Stuff...

We haven't had that much going on here. My car goes into the shop tomorrow morning, and I'm not expecting to get it back until Thursday. In the meantime, I've been getting my exercise because we've been cycling Kellen to and from school. We ended up having to cancel our piano lesson for today because I didn't have a way to get there on time without the car.

Steve had his appointment yesterday (just consult, no scope) where they said that they still suspect gall stones and they will do an ultrasound to determine that for certain. The worst thing for him is that he can't eat 8 hours before, so if he wants anything, we will have to get him up at around 330am for a snack of some sort. Ugh. Oh, well. I think the worst thing is that every appointment requires a co-pay while you get shunted around to different doctors trying to tell what the problem is, and then you still have to pay for whatever the insurance doesn't cover in order to actually have it fixed. I think it's a conspiracy, personally, but since we may finally be able to take care of Steve's pain, then I will stop compaining for now.

I have to admit that part of the reason I haven't been on in the last couple of days is because of Myst IV. Steve bought the game for me for my birthday (back in mid-August for those who are unclear) and I hadn't played it until Steve complained about it on Sunday afternoon ("I knew I was going out on a limb buying that for you for your birthday.") so I started playing it; now I'm having a hard time walking away from it. But I made myself leave it alone until Madison was down for her nap before playing it today, which meant that I got everyone's sheets changed and three loads of laundry done this morning instead. I know it's not much, but any housework accomplished while Madison is awake, is good housework.

Now that we are at the end of the day, I am looking forward to bundling kids off to bed (we are watching Cool Runnings right now) and then I can do a little research on gall stones and play my game for a while before Steve gets home from his meetings.

Pumpkins

Okay, Kellen and I got our pumpkins carved today and I took a picture of the final result. I was going to take a couple while we were working on them, but the battery had to be charged so I didn't get to take any pics until well after we were done. The painted pumpkin is one that Kellen decorated at the last pack meeting (same night as the raingutter regatta) and then mine is the house and Kellen's is the face.



Steve asked if we were going to let Madison help carve hers, and the jury is still out on that one. She doesn't like getting messy, and pumpkins are definitely a messy job. Steve doesn't want to have to clean out his pumpkin, so he may not carve one this year, even though we bought one for him. After pumpkins were carved, I stood at the sink and separated goop from seeds since Kellen loves eating the pumpkin seeds. We did them a little different this year and coated them in cinnamon and brown sugar instead. I overcooked them a little (which means the sugar carmelized some) and it's a little funny to have the sweet paired up with the nutty taste of the seeds, but they were pretty good.

We finally have had a couple days of sunshine (yesterday and today) and it's expected to continue through Halloween. Yeah! So Madison and I went out the in the back yard for a bit where she decided she was going to pick tomatoes. The previous renter planted cherry tomatoes around the house and they have taken over parts of the back yard. Truthfully, I am waiting for winter to set in and kill them for me because they are more than I can handle. Madison likes to go out and pick them, but she ends up only picking green ones; go figure!






It was really windy yesterday, but so very nice today. And since it looks like Kellen and I will need to ride bikes to school this week (he doesn't like how long it takes to walk home) it's great to know that the weather is supposed to hold for a while. Steve has said that if the water pump has failed in my car, then I shouldn't be driving it at all, and I certainly don't want to destroy the car that's paid for!

Steve has an appointment on Tuesday with a gastro- doctor of some sort (I'm not certain of second half of the name, and that makes it certain I will misspell it) for a consult, but it looks like they're not doing a scope yet. Thankfully, Steve isn't in nearly as much pain as he was last weekend, but he still wants to know what is causing this. Looks like we will have to wait a little longer.

Ups and Downs

We still haven't heard from the doctor's office about when Steve will be going in for his scope; I'm guessing that since we haven't heard yet today, it won't be until Monday, which means he has to deal with it through the weekend still. Not much we can do about that until they get back to us. In the meantime, he has a prescription for an extra-strength prilosec-type med to help with the pain.

About two weeks ago the dummy light for the coolant came on in my car. I let it go for about two days to see if it would shut off on its own (because sometimes my car does that; it's getting old) and when it didn't I bought coolant for it. That didn't make the light go off, though. I kind of dealt with it for the last week, watching it, but sometimes the car was overheating, which is really bad for the engine obviously. Under pressure from Steve, I finally took it to a mechanic hoping for a radiator flush (to remove any possible blockages preventing fluid from getting through to the engine) but he took a general look at it and it seems I have a leak. Worse, it would seem that the location of the leak is not in the radiator itself, it's in the water pump. This means that it is not safe to drive my car until it's fixed (middle of next week) and it will cost about $600 to get it fixed. Ugh. It's still cheaper than buying a new car (since this one is paid for) but that is still a huge crunch on the budget. Oh, well.

