The Last Days

I have a lot to do today to help Mike get ready for his departure tomorrow morning. We will be going to Mikey's birthday party, which his Mom invited us to. She has been especially nice since we told her that Mike was leaving. But then, there was also a very large child support check that has probably contributed to her sense of friendliness.

We did the shopping we needed to do yesterday, for the things he needs. Now we need to pack everything. I have a few pants to hem for him, and I really should do my laundry, but he will probably have to take some dirty clothes with him. That is fine since he will have a laundry service while he is there. My guess is that they offer that because of the scarcity of water in the desert, and it is more efficient to do laundry in bulk.

For the past two days, the reality of his leaving have hit me really hard. I like being alone, and I look forward to being able to focus my time on things I have wanted to do for a long time. But it has only been a year since I found the love of my life and decided that I could spend the rest of my life with him. But now he is going to be gone. We have such a good time together, but now we have to be apart. I'm going to be fine, and I am not worried about anything, but it is good to feel a little angst now and then. Loving will do that to a person.

Social Novelties

Just wrapping up a great weekend. Saturday we had a friend of Mike and his three children come over for a lunch BBQ. The kids had a great time together--and so did the adults. We ate our lunch and then all of us went to the park near our house. When we came home, it was time for the ward picinic, which had been postponed last week because of the rain. Our friend Erik (this is the guy that was helping Mike get interviews with Microsoft--I know I never told you about it, but he's the guy) was not planning on going to the picinic with us, but since he had nothing to do, he came along. It was a great day. I like doing things with other people. Sometimes I forget that I am not a hermit. I have become so introverted over the years. It is nice to remember now and then that I love people.

After church, the kids had lunch, the we listened to 3 of the conference talks while we played conference bingo since none of the kids were with us that weekend. Then we let them play while Mike and I relaxed. I went to choir practice, and then we had a make-up ward picinic with a couple of people from church that couldn't make it the day before--trying to fellowship with some new kids in the ward whose parents are just separating. I got there in a really bad mood, no reason behind it, but got over it soon, because I love socializing.

Today I will be taking the kids back to their dad since they had a random day off. On the way I will visit a few friends--and see if there are anymore roadside vendors selling $2 rose plants in Tyler: the Rose capital of Texas. Mike will be at home working on his 40 hour training course so that he can leave on Sunday for Ft. Benning, GA. He will stay there for a week, the ship to Iraq. The anticipation is the worst part of it--anticipating a paycheck, that is. Two months of having "a job" and not getting paid is tense. We eexpect it to be worth the wait, but we keep getting further and further behind, so getting money doesn't seem like it will do anything but keep us floating. I'll be singing a different tune, of course, after our first full paycheck, but who knows when that will be.

My monitor went out on my computer, so I am using Mike's. (I get the flatscreen for myself next week so I am okay for now.) He is anxious to get his work started for the morning. Have a great day.

Brighter

Someday soon we will get paid. Mike has his official orders. His date was pushed back a week--again. But this time it is in official writing. He will be training for a week in GA beginning the 29th of April. He will leave for Iraq from there. We really needed that extra time, though Mike wishes he could just go and be done with it. He is tired of the anticipation and the stress of preparation.

We have an awesome home teacher who served in Iraq through the national guard. He has done all sorts of things to help us in our planning and prep. It is all a little overwhelming, but it is great to know where the whelming begins.

Mike had a really cool experience last night. A friend of his is a drum rep in Houston but was sponsoring a drum clinic at one of the music stores here in town being taught by Billy Cobam, a world renowned drummer. Mike was late for the clinic because he had forgotten about it as dinner was coming out of the oven, but he went to dinner with Billy and his friend the rep afterwards. Billy lives in Switzerland most of the time. Mike mentioned that we were going to be meeting in Europe midway through his tour in Iraq. Billy suggested we stay at his house and gave Mike his home phone and email. Pretty cool.

Mike has a tendency to bump into people like that. While he was working at the music store just before we got married, he had developed a great rapport with Don Henly who would often come in to the store and ask for Mike. He would just hang out and talk sometimes.

