fix it, but it's not working and his doctor's office is booked until Monday morning. No urgent care available. It's ER or wait. My intuition still says wait.

I need to go to bed, because I finally got him off the boob - seriously, I missed work tonight because he would fall asleep but I couldn't get him to stay asleep if I removed the boob.

Okay, one slightly humorous story. Somehow boob became Sam's word for nursing. Fortunately, he's usually pretty discreet about it, but last night I was at a presidency meeting at the church with the help of the youngest 3 kids (a whole 'nutha delightful story - if you like stories about 100 thrown crayons and little girls who like to test their reading skills on mommy's notes and are pretty sure that what they have to say must be said RIGHT NOW, especially if someone else is talking). I had nursed Sam earlier in the meeting when it had been just me and the prez because our secretary couldn't find us and we're in the process of getting another counselor, but then our bishopric counselor over Primary had joined the meeting. Sam was tired and was just at the start of getting feverish and he WANTED THE BOOB. So he started asking Boo, Boo, Boo and doing the insistent head fling into position and started lifting my shirt. He wanted boob and he wanted it NOW. Poor Bro. C. was trying to avert his eyes and asked if he should leave. I ended up taking Sam out because they were discussing finding a new counselor and well, it'd be nice to have one of those sooner than later. Oy, oy, oy.

I'm really going to bed now. It really is 1:09 in the morning. Everybody pray that Sammy feels better tomorrow. My house is a disaster, I'm supposed to have a babysitter tomorrow night, and I still haven't finished my lab paper that was due on Tuesday. Craptastic.

JOSH!!!!!!!

I always want to do that scene from City Slickers where Billy Crystal's mom calls him at the exact time he was born, but I don't really know how it goes, so instead I'll put up his birth story, which is one of my 2 favorite (shh, don't tell the girls, but their births SUCKED except for the end and Emily's even sucked then since she was whisked away to get air - oh and Hannah's sucked after too since I was unconscious and didn't see her for 2 hours and someone else held her first, besides even David, for which he has endured years of torment). Anyway...

It was a dark and stormy night.

Not true.

It was in the middle of a blizzard.

(thought I might get you with that one since it IS November - HA, it's Texas, people.)

It was a day pretty much exactly like today, sunny and lovely, with a little bit of a brisk breeze...
**********swirly time-traveling music**********

I'm actually going to start with the day before. I had an appointment scheduled for 10 am, just a regular appointment and to maybe schedule an induction for Thursday or Friday, but that appointment got rescheduled because the NP had sick kids.

I got a call at 8:30 Thursday morning from the receptionist saying that the doctor was wondering where I was since I was scheduled for induction - oops, someone forgot to tell ME. She said if I wanted I could just come up and do it or I could go to the rescheduled appointment, get checked, and then decide. We decided to go to the appointment.

We got to the appointment and after chit-chatting with the NP about her son and how he's doing and school and stuff, she checks me and I'm 5-6 cm dilated! She says that this would be the point where they would like to send me over to L&D. We're pretty much in shock because Thursday was "booked" for David and I was not having any kind of pains. We ask if we can still just wait until morning and she says, "well, it could be any minute, so we'd really like you to go over there."

We decide that I'll just go over and sit and wait and David will go and do his stuff and if I last until after he's done, which we figured I would since NOTHING was happening, then we'll look at popping the bag then. So, we head home to get the bag and make the calls, etc.

At some point, David decides that it would be a bad idea to try and go do the school presentation and make it back in time, so he calls them and they are TOTALLY fine with moving it; in fact, the principal tells him that if anyone asks, SHE cancelled it. This was at the little bitty school that Hannah went to for Kindergarten, so they all know me too.

We eventually get to the hospital, where I already have a room since they were expecting me EARLY in the morning. It's eerily quiet - only one other mom in labor, no babies and no postpartum moms - the whole floor is empty. Which is crazy, considering that when I toured L&D, it was hopping and only the "closet" and the "dungeon" were available. I met my nurse, Darla, who was an angel and told me that if I don't want to do this, then I don't have to because she had heard that I didn't really want to be induced, but we update her on the sitch and I get in the gown and she checks my BP (fine) and contracting (none) and baby (fine and +1) and dilation and says I'm 5-6, but stretchy to 7, maybe 8. The doctor is at lunch, so we decide that we'll do some walking.