The up that I had today came in the form of a fantastic laugh (till it hurts and I'm crying). I put Madison down for a nap, which she wasn't really interested in. I could hear her crying, and then talking, and after about half an hour I hear her door open. She was supposed to be in her crib, and I didn't hear any thumps, so I went to get her. There was poop in a pile in the middle of her crib and smeared on her pillowcase. Oh, well. Everything is washable. So I put her on the changin table (which is only about a foot from her crib and sits at a right angle to it) and opened the wipes container to find it full of used poopy wipes all crumpled up. I'm still laughing thinking about it. She had to have climbed out onto the changing table and possibly went back and forth a couple times trying to clean up (leaving a couple wipes in the crib that I hadn't noticed before) and then climbed down the front of the changing table to come open the door to her room. Sheets are now in the laundry and the mess is well on its way to being gone, but it was a great laugh for me today.

Another Day

Well, Steve went for his appointment this morning and they said that it is definitely not shingles. They now suspect either an ulcer or gall stones and are making plans to do a scope on him so that they can see. We thought they would schedule that for later today, but things got shuffled and now we are waiting to see when that will be; likely Friday or Monday, since they don't want to leave things any longer than they have to. Certainly a very unpleasant thing, but he's in enough pain that I'm not sure he cares as long as they find a way to fix it :)

I did finally get pictures uploaded from the cub scout activity the other night with the candied apples, so here are those. We had fun making them, although I went a little more traditional than Kellen did. It sure tasted yummy! I was sharing it with Madison today (I cut it in wedges rather than eating it off the stick) and had Madison sitting at the table. She bit into a part of the core, which she didn't want to eat, so she left the table to find me, pulled out my hand and spit the bit of apple into my hand. Ugh! The joys of being mommy :)



In the picture of the boys decorating their sticks, Kellen is at the far left of the picture, which means you can't really see him that well. I took other close-ups, but they were all of the sticks themselves so they only showed the boys' hands, not their faces. I should have done pictures of each boy showing off his finished sticks, and I didn't think that far. Oh, well.

Things...

Well, so far I am really enjoying the blogging, and particularly watching new things go up on Rachel's and Melinda's sites. I'm even trying to get a blog going for our Bear Cub Scout Den, but I'm getting a distinct "don't rock my boat" vibe from our den leader. We'll see if that one flies or not.
In the meantime, Madison and I tried to run errands today and make it short enough that she could wear panties while we were out. We didn't make it, and she obviously required a change of clothes when we got home. I felt bad; I shouldn't have tried to test how long she could go yet. Oh, well. We went to cub scouts tonight where the boys got to make/play a Native American game played with sticks, decorate their own candy apples, and glue popped corn on ears of corn made of construction paper (so it looks like the corn popped on the cob). And then they each got a little stash of Halloween candy to bring home, too, since there won't be a den meeting next week with Halloween falling on Wednesday.
Steve has a doctor appointment tomorrow morning, and we'll see what they have to say. He has been in pain since Saturday afternoon and went to have it checked on Monday afternoon. The doctor thought it was probably shingles and gave Steve a prescription for that and for the pain it was causing, but he hasn't broke out in a rash of any sort so we aren't entirely sure that the doctor pinpointed the actual cause of the pain. They had already set him an appointment for tomorrow to have it checked again anyway, and I'm glad because I'm not so certain that it's shingles. His temperature is actually a little low and he's having trouble keeping warm, which is extremely unusual for him. His appointment is at 9am tomorrow morning, and I'm hoping that they will have something more definitive for us.
Well, I am going to wrap this up for tonight. I will get pictures of our candy apples up tomorrow, maybe.

Tagged?

Although I'm not familiar with it, I'm game to play...The only snag is that I don't think I know six people that blog, and the ones I do know all visit Rachel's blog, where I saw this in the first place. So it probably won't go further than me as far as my blog is concerned, but I think it sounds like fun anyway.
So, six true things about me...

1) I set the alarm for 6am, wake up at about 5:45am to shut off the alarm, and lay awake thinking about the fact that I should get up until about 6:30am when I actually put action to thought.

2) I am insanely thrilled every time that Madison uses signs that I've taught her without me have to ask her for them (like using the sign for milk when she wants some to drink).

3) I don't know why I procrastinate so badly on my housework when I know that I feel so much better when the house is clean and I can relax.

4) Christmas is my very favorite time of year and I'm already getting ready :)

5) Kellen will turn nine next month and I just don't know how that happened; wasn't it yesterday that he was a toddler?

6) I am grateful every day for my husband and all that he has brought to my life. He promised me ten years ago that he would spoil me rotten, and he's certainly done that :)

Ugh!!

I really wasn't going to be back on tonight, but I just had to put this up. I had served dinner for the kids and then talked to Mom for a while before going to eat my dinner. Unfortunately, it appears that I had unexpected company. I chased him off my plate and disposed of him, but it was a little disconcerting to find something already at my plate. I don't usually mind spiders, as long as they stay out of my space, and this one was definitely infringing!

