Memorial Day

Mama Lou went to Amelia Island and we went for the day.

Lesson in Lemons

Husband and I have "altered" our diet and we are very aware of everything we eat these days. I am having a problem drinking my water so I bought a lemon to slice to add to it.

Yesterday I had cut the lemon up and was cooking dinner while the children finished their homework. I went to load the dishwasher and saw four lemon wedges in the bottom of the sink. I went nuts. "Who sucked four lemons and put them in the sink?" I had three little children starring at me with big green eyes. "Not me. Not me. Not me." Daughter #1 said "I think Harley (Cockapoo) did it."

"Are your Serious? I just cut these up so I would force myself to drink water and I want to know who ate them?" This little scene went on for several minutes until it hit me. Husband had come home for lunch and I saw he had a Styrofoam cup with fruit juice in it. I busted out laughing. "I am so sorry guys. Mommy knows what happened and I am so sorry I accused you of doing something you did not do." With big smiles and giggles they asked if Harley ate them? No, your Daddy did it... They thought it was so funny that Daddy ate my lemons. I explained that he had "lunch" with his Dad and two brothers and only had ice water with lemon in it and then came home to really eat. He poured the lemons out and got the juice. They just howled at the thought that I was mad at their Daddy for sucking lemons and throwing them in the sink!

Then of course, since I had made a fool out of myself Daughter #2 (blue) said "Are you going to put that on your blog?" - YES I AM MISS PRISSY- NOW GO!!!

Where Have You Been?

Every day has been jammed packed! Today I went to the worse place ever - Wal-Mart. I promised myself I would not step foot in there after Thanksgiving and I did today. It was crazy. The parking lot alone should have stopped me from entering the store.

I did find myself at Jaque-Penney's using my $10 off any purchase of $10 or more! Lucky me, my Mom had given me two additional coupons and I got $30 for FREE!! I know this blog is not about savings anymore, but it is about ME and I like to save money!!! SO, what did I buy? Socks and Underwear for a family that my HomeTeam is helping for Christmas! Not real exciting, but good quality for very little money!!!

We celebrated Christmas tonight with our Church! It was a great meal and lots of fun games! They hosted off site and everyone had a great time! I laughed so hard at our table! My hometeam characters are great!

Last night Husband came home real early and we ate dinner then celebrated his birthday! I scored big!! I got him a fancy weather-clock (that we currently cannot get to work, but it sure looks neat). He got a great sweatshirt, a new razor and a sweater! Hopefully I made up for a lousy anniversary gift. Actually anything would have beat that since I did not give him anything. I know...what was I thinking? Obviously I was not.

My Mom is coming down Thursday to help me fold laundry and get caught up. Plus I have been such a bad daughter and I have only seen her once in the last two weeks since her surgery.

Today I went on a field trip to our local museum. I will get to do the same field trip on Friday with my other daughter!!!!!! I can't wait. Times like these make me want to put them in the same class.

We have our house decorated and we are actually enjoying the Christmas season. I wrapped up 24 Christmas books on November 30Th and every night we have opened a book and read it! The girls have really gotten in to this. We have made homemade breads and started some baking. It has been so warm, it does not feel like winter yet!

You will have to read my post about the Spa Rewards! I cannot wait! Did you get yours?

Tuesday Drama

I picked up my long-legged friend for lunch Monday. We were meeting Saggy-Boobs and Muffintop at a sweet little tea room for my birthday! I had a great salad with dried cranberries and banana chips served with a poppy seed dressing! It was wonderful!

When I picked LongLegs up, I had my new CHRISTmas cd playing. The song was by Montgomery Gentry, Merry Christmas from the Family . It is a HOOT! It does not really sound like my family, but they sure sound like fun! I found the lyrics and if you have time read them, but it is much funnier listening to him sing it! Here is the end that reminds me of National Lampoons Christmas! "CLARK...We sold the house..."

Fran and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw the breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night
Oh Silent Night o' holy night

Carve the turkey turn the ballgame on
Mix Bloody Marys cause we all want one
Send somebody to the Stop 'n Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprite
A box of midol, some Salem Lights
Hallelujah everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

OKAY, so I am insane! Daughter M fell down the front steps tonight while I was talking to one of my MIL's. She is complaining of her back...we'll see if we make it through the night. She already has a Doctor's appointment at 9 am in the morning for her digestive system. Son went to Alabama to see a civil war reenactment. He hurt his calf in an acorn fight yesterday in the neighbors yard. He is so sore today. I had to get him out of the tub so I could put his sister in after she fell. Husband called at 6 (during the fall-drama) to let me know he was on his way. He was stopping off to buy some OJ and meds...he does not feel good. He thinks he has a cold coming on. Daughter C and I are leaving for the night. Anyone want to take us in?

Actually it is not even eight PM and I have them all in bed and I am blogging! :)
I will keep you posted on our status!

Finally Friday!

Thank you for all of your prayers and calls about my mother. She came through the surgery great. She is recovering much better this go round! She will come home from the hospital today in a neck brace. The doctor said it did look pretty bad, but that is "good" hopefully she will not be in pain anymore!

My sister and I took advantage of being in Atlanta for the day and did some light CHRISTmas shopping. Wouldn't you know there was a craft show going on at the hospital - 1 day only! Lots of cinnamon potpourri and pound cakes...

