Missed a day!

I guess since I missed a day now I need to post twice today. No problem. I could talk and/or write for a LONG time. LOL!

Yesterday brought a trip to the rheumatologist. I have fibromyalgia so every 4-6 mos. I get to go for a quick visit to the doctor. He wants me to be tested for Vitamin D deficiency. I found that most interesting as my friend Kathy, the one in radiation now for any residual cancer cells, had recently told me that she'd been reading how we are all Vitamin D deficient. However, because I am a dork, I was thinking she'd been telling me this in relation to cancer. When he said this deficiency can cause bone and joint pain the light went on & I remembered, "OH! That's what she said!" LOL! I did see the Vitamin D in the store the other day but those supplements are so pricey that I just went for the immune one. I go for the labwork next week so I'll wait til then & see if I am deficient. I mean Vitamin D deficient. I'm pretty sure I'm deficient in other areas, too!

Afterward I took the girls to Kohl's to use gift cards. Have you ever had a girl age 12 or 14? Have you ever been a girl age 12 or 14? Did you know that girls' bodies change a LOT at that age? Did you know they don't make clothes to really fit girls that age? The clothes makers have decided that somehow you can go from an average or even "plus" size little girl size 14 to a size 1 cut to fit a model with anorexia in the waist but a DD bust and linebacker shoulders. Seriously, the junior sizes are cut SO skinny but have low scoop necks and wide shoulders. For Bethany, my 14 year old who is EXTREMELY underweight (yes, we are working on it & yes, we've seen doctors about it---I was once extremely underweight, but I overcame THAT deficiency), some of the clothes fit okay if she wears another shirt under it (oh, yeah, that's what we like to do in summer in Texas!). At least the waist part fits her well. The shoulders are another issue, as is the low neckline. Natalie is built like a REAL person. She's just exactly at the 50%ile for weight & height. Yet, clothes don't fit well. And she LOVES clothes! How can she be exactly average, but clothes don't fit? Apparently the clothes makers have some strange looking models they use for their designs. I shall HAVE to start sewing for them more often!

They were able to find a few things. Bethany first scoured the blingy jewelry & headbands with bows section. Did you know headbands with bows are in style? I know some people think they look really silly (as in other kids B's age, her sister for example!), but I love the femininity. I love all things bows and flowers and lace. I'd wear them if I didn't look totally ridiculous. They are darling on someone 14, not 45! She ended up getting a cute top and then found some teal colored jeans (she'd been wanting colored jeans) for only $4! They almost fit, too! A size 1, but I'll still need to take up about 3" in the waist. At least they weren't too long. She still has about $6 left on the card, so maybe we'll go back for some jewelry.

Natalie ended up looking in the ladies' section and found a darling top. Unlike her sister, though, she didn't find anything on the clearance rack, so her gift card went lickety split. And, because she is 12 and not a grown up yet, I will have to take up the shoulders about 2-3" so the neckline isn't showing things it shouldn't. We do try to dress modestly. As I've told the girls, "Don't advertise it if it isn't for sale." ; ) Mostly because God wants us to be modest, but the saying gets the point across.

Today we are off to find coats. The last time I bought them coats was 3 or 4 years ago. It just doesn't get that cold that often in Texas. I'm hoping for good clearance prices and for something slightly larger than they are now so it will last a few more years. They both have so many changes to go through yet and will be growing for a few more years at least.

I think I've stopped growing. LOL! I have noticed that although I gained a tremendous amount of weight 4 years ago when I started the gluten free diet, then slowly gained more pounds with meds that cause weight gain and just enjoying gluten free food. GF foods, if made to substitute for regular foods, are high in carbs. Potato flour, rice flour, tapioca flour...you get the idea. Plus my body was finally able to absorb what I was eating. Yea me. ha, ha! However, for the past couple of years I've been at about the same weight. It changes by a pound or two now & then, but pretty much the same. That's encouraging to me b/c if I DO---no, WHEN I do start eating healthier and exercising I hopefully will be able to drop some pounds.

I bought a special 2 month membership to Curves. I need to call & check on some things and the rheumatologist said to start slow, but I am really hoping that will kick start my body into becoming healthier. Something has to help!

I asked the rheu. if there was any test or factor that could cause me to have so many auto-immune issues. He said, "I don't see any unifying factor here. You just happen to have a lot of auto-immune problems." And with auto-immunity, I have to be careful as I add immune boosters to my diet b/c your body attacks itself when your immunity is low and somehow (I have no memory of what I read) if you add too much that supports your immune system, your body can work harder to fight that. I am not a doctor or health expert, so I'll have to look all that up again.

