Still Here

Oh what, me?  Yeah, I'm still here, STILL coughing and STILL peeing.  Whatever.  However, I'd like to take a moment to give Thanks to Poise Pads for saving my life.  Ladies and gents, those fabulous little hourglass shaped mattress pads/diapers are some good stuff.  I have felt free to cough to my hearts content, just knowing that nothing would get wet.  Thanks to Julie for bringing those home to me.

Seriously though.....the cough is getting better, and the wetting less frequent, but I'm REALLY ready to be over the freaking cough and snot situation.  Two weeks is really quite long enough, don't you think?  Yeah, me too.  In the meantime, here is what has gone down around here.

**Thanksgiving was a delightful day of family, food and fun.  Won't lie, my mashed potatos were perfection.....an HOUR too early.  So, by the time we made it to dinner, and everyone was eating, the stupid things had burned on the bottom in the pan.  LAME!  I have a real issue with timing food prep.  I suck at it.  Oh well.  The rest of the food was perfect and delish. Tierra (the new bride) brought baked Mac'N Cheese that may or may not have been to die for.  HOLY CRAP!  So freaking good.  Between the stuffing, potatos, rolls, mac n cheese and pretzel jello (Heaven on earth) it was a carb lovers paradise.  I literally ate a teeny tiny piece of ham and I'm fairly sure that was my only protein of the day.  OOPS!  Oh wait, I had deviled eggs, got me some protein there as well.  Anywho, not sure why, but the day seemed to fly by WAY faster than usual.  We all ate, visited and laughed and then it turned into our annual singing/performing party at the piano.  Even though I was sick and losing my voice, I was forced into two duets.  So, noone can say I didn't do my part.

That day, whilst perusing the Black Friday ads only one thing grabbed my attention....bikes at Walmart for 35 bones.  I knew I'd have to brave it, if my kids were gonna have anything good for Christmas.

Left the parentals around 6 p.m. and headed home.  Then around 9 p.m. the good times began.

**At 9:00 Jer, Sabrea and I headed out for Wal-Mart (thank HEAVENS for Sabrea coming).  We really had NO idea what to expect.  WOW!  What a crazy town that was.  We walked into the store, not so bad, then you look down the main aisles and it's insanity of people all hovering around the pallet of things they are there to get.  Luckily the bikes were down at the very end by the garden center door.  When we got there it was pretty calm and nice around the bikes.  I procured a spot right next to a very nice man and the bikes I wanted.  I posted Sabrea at the boy bikes, and we waited.  At this point Jer was already starting to have a panic attack because he can't handle such mass amounts of people. Plus it was a total fire hazard.  No way to get around anything.  I can see how people get trampled.  Right, so long story short, at about 9:40 they came by and cut the plastic off the pallets and then said "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING OR YOU'LL GET KICKED OUT."  Ridiculous.  Then at 9:57 a voice came over the loud speaker and said "Let the shopping begin."  People, I kid you not, it sounded like a bomb went off in there.  It was pure and utter mayhem.  One minute, calm, orderly, nice....the next, screaming, grabbing, reaching, pulling.  I was RIGHT next to the bikes and still had to fight for it.  Sabrea had to literally push a woman off of her who was trying to steal her bike.  Then, we got our bikes, and it was worse, because you could literally NOT move in any direction.  Wish I could truly explain the insanity of that moment.  At this point Jere and Sabrea were in full blown anxiety attacks.  I thought Jere was gonna lose it completely. And, if you ask either of them (dramatical at best) they "almost died." hahaha  So, I sent them out of the store, told them to go home and I'd call when I was done.  Thankfully, I got into the first line I could and I was purchased and OUT of the store by 10:30.  So, in the grand scheme of things, not THAT bad.  BUT, those moments of mayhem really were scarey.

**Finished my Black Friday shopping the next morning at 10:00- at Target.  Noone was around, so calm and nice.  I got exactly what I was looking for and no hassle.  As it turns out, my kids will have a perfectly lovely Christmas, thanks to a few Black Friday deals and my dear parents who are generous.

**Stayed up until 4 a.m. Friday morning, NOT shopping but cleaning and decorating my house for Christmas.  Came home from Target on Friday morning and spent the entire rest of the day finishing cleaning and decorating.  My house is a Christmas/Winter Wonderland and it looks great.

**Took until Sunday to get the tree up and decorated, but well worth it.  It's in front of our big front window and looks so pretty sparkling from the street.

**Friday evening the kids got to participate in a special "lighting" ceremony for some neighbors down the road.  Their house makes the Grizwolds look tame.  No really, it is a sight to behold. Every year they do their annual lighting ceremony and the neighborhood shows up and has hot chocolate and candy canes and visits.  It was really fun, and the kids felt so cool getting to be a part of that.

**Maggie woke up Saturday morning with pink eye in both eyes.  AWESOME!  Max had it slightly  in one eye as well.  I was NOT gonna mess around with that, so I packed the kids up and off to Urgent Care we went.  TWO hours later we had a prescription for eye drops, AND for strep.  Yes, apparently my stealth daughter had been carrying strep for some time and failed to ever act sick or mention any throat issues.  CRAZY!  Did you know strep has a "smell"?  Apparently it does.  The Doctor said, "I smelled it on her before I tested and she came back positive."  I said "Smelled?"  "Do you mean that foul breath she's been sporting for a week, which is somewhere a mix between she licked a  rancid garbage can and then ate poop pancakes for breakfast is STREP smell?"  After the doctor stopped laughing, she said yes.  So, we were all given prescriptions to fight Strep as well.  Then I felt like I needed to call my entire family and apologize if any were exposed and got sick, as apparently my child was walking around with a highly contagious disease for some time.  On  one hand I'm grateful that my kids are "easy" sick kids, on the other.....how are they so wierd that they never act sick.  In spite of it all, they still bounced off the walls, ran around and screamed like banshees.  While I DID feel crappy and just wanted to lay in bed and convelesce.

**Jere contracted the sick and was pretty miserable for a day or two, but is now just fine.  Julie waited until the END of this week to get it and took it a step further with bronchitus.  She's an overachiever I guess.

**I have subbed a copious amount of hours at MCC in November, and I've loved it.  Not only has it been a life saver monetarily, but it's just fun for me to work with the college kids.  Thank goodness for my parents and Jeres Mom for all the hours of babysitting they've done.  Couldn't do it without them.

**Already had church parties, and the official party season has begun.  My calendar is crazy full with different parties, events, recitals, etc for the season.  I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.

**Looking forward to taking the kids to the Polar Express (courtesy of Gramma Peg) on the 16th. Should be really fun, and they're really excited for it.

**Heading back to baby doctor on Monday morning.  Will be BEGGING them to please give me another ultrasound, because I really MUST know what I'm having.

**Baby has finally started to move, and curiously enough, what it seems to respond to most is male voices singing.  When I was subbing lessons and class, when a guy would sing, baby would start moving and kicking.  One guy in particular, two different times, the most movement I've felt happened when he sang.  So strange, yet cool.

And with that, I must get up and pee before the pee gets me first.  Then, it's time to think about getting ready for the day and for church.

Happy Sabbath all.