I get dressed again and we walk for an hour, running into about a dozen people we know, so I'm not certain how much actual walking we did - only 1 lap in the hour. We head back up to see if the doc is back and get a BP check - she's not and it's fine, so we set out again. About 15 minutes into the walk, we find a door that has a balcony off of it, so we decide to sneak outside for some sun - as I said, it's a beautiful day, but we were told to stay inside the hospital just in case. We get outside the door and it's actually the back entrance for the doctors and coming up the steps is mine. Oops, caught!! We walk back in with her and chat some more about HER kid. I go to get undressed and get hooked back up. She comes in and we decide to go ahead and pop the bag and hold on the pit. She checks me and I'm 7 (woohoo!!) and pops the bag (1:45 pm), all the time chatting with David about the school that he teaches at and her daughter who goes there and on and on and on. At some point, I start actually having contractions and give him a glare. Anyway, she goes away and we hang out watching TV and having ordinary contractions. At some point, Darla comes in and says that if I want to avoid pit, I should try some tricks, so we do and get some good contractions. At some point, I got out of bed and when I got back into bed, the change in position apparently helped things start going on their own, about every 2 minutes or so and hurt enough to breathe through. After about 15 minutes or so, they start to get where I am not just breathing through them, but obsenitying through them (which makes David laugh), so I call Darla and ask for a smidgen of Stadol, which she brings right back (ANGEL!!). She told me to tell her when I started feeling drunk and David said, well, that'll be tough, she's never been drunk. After about a minute, I felt drunk. It was perfect. She said, let me know when you want to push and I said okay, I will. It was 3:45 and I jokingly told David I would be pushing at 4:30. At about 4:20, the contractions started to get their edge back and David said "are you ready to push?" and I said no. On the NEXT contraction, I was ready to push, so everyone came running. The doctor had gone over to her office just after I got the Stadol, so she came running back from there. I had a REALLY bad contraction and David started rubbing my head, which really annoyed me and so I yelled "HEAD!!" which they interpreted as the baby's head coming out and he kept rubbing and so I yelled "NO HEAD!!" which really confused them, so I finally had to say, "Get your hand off my head!!" Then the nurse tried to put my legs up in the stirrups on that same contraction, so I yelled at her too. The doctor made it in and took her coat off and put her keys on the rocker. Got in position, got gloves etc, and I pushed on the next contraction (about 4:30), 3 sets. She said, the next one is it. I had about a 3-4 minute break and then pushed 3 times and he was out (4:39). The doctor started laughing and yelling - "he's peeing on me!!"

I was in TOTAL SHOCK that he was out that quickly; literally, I couldn't believe it. I kept saying, he's here? It's really over? I'm done? Everyone was like, yeah he's here and laughing at me. Then I got to hold him for just a second and David and the nurse took him to be weighed. They came right back with him - 8 lbs, 13-3/4 ounces - but SOOO tiny-looking to me after Haley and Emily's nearly 10 pounds!! He nursed and then the pedi nurse took him to the warmer (in the room) and did all his stuff right there. I showered and came back in and watched Survivor in peace and quiet. David made his rehearsal at 5:30 - he asked me first if he should go and I was still high and relaxed, so I sent him on. I totally botched changing the first diaper (well, second, David did a great job with the first), he peed and pooped all over his stuff and my bed.

Um, not quite.

Or politics as learned on the school bus:

Emily: Mom, who did you vote for?
EF: Why?
Emily: Haley voted for Brock Obama.
EF: Why?
Emily: Because she knows more about him. Who did you vote for?
EF: I voted for McCain.
Emily: Good, because Brock Obama...
Haley: Ba-rock Obama.
Emily: Brock Obama.
Haley: Ba-rock.
Emily. Ba-rock. Because Brock Obama wants to send all the white people to another state to live.
EF: No. He does not. Where did you hear that from?
Emily: Hannah told me.
EF: That's not true.
Hannah: That's just what I heard.
Emily: And George McCain wants to send all the brown people to another state.
EF: Also not true.

Guess what we'll be talking about on the way to rehearsal tonight, eh?

Oops.

I swear I didn't steal the hat - but I did apparently lie about putting up more pictures. I took the camera to the party, but I think I might have taken one picture and then I got busy running my game and then getting everyone to submit their guesses (candy jar guessing game) and then chasing kids and treating Sammy's fever/runny nose (he's fine today). I didn't even eat anything until I got to the football game at half-time (nearly kid-free thanks to a couple of sleepovers), which they lost.

And you don't see me here, I'm not blogging instead of writing my Lab Paper.