Long Day

I'm not sure why today has felt so very long, because I haven't really done that much. We didn't even go to story time at the library because I feel like I'm getting a sinus infection. I was also loathe to put Madison in a pull-up to take her out, and I don't trust her yet to get to the toilet when we're not at home. Let's face it, at home it's easy for her because I let her run around mostly (or entirely) nude so that she can notice when she needs to go more easily. It really works well, and we can get through most of the day without accidents that way. But I didn't really feel like going out today, so we stayed home. We went out long enough to get Kellen after school, and then came home for a quick snack before taking him to his piano lessons (every Tuesday at 3:15). I had about a half hour to kill at the house before going back for him, and when we got home I realized that I hadn't mowed the lawn or actually started dinner, so I sort of did both at once. It was stunning to realize that before today I have never had to put the nozzle on the gas tank in order to fill the lawn mower, and I didn't know how. I tried to call a couple of people, but no one was available, so I muddled through by myself. It wasn't hard, but it took a few minutes to figure it out. This wouldn't have mattered so much, but someone from the management company is coming on Thursday to check the house, both to make sure that everything is in working order and to see that we are taking care of everything, and it's supposed to start raining again tomorrow, so we won't have another chance to get it done before that.
In between fiddling with the gas can, filling the mower, and pushing it out onto the front yard, I was going back to the kitchen to wash and do the next step of dinner prep. I was a little frazzled but I quit with the lawn when I realized that there was no oil in the mower and I don't really care to destroy the mower. The good thing is that it doesn't really matter if dinner is a little late tonight since Steve has a meeting and won't be home until late. By then, I'll have kids in bed, the house picked up, laundry folded, and it will look like I've been on top of things all day, even if I haven't. The best part is that even if I didn't get it all done, Steve won't really care; he'll just want something good to eat when he gets home :)

Check out my Slide Show!

Madison's Swim Lessons

I have been having some problems getting this to come up properly, so hopefully this works this time. I was talking to Melinda during the summer about swim lessons and was intending to send her some video footage (taken with our 3 yr old digital camera, so not great quality) of Madison's lessons so she could see them. For those with small children, I would highly recommend it. This particular program will start them as early as 6 mos old, teaching them to swim for the wall, float on their backs, and to turn over to float when they need a breath while swimming. It's really very cool, although rather difficult to watch your child do it the first time. After that, it's quite incredible to realize that a child under the age of two can be taught to swim a few feet on their own. It may only buy me a few seconds of response time, but I'll take what I can get in the event of an emergency :) The woman teaching her is Dotty, a very good friend. She offered the lessons to us for free, so all I had to do was drive into Boise from Caldwell every day for a couple weeks, and Kellen got to swim, too, while Dotty worked with Madison.

Here We Are

Most of you already know all of this, so it's okay to skip this first blog if you do. I know that I have kept a Google Web Photo Album, but it doesn't allow me much in the way of information so I am going to try out the blogging, where I can put journaling and photos in the same spot.

We are living in a small town in western Oregon about 15 miles outside of Salem, renting a house. Steve works in the Salem office of a non-profit organization. It takes a lot of his time, but we take every opportunity to go places together as a family. We have been to the Portland Zoo twice already, and taken drives around the countryside. Although Salem is of a similar size to Boise, there are many more trees interspersed with the surrounding farmland. I am taking a year off school, so that we can gain residency before I start classes next fall (2008), and I get to spend the time at home with Madison in the meantime.

Kellen is in 3rd grade this year and students in 1st grade and above who live within a mile of the school don't get bus service so either I ride bikes with Kellen (although the weather isn't often nice enough now) or Steve drives him in the morning and I pick him up in the afternoon. Kellen has started piano lessons this year and is enjoying the music he gets to play. I don't pretend that we won't have problems getting him to practice as he gets further on, but he's doing well right now. We have also hooked up with our local cub scout pack, and Kellen is enjoying doing things with them here. As a Bear this year, he is doing things that require a little more skill and thought than before, but he loves doing new things, and always likes a chance to be creative with a new project.

Madison is doing pretty well, considering the upheaval of the move. She's returning to her cheerful, happy self, although she can be a bit crabby in the morning before she's had her breakfast. Every Tuesday we go to the Toddler Story Time at the library. I think it's great because you have a lot of kids at about 2 years old, with their parents, so it's good social time for Madison and adult conversation for me. In between the stories we march around the room, sing songs, pound on the floor and play the hokie pokie. It's funny to think of all these adults doing these games with their kids (looking like fools) and nobody cares because we're all doing it and having fun with our kids. I have also been working on toilet training with Madison. She likes wearing her pretty panties and tries hard to get there on time. We aren't there yet, but she's trying.

I think that pretty much catches everyone up on our life here in Oregon. I'm not entirely certain how often I will put things up, but if I like how this works then I may discard the web photo album and just put things up here instead. Hope you all are doing well