Now to get ready for the coat shopping experience. Wish me low prices!

On the 5th day of New Year's...

Day 5 and I am still blogging! Today Natalie is feeling better but Phil is still coughing. He's gone to work but has been up coughing at night (thus neither of us sleeping well). My head has been hurting with sinus pain. I just started taking a new herb supplement (when you're taking as many meds as I do you have to & are sick this much ANYTHING is worth trying if it's a safe product to try). Some friends suggested oregano oil & olive leaf extract. I found a supplement with both in them that I could afford.

Last night I dreamed of my dear friend Linda. I dreamed that I had a plant that had been cut down but I was trying to root it. In the dream I was pouring water onto the plant hoping that little roots would soon start growing from it. I thought (in my dream), "Why couldn't we do this for Linda? Why couldn't someone revive her as soon as she passed away?" I tend to have odd dreams. Maybe this is a way of me accepting that she is really gone.

We have only a few days left until our homeschool co-op starts up again. Natalie put off her 50 or 60 pages of homework, plus a book to read, until this week. Actually, we were going to work last week, but got sidetracked by illness. So, here we are (we b/c I generally work with her on these pages) the week before co-op getting her back on target. Reading a book called, "A Single Shard," working on area and perimeter and will need to do some review pages with angles. Middle School geometry!

Hoping anyone who is reading is having a good new year.

But, she had the shot!

This year I had both of my kids get the flu vaccine. Bethany got the mist version & Natalie got the shot (with asthma you can only get the shot, apparently). Phil got his shot since he works in clinics so often (on computers, not people---that would be scary). Mom? Well, I forgot to ever go get mine! Ooooops!

Now, that might not be a big deal since the rest had their shots & would stay well, right? RIGHT? Wrong. Today we went to see the dr. I was sure she had a sinus infection. SURE. S-U-R-E. Dr. B, "Let's do a swab & see if she has the flu." Thinking to self, "Barbara," I've known the dr. for 8 years or so from Pampered Chef, "She had the shot. I'm sure this is an infection." Swab, swab, wait 10 minutes. Play, "Let's think of clothing items beginning with the letter S. Now let's think of names beginning with the letter R." By the way, once Barbara returned to the room, she looked up baby names starting with R when we told her what we were doing. INTERESTING. 10 minutes later she entered the room, "Influenza type A. The shot didn't do diddly squat this time."

Which leads me to ponder, did I have a sinus infection last week? Or was that the flu? Or am I going to get the flu? Is that why I still feel bad? The last time we had the flu in our house was 3 years ago. I know because it was the year Pop Bill (Phil's dad) was so sick & would pass away a month later. The girls stayed with Phil's folks for a few days after Christmas. When we got them, Bethany was sick. Turned out she had strep throat. Natalie got it. The next week they had the flu. Seriously, how do you end up with BOTH the worst URI type things (short of pneumonia, I guess) in a week's time? I suppose we picked up the germs at the dr.'s office.

So, here I am with an aching head hoping this is still JUST from the sinus infection and cedar pollen in the air. Hoping and praying. Now Phil is coughing & sneezing. He said, "I feel bad but not bad enough to stay home."

Now if someone could just come over & change my sheets and take care of my house for me. But then you'd all be sick. Didn't I ask someone this already? Oh, the mind is a terrible thing to waste. ; )

Off to the doctor

Well, it looks like we'll be taking a little trip to the doctor in the morning to see what is wrong with Miss Natalie. We'll find out if she had the flu. I hope not since I did NOT get my flu shot. I think it's a sinus infection.

Today Bethany asked an interesting question, "If you pour a LOT of oil on a little candle (lit) will it burn or put out the flame?" I told her I didn't know but I wouldn't be the one to find out! She won't either. She has hated fire & flames since she was little. We just watched some home videos of her at her 3rd b-day & she was scared of the candle. To this day she will not eat cake if it's from the part where the candle was. She says it all tastes like wax. I remember as a little girl loving to eat the icing off the candles! Then again, I also liked those tiny wax bottles with liquid sugar inside that you would suck out then chew the bottles.

I'm still not well, but I am not AS sick as I was last week. That was no fun at all.

There are clothes to be washed before the morning, but I wanted to try to keep this record going of every day blogging.

January 2nd---I've made it 2 days!

Before the clock strikes 12 I thought I'd pop in to say I've now blogged on here for 2 days this year. 2 days in a row, even! Goodness, at this rate, I may be the next Pioneer Woman with a famous blog. Oh, wait, I forgot, she started with a wealthy rancher husband and can do all kinds of cool giveaways. Hmmmm, I could giveaway some used cookbooks. Oh, even better, some unwanted pounds! So, maybe I won't be the next Pioneer Woman. I'll enjoy reading her blog & trying to win things, though.

