Painting. . . . .

Just a quick note to say that I started painting in the game room yesterday. When I gave away the desks earlier this week I had to disconnect my computer upstairs and because I knew I was going to start painting I haven't connected back up there yet (that plus the fact I don't have a desk to sit it on right now!). I'm using my laptop downstairs for posting to my blog, but I don't have Outlook Express on here which is what I use to check my email. So if anyone has emailed me in the past few days, that is the reason I haven't replied yet, cos I haven't seen it!

I hope to finish the painting today (yes I have taken before and after pics) :-) But we'll be going to church first then probably lunch with my inlaws, so I won't make a start on it til after 2pm today. Tomorrow I hope to go to IKEA and buy 2 small desks that I know I want for me and Kristen. Then I'll have my email back to normal.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday.

That reminds me. . . . . .

I know last month I forgot to mention BSE day at the beginning of the month, and here we are already the first week of February over with and I still haven't mentioned it! So, let me mention it now - BSE day! Ladies, when did you last do a 'breast self-exam' ? Do yourself a favor, after you've read this just take a couple of minutes to go to your bedroom and do a BSE. Early detection saves lives.

This morning I am going to the Dr's for a repeat pap test! My last test had a-typical cells again so I have to have another check up. I'm praying for clear results and I'd appreciate your prayers too. Thankfully it's not something that I worry too much about. That wasn't the case a few years ago when I got my first 'abnormal' test result, and when I called the Dr about it I was told just to reschedule in 6 months. I was a nut case back then! Totally freaked out to put it mildly. Kristen was only 2 at the time and I instantly thought things like "by the time she is 3 will she still have a mommy"! Oh goodness, when I think back to then and the panic I was feeling, not a nice thing at all. I was so sick with worry I literally felt nauseous in the mornings. This thankfully only went on for about 3 days.

Then I told myself this was crazy, I couldn't live like this for the next 6 months. And right then and there I knew what I had to do - Give it to God! I prayed about it and told God I was handing Him this burden. His word tells us that he will bear our burdens, and this was something I needed Him to carry for me, because I couldn't carry it alone. The peace I felt after praying was amazing. I got through those next 6 months without hardly thinking of the pap results, and when I went for the repeat test, it came back clear. Since then, over the past 5 years, I've had abnormal and clear results. I've done some reading on line (here is a good article on a-typical pap results, if anyone is interested.) and I know there is no need to worry at this stage. And so long as I keep up with regular tests I know everything will be fine.

OK, sorry to waffle on a bit there, but I just felt like sharing.... I won't get results back for a week or two, but I'll keep you posted!

How Hard Can It Be?

Seriously, you'd think if you were giving stuff away - ***FREE*** - that it wouldn't be that difficult! In my quest to get the game room cleared out so I can start painting it, my next task was to get rid of this big (ugly) office furniture! And like the entertainment center, I don't want money for it, I just want it OUT of my house!

With this in mind, I turned once again to Craig's List! Yesterday I put the details and some pictures on there about these desks. We actually have another two like these shown in the picture. I have already dismantled them in the attempt to make a little more room and give me an idea of the space I have in the game room. Within minutes I got a call from a lady who said she could come pick these up at 8pm last night, once her husband got off work. I got other calls soon after that and a couple of emails. I took the ad off Craig's List 10 minutes later, so that I wasn't inundated with phone calls. Long story short - the lady turned up last night with her husband and their truck. Problem? Their truck had a 'lid' on the back so the stuff wouldn't fit in there (and not for the want of trying). So after about 20 minutes they gave up and said they didn't want to take the stuff!!!!!

So I got on the phone to the 'next in line' only they didn't pick up. So then I emailed a lady who had said she was interested in the desks if I still had them. As of 12 noon today she still hasn't emailed me back or called me.

I just got home from my 2 hours at the church library, and because there was no email response from this woman, I call the lady that I tried to call last night. Still no reply but her voice mail gives a cell #. I call the cell # and still no reply to that. So I finally just email the last lady on my list.... and while I was typing this the phone rings! It was her, and yes she can come tonight to pick the desks up . . . . . Hallelujah!

OK, fingers crossed she actually does want them. Now I'm off out again to get a couple of things at the store then go pick up Kristen.

And my weekend tasks? Pick paint for the game room - YAY! :-)

One last day.....

I'm missing bible study today because Kristen is still off school. Sue asked why the kids were off - the school calendar says it's for 'staff development', so there ya go. Today is the last day and tomorrow we'll be back to normal. Can't say I'm looking forward to that! I've gotten spoiled this week and slept til 8am every day! Kristen has been getting up at 7 and coming downstairs to watch cartoons!! In some ways I've felt like a neglectful mother, but then part of me says it's only 3 days so just enjoy it. She's at an age where she's totally safe to come downstairs for an hour on her own. And if she wants breakfast she usually will come wake me up!

I feel like I've needed the extra sleep what with these allergies! I still can't breath and I can't smell or taste anything. I'm so stuffed up today and Claritin is doing nothing for me. I've gone ahead and re-filled my prescription for Nasonex. I always use Nasonex but I ran out recently and cos I was taking Claritin-D which seemed to help the stuffiness I never got around to ordering more. Big mistake as I am figuring out now. I think it's the Nasonex at this time of year that helps me keep a clear head. My concern at this point though is that I am so stuffed up the Nasonex won't work and I'll have to go to the Dr for a prescription of steroids to give me a 'jump start' so to speak.

I have a Dr appointment on Friday but that is for my repeat pap, so I know I won't be able to do anything about the allergies at that time. I can ask her about it but I know I'll be told I have to make another appointment cos I've been told before that the Dr can't see me a 'sick' appointment and a 'repeat' appointment at the same time. Insurance silliness, no doubt.

