Where is Spring????

Today is the last day of February and when Hubby came home from work he informed me that the forecast is calling for SNOW......our very astute 8 yr old said "But Daddy, it isn't January, we don't WANT snow anymore"

I haven't checked in with Missy to be sure, but by my count we should be in the home stretch of the countdown to Spring....21 days??? I wish I could hibernate for the next 3 weeks!!

7 Quick Takes Friday

-1-

I'm finally feeling soooo much BETTER!!! Double Pneumonia is really serious stuff & I hope to NEVER have it again. I got a flu shot and a pneumonia vaccine, so hopefully those will help to keep me healthy.

-2-

Number 5 in this post really hit home for me. I'm 42 and after years of trying to control my fertility, I've come to the realization that I am NOT the one in control.

-3-

This sermon touched me. I'm also enjoying the Daily Episcopalian. My church has a website, but no blogs. These blogs really make me feel connected to others of my faith in a new and rewarding way. A great new website was launched on Ash Wednesday, I haven't had much time to explore it, but I'm looking forward to spending some time there in the next few days.

-4-

My friend Kirsty had some GREAT tips this week on Surviving until Spring. And my friend Missy has been counting down the days until Spring. I'm ready for Spring!!! My friend Kim spent 4 days this week snowed in with no electricity...I don't envy her at all.

-5-

Hubby started a blog this week. He has had an interest in brewing his own alcohol for many years and is currently working on a hard cider, should be interesting to see how it turns out.

-6-

My friend Janet had quite a few interesting things on her Money Jar blog this week....lots of coupons and free samples.

-7-

Next week seems to hold lots of promise. Hubby should be able to drive himself to work, the kids and I are all finally feeling WELL and the weatherman is calling for "springlike" weather. I'm already starting to think about what I want to do for my favorite blog carnivals and I'm hoping to get some cooking done for my Food Blog and upload all the pictures off my camera.

This is the first time I've participated in 7 Quick Takes, head over to Conversion Diary to check out the other entries.

Things I LOVE Thursday....Kid Shampoo

A few years ago, I tried L'Oreal Kids shampoo and just LOVED it. But I didn't love the price, so unless it is on major sale, I don't buy it. Then, I discovered the Suave version and and for the price it is GREAT!!! My girls have long hair, my boys have a LOT of hair, this stuff gets their hair clean and shiny and leaves it very managable. My kids LOVE bubbles, but commercial bubblebath gives them a rash, we've had great sucess using a bit of this shampoo in the tub for bubbles. Products that have more than one use are always high on my list.

To see what everybody else LOVES this week visit TheDiaperDiaries.net

The BMW saga

Last Spring, our 2nd son bought a 1987 535i BMW. He was being adventurous....it is a 5 speed and he had never driven a stick. This son has not had good luck with cars. The car had some "minor" electrical issues that involved the driver's side window not rolling down some of the time and the power locks on the doors and trunk being finicky. A mechanic supposedly fixed the "short", but the car continued to blow fuses on a regular basis. I successfully taught my son to drive it and for about 2 weeks he was absolutely THRILLED with the car. Then it overheated on him in downtown one night and in his frustration he parked it in an out of the way parking garage with the intent of going back for it the next day. This was last May. He was also in the midst of jumping through the final hoops to graduate from high school and working a LOT of hours in hopes of financing a fun Summer.

It was August by the time he got the car towed home and it has been sitting in our driveway ever since. Somebody determined that the heater core was the problem causing the overheating.....when he would put water in, the water would almost instantly run onto the driver side floor board. As I have said before, Hubby is not mechanical. Well, our kids aren't overly mechanical either & this kid is especially pessimistic when things have started not going his way. He was ANGRY with the car. The kid talked about getting the brother of one of his friends to fix the car, but it never worked out. He talked about selling the car as is, but never did. My Mother tried to lay claim to the car, she wanted the kid to give it to her & she would find somebody to fix it so she could drive it.....he didn't go for that one. He had paid a pretty good chunk for the car and giving it away, even to his grandmother wasn't what he wanted. As time went on, he grew more frustrated with it and the more frustrated he got, the less he wanted anything at all to do with the car.