Last weekend (Christmas weekend) Natalie & I felt pretty yucky. We went to the doctors on Tuesday. My dr. said I was on the verge of a sinus infection & gave me some heavy duty new antibiotic. I felt horrible the next day, but by Friday I was feeling so much better. Today I have felt icky again, but I am on the mend.

The pediatrician (who happens to be a friend of mine) checked both girls (since B. was starting to feel icky, too) and said they weren't infected & lungs sounded good (Nat has had a time with her asthma the past few months), but gave us some potent cough syrup. They both seemed to improve until last night when Natalie went downhill fast. She woke me up at 5 a.m. with a fever and spent the rest of the day on the couch, taking ibuprofen to help her feel a bit better. I'll call Dr. Barbara back tomorrow & see if she wants to add anything.

Meanwhile, Phil seems to have developed a mega resistance system, which is really nice. I'm guessing that being in & out of clinics all the time exposes him to so much that his body has built up a good immunity. Never worked for me teaching kids who seemed to get sick all the time, but I have all sorts of auto-immune issues. He's been off the past week and has to go back to work tomorrow. He's NOT the work-aholic type. At all. Well, not in the "job" sense. He can obsess over certain things (like a computer problem that just doesn't want to resolve or working on a motorcycle engine) til the cows come home. Getting up early for work? Not his thing.

So, that's 2 days into the New Year. So far no one I know has been diagnosed with cancer THIS year. I do have a friend who was recently diagnosed from last year. So far we've paid bills (well, when the landlord is back in town & we give him the rent check, that will be true). So far, we have money in the plus side in the bank. So far, all of our living parents are doing well. So far, 2011 looks like a GREAT year!

Hope to be back on the 3rd!

Happy New Year's 2012! OOOOPS, 2011

Well, I obviously have not improved my typing skills yet this year. I did type 2012 as the year! Phew, this one went by fast, didn't it? LOL!

I'm going to try to post more this year. I so love writing & this is a good therapy for me. My dad wondered why I started a blog in the beginning & who would read it. Now he has fussed at me for NOT posting, so Dad, this is for you!

Speaking of my dad, he turned 76 yesterday. Happy Birthday! As I said at the table today, it's like being a kid again where you look forward to birthdays. Except now we celebrate each year (and day) we still have them with us.

For anyone out there who might possibly still be reading or checking into my blog, I will say in short that 2010 was a very sad year. 2 of my friends were diagnosed with cancer. My friend Kathy had a mastectomy in May and spent the entire summer & fall at, as she puts it, "Camp Chemo." She is now undergoing radiation. We are trusting that there is not one single cancer cell left in her body.

Sadly, my friend Linda's story is different. She was diagnosed in early May and had a hysterectomy. Unfortunately, the doctor did not remove all of the cancerous lymph nodes. He told her that he hoped that chemo would diminish these nodes. She did so well through the first several treatments, and physically, did well for the last few as well. However, in the midst of chemo, her mom, who had been practically living with Linda and her family, passed away of a very unexpected illness. 2 days after Linda finished her final chemo treatment, she collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. She spent the next 5 1/2 weeks there, then on December 1st her body could not continue to function and she went home to be with the Lord.

So often I find myself not believing it is real. I believe she will pick up the phone & call me. I believe she is going to be at her house when I go there. And now as we start selling Girl Scout cookies again, I am waiting for her e-mails telling us all the dates and times we need to know. She was the cookie mom for the past 3 or 4 years. When I do fully understand that she is gone my heart aches. My heart aches not for Linda. Linda grew so close to the Lord in the last few months of her life. No, it is her family for whom my heart aches. Her beloved daughter and husband. Her precious daughter lost the 2 most important women in her life this year. Her dear husband spent so much of his time just caring for his family over the past several months. Now they are beginning a new life this new year. I know God will give them, and us, grace for each new day, but the empty spot still leaves us aching.

One thing that has not changed at all is that I am still very much mom and I believe I am being called to duty this instant.

Until next time!

What's going on at my house

I'm getting ready for my first of FIVE craft fairs this fall. It's been mega busy & some days I'm not sure if I'm coming or going since I also, cook, wash dishes, wash & fold clothes, educate my children, help with Girl Scouts, teach at our homeschool co-op, and drive kids where they need to be.

If you want to see what my house looks like 2 days before the first of 5 craft fairs, go visit my craft blog HERE. Click on the word HERE and it will take you to that blog.