It is funny the things I have discovered about my husband--bits and pieces at a time. For example, as I was cutting his hair one time, I was singing: "I turned the radio on/ I turned the radio up, and this woman was singing my son/ lovers in love and the other runs away/lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay..." and he's singing with me. And he knows every word. I had to stop what I was doing.
"Why do you know the words to a Lisa Loeb song?"
"She's a sweet girl."
"Okay?"
"Well I did some studio work for her when I was in high school."
Apparently he was on the call list for Sony studios when they needed a drummer. It is fun getting to know the man. He has all sorts of surprises.

In other news, Isaac's bike got stolen from school yesterday. The officer gave us hope that it would be recovered. He asked us if we wanted to file a police report. I said, "A rorice rerort?" No, I didn't, I just put that in there for Dove. Anyway, if it doesn't turn up by Friday, I will file an official report.

Time to do what I haven't done since February--pick up Isaac from school.

Distant light

Mike is out for the moment at a repair shop who can tell him how to fix my washing machine. It was working beautifully for a while. He replaced the belt on it. Now it is full of a load of my whites in their dirty water and totally stuck. It won't spin or drain. It just growls at me.

I have our home teachers coming in a few hours, I need to make dinner, and I need to clean up my disaster of a living room and hallway, which is all about laundry at present. It is so frustrating to not have what you need to do what you need to do. Hopefully, Mike will get his first paycheck in the next week or two. I could buy the whole Washer/dryer set in one paycheck, except that we owe some people money, and have a bunch of traffic violations to take care of. I am wanted in the state of Oklahoma for failure to appear, and because I applied for my TX driver's license name change they did the check on it and are going to revoke my driving privilege in the next couple of days here if I don't get it payed.

Still, I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I told my store manager at Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday that my last day of work would be my kids' last day at school because I was going to hang out with them for the summer--but I will be hanging out with you too! I am really looking forward to seeing you all again. The three people who were there when I made my announcement looked physically wounded when I told them. I really do like my job. Rosie said I totally ruined her day--like three times. I told her that if there were more hours in a day, I would work there just for the fun of it (and the continued discount, I suppose). She said I should stop with the sarcasm. I explained that I wasn't really being sarcastic. I hadn't had time to hate my job, or working in general, since I hadn't done it for 13 years. I really do like being with people. But this was never something I intended to be a career. Sure, I could fast track it with my management education background, but then I would have to work more than 20 hours a week, and not from 7-1 Monday through Friday. People complain about my "sweet schedule."

Look at all that I wrote. I must be avoiding what I really need to do. Better get to it. Keep moving forward and the light will grow brighter.

The world is upside down

Happy Easter!!!

We are doing our Saturday celebrating. All the kids are here. They have been through their baskets but we have not had our egg hunt. I really do not want to go outside because ITS SNOWING. IN TEXAS!! This is a Carson City easter--not a Texas easter. Did the world flip its axis while I was sleeping? It was 85 degrees two days ago. It has been spring for over a month.

The kids and I watched an eleven year old video of easter at Kim and Lee Joe's when they were still in the single wide. Amber and Kelsey is all there was. Emylie was in a carrier car seat and Isaac was two. He quite stubbornly refused to put the easter eggs in the basket. Instead, he proclaimed "Ball!" and threw the eggs into the air. Good reason to go with plastic. That was the year Amber's basket broke because she had so many eggs in it.

*Flash to Present*
Mike is supposed to leave on the fifteenth for his one-week orientation in Ft. Bragg, NC. He may have to wait until the 29th if his passport doesn't come through on time. He had to go to Houston this past week to get it expedited. It is going to be a busy week if he ends up being able to go next Sunday according to schedule.

Tuesday was Mikes Birthday. We went to Parma's Italian Resturant where he has fallen in love with the Chicken Cody. The alfredo sauce is fabulous. It is just a little mom and pop shop, hole in the wall. Then we went to Golf Galaxy and bought him a couple of shirts. He went to work out and we had cheesecake when he got back.

Tuesday was also Andrew's birthday, but he was with his dad. The kids had no school on Friday so we picked them up on Thursday.We celebrated it yesterday. We went to Downtown Dallas and saw and I.M. Pei fountain court, which it was too cold to enjoy, though Claire ran through the nearly waterless sidewalk when the timed fountains gushed all over her. We had to go back to the car and change her so she didn't get hypothermia. It was also very windy. The we went through a little asian art collection. Then we rode the Trolley for about 30 minutes.