Hubby's car died last Spring and I have been driving him back and forth to work ever since. Hubby likes the BMW, Kid doesn't like the BMW anymore, so a plan was hatched. Hubby and Kid went out and found a Subaru wagon that the Kid really likes. We helped him buy it, and helped him get the brakes completely replaced. He is mobile and he LOVES it!!! The BMW is now Hubby's car.

Last week we had the BMW towed to a shop recommended by a friend of our oldest son. They took a while, but it was worth it. $350 later, they have fixed the "short" and they by-passed the heater core. We are pretty happy. Unfortunately, we discovered that the tires that are on it are over 15 yrs old and how they still manage to hold air is beyond the mechanic. The tires are some weird outdated size. To get new tires, we have to replace 3 of the rims (somebody else already replaced one of them), new rims and tires will end up costing us almost another $600, but overall, I'm hopeful that it will be worth it in the end. We pick it up tomorrow!!!

Works for me Wednesday---Ditching CABLE for good

We just bought a new 32 inch flat screen TV. Our old TV is on it's last leg & we've really been wanting a flat screen for a while. We considered bigger versions, but the whole mounting it on our rented walls thing was just WAY more than we wanted to deal with.

I shut the cable off a few months ago, much to my family's unhappiness. It was a money saving strategy at the time. We were spending $60 a month to have our preteens learn about teen attitude and to DVR the shows that Hubby & I would eventually get around to watching. When we turned it off, we not only saved money, but the lack of teen angst in our house was almost instant too. Hubby found that we could watch most of the shows we had been putting on the DVR, online and the preteens rediscovered their video games & their bicycles. Our local news is available online, my favorite shows are available online & we own tons of kid appropriate movies.

While looking at the TV displays in the store I started to have an idea. What if we hooked the new screen up to one of our computers? What if we just continued watching our favorite shows from the internet, but on a bigger screen? We already have a high speed connection, why not? Now, I have to tell you that I got Hubby onboard with this idea by suggesting that HE could have the TV and his regular screen attached to his computer....he is a computer gamer & was instantly sold on having a 32 inch computer monitor. We bought the TV, we bought a new HD DVD player to also attach (don't want to stress his computer out playing kid DVD's) and we bought a digital antenna. Moving from one screen to the other was initially challenging, but 2 weeks later it's going GREAT. The digital antenna picks up our local channels very clearly, including several digital versions of PBS. I never thought we watched enough TV to be paying an extra $60 a month for it. This Works for Me in a big way....check out the new host of Works for Me Wednesday over at We are THAT family.com to see what's working for everyone else this week.

Tackle it Tuesday--Fixing the vacuum

I've been sick. Hubby took almost a full week off work to "help" with the kids and the house while I was in the hospital and the first few days I was home. It's been a week since I got out of the hospital and I'm finally starting to feel like I can start getting back into a routine.

At some point, one of the kids tried to vacuum the floor, they sucked up a long scarf and broke the belt in the vacuum. Hubby is NOT a very mechanical person, so the vacuum has been sitting ever since, while the crumbs and lint pile up on the carpet. I'm well enough now that I just can't take the MESS anymore, so today my big plan for the day is to replace that broken belt and get the diningroom, livingroom and hallway all vacuumed!!!

Music Monday

It's been a rough couple weeks here. But I think the worst is finally over. This is one of those songs that I didn't like very much when it first came out, but it has really grown on me.

Still Recovering from my pneumonia

I've been laying low. Resting, BREATHING, and taking tons of medicines. I'm in that point of my recovery that I'm starting to finish some of the prescriptions. Tomorrow morning I'll take the last doses of antibiotic and decongestant, then it will only be the inhalers and the steroids. I'm tapering off the steroids too & go down to just 10mg tomorrow.

We've been eating a LOT of take out and other than a few loads of wash I don't feel like I've gotten anything productive done in the house since coming home from the hospital. I'm planning to cook dinner tonight & I really need to run the vaccuum....just wish standing didn't make me short of breath in 20 seconds flat. Being sick is not easy for me, I keep expecting to just get my energy back & be FINE....double pneumonia is serious stuff.

Home from the hospital.....Finally

I've been in the hospital with bi-lateral pneumonia since Friday. Warning this may be garbled....I'm still on a LOT of medication.