It's piano lesson today. We'll leave here at 4pm. Other than that Kristen is just playing next door with Connor again and I'm taking it easy in doors. It turned cold today, a high of only 60 forecast. Might not sound cold to you, but after nearly 80 yesterday it's a big difference to me - my heating's back on!

Allergies!

These allergies are driving me nuts! Despite taking the Claritin-D every 24 hours I am still stuffed up and can hardly breath. Can't taste or smell much either and that drives me crazy! There's nothing worse than eating something when you can't taste it - it feels like you haven't eaten at all, it's so frustrating.

I was just sorting some papers out in Jason's office and I'm down on the floor with my knees bent. For some reason I've never been able to sit with my knees bent for very long, and when I stand up too quickly I feel light headed and a little dizzy - more so now when I'm really stuffed up. So I've just sat down on the couch for a minute to rest! Kristen is over at Connor's right now. The weather has turned very warm, I think it will be about 80 again today. Thunder and showers are forecast in the next day or so - not surprising with this heat. I had to put the a/c on again last night because I just get so hot when I sleep and it actually wakes me up! It seems crazy that it's only just February and here I am sweating during the night with the ceiling fan going and the a/c on like it's the height of Summer!

We all had a nice quiet day yesterday while Jason was off work. He bought a new game for the Wii and played with Kristen for a while on it. It is only a one player game but they take turns to play and Kristen likes to watch a lot as her Daddy tries to solve the puzzles and problems on it - often times she's telling him how to do something! :-)

Today I am once again catching up with laundry and housework, and squeezing in a little knitting as usual ;-) One more day off school tomorrow then it's back to early rising at 6am on Thursday. I get quite used to these days off school and find myself going to bed later and getting up later - not a good habit to get into really.

OK, nuff waffling from me today. Have a good one, whatever you're doing - until next time!

Boring Posts!

I feel like my posts have seemed boring of late because I've nothing to blog about and not even any photos to share. But I do still like to try and update when I have the time, even if there's nothing exciting to report.

Kristen is back to feeling 100%, I'm happy to say. Thank goodness that whatever she had came and went pretty quickly. I hate when she has a tummy bug. There's nothing worse than seeing the panic in her face when she throws up! We've been pretty lucky so far this season (knock on wood!) and none of us have been sick yet, until this small episode. Hopefully we'll get through the rest of the winter season without any other illnesses. The only thing bothering me right now are allergies. I can't believe how much I'm affected this year. Cedar Fever is rampant here right now and it seems to be really bothering me this year. I'm taking Claritin-D every day just to help me breath, but the past few days my throat has been scratchy and I'm so 'clogged' up, like I have post-nasal drip or something I still feel very stuffy and my head and face ache :-( Not much I can do about it but persevere through it. Some people have it much worse.

Jason is staying off work today. He was working Friday (and flying home) for a total of 16 hours, so he's taken today off. He's just popped out to the bank and the game store and when he gets back I'll pop out to get the weekly groceries in. I'll just be doing laundry and clearing up a bit later and taking it easy. To be honest, with these allergies I don't have the energy to do much more than that.

I got off track last week with my healthy eating so I've planned our meals out for the week and hope to jump back on our healthy eating plan. That's it from me today, hope the start of your week is going well.

Sick for a day. . . .

It's not me! Kristen is the one that's sick, or at least she was yesterday. She was fine during the morning, but she was playing outside with Connor in the afternoon while Jason and I were out there washing our cars, and she started complaining that her tummy hurt. I thought she might just have gas, which is often the case for her and the pain in her tummy passes quickly, but by late afternoon she still wasn't feeling good and lay on the sofa when we came indoors.

She wanted to go to bed at 7pm, but then while I was upstairs with her she started crying a little saying her tummy really hurt. I didn't want to leave her alone and then have her throw up all over the bed (even though I had a dish right by her!) so I brought her downstairs again and lay her back on the sofa. Not long after that she threw up (thankfully in the dish, sorry if that's too much inf0). Then she went to sleep. At 10.30pm Jason carried her up to our bed and he slept in the spare room so I could be with her all night incase she was sick again. Thankfully she slept all night and woke up at 7.50am this morning feeling much better. She didn't eat much all day yesterday so I'm sure she's a little weak this morning but she's had some toast and seems pretty much back to normal. Hopefully it was a quick 24 hour bug and it's already out of her system.

Jason arrived home safe and well late Friday night (actually Saturday morning at 1am!). He seems to have the sniffles but it's more due to the dry Denver air than cold symptoms. This happens to him every time he goes to Denver. His nose gets very dry but then seems to overcompensate for that and starts 'streaming' and it gives him a cough too. Actually I seem to have similar symptoms right now too - it's all down to allergies (for both of us). I thought I was coming down with a cold round about Thursday when my throat started getting dry and scratchy and my nose was really blocked dispite taking Claritin-D every day (like I have been doing for weeks). Cedar Fever is really bad here right now but what puzzles me is that it's never bothered me in the 3 years we've lived in Texas until now - if indeed that's what it is that's bothering me, I really don't know for sure?

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day with a high of 71 :-) As I mentioned earlier we were outside washing our cars because it was so nice and warm. I love the cul-de-sac we live in. There's kids for Kristen to play with, and with a total of just 4 houses it's a really cozy and friendly place. Today is supposed to be even nicer, getting up to 78 degrees, although that's hard to imagine at the minute because it's pretty overcast and grey out there!

Well I better jump off here today. Oh, it's Superbowl tonight isn't it? We aren't big football fans but I'm sure we'll be watching it. What are your plans for the big night? Anyone having a Superbowl party?