Then we came home and had Jell-O cake--raspberry Jell-O poured into the white cake and chilled to set with chocolate pudding on top. I think I need to go get some. Because I am much more like my mom than I am like Devanie, I overlooked candles and ended up lighting 7 cinamon tealights for Andrew to blow out. Then we watched Harry Potter, by which time it was late, so most of us--the adults, anyway--were asleep by the time it was over.

Now it is time for an egg hunt--probably an indoor one.

I changed my setting so you can posts comments again.

Job at last, Job at last!

After four months of being unemployed, Mike has a job. He got the official offer this morning. He will be a Department of Defense contractor, doing network support, and who knows what other technical stuff--in Iraq. He will have to be there eleven months, with no setting foot on American soil so that his entire salary will be tax free. It will be a huge leap from where we are now. I will continue to work at Bed Bath and Beyonduntil I have satisfied my need to refurnish my home accessories, etc. We hope to find a new house and be moved-in before he gets back--before the kids start school again, since they will be with me next school year.

All of this means that I will not have Mike with me--again--for the family reunion. Neither will I have Mikey and Lexi. However, I had promised my kids when I was single that we would start saving money to go to Disney World. Mike was planning on going and bringing the other two kids. However, last summer they went to Disney land and SoCal with their mom, so they have been to Disney Land. I could take the four there before or after the family reunion and do the whole Magic Mountain, DL, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios thing. Anybody want to join me?

When Mike gets back, we would do the Florida trip.

Old pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids at the park by our house for your viewing enjoyment. The other boy in the tunnel is our next door neighbor, Vuk, whose parents are from Poland or something like that.

We had a great time on our trip. We went to Colorado (Denver) to the wedding of Mike's cousin, Kristy. She has been dating this guy off and on since they were in high school 15 years ago. He wasn't a member for most of that time, and she knew she wanted to be married in the temple. And now she has.

Colorado was beautiful. It was just beginning to be spring. There were crocuses and daffodils blooming in many a flower bed. The small piles of dirty snow in the parking lots were flowing into puddles. Mike has decided he wants to retire to Montana, where it will never get above 100 degrees (37.7 celsius for my international readers-ha!)

We met Mike's brother Matt, his wife Melanie, and their kids, Callie, Coleman, Cara who had her first birthday while we were there. We also met Mike's sister Marla and her nine-month-old daughter, Eva. Mike and I absolutely fell in love with her. She had the most enthusiastic smile for anyone who would look at her--maybe it was just us.

We went to the Denver Temple and took care of all the kids on the grounds, except for the two babies. Callie is the shorter blonde, and Coleman didn't want his picture taken. Andrew had some very specific ideas about how he wanted to be photographed.















We managed to get a flat tire and found out the trouble with having an all wheel drive vehicle. If you replace one, you really need to replace the rest, or you could mess up the differential, and eventually--soon even--have to replace the whole system.

By the way, my washing machine, that did not work for over a month has been repaired by my magnificent husband. He replaced the belt on it. He felt good about himself, and I felt all warm and tingly about him. I spent the days leading up to our vacation doing laundry. It seemed pretty endless. Now I have vacation clothes to wash. The joy of it is; I CAN! Life is good.

More breaking news pending. Stay tuned

Summer planning

Devanie posted about the plans for the family reunion. I commented on it. for those who haven't seen it, here it what I am thinking.

As far as the sealing, I think Friday afternoon would be better so that it doesn't overshadow Hailey's baptism. I was also thinking about how much fun I have dancing with my husband--or even dancing with myself--oh, oh, a-oh--and wouldn't it be great if we had a place where we could just turn on some music and yak and snack with each other while the kids dance like goobers and the gooberest best of us join them.

I don't know how many will be able to stay for that full week, but even it the Leavitts had to come back for the second weekend, its only like four hours away, right? I would be delightfully shocked if Leonard stayed for the whole time, don't know if Thomas would be able to get the full time off. If he could though, I nominate him as the sound man. If not, my husband is more than capable. It just isn't customary for the groom be the sound man. Don't know if we have anyone who would be willing to be the official photographer.