I'm FINALLY home!!! I had no idea how sick I was, I was just in a ton of pain & couldn't figure out why. They initially thought I was having a heart attack because the worst pain was in my left shoulder/arm and jaw.....I've never seen hospital people move so fast. After lots of tests & a couple EKG's, they started thinking stroke, but did a chest x-ray to rule out broken bones. The chest x-ray looked really weird & they thought I had a perforated lung or that the left lung was collapsed, so they ordered a CAT scan with contrast dye. The CAT scan showed that both my lungs were mostly full of GUNK. My oxygen sats were 89% and I had a fever of 102, so they decided I would have to stay overnight for IV antibiotics.

One night turned into three. Fortunately being on oxygen & getting breathing treatments helped a lot with the PAIN. I'm still pretty sick, but at least I can breath again. I've sometimes fantasized about how nice it would be to get away for a few days. This experience was a total let down, not only did I feel AWFUL most of the time, but they didn't let me sleep more than 2 hrs in a row. My arms & hands are covered in bruises from all the blood draws and multiple failed IV insertions.

I'm on tons of medicines & probably have almost no blood left because they took so much out. Hubby did great taking care of the kids the whole time. He has always been wonderful in crisis situations, so I knew he could handle things. I'm going to end up weaning Baby Daughter because of the medicines they have me on, she is 21 months. She went to sleep & slept all night for Hubby when I wasn't here, so he will have to keep up that routine with her until it becomes a habit. Potty training didn't do so well without Mommy home & she has been in Pampers since Friday. We'll get wash done & think about digging the house out in a few days when I'm hopefully feeling more human again.

Things I LOVE Thursday....Vinegar

When I was a kid, my Mom made us rinse our hair in vinegar after shampooing....I hated it. But, I never got lice and my hair was always shiny.

Recently, I've finally gotten over myself at being irritated with my Mom & have discovered that vinegar really is a miracle product. It is inexpensive, not harmful to the environment and so versatile. It is a great cleaner for windows and mirrors, it cuts grease on appliances & leaves them shiny. It works great for touching up the linoleum floors around the house. I run my cloth diapers and my towels through a vinegar rinse to make sure all the soap is out. When lice was going around my kids school, I broke out the apple cider vinegar & rinsed their hair with it after every shampoo, not sure if it was the reason, but we were spared from this years lice invasion. I think my absolute favorite thing about vinegar is that I know it is SAFE to use around my kids. I mop my floor with the same bottle of vinegar that I use in some of my favorite recipes.....if only chocolate could be so versatile!!!

Check out the Diaper Diaries to see more Things I LOVE Thursday

Facebook

A few days ago, a friend mentioned that you can link your blog to facebook. I was intrigued!!! I LOVE facebook. I spend way too much time there & many of my friends do too. I've had a bit of trouble getting my blog info out to some members of our extended family, but they are on facebook. So, I had the brilliant idea that if only I could link my blog to facebook, I would be able to miraculously notify everyone I know about my blogs.

I pondered this for a few days, looked around facebook, but couldn't find the magical application to accomplish this amazing feat. Tip Junkie to the rescue!!! Yesterday she had a blurb about how to advertise your business on facebook & along with that wonderful information she also included instructions on how to link your blogs to your facebook account!!!!

Music Monday

Last week we had SNOW on Monday. Today, it is 70 degrees!!! I have to say I really do prefer warm over COLD.

I'm still sick....be back soon

Sorry I've been out of touch all week. My 10 yr old was diagnosed with pneumonia a week ago but is now mostly recovered. I saw the Dr on Thursday & they say I've got asthmatic bronchitis, the antibiotic is doing NOTHING for me, so I guess it is a virus that will need to run its course. I'm hoping to sleep for about the next 36 hours and see if that will flush this out of my system.

Music Monday

I don't think this should be classified as a Christmas song...this is the mood at my house tonight.

SNOW!!!

A challenge for the week

Last week my friend Cakes talked about a challenge she is beginning today...."doing a little experiment. For one whole week, I will not tell any of the kids, "not right now." Unless of course I really can't do it right now. But usually I am doing something that really could be dropped to take a moment and read a story"

I was inspired & so starting today I'm going to give it a try too!!! Want to join us?