She is frantically looking for baby doll that "swims"... we hit several toy stores and Target, but did not score. Of course we found ourselves at WalGreens! Wouldn't you know, when we walked in with my "Dorthy-Basket" of coupons and her coupon pouch the cashier said "If you purchase $50 today you will receive a $20 gift card!" Enough said! The hunt was on! You can run up a $50 bill quickly with diapers! We found two bottles of Excedrin Migraine and tension headache medicine 2 for $5.75 and of course I had $2 off coupons!! She got a free roll of wrapping paper that she climbed to the top of the store to get, and a great deal on batteries for her camera (that she is getting for Christmas - hint, hint to Sister's Husband).

I finished shopping for the children and even found wool socks and long johns for the ski trip! Target has cute Footie-pj's on sale this week for $8. Son got a pair of camo (they will be mine one day soon if he keeps growing so fast!) and the girls got skiing monkeys! Too cute!! Sister and I had a lot of fun picking everything out together! I got home around 10 pm last night and was exhausted.

I got the children up early this morning and we studied for their spelling, vocab and social studies test! Husband earned his stripes last night by taking them to the Parade! We have always gone (9 year tradition) and they were adamant about going, so he packed a picnic and blankets and away they went! I was so proud of him for going! Cold weather, screaming kids and a large crowd...I can't think of anything else he loves more! :) Thank you honey for taking one for the team last night! Momma, Sister and I thank you for your sacrifice!!!!

A couple from our home team was asked to enter an ornament into the Downtown Development Contest and they WON FIRST PLACE! WOW!! What big fun! They spent so much time on the project! It looked great! Well Done! They won a $100 gift certificate to the Downtown Restaurants that I think they are going to give to Pastor and his wife!! Maybe next year we will enter the parade and have the choir and the ornament on the float!!!

CVS has a great sale on photo enlargements:
Add two 5x7 or two 8x10 to your shopping cart, use promo code NBOGO, and you will only pay for one 5x7 or one 8x10!

WOW...Who knew?

If my children are reading this, stop now or you will not have a surprise CHRISTmas morning.

Several months ago I bought a Wii from Gamestop.com. I did not buy the insurance, because I did not know about it or that I needed it. After talking to several people who STRONGLY recommended it I tried to get the Game Stop at our "mall" to insure it. They would not. So I decided the best thing to do was buy another one and sell the "old" on on ebay. So I waited at 5AM with every other cold, money savings nut to buy another one.

WHAT A RUSH ebay was!
I have never sold anything on ebay before. I did a three day listing, took my picture (because I could with my great digital camera) and thought I listed it. Yesterday I went to check on it and could not find it. I have never been so mad at myself. How do you loose a listing on ebay? (okay maybe I was this mad at myself when I left the Reba concert ticket in Statesboro and drove all the way to Atlanta for the concert without them... Another Drama Mama moment).
I finally found it in Accessories. What was I thinking? I revised it and then it started coming up with all of the ten thousand others. I listed it for $250, I really wanted $275 back so I could make up the $25 I spent on shipping on the first one. Well Lawsey-Mercie, who knew it would bring $441.00 plus $25 shipping!!!!!!!!!! I have never felt such a rush.

My long-legged friend was on the phone with me during the last 10 minutes and thought I was going to have a heart attack. I have never in all my life felt so sick to my stomach. Now I have made $166 profit to go towards the $160 worth of games and accessories I have bought! God is good...all the time...

Ladies, We are Different

I received this as an email and know I have many "non-medical" friends out there that read and wanted to share this with you! Thanks to my good friend at Me and The Other Three for sharing!

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read. You all take care out there!

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction)

Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack...you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

'I had a completely unexpected heart attack at about 10:30 pm with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would d suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking,'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.' A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in s low motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

'After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be rac ing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.

'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening--we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, 'Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack !' I lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself 'If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else...but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.'

'I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the e next room and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

'I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-3 0 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.

'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.'

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act ). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation, and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up....which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics'. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT ca ll your doctor--he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, mainly OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

Drama Team at Work...

I did something this morning that I have never done before. I stood with two of my friends in an upholstery shop demanding her furniture back! Apple Dumplin' and I borrowed our Husband's trucks to help Saggy Boobs pick up her furniture she didn't have a check to pay for. I know... it sounds odd that we would be demanding the furniture back if she didn't have a check, but that really is a long story (too long for this post). Today she had a credit card and she had also gone by the bank to get a cashiers check (because she is OUT of checks). The reupholster man suggested to her that next time she writes her last check she needs to reorder - Novice Idea!

Anyhoo, there we stood with our arms crossed ready to haul her furniture back home. The man was flustered that she had come with her own transportation to get her chaise and chairs and said he would not accept her payment. Saggy B then turns to me and says we are going to need some backup (referring to my brother-in-law who is a Sheriff's Deputy). Lawsey-Mercy we get ourselves into some drama! I walked out of the shop and started to call him... reflected on the situation and thought we can handle this on our own. I went back in and she was still hashing it out with the guy. He was relentless, but needless to say we were too and eventually he took her credit card and we started hauling the furniture onto the trucks.

I feel confident it went without saying the three of us would not be sending any business his way. We then dropped the furniture off at her house! WOW, all in a days work of this stay-at-home-mama!

Don't forget to get your free taco between 2-5 today! I think we'll have snack there after school! :)