By the way, I lost my disc of the family reunion pictures, which is rather an aggravation. I would be overjoyed if someone could get a copy for me. I can make contact with aunts and uncles for further arrangements, since Devanie was asking.

Love y'all

Spring is here!

Last week I saw a Robin redbreast. They are migrating in east Texas. I am confident that we will have no more freezes. I planted some bulbs last week and expect to see them peek their blades up soon. The weather has been gorgeous for the past week except for two days ago when a horrid wind brought in dust from west Texas and made the sky brown for a couple of hours. A number of our neighbors have pieces of their fence missing. God pruned our trees and gave us some firewood with all the limbs that broke off in our front yard. The wind was just ridiculous. Come to think of it, it felt like an afternoon in Washoe Valley--or stagecoach--except their were trees to get their limbs broken.

I have two more days left of my night shift. It has been pretty easy to get through the nights. since the first week I haven't been drowsy during shift at all. I have had a lot of fun with the people on the team. Sometimes I get in trouble for talking too much--it is kind of like kindergarten that way--because if we are talking, we can't be counting. They give out awards for the most units scanned and for the most accurate scan of a $5 gift card for a convienience or fast food place. I have no hope of recieving such a thing.

Numbers and I just don't get along. When I took accounting, I would often have the right numbers in the right places but when I checked them, the columns never totalled like they were supposed to. It didn't matter if I was using my head or a calculator, it just didn't come up. I don't know what my actual figures are, but I know that whether I am auditing a section or someone is auditing a section I scanned, at least two per night of each fail to match up.

Time to get dinner made so I can eat before American Idol and be ready to leave for work as soon as it is over.

Love y'all!

One Down 2 to Go

I make it through my first week of night shift. We are busy throughout the night, and most of the nights we got out early than expected, so we went home about the time everyone was dragging. They have bowls of candy at every supervisors station to keep our energy up, I think is the premise. For me it totally backfired because I had too much of it the first night, and by the second night, I had a major sore throat with muscle fatigue and chills. I worked a lot slower than some of the others, but I kept on working. I pumped supplements and fluid and slept the entire day and felt better when it came time to work that night. I am still phlegmming and fighting, but I continue to do what needs to be done.

I mentioned to one of the guys I am working with that I had too much candy and, hence a sore throat. He noticed the same thing, himself a day later. He already knew about how high sugar content in foods immobilizes the immune system. I asked him how he knew. He learned it in a College biology class. Something to think about for those fighting illness. Still, there are caramel squares in the candy dish. How can I not take advantage of their availability?

I just need to make it through the next two weeks of nights. I think it will be just fine. I am kind of irritated, though because we are not getting overtime like they said I would. Our team is just too efficient. There will be less people on it this week. Maybe it will be harder and take longer.

Midnight Blogger

It is 12:21 as I begin my blog. I hope to stay up for some number of hours more. Tomorrow night, for the first time in my life, I work a night shift. I will be doing that for three weeks. I volunteered for the Bed Bath and Beyond inventory team. It pays overtime, and still allows me to be home when my kids are here--most of all it is only temporary.

I was hired part time, but I will have been paid overtime for two consecutive pay periods already because they need a lot of hours for inventory prep. I have been waking up at 4am for nearly 3 weeks already. I either work 5-3 of 6-3. I actually advocate 5 because, to me, there is no difference. 7 is a much better deal, because then I get to wake up my son for school. 8 is great because I get to wake him up AND take him to school, and make it to work with time to spare.

Extra hours and extra money is critical at this point, since Mike is still unemployed. We are excited however at some of the prospects that are developing. He has had a whole series of successful interviews with Microsoft. The benefits there are awesome.

For the first time since New Year's all the kids were here together. Speaking of New Years, Christmas was a disappointment to me. My kids were here until Christmas eve morning. Mike and I spent Christmas eve alone--which was actually really nice--and then his kids were here Christmas afternoon. New Year's eve I wanted to have a party for all the kids, including some friends over, but I didn't have time to organize it. By that night I was absolutely exhausted and we let the kids celebrate while we slept. The previous night, he and I had been up until 3am at a 25th wedding anniversary ball, put on by Theresa who took me on the cruise last spring. Mike and I had a fabulous time together. We laughed and he got along great with the rest of the cruise gang. We will certainly be joining them on future cruises. More than anything, I love falling in love with my husband. I was dancing like a crazy woman--forgetting that I was not 17 at a church dance. When they started playing Footloose, and my husband joined me like a fool, everyone knew we were a match made in heaven.

This weekend there was a primary activity. After that, we tried to get the kids to watch Superman Returns with us (11:30am) because it had to be returned. Nobody wanted to. They all wanted to go to the park, or a friend's house or skateboarding. It was a gorgeous day, so we didn't force them to watch TV. One child asked to play the xbox, another asked to play world of warcraft. Both were denied. We finally watched the movie at 6:00. Two of the kids were out before the first 1/2 hour of the movie. It was a nice weekend.

Cousin Joe

I don't know if Dad talked to any of the sibs yet, but this is what he sent me. Thought I would share. I gave him all of my family history research and he has gone to town with it. Here's the scoop:
"Here is what I found following the Ransom line. You are the third cousin 6 times removed of Joseph Smith Jr., The Prophet. The common ancestor is John Mack b. 6 Mar 1653 in Inverness, Scotland. Came to Massachusetts and married Sarah Bagley in 1681, Died in Lyme, Connecticut.

Here's how it works. You> Leland G. Lay Jr.> Pauline D. Downing > Mary E. Ransom >Marion Norman Ransom > Gustavus Ransom > Meritt Ransom> Theophilus Ransom > Lydia Mack Lord > Deborah Mack> John Mack. i.e. your 8th great grandfather. That makes your children his 3rd cousins 7 times removed.

Joseph Smith Jr. > Lucy Mack > Solomon Mack > Ebenezer Mack > John Mack i.e. his 2nd Great Grandfather."

I have discovered rulers of nations and historically notable figures in my family research. At first it was really cool. Then it was apparent that it is pretty common. Everybody's related to famous figures--even those who are revered. Still, at times like this, it is like I become more aware of the blood moving in my veins and I more acutely recognize the dignity of it. But upon deeper reflection, it is only a weak mortal awareness of my divinity as a daughter of the Eternal Father and my infinite potential as such.

Something to think about.

My Prayers Aren't Enough

My job is going great. I fold towels masterfully. I enjoy being with people. I nearly have the register down. My first two days on the register, only two people, total paid cash. Funny world. I work from 7-1 or 2, or 8-2 or 3 with the weekends of. For that I get about $500 per 2 week period.

On the other hand, life is pouring poop. Mike lost his job, but has 3 weeks of severance pay. This happened two weeks ago. Mike is at a job interview now. I don't think it is the best option for him. He does have a few other alternatives. Still, it is Christmas, our rent is more than we can really afford. My washing machine went out and my dryer eats clothes, leaving black marks or holes. I got a ticket on the way to Missouri (only because I was being really careful and trying not to get a ticket) that needs to be paid tomorrow. Isaac is not doing really well with school and is still having trouble making friends, nor is he getting along well with his step-dad.

What it amounts to is, my prayers are not enough. Please fast and pray for Isaac and Mike. I like to paint a sunny world, but sometimes storms wash away the paint before it dries. Still, the storms bring heaven's rain. Please fast for us.

Thank you.

Happy Holidays

I had a happy holiday. It wasn't Christmas. But it was a holiday--a shortened term for holy day. Holy days make me think of the God I love and Christ who shows God's love by his life, sacrifice, and continuing revelation. That is something to give thanks for. I had a happy Givingthanks day. Short attention span people go do something else now and come back tomorrow. I won't post anything new before then, I promise. Savor my post one paragraph at a time. Save some for later. You never know when you will get another. I went to Missouri, where Mike's parents live for Thanksgiving. We had a little cold snap, but no snow--like we did at Devanie's last year. The kids were hoping. The weather was absolutely perfect, though. Mike's parents live 1/2 mile from the temple site at Far West, which is now labeled Cameron, MO. They have a store with plans to develop acoomodations for retreats and reunions. Check out their website. farwesthistorical.org They have over 40 acres of land and two ponds, which the kids had a blast exploring.

I took some cell phone pictures, but I think the kids deleted some. As you can see, they did not delete all the one's they took. Many of them had cell phones (without service) to play games on for the ride. I shared mine to keep them occupied. That is the price I pay.
There are a few other church historical sites close by. Liberty Jail is about 50 minutes from Far West (NOT horse and buggy time, mind you). Adam-ondi-ahman is 30 minutes. I took some great pictures there, but not with my cell phone because by then, the battery was dead from the kids playing on it. I got one, at least. We didn't make it to Haun's Mill, which is one of the closest things, but we will be back again.

Mike's dad is an airline pilot. He was in Jerusalem at the beginning of the week. He came home at lunch time on Thanksgiving. Mike deep fried the turkey and it only took an hour and 1/2. I did a lot of the rest because Mike's mom (Consie) had to go pick up Dad (Craig). We had all the usual except that instead of candied yams, we deep fried the sweet potatoes as well--french fry style. They were most excellent delicious with creamed butter and brown sugar to dip it in. We might be rednecks.

Some of Craig and Consie's friends came over to visit for a little while. Isaac learned some of the basics of football spectatorship. We were in a Broncos household an hour away from Kansas City, where the Broncos and Chiefs were playing. Mike found out the tickets were ridiculously cheap, but nobody thought ahead on that one.

All the days before Thanksgiving--we got there Saturday evening--I was helping Consie unpack and orgainze because she has had limited time to do that since she moved (mid-September). I enjoyed being able to help. We get along great.

In other news:
I got back on Friday night and went into my first full day of work on Saturday. I am settling in and getting more confident about meeting expectations. Saturday I learned how to fold towels. I bet you thought I knew. Well, anyone can fold a towel, but it takes a professional to FOLD TOWELS. How you fold it is different, depending on where the towel goes. Today was my first day at the cash register. I did about 4 returns and another 20 checkouts. It was funny when, after about 10, someone handed me cash. I had to ask what to do with it. She was the only one all day at my register. The rest of the time I was folding towels from the stockroom to put out front. That is the job I was hired for. When I say I worked today, that is probably what I did. I'll let you know if there is anything drastically different.

Having a job has made doing my homework much more difficult. On monday, after having gotten back from the trip, I had a four page paper and a test due before midnight, for which I had done zero reading or research prior. Saturday I managed to finnish up my posting assignments. In addition, Isaac had a history research paper that was due as well. That is why you did not get this blog-post any sooner. This week I have an 8-page term paper and 6 required postings.

And finally, with all my vacation laundry, as well as laundry from the days leading up to it, and limited work wardrobe, it was really important to do wash. after the second load, my agitator on my washing machine was gone. I took a load to my visiting teacher's house just down the road. I have more to do tonight.

I should have been doing homework all this time. Now I have to get some food. We have been scrounging since we got back. See if you can't find something in there to comment on. Love y'all!

New Job

I started a new job today. 3 hours of orientation and training videos. Where? Oh Bed Bath and Beyond. It should be a great place to work. They are into participative management and have a good corporate culture. (These are things I have learned to value in my college classes--I am studying business management.) I have to wait 14 days for the employee discount of 20% which is a bummer because we really want a comforter now. I have it picked out. It will be a jaquard. I won't really start work, though until I have returned from my trip because of how the training schedule works. It should be fun. I am looking forward to it.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

I opened the blinds and turned on all the lights and got a slightly better picture with my cell phone so I could show you what I did this last weekend.

The upcoming weekend we will be going on our first family road trip. We are going to Missouri for Thanksgiving with Mike's parents. This is the reason we had to have the 8 passenger van. Because I like having my decorations up at Thanksgiving, (since I am not married to a man who insists that Christmas does not start until after his birthday on December 7th) and I will not be here next weekend, and I had a blast at RS Super Saturday and immediately wanted to implement my inspiration, I did it over the weekend.

Outdoor Use Only

I learned that cell phone pictures are best in bright daylight. This weekend we celebrated Emylie's birthday. I got a couple of lousy pictures with my cell phone. I have posted one just to prove it really happened and to demonstrate the quality of low-light, low resolution images, or lack thereof.

We did not have an all-out, invite-your-friends-over party, but we did invite a couple--Jeff and Mikki Tulley-- who have a little girl that Lexi and Emylie adore. The couple was in Mike's old ward. They taught Emylie and Lexi's class. Emylie visited twice, so she was familiar with them. They moved into our new ward about the same time we did. Everyone had a great time. Well, better not get past two paragraphs, I might loose someone, but perhaps pictures will add interest. Janika Out

Car Update

For those who care, I changed the battery on my van--Okay, my dear, wonderful husband did--and it has no more problems starting. I gave it an oil change--okay, the mechanic did with my dear husband's money. And I repaired the tire that had a nail in it--okay, the guy at discount tire did it at my dear husband's suggestion--for free.

Life is good. Hope I didn't bore you with a long, gabby post.

Sick Solutions

Everyone keeps talking about the kids getting sick. Devanie was complaining about the doctors always telling her the same thing and charging her $30 (I assume that is a co-pay).

Doctor angst is what turned me to more natural methods of easing disease. I was sick of hearing the same thing from them all the time. When I was pregnant, the only answer was, "that's normal." I was not looking to be part of the crowd. I wanted to understand what was going on. I expected the doctor to be an educator. All they said was, "If it bothers you, take some tylenol." I learned nothing from them.

Now when my kids start to get sick, I give them collodial silver and/or echinacea. Sometimes I have used Sambucol for kids from Nature's Way. I pump them with fluid (just water with a little sodium chlorite, not gatorade or 7 up). For congestion, they get Vicks rubbed on their chest and a vaporizer at night. Saline nose spray a couple of times during the day (with the other things above). I will also do scalp and face massage that I learned in beauty school. Press the pressure points between the bridge of the nose and the eyes, work out in tiny circles with fingertips along the eyebrow and just under it. Work around the eye. Gently bring fingers to the sides of the base of the nose. Hold and press. Move down to the sides of the mouth. Hold and press. I just did a quick search for a diagram to help you visualize.

Andrew is really susceptible to pneumonia. I do this even when it as advanced as wheezing in his lungs. When that happens, I also break up the gunk in the lungs by firmly patting his back with my hand cupped. When he was in the hospital with it, the nurses did that with a thing that looked like a cup with a rubber rim and a knob on the bottom.

When we were children, the doctors told mom what to do with an ear infection (antibiotics were for things like pneumonia and scarlet fever). Put a little alcohol in the ears, plug it with a cotton ball. To loosen up the gunk and ease the pain, apply a hot water bottle (or a warm rag in a ziploc bag).

For fevers, take a tepid bath. It doesn't surpress the bodys immune response like drugs. Devanie and the twins are probably too young to remember mom cramming everybody into the doctors office all at once for a group rate. Mom stopped taking us to the doctor after she realized she was experienced enough to diagnose and treat her children. She, too relized it was always going to be the same thing. If my kids have something that hangs on and keeps getting worse for four days, then I will take them in. I mean, they have to have a high fever that keeps coming back. I don't even give them tylenol unless it is nearly 102. Cool rag on the forehead first. Cool water to drink.

For all lingering illness, or any time a fever gets over 102, a preisthood blessing is a must. One time Claire had a fever and 3 different skin infections at the same time--one bacterial, one viral, and one combination (after sleeping outside and being majorly bitten by mosquitoes). One of those was "untreatable in children" with a 3-6 month recovery time. After a blessing, and some natural treatments, she was clear in three days. (Emylie contracted the 3-6 month skin infection, had no blessing, and had it for a year. I had it for 3 months.)

My kids have no more than 2 sick days a year usually. Emylie has had perfect attendance. I never worry about driking and eating after others--we share germs freely--and the family never takes more than a week to cycle through the sickness. I also never use antibacterial soaps of cleaners. Alcohol and H2O3 do the job fine. I have noticed that the only time we really have a problem is after a weekend of junk food. Those who have been battling sickness, you can expect a resurgence after Hall0ween.

I am not promoting or getting paid for any company's products anymore, so this isn't a plug for myself. I just want my family and friends to be healthy and happy, and I don't want them to throw their money at ineffective solutions. It is what works for me and my cheapskate self. Take it for what its worth. Hope it helps.